Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

'Her name is Anne. Please love her like we would have loved her.'

Anne let out a deep sigh as the words kept repeating in her heads over and over, the handwriting of the note hovering in front of her – because she had the image projected on her interface.

“You, uh, might have been kinda, uh, a-… a-.”

“Adopted.”

The sight of her mothers – those she had called her mothers her entire life - on the verge of tears as they confessed the one thing they’ve had been dreading to tell their daughter, was something that would be burned into her optics forever.

“Where …where did I come from? Who were my birth parents?”

“We …we don’t know.”

She let out – another – heavy sigh as she buried her face in her hands. In a span of minutes had her entire world turned upside down and she had no idea how to navigate all …this. It had been a few days since …everything that had happened and every day she felt a little worse. The stress had her entire system in a twist.

At the moment, quite literally.

She winced as she felt something inside her synthetic guts twist and turn, making her curl up on her bed with a whimper. For a moment, it felt like her entire body was overheating and her insides were being completely rearranged, but luckily, it didn’t last too long.

She let out a breath of relief as she discomfort subsided and her body relaxed again. “Okay …that was weird.” Not one to let things like this just happen without figuring out what the ever-loving Robo-God just happened, she quickly ran a diagnostic scan, seeing if something in her internal structure was damaged.

The results didn’t show anything wrong with her, beside that her energy reserves were going to run low soon. That was, like, totally on her; she couldn’t sleep at night, so her recharge cycle wasn’t as efficient as usual. She also had trouble eating much, which meant too little matter was converted into fuel and stored inside her energy cells. And thus, her system started to glitch because of it. All very logical.

She really needed to get something more solid in her bio-converter reactor, unless she wanted to end up at the doctor’s garage. And stress-snacking Sour Battery Bites didn’t help much either. Empty calories didn’t make a great fuel source. Tasty, though. Maybe she should pop down to the kitchen and make herself something healthier than the snacks she had been keeping on hand.  

…

She grabbed another Battery Bite out of the bag and popped it into her mouth. Time enough for that later. Maybe.

The adolescent Drone rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling, as she tried – once again – to put everything that her parents had told her a few days ago into a coherent order. Going over all the facts and reach a agreeable conclusion.

“It was a stormy night, so …people would have been inside, so whoever left me didn’t want to be seen.” Anne mulled over, as she rolled the sour candy battery around her mouth. She tried to recall other things that her mothers had told her about that day. “Power outage? Seems …convenient. Too convenient… And no-one was on the streets either? How the flip-flopping heck did they do that? Grow wings and fly off?”

She reached under her pillow and took out the note that had revealed the truth to her. She had been keeping it there for …whatever reason she had done that. It didn’t help her sleep better, that’s for sure.

“Her name is Anne. Please love her like we would have loved her.” She read aloud, as she had done so many times over the last few days. Two sentences. What her name was and a plea to love her. Nothing else. No explanations, no other instruction, nothing that showed who or why she had been left behind.

There was one thing that vexed her. Out of all the houses out of all the streets out of all the suburbs out all the cities that sprawled all over Copper-9 …they had chosen the only people that wanted to have children, but were unable to. What were the chances that a young couple who have been waiting for so long to adopt a child of their own would, quite literally, have one delivered to their doorstep on a silver platter? Or rather …in a synthweave basket.

Something about that made her think that it was possible that Hazel and Naomi were specifically chosen. Someone had given their newborn child away, for whatever reasons they possessed, to the ideal couple of Drones. Someone had been watched them before they made their move.

She folded up the note and gently placed it inside her jacket pockets and reached out for the other item that lay beside her. Other clues to whoever had knocked on her parents’ door that fateful night.

An old red scarf. Slightly worn, but still comfy and warm. According to Naomi, it was wrapped around her, keeping her warm and dry from the cold, rainy weather that night. So …at least her birth parents cared enough to do that. She pressed the fabric against her cheek, like she had done so often now. There was that familiar feeling once again. Comfort. Safety. Sadness. It stirred up something inside her memory banks, but nothing concrete. Feelings and blurred sensations, but nothing visual that popped up.

Next item. An old beanie. Dark grey with black stripes. Worn, and there was evidence that something fluffy had once been attached to the top. And old piece of headwear, but still good enough to wear. Not much to go on there. These types of beanies had been popular for years, decades, if not even centuries. Half of her classmates and even some teachers wore these things. She even had one, but only wore it when she went outside, and even then, only when she felt like wearing one.
There was evidence of repairs, ranging from amateurship to almost professional. Either two people had been working on this, or someone had to learn to sew and whatever stitches worked best. Someone tried their best to keep this beanie in good shape, which showed an attachment to it. And still, they had given it up …given it to her.

Next were a pair of glasses with yellow-tinted lenses. A special type glass was used. The type that some Drones would wear to enhance their vision …or just to look cute. Not as old like the scarf or beanie, but people could get these types of specs anywhere. But the lack of any sort of manufacturer also implied that someone had handcrafted these. Someone who had a specific type of style. Someone had taken the time to learn this, just like with the stitchwork on the beanie. Besides that, nothing else that could tell her more about who had owned them.

She picked up the final item, holding it between her thumb and index finger as she let it dangle above her head. An old black choker. A band made of charms resembling flowers or some sort of ice crystals. The middle part showed an insignia of some sort, but it had faded away so much that Anne hardly could make anything out of it. Some sort of skull and the numbers 002. Like the scarf and beanie, it looked really old. Maybe something passed down from parent to child?

Anne sighed as she clutched the choker in her fist. It was no use. None of these pieces were significant enough to help her solve this puzzle and everything else her parents had told her didn’t help much either. As she stared up at her ceiling, she wondered if she could just write down every clue she knew, stick them up there and connect them with red string as some gravitationally challenged evidence board.

…

Nah, she didn’t have any red string on hand and she couldn’t be bothered to buy some just for this. Seems like a waste of her allowance. Pretty sure that sort of thing doesn’t work anyways.

The questions, the revelations, the whole thing was really building up inside her, until she really couldn’t keep it inside her anymore. Anne took a deep breath for a few moments, after which she let out a long continuous groan, the kind that seemed to stretch out for several scenes and couldn’t be interrupted by even a dodgeball hitting her on the nogging …but only lasted about 10 seconds.

She should have known that she was adopted. In hindsight, the clues had always been there. Her eyes obviously couldn’t be any more different than those of her mothers. Her yellow and purple eyes versus her mothers’, which both had green eyes – one emerald, the other mint.

There was her height. When a Untrained Neural Network reached a certain age, it would be assigned a body, and the type of body was determined by the Drone’s Parental Source Code. Her mothers were both taller than her, so If she really would have had their parental source code, she would have been assigned a tall model as well. But she was given a shorter model, so that would have meant at least one of her parents would have been short as well.

Then, there were the little things. She had a bit of a temper – which she totally had under control – while her mothers always seemed to be able to keep their calm. She had a natural knack for anything electronic, having taught herself how to hack. Her mothers were both doctors, but even with their own predisposition for it, they had to got through years of Tech-Med school to reach their current level.

It was something in her appearance as well. People always seemed so surprised to learn that Anne was Hazel and Noami’s daughter, often mentioning that she looked so different from her parents. Now she knew why. Anne sighed. This whole thing was making her head spin. Before Anne could spiral even further down her whirlpool of thoughts, a  knock on her door startled her out of it and made her sit up.

“Hello?”

“Anne, sweetheart? May I come in?” It was Naomi. Were her mothers home? She thought that they were at the hospital.

“Yes, momma, come in!” Anne called out, a hint of guilt welling up. Her mothers had been giving her space after their talk, even allowing her to stay from school for a couple of days – a doctor’s note was easily acquired when both you parents were doctors –, but she had been kinda, somewhat, just a little ignoring them. It’s not that she hadn’t said a word to them, but Anne had entrenched herself inside her room for these last few days and didn’t have the courage to face them too much right now.

“Hi there, little Anne.” Naomi greeted cautiously as she peeked inside the room.

“Hi…” Anne greeted back, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips as she hear her mothers’ favorite pet name for her. “I thought you guys were at work?”

“Hazel still is and I took the afternoon off.” Naomi explained. Having you home alone, especially after …well, we felt better knowing at least one of us was here.”

“Oh …”

“I, eh …noticed you hadn’t finished your breakfast.” Noami smiled sheepishly and held out a tray with a few sandwiches – or rather Dronekind’s equivalent of a sandwich. “I thought you might be hungry. They are your favorites, with extra spicy thermal paste.”

“That’s okay, but- “

“Anne Elliot Brinkman, you have hardly eaten proper food in two days and I’m not leaving until you’ve finished at least one sandwich.” Naomi stated, her voice calm and collected but Anne knew her momma well enough to hear that subtle and unspoken ‘or else…’ between the lines. Naomi smiled softly. “Please, for me? So I know you’ve had something besides those snacks of yours?”

After a lifetime of having the occasional squabble with her parents giving her the intricate ability of knowing when to push back and when to just simply give up, Anne held out her hand and accepted the plate of lovingly made sandwiches. As her mother took a seat next to her, Anne took a bite …her eyes lit up and she started to scarf down the food. Naomi just shook her head in amusement. Anne must’ve been hungrier than either of them thought.

When Anne had finished her plate, she handed it over to Naomi with a small ‘thank you, momma’.

“You know, school has called again.” Naomi began casually, but Anne could hear that little something in her voice that told she had something else on her mind.

“Oh…?” Anne tried to keep her voice even, but it wasn’t easy to keep it casual. She had so many burning questions and she was looking for an opening to ask about them.

“They asked when you would return.”

“Well, tell them-“

“I told them you’d return Monday.” Naomi held up a finger to Anne’s lips before the latter could utter a disagreement. “We have been very understanding these last few days, because we know how hard and difficult this news had been to you.”

“That’s an understatement…” Anne muttered silently, alas not silently enough if that disapproving scowl her mother her mother was giving her was anything to go by. “Sorry.”

“You better.” Naomi sighed, but tried to put on a sympathetic smile as Anne looked away. “Honey, staying away from school for a few days was fine, since you ‘weren’t feeling well’; but any longer and you’re going to need a proper reason to do so. And before you ask: no, neither me nor your mom are going to just hand you a doctor’s notes.”

Anne sighed. She knew her momma was right. She didn’t like it, but she had to relent anyway. “Fine …”

An awkward silence fell between the two, with Anne fidgeting with the old choker she still was holding and Naomi staring down at her hands folded up on her lap. Eventually, the older Drone let out a heavy sigh. As she spoke up, the teenager couldn’t help but notice how broken her mother’s voice sounded. “Anne, darling, I know you must hate us, but-“

Anne’s head shot up, shocked at this statement. “’Hate you’? Why would I ever hate you?” She pointed at herself. “And please take notice of the complete lack of sarcasm in my voice and the absolute, genuine confusion its actually projecting.”

Noami didn’t seem convinced. “Anne, we’ve lied to you your entire life.” She wiped away a digital tear. “But you must believe me when I say that we are so sorry for-“

Anne didn’t give her mother a chance to finish her speech of self-pity, as she threw her arms – pretty much her entire body – around her mother and hugged her. A gesture immediately returned by Naomi, who pulled her child close against her chest.

“Momma, I could never - I repeat, never - hate you.” Anne choked out, digital tears running down her cheeks as guilt now truly filled up her entire being. She felt awful for making her mothers feel that way, especially since they didn’t deserve it.
“Yes, you lied about this, but I can kinda understand how hard it was to find the right time to speak about this. Yes, suddenly finding out the truth like this was hard, but momma, you and mom took me in as your daughter. You fed me, raised me, and you loved me like your own. I am who I am because of you two. You are my parents and I love you two so much. Nothing will ever change that!”

“Of course we did.” Noami agreed softly, tears running down her visor. “And we love you too. You have been nothing but a blessing for us. Our little Anne.”

Anne pulled away from the embrace and held her mother’s hands in her own. “But can you blame me for just …wanting to get away from it all for a little while to just process all this? When you told me the truth …Momma, my entire world just got turned upside-down and I don’t know left from right anymore.”

“Well, Hazel and I do know a little of what that’s like.” Noami stated softly as she caressed her daughter’s cheek. “To have your life going on like it always had and suddenly ….lightning strikes, everything is different, nothing is like it was anymore and there’s an entirely new normal you have to get used to.”

“Is that really what I am going to have to do?” Anne asked, squeezing her mother’s hands softly. “Just …get used to the new normal? Just going through life feeling like there’s an entire piece missing from my puzzle?”

“I don’t know what else you could do, Anne darling.” Naomi said with a heavy sigh. “Me and Hazel have told you everything we know.”

“Are you sure there is nothing more?” Anne asked. “There must be something you can tell me?”

“Honey, I don’t know what else to tell you about that night.” Naomi sighed, running her fingers through her hair. “Me and Hazel were watching television during a storm when the power went out. We heard a knock on the door and when Hazel went to check, all she found was this little Droneling, all alone. No-one in sight. Just a basket with a baby, a note and some personal items.”

“And what about my Parental Source Code?” Anne asked, despite knowing very well what her mother was going to answer. “Can’t they trace my parents that way?”

“Anne, they tried that. A few days after we brought you into the hospital to check you out – you had a perfectly clean bill of health, by the way -, we got word that they had tracked down the two donors of your Source Code, and …”

“The young couple they had found had died a few days after the night you had found me, you’ve told me this.” Anne sighed. “So, who were they?”

“We …we don’t know. Their ID-Chips were destroyed in the accident and frankly, …we didn’t want to know. We were fighting to get you adopted as our child and we feared that any sort of potential revelation would result in them taking you away from us. ” Naomi confessed.

Anne ran her hands through her hair. “There’s really nothing else? Anything?”

“Well …” Naomi mused. “It’s probably nothing, but they found some …irregularities in your data files.”

“That doesn’t sound like ‘nothing’.” Anne sat up a little straighter. “What did they find?”

Naomi sighed. “Don’t get your hopes up, sweetie. It meant that they couldn’t find any data on Cradle Facility you were from and you had some minor, harmless corruption in some of the data strings, which all were fixed when your Core got transferred into your kiddie body.”

“That …doesn’t sound like anything minor.” Anne stated carefully.

“From what I remember – and not a lot, since this was 16 years ago – it seemed to point out that something didn’t go exactly right during your, uh, moment of conception. Computer error, a glitch in the system, things like that. ” Naomi explained. “They believed that, most likely, this young couple had broken into a Cradle Facility, for whatever reason, and accidentally triggered the Neural Network Fabricator, which resulted in …you.”

Anne deflated. “I …I was probably an accident?”

A silence fell again, with Anne mulling over the what her mother had told her.

“Honey …I …”Naomi took a deep breath. “Even if your birth parents never planned for you; even if they couldn’t – for whatever reason – keep you as their own, they still loved you enough to make sure you were taken care off. Lesser people would have …tossed you away, or worse.”

“But they didn’t …” Anne realized, slowly looking up. “They wanted me to have a family. They wanted someone to love me, like they would have loved me.”

“And I’d say that you’ve gotten just that, sweetheart.” Naomi spread her arms open, inviting her daughter into a hug – which Anne quickly agreed too, as she practically lunged at her mother. A few moments passed in comfortable silence, before Naomi broke it. She broke away from the hug and used her fingers to brush her daughter’s hair. “Feeling better?”

Anne shrugged. “A bit …but …”

“But …?” Noami pressed.

Anne wrung her hands together, unable to bring herself to look her mother in the eyes. “Please, don’t be mad, but …I …I still would like to know more. I still have so many questions and- “

Noami grabbed Anne’s hand. “Of course you still have questions, sweetie. It’s only normal.” She assured her daughter with a loving smile. “And maybe, one day, you might get some answers, but …not right now. Right now, there are three things that you can be certain of right now.”

The confused teenaged Drone cocked her head, a question mark appearing on her visor. “And those are?”

“1. Your parents – adopted or otherwise – love you very much, no matter what.” Noami began, counting down on her fingers. “2. Whatever happens in the future, you will always be our daughter and you will always have a home with us.”

“And the third thing, momma?” Anne asked with a big grin.

Noami booped Anne on the nonexistent nose with a massive grin. “Understanding mom or not, Hazel is gonna flip a gasket when she sees what a pigsty your room has become and you better clean it up before she gets home.”

Anne chuckled sheepishly as she gazed around her room. It was …pretty chaotic, even for a teenager’s room. Dirty clothes strewn around, snack wrappers more around her trash can than inside it, books and comics that didn’t provide any sort of distraction on several places besides her bookcase and more ... All the pacing around, brooding and mildly immature temper tantrums of the last few days hadn’t done her room any favors. She rubbed the back of her head. “Uh, I’ll get right on that?”

“You could do that.” Naomi suggested as she stood up from the bed, a mischievous grin on her face. “Or …since you’ve been cooped up here all this time and Hazel is going to work late today, how about we have some mother-daughter time first, and afterwards I could help you clean up? How does a trip to your favorite clothing store sound?”

“Sounds absolutely perfect, momma!” Anne agreed with a massive smile as she jumped up from her bed.

Now, those who knew Anne well would agree on a lot of things about her, with variations of agreement. She was really pretty. She was really intelligent. She was friendly. She could be really sarcastic when she wanted to be. She was a Drone who liked to help out. She was a great friend. She had a great taste in retro music. She was equal parts dork and cool. She did have a bit of a temper, but what teenager doesn’t?

But there was one thing they all agreed on. Anne was anything but graceful. In fact: she was a bit of a klutz. Tripping over her own feet, running into things, bumping into people when she wasn’t paying attention.

Or, in this case, getting her blanket somehow wrapped up around her feet without her even noticing.

Instead of jumping of her bed with gracefulness of a now-extinct gazelle, Anne got her foot caught and tumbled right over the edge of her bed. She didn’t even have time to yelp before she landed face-first on the ground.

She heard and felt something crack. Her visor ..not again. She only had visited the tech-doc last week for a new visor and she really didn’t want to explain how it happened this time. The reason for the previous time she got injured was embarrassing enough.

Naomi, despite being used to her daughter’s clumsiness, still gave the latter the courtesy of being concerned. She hoped she didn’t sound too casual about it. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”

 “Ouch …” Anne groaned as she got up, holding her hand over her right eye. She stumbled back onto her bed, a bit dizzy from the impact. Her visor felt like it was burning. “I’m fine, but I think I’ve cracked my visor ..again.”

Her mother immediately held her daughter’s head between her hand. “Move your hand. Let me see.” She gave Anne a quick look as the latter removed her hand from her head. Naomi softly rubbed her thumb over Anne’s visor and smiled. “No, nothing there. Not even a scratch. You got lucky …this time.”

“Huh, seriously?” Anne questioned as she jumped up from the bed – this time without any more injuries – and walked over to her dressing table and looked into the mirror. To her surprise, her mother was right. No cracked visor, no pieces missing, not even scratched. Her visor was completely intact …it somehow looked even better than before. “I could’ve sworn that …”

“Well, be glad you were wrong, honey.” Naomi giggled. “Although, with two more visits to the tech-doc this month and we’ll be getting a free frozen yoghurt.”

“First: haha, very funny.” Anne grimaced, sticked out her tongue at her mother – who copied the action. “Secondly, I still can’t understand how Doc Bronwyn is able to combine her doctor’s practice with an ice cream parlor …with massive success, I might add?”

“Some people just have a great mind for business, I guess.” Naomi chuckled, holding out her hand to Anne. “Since you don’t have any life-threatening injuries at the moment, how about we get going?”

Spurred by the prospect of getting some new clothes on someone else’s money  - and spending some quality time with her momma, obviously – Anne grabbed her mother’s hand and gave the latter a big smile. “Ready!”

***

Anne hummed a happy song as she pretty much danced into her room, bags of new clothes in each hand. She had so much fun spending time with her momma. Shopping for clothes, getting her favorite coolant milkshake, just relishing in the fact that she should be at school that day but instead was out there. It had been a good day. It was something that she really needed. A welcome distraction of her own downtrodden teenage mind.

As she threw her backs onto her bed, she felt something crunch beneath her feet. As she lifted up her foot, she was surprised to see it was a piece of glass. Curiously, she bend over and picked up the shard and held it up to her visor.

It was a piece of glass, sure, but …more specifically, it was a broken piece of her visor. She was sure of it. After all, she had broken the dang thing more often than she cared to admit. She looked over to the place where she had picked it up. It was right where she had, uh …violently stumbled out of bed. The precise same spot.

But …she hadn’t broken her visor then, right?

Right?

She walked over to her mirror and leaned in close to her own reflection, giving her visor a thorough look. Nothing broken. No cracks, no scratches, nothing at all. Her visor was damage-free. Weird. Everything told her that she hadn’t broken anything. She was unharmed and still, there was a piece of her visor in her hand. It’s almost like it …

With a scoff, she threw the shard in her trash can. Maybe it was a piece she had overlooked after the last time she had unwillingly divebombed out of her bed – which happened a bit too much, if you asked her.

Now, she still needed to clean up her room and make sure that Hazel had something to be happy about when she got home from work. She wanted to make it up to both her moms for giving them such a hard time these last few days, and this would be at least a good start.  As she started to pick up her clothes, her eyes caught her reflection in the mirror again, which made her stop. She stared at her face, at her multi-colored eyes for a few moments …before she shook her head and went back to her task at hand.

Surely, it was nothing be worried about.

…

Right?

Chapter Text

Despite how hard she tried; Anne was unable to get that nagging feeling out of her head. Those little thoughts that had pinned themselves on the back of her mind with little hook. She had spent the remainder of her time at home spending quality time with Hazel and Naomi – her parents, despite everything she learned – and she had loved every second of it. They went to see the movies, they went out to dinner, they went shopping for clothes – again, but this time with Hazel’s money –, they had a great time.

And still …

She couldn’t stop wondering about those who had actually brought her into this world. The ones whose combined codes had created her. Who were those two Drones that had left her at that doorstep? What were their dreams, their hopes, their goals in life? What did happen to them that they couldn’t keep a baby, accidental or not?

And what about the corrupted files in her system? According to her moms, Anne had been checked out extensively since she was a Neural Network, but nothing seemed to point out that it would cause any sort of problems. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe that was simply just the cause of her uniquely colored eyes?

And what happened in her bedroom? She had tried to push the memory away, but she couldn’t stop thinking about it. That was a piece of her visor, freshly broken off. But why wasn’t there any damage to show that it was? Like it had somehow healed on its own. But that was impossible. Right?

What about-

“Miss Brinkman!”

With a surprised yelp, Anne looked up, blushing lines forming on her visor when her classmates started laughing. Oh right, she was in class. And she had been zoning out …again. “Y-yes, Mrs. Windsor?”

“Ah, back with us again, Miss Brinkman?” her teacher asked. “I do apologize for interrupting you little daydream, but I rather wish you’d pay attention to the things I’m actually trying to teach you.”

Anne shrunk in herself as some of her classmates snickered around her, but a stern warning look from Miss Windsor quickly shut them up. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Windsor. It won’t happen again, Mrs. Windsor.”

“Maybe I’ll believe you if you could solve the equation on the board, Miss Brinkman.” Mrs. Windsor gestured to said board that held the complicated math problem they had been instructed to solve.

Anne gave it a quick look and turned back to Mrs. Windsor. “The answer is 352.12589, Mrs Windsor.”

Mrs Windsor look at her sheet …then turned to Anne with a soft smile. “Well, good to see that your absence hasn’t eroded your math skill, Miss Brinkman.” At that point, the bell rang, signaling the end of school. “Okay class, don’t forget your homework. Reminder: pages 34 to 45 and pages 60 to 62. You can hand in in whenever you are ready with it, just don’t forget that I’ll ultimately need it by next week. See you tomorrow.”

Anne quickly stuffed her belongings in her backpack and was about to make her way out the room, when Mrs Windsor cleared her throat.

“Anne, a word, please?”

Anne flinched like the words stung and sauntered over to the teacher’s desk, dreading the scolding she’d receive. She already was on thin ice because:

1. Because she had forgotten to set her alarm on her phone, she had overslept. Her parents had the early shift, so they weren’t around to wake her up. It wasn’t the first time this happened, Anne was used to this, so normally she’d handle it herself. Her parents trusted her enough to be responsible and get herself dressed, fed and go to school on her own. But due to the circumstances, she had forgotten and even while she had rushed to get to school, she had been 7 minutes late.
2. In her haste, she had forgotten her homework at home. So …that sucked. Anne was a grade-A student and she was rightly proud of that fact. And now she wasn’t paying attention in class. She was in for a reprimand, she was sure of it.

Anne rubbed her arms sheepishly, trying to bring herself to look her teacher in the eyes – and quite failing at it. “Mrs Windsor, about what happened- “

“Is everything going alright at home, Anne? And with you?” The softness and the concern in her teacher’s voice immediately brought a sense of ease to Anne, and she looked into concerned eyes and a warm little smile that made Anne feel safe to speak. Dang, this woman was good. “I must admit, I was surprised when Hazel called me last week to tell me you had to say home for a while. She sounded …off, but she didn’t want to divulge anything to me ...which is surprising because that woman can’t keep a secret.”

Boy, showed what she knew. But she wasn’t surprised that her teacher showed such concern and familiarity to her. While Anne knew her as Mrs Windsor the teacher, to her parents she used to be Eloise Hill, before she took on her husband’s last name. Eloise was a mutual friend from their college days and best friend of her mother Hazel. This woman used to babysit her, build pillow forts on the couch with her and allowed her – often healthy – snacks before bedtime.

Anne wondered …did she know? Had her mothers told Eloise about her adoption and the events surrounding that. Then again, Eloise only moved into town when Anne was 5 and that was the first time that Hazel, Naomi and her had reunited since college. Anne decided that it was better not to ask and presented her most convincing smile.

“No, nothing is wrong, Mrs Windsor – Eloise – and I’m f-fine.” Dangit, why did she stutter? “Just a little virus that had me in a bad state, is all. Shows me that I shouldn’t be downloading movies from suspicious sites on the ultranet, huh?”

Gosh, that was such a lame excuse.

“Uh-huh, that’s so, right?” Eloise’s expression just screamed ‘I don’t believe you, child’. She collected her papers and tapped them on her desk to straighten them out. “You know, my many years as a teacher has given me the intricate ability to spot when my students aren’t completely being honest with me.”

Anne gulped. She really didn’t feel like opening up about what had transpired last week. At least, not with another adult like her teacher.

Eloise sighed, placed her papers on the desk and looked up at Anne with a soft smile. “But I do also know when my students aren’t comfortable – or ready – to open up about some things. So, for now, I’ll just take your word for it and let it go for now. Okay?”

Anne breathed out a sigh of relief, wiping away a digital bead of sweat and nodded.

“However, …” Eloise folded her hands on the table, straightened her posture and look at Anne with an expression that told the adolescent Drone that she was dealing with the Teacher now instead of her parents’ old friend. “Whatever it is, it’s not an excuse for absentmindedness. I do expect that my students are alert and present whenever I am teaching my classes, and not lost in their own thoughts. Not even for one of my best and brightest ones, understand?”

Anne tried her best not to flinch at the stern-but-fair tone in Mrs. Windsor’s voice. She gulped, straightening her own posture. “I …I understand, Mrs. Windsor.”

“I do so hope that you do, Miss Brinkman.” Mrs Windsor stated her expectation. Her expression softened a bit. “I do mean it when I say that you are one of my brightest, but that doesn’t give you an exception to let personal problems influence your performance at school. I expect you take this in consideration in the near future, of which I meant: tomorrow in class?”

“Yes, Mrs Windsor. I know, Mrs. Windsor. I won’t let it happen again, Mrs Windsor.”

“I believe it when I see it, Miss Brinkman.” Mrs Windsor sighed and took off her half-rounded glasses, giving Anne a more sympathetic look. “Speaking with my own personal experience of being a teenager, whatever you’re going through at this age …is rather expected for someone your age, but it helps to talk with people, Anne. There are counsellors at our school whose doors are open for these situations. Mr Ward and Miss Clancey are excellent listeners and have helped other students with their problems, whatever nature they were. Maybe you should pay either a visit one of these days and sort things out. I’m not telling you what to do, I’m just suggesting to give the possibility a thought, okay?”

Anne suppressed the urge to scoff with all her might. There was no way that a school counsellor could help with this problem. She smiled and nodded, nevertheless. “I’ll consider it, Mrs Windsor. Thank you.”

“I’m here to help you, Anne.” Mrs Windsor smiled warmly and waved her away. “Now, I have taken enough of your time. Go home, tell your parents I said ‘hi’ and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Anne spun around with a small wave and quickly made her way out the room. Eloise was just doing her job as a teacher – and a friend – but this thing that Anne was going through …was everything but simple. Just talking about it wouldn’t do anything right now. Anne sighed. Maybe she was allowing it to get to her a bit too much. Maybe it was better to just …. move on and forget.

…

‘If it only was that simple.’

The sound of people talking in the distance grabbed her attention, but there was one in particular that her smile and she immediately ventured off in that direction. Well, if there was something – or rather: someone – that could give Anne some much needed distraction, it was:

“Ash!” Anne called out as she turned the corner.

Ashley Yates, better known by her friends as Ash or sometimes Red Ash, a female Drone with dark red eyes and the same shade of curly hair spun – which she wore in the rather complex style of two braided tails in the front, two large buns in the back and holding the rest of it all together with a black-and-blue bandana - around and enthusiastically waved at her.

“Yo, Anne! Hang on, just finishing up here.” She turned back to her conversation partner and slapped her on the shoulder. “So yeah, just trust me on this, Becks. Liddy is all about those stereotypical, mushy dating tropes. Just take her out to dinner, have a movie, take a walk and you’ll be snogging it up together in no time. And I do remember how much you like doing that.” She winked at the Drone, who started blushing, and gently ushered her away. “Now go get your girl, girl.”

With a giggle, the other Drone girl skipped away, quickly greeting Anne as she passed the latter.

“You’re helping Becky, your ex-girlfriend Becky, getting a date?” Anne asked as she approached the redheaded Drone, giving her a hug the moment she was close enough. “Didn’t you guys, like, break up not two weeks ago?”

“Yeah, but it was a mutual break-up, y’know?” Ash responded, returning the hug. “We had our 2 months of fun, but we both knew it wasn’t going anywhere, so we ended things and decided to remain friends. And what kind of friend would I be, if I didn’t want to help her out with some things she’s too shy to do herself?”

“Yeah, but to help her get a date, so soon after …”

“Anne, I am a girl who’s filled with love. I love loving. I have so much love in my core, that I can’t help but to help other people reach their pinnacle of love.” Ash made a heart shape with her hands, turning her eyes into hears for good measure, which just made Anne roll her eyes.

Ashley changed her eyes back to normal. “Besides, even a blind Drone can see those two are a great match. They’ve got that ‘synergy’, or whatever you would call that thing they do they don’t think everyone notices.” She threw an arm around Anne’s shoulders. “But enough about that, because, girl, I want to talk about you!”

“What about me?” Anne asked innocently, feigning ignorance.

“’What about me?’ she asks, like there’s nothing to discuss.” Ashley chuckled dryly. “You vanish of the face of the Copper for a few days, completely ghosting me; you don’t call, you hardly text; and when you came back, you were late and not paying attention in class. Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?”

 Anne rolled her eyes again, but couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty. There wasn’t a hint of anger or disappointment in Ashley’s voice, but while she wouldn’t state it outright, Anne knew she had been worried. After all, they had been friends since kindergarten, when they were still both Pill Babies. They were practically joined at the hip. They’ve shared all their secrets with each other, had each other’s back through thick and thin.

They were a team …and Anne had left her teammate out in the dark. That wasn’t cool, even though Anne did have a valid reason for it. With a heavy sigh, she pushed Ashley’s arm from her shoulder. “I know, I’m sorry. Things …were happening that-”

“Apology accepted.” Ashley stated bluntly with a massive grin and a mischievous look in her eyes.

“That was quick.” Anne couldn’t help but grin as well.

“Eh, I figured that you must’ve had a good reason for ditching your bestie like that.” Ashley grabbed Anne’s arm and pulled her really close to her face, bringing her voice to a dark whisper. “But if you don’t tell me what the glitching heck is going on, I swear by the Creators …”

“Okay, okay, but …” Anne looked around. There were still so many students around and she rather not start a rumor chain. She didn’t want to go through that hassle but most importantly, she didn’t want the possibility that it could affect her parents in some ways. “Not here.”

“Ooh, mysterious.” Ash grinned, her dark expression dropping immediately. “Okay, lead the way. But first …soda. I’m craving some carbonated coolant and I need it now.”

Anne rolled her eyes with a grin. “Okay, but I’m buying. Consider it an apology for ghosting you like that.”

“Obviously, girl.”

***

The Town Park was a beloved place where people would spend time together. While the park was well maintained, there was one part at the east side of the area that was largely abandoned.  That area used to be closed off permanently because of some maintenance issue, but closed gates and chains didn’t stop it from becoming a popular hangout for the town’s teenage residents and since no-one seemed to have any real issue with it, so it kinda naturally evolved into an ‘unofficially official hangout area’. As long as no-one made any real trouble, people looked the other way and let the youth be young there.

Today, it seemed largely empty, save for some groups listening to music, joking around and showing off their skating tricks. Anne and Ashley had secluded themselves in one of the at one their usual after-school haunts: a little gazebo under a dead willow tree.

“So, are you gonna tell me the big secret now, 2Tone?” Ashley asked – using her favorite nickname for her best friend, an obvious reference to Anne’s two-colored eyes -, as she nonchalantly leaned against the railing to take a sip of her Cherry Oilnade.

“Yeah, yeah, just …I’m trying to find the words here, Ash.” Anne let out a heavy sigh, looking at the liquid in her soda bottle as it swirled around and forming a little whirlpool. Rather a kinda fitting metaphor of how her life was feeling right now.  She took a deep breath. “Okay …so, last week I was, uh, rummaging around in my parents’ room.”

“Candy stash?”

“Candy stash.” Anne affirmed. “And while I was looking, I found this …basket at the top of their closet, really tucked away. In there, there was …” Anne took off the choker she was wearing and held it out to Ashley. “This, among other things.”

Ashley chuckled as she took the necklace, bouncing it in her hands. “Talk about retro.” She held it up, examining it. Her brow furrowed as she held it closer to her visor. “Really retro. This is old. Like …a few generations. Worn, but still good.”

Anne took the choker out of Ash’s hands and put it back on. “Yeah, I saw that too, but there were other things in that basket too. A scarf, a pair of glasses, - “She pointed at the beanie she was wearing. “This old beanie.”

“I was wondering about that.” Ashley stated. “Looks good on you, though.”

“And …a letter.” Anne continued, ignoring Ashley’s statement. “A letter addressed to my parents. A letter that said...” She took a deep breath, slowly releasing it into the cold air. “’Her name is Anne. Please love her like we would have loved her’.”

Ashley remained silent for a few moments, but her eyes hollowed when she suddenly realized where this was going.

She let the word hang in the air for a while, her gaze fixated on the creaking floor of the gazebo. “Yeah, I kinda realized what that meant, too. When my parents found me with that, well …they told me …that …I’m adopted. They are not my birth parents. 16 years ago, someone left me at their doorstep, in that very basket, with those very items and that letter.”

The words came flowing out and it felt good to say them out loud to someone else. It lessened the weight that she was feeling on her core. “Someone had me, but they couldn’t keep me, but they wanted me to have a family, so they left me with Hazel and Naomi, who then adopted me and raised me like their own for the last 16 years. And that, well, I think you can understand that learning about a big secret like that can really mess someone up, …so yeah …that’s why I wasn’t at school for a few days. Why I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I was …dealing with that.”

Ashley remained silent for a few moments, before she opened her mouth again. “Oh …”

Anne cocked her head. “’Oh’? is that all you have to say about it? What kind of reaction is that? Jeez, it’s almost like you- “She noticed her friend’s expression and it suddenly all clicked. For someone who had just heard this bombshell of a lifechanging news, Ashley seemed rather …unsurprised. In fact, it was like …she was expecting it. Did she …? Was she ….? Anne pointed an accusatory finger at Ashley. “You knew …? You glitching knew?”

Ashley held up her hands, her expression changing from neutral to flustered, like she was caught with her hand in the c00kie jar. “No-no-no, I swear that I didn’t know.” She pushed herself off from the railing and walked up to her friend, grabbing her hands. “I didn’t know …”

The pause that followed was a little too long, heavily hinting at what was coming next.

Anne raised a digital eyebrow. “But…?”

Ashley sighed and she rubbed the back of her head. “But, I kinda …suspected it?

“Suspe- how?” Anne was flabbergasted at this revelation. How did her best friend deduce these things before her? She sighed in defeat. “Was it that obvious?”

“I wouldn’t say ‘obvious’, but …” Ashley huffed and crossed her arms. “I mean, different eye colors than both your moms, the height thing, things like that.”

“Well, if you suspected something, then why didn’t you ever say something, Ash?”

Ashley scoffed. “’Dude, are you adopted or what?’  Yeah, great conversation starter.” She sheepishly scratched the side of her chin. “Besides, I could easily have been very wrong and I figured that it didn’t matter if it would be true or not, because you, Anne Brinkman, are still my best friend, no matter what.”

Anne, suddenly feeling very emotional, threw her arms around Ashley, who immediately returned the hug. They stood there for a few silent moments, with Anne softly sobbing and Ashley just comforting her while she was letting it all out. Anne eventually pushed herself off, rubbing her visor.

“Oh, man …” She looked up at her friend, her expression a mix of apologetic and embarrassed. “Sorry for breaking down like that.”

“Meh, you looked like you needed a good cry. I mean, I would. I can’t even fathom what you’re going through right now.” Ashely stated, waving away the apology. “What are friends for, right, if not to be a shoulder to lean on during trying times?”

“Robo-God, you’re being extra cheesy, Ash.”

“It’s why you love me, 2Tone.” The redheaded Drone threw her arm around Anne’s head and pulled her close. Anne, knowing what would happen when her friend had that mischievous glint in her visor, managed to wriggle free before she was on the receiving end of a noogie.

“Man, I should have guessed that you would’ve figured this out, Ash.” Anne sighed, finishing the rest of her soda and chucking it over to the nearby bin – and making the perfect shot. “You are always so much smarter than you like make people believe.”

“Nah, you’re the smart one, Anne the hacker-queen.” Ashley stated with a grin as she walked backwards towards the railing. “I’m just very observa-AAGH! Oomph! …ouch.”

“Observant, huh?” Anne grinned as she walked to where Ashley had stood a second ago and leaned next to the now-gone piece of railing. She looked down at Ash, who way laid flat on her back. “Not observant enough you were leaning against the broken piece of the gazebo, Ash. How does the ground taste, bestie?”

“What’s that oh-so colorful expression you like to use whenever I’m being snarky at you? Oh yeah …” She popped up with a grin. “Bite me!”

They both started laughing, with Anne offering her hand to her fallen friend to pull her up. “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, just my pride …and my backplate.” Ashley mumbled as she dusted herself off. “Ugh, I just bought this outfit, too.”

“Hey, Ash?”

“Yah?”

“Thanks for listening.” Anne smiled warmly at her friend, and pulled her in for another hug. “I don’t know what I’d do without you as my friend.”

“Anytime, bestie. And don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone without your permission.” The hug conveniently hid the blush that was clearly showing on Ashley’s visor, bright like neon in the night. After a few moments, Ashley – almost reluctantly – playfully pushed Anne away from her. “Okay, enough mushy stuff. I’ve got a reputation to uphold, girl.”

“Yeah, right!” Anne laughed, fishing her phone out of her pocket and checked it. She had gotten text from both of her moms. Mostly about how school was, how she was feeling, what she wanted for dinner, ect …regular parents stuff.

“Soooo…” Ashley began, her tone rather uncharacteristically cautious that it made Anne look up from the reply text she was typing in. “I’ve got a question, but you don’t have to answer it, if you don’t like.”

“O-kay?” Anne raised a digital eyebrow.

“Did you, like, find out anything about …you know, the people who left you?” Ash asked softly, brining her voice down a bit. “I mean, I’d guess you whole, uh, situation was looked into?”

Anne let out a heavy sigh. “Not much.” She replied. “My moms didn’t have much to tell me.”

“So, what do you know?”

Anne gave a quick recap of what her parents had told her. About the two Drones that were supposed to be her birth parents but they had perished in a rather convenient accident. About the faults in her data codes and the missing files about her mystery Cradle Facility. She did, however, neglect to tell her about the little accident she had in her room, and the non-existent injury she swore she received. Things were weird enough without throwing that into the mix.  

“-and that’s about it.” Anne concluded, letting out a groan.

“That’s …not much.”

“Like I said.”

“You think your moms are holding something back?”

“Nah, why should they?” Anne answered with a shrug. “I think they just …don’t want to think about it. Which they did. For 16 years. I guess anyone would forget those details. Man, I just wish I could look into it myself.”

“Uh, dude?”

“What?”

“You can.”

“Huh?”

“The Municipal Center downtown hold our records and you can easily ask for a copy of some of it.” Ashley pointed out, pointing her thumb over her shoulder, in the general direction of the Downtown area. “About everything. Of everyone. We can just put in a request for your file there.”

“We can?!”

“Yeah, you can just ask for any sort of your own information they have on file.” Ash started to count down on her fingers. “Birth certificate, medical history, anything related to familial info, criminal history – don’t ask -, things like that.”

“How do you know that?”

“Uh, I’ve paid attention in school, despite what I like make people believe? We’ve learned about this two years ago. I got an A+ on that test.” Ashley replied with a grin. She chuckled, her grin growing even more mischievous. “Ah, but you did get a B- on that back then, didn’t you? Oh, so sad.”

“Bite me!” Anne grabbed Ashley’s hand and started to drag her along. “But you, Ashley Yates, are a genius.”

“Always glad when someone notices my worth!” Ashley laughed as she started to follow her friend.

***

Even though that Ash had said it wouldn’t be difficult to get access to the data she needed, she still was surprised how easy it was to get her hands on it. She had to fill in a few forms, most of it just legal mumbo-jumbo that she didn’t really understand. Since she was 16, she didn’t need either of her parents present for it, and truth be told: she was glad they weren’t there. She didn’t know how’d they react when they found out she was investigating this.  

Still, she got what she needed. Anything related around her adoption was copied to a thumb drive, and said drive was resting in her pocket. It felt …heavy, for some reason. Every step she took made her more aware of the little thing she was carrying around, and the potentially big revelations that it carried within.

Too bad that Ash had to go help her dad in the shop afterwards. ‘A little extra cash in the pockets never hurts, 2Tone’, as she said. Maybe it was just the guilt of ghosting her that talked, but she would’ve liked her friend to be there when she was looking into this.  Which is why she tried to look as casual as she could when she opened the door of her house and walked in.

“Mom, momma, I’m home!”

“Kitchen, sweetie!” she heard her mom Hazel call.

Anne cheerfully walked into the kitchen and saw her mom busy doing prep work for dinner. Drones didn’t really need to eat actual food, but every Drone was built with an internal matter-to-energy convertor – what their extinct Creators would have called a ‘stomach’ -, so it made for a nice thing to do together. Having family meals.

Anne walked over to her and kissed her mom on the cheek. “Hi, mom. Where’s momma?”

“Still at the hospital, stuck in a meeting, the poor thing. How about you? How was school, Anne?” Hazel asked, turning back to cutting up …whatever vegetable that was.

“Uh, good but …” Anne sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. “I, uh, …overslept this morning.”

“Oh no…”

“I was late at school.”

“Anne …”

“And I forgot my homework back here.”

“That, I noticed.” Hazel stated with a chuckle. “I left it on your desk upstairs. Please, put it in your backpack the moment you step in there.”

“Yes, mom. Thank you, mom.”

“I bet Ashley was happy to see you again.” Hazel said with a soft smile.

“She was a bit …ticked off that I didn’t call or text her, but yeah, she was glad I was back.” Anne said, sitting down after she grabbed herself a glass of hydraulic fluid. She ran her finger over the edge of the glass. “Uh, talking about Ash.”

“Yes?”

“I …told her …about me being adopted.”

Hazel stopped cutting, her knife hovering midair.

“Please, don’t get mad.” Anne began nervously. “I really felt like it was something she needed to know. Ash is my best friend since, like, forever and – “

“Anne.” Hazel interjected, making Anne stop mid-sentence. She smiled softly at her daughter. “Who you decide to tell, is your decision. You don’t need our permission for that. It’s not like it’s a big secret; and yes, I do know how hypocritical that sounds, considering we waited 16 years before we told you.”

“I found out, by accident and only then, you told me.” Anne smirked. “Besides, Ash had kinda figured it out on her own.”

Hazel chuckled, turning back to chopping up her veggies. “I shouldn’t be surprised. Ashley always has been an observant one.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard.” Anne stated dryly with a roll of her eyes. She downed her drink in one big gulp and stood up, grabbing one of her mother’s freshly baked microchip cookies that were standing on the counter. “I’m heading upstairs to do my homework!”

“Okay!”

Anne rushed upstairs and quickly made her way to her room, closing the door the moment she stepped in. She took out the thumb drive and held in in her open hand, giving a long look, like it was going to divulge its secrets while she was staring at it.

“No turning back now.” Anne muttered to herself as she bounced the little thing in her hand. She sat down at her desk and took out her laptop, quickly booting it up. She was about to plug in the drive, when she saw the background of her desktop. It was a picture of her and her mothers – with Ashley in the background, making silly faces. She stared at it for a little while, contemplating what she was about to do …and then plugged in the drive.

“Okay …let’s see what’s on you.”

Chapter Text

Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Anne groaned in frustration, letting herself sink into her chair, raising her head to the ceiling as she buried it in her hands. For the better part of an hour, she had being going through the documents she had collected through the smallest detail. She had read, re-read and re-re-read everything several times and it all came the same conclusion: there was nothing more in there that her parents hadn’t already told her. The police report – although an edited version for public availability – was quite clear on the situation.

A couple of days after Hazel and Naomi had found Anne, a couple of Drones – one male, one female - had lost their lives in a car accident. Their bodies were wrecked beyond recognition in the crash, their ID chips fried and the data in their cores was 98% corrupted due to excessive , with only the Origin Signatures that were connected to her Parental Source Coding being readable. Which was all they needed at the time to confirm their parenthood to the foundling Drone several Districts away.

With no way to verify identities nor anyone reporting Missing Persons in the days that followed, they were declared as John and Jane Doe and their remains properly processed, in Drone tradition. Their Cores were extracted from their bodies, molten down together into an urn and enshrined in the local columbarium. The bodies themselves were brought to a Recycle Centre, where the remains would be scrapped and used to make new parts for Drones. Circle of Drone Life.

“I guess …there really is nothing else.” Anne sighed dejectedly, letting her hands fall to her side and stared up at the ceiling. She didn’t know how to feel about all this. She was sure she would find something, even now. There was this …feeling that she just couldn’t shake away. There were too many coincidences, too many conveniences, it all just seemed too easy. But …maybe it was just that. Coincidences, plain and simple. No greater scheme, no grand reveal, no signs of it being anything else than it seemed to be. Nothing to answer her questions.

“Maybe it’s for the best.” She told herself, the words itself stinging as she spoke them aloud. “I should just stop. It’s not like I’m making any sort of progress, if there even was any to have. I’m only making myself crazy with this and it’s no fair to my moms.”

She let out a heavy sigh. Yeah, she should just drop it. Shelf it. Put it away and never think about it again. Yeah, yeah, that’s what she was going to do. What was she even thinking, trying to pursue this? What good was it to her? What would knowing the details surrounding her birth parents possibly change in her life? Nothing! And why should something change? She had a great life, the best life. She had loving parents, who were absolutely the greatest people in the world, considering they took in a foundling as their own. She had a best friend with whom she would hang out constantly, getting into trouble, having all sorts of fun. She was great at school, top of her class and she knew what she’d want to do after high school. She was happy, healthy and had a bright future to look forward to.

The only thing missing was a girlfriend, but hey, can’t have everything all the time, right? Some thing need a bit of time and work.

Anne smiled at herself, feeling somewhat better after this soul-searching conclusion. She sat up and looked at her computer screen where the file was still displayed. She had no need for it anymore. She grabbed her mouse and was about to make the command to delete the file …when she noticed something. Something strange was going on with the document.

“What the …?”

Anne leaned in close to the screen, so close that her visor was practically touching it. After a few seconds, she saw it. It was like …that the document flickered. So fast that it almost didn’t register. She had been so focused while reading that she hadn’t noticed it. And now that she was so close, she noticed something else. It was almost like some of the words on the file were …out of place? Like they had a slightly different font than the rest of the document. Similar enough that no-one would notice, unless you were practically crawling into your computer screen.

Anne leaned back in her chair, puzzled about this. The computers used in the City Municipal Centre were much older than her laptop and they used different software for their file readers. Older Software that wouldn’t pick up on discrepancies in data files, but her own laptop was released less than a year ago and used brand new software – which was known to mess with older coding formats. Like how it was now messing with the file displayed on her screen.

Something dawned on Anne: what if her answers weren’t on the document, but hidden in the coding that made up the file? It was a long shot, but …there was no harm in trying. Obviously, she couldn’t just, poof, read the codes. You needed special equipment for that.

Luckily, she had special equipment for that.

Anne jumped off her chair and ran to her closet. A couple of years ago, she and her parents watched a movie that involved a hacker breaking into the mainframe of an evil corporation, initially to steal from them but it ended up saving the world. The movie had made such a big impression on Anne that it awakened an interest in computer systems, coding and hacking, and ended up learning up about it. Turned out, she had a real knack for it, almost like it had been something that was always inside her. She taught herself coding, both how to make and break them, and constructed her own splicing kits. In a span of a few months, she made a small name for herself in the hacker community as Wh1teW3nd1g0 – which is, like, the coolest hacker name one could think off.

And while her parents knew she was into coding and had a perchance for tinkering, they never did find out about her abilities as a hacker. They’d surely forbid her from ever doing it again. But Anne never really had any intentions to do something bad with it, besides some minor mischief – or that one time she edited the school lunch menu. This would probably the first time she’d use it to do something that could actually be considered …less than legal. She had no idea if what she was doing was going to bite her in the rear plates, but her curiosity was too great.

She grabbed a stepping stool on her way to her closet, and stood on it the reach the top shelf. With a bit of effort she managed to grab a box that was stashed away under some old clothes.

“Hey, buddy, you still in here?” Anne asked softly as she opened the lid. The box contained various USB drives, a few physical hacking tools, decoders and other stuff, but right now, she was looking for – ah, there he was. She smiled as she saw two antennas sticking out and soon, a little robotic insect skittered out the box and onto her hand. “There you are, Critter.” She greeted, as she gently tapped the top of the cyber-critter’s head.

There were two types of species of Periplaneta Roboticana, more commonly known as a Robo-Roach– on Copper-9, both of them developed and engineered by the Creators in the distant past. You had the more common robo-roach, who were scavengers – and actual pests – who would break apart metal components and use it to create nests and offspring. Those really liked to chew on electrical wiring and cause all sorts of mayhem. It was believed that the Creators had made them to dispose of obsolete machinery, but their tendency to reproduce (the roaches, not the Creators) had brought a boom to the insect population. They were everywhere.

But then, you had these guys. A more sophisticated – almost evolved – version of the robo-roach, created as a mobile keycard of some sorts. This variant had the ability to connect to hardware to access computer systems, connect remotely to devices and even communicate. They could be trained, even be kept as pets, since they didn’t feel the need to – literally - bite the hand that fed them. They charged themselves on common electrical power, like how a Drone could charge itself. They’d sneak into the electrical grid of houses and just feed small amounts. But they were so rare, and usually very skittish, so they weren’t a common sight.

It was pure coincidence that Anne had discovered the keybug – affectionally called by the totally unique name of  Mr. Critter, often abbreviated to Crit – some months ago, while she was doing some casual coding in her spare time. The thing had crawled inside through her window and just …walked up to her desk to make itself comfortable. The critter seemed …oddly interested in her, watching her while she worked, but Anne’s feelings weren’t exactly mutual at first. She had first tried to squash the bug, but when it connected with her computer to ask to spare its life, she got intrigued.

It was then that she remembered an article she had read on one of the hacker forums she sometimes visited. Hackers would use these critters as a mobile connection device, to gain entry to places where they couldn’t reach, or even act like an amplifier. Anne figured it couldn’t hurt to try and train it, so she decided to give it a shot. Turns out that the keybug was quite the natural as well. It responded very well to her instructions, so Anne decided to keep it - him.

Since her parents did allow Anne to have pets, she had to hide him  away while she wasn’t using him for hacking. He had made his little home in the box that contained all of Anne’s hacker tools.

“I need you for something, bud.” Anne whispered as she walked back to her desk. The little critter seemed to cock its head, almost if asking ‘for what?’. She sat down and turned Crit to the screen. “I need to hack this file and I need your help to sort through the data, okay. Can you scan for abnormalities?”

Crit jumped of her hand and skittered over to the laptop’s side panels, checking which data port he was going to use. When he found one he liked, he spun around while a little connector extended out the back. He plugged himself in and retracted his legs into himself, making him look like an ordinary – albeit funny shaped – USB.

A series of messages appeared on screen.

[CONNECTION ESTABLISHED]

[AWAITING INPUT]

“Okay, this shouldn’t take long …” Anne muttered to herself, as she plugged in another data stick that had the program she had made for hacking. It was a simple one. She would use this to download movies, so getting into data file wouldn’t be a problem. Once she had made her connection, she got to work. Hacking into a file like this would be a piece of-

[ERROR! NOT AUTHORIZED!]

Anne blinked in surprise. This was …unexpected. Normally, she would have extracted the relevant codes by now. She tried another command.

[ERROR. NOT AUTHORIZED]

“What in the name of the Creators is …” Anne mumbled to herself. This thing was effectively working against her. She needed to work another approach. She grabbed her box with nifty tools and ruffled around until she found the data drive she needed. This one was a bit stronger, but it was the reason her old laptop had, uh …semi-exploded, so she wasn’t really keen on using it. Right now, she figured it was worth the risk. She switched this with the other and tried again.

She grinned when a new window with codes appeared. “Okay, progress despite some bumps in the road.” She announced, typing in the necessary commands needed. It didn’t take long for Anne to get inside the file and access the log.

“Crit, can you scan for …anything?” She asked the keybug.

[COMMAND AKWNOWLEDGED]

[COMMECING SCAN]

[SCANNING 2%]

[SCANNING 8%]

Anne leaned back, figuring that she let Crit do his work. Scanning the entire document could take a wh-

[SCANNING 100%]

[COMPILING RESULTS]

[ALLERT: SEVERAL DISCREPANCIES DISCOVERED]

A results windows appeared on the screen. Anne bolted upright and started to read them. This whole thing was getting weirder and weirder with every second. If she had to believe these results, it seemed like the document had been tampered with, which could explain the words that used a different font. Somone had made a lot edits to this document, it seems.

A new window popped on her screen.

[QUERY: REVERT TO ORIGINAL VERSION? Y/N?]

“Original version? You can do that?” Anne asked aloud.

[AFFIRMATIVE]

“Wait, hang on …lemme thing.” Anne buried her face in her hands, doubt creeping inside her. She suddenly had a sense of foreboding. This was getting too weird. What was she getting into? Was it really worth it?

'Her name is Anne. Please love her like we would have loved her.'

The memory of the note popped up in her mind. She had been so curious about the truth. She had gone through all this to find something, and now …was she really about to back out when she was moments away from finding some answers?

…

No. No, she couldn’t stop now. Whatever it was on here, she needed to see it. At the very least, she could have closure.

“Yes. Do it.” Anne instructed, her voice barely audible.

[EXECUTING]

When Anne read the revised report, it nearly made her visor pop out her head. The entire report was different. While it was still about two Drones that had perished in a car accident, but …the dates were completely different. According to this, this incident happened two decades before she was even born. Not only that, the signatures that were found in the victims’ cores didn’t match up with the ones that made up her Parental Source Code. Whoever these two were, it was impossible that they were her birth parents. Somone had edited an old report and made it so that it would be one that would have been connected to her case.

Anne slunk back into her chair, her head spinning by this revelation. The report was fake, so that meant …she didn’t even know what it could mean. Did her birth parents fake their death? Did someone else do that? Why go through all this trouble so no-one could find out who the parents of a foundling are? On to do this, and not have it found out by the authorities? This was starting to sound like the plot of a spy movie, or something.

And what would her next move be? She couldn’t request a new scan of her core, that would probably only lead to the same results. She couldn’t reveal that the report was fake, because she would be get in trouble for hacking official documents – publicly available or not.

She had to figure out a way to follow up on this, to get more answers to this mystery. But what? She sighed and turned to her laptop, where everything still was displayed. She figured that she had gotten everything she could out of this. She needed a new angle to work on, but she had no idea what.

“Well, this won’t give me any more answers.” Anne muttered as she closed down her programs and the document, and disconnected all her drives from the laptop. She smiled as she held out her hand and let Crit, who had disconnected himself as well, jump on. “Thank you for your help, Crit.”

The little bug made a chirping sound and nuzzled its tiny head against her thumb, making Anne giggle.

“Okay, back in your box. You deserve a nice nap.” She said as she let the keybug crawl back into her stash, with the rest of her tools. She walked back to her closet, stood on the step stool and placed the box back on the top shelf, standing on her tiptoes to make sure it was way in the back. Ugh, she really needed to make a hiding place under her bed one of these days. Something classic, like with fake floorboards.

As she pulled back her arms, something caught on her sleeve and got pulled along. Before Anne realized, something heavy fell of the shelf – boom, crack – right on her visor.

“Ouch, sonova…” Anne groaned as she stumbled of the stepping stool, her hands pressed against her right eye. What the heck hit her? Was that Grandpa Mike’s lucky wrench? How did it end up in her closet? Wait, priorities! She ran up her mirror and …yup, there it was. A cracked visor, for real this time. “Ugh, not again …my moms are going to – agh!”

She winced when she suddenly felt her visor heat up. She pressed her hand against her eye and yelped in surprise when she felt something burn her hand. And then …it stopped, as suddenly as it started. Even the pain was gone.

Very much confused, Anne turned back to the mirror. As she caught her reflection in …her core almost stopped. The crack in her visor …was gone. Completely. Like it was never there.

“Okay …this time I know there was something.” Anne muttered to herself. She leaned in close, trying to see something weird, but …nothing. A completely undamaged visor. Nothing that showed that something had happened. This was …new. Drones just didn’t heal like that. Not without medical nano-paste and even then it would take much, much longer than just a few seconds.

Anne knew she wasn’t going crazy. There had been a wound. And now, that wound had been healed.. She remembered the last time when she thought that she had injured herself. She had felt that same burning sensation too. She must have really cracked her visor then, but it had healed …on its own.

She needed to be certain.

Only one way to know for certain.

She needed to test this.

Anne opened her lowest drawer and started to rummage through it. Eventually, in the back of the drawer – hidden beneath an adult graphic novel that Ash had gifted her a while ago – was another present that the redheaded Drone had given her a while ago: a switchblade. Her parents would freak if they knew she had this, so it was stashed away in her ‘secret shame drawer’.

She rolled up her sleeves and opened up the blade. Anne licked her lips nervously. Was she really going to do this? What if it wouldn’t happen again? But she couldn’t just walk up to her parents and claim she thinks she has ‘magic healing powers’ now, either.

“Okay, Anne Elliot Brinkman, you can do this.” She told herself, steeling herself for what she was going to do. Just …one little cut, to prove your theory. Nothing too big. Just enough to see the results. “Ooh boy …okay. One …two …two-and-half …THREE!”

There was the sound of metal piercing metal and Anne let out a surprised squeak. She held up her hand and gasped. She had been so nervous that she had put a bit too much force in her swing. Instead of making a cut …the blade was embedded into her hand, with the tip of the blade sticking out her back of her hand.

Anne inhaled deeply and held her breath, keeping herself from screaming. She quickly pulled out the blade, whimpering as she did it. She threw the blade aside and held her injured hand. There was a neat little hole, right in the middle of it. It was then that she realized …what a stupid idea this actually had been.

“What’s your glitch, Anne!?” She asked herself, feeling incredibly dumb for this dangerous action. “Of course, you don’t have magic healing powers. No, right now, there’s a hole in your hand and you’re going to have to explain to your parents why-“

A burning sensation started to build up in her hand, halting her self-deprecating reprimand. She gasped when she saw the edges of the wound …light up. Glowing red, like they were burning hot. Scratch that, exactly like it was burning hot. She could feel the heat rising up from it. The wound started to close up, slowly but surely. It was like someone was playing a video in reverse. A few moments later, the burning faded away and her hand cooled down.

Anne held out her hand in front of her, a dumfounded expression on her face. The entire hand was completely healed. No sign that she had been wounded. Even the oil from the wound had evaporated. She turned her hand to the other side and even there, it was healed.

Anne stumbled backwards, her head even more spinning. Her knees his the edge of her bed, making her fall backwards. As she laid down, staring at the ceiling, she tried to make sense of everything. It was all …so much: the fake report with the possibilities surrounding her parents and now, this healing ability? What else was going to happen? Was she going to sprout wing or something weird like that? Was it connected to her birth parents? Had it something to do with why they had left her?

Once again, Anne was left with more questions than the answers she’d gotten. But even with all the weirdness, she knew deep inside her core that she was getting close.

…

Wait …her core?

Anne bolted upright. She had an idea. There was something that she could do that would yield more answers. It was going to be risky, but …she couldn’t walk away from this. She had to look up a few things first to make sure, but …yeah, this could work.

“I’m going to need an accomplice, though.” Anne said to herself with a grin.

She suddenly heard her mother call her from downstairs. “Anne, can you come down for dinner, sweetheart?”

“Coming, momma!” Anne answered, walking out her room. She never noticed the notification on her laptop.

[ERROR! CALLBACK PING FAILED!]

Chapter Text

Anne was in a rush to get to school the following morning, despite her mild exhaustion. She had been up all night, looking over photos and blueprints, in order to make sure her plan had any sort of merit. She needed to find – aha, there she Ashely. And much to Anne’s amusement, the redheaded Drone was once again playing matchmaker between two other Drones. She ran up to Ash and her quarry and grabbed her by the shoulder, making the latter yelp in surprise.

“Hey Brody, Killian, I need to borrow Ash for a second.” Anne stated to the two boys, already dragging a startled Ashley away from them. “No problem? Okay, thanks!”

“Girl, great to see you, but do you know how long I’ve been working those two?” Ashley asked as she followed her friend. “I was about to seal the deal between them.”

“That can wait, and besides, everyone knows it’s just a matter of time between those two. C’mon, here.” Anne turned a corner, peeking around to make sure no-one was around. When she was certain they were alone, she leaned in closer to Ash and brought her voice down to a whisper. “So, I’ve gone through those documents we got from the Centre yesterday.”

Ashley’s eyes turned from annoyed to curious, an eager grin spreading on her lips. “Ooh, okay, I’m all non-existent ears. What did you find?”

“Nothing.”

Ashley visibly deflated, her visor turning – literally – blank for a few moments, before she crossed her arms with her expression alternating between annoyed to curious to confused. “Then why do you sound so eager-beaver about it?”

“Because I noticed something weird with the files and decided to hack them.” Anne grinned. “I found something really, really weird.”

“Okay, you’ve had my curiosity, and now you’ve got my attention.” Ashley chuckled. “Could’ve started with that, y’know?”

Anne quickly summarized what had happened the day before. She swore that Ashley’s visor was going to pop out with every new revelation she relayed to her best friend. She did purposely let out the part where …she found out she could instantly heal from any wound. Best not to spring that particular ‘special detail’ on her for now.

“Jeez, ‘weird’ indeed.” Ash commented when Anne finished her story.

“Right?”

“So, what are you going to do?” Ash asked, peeking around the corner to see if they were still having a private conversation. The redheaded Drone knew like no other how quickly rumours would spread around the school. “Seems to me that you’ve hit a dead end.”

“That’s what I thought at first, too.” Anne began, grinning mischievously. “But then I thought: if the PSC in my core they originally detected was a fake, then there is a good chance that I could find out the real one. Those are still in there, whether or not a counterfeit is present or not. It’s impossible to remove those.”

“And how would you do that?” The redhead tilted her head in confusion. “You said it yourself; they’ll probably end up with the same results as 16 years ago.”

“Simple …” Anne stated matter-of-factly. “I’m going to hack my own core!”

Ash’s eyes hollowed in shock. She grabbed Anne by the shoulder and pulled her closer. “Are you crazy? Why would you do that? Listen, I’m all for risky and crazy stunts, but hacking your core systems seems …too dangerous and reckless, even for me. How the heck would you even do it? You’re a great hacker, but even you haven’t got the right tools to safely access your core. At best, you’d go blind …until they’d fix your optical systems. Worst case scenario …”

“I know that. Man, Ash, have some faith in your best girl. I’m good, but I’m not dumb enough to mess with my core without the proper equipment.” Anne grinned, slightly amused at her friend’s concern. “Luckily, they do have that type of equipment that I’d need in the Municipal Centre. They do that kind of Core scans there all the time.”

“Yeah, but those are for official things, not – and I’m sorry/can’t believe I’m saying this – on the whim of an adolescent girl with a hunch.” Ash sighed, presenting a doubtful grimace. “They’ll never allow it. They’ll throw you out the door. Optionally, they’ll laugh while doing so.”

“So …we’re not telling them.” Anne said, bringing her voice to a lower volume. “We’ll do it behind their backs, without them ever knowing.”

“Yeah, good luck with that. I’m sure they’ll all magically -” Ash paused for a moment. “Oh, you’re serious.”

“Very serious.”

“And how, pray tell, are you going to pull that off?” Ash asked, genuinely curious. “That place has, like, a lot of security.”

“I’ve got a plan.” Anne stated. “A good one. But …I’m not telling you, unless you’re in.”

“Oh really?”

“Really.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.” Anne crossed her arms in a defiant stance. “You in or out, Red Ash?”

 “So, you’re expecting me to follow you into this desperate plan of yours, without knowing any of the details of said plan, into a situation where we can end up in a lot, like a lot, of trouble? On nothing but blind faith?” Ashley crossed her arms, leaning in close to Anne’s face, her expression mildly frustrated. “All because you ask me nicely? Is that what you’re saying?”

“It is.” Anne leaned in closer as well, their faces only inches apart from another. “What do you say?”

Ashley’s expression remained unmoved, like it was carved out of stone. After a few moments, the rock started to split and a grin slowly started to form on her face. She chuckled. “Girl, I’m offended you thought you needed to ask! Of course, I’m in.”

Anne let out a sigh of relief. For a moment there, she really though Ash was gonna bail on her. She should’ve known better. These kinds of stunts? Totally up Ash’s alley. “Thanks, Ash. I don’t think I could do this one without you.” She confessed, holding out her fist. “I need someone to watch my back and pull me out when things get dicey.”

“See, always the smart one.” Ashley chuckled, holding out her fist as well. “Count me in, 2Tone.”

They bumped their fists together, clasped each other by the forearm and pulled each other together into a hug.

“Trouble Gals together?” Anne asked, resting her chin on her friend’s shoulder.

“Trouble Gals forever.” Ashley replied, trying her best to disable the blush on her visor.

At that moment, the bell rang and the two girls hasted themselves to get to class on time. Anne already was on thin ice and she really didn’t need to aggravate her problems any further, especially with her plan to be set in motion.

At least she hadn’t forgotten her homework this time.

…

Did she?

…

Yeah, yeah, she had put in her backpack.

…

Right?

…

Yes, it was.

…

Because her mom had put in there before she went to school.

Because she’d forgotten to do it herself.

whoops.

***

After school, Anne had texted her moms and let them know she and Ash were going to hang out at the mall for a couple of hours, to gawk at clothes too expensive for them to buy and maybe get started on homework at their favourite food place. But instead taking the bus to the mall – Ash did make Anne promise they’d do it afterwards, though – they instead went the other way: toward the Municipal Centre.

The two girls had secluded themselves at the back of the bus. By sheer luck, it seemed they were the only ones on there, so no-one could overhear their conversation.

“So, Master Planner, are you going to fill me in on your little secret heist plan or what?” Ashley asked quietly with a massive grin. She would be lying if she wasn’t feeling a bit anxious about this, yet her curiosity and inborn need for thrill and excitement had the upper hand.

“So, If I’m going to hack my core to look around, I’m going to need the equipment from the Core Scan Department.” Anne began. “But, like you said, they’ll never are going to let me.”

“Uh-huh.” Ash leaned back. “So, I guess you’ll need to get inside without them noticing you, huh?”

“Yes, but not exactly …” Anne whipped out her phone and showed Ash a picture of the Municipal Centre’s entrance. She pointed at a series of ATM-like machines strewn along the outside walls. “On the outside of the building, they have these Public Access Scanners. Those are always free to use, without any fuss or supervision.”

“Yeah, but those don’t work on Cores.” Ash tapped the screen for emphasis – for any good that did, but she liked to be dramatic. “Those only work for, like, publicly available stuff, transactions and whatnot. Personal medical records, paying fines …heck, Pops used those to get movie tickets with a discount on his last date.”

“Yeah, but they are connected to the same mainframe. Those public scanners use a lot of the same software and similar hardware ...according the Centre’s website.” Anne explained. “With a bit of hacking, I can use those to gain access to the programs I need and run it from my laptop.” She patted her backpack, where she had hidden her tools needed for today’s heist.

“Uh, don’t you think that people are going to notice when someone is trying to hack the system?” Ash crossed her arms, her expression worried. “You know, in the plain, wide open? Even if; by some sort of miracle, the people on the street don’t notice what you -we – are doing, there are security cameras outside.”

“But when they build those new offices last year, they had to remove the scanners along the north side.” Anne scrolled over to the next photo, showing an alley between the centre and the neighbouring office building.

“So?”

“So, the scanners themselves may be gone, but the ports where they used to be plugged in are still in the wall.” Anne revealed. To be honest, this was merely speculation, but she figured that since no-one had torn down any walls of the Centre during that time, they were hopefully still there and preferably reachable. It was a bit of a gamble, but it was still her best shot. “I can use those to make the connection needed to hack into the Central Mainframe. And in the alley, no-one is going to notice us.”

“Okay, I see what you’re going for …” Ash nodded along, seemingly agreeing with was Anne was telling her. “But, what if …you know, none of the above is there?”

Anne let out a deep sigh. “Then, …I don’t know.” She noticed they were nearing their destination and pressed the STOP button. “A new plan, I suppose.”

As they stepped out of the bus, they could see the Centre in the distance. Just a couple of minutes of walking …or a lot less when they’d be running. Both Anne and Ashley turned to each other with the same grin on their face, fully knowing what would happen next.

“Ready-set-go!” Ashley yelled, already running at full speed. “RACE YA, SLOWPOKE!”

“No fair!” The raven-haired – with red-dyed ends – Drone shouted, laughing as she ran after her friend.

Anne ran as fast as she could, feeling the wind tickle against her audio receptors. It didn’t take long for her to reach the Centre. She let out a cheer when she jumped onto the steps leading to the main entrance. “Hah, I won! How about th-“

The rest of her taunt hitched in her throat when she noticed just how far behind that Ashley was. It was then that Anne realised how fast that she had actually ran. Faster than usual. Easier than usual. Anne was a notorious bad runner in her class, due to her clumsy nature often getting in the way. She wasn’t the slowest of her class, but there was a reason that PE wasn’t her best subject – not that she had bad grades, it was just not her thing.

Was this another change because of …? Nope, nope, she couldn’t deal with …that other thing right now. She had to focus on this. Everything else could come later.

It took Ashley about a minute to catch up and reach the steps too, huffing and puffing when she did. “Dang, girl …when did you get so fast?” She breathed out, resting her hands on her knees. “Did you install a jet engine in that cute little booty of yours?”

“Guess I’m just excited and that made me run faster?” Anne suggested nervously, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. She asked Ash if she was okay, but the latter waved her concern away, claiming she’d be alright and that ‘next time, she won’t go so easy on her’. Anne chuckled – or tried to do so naturally as possible – and gestured her out-of-breath friend to follow her.

They turned the corner and walked over to where the alley was. Even before they got to it, they noticed a problem.

“Uh, Anne?”

“Yup?”

“Your photos didn’t show a closed gate by the alley, did they?”

“Nope.”

Indeed, the alley was closed off with a metal mesh gate, secured with a heavy chain and closed with an even sturdier looking lock.

“You know, it’s sometimes comforting to think that, even in our advanced day and age, we still can rely on the old-fashioned ways of our Creators.” Ashley said as she jiggled the heavy lock a few times. “But right now …they suck.”

“Yeah, can’t hack an analogue lock.” Anne muttered, looking around. Why didn’t she bring her bolt cutters? Oh yeah …she doesn’t have those. Ashely elbowed her and gestured to the top of the gate. It was completely open and they could probably just climb over it.

“Okay, you boost me up there.” Ashley instructed, slapping Anne on the shoulder.

“Why you first?” Anne questioned, reluctantly getting into position.

“I’m taller.”

“How’s that an answer?”

“Are your arms long enough to pull me up, short stack?” Ashley asked, her tone implying a theoretical question.

Anne remained silent for a few moments, before letting out a sigh. “Bite me, Radish.” She rolled her eyes and steadied her posture. She looked around, making sure that no-one was going to notice them. When she felt that the coast was clear, she nodded to her friend. “Okay, ready.”

Anne lowered herself and bend over, allowing Ash to step on her back. When she felt like Ash had a stable footing, she started to lift herself up.

“Almost there…” Ashley said as she reached up to the top of the gate. “You good, Anne?”

“Just …about …” Anne actually felt no discomfort, but decided to keep up the ruse …for now.

“Oookaaaay, got it!” Ashley pulled herself up and swung one leg over the gate. After making sure she wouldn’t topple over first, she held out her hand towards Anne. “Okay, you’re up …once I pull you up!”

“Har-har, Ash.” Anne replied sarcastically with a roll of her eyes. She took a few steps back, took a running start and jumped …higher than she thought she would. With one jump, she almost launched herself over the gate …almost, though. Instead, she landed gut-fist against the top bar of the mesh door.

“Wow, what a jump, girl!” Ashley gasped, quickly helping the rest of Anne over the gate and lowering her to the ground. “Have you been working out, or did you install spring in your feet?”

“Something like that.” Anne mumbled; a bit dazed from getting the wind knocked out of her. She brushed herself off and walked down the alley, letting her gaze run over the Municipal Centre’s north wall. It didn’t take long before she found what she needed: an old sign that indicated that a Scanner was – or had been – there. The scanner itself was gone and they had blocked the outlet where it used to be hooked into with a metal panel, but it was secured with simple nuts bolts.

And luckily, Anne had her Grandpa Mike’s lucky wrench with her. It wouldn’t take long to take off the panel and gain access to the inner circuitry.

Ashley was still at the gate, checking if no-one had noticed them. When she noticed they were in the clear, she quickly joined her friend. “Okay, we’re good.”

“Great! Hang on, I just need…” Anne started to rummage in her backpack, with Ashley trying to look over her shoulder and see what her friend was looking for. “Ah, found you. Here, can you hold him?”

Ashley held out her open hand, ready to take whatever Anne was going to give her. “Sure… wait, him? Who are y- AAH!” She shrieked when she saw that she was holding a robo-roach in the palm of her hand. “EW-EW-EW! WHY DO YOU HAVE THIS? I THOUGHT YOU KILLED IT?”

“Keep your voice down.” Anne hissed, looking over to the gate to see if anyone was going to come. “And why do you think I’ve killed Mr. Crit?”

“Because it’s a roach! And that’s what you do with roaches!” Ashley tried to back away as far from the critter as she could, while trying to simultaneously keeping her hands as far away from her body. It was honestly a funny sight, the way she tried to bend her body in ways Anne imagined not too comfortable for her. “Why do you even have this …thing with you? You know how I feel about those creepy crawlers.”

“Because I need him.” Anne stated plainly, getting out her laptop and an assortment of cables. It was honestly quite funny that tough-as-nails-yet-with-a-soft-centre Ashley Yates was scared of something as small like robo-roaches.

“In what possible way could you need something filthy like this?” Ash was jumping from one foot to the other, looking very uncomfortable. She breathed a sigh of relief when Anne finally took the critter away from her. She shuddered when Anne allowed the roach to crawl upon her shoulder.

“While I can make a direct connection to the mainframe from here;” Anne began, plugging in various cables into the outlet and her laptop. “-the system that houses the Core Scan programs is separated from the more common ones, so I need Crit to act as a bridge between those systems and my laptop.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Trust me, it works like that.” Anne stated, not really in the mood to explain the intricate machinations of the art of hacking. “He’ll also mask my signature, so we don’t get detected; but even then, I won’t have that much time.”

“One thing, though.” Ashley stated as she walked over to Anne. “Why do you need me? Feels like you’ve could have easily done this without me. … Heh, maybe not the fence, but-“

“Because …for this I’ll need to do a Full Dive inside the system.” Anne explained, taking hold of the final cable she needed to plug in. Right into her own Data Port in her neck. “While my body does the physical hacking, my avatar – which I’ll be in direct control off – will need to do more micro-hacking inside.”

“Eh, didn’t you once tell me those are dangerous?” Ash asked cautiously, concern growing in her tone of voice.

“Not dangerous, but …risky.” Anne winced as she plugged in the cable into her port. “And that’s why I need you with me. If you notice that something is going wrong, I need you to pull the plug and take me out the system.”

Ashley suddenly looked apprehensive. “I …I don’t know, Anne. What if-“

“I trust you completely, Ash. It’s going to be okay.” Anne reassured her friend with a comforting smile. She pointed at a combination of keys on her laptop. “Just press these keys first. Otherwise, my processor is going to overload and blow out my visor.”

“Jeez, no pressure or anything, right?” Ashely scoffed, but grinned nonetheless. “Okay, you can count on me.”

“Thank, Ash.”

“But you’ll owe me big time.”

“I’ll owe you twice.” Anne grabbed Crit from her shoulder. “Okay, Crit, I need you to go up there;” She pointed at a ventilation exhaust above them. “-sneak over to the Central Computer and establish a connection between it and my laptop. Understood?”

Crit, being a roach, couldn’t answer, but he scampered off of Anne’s hand and started to climb up to make his way into the vent.

“Now what?” Ash asked.

“Now, we wait for him to do his job, while I’ll prepare the rest from here.” Anne booted up her hacking program.

Ashley chuckled. “Wow, retro.”

“What? It’s a classic look and a very reliable tool.” Anne defended her choice of interface. “The one and only darkXWolf17 made this. That guy’s work has been a legend in the hacker community from even before my birth. Or my parents’ birth. Or my grandparents. Or-“

“I get it, ancient tool but still used by everyone.” Ashley interrupted with a roll of her eyes. She sighed. “How long before your bug-“

Anne’s laptop beeped, the latter smiling brightly. “Okay, Crit has made a stable connection between my laptop and the Central Computer.” She quickly pulled up a few system logs and typed in some commands. “Looks like the system hasn’t detected up. So far, so good.”

Anne took a deep breath, rolled her head from side to side, started the countdown on her laptop and gave Ashley a final look. “Okay, I’m going in.”

“Good luck.” Ash said with a thumbs up, but the smile on her face seemed forced.

“Making the Dive in 3 …2 …1 …now!” Anne suddenly felt like her mind was being pulled out of her body. Anne squeezed her eyes shut, trying to keep her cool. What she hadn’t told Ash was that she never even attempted to do a full dive like this before. Her friend had been right about the fact that it was a dangerous thing to do, but she had no choice. This was the only way. She only wished that it didn’t feel so awful to do so. It was she was both falling and flying, in all sort of directions, going from everywhere to nowhere at all. It was like she was going to expel her guts out at any moment.

And suddenly …it stopped. She slowly opened her eyes and gasped at the sigh before her. She was hovering in a dark void, bright lines of codes and data flying everywhere. It was …

“So cool!” Anne said to herself with a grin. Man, this was a weird experience. She could feel her fingers on the keyboard, back in the physical world. But she also was right here, right in the Dataspace. Honestly, she wished she could spend hours just playing with the possibilities in her. But she had a job to do, so she’d better get started.

Anne brought up a digital manifestation of her hacking screen and began to insert codes.

Anne grinned. She had access to the Core Scan system. The digital world around her began to swirl for a moment – again, feeling like she was being pulled in every direction – and when the world became still again, she hovered in front of a …well, something that looked like a scanner. Seems her mind – and maybe with a little help from Crit - was making the surrounding data and programs look like something a bit more familiar.

“Handy.” Anne stated as she placed her hand on the scanner. Now, what next? “Uh, start Core scan for Parental Source Codes?”

Immediately, she felt something stir inside her, which she took as a sign that everything was going the way it was supposed to. A few moments passed, until a new message popped up.

Great, looks like her hacking program had intercepted the decoy file with the fake parental codes. Using data that the had pulled from the hacked file, she had managed to make a subroutine that would recognize the fake. Now, all that she needed to do, was upload a daemon that would quarantine the decoy and delete the subroutine that was programmed into her Core. That would enable her to start a trace command with the real ones.

Anne grinned widely as she noticed that the trace had already started and was making enormous progress. Finally, she would be one step closer to getting some real answers. Who her parents were, where they were right now, things like that. Anne couldn’t help but feel exited.

Everything was going flawless. The trace had almost done its job. Just a few more moments and it would provide her with the answers she needed.

…

And then it felt like she got hit in the gut. She yelped as she felt a sudden stabbing pain inside her head. It was like someone was physically reaching inside her head and feeling around. What was happening? The manifestation of her hacking tool displayed a new message, which she almost couldn’t read, as her vision started to glitch.

A wave of panic washed over Anne. Someone, or something, was hacking her? Oh, not good. Not good at all. Was it the security system, having detected her and labelling her as a virus? Could it be the people who had altered her core in the first place? Was it-?

She didn’t have time to ponder, because a new wave of pain hit her like a sack of bricks. Her vision was glitching violently, but she could make out a change in the message.

<WHO_ARE_YOU?>

Now she really was panicking. She quickly started a counterattack, trying to flush the intruder out of her system. She fired code after code at the counter-hack, but it seemed whoever her adversary was, they were good. With every step that Anne managed to push them back, they took two more.

Suddenly, Anne noticed something that was really making her panic.

They were running a trace on her! Anne feared to even consider what would happen if they’d find her. She got a new message, this time from another program on her laptop. It seemed that Ash had noticed something going wrong and was trying to get her out, but she was locked out of the system. It seemed that whoever wanted to find Anne, was prepared.

Panicked, Anne could see only one way out, while the trace wasn’t complete yet. It was extremely dangerous, but …she had to manually pull herself out. Sever the connection between her and the mainframe before whoever it was could pull out any data. Or at least …make someone else do it.

“Crit!” She yelled out desperately, hoping that the robo-roach. “Terminate the connection, immediately.”

A new message appeared in front of her.

<WARNING: SEVERING THE CONNECTION LIKET HIS, WITHOUT THE PROPER STEPS, MIGHT CAUSE DAMAGE TO INTERNAL SYSTEMS. ARE YOU CERTAIN YOU WANT TO TERMINATE? Y/N?>

“DO IT!” Anne yelled.

<AKNOWLEDGED. TERMINATING CONNECTION>

Anne suddenly felt like she was falling, at incredible breakneck speeds. A moment later, she got flung back inside her body. Next thing she knew, she heard a bang and felt an incredible pain, like her head exploded. She felt herself fall on her back.

“OH MY GOSH, ANNE!”

“Ash?” Anne tried sitting up, but noticed she couldn’t see. Was something covering her face. “Ash, where are-“

A pang of pain went through her head. She still couldn’t see. It was then that she realized what happened. Due to her sudden disconnection from the system, her processor had overloaded and blew out her visor, just like she had told Ash would happen.

“Oh, …I see.” Anne stated, somewhat ironically. She felt a pair of hands on her shoulders and pull her to a sitting position. She heard Ashley gasp in shock.

“Anne, your visor! I need to get you to a mech-doc!” her friend stated, clearly panicked.

The wounded Drone could already feel a burning sensation starting to build up in her head. Guess this was one way to reveal this secret. “Ash, it’s going to be alright.”

“’Alright’?” Ashley practically shouted. “Are you stupid? How is th-“

Anne interrupted her friend’s tirade with a pained yelp, holding her head when the burning sensation flared up massively. She could feel Ashley releasing her hold, gasping in shock and taking a few steps away. She felt how the circuitry inside her head was reforming and connecting themselves again. How the glass of her visor started to form. Slowly, her vision was coming back online. First, her interface booted up – showing the message <REBOOTING, IDIOT> - and then, the rest of her vision slowly started to clear up.

The burning started to ebb away.

The first thing she saw, was Ashley’s face: a mixture a fear, confusion, amazement and various other emotions.

“What just happened?” The redheaded girl asked slowly and quietly. “How did you do that? What happened in there? You suddenly started to spark and glitch, and I tried to get you out, but it wouldn’t let me and, and, and … And then your head pretty much exploded and it somehow healed on its own?”

“Ash, calm down!” Anne instructed, groaning as she managed to scramble herself up. “I …I can explain, but …we need to go.”

“But-“

“Ash, please.” Anne pleaded, frantically pulling out the cables and stuffing her laptop back into her backpack with everything else. She felt something crawl on her hand. It was Crit, who had found its way out of the building. She let him crawl into her backpack and closed it, turning to the still-confused Ashley. “I’ll tell you everything, but we really need to get somewhere safe, first.”

“I …” Ashley sighed and, reluctantly, nodded her head. “Okay, your place?”

“Y-yes, my place.”

Anne grabbed Ashley by the hand and dragged her away. Luckily, it seemed that no-one inside or around the Centre had discovered them. Everyone was just minding their own business. Nothing indicating that they were found out.

Which meant that someone else had been trying to hack her. Who could it have been? Did they find out who she was, where she was? Had she put herself in danger? Had she put her moms and her best friend Ash in danger? These thoughts ran through her head while she and Ashley made their way to the bus stop.

Once they managed to board a bus and get themselves seated, Anne only had one thought running through her mind.

In what kind of trouble had she put the two of them into?

Chapter Text

Anne’s nerves were pretty much shot by the time she and Ashley arrived at her home. Luckily, neither of Anne’s parents were at home, having another late night at the hospital. The distraught Drone quickly ran inside her house, with Ashley on her heels, and slammed the door behind them.

Ashley let out a sigh. “Anne, can y-“

“Not here.” Anne said as she grabbed Ashley by her arm and started to drag her up the stairs. “My room.”

“Okay, but-!” The other Drone groaned when Anne once again seemed to ignore her. “Will you please t- Ow, you’re hurting my arm!”

Anne quickly let go, her hands shaking and expression distraught. She hadn’t realized how hard she had been pulling. Was her strength increasing too? How much more would her body change? She gave her dearest friend an apologetic look, regret dripping of her visor. “Ash, sorry, I …I- “

“It’s fine!” Ashley grunted, rubbing her shoulder. She started to push her friend up the stairs. She practically lobbed Anne into her room, crossing her arms with a huff.

“Now can you please tell me what happened?” She asked, her voice still soft and filled with concern, despite the clear annoyance that was projected on her visor.

Anne started to hastily unpack her laptop and booting everything up, fumbling with cables and other equipment she was plugging in. “In a minute.”

Ashley let out a groan. “Anne, this starting to- “

Anne snapped her gaze to her friend. “Ash, someone was running a trace on me, and I need to know if they know who and/or where I am!” She shouted. She turned her attention back to her laptop. “Now let me work.”

Ashley stood there with her mouth agape, looking like she was going to say something for a moment, but decided against it. She crossed her arms with a sigh and waited for Anne to finish her business.

Anne ran several programs, scanned her equipment with any sort of anti-viral/hacking/diagnostic software that she owned, and …eventually let out a sigh of relief. Good, it looked like that whoever had been trying to run a trace on her didn’t succeed. Nor was any sort of malware installed on her laptop. Just to be completely sure, Anne ran a full self-diagnostic cycle to see if they hadn’t attempted to install any malicious software on her system. After a few tense minutes, the scan came up clean.

“Phew, we’re okay.”

“Are we?” Ash asked, her tone flat. “Or do you need to yell at me some more?”

The other Drone flinched, suddenly feeling really bad on how she had spoken against her best friend moments earlier. “Ash, I’m sorry about that. I-“

Ash groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. “No-no-no, I’m the one who’s sorry.” She said, her tone sincere with a hint of guilt. “You didn’t deserve that jab. I was being pushy during a tense situation and made you lash out.”

“I still shouldn’t have shouted like that.”

“Let’s agree we were both in the wrong?”

“Agreed.”

“You good?”

“I’m good. You good?”

“I’m good. We're good.”

Anne quickly ran up to Ashley and hugged her tightly, her mind finally releasing some of the stress that had been building up since they’ve left the municipal building.

“There, there.” Ashley chuckled, trying to conceal her blush when she eventually let go of her. “So, do I need to ask again, or …?”

Anne sat down on her bed, looking at her hand that were folded on her lap. “I …I’m not really sure what happened.” Anne stated truthfully. “Everything was going fine. I had access to my core and I was running the trace. I was finally so close to getting some answers, and ….I got hacked. I must have triggered an alarm or something.”

“Someone back-hacked you?” Ashley asked. “That fast? Who? Centre Security?”

Anne shook her head. “If that was the case, we would have seen security around the Centre, or even heard alarms.” She nervously wrung her hands together. “It was someone else, somewhere else.”

“Who? Why?”

“No idea, on either question.”

“And you’re sure they didn’t get a lock on you?”

“I terminated the connection before they could finish, which overloaded my systems and caused that …exploding feedback. But, judging by the lack of any sort of tracking malware on myself or the laptop, I’m certain they don’t have anything on me. Us.” Anne stated confidently. Of this, she was sure. There was no way they knew who she was or where she was.

“Did you at least get what you were looking for?”

Anne’s eyes grew wide, pretty much filling up her entire visor. In the excitement, she almost had forgotten that she had copied over the files to her drive, before their mystery hacker had butted in. She jumped up and ran to her computer, accessing the files. But the moment she opened them, she felt her heart sing.

“No …no-no-no, this can’t be right!” Anne lamented. With a growl, she slammed her fist on the table. “Son of a [beep]ing Trojan!”

“What?” Ashley questioned, joining her friend at her computer. The moment she looked over Anne’s shoulder to see what was wrong, she winced. “Ooh …that’s not good, right?”

Anne felt despair fill her core when she looked at the files …or what was left of them. It seemed that due to the sudden termination of the connection – or maybe due to something their hacker counterpart had done – that the files got corrupted and thus, unreadable. Not that she couldn’t open the files, but all the text were just symbols or jumbled words. With a long groan, Anne slumped on the ground, burying her face in her hands. Ashley knelt down next to her and started to stroke her back, not really sure what she could say.

After a few moments of silence, Ashley eventually broke it to cautiously ask a question. “So …what now?” She asked softly. “Try again another time?”

“No …no, we better not.” Anne reluctantly answered, letting out a heavy sigh. “They’re probably expecting me now.” She really didn’t feel to go up against that hacker again. Anne was good, but whoever that was, was in a whole other league than her. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do. Maybe …hey, are you listening?”

Ashley had stopped paying attention to her friend halfway through and seemed to be focused on something on the screen. “You’ve got something.”

“Huh?”

Ashley turned to Anne with a little smile. “I mean, there’s something actually readable here.”

“What? Show me!” Anne jumped up and looked at her computer. She gasped. Ashley was right. There was some data that didn’t get corrupted. It wasn’t much, but it was …well, something, like Ash had said. With a cheer, Anne threw her arms around Ashley and kissed her cheek. “Ash, you’re the best!”

“I didn’t do anything, though.” Ashley mumbled, turning away so Anne wouldn’t see her visor completely lighting up. She coughed in her hand, hoping Anne hadn’t caught unto her sudden bashfulness, and cleared her throat. “Besides, don’t get your hopes up. I said there was something readable, I have no idea if it’s usable.”

Anne deflated. “Y-yeah …”

The redheaded Drone flinched and guiltily wrung her hands together. “Anne, I didn’t mean to … “

“No-no, you are right. Don’t count our cogs before they’re all smelted, like the old saying goes.” Anne stated, going to her computer to start scanning the files for useful date. Just like Ashley had pointed out, there wasn’t much to go on. Most readable words didn’t really reveal anything. She just kept scanning over the file, hoping for a bit of good luck. “Let’s just hope that something – wait …I think …”

“What did y-? “ Ashley jumped when Anne suddenly let out a cheer. With a heavy sigh, she placed her hand over her core. “Girl, give me some warning. You almost made me yuck my core out.”

“Sorry, sorry!” Anne apologized, grabbing Ashley and dragging her to the screen. “I found them!”

Ashley practically grabbed the laptop and buried her face into it. “YOU HAVE? WHERE?”

“I almost didn’t see it, but I can make out their last known location.” Anne pointed at the screen.

The redhead squinted her eyes and read where Anne was pointing. She whistled. “Zeta District?” She read aloud. “Talk about faraway relatives. That place is so far removed from anything, I’m surprised the Global Mainframe has a connection there.”

“I know, but …at least I know where they are.” Anne beamed. She finally had some answers. Nothing much, but it was a start.”

“Anne, hold your Sentinel.” Ashley said, grabbing Anne by the shoulders. “You have a location, but …I’m sorry to say this, but you don’t even know if they’re …you know, alive.”

Ashley had a point, though. The part of the data that would show their current status got corrupted, which meant … No, she wouldn’t let this spoil her mood. Even this scrap of information was something she could use. She could …she could …

“Huh …”

“Something wrong, Anne?”

“What now?”

“Well …” Ashley opened her mouth, looking very determined to make a suggestion …and then let her arms fall to her side. “No idea, 2tone.”

“Me neither.”

“Excuse me?” Ashley couldn’t help but grin. “So, you’ve planned this entire heist to get this info …and now, you have no idea what’s the next step?”

“I know, I know.” Blush lines formed on Anne’s visor. She really hadn’t figured out what she had to do next. She had been so busy planning how to acquire the information from the Centre, that she forgotten to figure out what she’d had to do with it when she’d get it.

“Well, why don’t we forget about that for a while …” Ashley began cautiously, as she started to walk circles around Anne, letting her gaze go over her, like she was checking her out. “Let’s talk about how you regrew your visor after it got blown out?”

“Oh yeah …that.” Anne almost forgot about that …scratch that, she had totally and completely forgotten about that. Ashley had seen her heal in quite the spectacular fashion.

“That.” Ashley confirmed and crossed her arms, giving her friend an apprehensive look. “Anne, what was that? That …didn’t look like anything I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen you getting patched up, like, a thousand times.”

“I …” Anne took a deep breath, anxiety filling her core, even more than when she was dealing with that hacker. How would Ash react? How would she look at her when she’d hear her story? Afraid? Jealous? Could she lose her best friend over this? Her best course of action, she figured, was just being honest and hope for the best. Right …here goes nothing. “I don’t really know what it is, exactly. It started a few days ago, when I accidentally dropped a wrench on my head.”

Ashley grinned slightly. “Yeah, sounds like you. Continue.”

And thus, Anne told Ashley what she knew. How she suspected the first time it happened was when she tumbled out of bed, which made Ashley laugh – Anne took that as a good sign. How she witnessed it really happen the day before.

“Daaaang …that’s crazy.” Ashley eventually exclaimed softly. “Hey, you’ve been getting faster, stronger …is it the same thing?”

“I guess …” Anne confessed. “I didn’t have that yesterday, though.”

“I see …” Ashley looked at the ground for a few moments, before her gaze turned to Anne. “Could …could you show me?”

“Show you?”

Ashley held up her hands, her expression showing shame for asking that. “Oops, nope, I didn’t ask anything. That was stupid and thoughtless. That was me running my mouth without thinking again. Forget I-“

“Okay, I’ll show you.”

Ashley blinked in surprise. “Really?”

“Really.”

Anne walked over to her dresser and took out the same knife she had ‘experimented’ with the other day. Even if her beloved bestie lacked some tact from time to time, she couldn’t blame Ashley for being curious, though. In fact, …she was as well. How much more would these things evolve? Her enhanced healing – still weird to even think that – was getting faster with every day. And the things that happened today? What other surprises would there be in store for her.

She waited for Ashley to join her by the dresser, while she rolled up her sleeve. She held out the knife to Ash, who reluctantly took it.

“You want me to …?” the latter muttered as she stared at Anne’s arm.

“Just …don’t stab me.” Anne mumbled, blushing as she remembered her fiasco from the other night. “It still hurts, y’know.”

“Yeah, I figured.” Ashley’s voice had this almost unnoticeable shiver to it. She brought the knife to Anne’s arm, took a deep breath and …made a cut.

Anne winced and grimaced when she saw oil starting to lead out. She opened her mouth to say something; but immediately, the wound started to glow red and hot. A few moments later, the wound closed itself. Like before, it didn’t even leave a mark. She wiped the heat-dried oil of her arm and held it up. “There, satisfied?”

Ashley took a hold of Anne’s arm and gave it a look, gently rubbing a finger over where the cut had been only seconds ago. Anne had noticed how quickly it had started to heal this time. The other times it had taken a while longer before the healing started. Perhaps her powers were getting stronger? Or maybe smaller wounds just healed faster?  She pulled her arm away, not really feeling ready to experiment a second time.

Ashley took a few steps away from her friend, arms crossed and her gaze fixed to the ceiling, clearly deep in thought. Anne nervously played with the zipper of her jacket while she waited for her partner in (playful) crime to say what she was thinking. Eventually, Ashley broke the silence with a deep inhale, before letting it slowly be released into the tense air.

“Honestly, …I think this is …” She looked up with a grin. “Awesome. Absolutely awesome!”

A giant question mark formed on Anne’s visor.

“I mean, super-healing, super-agility, super-strength! you’re basically turning into a superhero!” Ashley was gushing at this point, pacing around the room with – literal – sparkles in her visor. She let out a gasp. “No-no-no, dude, remember those scary stories at camp? Can you grow wings? Do you have a tail?”

“N-no? I am not following, Ash.” Anne stated dryly, flabbergasted at how enthusiastically her friend was taking this. Honestly, she felt …kinda offended, or something? She was going through a few emotions right now.

“You know, the ‘Legend of the Murder Drones’ stories?” Ashley explained eagerly, her eyes wide with excitement. “Giant, oil-thirsty Drones with tails and wings, cast down by Evil Creators to hunt down the Drones of the Old Times? I loved that story!”

“Well, I’m so glad that I remind you of some mythological monster.” Anne stated dryly, hoping that the sharp tone in her voice would make Ash simmer down a bit. “Really, so happy that you’re taking this so well! And without a drop of concern, no doubt.” She let out a huff and crossed her arms.

Ashley flinched, looking very guilty suddenly. “Oh …yeah, I guess that you …” She nervously rubbed the back of her head, throwing a nervous, apologetic grin Anne’s way. “How …are you feeling about all this?”

“Honestly?” Anne took a deep, shuddering breath. She plopped down on her bed, letting herself fall backwards to stare at the ceiling. “I’m scared, Ash. I mean, why am I getting these abilities? Why did they start now, when I’m already dealing with my whole mystery parents- Oh!”

Anne bolted upright, throwing her friend a look.

The look on Ashley’s face betrayed that she had come to the same conclusion. “You think that …?”

“It …could be? Maybe?” Anne stated unsurely. “I mean …it would make sense?”

“It would be too much of a coincidence otherwise, right?”

Anne bit her lower lip and started to pace around her room. To think that she hadn’t made the connection earlier.

Her being left at Hazel and Naomi’s as a baby;

The fake file about her ‘fake dead parents’;

The decoy Parental Source Code that protected the truth in her core;

These …abilities that she’s been developing;

The hacker trying to stop her.

“What if it’s all connected?” Anne asked aloud, jumping from her bed to pace around the room. “What if this is why my birth parents left me behind? What if they knew this could happen to me? And if so, why? To protect me? Themselves? Were they on the run from someone who wanted me?”

“Or was responsible for these abilities in the first place?” Ashley added. “I mean, it’s maybe a cliché, but if they didn’t want to be found, or even wanted to know you were their child, maybe the best thing was to …hide you away?”

“Maybe?” Anne sighed. Once again, she was left with more questions than answers, but at least this time, she had something. “I’ll never know for sure if I, you know, don’t meet my birth parents and ask them myself.”

“Yeah, about that …” Ashley whipped out her phone and quickly typed in something. “Zeta District is, like, hundreds of miles away from Rivetdale. How are you going to convince your parents to take you there?”

Anne froze. Her parents. She hadn’t considered that. How was she going to convince them? Scratch that: how was she going to tell them that she had looked into this? That she had hacked her way into a government mainframe to get this information? How would they react about …everything?

And what about that hacker? What was their angle? Were they dangerous? What if she’d run into them again?

What of her parents then?

What of Ashley?

Something clicked in the back of Anne’s head. She knew what needed to be done. And the thought saddened her. But she couldn’t show it to Ashley.

“Psh, I’m sure I’ll think of something.” Anne said with a dismissive wave and giving Ashley a wide grin, making the latter tilt her head in confusion. “Give me a few days to think of something. Maybe it’s best if we’ll lay low for a little while, y’know.”

“Ooo-kay?” Ashley drawled out.

Anne walked up to the other girl and threw her arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug.

“Uh, not that I’m complaining, but what’s this for?” Ashley asked, awkwardly returning the unexpected hug.

“Just …thank you for your help with this.” Anne explained, resting her chin on Ashley’s shoulder, trying to hide the sad expression that she had trouble hiding away. “And for, you know, being so cool with the whole powers thing.”

Ashley let out a chuckle. “Hey, no problem.” She responded with a big grin, oblivious to Anne’s sullen mood. She pulled away from the hug and softly punched the latter’s shoulder. “What are friends for, right?”

“Right.” Anne echoed.

In her mind, she was already apologizing to her friend, because of what she had to do.

***

“So, how was school, darling?” Hazel asked at the dinner table that evening.

“School was fine.” Anne replied, a bit absentmindedly.

“Did you and Ashley have fun at the mall?” Naomi asked, taking a bite of her Battery Casserole.

“Mh-hmmm …” Anne poked at her food.

Hazel threw her wife a look, who just shrugged her shoulders, clueless about what could be amiss with their daughters current mood.

“Anne, everything okay?” Naomi asked, folding her hands on the table and giving her daughter a concerned look. “You look a bit …distracted.”

Anne quickly looked up and gave her mothers a smile. “Oh, sorry.” She apologized. “Just tired. Me and Ash practically ran a marathon today.”

“Oh? Okay…” Hazel responded, not really convinced.

“Hey, I’ve got an idea! You’ve got a long weekend coming up, right?” Naomi piped up with a big grin, feeling like this table needed some dire mood-improving shenanigans. “How about we go do something? Pack our bags and, I don’t know, just go somewhere?”

Hazel clapped her hands together with an exalted gasp. “Wonderful idea, Omi! Oh, I could ask Reggie if we could borrow his Vacation Cabin in Chromium Fields Winter Resort. With the new babies, he and his spouses won’t have the time. He’s been lamenting that the space has been going to waste these last few months. I’m sure he’ll be happy to let us use it.”

“It has been a while since I’ve broken a limb or two by skiing.” Naomi quipped, chuckling as she received a stern look from her wife. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding.”

“That sounds …great, actually.” Anne replied, managing to produce something of a enthusiastic smile.

“You could invite Ash as well!” Hazel suggested.

A wicked grin spread on Naomi’s face. “Yes, it would be good for you two. It’s a great place for rom- ouch!” She winced when Hazel kicked her shin under the table. “A-a great place for fun, I was going to say.”

Anne tilted her head, extremely confused. “Ooo-kay? I’ll …be sure to give Ash an invitation.” She stood up from the table. “Can I be excused?”

“Oh?” Hazel looked at her daughter’s plate. “You hardly touched your food, Anne.”

“Yeah, I’m just not that hungry.” Anne explained.

Naomi sighed and gave her wife a look, who sighed as well and nodded. “Okay, fine. But if you’re feeling peckish later, we’ll leave it in the fridge for you.”

“Deal!” Anne walked up to Naomi and threw her arms around her. “Love you, momma.”

“L-love you too, kiddo.” Naomi replied, a bit befuddled by this sudden bout of affection.

“Hey, how about me?” Hazel asked, extending her arms. She laughed as Anne practically threw herself in her arms and gave her a big hug. “We love you so much, Anne.”

“I know …” Anne replied softly. “I love you too, mom.”

Anne eventually broke away from the hug and started to make her way upstairs. Both parents smiled warmly at her, but the moment they heard the door of her room close, the smiles faded.

“Did you see that?” Naomi asked, reaching out to grab Hazel’s hand.

“Yes, she seemed …down?” Hazel replied, concern radiating from her face. She let out a soft gasp. “Do you think something happened between her and Ashley?”

“Maybe?” Naomi sighed. “Maybe Ash finally confessed what we all have been obviously seeing?”

“She would have told us something.” Hazel bit her lower lip. “Do you think it has something to do with ….you know? I mean, when she found out, she was so distraught and I know she told you she doesn’t hate us, but …” She sighed and let her hands run through Naomi’s pink dyed hair. “I’m just scared we’re gonna lose her.”

Naomi affectionately placed a hand on her wife’s face and gently rubbed her thumb over her cheek. “Hazel, baby, love of my life …you worry too much. Anne loves us, maybe almost as much as we love her. We just …need to give her some space for now. You’ll see, with a little time, she’ll be back to her regular bright self.”

Hazel nodded and leaned in to kiss Naomi, who eagerly accepted. She grinned mischievously at her wife as they broke away from the kiss. “How come you always know what to say to me, Naomi Brinkman?”

“Because, baby, I know you.” Naomi responded, letting her hands slide from Hazel’s face to her hips, gently squeezing when they reached their destination.

“Noami, Anne is upstairs.” Hazel chastised with a flustered whisper, as she tried to pull her wife’s hands away from her waist. She gasped when Naomi suddenly pulled her unto her lap.

“So you’ll better stay quiet, if you don’t want her to come down and see what’s going on, Babe.” Naomi whispered back, as she started to leave a trail of kisses on Hazel’s neck.

Hazel sputtered a few objections, but by the third kiss, she relented. She let out a heavy sigh as she surrendered herself to her wife’s loving touches and wrapped her arms around the latter’s waist. Loving this treatment or not, she’d be sure to get retribution on Naomi for this later that night.

***

It was the middle of the night when Anne’s internal alarm clock rang, which she quickly turned off. She slowly crawled out of bed, already dressed. She snuck to her door and opened it slightly. There was no indication that her parents had heard her alarm.

“Okay …let’s do this.” Anne told herself as she walked over to her desk.

She sat herself down in front of her mirror, and grabbed a blank data stick from her drawers, plugging it into the data port at the back of her neck. Once she was sure that the storage device was securely in place, she turned her attention to her mirror and opened her inbuilt recording software. A little red dot at the corner of her vision told her that she was recording.

She took a deep breath. This was going to be hard.

“Mom, momma, when you see this recording, I’ll …I’ll be long gone. Please, don’t be mad. I needed to do this.” She began, trying very hard to keep her voice even and not to cry. “First, I want you guys to know, that this isn’t because anything you have done. This is not your fault. This was my decision for my own reasons. You have been nothing but wonderful and understanding, but …”

She closed her eyes, gathering her thoughts.

“I haven’t been honest with you guys.” She confessed. “For the last few days, I have been investigating the events surrounding my adoption. I’ve done a few things that you wouldn’t approve of, but …it worked. I …I’ve found out parts of the truth. Things you don’t know, and that I can’t say because ….”

She couldn’t say it. She couldn’t mention the hacker, the forged files, the location that her Parental Source Code had shown her.

“I have found them.” Anne continued. “I found proof that my parents – my birth parents – are still alive and out there. And I’m going to find them, because there are questions, and they will be the only ones who will have the answers.”

Her entire body was shaking. There was a part, deep inside of her, screaming to stop this. That this was a bad idea. But she ignored it, and continued.

“Ash has helped me with these. Please, don’t be mad at her. She only did it because I asked her.” She pleaded. “She doesn’t know I’m doing this. She’ll be mad. She’ll be distraught. But please, tell her this, because it’s the same thing I’m going to tell you.”

She took a deep breath and she couldn’t keep digital tear from flowing down her visor.

“I love you guys. So much, and this …this is the hardest things I’ve ever done. But I NEED to do this. For your own safety, I can’t let you, or her, be involved in this anymore.” Anne’s voice started to break. She took a few shuddering breaths, trying to calm herself down. “Don’t try to find me, because you’re not going to be able to. When and if I can, I will try to contact you. I’ll find a way to make you know that I am alright. I promise that I’ll be careful. I promise that I’ll do everything in my power to come back to you. I’ll happily accept any sort of punishment when I do.”

She closed her eyes for a few moments, breathing heavily.

“Hazel, Naomi, you have been the best parents that a girl can wish for.” Anne said with a broken voice, heavy with sadness. “I love you all. I’m so sorry. Goodbye.”

She ended the recording and saved it to the drive in her neck. When it was done, she pulled it out with a heavy, sullen sigh. She looked at it for a few moments, contemplating her next actions. She closed her fist around the drive and gave it a good squeeze. She grabbed an empty envelope, wrote PLAY ME on it and placed the drive inside.

She took a deep breath and walked over to her closet, pulling out a backpack she had been preparing after Ashley had left. She had a small sleeping bag, some food, pretty much all of her allowance, her laptop and some other things. She was sure that she would be fully prepared for a long trip, hard as it was going to be. With a sigh, she threw the heavy pack on her back, letting her gaze go over her room. She wasn’t going to see it anymore for a long time.

She silently snuck out of her room and snuck to the master bedroom. She slowly opened the door to her parents’ bedroom and peeked inside. No movement from either of them. Good, she hadn’t woken them up. She crept inside and silently made her way to the bed. She couldn’t help but smile when she looked at her parents. Hazel was on her back, with Naomi curled up closely against her. She placed the envelope on the bedstand and walked backwards, away from them, trying to keep herself from sobbing as silent tears ran down her visor.

“I’m so sorry.” She whispered. “I love you so much.”

She made her way downstairs and grabbed her jacket …and an extra jacket, you never knew. She made a quick stop in the kitchen to raid the cabinets, for some extra snacks. She would be in enough trouble with her parents already, so this wouldn’t be that much worse. When she felt she was good and ready, she walked over to the front door. As she placed her hand on the doorknob, she turned around and let her gaze go around the place for one last time. This was her house. Where she grew up. Where she and her parents had laughed, had fights, made up. They had parties here. They had celebrated her good grades. It’s where she had confessed to her parents about her sexuality. Where they celebrated her coming out with a “coming out party”.

This was her home.

And she was leaving it behind.

Anne took a deep breath and turned the doorknob. The nightly chill of Copper-9 greeted her. The skies were clear and the moon was out in full. She walked outside and closed the door behind her.

“I was wondering when you’d show up.”

Anne, not wanting to scream out, slapped her hands on her face with such force that she almost dislodged her visor. She turned around, not believing who she was seeing.

“Ash?” Anne asked, remembering that she was trying to sneak out just in time to bring her voice down to a whisper. “What are you doing here?”

Ashley, also wearing a backpack and looking just as ready for a long trip as Anne, grinned mischievously and walked over to her shocked friend. “Now, did you really think I wouldn’t figure out what you were going to do? Please, I’ve known you since we were babies. You’re going to Zeta District and find your parents. ”

Anne grabbed Ashley by the shoulders, spun her around and tried to push her away. “Even so, you can’t stop me. You need to return home, and-“

Ash snapped around, shoving Anne away from her. “I’m doing no such thing, 2Tone.” She said, grinning widely. “I’m going with you.”

“What? No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I am.”

“I’m not letting you.”

“How about I scream and wake up your parents and the whole dang neighborhood?”

Anne sighed and held up her hands. “Why, Ash, why are you doing this?” She asked pleadingly. “This could be dangerous. You don’t need to be a part of this.”

“Hey, I became an integral part of this the moment you asked me to perform your little heist with you.” Ashley grinned, hoisting her backpack higher onto her shoulders. “Like it or not, I’m coming with. Especially because it could be dangerous. You need someone to watch your back.”

“What about your dad?”

“Oh, I’ll be in serious trouble when I get back.” Ashley grinned. “But then again, your parents will be too. We’ll be grounded for years.”

Anne sighed, but managed to bring herself to smile. “I’m not going to convince you to turn around and go home, aren’t I?”

“About as much chance I have to convince you to do the same.” Ash placed a hand on Anne’s shoulder. “I’m with you, Anne. Wherever you’re going. I wouldn’t dare to call myself your friend ever again, if I’d let you do this alone. So, you’re stuck with me, 2tone.”

Anne took a deep breath for a few moments …and then threw her arms around Ashley, who immediately returned the hug.

“Thank you, Ash.”

“Anytime, Anne.”

As they broke away from the hug, Anne couldn’t help but to gaze at her friend for a moment. Ashley Yates, who would do this reckless and dangerous thing with her, just so she would see her parents. A warm feeling washed over her. Something familiar, but …different.

“So, what’s the plan, boss?” Ashley asked, jolting Anne from her thoughts.

“The train station.” Anne revealed, grabbing Ashley’s hand as she started to drag her along. “There’s a freight train leaving for Faraday City. From there, we can hop over to another train, head over to the next city and so on.”

“Just hop from train to train until we reach …where exactly?” Ash asked, running after her friend. “The Zeta District is huge, with dozens of cities and towns. What are you gonna do? Go from town to town and ask around?”

“I’ve managed to clear up some of the corrupted file, and I’ve managed to locate where their codes were last registered.” Anne grinned. “A coastal town named Little Diodeton.”

“Little Diodeton, here we come.” Ashley grinned. “One thing: how are we going to get tickets? The station is probably closed.”

“Easy …we don’t buy tickets.”

“I’m loving this plan already.”

“Let’s go.”

The trip to the station didn’t give any troubles, since the streets were deserted. Once there, it took them a little sneaking around security, but eventually Anne noticed the train they needed.

“This is it, Ash.” She whisper-shouted as she pointed to the train serial designation. “GPMD301021.”

While Ashley stood on look-out, Anne used her newfound enhanced strength to open the doors of one of the freight container, signaling the former to join her as she jumped in.

“Good, we’re in the clear.” Ashley said as they closed the container door behind them. She let out a long sigh. “We’re really doing this, aren’t we?”

“Yeah …”

“You good?”

“I’m good. You?”

“I’m good.”

“Good.”

“Still time to turn back, you know.”

“I know.”

“Not gonna?”

“No.” Anne took a deep breath. “I need to do this.”

“Okay then …” Ashley took Anne’s hand and squeezed it, giving her a warm smile. “I’m with you, every step of the way.”

Once again, that strange feeling was bubbling up inside of Anne’s core, making her feeling all warm and fuzzy. “I know.” She let out a yelp when the train suddenly jerked, nearly knocking the two Drones off their feet. Anne let out a embarrassed giggle. “We, eh …we better get comfy and catch some sleep. Still a long way to go to Faraday City.”

They found themselves a little hideaway behind a bunch of storage crates and got out their sleeping bags. They got themselves comfortable and ready to rest before they’d needed to get off the train. Ashley must’ve been tired, because it took no time before she started dozing off.

“Ash?”

“Hmmm?”

“I’m glad you’re with me.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way, Anne.”

Anne wrapped an arm around Ashley’s shoulder and pulled her closer, smiling as the latter snuggled up close against her. A moment later, Ashley’s visor showed [SLEEP MODE], snoring softly. Anne couldn’t help but giggle and got comfortable as well. There was an excited buzzing inside her core. She still couldn’t believe that she was doing this. Just a couple of days of traveling …and she’d get the answers she needed.

Everything was going to be smooth sailing from now on.

Anne just knew it.

Chapter Text

“Ahh, A-Anne, please be gentle.”

“Don’t fuss, I know what I’m doing.”

“Is it supposed to feel this- haahh!”

“That sure sounded like it felt good.”

“S-shut – nnmm -shut up!”

“Just relax and let my magic fingers do their work.”

“Innuendo, much?”

Anne looked up from her laptop with a sigh. She had spent most of their time inside the train making changes to their ID chips, just to be safe. “You want us to get flagged as ‘underage runaways’ whenever we try to buy something, or need to check in somewhere?” She asked her friend, who was getting very bored being attached to said laptop. “No? Then let me work. I’m almost done anyway.”

“Ugh, this cable is itchy. What’s it made of? Fiber glass?” Ashley asked, sitting on her hands to keep herself from scratching the data port at the back of her neck. She gave Anne a worried grimace. “Hey, is this gonna work? Editing our ID Chips?”

“Uh, kinda?” Anne could feel Ashley’s gaze trying to burn a hole in her scalp. Anne looked up with a sheepish grin. “Lemme rephrase: when I’m done, we will have overwritten fake identities over our actual ones, but they’ll most likely reset back after a while, since it’s not done with an official program.” Her laptop beeped, signaling that the program had run its course. She gestured at Ashley that she could take out the

“So, what you’re saying ...” Ash let out a sigh of relief when she pulled the cable out her neck port. “-that we’ll need to do this again? Yay …”

“Hey, it’s no fun for me neither, y’know.” Anne groaned and rubbed the back of her neck. Ash hadn’t been wrong about the cable being itchy. “You know, theoretically, to make it really convincing, I should be doing this inside a Cradle Facility. Their computer systems have unrestrained access to the Global Registry. Any changes I’d make there, would be permanent.”

“Yeah, I think we are in enough trouble without us breaking inside a government facility.” Ash grinned and winked at Anne. “A second time, I mean.”

“Yeah, yeah …” Anne mumbled, that warm feeling buzzing inside her core again. She needed to perform an internal diagnostic when she had the time, because it was happening more often. And coincidentally, it happened every time when Ash was looking at h- you know, it is probably nothing, a glitch of some kind. Something completely logical, so there was no need for silly thoughts that messed her head up any more than it already was.

She yelped when a screw hit her on the side of the head. “Hey, what was that for?”

“Back in the land of the living, 2Tone? I’ve been trying to flag down your attention.” Ashley grinned. Anne noticed she was putting her stuff away. “Grab your stuff. The train’s slowing down.”

Almost as to emphasize the redheaded Drones’s statement, the trains brakes suddenly screeched. Anne yelped again when the sudden decline in momentum made her lose her balance, almost making her toppling over. She chuckled nervously as she scrambled up. “It seems you are right!”

“Of course I am!” Ashley shouted, trying to be louder than the screaming brakes. “Tell you one thing: I’ll be glad to finally be out of this bouldering box and get my feet on some more stable ground!”

“Yeah, same!” Anne quickly gathered her belongings, stuffing them inside her travel pack. In hindsight, she really hadn’t realized how boring this part of the plan would have been. They had been hiding in this cargo container for almost an entire day, and the train had only made a few stops, to unload and load on cargo. Luckily for the two stowaways, it seemed that their container hadn’t been on the schedule, so they had been left to their own devices for the entire time.

But there is only so much that they can do inside this limited space, and make sure no-one would find out that they were illegally traveling along. After they had snuck on board, they had taken a long nap to recharge as much of their energy as they could. After that, discussed about what they would be doing next, watched a few movies on Anne’s laptop, or just …talked with each other.

Ashley’s presence had been a boon to Anne, and not only because she was along for the ride. Just knowing that the red-eyed Drone was with her, it just …made her feel safe. She’s always had this feeling around her partner – wow, weird. Why did use that word? – ever since they were little. Anne could always count on Ashley to have her back.

Ashley always had been the one looking out for Anne. Whether it was defending her from bullies who would make fun of her dual-colored eyes, making sure she was taking enough rest between long study sessions, or being a blanket of comfort after she had her heart broken when the girl that she had been crushing on for the better part of a year had harshly rejected her. And Anne knew that the feeling was mutual, and that the strongheaded Drone relied on her as much as the other way around.

Ash’s parents divorced ten years ago, and it wasn’t an easy one, nor without its damages. Her mother, Marlene, didn’t hide that she wanted to have any sort of responsibilities regarding her only daughter, something the cruel woman had stated loud and clearly while she knew Ashley was in the room. After the divorce was settled, Marlene left without even saying a single word to her daughter, and that was the last time that Ashley had ever seen or spoken to her mother. And while Franklin did his best, he also didn’t act completely right towards Asheley. The man, in staunch contrast to his ex-wife, was devoted to his daughter and wanted to make sure that she’d never want for nothing, so he’d work long hours. But in doing so, he pretty much secluded himself in his store and spend less and less time with his daughter, who, in the meantime, was hurting much as well.

The Brinkmans had practically taken Ashley as one of her own during the divorce, and in the time afterwards. Anne sometimes wondered what kind of person Ash would’ve turned out if her mothers hadn’t been there to supplement some of the love that the latter felt she was missing. Nor what could have happened if Naomi, who finally couldn’t take it anymore that Franklin was – albeit nonintentional – neglecting his daughter, hadn’t decided to take matters into her own hands. One evening, after she had picked up the two girls from school and dropped them and her wife off at home, she went straight to Franklin’s Store to – in her words – ‘set him straight’.

Anne never found out what she exactly had done or said, but afterwards, Franklin changed his ways and became a father to Ashley again, instead of someone who just forwarded the cash for her education. These days, Franklin still spent a lot of time in his store, often leaving before Ash woke up, but things were a lot better. At the age of 16, Ash had become a very independent and resourceful woman. She often helped out in the store after school, and had shown interest in eventually taking over the store once Franklin retires. But just as often, she would spend time at the Brinkman home

And that’s why’d you never see the two apart. Where one was, the other wasn’t far away. People sometimes referred to them being as ‘close to being sisters’, but that …never felt right, for either of them. Anne knew their bond was unbreakable, but she never could figure out what it precisely was. Maybe one day she could a tag on it, but for now … she was just happy that Ashley was here with her.

“So, what’s the plan, chief?” Ashley asked, hoisting her backpack over her shoulders with a huff.

Anne, suddenly jolted out of her trip down memory lane, cleared her throat, hoping that her companion hadn’t noticed her zoning out. “Right, uh …so, the next train that we need isn’t arriving until tomorrow, so …I guess we’ll just get out and find a place to rest until then.”

“Okay, where do you reckon we should go?”

“I dunno.” Anne said with a shrug. “It’s not like I’ve never been in Faraday City before, you know?”

Faraday City was the Capital of Omega District, one of the more populated districts on Copper-9. It was like one of those cities you saw on grimy detective movies. Big city, a lot of noise, towering skyscrapers in the City Centre, hustlers roaming the streets who eagerly swindled money of unwitting newcomers, tourist attractions that did the very same thing, people everywhere on busy streets, and two small drones in the middle of it. Luckily, they didn’t need to go anywhere near the City Centre and only be in the calmer and more quiet outer parts of the city. That way, they could avoid any unnecessary complications.

Anne rather would have made someplace more …pleasant her midway stop, but this had been the only train that would’ve taken her close enough to the Zeta District without the need of even more stops along the way.

“Aww, my poor Anne, what would you do without me?” Ashley fluttered her eyes at her friend. “You are so lucky that I decided to come with you.”

“Bite me, Radish” Anne bit back, albeit in the same playful tone that Ashley had used on her, sticking out her tongue at her friend.

Ashley chuckled as she whipped out her phone and started looking up the nearest – and cheapest – place for them to sleep. “So …if I’m reading this right, the nearest B&B is …actually not that far. Hey, it’s got four stars. ‘Food sucked, but the lady running the place was very nice and reminded me of my gran-gran.’. “

“Looks like we’re visiting Gran-gran.” Anne joked, steadying herself as the train started to slow down even more. “And don’t forget: if anyone asks, my name is Ruby Porter, and yours is Abbigail Lecter.”

“Just call me Abby, Rubes.” Ashley affirmed with a cheeky grin.

With a final hiss, the train finally came to a complete standstill. Anne opened the door of their temporarily lodgings and peeked out. Whith the coast clear, they quickly left the boxcar without anyone seeing them and headed into the city.

***

It took a bit of navigating through the unfamiliar city, but eventually the duo managed to reach the little Bed & Breakfast. Too bad they hadn’t reached it sooner, because it had started to rain not too long after they had managed to make their exit out of the station. And to make things worse, it had taken the two girls completely by surprise. By the time they had found their destination, they were soaked. They pretty much rammed the door in, in order to escape the weather. The elderly Drone behind the counter let out a small yelp, startled by the sudden appearance of two wet and exhausted Drones, but let out a soft chuckle and greeted them with a warm smile.

“Well, that’s certainly one way to make an entrance.” The old lady chuckled, shuffling from behind the counter to greet her new guests. “Anything to get out of the rain, am I right?”

“We are so sorry for barging in like that, ma’am.” Ashley panted, doubled over and resting her hands on her knees. “Me and my friend got caught in the rain, and-“

“We’re sorry for scaring you, Ma’am.” Anne panted, pretty much steadying herself on Ashley’s shoulder. That run had exhausted her. She might have enhanced strength and speed, gained through mysterious means, but her stamina was still the same. Which wasn’t much.

“Oh, pish-posh, no harm done. And don’t you ‘ma’am’ me.” She wiggled her finger at them, almost like a scolding grandma, but with sparkles of mischief reflected in lilac eyes. “You may call me Madam Layla, and I’m the proprietor of this little respite out of the rain.”

“I’m Abby, Ma’ …Madame Layla.” Ashely began, remembering to use her fake name. She slapped Anne on the back, nearly knocking her over. “This short stack is Ruby.”

“Bite me!” Anne bit back, giving Ash a playful push.

“Well, Abby and Ruby, how can this old lady help you?” Madama Layla asked, trotting back to her counter.

“Do you have a room free for the night?” Anne asked.

Madam Layla furrowed her brow and let out a sigh, scratching her cheek in thought. “Oh, there have been so many guests arriving and leaving today, I can’t actually remember on top of my head. Hang on, let me check my register.” Madama Layla started up her computer, letting out a chuckle. “Never get old, ladies. By the time you reach my age, your memory storage is filled with wonderful memories, but the little things tend to slip through the cracks. Aah, here we go!”

Anne and Ashley gave each other a look, hoping for the best. The only other place they could afford was too far away from the station, not without spending even money on transport. After spending the entire day inside that cargo box, they were longing for something with a bit more legroom …and comfy matrasses.

“Looks like you’re in luck, girls.” Layla said with a warm smile. “I’ve got one room left.”

“Great.” Anne exclaimed.

Madam Layla looked up from her computer with a grin. “It’s only got the one double bed, though, but I guess it’s not going to be a problem, right?”

“Uh, why?” Ashley asked.

“Aren’t you a couple?” The elderly Drone smiled playfully. “I tend to have an eye for the romantic matters in life.”

Anne and Ashley gave each other a look. Their visors both lit up with a blush and they quickly sidestepped away from each other.

“No, just friends!” Anne exclaimed, letting out a nervous chuckle.

Ashley bashfully played with the straps of her backpack. “Yup, j-just friends. Always have been just that.”

“Uh-huh, right …” Madama Layla giggled, but didn’t press on. “Well, may I ask why a pair of ‘just friends’ are in the capital of the Omega District, at this hour and heaving such heavy backpacks with them?”

“Just passing through. We’re visiting some relatives of mine in the Epsilon District, and our train doesn’t come until tomorrow.” Anne explained, trying her very best not to make eye contact with Ashley. Technically, they would need to pass through the Epsilon District to reach the Zeta District, so she wasn’t actually lying about that.

“The Epsilon District, my my. And traveling so far, all on your own?” Madama Layla asked, glancing up from her computer, an almost worried glint in her eyes. “You two don’t look to be much older than sixteen.”

“Yeah, we get that a lot.” Ashley stated with a grin.

“Yeah, we’ve always looked younger than we actually are.” Anne added, hoping her voice didn’t crack too much. “Good maintenance and regular polish scrubs, and all that.”

“Hmmm, is that so?” Madama Layla hummed and took out a scanner. “I still need to scan your ID chips for confirmation, though. Protocol, ‘and all that’.”

“Yup, no problem.” Anne agreed, very happy that she had the foresight to edit their ID chips. Little alternations like name and age wouldn’t be picked up by a standard ID-scanner at a local B&B.

Madame Layla scanned the two of them and checked the result on her computer. After a few tense seconds, she looked up with a smile. “Everything seems to be in order, ladies. Now, just to settle your payment.”

She waited patiently while Anne paid for the room. Once that was done, she shuffled out from behind her counter and gestured towards the stairs. “Your room is on the second floor. Follow me and let’s get you settled for the night, shall we?”

As they followed their host up the stairs, they listened while she laid down some rules. “Now, you’re not the only guests here, so please keep it down after 10pm. I don’t want to hear complaints from my other guests, you hear?”

“No problem.” Ashley grinned evilly at Anne. “This one does snore, though.”

“Har-har, very funny, Abbigail.” The targeted Drone deadpanned with a roll of her two-toned eyes. “Uh, we’ll be leaving very early tomorrow and we won’t have much time. Will that be a problem?”

“Not at all, sweetie.” Layla stated. “Just make sure the room is tidied up a bit before you leave, and just drop the key in the little jar on the counter.” She stopped in front a door. “This is your room. Why don’t you get in and get dried off?”

She opened the door to the room. True to her word, it had one double bed, a table, a closet for those who spend more than one night there. Just a regular room with the bare essentials. Just what they needed for a good night’s rest.

“Thank you, Madama Layla.” Anne said with a grateful smile. She was really starting to feel the exhaustion of the trip. She stepped right in and threw her back on the floor, by the heater.”

Ashley was about to follow her, when Madama Layla placed her hand on her shoulder. “Oh, Miss Abigail?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Your friend might believe her own words, but you aren’t convinced by your own at all.” Layla smiled wittingly. “Take some advice from an old lady who has been around the block a few times. Don’t wait too long and take your chance. If you wait until it’s too late, you’ll never stop wondering what could have happened.”

Ashley opened her mouth to object, but …just blushed and nodded.

Layla smiled warmly, patting the redheaded Drone on her shoulder. “Good night, Miss Lecter.” She craned her neck so she could see Anne. “Good night, Miss Porter!” She gave Ashley a final look before she went down the stairs, humming an old love song the former couldn’t remember the name off.

“What did she have to say to you?” Anne asked, taking off her wet jacket and hanging it over a chair.

“Just some more reminders about ‘being mindful for the other patrons’ tranquility, things like that.” Ashley lied. With a content sigh, she flopped down on the bed, spreading her arms in its blissful softness. “Greetings, soft matrass, how I’ve missed you. Never leave me again.”

Anne chuckled, amused by her companion’s antics, taking out her laptop. She placed it down on the little table and stared at it, letting out a sigh, which caught the attention of Ashley.

“Something wrong?” The redhead asked, sitting up.

“No.” A pause. “Yeah, maybe. I was …thinking of calling my parents? They must be worried sick.”

“Oh …” Ashley stood up and walked over to Anne, hugging herself. “Yeah, we kinda left our folks behind, didn’t we?”

“I never asked before, but did you leave a message for you dad?” Anne asked, turning to her friend. “You did leave him something, right?”

“Yeah, a note that I would be sleeping over at your place for a few days. It’s not like he’s been seeing me a lot lately anyway.” She grimaced when she saw Anne’s confused expression. “Pops has been working longer days these last couple of weeks. Like, twenty-four/seven kind of long, and doing these special promos. I think he’s saving up for something for us. Maybe a vacation, or a new car.” She let out a chuckle. “That, or he’s been dating someone without telling me. In any case, until he’s informed otherwise, he won’t be worried about me. That is, if your parents haven’t already put the entire town in an uproar.”

Anne nodded, turning back to her laptop, contemplating her options. Should she just call and let them know she was alright, but risk herself of being tracked again? But the thought of her parents gnawed at her insides. Then, in the corner of her eyes, she saw that the room came with its own phone, and that gave her an idea. She grabbed the phone from the stand, took out some cables and other devices out of her backpack and started to put them together.

“Uh, what are you doing?” Ashley asked, genuinely confused. “I don’t think Madame Layla is gonna be pleased we’re messing with her property.”

“Don’t fuss, I know what I’m doing.”

“Are ya?”

“Shhh!” Anne plugged in the last cable, and …stared at the phone in her hand. She sighed deeply and sat down on the nearest chair.

“Anne?” Ashley walked over, concerned. “You good?”

“Yeah, just …this is going to suck, isn’t it?” Anne winced.

“Probably …” Ashley rubbed the back of her head. “What are you gonna say to them?”

“Dunno …something, I guess?” Anne’s core was buzzing, both of stress, but also with a certain excitement. She turned to her laptop and with a few command lines, activated a program on her computer. A timer appeared on screen. Good, her program worked ...a little too well. Her location was being scrambled, but judging by countdown, it would only give her a several minutes before someone – be it police or whoever the hacker was – could trace them. Still …time enough to let her parents know she is alright … and to find out if they called the police on them yet. She grabbed the phone and gave Ashley a nod. “Okay, here’s goes nothing.”

She took a deep breath and started to dial in the number of her house.

She pressed the dial button.

It was making connection.

It was ringing.

Someone picked up.

“Hello?”

Anne’s core jumped when she recognized Hazel’s voice. Her voice sounded …tired and exhausted. She could only imagine in what state her parents were right now.

“Mom, …It’s me.”

There was a loud squeal. “ANNE! Honey, I am so happy to hear from you! We were so worried! where are you?! Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“Mom, I-“

“Naomi, what are you-?” A scuffle sounded on the other end of the phone, with Hazel apparently wrestling to keep possession of the phone.

“Gimme!” A new voice sounded on the other side. It was Naomi, who evidently had managed to secure the phone out of her wife’s hands. “Anne?”

“Hi, Momma …” Anne gulped, recognized that tone of voice her momma was using at the moment. She had heard it enough whenever she – and often with Ashley – had gotten into trouble.

“Anne! Elliot! Brinkman! You are in so much trouble, you don’t even know! You’ll come home this instant, and maybe – maybe – you’ll only be grounded until you graduate college!” Naomi threatened. “And that’s a big ‘maybe’!”

“Mom, I can’t.” Anne had trouble keeping her voice even. She wasn’t scared, but …this was hard on her. Never in her life had she ever thought that she would have to hurt her parents in such a way.

There was a soft sob on the other end. Naomi spoke again but this time, her voice sounded …broken, desperate and on the brink of crying. “Anne, my baby girl, please, please, please, come back home. I don’t know what I did wrong, but I know I can do better. I will be better. Just …come back. You will have anything your heart desires, just come home to us!”

Anne’s lips quivered, and a digital tear ran down her visor as guilt and regret filled her core. “Momma, I promise it’s not you. It’s me.”

“Anne …please …”

“Omi, how about you let me talk with Anne for a while? Go sit down, please.” Hazel’s voice sounded soft and cautious. After a few moments of silence, Anne could hear how the phone exchanged hands, and a moment later she could hear her other mother. There was a deep breath, and a slow exhale on the other side of the line. After a few seconds of silence, Hazel’s voice spoke up. “Anne …are you somewhere safe?”

“Yes.”

“Are you hurt?”

“No.”

“Are you in danger?”

Anne chewed on her lower lip. She couldn’t really answer that one, because she didn’t know for sure. She had been monitoring her laptop, just in case that the hacker would show their head, but …nothing. So, she wasn’t in danger right now, so could be honest about that. “No.”

A sniffle and a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank the Creators.”

Anne sighed, leaning back in her chair. She took a deep breath. “Have you …told anyone about me yet?”

There was a long silence, followed by a heavy sigh. “No, no-one knows, for now. We …figured we’d wait until we heard from you.” Hazel admitted. Anne could hear Naomi say something in the background, but she couldn’t understand it. There was a dry chuckle. “Well, I wanted to wait. Naomi wanted to call in the military, but I managed to convince her to wait …even if I had to convince myself as well.”

“So, why didn’t you?” Anne asked. She was genuinely surprised about this.

“We almost did, but …something in your message told me that we’d better wait for you.” Hazel took a deep breath. “Honey, what did you do? All those things you said on your message …about your birth parents. Are you really sure that they are…?” Her voice trailed off.

“I am.” Anne stated with all the fake confidence that she could muster. It was so much harder than she feared it would be. Her entire being was screaming at her to return to her mothers. To hug them, to say sorry and promise to never leave them again. But she knew that she couldn’t. She felt Ashley grab her free hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Anne squeezed back, turning briefly to the redhead to give her a smile.

“Sweetheart, why did you need to do it in this way? Why didn’t you tell us that you were doing this …investigation on your own? Why didn’t you inform us?” Hazel asked, her voice cracking. Anne could imagine her pacing around the living room, chewing on one of the ears of her glasses. “We could’ve gone through the proper channels, instead of this …journey you’re taking. Why all this risk? Why leave in the middle of the night? Why the secrecy? You said that Ashley had been helping you. What will we tell her when she asks for you?”

“Ashley, right …” Anne winced. There it was. She looked sheepishly at Ashley, who immediately understood what was happening. “About that …”

Ashley grabbed the phone out of Anne’s hands, and nervously cleared her throat. “Uh, hi, Mrs. Brinkman. It’s m-”

Anne couldn’t hear what was exactly being said, but Hazel’s voice was suddenly loud enough that she could hear it from where she was sitting. Ashley winced, holding the device a few inches from her audio receptors. She chuckled nervously, placing the phone back against her head. “Anne didn’t do anything. Technically, I roped myself into this situation. I didn’t really give Anne a choice in the matter.”

Ashley stayed silent while Hazel spoke again. She suddenly winced. “Please, don’t tell my dad. As far as he knows I am staying over at you guys, and-“ She hissed when Hazel shouted again. This lasted for a few moments, with the red-eyed drone patiently listening, her expression getting guiltier and guiltier by the second. After a few moments, she sighed and handed the phone back to Anne. “She wants to speak to you.”

Anne placed the phone against her ear. “Mom?”

“Is it not bad enough that you are doing this?” Hazel asked, her tone of voice exasperated and tired. “Ashley is with you?”

“At least I’m not alone, huh?” The sigh that came out of her mom’s mouth told Anne that the latter was not amused. She glanced over to her laptop, to see how her program as faring. She still had a bit of time, but she needed to wrap this up soon. “Mom, I’m running out of time here, so …”

“What? No-no-no! You are not going to continue this foolish journey!” Hazel sounded panicked, and Anne could hear Naomi scrambling up from wherever she was sitting to join her wife at the phone. “Anne, you need to come home! We’ll go to-“

“Mom, we can’t!” Anne didn’t want to raise her voice, but she needed to get the message through. “When I was investigating, I had to hack into …” she paused for a moment. She thought it better not to tell them that she hacked her way into private information. “When I had to access some sensitive data, someone …. someone immediately tried to stop me, to trace me.”

“Trace you? What are you-?”

“Mom, think about it.” Anne jumped up from her chair. “How you guys found me as a baby. The inaccessible data in my core. The report about my birth parents’ death that turned out to be fake. Someone trying to stop me when I’m getting close …it must be connected. I can’t put you guys in danger, so I need to do this alone.”

Ashley cleared her throat, but Anne ignored her.

“She can’t be serious.” She could hear Naomi mutter incredulously. Hazel must’ve put the phone on speaker. “Anne, you-“

“There’s another thing …” Anne interrupted her. She took a deep breath. “Something …weird has been happening to me. Something I can’t explain.” Her eyes caught her reflection in a nearby mirror, somehow looking distorted from her angle. “I’m changing, and if it’s connected to my birth parents …I need answers, and I really, really hate to say this, but …I can’t find those answers when I’m home with you.” 

She could hear Naomi letting out one of those typical mother-sighs. “This is ridiculous! Hazel, please tell our daughter-”

Hazel interrupted her wife with one surprising word. “Okay…”

“What?” Naomi cried out.

“What?” Anne agreed. “Mom, are you-“

“Anne, darling, I know when your mind is made up, and when it’s like that…well, it’s not like we can stop you now, can we? So, for now …we’re going to let you do what you think is best. Just …the both of you, be careful and promise us you call us soon?”

“I promise.” Anne let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Thank you, mom.”

Naomi sure wasn’t convinced. “Hazel, you can’t …this can’t-“

While Naomi and Hazel were arguing, Ashley tapped on Anne’s shoulder. She pointed over to the laptop, where she noticed to her displeasure that the timer was nearing its end. She was running out of time.

“Mom, momma, I …I need to go.” Anne felt he heart clench.

“WAIT!” Naomi cried out, and Anne could hear how the phone got snatched out of one hand into the other. “Anne …”

“Yes, Momma?”

“We love you. So much!” Naomi exclaimed, her voice soft and genuine.

“I love you too. Both of you.” Anne whispered. She glanced over to the timer. It was nearing zero. Her thumb hovered over the END CALL button. “Bye …”

She ended the call.

The sound of her mothers voices vanished, replaced with silence.

A sob escaped her throat.

The phone clattered to the ground, and Anne buried her face in her hands, sobbing while Ashley wrapped her arms around her, hugging her tightly.

Back in Rivetdale, the same thing happened. The moment that the call ended, Hazel’s legs gave out, and she would’ve crumpled to the floor, if not for Naomi catching her in time and letting her down gently.

The two mothers sobbed silently in each other’s arms, clinging to one another like they were afraid they would lose each other as well.

“Oh, Hazel …” Naomi mumbled with a broken voice. “Why did you -?”

“Because …she is right, Omi.” Hazel stated, pulling away from the hug to caress her wife’s cheek. “We can’t help her with this. She needs to do this on her own.”

“Out little girl is out there all alone, Hazel.” Naomi sniffled.

“She’s not alone.” Hazel smiled gently. “She has Ashley with her, and you know that she wouldn’t let anything happen to Anne. And our daughter is smart enough for the both of them. As long as they’re together, they’ll be fine.”

“I guess that’s true.” The pink-haired drone mumbled. “It’s just …, she is my baby.”

“Mine too, silly.” She took her wife’s hands in her own, squeezing them softly. “We’ve always known that this day would come. It was always a matter of time that our little bird needed to stretch her wings and leave the nest.”

“But why this early?” Naomi asked, sniffling again. “And for …people that left her behind? Drones she’s never met, that she doesn’t know? Why does she need to know who her birth parents are? Weren’t we enough?”

“Of course we were.” Hazel wrapped her arms around her wife and hugged her tightly. After a few moments, she broke away from the embrace, her expression serious. “But …Anne had a point. We’ve always known that something didn’t add up about the way she came into our lives. How she ended up with the two Drones that longed for a child of their own, the missing data in her core, the report about the supposed death of her supposed birth parents, …it was always …too convenient.”

Naomi nodded weakly. Hazel had a point. Neither of them had ever said it out loud, but …they’ve always had known that Anne’s circumstances were …too unique. She let out a heavy sigh. “I guess you’re right …” She admitted. “But …why now? Couldn’t it have happened a few years later? And without these drastic actions?

“I know, Omi.”

“And what did she mean that she was ‘changing’?”

“I don’t know, but …” Hazel chewed on the inside of her cheek. “She’s always been special, our Anne. She always seemed to …advance so quickly.”

The pink-haired Drone nodded solemnly. Throughout her life, Anne had surprised them many times with how quickly she seemed to learn new things. “Spoke her first word before even transferring to a Toddler frame, knew how to walk in the same month that she got her toddler body, always picking up these new skills with minimal effort, … she’s our special girl, alright.”

“Yeah, she is …”

“I still don’t like it, though.” Naomi stated, squeezing her wife’s hands.

“In any case, no matter how much we don’t like it, it’s too late to change anything now.” Hazel stood up, pulling her wife to her feet as well. “All we can do now, is decide our next step. How are we going to explain her absence in school?”

“And Franklin?” Noami added. “He might be busy with his shop lately, and he thinks she’s sleeping over but he’s going to want to see her someday. We can’t just say ‘oh, they’re sick and you can’t see them right now’.”

Hazel’s eyes lit up, an actual lightbulb appearing in her visor. “We’re going to do just that!”

“I think I’ve lost you.”

“Do you remember that epidemic that went around, when we were doing our residency at the hospital?” She asked. “It mostly targeted teenage drones, because of a very specific coding in their system?”

“Oh yeah, that virus that spread through the teenagers’ inbuilt wireless transceiver. It took months before a successful vaccine patch was created.” Naomi recalled. “What does that have to do with this?”

“Well, variants of the virus tend to pop up, every now and then, right?” Hazel stated suggestively.

Something clicked in Naomi’s cognitive sub-routines. “Oh, you mean to say-?”

“Yep, our daughter and her friend – in an attempt to download a movie that hasn’t come out yet – accidentally uploaded a similar type of virus into their system, and are now bedridden. In order to curb the spread of the virus, Ashley needs to stay with us for the time being.” Hazel explained, her eyes twinkling with mischievous intent. “We – meaning, you and me – are showing symptoms as well, and we are required to quarantine ourselves, just in case. Fortunately, it seems it’s not that severe of an infection, so we’ll just have to wait until our anti-virus patch has run its course.”

“That sounds …” A grin spread on Naomi’s face. “… quite clever, actually.”

“I have my moments.” Hazel stated proudly. “It would explain why Anne and Ashley are absent from school, why no-one can see them, and Franklin would be assured that his daughter is in good hands. It would give us, at least, a few weeks before anyone would suspect otherwise.”

“But, Hazel, you still need to fill out a report for the hospital.” Naomi warned. “If they found out you falsified reports, you can lose your medical license.”

“That’s why I will be the one who’s name will be on the report.” Hazel explained. “There is no need for the both of us to get into trouble for this. I’ll take the fall. You can claim emotional blackmail or something, and-“

“Nuh-uh! No way! I am not letting you take the blame alone.” Naomi interrupted, grabbing her wife by the shoulders and looking intently into her visor. “It’s our daughter, so it’s our ruse, and we will face the consequences together.” She held up her hand, showing the ring, the one that Hazel had slipped on her finger so many years ago at their wedding. “In sickness or in health, remember?”

Hazel smiled warmly at her wife, pulled her into an embrace and kissed her passionately. Once they finally broke away, she giggled while caressing Naomi’s cheek. “The things we do for our child, right?”

“Wouldn’t do it any other way, Babe.” Naomi grinned, but soon her expression changed to a saddened one. She let out a sigh, resting her chin on her wife’s shoulder. “I hope she’s alright.”

“Me too, Omi.” Hazel nuzzled softly against Naomi’s cheek, a digital tear running down her visor. “Me too.”

***

An hour had passed since Anne had called her parents. An hour since Ash had suggested that they’d go to bed and get some sleep, so they would be rested for the following day. An entire hour that Anne just stared at the ceiling, her mind racing with thoughts and doubts.

She let out a heavy sigh. “Ash?”

A sleepy groan. “Hmmm?”

“Are we doing the right thing?”

The bed shifted as Ashley rolled to her side. “A bit late to ask that, don’t you think?”

“What if mom was right, and we could’ve just …done things another way, instead of trekking across the planet, chasing a pair of ghosts?” Anne asked, rolling over to face her friend.

“We could’ve …” Ashley sighed, reaching out from under the blanket to grab Anne’s hand, giving it a soft squeeze. “But wouldn’t you just end up in the same situation, wondering if you made the right choice?”

“Maybe …” Anne squeezed her eyes shut, digital tears dangling in the corner of her eyes. “I just …feel so guilty right now. I’m putting my moms through hell, all because I-“

“Because you want to know the truth, and because you felt it would be the safest way for them.” Ashley planted her hand softly on Anne’s cheek, smiling softly. “And I’m here, in case you need a shoulder to lean on.”

Anne smiled softly, resting her own hand on top of Ashley’s. “I know, Ash.” She whispered. “I’m so glad you’re here with me.”

“Wouldn’t anywhere else I’d rather be than here, Anne.” Ashley whispered back, blushing faintly.

They fell in silence, just staring at each other for a few moments, before Anne shuffled closely against Ashley’s frame with a content sigh. The latter, slightly taken aback, slowly wrapped her arms around the smaller Drone and pulled her close against herself. She gasped when Anne gently nuzzled against her, but after a few moments she recollected herself and rested her chin on top of the raven-haired head. A few moments later, she noticed that Anne had fallen asleep, her breathing calm and regular. Ashley smiled, taking the chance to let her fingers run through Anne’s hair, smiling warmly.

“Don’t worry, Anne.” Ashley whispered softly, caressing her cheek with a finger. “I’m not going anywhere.”

She planted a kiss on top of the sleeping Drone’s head, who just stirred in her sleep, but didn’t woke up. Ashley just giggled softly and closed her eyes as well, relishing in the warm feeling that she was feeling deep inside her core. A few moments later, she, too, had drifted into the land of dreams.

***

Morning came all too soon, with Ashley deciding that the best way to wake Anne up …was to tickle her, which quickly erupted into a brief pillow fight. Once they had had reached a cease-fire, gotten themselves dressed and all packed up, they went downstairs. Madama Layla was standing behind her counter, beaming when she saw the two young Drones come down.

“Ah, slept well, my youthful Dronelings?” She asked.

“You’re up early.” Ashley noted, handing over the key to their room.

“Oh, I don’t need much sleep anyway.” She let out a chuckle, turning around to hang the key away. “I take more than enough naps during the day. You’d be surprised how much free time I have, standing behind here.”

“Thanks for letting us stay.” Anne thanked, genuinely grateful that they had somewhere safe and comfortable to rest. “You know, without reservation.”

“Oh, pish-posh, wasn’t nothing.” Madama Layla waved the thanks away. She suddenly gasped, clapping her hands together. “Before I forget, dearies, you mentioned yesterday that you were going to take the train to Epsilon District? I assume you arrived in the station not too far from here, and you’d go there today, too?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, there was something nagging me about that, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.” Madama Layla explained. Her expression turned regretful. “And that’s when I remembered: Due to maintenance on train tracks going out of that particular station, all outgoing trains, including the ones you would have to take, are rerouted through the Central Station in, well, the City Centre. And that’s not the only bad news, unfortunately.”

“Oh no …” Anne could feel more bad news coming.

“Let me guess: the schedule has changed too?” Ashley asked, having come to the same conclusion as Anne.

“I’m afraid so, darlings.” Layla admitted, looking very apologetic. “I checked this morning, and I’m sorry to say: the earliest train heading towards that direction left half an hour ago.”

“Oh, sonuva glitch …” Anne cursed under her breath.

“Language, dear.” Layla scolded casually, but her expression soon turned to a reassuring smile. “I do have some good news, though. Next train is this afternoon, so you’ll have more than enough time to get yourselves there. There’s a bus stop right outside that will take you straight to the Centre.”

Anne sighed, somewhat relieved that their plans hadn’t completely gone off the rails. She figured that spending a few hours playing tourist wasn’t that bad of a detour, even if she didn’t like it. “Thank you, Madama Layla.”

“Yeah, you’re an awesome lady.” Ash stated with a wink.

“No problem, dearies. I do hope you enjoy the rest of your trip” Layla smiled. She waved them goodbye as they walked out the door. “Such nice ladies. Polite and friendly.” She raised an eyebrow as she heard a faint rumble in the distance, letting out a sigh. “Too bad that the weather isn’t too kind on them. I do hope they aren’t caught in the rain again.”

***

The drive to the city Centre had been surprisingly quick, and it hadn’t taken them long to find the Station and buy tickets for the train they needed. As Madama Layla had told them, the next train wouldn’t arrive for several hours, so they had decided to wander around, and stock up on some snack for the road. In that time, a storm had started to make itself known.

“Man, they do not have good weather here!” Ashley stated dryly, as she looked up to the darkening sky.

“Well, the weather app says it’s not gonna rain, it’s just gonna-“ Anne let out a surprised yelp when a lightning flashed and thunder rumbled, nearly dropping her phone on the ground as she jumped. She blushed, slightly embarrassed by her outburst. “- do that … Don’t laugh.”

“I’m not laughing.” Ashley mumbled, trying her best not to crack a smile.

Anne rolled her eyes and hooked her arms into Ashley’s. Even with the storm rolling in, the streets were busy, and Anne didn’t want to lose sight on her companion. Sure, that was the only reason she did that, as surely it was the very same reason that Ashley secured her arms tightly as well.

Yup, completely logical reasoning by the two of them.

About an hour after they had arrived, the clouds above them had darkened even more, to the point that they were blocking out the sun and shrouding the city in a grim, cold ambience. It would be hard to believe that it was still morning. The streets weren’t that crowded anymore. In fact, it almost seemed like Anne and Ashley were some of the few that actually ventured out. The dark atmosphere together with the near-deserted streets made Anne feel uneasy.

As they were walking - looking for some shop Ashley had read about in a ’10 places you need to visit when visiting Faraday City’ blog - she suddenly felt a shiver go down her spine, making her glance over her shoulder. She had the feeling that someone was following them. Was it her imagination? Maybe it was just her nerves talking. She yelped when Ashley suddenly yanked her into another direction.

“Hey, let’s cut through here.” She said, leading the two of them into an alley. “I think we can reach the Hot Topic Emporium faster.”

“How do you know? You’ve never been here.” Anne tried to pull the two of them away from the foreboding alley, but it seems her enhanced strength was abandoning her right now. That was another thing about her powers. Her healing powers were always active, but her other enhanced abilities seemed to come and go, depending on the situation. Maybe it was a subconscious thing, because she didn’t want to damage Ashley in any way. But, alas, into the alley they went.

Not noticing the two figures that were following them.

The deeper they went into the alleyways, the more they realized that they were heading into the bad part of town. No streetlights, most windows were boarded up and it didn’t seem like anyone was living in this part.

“Okay, I’ll admit, I was wrong.” Ashley mumbled sheepishly. “This isn’t going anywhere I think we’d like to be.”

Anne let out a tired huff. “Yeah, let’s just head back, and-“

“You ladies lost?” From behind a dumpster came a scruffy looking Drone, hands deep inside his pockets and his gaze fixated on the two girls. “Because, I could be a very courteous guide …for a fee.”

Anne immediately sensed something off about the guy. Alarm bells – quite literally – were going off inside her head, and she tried to grab Ashley’s hand, but the latter took a confident step forward. She has never been one to let someone intimidate her.

“Nah, no need, buddy. We were just leaving.” Ashley stated, giving him a fearless glare. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

They turned around, but their exit was being blocked by two other Drones, one big and burly, the other lean and fidgety, but both looking as scruffy as the first one. They chuckled as they made the two of them back away, back towards the first Drone, who let out a sly chuckle.

“I think you don’t realize what’s happening here, Red.” He stated, casually strolling over to them. “This is my hood, and anyone who passes through here needs to pay a toll. You know, to repay me and my associates here for allowing you the usage of our turf. Ain’t that right, boys?”

“That’s right, Slick!” The lean one answered.

Big ‘n Burly just grunted.

Ashley wasn’t impressed, she walked up to the Drone named Slick, her arms crossed. “Not gonna happen, pal. Me and my friend are just gonna walk away, and you just keep pretending you’re a big shot, alright?”

Slick’s crooked grin turned to a scowl, taking a step forward to get right into the redhead’s face. “Are your audio receptors on the fritz, or are you just dumb?” He growled. “Drop the backpacks, hand over any money you have on your person, or …” He snapped his fingers.

Next thing Anne knew, the burly guy had his arms around her tightly. Before she could even shout to let her go, the lean guy held a knife against her throat, giggling coldly.

Slick chuckled evilly, enjoying the shocked expression on Ashley’s face. “Or I’ll let my boys work out some anger issues on your short girlfriend over there.”

Anne wanted to shout, but Burly slapped his hand on her mouth, muffling her. Anne tried to squirm out of the thug’s grip, but he had too much of a hold on her. Her enhanced strength was failing her. She felt something heat up inside her core, like an ember wanting to become a flame.

“You let her go, right now!” Ashley growled, grabbing Slick by his dirty vest. “Or I’ll-!” She gasped when a knife appeared just an inch away from her throat.

“You really are dumb, if you not realize that I am the one holding all the cards, pretty girl. “He grinned, letting his gaze go up and down Ashley’s body, a dark glint in his eyes. “But I could be persuaded to let both of you go …if you let me have a little fun with you.”

Ashley’s eyes narrowed, but still didn’t show any fear. She spat at the guy, leaving a glob of saliva on his vest. “Go defrag yourself, you big, ugly, sunova- OOMPHF!”

The red-eyed drone doubled over, falling on her knees and holding her stomach while letting out painful coughs. Slick just laughed, something his buddies eagerly joined in with. He kicked her knees, knocking her completely on the ground.

“Now, why did you have to be so rude, red?” Slick growled. “Now, I’m going to have to teach you a lesson. Maybe after that, you’ll be a bit more eager to exchange some quid pro quo.”

The flame inside Anne’s body started to grow larger. She balled her fists, letting out a muffled growl. Something was stirring inside her. Something …primal. She breathed deeply, anger starting to replace any fear, or any other emotion, until it was all that she could feel.

“Now that you are a bit more cooperating …” Slick chuckled darkly, grabbing Ashley by her hair and pulling her up. “Let’s have that fun, shall we?”

Ashley screamed.

Something inside Anne snapped. It was like a veil of red fell over her vision, completely blocking out her sight. It was almost like she blacked out. It was like a mad, euphoric madness took over. All She didn’t know what was happening. she knew was that her friend was in danger, and she needed to act.

And needed to pay.

“A--e!”

They would pay.

“--ne!”

She’d stop them.

“--op!”

Tear them ap-

“Anne!”

The shout brought her back to reality, bringing her out of the darkness. With a gasp, Anne froze. The world was blurry. She was trembling. She was out of breath. The primal anger inside her was starting to fade.

A voice spoke up, cautious and soft. “Anne?”

Anne spun around towards the voice. She saw Ashley, sitting on the floor, looking at her with a mixture of fear and confusion. Slick, who had been standing next to her just a moment ago, was now lying motionless against the dumpster. For a moment, she thought he was dead, but the [REBOOT Y/N?] message on his visor showed that he was just unconscious instead.

She winced when she felt a sharp pain in her hand and gasped when she saw that Slick’s knife was currently lodged deeply into in. With a grunt, she pulled it out, staring at her hand as it started to heal before oil could even start flowing. In a panic, she threw the knife out of sight.

“A-Ash? What …what happened? Where are-” Anne muttered, confused about the situation. She looked around, and to her surprise and even bigger confusion, the two other thugs were unconscious too.

Ashley cautiously stood up, but seemed almost …reluctant to approach Anne. “You ... you don’t remember?”

“No.” Anne took a step in Ashley’s direction, but froze when the latter took a step backwards. “I …I blacked out, and now …! Did I do this?”

Ashley nodded, cautiously approaching her distraught friend.

“How?”

“You …you went berserk, or something. It was like you were possessed. I’ve never seen you act like that. You were cackling and all that.” Ashley explained, hugging herself, nervously eyeing Anne. “You took those two out first.” She nodded towards the two unconscious goons, before turning her gaze towards the equally knocked-out Slick. “You moved so fast; one moment you were standing over those two, and then …BAM! Next thing I know, this guy gets knocked backwards, but not before he tried to defend himself by stabbing you. How did you do that?”

“I …I don’t know what came over me. I saw that thug hurting you, and it made me so angry. “Anne explained, stammering and anxious. “I felt …something inside me, like something wanted to get out and protect you. And when you screamed …I blacked out. And, and …are you okay?”

“Nothing a little rest, and some nano-mending cream can fix.“ She took a cautious step forward. “Now …are you …okay?”

Anne stared at her trembling hands, her breathing quickening, her vision starting to blur again. “No, no, I’m not.” A sob escaped her throat, as digital tears rolled down her visor. She looked up at her friend, desperation and hopelessness in her eyes. “I’m scared, Ash. What is happening to me?”

Ashley, finally overcoming her apprehensive state, quickly closed the distance between her and Anne, and wrapped her arms around her distraught friend to hug he tightly.

“I’m so sorry, Ash.” Anne whimpered, burying her head into Ash’s neck. “I tried help you sooner, but-“

“It’s going to be okay, Anne. It’s over now.” She whispered, nuzzling her cheek against Anne’s. She pulled away, holding the latter’s head between her hands and smiling warmly. “Whatever it was, I’m happy it happened. You saved me. And in the most badass way possible. Even that X-eyes thing you had going on was cool!”

Anne took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. Ash was right. It was over. She had no clue what that berserk mode – or however she needed to call it – was about, but she and Ash were safe. Now, if only they could get out of here, before –

“Hello, this is Officer Rook!” A new voice called out, noticeably getting closer. “People heard fighting over here! Is anyone hurt?”

“Oh no!” Panic washed over Anne’s core. Police? Now? How could they react? How could they explain this? If they found out that she had done this, they-

It seemed that Ashley had noticed Anne’s panic, because she grabbed the latter by the shoulders and made her look at her. She smiled reassuringly. “It’s going to be okay, Anne.” She said, indicating that Anne had to sit down on the ground with her. “You saved our butts, now it’s time for me to do the same.”

“But-“

“Hey, talking ourselves out of trouble is my specialty, remember? Just …play along.”

Anne nodded and waited for the officer to get to them. She hoped that whatever tale Ash was going to spin, they would believe it.

***

A little while later, Anne and Ashley found themselves in the Police Station, where the officers had brought them, after they had thrown the still unconscious thugs in the back of a police cruiser. They were currently sitting in the office of one Chief Brick, who had been taking their statements.

The officer twirled his moustache, humming as he went over their statement again. “So, Miss Lecter, Miss Porter …if I understand you correctly, you were just wandering around the city, seeing the sites, when you decided to take detour through the alleyway we found you.”

“Yessir.” Ashley confirmed.

Anne nodded. That part was true.

“And then, those three fine examples of high school dropouts stopped you, and tried to mug you for all your possessions.”

The two nodded again. Still true.

“And when they decided to get handsy, you-“ He pointed a pencil at Ashley, who was pushing an ice-pack against the side of her head. “-decided to – how did you say it – ‘kick their sorry butts into next week?’

Anne shrunk inside herself a bit. That part …was not true.

“Pops always told me: ‘if a guy doesn’t want to listen to a ‘no’, maybe he’ll listen to a fist to the jaw.’.”

“Sounds like a smart man …” Officer Brick stated, a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Still, quite a feat for someone on her own, taking out three guys like that.”

“Yeah, I’m stronger than I look.” Ashley stated proudly, flexing her arms. “Courtesy of martial arts training, and a bit of my pops’ side of my coding. He used to be a construction worker, and his body was modified for heavy lifting. My arms got the same treatment when my body was being constructed.”

Anne had to stop herself from smirking. What Ash was saying was true, minus the thing about having martial arts training – she only had done a few lessons, and then got bored of it. A lot of people underestimated her when it came to strength.

Officer Brick turned to Anne. “You have been quiet, Miss Porter.” It was not a question.

Anne squeaked and chuckled nervously. “Oh, …still a bit shaken up, I suppose.”  

“Well, who wouldn’t?” Officer Brick sighed and leaned into his chair. “It was a good thing that your friend was there with you.”

“Yeah.” Anne turned to Ash, smiling softly when the latter winked at her.

There was a knock on the door, which opened to reveal the officer that first had helped Anne and Ashley, Rook. “Chief?”

“Yeah, Rook?” Brick acknowledged. “How are you three sleeping uglies? Did they have anything to say about all this?”

“They are awake, but they don’t seem to have any memory about their altercation with these young ladies. Seems they memory drives got knocked out of alignment and wiped out the last three hours of their lives.” He stated, standing to attention. “We did find several grade-A magnets on their person, and their breath reeked of gasoline, though.”

“So, these guys were probably stoned out of their minds, when they decided to hold up these young ladies?” Brick asked.

“It’s a high possibility, Sir.”

Brick turned to Ash and Anne. “Are you still sure that you don’t want to press charges?”

Ashley and Anne shook their heads.

“Well, in that case, I believe I’ve heard enough.” Brick decided. “We’ll charge them with possession of illegal substances, and we’ll chalk your actions up as ‘rightful self-defense’ and call it a day. Just a bit of paperwork to sign, and you may be on your way.

“Really?” Anne asked incredulously. She hardly could believe that they had gotten away with this. She eagerly grabbed the report and signed it, handing it over to Ashley for her to sign as well. “Thank you so much.”

“Just doing my job, young miss.” Brick stated with a smile. “About that …didn’t you say that you had a train to catch? To Epsilon district, if I recall correctly?”

“Oh sh-“ Anne checked the time and groaned. “And it seems like we’re going to miss that train.”

“Well, we can’t have that, can we?” Brick stated with a smile, his moustache wiggling. He turned to the other officer. “Rook, would you be so kind to escort these young ladies to the station?”

Anne and Ashley couldn’t believe their luck. Not only did they get to leave without any sort of problem, they also got a free ride. Seems things were looking up for them. With a little help of a loud Police siren, the two Drones managed to catch their train just in time. They had taken seat in a mostly empty wagon, where they could freely speak without anyone listening in on them.

Anne still had no idea what had happened to her. She still had no memory of what happened during her blackout, only what Ashley had told her. Obviously, this was linked with her powers, but this one …this one scared her. She couldn’t forget the fear in Ash’s eyes, after her attack. What if the next time it happened, it would make her turn on Ash.

She didn’t want to hurt her.

She couldn’t.

she wouldn’t.

She’d make sure of it.

One way or the other.

***

A few hours into their train ride, Anne found herself staring out the window, while Ashley was sleeping beside her. They had ventured into Epsilon District a little while ago, and it would still take a few hours before they’d arrive in Zeta. From there, they’d take a bus or something to Little Diodeton. And once there …

Suddenly, she got nearly thrown out of her seat when the train’s emergency brakes activated. Ashley fell out her seat with a scream. Judging by the distant sounds from other wagons, other passengers had the same reaction. A few moments later, the train came to a halt with a hiss.

“What the **** happened?” Ashley asked aloud, her profanity blocker bleeping out her swear word. “I was having the most amazing dream, and suddenly I’m on the ground!”

“I don’t know.” Anne groaned, scrambling up while pulling her friend up with her. “Some kind of accident, maybe?”

The PA system came to life with a series of beeps, and a voice spoke out. “ATTENTION PASSENGERS! DUE TO UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES, THIS TRAIN CAN’T CONTINUE Its DESTINATION. PLEASE EXIT THE WAGONS AND ASSEMBLE BY THE ROAD. EMERGENCY BUSSES HAVE BEEN CONTACTED TO BRING YOU TO THE NEXT STATION; THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING!”

“Guess we’re getting off here.” Ashley mumbled in an annoyed tone as she collected her backpack.

“Seems like it.” Anne agreed, feeling just as annoyed as her traveling companion. As she stepped out, scanned her surroundings. They were in the middle of nowhere. Just the train tracks, light indicating a city in the far distance, and a forest behind them …which somehow seemed familiar to her despite never have been in this District before.

As they walked over where all the other Drones were assembling, she felt a jab in her sides. She gave Ashley an annoyed look, but the latter seemed to be preoccupied by something else. “Wow, look at that!” She said in awe, pointing over toward the front of the train. Other passengers were looking in the same direction, also impressed by whatever they were seeing.

Anne gasped when she noticed what everyone was looking at. The tracks …were bend. Not a bit, but …. almost like someone had tried to rip them out of the ground. They were sticking out, like one of these miniature car playset tracks.

“Wow, indeed.” Anne mumbled. “What could’ve caused that?”

“Tectonic shift? A drunk guy with a tow cable?” Ashley guessed. “Whatever it was, I wouldn’t want to – Anne?”

Anne had stopped listening. She was staring at the forest behind them. The longer she looked, the more she got the feeling …that she had been there before. Like an old memory, but …that would be impossible, right?

Almost in a trance-like state, Anne started to walk over to the forest.

“Anne, what are you -?” Ashley hissed, quickly following behind her.

“I don’t know …” Anne mumbled. “It’s like something in that forest …is calling me.”

“Did you hit your head when the train stopped or something.”

“I’m serious, Ash.” Anne picked up the pace, her core buzzing with excitement. The snow crunched beneath her feet as she ran. “There’s something here.”

“ANNE!”

Anne ran until she reached the edge of the forest, and kept running. She jumped over fallen logs, pushed branches out of her face, nearly tripped over roots that’d grab her feet. She didn’t care. She felt something was close. Something was guiding her, pulling her into this direction. If she could just find what it was, she’d-

She skidded to a halt, her mouth falling open. A moment later, Ashley, out of breath and very annoyed, joined her. She opened her mouth to complain …and just kept her mouth open, in awe of what she saw. They had arrived in an open clearing, a field with beautiful flowers that only thrived in snowy environments. She looked up to the opening in the trees. The stars were out in full force this night, and the sky that was littered with sparkles and light reflected in her visor.

“It’s beautiful …” Ash exclaimed, a smile slowly growing on her face. “I’ve never seen so many flowers in my life.”

“Yeah …” Anne slowly walked over to the middle of the clearing. She felt a strong sense of familiarity. She felt …sadness. Confusion. A warmth. The sound of a buzzing core. From the deepest parts of her memories, she could hear a voice.

‘Momma is here. See? Momma is here.’

A gasp escaped Anne’s throat as a realization hit her. Was this …

“Ash, I think …I think I’ve been here with my birth parents when I was a baby.” Anne said softly.

No reaction.

“Ash?”

She turned around, and noticed that Ashley was staring at something. Her eyes were hollowed, and her expression was frozen in …terrified horror. With a cold feeling building up in her core, Anne slowly turned around, scanning around to locate the thing that her friend was looking at.

And froze when she saw it.

In the trees.

There was someone in the trees.

A yellow X.

A blue light.

There was a sound, like a buzzing that slowly reached its highest pitch.

A flash of blue.

Something flew across her, nearly hitting her. She could feel the heat on her cheek.

The air tasted of copper and electricity in her mouth.

She heard something – someone – hit the ground.

She spun around, and saw to her horror that Ash was squirming on the ground, clearly in pain.

“ASHLEY!” She ran over to her fallen friend. Ashley’s entire body was sparking, her visor was glitching and so was her voice. Her screams came out distorted and broken.

And then she fell silent, her visor black and empty.

“No-no-no! Wake up, Ash! Wake up!” Anne shook her friend, but there was no reaction. It was then that she realized that their attacker was still there. Anne didn’t think, she just needed to act. She needed to run. Get back to the train. Get help. NOW! She hoisted her friend of the ground and threw her onto her back.

She started to run, and screamed in surprise when a blast impacted not too far from her.

She needed to be faster.

She looked behind her. The figure had vanished from the trees. Where were they? Had they left?

And then she heard something above her, and a shadow passed under them.

Anne picked up the pace.

She needed to go faster.

She heard another charge building up.

Faster!

There was a flash.

Something hit her. She felt an excruciating pain travel through her entire body. She tripped and fell to the ground, dropping Ashely as well. Anne rolled on her back, squirming and cramping up. The pain was so much, she couldn’t even get herself to scream. Her interface showed her a warning.

[WARNING! SYSTEM OVERLOAD! SHUT-DOWN IMMENENT!]

Barely able to keep her eyes open, she saw a figure flying above her. A figure that was getting closer.

There was a thud, and an impact made the snow twirl around the figure.

They were very tall.

In their hand, they held a rifle or some sorts. Or …was it a rifle instead of a hand?

Their visor showed a large, yellow X.

Their mouth was stretched in a wide, sharp grin.

“Got you, creep!” The figure growled, and Anne realized that it was a woman.

Anne tried to say something, but she felt herself becoming weaker and weaker. It wouldn’t be long, and she’d be …

The unknown female Drone took a step forward, knelt down and grabbed Anne by her collar, pulling her closer to her face.

“Now, I give you one chance to tell me. What have you done with –?” The rest of the sentence was a horrified gasp. She released their grip, and Anne fell on her back with a groan. The woman’s visor changed. The yellow X blinked away, showing a pair of yellow eyes, looking at her with surprise and shock. Before Anne completely lost consciousness and darkness overtook her, she could hear the woman say one final thing.

A name.

“Anne?”

Her name.

Chapter Text

16 years ago

Despite what the name might imply, Little Diodeton was far from being a sleepy little town on the edge of the Zeta Districts. What in the past started out as a Crypto Mining outpost had, due to the efforts of clever visionaries and some charitable investors, expanded the town into a quaint place where families loved to visit for a few days of relaxation. It was the type of place people would describe as perfect if you needed somewhere to ‘get away from it all’. It wasn’t uncommon for people to move into town to make a home for themselves.

So, no-one batted a digital eye when a little less than sixteen years ago, a couple by the names of Luci and Eve Mossberg moved into town and got themselves settled. At first glance, there was nothing too outwardly specific about the married couple. Eve was a painter, who made the artworks that Luci sold in her shop. They didn’t cause trouble, were friendly when you spoke to them, and offered a helping hand or advice when someone was in need of it.

But in those first few years that they moved in, they kept to themselves. Eve hardly left her workshop, and when Luci wasn’t manning her shop, she hardly left their residence. About their past, they weren’t too eager to share, if ever. There was as unspoken sadness in their eyes, a somber song in their voice and sometimes, the two girls looked so fragile, like they could shatter at the slightest touch. And while the residents of Little Diodeton were smart enough to keep their curiosity about the affairs of others to themselves, it was the little things that hinted at what had transpired against them.

Like, how Luci’s voice, which commanded her shop with a daunting authority, would soften when children would ask her questions about the paintings. It was the swiftness in Eve’s step, leaving her cane clatter to the ground, when a child hurt themselves on the playground and rushed over to help. The looks of longing and regret when they saw a young couple with a newborn Droneling. The echoes of a past pain, recognized in the words of comfort they offered to a mother at the funeral of her child, taken away too soon.

Yes, people moved into this quaint little town to get away from it all, but sometimes …just to begin again, or move beyond the pain. And while, in the years that came, Luci and Eve slowly but surely let themselves integrate into the town’s bustling community, it was always quite clear.

 Something was missing.

An uncompleted puzzle, longing to be complete, where a piece was forever lost.

An empty space in their cores, where love wanted to grab hold, but never could.

Two mothers, who missed their child.

* * *

A few days ago.

“Oh, this is going to look wonderful in our living room, Luci.” The customer beamed as she admired her new painting. She turned to the shop’s owner, who was grinning behind her counter. “And you say that your wife almost didn’t want you to sell this beautiful piece?”

“Oh, she wasn’t easily convinced. I’ve had to really work my magic on her, Maggie.” The purple-haired Drone wiggled her digital eyebrows. “Luckily, I have some really persuasive methods to get her into the right mood, and afterwards she’ll be too satisfied to refuse.”

The Drone named Maggie giggled at the implied innuendo. “Oh, Luci, you really are -!“ Suddenly, a loud sound of something falling over made the two women yelp, with Maggie turning to the source of the interruption with a scowl. “Glenn, what did I say about playing in the store!?”

The young Droneling Glen stood sheepishly next to a row of fallen easels, looking very guilty. “I just wanted to look.”

“You look with your eyes, not your hands, mister.” Maggie scolded, placing her fists on her hips. “Well, have anything to say?”

“Sorry, mom.”

Maggie wasn’t satisfied, crossing her arms and tapping her foot. “And …?”

The boy turned to the shop’s owner, who had the faintest of smiles tugging at the corner of her lips. “Sorry, Mrs. Mossberg.”

She chuckled. “Well, you’re quite forgiven, Glenn. Just be careful next time, okay?”

“I will.” The boy promised eagerly, running over to his mother.

“I’m so sorry about this, Luci.” Maggie sighed, shaking her head with a tired expression. “I swear, I have no idea where he gets this energy from.”

“Oh, don’t worry about this. Boys will be boys, after all.” Luci waved the apology away. “No harm, no foul and all that.”

“Maggie smiled, happily tucking the wrapped painting under the crook of her arm. “Well, thanks again for this painting. Or rather, thank your wife for me.”

Luci chuckled. “I will.” She smiled as mother and son left the store. “Have a nice day!”  As the door closed behind the due, she walked over to it and flipped the sign from ‘open’ to ‘closed’, locking the entrance. She sighed and walked over to the knocked over easels, putting them back into place. She sighed when she noticed that some of them had a bit of superficial damage. “Well, these are going in the discount corner.”

After she had tidied up her store, she left through the back door that led to the private parking. She was about to unlocked her car, when she noticed the laughter of children on the opposite side of her store. She looked over to the playground that was there, smiling as she saw the young Dronelings playing around, climbing on the jungle gym, getting dizzy on the merry-go-round, and daring each other to see who would go highest on the swing set. For a moment, her core ached …but the feeling quickly subsided, and she sighed as she unlocked her car and took a seat behind the wheel. It had been a long day, and she longed to go home, to her wife.

* * *

Present day

[REBOOT COMPLETE. WAKE UP, IDIOT!]

Ugh, why was the interface OS always so rude at the start of the day?

Anne groaned softly, trying to move but seemingly unable to. Her interface was still booting up, but the rest of her vision was still total darkness. Maybe because her eyes were still closed. She tried to open, to no avail. Her visor was still coming online, and taking much more time than it normally would.

She slowly started to get some feeling back in the rest of her appendages. Still, her entire body ached, her limbs feeling heavier than they’d should be. She tried to push herself up, but it was like the rest of her body still needed to come online.

Even with her eyes closed, she was getting a feel of where she was. She couldn’t hear the wind, and her internal thermostat indicated she was somewhere ‘pleasantly warm’, so she wasn’t outside.

Despite her aching body, she wasn’t necessarily uncomfortable. She wasn’t laying in the snow, or the hard ground. She was laying on something soft. A bed, probably. A blanket was covering her body.

She didn’t remember going to sleep. She didn’t remember much, actually. Her mind was foggy and trying to recall something was like wading through a thick sludge. What happened?

“Anne?”

That curious-yet-cautiously-excited voice sounded very familiar. Oh yeah … her best friend. Anne wetted her lips, her voice box crackling and sputtering as it took its sweet time to let a sound out.

“Ugh ...A-Ash?” She felt the bed shift as someone sat down next to her.

“Yeah, it’s me.” The redhead answered. “I woke up about half an hour ago. I almost thought you weren’t going to wake up, with how long I’ve tried to wake you.”

“Wha …what happened?”

“I don’t know.” Ashley’s voice answered, and Anne could detect a hint of concern in her voice, mixed with a pinch of fear. “One moment, I was following you into that open clearing; the next … ZAP, I’m hit by …something, and boom, I go offline. Woke up in this room with you. What the heck did they hit us with? It was …painful.”

‘They’? Oh yeah, now she started to remember. The train’s emergency stop. The forest. The clearing with the flowers. The maybe-a-memory the sight dug up. The yellow X in the trees. The buzzing sound. The blue light.

“An EMP …” Anne groaned. Her visor had just finished booting up again, and she opened her eyes. Her vision was still blurry, but it was clearing up with every passing second. She could see the blurry silhouette of Ashley, and even in her impaired state Anne could see the worry in the latter’s eyes. “We were hit with a concentrated EMP blast. Strong enough to knock us out, but still wouldn’t cause us serious damage. Whoever it was, they wanted us alive.” 

“If you say so …” Ashley mumbled, helping Anne to sit up. “Who was that, though? Could it have been …that hacker? How did they find us? I thought you said that their trace-thing hadn’t worked?”

“I don’t know how, or if it was them.  I have no idea how they have found us.” Anne groaned, wracking her brain to remember anything more specific. “It was a lady who attacked us, though. I heard her voice before I blacked out. She was asking me questions. She-” Her core made a jump, when she suddenly remembered the other thing that she last heard before she blacked out. “Ashley, she knew my name.”

Ashley’s eyes hollowed in surprise. “She did?”

Anne nodded, trying to recall the moment. There was something weird about it. The woman who attacked them sounded …surprised? Like she hadn’t expected her at all. But if she – or whoever else – had traced them somehow …, wouldn’t they have known?

As she let her thoughts run rampant, Anne’s vision finally started completely clear up. She blinked as the rest of the room slowly started to come into focus. It … surprised her, to say the least. “Where are we?”

Ashley shook her head, her expression as confused as Anne’s. “No idea, but … shouldn’t chambers where you’d lock people up look a bit less …comfy? It reminds of me of how I’d imagine my aunt’s guest room to look like …if I had an aunt, of course.”

Anne knew what Ashley meant. The room was …homey. Two comfy beds, a dresser, a closet, a pleasantly nice wallpaper decorating the walls., … It looked more like someone’s guest room than a holding cell. In fact, … she was pretty sure it was just that.

Anne swung her legs over the edge of the bed – letting out a pained groan as her body vehemently objected to the movement -, and – with Ashley’s help – managed to get herself unto her two feet. She walked over to the nearby window and inspected it, noticing that it wasn’t even locked. Outside, she could see a big lake, and a town in the distance.

“Wherever we are …you can’t deny that the view is pretty.” Ashley half-heartedly joked, walking over the nearby table. She grabbed a plate of food of it and presented it to Anne. “Want some?”

“They gave us food?” Anne questioned. “Are you sure it’s …wise to eat that?”

“I’ve already eaten some when I woke up half-an-hour ago, and I’m fine.” Ashley shrugged. “You know, considering our circumstances.”

Anne reached out for one of the Drone-friendly sandwiches and slowly took a bite. It was …good. Very good. Reminded her of her momma’s famous sandwiches.

Anne was severely confused. For someone who had knocked them offline, and brought them somewhere against their will, they were surprisingly …nice? And then, there was that strange reaction of their attacker that still vexed her, even more than the fact that they somehow had traced them without leaving some sort of tracing software on her equipment or herself. Something didn’t add up, Anne just couldn’t figure out what.

“The door doesn’t happen to be unlocked, by any chance?” Anne asked wishfully.

The redheaded Drone shook her head. “Nope, first thing I tried when I finally had full bodily autonomy again. I tried everything, but whoever built that lock did a great job. Even my lockpicks couldn’t crack it.

“You’ve brought lockpicks?”

“I never leave home without my picks, girl.” Ashley grinned, but even Anne could see it was a hollow one. She looked over to the door, her expression somewhat anxious. “Well, it might be lockpick-proof, but certainly not sound-proof.” She turned back to Anne. “I heard people talking. At least two, as far as I could hear. What are we gonna do when they come for us? How are we-?”

At that moment, the door made a loud click, making the two girls jump and back away from it.

“Anne?”

“Yeah?”

“I think that door just unlocked.”

“Yeah.”

“I repeat my earlier question: what are we gonna do?”

Anne couldn’t answer. She had no idea. They just had to wait and see. They just looked on, as the doorknob turned, and the door slowly opened. The two girls braced themselves as two Drones walked in.

Anne quickly tried to take in as much information about them as she could observe. Both females. One was tall with silver hair. Anne noticed the yellow eyes, peeking at them behind a pair of round glasses. She was certain that this was the one who had attacked them. But then she also noticed the cane, and the slight limp in her left leg. She realized that this one had a bad leg.  If she was the one that attacked them, how didn’t her disability slow her down. Back in the clearing, it was almost like she was flying.

The other Drone was much shorter than the other, more about Anne’s own height. Neon purple eyes, purple hair, but otherwise … nothing much to note. Only … something was so familiar about her. Anne also felt it with the other one.

They didn’t say anything. Their expressions were stiff and not betraying any emotion. They were just looking at them. Wait, no, not at them.

At her. Both set of eyes were solely trained on her. Their expressions weren’t stiff and emotionless, but …restrained, like they had to hold back something. And their body language …they were nervous, anxious. The shorter drone had a tight grip on the taller woman’s arms, while the latter fidgeted nervously with the handle of her cane.

There was something else in their eyes, besides the nervousness. A warmth? It almost was unnoticeable, but Anne could see their expression soften. She had seen that also in …her mothers?

Something clicked. Yellow eyes with very familiar glasses. A short drone with purple eyes. Her hand flew up and touched her visor, where her gradient yellow-and-purple eyes hollowed in startled realization. Could it be …? Were these Drones …?

Suddenly, Ashley took a step forward, cracking her knuckles. “Okay, ladies, I don’t know what your game is, but if you think we’ll just lay down without a fight, you’ve got another thing coming!” She was putting on quite the bravado, but Anne could hear the anxious tone in her voice.

The yellow-eyed Drone snickered, turning to the purple-eyed one. “I like this one.”

Purple eyes snickered softly. “Of course, you would.”

Anne’s core jumped. Those voices. She knew those voices. She’s never heard them, but deep down …she knew them.

Ashley, undeterred by their comments, was about to take another step forward. “I’ll give you something to like, you-“

“Ash, stop!” Anne grabbed her redheaded friend with her free hand, her other hand still resting on her visor.

“Anne, what are you-“ Ashley began, but as her eyes glanced over to Anne’s visor, where the latter still had her fingers under her gradient eyes, something clicked. She looked over to the other two drones, back to Anne and, for one final time, back to the other Drones. Her expression was a mixture of shock, disbelief, bewilderment, and a various other slew of emotions as she – very slowly – turned back to Anne, with her mouth agape.

Anne took a deep breath and stepped forward. She noticed the two women flinch slightly, grabbing each other’s hand. Her insides felt …heavy, yet it felt that every step made her feel lighter.

“Where have you brought us?” Anne asked with a trembling voice.

“Our home near Lake Infinite, a few miles out of Little Diodeton.” The purple-eyed Drone answered.

Anne’s core jumped once again with cautious anticipation. Little Diodeton. The very place they were headed; why they had made this journey in the first place. She took a deep breath again, her gaze fixed on the two Drones, but her head felt like it was spinning. With careful steps, she inched ever so closer to them, until she stood right in front of them.

The way that they looked at her. Their expressions softened even more, small smiles forming at their lips. Tears starting to well up in their eyes, that reminded Anne so much of her own.

“A-are you my…?” Anne’s voice was small, like her voice box was about to fail. She cleared her throat. “Who are you?”

“It’s a bit …complicated. The people of Diodeton know us as Eve- “ The yellow-eyed Drone gestured at herself first, before turning a soft gaze towards her companion. “-and Luci Mossberg.”

“But … those aren’t our actual names. We’ve been living under these identities …for certain reasons.” The purple-haired Drone stated. She looked so nervous, fumbling over her words. “My actual name is … is Uzi Doorman.” She turned her gaze to her other one. “H-her name is V.”

Anne’s head was spinning. Fake identities, just like she and Ashley had theorized. She took the deepest breath she’d ever taken in her life. The question was burning on the tip of her tongue, but …now that she was here. She was almost scared to ask.

It seemed that Uzi had figured out what Anne wanted to ask. She smiled softly, a certain …saddened anticipation radiating in her eyes, which was reflected in the eyes of her partner as well. “I know what you want to ask, but I think that you know the answer, right, Anne?” Uzi asked softly.

V knelt down to Anne’s – and Uzi’s – eye level, smiling warmly. “It’s true, Anne.”

The way these two drones said her name …it was said with love and warmth, just like how Hazel and Noami would say it. And just like with her adoptive parents, Anne felt something warm fill her core.

“Anne, we –“ Uzi took a pause, giving V a nervous look, who nodded reassuringly back at her. She turned back to Anne, taking a deep breath, before saying the very words that Anne had longed to hear ever since she found out that they were still out there. “We are your parents.”

Anne’s knees gave out, dropping to the floor as a sob escaped her throat. Her parents. They were alive. They were here, standing right in front of her. She couldn’t believe it. Finally, she had found the people who could provide her with definite answers. A gentle caress against her cheek made her look up. Uzi and V were kneeling down in front of her, both had digital tears in their eyes as well.

“Anne, you can’t believe how long we’ve longed for this moment.” V stated, her voice cracking as she tried to compose herself. The both of them looked like they were struggling to restrain themselves from hugging Anne, which the latter could understand. She also didn’t know how to react right now.

“I … I have so many questions.” Anne hiccupped, looking up at them.

“Yeah, for starters: How did you know we were looking for you, how did you find us and why did you attack us?” Ashley, who was still in the room, addressing the last questions at V with an accusatory finger.

“Ash!” Anne cried out, horrified at how casually her friend broke this moment.

“I’m sorry, Anne!” Ashley stated loudly. “I know this is a very emotional moments, but I am also getting very emotional right now, and you know I get when I’m emotional.”

“I’m sorry about Ash.” Anne apologized quickly. “She’s-“

“Asking the right questions.” Uzi filled in with a chuckle. She held out her hand to Anne – who cautiously took it – and pulled her to her feet as she herself stood up as well. She turned to V, jabbing her in the sides. “You have anything to say to Miss Ashley, V?”

“Yeah, right …” V chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of her head. “I’m sorry for what I did. It was a case of …mistaken identity. I had no idea it was, well, you.” She gave Anne and Ashley an apologetic smirk. “We thought that whoever had run that trace on us had taken Anne.”

Something clicked inside Anne’s mind. “Wait, you were the hacker?”

“Actually, that would’ve been me. And judging by the equipment in your backpack, you are quite the hacker yourself.” Uzi stated with a proud grin. “The screw doesn’t stray far from the bolt, eh?”

So, her birth parents lived under fake names; faked their deaths somehow; one was a super hacker, and the other some sort of ninja? It was making Anne’s processor spin. “This is …a lot to take in.” She muttered, rubbing her temples.

“You don’t even know the half of it …” V mumbled, receiving a jab in her sides from Uzi again, who hissed at her to be quiet. The former gave the latter an apologetic look, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Ash.

“So …how did you find me?” Anne asked, somehow never having noticed the exchange between her once-lost-now-found parents.

Uzi and V gave each other a look, almost like some sort of silent conversation going on between them. The yellow-eyed Drone gestured to her partner to get on with it, getting a scowl in return.

Uzi cleared her throat, with Anne noticed that she seemed a bit …aloof about the subject. “It’s …a bit complicated so I won’t bore you with too many, uh, details, but in short-“

* * *

A few days ago.

The drive to her home was uneventful and quiet, just the way Luci liked it. She smiled as she saw the familiar shape of her house loom up in the distance. Their house was located away from town Far enough that no-one would bother them or see things they didn’t need to see, but close enough that a trip to the city wouldn’t take annoyingly long. But the location gave them absolute privacy, which was just perfect for them. it helped that the surrounding area was designated Private Property, so unwanted visitors wouldn’t accidentally get too close. 

Luci Mossberg parked her car and leaned back into her seat, letting out a sigh of relief. In the sanctity of their domain, she could drop the veil that was her fabricated identity, and be herself. From this moment on, she could just be Uzi Doorman again, and lay Luci to rest until she needed her again.

She stepped out her car with a grin, eager to tell V the good news …and rub her nose into it. She walked up to her front door and opened it remotely with her internal security key – physical keys were such a hassle …and not only because Uzi had a habit of losing them – and walked in.

She hung her coat on the rack, stomping her feet to get the snow of her boots. “V?”

“Living room!” Her eternal partner called out from said location. “How was work.”

Uzi walked over to the living room, grinning as she saw V look up from her knitting work. She pretty much skipped over to the couch, plopping herself down next to the former Disassembly Drone. “Great. Especially because I’ve won the bet.”

V’s expression fell, changing from a warm smile to a mixture of disbelief and incredulous surprise. “You … have?”

“That painting you said would never sell?” Uzi presented V with a smug grin, folding her arms with an almost arrogant air about it. “I’ve sold it today.”

“You haven’t!” V’s expression was more horrified than excited.

“Maggie Crawley bought it.” Uzi let out a cackle. “Said she loved the ‘abstract surrealism contained within a cosmic conundrum’, and how it conveyed a message of ‘chaos within harmony’.”

“That wasn’t even an actual painting!” V slumped back into the couch. “That was just a ruined canvas I spilled my paint over! And then I got mad and assaulted it with a broom! Before throwing it at the wall! The only message it convenes is …. I don’t know, ‘watch your step, or you’ll need to replace at least 6 cans of paint’?”

Uzi giggled, leaning her head on V’s shoulder. “Well, that just shows you that art resonates with some people in strange ways.” She planted a kiss on V’s cheek. “Still, I won the bet. I managed to sell the unsellable. Which means …?”

V sighed. “Fine, you get to choose tonight’s movie, fair is fair.”

Uzi giggled, falling into a relaxed silence, while V kept on knitting. She raised an eyebrow at her wife’s ‘creation’. “What the heck are you knitting?”

V held up the …thing, raising an eyebrow at it as well. “I have no idea. I’m just doing whatever.”

“Which is probably the best description we’ll have for it.” Uzi glanced up with a grin. “It’s a ‘whatever’.”

“Shut up, Purple thing.” V muttered, affectionally nuzzling her head against Uzi’s. “Some of us enjoy the process more than the actual result itself, you perfectionist.”

“Bite me …” Uzi mumbled back, letting herself get comfortable as V wrapped an arm around her.

“Later …” V whispered, planting a kiss on top of Uzi’s head.

Uzi sung her leg over V, sitting down on her lap and straddling her. V happily placed her knitting project to the side, resting her hands on Uzi’s hips, pretty much purring as the latter held her face between her hands.

“You know, for something you called a ‘ruined canvas’ … it was actually somewhat pretty.” Uzi cooed.

“Mmmmh, not as pretty as you.” V whispered in Uzi’s ears.

Uzi giggled, pulling away to look longingly into V’s eyes. “Flatterer.”

V pulled her wife tightly against her, both of their eyes slowly closing as their lips inched closer to each other. “Shut up, and just kiss me.”

A series of beeping noises jolted the two out of their romantic moment. At first, they silently decided to just ignore it and keep going about their pleasurable business, but the insistent beeping proved to be too distracting for their makeout. Uzi, very reluctantly, got up with an annoyed groan, which just made V chuckle. Curious and figuring their fooling-around-time was postponed for the time being, the latter stood up and followed Uzi into the room that the beeping came from.

They entered in what V like to call ‘Uzi’s Hacker Paradise’. The room was filled with screens, servers and all sorts of other computer equipment, which V – despite being a Drone and having lived for countless years with a bonafide, self-made computer genius – hadn’t the foggiest idea what half of it was really meant for. She knew that this collection of hardware gave Uzi a complete connection to pretty much anywhere on Copper-9, and gave her access to any of the systems that she had helped design over their immortal years. And they didn’t have to pay for streaming services.

Uzi plopped down on the chair and looked over her computer. After a few moments of checking, she raised a digital eyebrow. “Huh …”

“Something wrong, Zi?” V asked, genuinely worried all of the sudden.

“Nah, not really.” Uzi reassured. “Just a notification that someone, somewhere, has accessed some kind of documentation with reference to one of our old identities in it. It could be an essay about one of my books when I was ‘Iza Hatchway, self-published writer, or an article about ‘Viviene Demonté’s sculptures’.”

Uzi and V had lived so many lives over the years, and since they couldn’t erase every single piece of evidence about those identities, Uzi had made sure to keep tab on them instead. In a lot of their previous Chapters, she had been a software engineer or something similar, so she’s had a hand in designing a lot of those very systems. Which meant that she had a backdoor into all of them, so she would get a warning when someone accessed a file on them.

“So, which kind and which identity is it about now?” V asked.

Uzi snorted, amused at V’s question. “It doesn’t work like that, V. I needed to keep this program as simple as possible, or it could be detected. It just tells me a file has been accessed, not ‘which one’, ‘who has it’, or ‘for what reason’.”

V just rolled her eyes.

“Hmm, seems to be accessed not too long ago …a copy has been made. Could just be a student doing research about any of the fields we’ve employed ourselves in over the years.” Uzi muttered. She perked up. “And whoever is accessing it, is currently reading it.” She turned to V. “You want me to see if I can shed some light on this?”

“Why not?” V shrugged. “Could be fun.”

“Okay, I’ll just see if I can get their location with a…” Uzi glanced over to V with a mischievous grin. “Callback Ping!”

V groaned, rolling her eyes at Uzi’s antics. “Ugh, did you have to do the voice as well, Uzi?”

“Sorry.”

“You’re forgiven, for now.”

Uzi turned back to her screen, but her shoulders drooped and she let out a disappointed groan. “Aww, they’ve disconnected before I could get a ping back.”

“Well, too bad.” V chuckled, holding out her hand for Uzi to grab, so she could pull her to her feet. “Looks like we’ll never know who our mystery person was.”

“Actually, the ping only would’ve presented a general location, not a - “

V placed a finger on Uzi’s lips. “The only thing I want these lips to do for the time being, is making my lips feels good.” She tickled a flustered Uzi under her chin, making a purring sound. “So, how about we get ourselves comfortable …and have some fun.”

“Yes, dear.” Uzi grabbed V’s arm and pulled her laughing wife back to the living room.

* * *

Immortal or not, even those who are severed from the ravages of time needed sleep to recharge at night, lest they wanted to be extra groggy – and in V’s case: extra grumpy – in the morning. Neither did mind, since it was just another excuse to get comfortable with each other.

Uzi couldn’t sleep, though. She kept staring at the ceiling, hands folded on her chest. She let out a heavy sigh. She felt the bed shift underneath her, signaling that her bed companion was moving around. she turned her head, smiling softly as she saw her beloved looking at her with mild concern. “Hey, did I wake you up?”

“Nah …can’t sleep when you can’t sleep.” V stated with a soft smile. She reached out a hand and caressed Uzi’s cheek, who closed her eyes to enjoy the affectionate gesture. “Talk to me, Uzi …”

Uzi sighed again, rolling over to stare at the ceiling again. “It’s …”

V didn’t need to take long to guess, smiling sympathetically. “It’s about her, right?”

Uzi nodded. “I don’t know why, but …I just can’t stop wondering. I know that I shouldn’t, but– “

“Hey, I think about her just as much as you, silly.” V interrupted, shuffling closer to wrap her arms around Uzi. “It would be cruel of me, trying to forbid you to miss her, since I miss her too.”

“She would’ve been sixteen this year.” Uzi lamented, digital tear starting to form in the corner of her eyes.

“You’re talking like she’s gone.” V stated softly. “She’s not, you know.”

“I know, but …doesn’t it sometimes feel like it? I mean, it’s not like we ever ….ever-” Uzi voice trailed off, sounding like it was close to breaking. Her breath hitched, and she buried her face into her hands, just as a sob escaped her throat. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

V sat up and pulled Uzi into a tight embrace, holding on to her like she was going to float away. “Don’t ever apologize for feeling sorry, or for these feelings. I miss her too, Uzi.” V whispered, her voice soft and sorrowful. “I’ve struggling with those same feelings, those same doubts, just like you.”

“I know …I know.” Uzi dug her fingers in V’s nightgown, burying her face into her shoulder. They remained embrace for a long time, silently comforting each other. Eventually, Uzi pulled away from the hug, taking V’s hands into her own. “We should take comfort in knowing …that Anne is somewhere with people who will keep her safe.” She nuzzled her cheek against V’s closed fist. “Who’ll love her, like we do.”

V leaned forward, resting her forehead against Uzi’s. “Don’t worry, I often have to remind myself of that, too.” She planted her lips on Uzi’s visor, kissing the tears away. She smiled warmly, letting her fingers run through Uzi’s purple strands. “Feeling better?”

“A little …” Uzi grabbed V’s hand and kissed the back of it, glancing up into V’s eyes. “You?”

“Yeah….” V lied down and gestured for Uzi to come into her arms, which the shorter Drone promptly did. She smiled as Uzi made herself comfortable. “Hey, since we’re on the subject: any news from your little spymaster?”

Uzi sighed, but smiled nonetheless. “Nothing, which I’ll take as good news.” She answered. “If something were to happen, I’d be notified by now. I made any incoming message would get a direct reroute to our servers, no matter where it would be transmitted from.”

“So, that’s it?” V asked, albeit a bit exasperated. “We … wait?”

“Yeah.”

“And what do we do IF we get a message?”

“How we’ll act depends on the nature of the message.”

“And if we don’t? Get a message, I mean.”

“We wait, and hope that no news means good news.”

V sighed deeply. “This is making my head spin.”

Uzi giggled. “Since when have our lives ever been easy?”

“Point taken.”

“Hey, I was thinking I’d stay home tomorrow.” Uzi suggested, adjusting her position so she could rest her head on V’s chest, enjoying the hum of her core. “I’m not opening my store; you stay away from your easels and paint. You know, have a relaxing day to ourselves.”

“And do what?”

“How about ‘absolutely nothing productive’?”

“Sound like a plan.”

The next day, Uzi and V did exactly like they said, pretty much nothing than lounge in their living room, watch movies and having a long afternoon nap, obviously preceding said activity with an extended makeout.

Both of them were asleep, happily adrift in the realm of binary dreams, when all of the sudden, all of hell broke loose. A loud alarm went off in Uzi’s computer room, while at the same moment, an internal alarm – complete with message on their interface – woke both of them up. V bolted up with such speed and force that she actually launched Uzi into the air, before the latter crashed into the ground in a crumpled heap.

“What the heck was that Uzi!?” V shouted, frantically trying to shut down the alarm inside her head. She figured that her partner had implemented inside their systems at one point or the other, but she had no idea what the purpose was. Uzi didn’t answer, but the look of panic and horror in her eyes as she pushed herself up made V uneasy. Something was definitely wrong.  “Uzi, what is-“

“No-no-no-no!” Uzi scrambled up from the floor and ran off towards her computer room, nearly tripping over her own feet a few times. She gasped when she saw the situation in there. Every screen in the room was filled with warning messages. “No-no-no!”

“Uzi, what’s wrong!?” V shouted, trying to get herself heard over the sirens. “And shut down that noise!”

“Shut up!” Uzi shouted back, her fingers flying over the keyboard. “Someone’s is trying to trace us!”

V’s heart sank, immediately realizing the danger they were in. “What?! Who? How?”

“Tracing us! I don’t know. I’m trying to find out!” Uzi answered, her eyes darting over the screens while she was running command after command, trying to get to the source. “Almost, almost …there, I’ve got access!”

She typed in something in the command console: <WHO_ARE_YOU?>

V raised a digital eyebrow. “Uzi, I don’t think that trying to talk with them is going to – what is happening now?”

Every single one of Uzi’s computer screens started flickering, with some windows showing an <ERROR> message. Uzi, despite her concern, grinned. “They are counteracting my hack-attacks! If I don’t do something, my entire system is going to crash. Whoever they are, they are good … but I’m better.”

Uzi began using every single form of coding in her arsenal, running counterattacks for her adversary’s counterattacks while running programs to disable the already activated countermeasures.

V nervously gripped her wife by the shoulders. “Uzi …?”

“Almost there, almost there.” Uzi muttered, the tip of her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth. It took a few moments, but her relentless prodding of the unknown’s firewall finally made enough of an opening. “Hah! There! Activating tracing program! Bite me, unknown hacker!”

She grinned at the progress bar that appeared, cackling triumphantly as it slowly filled up …but her grin faded quickly when the bar suddenly vanished, replaced with an <ERROR! CONNECTION LOST!> message.

“Uzi …what happened?” V asked.

“They …severed the connection, I think? Very risky and very dangerous, but …you know, effective. Still …dumb thing to do. It’s a good way to overload your equipment’s processor, with, uh, explosive consequences.” Uzi explained, typing in new commands to bring up the logs. “Seems they didn’t want to be found just as much as us.”

“So, did they find us?” V asked nervously. “More pressingly: how did they manage to get a trace on us, anyway? I thought you’ve had like a dozen of decoys and redirects in place?”

“Hang on, let me check. I’m a computer genius, not a fast reader.” Uzi checked her logs and let out a hum. “So, about them getting our location: I think I can describe it best as ‘kinda’. It seems that they’ve managed to get a definite fix on our District, but because they severed the connection so abruptly, I figure – I hope - that they won’t have too much to work with otherwise. The resulting energy spike of the data feedback loop will hopefully made the file too corrupted to be readable.”

“So … how do we react?” V asked, hoping that her wife had a contingency plan for this.

“Well, while my own tracking program also didn’t complete its course completely, it still managed to get partial access.” Uzi leaned back in her chair, sighing. “That’s the semi-good news, though.”

“What’s the bad one?”

“Like I said, it was only partial, which meant that the connection to my servers failed.” Uzi explained. “We’ll be able to track them, but only once they’ll get close enough.”

“How close are we talking about?”

“Once they get in the District, the program will attempt to make a connection with closest device capable of a wireless connection and reroute their location back to us.” Uzi explained, while a new log appeared on her screen. “Which gives us still more than enough time to make our move.”

“Which is …?” V asked, cocking her head in thought as Uzi .

“Well, I think we … we …” Uzi voice trailed off as she read the log, her eyes hollowing and her expression growing more horrified with every second.

V, noticing Uzi’s sudden silent, leaned over to read her screen. “Uzi, what-?” She froze when she read what was on there.

“A-according to my scan …” Uzi gulped, her voice breaking as a panic started to come over her. “Whoever initiated that tracking program …used Anne’s Parental Source Code. Not the one we’ve placed inside her internal data storage, but …the one in her core.”

V felt her knees buckle, as the same terrifying realization started to dawn on her. “I thought, …I thought you locked that data away. Decoys, encryptions and redirections, and all that.”

“I did.”

“So, they shouldn’t be able to access that …”

“They shouldn’t.” Uzi breathed out, her trembling hands hovering over the keyboard, frozen in shock. “I’ve put so many encryptions and layers of security inside her Core, it wouldn’t be possible for normal equipment to detect it. The only way they’ve could’ve gotten to that, ….is ….”

“Uzi, please don’t say what I think you’re about to say.” V’s voice was trembling. She was holding on to her cane with such force that the handle was creaking.

“If someone hacked her Core.” Uzi’s hands fell to her sides, as her eyes hollowed with fear. “But … hacking a Core is extremely dangerous. Hazel and Naomi Brinkman are both doctors with a very reputable track record. They wouldn’t let allow someone to perform such a dangerous procedure on their daughter, even if it was legal. They wouldn’t haven’t a reason to.”

“They wouldn’t.” V stated, her voice low and cold. “Which means … it happened against their will. Against Anne’s will.”

Uzi came to the same conclusion as V, and the realization shook her to her very core, filling it with an icy feeling. “Somone … has Anne.”

A shadow suddenly loomed over her, as V’s wings expanded, as her tail deployed as well, whipping around dangerously. The former Disassembly Drone growled as she stomped out the room, leaving scrapes in the doorframe as her wings barely fit through them. “I’m going to Rivetdale!”

“What?! No, V, you’re not!” Uzi scrambled up from her seat and ran after her angry wife. “If you go there, wings and claws out, someone will see you. Our secret-!”

“Our secret be damned, Uzi. Someone has Anne, our daughter!” V snarled, not even noticing that Uzi was pulling on her shirt to get her to stop. “I’m going there, and I’m taking her back, by any means necessary!”

“V, stop and think about it. Since their trace failed, they’re are surely going to be expecting you! It would be dangerous, and not only for you and Anne! What if, whoever has Anne, is holding the Brinkmans as well?” Uzi asked, getting in front of V. “They’ll be in the crossfire! What if they get hurt in the process?”

“I don’t care about-!” A slap in the face made her freeze on the spot. She was about to shout at Uzi, but then she saw her expression. That fiercely, warning expression, and she knew she had crossed a line.

“You don’t mean that, and you know it, Serial Designation V Doorman! You are so much better than that! Those two women have raised our daughter for sixteen years, like she was their own!” Uzi shouted, giving V a hard shove in her chest. “We’ve entrusted them with Anne’s safety, and now, because of us, they’re all could be in danger! We have to do this smart, V!”

V was still seething, but after a few moments she took a deep breath. Her wings and tail retracted back into her body. She gave Uzi an apologetic look, a deep regret in her eyes. “Uzi, I …I’m sorry. You’re right.” She sighed. “We can’t rush into this. We can’t put them in more danger than they already could be.”

Uzi sighed in relief, throwing her arms around V. “Of course, I am.” She mumbled, nuzzling her face in V’s chest. “I’m the smart one, remember.”

“We can’t do nothing, Uzi.” V stated, returning the hug. “If they are in danger …”

“I know, I know, but …I know what we need to do.” Uzi reassured, placing a hand on her wife’s cheek. “But you are not ging to like it.”

“Don’t tell me …”’

“We’re going to let them come to us.” Uzi declared, planting a finger on V’s lips before the latter could object. “We know that they’ll have a general idea of where we are. If we are their target, they’ll have to come this way eventually. If they do, my own tracking software will kick in. We’ll get their location, we’ll go there, lay an ambush, we’ll get the drop on them before they know what’s hitting them, and we’ll force them to tell us about Anne.”

V pulled Uzi’s hand from her lips. “That’s … a pretty good plan.” She placed her hands on her hips, giving Uzi a defiant look. “One thing, though: I’m getting after them alone.”

“V …”

“Don’t ‘V’ me, Uzi. I’m being serious. I’m the only one who can fly, and has an inbuilt EMP-rifle.” V grinned maliciously down at Uzi. “What are you gonna do? Gnaw at their ankles?”

“Bite me.” Uzi let out a defeated sigh. “But, you’re right. Fine, just promise me you’ll be careful.”

“Hey, it’s me. When am I ever not careful?” She quickly placed a finger on Uzi’s lips when it looked like she was going to answer. “Not a word, babe.”

* * *

A few hours ago:

It only took a few days before Uzi’s tracker got a signal from their unknown quarry. Judging by the pattern of their movement, it seemed that they – whoever they were – had taken a train, which was quickly confirmed with a comparison of a map of train tracks.

It seemed that fate a quite the ironic sense of humour, though. The trajectory of the train that they were taken, would bring them right past the forest where Uzi and V had taken Anne when she was still an Untrained Neural Network. Almost seemed … poetic that V would catch them there.

It took V quite a bit of flying before she reached her destination, but when she did, she immediately went to work. Using her enhanced strength, she sabotaged the train tracks. Nothing too serious, just bended them over. Just enough to make sure the train would see it on time and stop. She didn’t want to hurt any innocent travellers on that train. Only those that had taken her daughter.

As she waited for her quarry to arrive, she couldn’t help but to feel …anxious about it. She hasn’t needed to hunt in years, not since she and Uzi had defeated the Absolute Solver. But, doing these things again: the stalking, the waiting, that silence while she waited to pounce … it was maybe wrong to feel like this, but it was kinda exhilarating. Not that she’d ever tell that to Uzi.

Finally, she saw what she was waiting for: the train. She activated her tracker software – courtesy of her beloved wife – and grinned when she saw that her target was indeed in the train. She waited while the train made an emergency stop, and watched as the Drones got out. Now, it was just a question of infiltrating the crowd, and –

Hang on, what was happening. Two figures broke away from the crowd and started to ran towards the forest. V’s tracker confirmed that at least one of those was her target. Had they seen her? Were they following her too? She needed to act quick.

V flew up and, using the cover of darkness, flew towards the treeline, landing in the treetops. Jumping from one branch to the other, she followed the direction her tracker was indicating she needed to go. She hissed when her bad leg complained, but ignored the dull pain.

To her surprise, she ended up in the open clearing where she once had stood taken her newborn child …to kill her, when she thought they didn’t have another choice. The clearing was, just like that night, filled with flowers and the stars sparkled in the dark sky.

One of the figures made it’s way towards the centre of the clearing. It was too dark for her to make out anything about their appearance. V took a deep breath and deployed her EMP blaster, pointing it towards the figure in the middle. It hummed as it charged, the blue light faintly illuminating her little huntress nest.

And that’s when she noticed …the Drone that was standing farthest away was looking directly at her. The other one briefly turned to their partner, before they looked in V’s direction.

V’s dormant instincts kicked in, and she quickly adjusted her aim.

She fired.

The blue ball of energy whizzed past the closest Drone, and towards the other one.

A direct hit. They went down, squirming on the ground as their energy reserves were being drained.

She heard the remaining Drone yell something – she couldn’t make out what - ran up to their fallen comrade, checking them for a moment, before picking them up with surprising ease and trying to run.

Now V’s old habits really kicked in. She always enjoyed it when they ran, making things fun for her. She deployed her wings and jumped up, flying high above them. She aimed, charged her rifle, and …fired. It hit them right in the back, and they dropped like their partner like it was dead weight, while they rolled over the snowy ground.

Content with her success, she quickly descended downwards, landing in front of the downed Drone. They were still conscious. Maybe she could get some answers before they blacked out.

“Got you, creep!” V growled, ignoring the downed Drone when they tried to say something. She knelt down, grabbed the Drone by the collar and pulled her up, bringing her a few inches from her face. “Now, I give you one chance to tell me! What have you done with-?”

It was then that she noticed that the Drone was a young woman, approximately sixteen years old. She wore a familiar, worn-out beanie on her raven hair. She noticed the choker around her neck. She looked into those purple-and-yellow gradient eyes, and immediately realized who this was. With a gasp, V dropped her back on the ground.

“Anne?”

The girl blacked out, and V quickly knelt down to check on her. She must’ve been mistaken. Her imagination was playing tricks on her. This couldn’t be …

But it was. She was wearing Uzi’s old beanie. She wore Uzi’s old choker, the one the latter had inherited from her mother Nori, around her neck. V saw her own old scarf peeking out the girl’s backpack.

There was no doubt about it.

This was Anne, their daughter.

Who she had just knocked unconscious with an EMP blast.

She looked over to the other Drone. By the looks of her, she was around Anne’s age. Who was she? A friend? Girlfriend, maybe? The way Anne had picked her up, and tried to get them to safety …

V stood up with a sigh, letting her regretful gaze go over the two Drones. “Uzi is going to kill me …”

* * *

When V arrived back home with the two unconscious Drones and told Uzi what had happened, and what she found out, her reaction was …

“You SHOT our daughter!?” Uzi shouted in absolute disbelief. “I can’t belief you did that. Why, I oughta …”

“Hey, I’m sorry, okay?” V bit back, but actively keeping a good distance between herself and the Purple Thing’s fury. “It’s not like you knew it, you know? Besides, it just an EMP blast. She’ll be fine with a little rest. Her friend too.”

Uzi sighed, looking over to her daughter and her friend. Both of them were still knocked out. When V arrived with them in her arms, she immediately had brought them to their guest room. It was probably the first time that it was going to be used for anything else than convenient storage.

“And who is she?” Uzi asked, nodding towards the redheaded Drone.

“No idea. Didn’t have time to ask for a name.” V sighed, cautiously getting closer to Uzi. “I think it’s safe to say that we know who tried to put that trace on us. I’ve taken a look in Anne’s backpack, and I found some equipment that looks similar to the stuff you have. Looks like you’re not the only hacker in the family, Uzi.”

Uzi sighed, looking over to the two unconscious Drones. A small smile started to form on her lips, and she sat down next to Anne’s unconscious frame. She caressed the girl’s cheek. “She’s beautiful.”

“Yeah, she is.” V agreed, taking a stand next to Uzi, letting her hand fall gently on the latter’s shoulder. “She’s quite the trooper, too. She tried to get friend to safety when I, uh …” She chuckled nervously when Uzi glared at her. “I’ll shut up.”

“Good girl …” Uzi said with a grin and a wink, before turning back to V. “Why is she here, V?”

“I guess …she wanted to find us.” V sighed. “You’d think we would’ve considered this a possibility.”

“Yeah, but … how did she find out?”

“I guess we’ll ask her when she wakes up.” V rubbed the back of her head. “Better lock the door, though. They might bolt, otherwise.”

Uzi nodded and sighed. “Let’s just …let them sleep, for now.”

“Hey, I just thought of something.” V noted as they started to leave the room. “She’s undoubtedly going to have questions. About us, about herself. What will we tell her?”

“We’ll tell her …some of the truth. We’ll just …let out some details.” Uzi answered wearily. “I don’t like it, but until we figure this out …we need to be careful.”

“Yeah, I get it.” V closed the door behind them. “What route are we going to take? We’ll take a background out one of our previous Chapters?”

“I think the ‘our parents didn’t approve of our relationship, so we ran away, but we couldn’t take care of a baby, so we left her with people we hoped would raise her right’ story seems best?” Uzi answered.

“Yeah, seems right.” V looked back at the room they had left their formerly-lost daughter behind and smiled. “I hope she’ll wake up soon, though.”

* * *

Now

“And now, here we are.” Uzi finished her story – or a very abridged version of it - with a nervous grin. “That’s it.”

Anne raised a digital eyebrow. She wasn’t completely sold on their story. Yes, it made sense. Yes, it coincided with what she had experienced when she had been hacking her core. Still …something wasn’t right. She didn’t think they were lying, but …they certainly weren’t telling her the whole thing. She could feel it. “Is that really all there is?”

“Yes.”

Ashley, who had kept silent during Uzi and V’s retelling, suddenly let out a scoff. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

Anne grabbed Ashley’s arm, trying to calm her down. “Ashley, what are you-?”

“Oh, don’t be like that, Anne!” Ashley exclaimed. “Something doesn’t add up, and you’re seeing it too. I know a con when I see one!”

Uzi gasped, her expression shocked. “Are you implying that we aren’t-?“

“Oh, you’re Anne’s parents, alright.” Ashley stated quickly. “I can see the family resemblance. But you aren’t tell us something.”

V stood up and placed herself between Ashley and Uzi. “I will not let you talk to Uzi this way.” She growled, pointing her cane at the redhead. “Friend of Anne or not.”

“Ash, please calm down.” Anne pleaded, trying to keep her friend from jumping up from the bed they were sitting on.

“No, we’ve gone through too much to just accept this little convenient story. Especially after this one shot at us!” Ashley seethed, throwing V a nasty glare. “We’ve come for answers: about the two of you, about why you really left Anne behind, about her powers, and-“

Ashley slapped her hands over her mouth, her eyes hollowing in shock, an expression mirrored by Anne. The latter threw her friend an angry look. Leave it to Ash to say too much when she’s getting this emotional.

“Powers?” Uzi asked softly.

“What powers?” V asked, her voice also low and cautious.

Anne was about to deny that Ashley had said anything about powers, …but then she noticed Uzi and V’s expressions. They looked shocked, but …not surprised. It was more like …

“You know what she’s talking about, right?” Anne guessed.

Uzi and V gave each other a look, a mixture of sadness and fear in their eyes, but it was more like when someone was told bad news, but always knew that it was coming. Uzi sighed heavily and turned her attention to Anne. “Show us.”

“What?”

“Show us, Anne.” V repeated softly.

With her eyes still trained on Uzi and V, she reached into her jacket and took out her pocket knife, clipping it open. She folded up her sleeves and brought the knife closer.

Ashley looked nervously at this display. “Anne, are you sure-?“

“It’s okay, Ash.” Anne stated, letting the tip of the knife rest against her wrist. She paused, just in case that Uzi or V would try to stop her. But they just …kept looking, their eyes filled with saddened expectation.

Anne took a deep breath …and made a long cut across the length of her arm, hissing in pain. A few moments later, she felt the familiar burning sensation again. Neither Uzi or V seemed surprised when the wound started to glow with heat, before it closed up, leaving her arm undamaged.

After a few silent moments, Uzi approached her and gently took her arm, letting a finger glide over where the wound used to be. She let out a heavy, sad sigh. “Oh, Anne …”

“We knew this could happen, Uzi.” V stated softly, letting out a heavy sigh. “We just always wished …it wouldn’t.”

“You …knew?” Anne asked. She had hoped for …some reaction, but she hadn’t expected this. “How?”

“Well …” Uzi began, taking the knife out of Anne’s hand and taking a step back. She took a deep breath. “Like this.”

Before Anne could react, Uzi had brought the knife towards her neck …and swiftly sliced it open. Anne froze …as she saw the wound glowed red-hot as it closed immediately. It happened even faster than with her own wounds. It healed as fast as the wound was being made.

“What are you trying to do, traumatize the kid? You could’ve just used your arm too, you know.” V sighed. “Jeez, you’ve always been a dramatic one, Uzi.”

Uzi wiped away the little bit of oil that had managed to seep out before the wound had closed, letting out a chuckle. She threw the knife at V, who also drew it across her arm. Just like with Uzi, the wound closed as fast as it was being made.

Anne felt her legs losing their strength. She was about to drop, but Ashley managed to catch her before she could. They also … had these powers, just like her? How? Why hadn’t she considered this?

This …this changed things.

A hand hovered in her sight, making her look up into Uzi softly smiling face. “Come with me, Anne. I believe we have a lot to talk about.”

Chapter Text

The Mossberg – Doorman? – house looked very homey, and radiated a feeling of comfort and slow way of life. Framed pictures on the wall, showing Uzi and V – in their chosen personas – posing with their arms around each other, or gleefully showing the deed of their current home, or the opening of – as Uzi explained, her Art & Art Supply shop. A glance in the kitchen showed dirty dishes waiting in the sink. There was a faint smell in the air, a hint of paint and other such things. It all looked … normal, like nothing was out of the ordinary.

Which, as Anne guessed, was the entire purpose. A veil of normalcy that obscured the truth about the residents. Anne’s core was still buzzing from the revelation: Uzi and V, her birth parents, had similar powers to her own. They, too, could heal like herself, but it was … more advanced than her own. Where her injuries took some moments before the healing kicked in, theirs was pretty much instantaneous. Did they have the other abilities as well? The enhanced strength, speed and Robo-God knows what else might pop up?

Anne glanced over to Ashley, who was craning her neck to look around the living room, where Uzi and V had taken them after revealing their own powers. They were seated in one of the couches, some carbonated coolant on the coffee table in front of them. Her pa- ... Uzi and V had retreated into the kitchen, likely discussing what to do next. She let out a heavy sigh, her legs nervously bouncing up and down as impatience was starting to set in. A hand on her knee made her stop, looking up to see Ashley giving her a reassuring – albeit slightly forced – smile, and a nod that told her that everything would be alright. The two-toned adolescent returned a grateful smile and nodded back, letting out a breath.

“Isn’t this crazy?” Ashley whispered, her eyes darting over to where their hosts were standing. “I mean … what are the odds?”

“In hindsight … pretty big?” Anne whispered back. “I mean … why didn’t I ever consider the possibility that they could have similar abilities like myself?”

“Yeah, ‘obliviousness to the obvious’ would be part of Uzi’s share of your coding, kiddo!” V, who was still in the kitchen with Uzi, stated loudly, making both girls yelped in surprise.

“How did -?” Ashley asked, turning to the older woman.

V tapped the side of her head. “Enhanced hearing.”

“First, stop eavesdropping on them.” Uzi scolded sternly as she crossed her arms. “Secondly: bite me! I am not that oblivious.”

Ashley let out an amused snort when she saw Anne’s eyes hollow out in shock when she recognized her own catchphrase. “Yeah, I’m starting to see the resemblance … you know, besides the height.”

“Bite me!” Anne couldn’t stop the oh-so familiar expression from escaping her throat, slapping her hands on her mouth in embarrassment.

A silent fell in the kitchen for a few moments, before Uzi spoke up in an almost defeated tone. “Did she just …?”

V let out a cackle. “Jeez, Uzi. First your mom, then you, and now Anne. Seems like stupid catchphrases are just a hardcoded family glitch.”

“Bi-!” Uzi stopped herself, presenting her beloved partner with a vicious glare … before she let out a chuckle. “Will you behave?”

“I’ll try.” V waved over to where Anne and Ashley had bore witness to the exchange. “You ready?”

The purple-haired Drone let out a heavy sigh, and nodded. “As I’ll ever be.”

Anne’s hand grabbed the nearest thing in her vicinity, which happened to be Ashley’s hand and squeezed it nervously as Uzi and V walked over to them. Her buzzing core slowed down a bit, as Ashley calmly closed her fingers around her hand, returning the squeeze.

“So …” Uzi began, as she and V took a seat on the couch opposite of the two younger girls. “As this whole situation is … more complicated than me and V originally thought, I think it’s rather obvious to say that … well, most of what we said before wasn’t …, uh …”

“Yeah, we’ve lied about a few things.” V bluntly stated, grinning as Uzi threw her an unappreciated scowl.

“Yeah, that.” Uzi rolled her eyes. “Very helpful, V.”

“Yeah, no duh.” Ashley mumbled, wincing as Anne jabbed her elbow into her sides. “Sorry.”

“But you must understand, Anne.” Uzi began, nervously wringing her hands together. “There are reasons for that.”

“Complicated reasons.” V agreed. She leaned forward a bit, giving Anne and Ashley a look that just screamed a warning. “Reasons that need to be kept secret. Not just for our own safety, but for yours, your friends’ and your parents’ safety as well. You need to promise us that whatever you hear here today … you keep it to yourselves, okay?”

Anne glanced over to Ashley, who looked just as puzzled as Anne was feeling. She took a deep breath and nodded her head. “I promise.” She gave Ashley a subtle shove, who repeated the promise as well.

“Good.” Uzi smiled reassuringly at the girls. “I know this all sounds rather … ominous, but, like I said, we have good reasons. Mine and V’s past is … extremely complicated. You’ll understand once you’ve heard our story. But for now … how about you ask any questions you have?”

“And this time, we’ll answer with the whole truth.” V stated with a crooked grin, albeit looking a bit forced. Anne couldn’t help but notice that she seemed especially nervous about this. There was … a mixture of guilt and fear in her eyes that Anne couldn’t place.

Anne took a deep breath, rummaging through her mind to try and choose which of the thousand questions buzzing around in her head she wanted to ask first. She closed her eyes for a few moments, and finally decided on her first question. One that she kinda feared the answer for. “I guess that my first question would be … what am I?” She gestured between herself and the two older Drones. “What are we?”

“You are a Drone, just like we are Drones, Anne.” Uzi answered with a soft smile.

“But unlike you and your smart-mouthed friend over here …” V stated, glancing over to the redheaded Drone, who glared back at the yellow-eyed Drone. “Uzi and me are … different, and that is what makes you different as well.”

“Different, how?”

Uzi took a deep breath, and V seemed to steel herself as well. “For starters … you must understand that we are … a lot older than we appear to be.” She scratched the back of her head. “Like, a lot ‘a lot older’.”

Ashley raised a digital eyebrow. “How much older are we talking about?”

V and Uzi gave each other a look, before the former took a deep breath. “A few centuries, give or take?”

Anne’s eyes hollowed in shock, while Ashley let out a scoff. “Yeah, right, ‘centuries? I can believe the whole healing part – I’ve seen it happen – but there is no way that you are that old. Drone bodies aren’t made to endure that long.”

“Unless …” Anne began softly, as she started to make the dots connect. “Unless there is something that counters the deterioration. Something that mends any wear and tear, and protects your internal programming from corruption and software decay. Like …” she looked up at Ashley, who seemed to be realizing where she was getting at. “Our healing ability?”

Uzi sighed and nodded solemnly.

“But, if any and all damage gets fixed, and your body doesn’t experience the degradation … couldn’t technically make you …” Anne bit her lower lip, dreading to speak the word aloud.

“Immortal?” V asked in her stead. She let out a sigh. “Me and V are, give or take a few decades, around 450 years old, by my last count.” She turned to V. “Am I right?”

“I don’t know, I lost count after The Second Seventies era.” V admitted, fondly thinking back on how easygoing the magnet regulations were in those days. She and Uzi had some fun times back then … not that she’d advocate that to her own daughter and her friend, though. She scratched the back of her head. “I think it’s closer to

“450 years?” Ashley asked aloud, her voice barely a whisper.

“Immortal?” Anne added, having trouble to let the reality of it sink in. She shook her head, trying to get herself back to focus. “How did this happen? When did this happen? Or did you always have this? How do you deal with -?”

“Whoa, whoa, easy there.” V interjected. “We know this is a lot to take in, but give us some room to answer.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” V assured, waving away the apology while Uzi giggled.  “Everything about this isn’t exactly easy to explain, but … Ugh, Uzi, help me out here, please.”

“You didn’t even try.” Uzi teased, getting a soft snarl back from her counterpart. “Okay, let us try it like this: how good are you at History?”

“It happens to be one of my favorite subjects.” Anne answered gleefully.

“Good grades?”

“Yup.”

“Doing your homework?”

“Always.”

“When she’s not forgetting to turn it in.”

“Zip it, Ash.”

“Uzi, can we do the ‘supporting parents’ bit later?”

“Oh, right. Sorry V.” Uzi cleared her throat. “So, before I start, answer me these questions. Who created the Drones? How much do you know about Earth? About the Era of Collapse here on Copper-9? How did our society as Drones know it begin?”

Ashley let out an annoyed sigh. “I’m getting flashbacks to last year’s History Exam.” She chuckled as Anne threw her an annoyed look, telling her to be quiet. The interaction wasn’t unnoticed by the two older Drones.

“Well … our Creators came from Earth; we all know that. The company that initially designed and manufactured the Worker Drones was called … uh, JCJENKINS?”

“JCJENSON.” Ashley whispered.

“Right, them. They created the Worker Drones as labor on colonized Exoplanets, such as Copper-9. They built factories, outposts and small cities where the employees’ families would live. Everything was going fine, until an unknown system error caused a huge chain reaction that eventually led to the core collapse. The resulting energy wave not only eradicated every human on the surface, but it completely and permanently changed the planet’s climate, turning it into the snow-filled planet that we still inhabit.” Anne took a deep breath. “How am I doing so far?”

“Top marks, continue.” V joked, glancing over to Uzi with knowing look.

“Anyway, after the dust settled, only our ancestral Worker Drones survived the destruction, and they picked up where the Creators left off.” Anne continued. “From there, our Ancestors started gradually building up the first foundation of what would become Drone Society. And … here we are.”

“Why did JCJENSON, or anyone else from Earth, ever come to reclaim their ‘lost property’?” Uzi asked, putting a bitter emphasis on the last words.

“Ooh, I know this one.” Ashley stated, bolting upright with a big grin. “Earth was destroyed, right? Some kind of natural disaster completely annihilated the planet, leaving debris in its place. Over time, the remaining humans on other colonized Exoplanets just … died out. The whole species is completely extinct!” She paused as all eyes were on her. She chuckled awkwardly, letting herself slump down in her seat. “Sorry, I always found that part very cool.”

“Ashley is right, albeit a bit … blunt.” Anne remarked with a giggle, thoroughly enjoying it as her friend stuck her tongue out at her. “Humankind went extinct, and us Drones follow the Path of Remembrance to honor our fallen Creators. It’s why we model so much of our society after theirs, as indicated by the Records that were left behind.”

Uzi scoffed. “You know, I never understood why Modern Drones have so much respect for humans, considering how they treated us.”

“What do you mean?” Anne asked.

“Worker Drones were created to be cheap slave labor, plain and simple. We were used until we couldn’t work no more, and then thrown out to rust among the trash.” V stated, a flicker of sadness mixed with hatred in her visor, before she calmed herself down.

“Why do you say that like you …know?” Anne asked, a bit taken aback by the hostile comments about the Creators. Anne and her family weren’t precisely devout believers of The Path, nor did she know anyone who was, but everyone respected the ones who were the reason why Modern Drones stood where they now did.

“Because …” V took a deep breath, a wave of sadness washing over her visor. “I used to work for Humans, back on Earth.”

“Wait, you were on Earth?” Ashley asked, her eyes wide with shock and surprise.

“Before its destruction. Before …” She glanced over to Uzi, who took a deep breath and nodded. “Before the real reason behind its demise happened. And it wasn’t a natural disaster.”

“Uzi, were you on Earth too?” Anne asked. “Did you meet each other there.”

Uzi seemed to wince a little as Anne used her real name, but she quickly composed herself. “No, I was born here on Copper-9, after the Collapse. After …they arrived.”

Ashley and Anne looked at each other, confused. Anne turned to Uzi. “Who’s they?” She looked over to V. “You mean her?”

Uzi sighed, folding her hands up on her lap. She seemed to be gathering her thoughts. “Remember how we asked to keep things secret?” She paused as the two girls nodded their heads. “There is much you, or any Drone in the last few centuries, don’t know about what really happened in the past. In fact, me and V are the only ones who know the entire truth.”

“The core collapse, how Drone Society began, the cause behind Earth’s destruction, humanity’s extinction, and so much more.” V added as well. “There is a whole chunk of history that no-one currently alive, minus yours truly, is aware off.”

“How is that possible?”

“Because me and V did everything in our power to make sure people wouldn’t know.” Uzi explained. She sighed, giving the two girls a wry look. “There are just … things that aren’t meant to be known, things that are better off forgotten and buried.”

“Why?” Ashley asked.

“Because certain horrors are too great to understand.” V stated. She sighed as a silence fell over the room. “Me and Uzi … we’ve lived through some horrible events. We’ve lost … so much. If people knew what almost happened here … who knows how they’d react.”

“Ignorance is bliss.” Uzi stated softly, eyes slowly hollowing as she unwittingly started to think back on some of her past.

Anne let out a heavy breath. “I don’t understand.”

“Like we said, it’s a long and complicated story. And while some parts will sound … extremely unbelievable, it’s all true.” Uzi placed her hand on top of V’s, giving it a soft squeeze. “V, do you want to start?”

“I guess …” V huffed, scratching her cheek as she figured out how and where to begin. “So, I said I used to work on Earth, right?”

Anne and Ashley nodded.

“Okay, so … I used to work as … a domestic servant for a human family. Rich kind, very snobby, liked to toss out Drones for misplacing silverware. More precisely, I was actually a discarded Drone who was rebuild by the family’s daughter. I was given a new name, new clothes … hair. Me and … a few others were like her … friends, I guess you could say.” V took a deep breath, feeling an incredible sense of unease as she forced herself to recount the horrible past.

“Who was she?” Anne asked, genuinely curious about V’s knowledge about this human. She had noticed a softness to the yellow-eyed Drone’s voice.

The corner of V’s lips curled into a small smile. “Tessa. She was … very smart, but lonely, which is why she’d bring in broken Drones, such as me and my ..., and repair us. Her parents … weren’t good to her. They treated her with the same care they’d show us Drones.”

Uzi nodded solemnly, remembering the time she hacked N and V’s memories and seen what they – and Tessa – had gone through. She unconsciously rubbed her wrists, her teeth grinding as she thought back on the punishment the Elliot parents had forced upon their only daughter.

“That sounds … horrible.” Anne commented, glancing over to her side as Ashley winced. She had a feeling that this part of the story brought her friend some unpleasant memories about her own past

“Yeah … anyway, she rebuilds, cleaned, clothed and reprogrammed us to keep her company. Her parents weren’t too happy about that, but they allowed it since it kept Tessa occupied and out of their hair.” V continued, shifting uncomfortably on her spot. “So, for a long time it was me and a few others that tended to Tessa. And then … she found another one.”

“Cyn.” Uzi muttered, her fists clenching into the couch’s fabric.

“Cyn was broken, in more ways than other.” V stated. “She had this funny way of talking, never managed to keep her head upright and … got more and more creepy as time went on. But Tessa had instructed us that we needed to be get along with her, so … we tried. And that … was the beginning of it all.”

“Because the Drone that used to be Cyn … was long gone, before Tessa had even found her.” Uzi stated, taking a deep breath. “Her body a host to the being that was holding the strings.”

“How so?” Ashley asked with a small voice, grabbing Anne’s hand.

“If she wasn’t Cyn …, who was she then?”

Uzi and V gave each other a look. A look of pain and unease. The purple haired Drone took a deep breath. “The Absolute Solver.”

“Who?”

“’What’, not a ‘who’. The Absolute Solver was an AI. A being so powerful it developed eldritch-like abilities.” Uzi explained. “It first manifested inside Cyn’s damaged AI after she was improperly disposed of, causing her to self-reboot. It took over Cyn’s body and pretended to be her when Tessa took it in. And bided its time, planning while its powers grew, and slowly spread its influence over the other Drones in the Manor.”

“Why?” Anne asked, feeling her core tighten.

“Because the Solver wanted one thing, and one thing only. To consume everything that there was. Everything.” V stated darkly as she stared at the floor for a few moments, before looking up. “So, while the Humans of Earth were unaware what was happening in the halls of Eliot Manor, The Solver slowly started to infect the Drones inside the manor … and with the help of Earth’s satellites, everywhere else on the planet.”

“Even you?”

V nodded, wincing as she remembered the moment she was completely taken over. She was just tending to the library bookshelves when it happened. Her body froze up, and it was like her consciousness was plunged into a darkness. After that her memories became foggy. The events that Uzi witnessed when she had hacked her and N’s memories weren’t a complete recreation of what actually happened, since … well, there was no crow Uzi. N never did escape the crows that night. She had personally hauled his corpse back to the manor after …the thing had happened. She had stood by as Cyn – the Solver – started to rebuild him, gleefully stating that it would soon be her own turn as well.

She felt her hand being squeezed, making her look up. Uzi was giving her a concerned look, but V just returned a reassuring smile and squeezed her hand back. “I’m fine …I’m fine.”

“We can take a break, if you like.” Anne suggested.

“Yeah, this sound … heavy.” Ashley agreed meekly, trembling slightly.

“No, I can keep going.” V stated confidently as she took a deep breath. “The night where The Solver unleashed its plan … was horrible. There was a gala, hosted by the Eliots. The Solver, using Cyn’s body, appeared in the center stage. Tessa, who found out that night about the Solver, and J – another Drone who had been rebuild by her - tried to stop it and warn everyone, but it …” She took a deep breath, as a tear started to form in the corner of her clenched eyes. “The Solver took control of every single Drone in the Manor … and slaughtered them all.”

“What …” Anne’s voice was almost unnoticeable, making her clear her throat before asking her question again. “What happened to Tessa?” Judging by the look that V and Uzi gave each, she feared that could guess the answer. “Oh … poor girl.”

“It gets worse.” Uzi stated. “Much, much worse.”

“How can that possible get even worse?” Ashley asked.

V chuckled dryly, a sound completely absent with any sort of actual amusement. “After everything … me and every other Drone in the manor, were taken by the Solver, and rebuilt in something more … dangerous.”

“Rebuild?” Anne asked. “How?”

“Like this …” V allowed herself a grin as she stood up and walked over to behind the couch, taking off her jacket. She turned to the group … watched with a certain level of glee, reflected in her fang-filled smile, at the girls’ astonished faced as sharp, metallic wings grew and bladed tail from her back. She switched out one of her hands for claws, and on the other she deployed her gun.

“YOU’RE A MURDER DRONE!” Ashley called out in surprise, pointing at V’s intimidating form.

“Hey, we don’t use that word here!” Uzi sternly scolded. “She was, emphasis on was, a Disassembly Drone.”

“The Solver turned you into … this?” Anne asked, a feeling of saddened compassion washing over her. “Against your will?”

“It did so much more.” V retracted her wings, tail – the latter thing being a little trick she taught herself -, and other accessories; and walked back over to the couch. She ignored Ashley, who had her eyes – in an expression that looked to be a combination of both fear and admiration - trained on her. “After it had … converted us into something more useful to her, she unleashed us and my fellow brand-new Disassembly Drones onto the Earth’s population. In a span of hours, everything that happened during the Gala, would happen everywhere all over the planet. And while the humans fruitlessly tried to stop us, the Solver grew in even more power … and burrowed its way into the Earth’s core. Once there … well … you know what happened to Earth.”

“Dang …” Ashley mumbled; eyes hollowed. The Legend of the Murder Drones always had been a big favorite scary campfire story for her, but hearing how the being she thought had been fictional had come to be … she’d never listen to it quite the same ever again.

“What … what happened afterwards?” Anne asked, who figured that she’d better ask the more important questions ... instead of asking if she’d get her own tail and wings anytime soon.

Uzi took over where V had ended. “Once Earth was gone, the Solver decided it wasn’t done, so it used the Galactic Network that Humans used to communicate with their colonies to transmit itself to other planets, where it would find and take over a host … and repeat what it did on Earth. Slowly, but surely … the number of humans in the galaxy started to dwindle … until it reached Copper-9.”

“It came here?” Ashley asked astonished. “But … how come the planet is not … you know?” She made a valiant effort of an explosion sound, using her hands to indicate an exploding planetoid.

“JCJENSON had heard what the Solver had been doing to the other Exoplanets, and had prepared for its arrival.” V continued her explanation. “They had built an underground lab, and prepared several Drones as potential hosts, so when it arrived ... it would have ample choice.”

“One of them being my mother, Nori.” Uzi stated, making Anne look at her in horrified surprise, her mouth agape with a question that never made it out her throat. Uzi nodded solemnly, her expression saddening a bit when she thought back on when she learned the truth. “Yeah …your grandmother.”

Ashley let out a gasp. “That’s …I can’t even find the right word for it.”

“Wanna know the best part?” Uzi asked, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “JCJENSON managed to capture the Solver. They found ways to contain it, trap it. If a host was getting too close to be completely taken over, they had a way to stop it. They managed to create a patch that would cut off the Solver’s connection to its current host … permanently. But the one thing they didn’t do … was destroy it. No, they wanted to study it.”

“What?” Anne asked, astounded by the knowledge that humans would willingly keep something that could destroy planets intact.

“Yup, they thought they could control it. No idea for what, but I guess that doesn’t matter.” V stated, hinting a bit of smug satisfaction in her voice. “In the end … they caused their own extinction.”

“My mother, who was the Solver’s current host at the time, completely lost control before she could get patched.” Uzi explained, her core aching as she remembered the video log she had seen in that awful place. “She almost managed to infect Copper-9’s core and destroy everything, but Yeva, another Drone who had been a host but was successfully patched and had survived it, managed to use the Patch on her. She managed to break away from the Solver’s control, but it still had enough control to make her create a NULL, which yeva quickly managed to cut off, making it drop into the core. The core collapsed, and the implosion caused every human on the planet to … well, you’ve seen them in the museum.”

“Dang …” Anne mumbled, slumping back in the couch.

“Afterwards, my mom and a few other survivors managed to find their way out of the Lab and towards the surface, where she met my dad, and … well, I was the result of that meeting.” Uzi stated. “And that’s just the beginning of the story.”

Anne and Ashley listened with absolute attention as Uzi and V told them the rest of the story. Of Drones, picking up where humans had left off, started building their own society, but the arrival of the Disassembly Drones changed all that. Anne felt a pain in her core, as she listened as V, clearly feeling guilty over her past, told how she and her squad hunted down Drones for their oil, lest they wanted to perish because of overheating systems. The pain in her voice as she confessed how, because of the Solver meddling with her memories and personality, enjoyed the hunt and relished in the taste of Worker Drone oil. Anne couldn’t believe that that V and the one in front of her were the same person.

Her core ached as Uzi told her that her mother – Anne’s grandmother – died when Uzi was still very young, and how she grew up with a father who didn’t give her attention. How she was ignored and avoided by her peers. It was such a stark contrast to Anne’s own life.

But as she listened to Uzi and V’s story of Copper-9’s hidden past, she noticed something else. She noticed it first when Uzi told them about the night that she snuck out of the colony to find a working battery for her railgun – so cool – and met the Disassembly Drone named N. She noticed how Uzi’s voice softened when she said that name, and how here eyes sparkled as that little smile formed in the corner of her mouth. He must’ve been special to her. She decided to keep those questions for later, when they’d be more appropriate.

The more things were revealed, the more it started to look like one of those animated sci-fi horror comedy web series: from rebuild Eldritch corpses, to fights at prom, to horrific transformations at camp, to finding out the truth about the past, to finding secret labs and so much more. Nori actually being alive. Turning out that Tessa actually was dead all along and was actually Cyn. The fight at the end.

The sadness in Uzi’s eyes as she recalled the events of the fight. It was her and N alone against the Solver. J, who hadn’t known that Tessa was dead. It turned out that the Solver had convinced the workaholic Disassembly Drone that she actually was Tessa, and that they would be together forever. When J found out that Tessa had long been dead – and her remains were being abused as a skinsuit – she went mad with grief and tried to fight as well. But the Solver, in an almost bored fashion, quickly dispatched her, devouring her core and discarding the body like yesterday’s trash.

But, after a hard-fought battle, they had done it. The Solver was defeated, destroyed in the light of Copper-9’s sun. With the entity destroyed, Uzi lost her Solver Powers. The same happened to N, but it came with an unforeseen, devastating consequence. The fight had damaged him too greatly, and without the healing abilities that the Solver’s influence brought, he soon died in Uzi arms, managing to express his love for her before he went completely offline.

There was an incredible guilt that radiated in V’s eyes as she expressed her wish that she wanted to have been there to help, but her fight with the Sentinels that guarded Cabin Fever Labs had rendered her offline too long enough before she was found. Maybe if she had been there, N could’ve survived.

Despite the great losses, they had won. They had avenged the extinction of humankind, the numerous deaths of Worker Drones and laid Cyn and Tessa’s souls to rest. And while it was a victory; they couldn’t deny that it felt like a hollow victory at the time.  

“So, what happened afterwards?” Anne asked, her hand gripped securely around Ashley’s.

“Well, after I was found in the ruins of our battlefield, I was brought back to the colony for repairs. I managed to convince them to burry N, not too far from the Colony, but hidden enough that people wouldn’t come express some past anger on him.” Uzi explained, her expression saddening a little. She turned her gaze toward V. “A few days later, V was found, somehow having survived the Sentinel attack. She was critically damaged, but still alive. Not that that was something I was very happy about at the time.”

Anne raised a digital eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Well, as you’ve heard: me and Uzi didn’t really see eye to eye when we first met. Thus, neither of us was really overjoyed to see the other.” She glanced over to the latter with a sly grin. “To put it mildly.”

“Why?”

“Well, we were throwing around a lot of blame towards one another.” Uzi explained, uncomfortably kicking her feet. “I blamed V for N’s death, and vice versa. She also blamed me for J’s demise, but … well, I didn’t care about J. She also found it unfair that my mom had survived, and was able to be placed inside a new body before her mutations completely vanished.”

“But eventually, after reluctantly spending time with each other – including due a lot of pushing of friends and Uzi’s family – we slowly started to come to an understanding. We – eventually – decided to burry the hatchet and start acting at least civil around each other. Don’t ask me how it happened, but we eventually ended up becoming the best of friends.”

“I think us raiding Thad’s gasoline stash had something to do with that, if I remember correctly.” Uzi added with a grin.

“So, in the end: all’s well that ends well, right?” V said dryly. “The Solver was dead. Uzi was a regular Drone again. I could walk in sunlight again without feeling the constant need to feed on Worker Drone oil. Uzi’s not-so-dead mom had a body again. Obviously, the Worker Drones were happy I was ‘cured’, as they so tactfully called it. We had won.”

“Or so we thought, as you can probably guess.” Uzi stated, giving her wife a grim look. “It wasn’t until a few years later that we found out that the Solver had done something to us, just before it died. One final punishment before its light was completely snuffed out.”

Anne released her grip on Ashley’s hand and folded them on her lap, really clenching them together. “Your immortality.”

“Well, it wasn’t like at first.” V grunted. “It began … well, like you probably found out. A little cut that healed on its own.”

“So … how had it managed to do that?” Ashley inquired.

“And after I ran some diagnostics on the both of us, I found it that It was a virus.” Uzi explained. “Something named ‘the ETRNTY Virus. We believe that it was an earlier version of the healing ability that V and the other Disassembly Drones had. Something more powerful, more effective, but I guess that it was a bit too effective for the Solver’s tastes, so it went with more controllable nanites instead.”

“How did you never find out about it until then?” Anne asked. “Was your anti-virus software on the fritz?”

“When the Solver infected our system with the virus, the latter defragmented itself and spread bits of coding all around.” Uzi explained. “It disguised itself as redundant data, background processes and such. Even if we would’ve suspected something suspicious, it wouldn’t have popped up.”

“And a few years later, when we were all blissfully complacent and the thought of something bad happening never even crossing our minds … it struck.” V continued. “It reformed into its original malware form and … well …”

“Why didn’t you just try to, I don’t know, get rid of it?” Ashley asked, rather bluntly.

“Oh, that’s genius.” Uzi deadpanned, presenting Anne’s friend a roll of her eyes. “It was one of the first things we tried. I threw every antiviral, malware-destroying, system-resetting program in my arsenal at it, but … it had rooted itself too securely in our system. It was impossible to remove, even if it could allow us to do so.”

“Uzi made it her mission to free us from the virus. She spent hours, days, weeks, months behind her computer, trying to come up with a solution for our problem. And because I wanted to provide whatever help I could, I ended up hanging around that same room with her.” V stated, throwing her wife a proud look. She chuckled as a blush formed on her visor. “I’ll spare you the sappy details, but let’s just say that we really got used to each other’s company and … well, one thing led to the other.”

Uzi – grinning mischievously - let herself fall sideway, letting her head lean on V’s shoulder, getting a kiss from the latter in return. “We started dating, celebrated our anniversaries, officially moved in together – we pretty much already had by that point – and eventually got married.” Her expression soured, sitting back up with a sigh. “Unfortunately, as you can probably guess … things were so much worse than we anticipated. We never noticed it how much things had changed with us …. Or rather, didn’t change.”

Anne gulped. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, imagine looking around one day and realizing how your friends are married and have kids of their own. They have grown and matured, as the years molded them with experience.” V explained. “Imagine that almost two decades have passed … and you don’t feel any of that. You blinked … and the world changed without you.”

“It was, like, they grew old and we stayed the same as before. Exactly the same.” Uzi stated darkly. “As you know, Drones are designed to … evolve with experience. You don’t act the same way now as you did when you were five. Untrained Neural Networks become kids, kids become teenagers, teenagers become adults, adults become … much older, crankier adults. Our software does the same, needing regular patches and updates to keep our system operating at a maximum proficiency, and regular maintenance checks to make sure our hardware keeps working properly.”

“We never realized that we didn’t age like that.” V added. “Not until … well, much later.”

Anne nodded, having guessed that would’ve been the case, considering how the two older drones in front of her sometimes acted more like teenagers with each other than adults. She had noticed it during the telling of the story. They mostly acted, well, like how Anne figured adults would act, but sometimes … something slipped through. A snide comment, an exaggerated reaction when one would tease the other, things like that.

Kinda like how she and Ashley would act around each other.

“It was more than that, too.” Uzi continued, never having noticed Anne having her own internal monologue. “Worker Drone bodies weren’t designed to last forever, as you can imagine. As the years go on, joints get creaky, servos start to falter, and even software starts to lose its efficiency. Drones get older, in every way possible.”

“We, however, kept on going. Our bodies didn’t age, our software kept working like it was brand-new.” V stated with a sigh. “When we realized this was happening … we decided to keep it a secret.”

“Why?”

“Because we figured that; if people would find out, they’d want the same thing.” Uzi explained. “We had seen it before. Years before the ETRNTY virus took effect, V was still asked to ‘submit herself for study’, so people could replicate the nanites. Some Drones were very …uh …”

“Aggressive, pushy, borderline stalking, things like that.” V deadpanned, having not so fondly memories of the doctors swarming her when she was still getting repairs in the hospital, begging her to allow them to study her. “Let’s just say that I had to threaten a lot of people for a really long time, before they finally decided to give up on trying to disassemble me for study.”

“Oh …” Anne winced. She could imagine that they’d rather keep that quiet. Maybe she would’ve been in the same boat, if she hadn’t decided to keep her developing abilities to herself, excluding Ashley. Still … V must’ve been scared.

“Yeah, so we decided that instead we’d … play along.” Uzi continued, placing her hand on top of V’s. “We figured that if we acted ‘normal’ enough, people wouldn’t catch on. And even if we had a small group of trusted friends who knew about our healing abilities, we decided that it would be best not to tell them about … the other thing. The only other we told was my mom, and she agreed that it was for the best. She knew a thing or two about faking things for the greater good.”

“And so, we tried to pick up our lives, trying to act as normal as possible.” V said, her voice softening as she spoke. “The years passed, and before we knew it …” She took a deep breath. “Our friends, Uzi’s family … were gone. Grown old and died. Except us.”

“And people started to notice.” Uzi stated with a heavy sigh. “We could act as old as we’d like, but … we knew it was only a matter of time before someone would start asking questions. A couple of old Drones that never seemed to need to go for check-ups or were looking a bit too spry for their supposed age? Things like that tend to jump out, even if we tried to keep to ourselves.”

“So … we realized that we only had one option …” V took a breath. “We had to leave the colony and go somewhere where we wouldn’t be found. We erased our entire existence from the Colony’s database, and flew into the night, bringing with us whatever we could carry.”

“You exiled yourselves?” Anne asked. She let out an impressed scoff. “Pretty cool.”

“Thank you.” Uzi chuckled while V rolled her eyes.

“Where did you go?” Ashley asked.

“JCJENSON had built a secret research station in what is now called Founder Mountains. Off-grid, with its own power plant.” V explained. “It pretty much inaccessible due to constant storms, but they had built the facility inside the mountain itself, hiding it away from … anyone. We wouldn’t have known about it, hadn’t Uzi scoured whatever she had salvaged whatever information she could from Cabin Fever Labs computer systems.”

“Which you said was a waste of time, back then.” Uzi teased, getting a playful shove back in return. “Anyway, we moved in and made ourselves a little home. With nothing but time on our hand, I kept trying to create a kill-program for the virus – without success – and V discovered her artistic side.”

“You need to have a hobby, or you go mad.” V stated with a pretend-psychotic grin, chuckling as she noticed how Ashley tried to push herself a bit further away from the former disassembly Drone.

“But you aren’t there now.” Anne stated matter-of-factly. “What changed?”

“Loneliness, to put it simply.” Uzi explained. She gave her wife a loving look. “I love V with all of my being, but …”

“To be bluntly honest, after a hundred years we kinda got sick of being each other’s only company. Lots of big fights over lots of nothing.” V added with a dry tone. “We drastically needed to get out.”

“Yeah, that. By that time, Dronekind was pretty much on its way to take over the planet.” Uzi continued. “The Drone population had expanded exponentially, without our ‘natural predator’ out of the picture. Cities had popped up all over the planet. Governments started to form. We figured that there were enough people around that we could just … blend in. So, we figured that it was time for us to take a new step to start our first Chapter.”

“Chapter?” Anne asked, cocking her head.

V chuckled. “Oh, just our little name for it. It’s what we started to call it whenever we made a fresh start. New identities, new looks, new personalities, new backgrounds, new place to live. You know, it’s like- “

“-starting a new chapter.” Ashley rightly guessed. “Clever wordplay.”

“Anyway, we knew that starting out fresh wouldn’t be easy, especially when we needed to keep our …’affliction’ a secret.” Uzi continued. “There was so much preparation involved. We needed to modify our ID-chips – a process made a lot easier when Cradle Facilities started to become the norm a decade later – and V needed some …uh, cosmetic alterations.”

“Meaning?” Ashley asked curiously.

“Meaning, I had to have my tail and headband removed. They kinda stuck out. There wasn’t a great variety in Drone bodies back then, so I needed to at least look the part.”

“Honestly, it wasn’t worth the hassle – and the two weeks of sore sitting – because about a decade later, I woke up one morning, and thing grew back. Turns out I can just retract it.” “Seems reasonable.”

V lamented with a heavy sigh. “At least we didn’t have to do much alternations to my legs.”

“Your legs?” Anne asked, glancing over to V aforementioned appendages. They looked like regular Drone legs to her.

V noticed her peeking and grinned as she stood up. She reached down to her knees, seemingly fiddling with something. “And for my next trick …”

Anne gasped in surprise when the legs – or what appeared to have been legs with regular Drone feet – hissed and started to open up all the way to her knees. What had appeared to be regular – albeit tall – Drone legs, were revealed to be some kind of prosthetic boots that mimicked the shape of regular legs and feet. She stepped out of the prosthetics, revealing her slender, stiletto-like legs. She struck a pose, showing them off to the two awestruck girls.

“Dang, nice …” Ashley gasped out, sounding a bit too much in awe about it. She blushed; a bit embarrassed about her outburst. “S-sorry, that just came out without thinking.”

Anne chuckled, giving her friend – who looked like she really wanted to just hide away inside the couch – a playful bump. “Ash really knows what she likes.”

“S-shut up.” The latter bit back, her blush glowing brighter with every second.

“Aww, don’t be shy.” V teased the blushing red-headed girl. “Pretty legs like these were made to be admired.”

Anne glanced over to Ashley, giving her a teasing wink. The latter reacted by sticking out her tongue.

“Moving on. You’ve got time to show off later.” Uzi scolded – albeit with a hint of amusement in her voice - as she pulled her wife back onto the couch, earning a playful scowl back from V.

“When we decided that we wanted to reintegrate ourselves back into Drone society, we knew we had to be extremely careful.” Uzi continued, as if she wasn’t interrupted. “As we learned during our last months in the colony, people could start to be suspicious if we stuck out too much. So, we needed a set of rules we needed to live by.”

“Such as?” Anne asked.

“Obviously, the most important one: never tell anyone the truth about ourselves.” Uzi started.

“In public, we are our chosen identity.” V added. “‘Uzi’ and ‘V’ only exist when we are alone – obviously, current company excluded. Otherwise, we stick to our new self. Follow the script. Act like you need.”

“We don’t stay anywhere longer than a few decades.” Uzi continued. “When we start a new chapter, we move to a whole new place. Avoid places where there is even the smallest chance that someone could recognize us. We usually avoid returning to towns we’ve lived in before, but the District Capitals are so densely populated that we sometimes start over there after three Chapters or so.”

“Hide in plain sight. Don’t stand out. Become just someone in the crowd.” V let out a sheepish chuckle. “Easier said than done, that one. We have accidentally bended rather than broken that rule a few times. Uzi has been a published writer in the past, I have some artwork displayed in museums.”

“Luckily, we usually completely change our look with every new chapter: eye color, hair, style of clothing.” Uzi added. “We normally manage to avoid suspicion.” Her eyes darkened for a moment, before her voice lowered to a barely audible mumble. “Except that one time …”

Anne had heard that. “What was that?”

Uzi flinched, chuckling sheepishly. “Nothing to worry about. A story for another time.”

V coughed in her hand. “Anyway, with our preparations and rules finished, we finally set out to start our new lives. We moved to a nearby city, found a small apartment, established our stories with neighbors and … lived our lives. For 40 years, we made friends, we had our jobs, we did everything we felt we needed to do.”

“And then … it was time to start over.” Uzi stated, her voice filled with sadness and regret. “We set up our new identities, while our old ones ‘moved away’ to somewhere where they quietly ‘passed away’. As our friends mourned and cried …we took our first step into our new home, as completely different people.”

Anne slumped in her seat. “That sounds …”

“Hard.” Ashley concluded, as her hand unwittingly reached out for Anne’s to hold.

“Yeah, it was. It always is.” V stated with an expression that mirrored that of Uzi’s, wringing her hands together. “And that’s how we did it. We lived somewhere for a time and then started over somewhere else. But … it was necessary. We couldn’t risk exposing our secret to anyone, lest we wanted to attract unwanted attention.”

“Most of the time, we stayed together as a couple. Sometimes we lived apart, in completely separate places, just to keep things interesting.” Uzi grinned softly.

“Did you date other people then?” Ashley asked. She grunted when Anne elbowed her in the side. “What, it’s a completely reasonable question!”

“Sure, but you don’t just- “

“Yeah, we did. We even dabbled in polyamorous relationships every now and then.” V answered, chuckling as she saw Anne’s surprised expression. “Like Uzi said, ‘it keeps things interesting.” She let out a sad sigh. “Those relationship never lasted long, though. At one point, we needed to break things off. Like I said … we couldn’t risk it, as much as we hated doing that.”

“I’m sorry.” Ashley stated, an expression of regret on her visor. “I didn’t mean to- “

“It’s okay, sweetheart.” Uzi quickly said, that motherly tone returning in her voice. “As time went on, we did everything in our power to conceal the truth about Copper-9’s past. At one point, I got myself hired as a software engineer for the “Global Mainframe Project”, and -”

“Hang on, you helped design the Mainframe?” Ashley interrupted. “The Mainframe everyone uses on a daily basis? The one that holds information about everyone?”

“Helped it? She practically wrote every bit of coding of it! Why do you think we can change our identities so easily? Transfer our considerable savings without notice?” V asked with a sly grin, patting Uzi on her back, who tried to conceal her blush. “Uzi has placed so many backdoors in so many systems that only she has the keys for. She did the same for the Cradle Facilities.”

“Speaking of which …” Uzi took a deep breath and turned her gaze over to Anne. “I think that brings us to the part of the story you’ve been waiting for, Anne.”

V gently beckoned Anne. “Go ahead, ask your questions.”

Anne felt her core tighten, and she swallowed down a big lump of nervosity. Beside her, Ashley seemed to stiffen as well. She took a deep breath in a futile attempt to calm down her nerves. It seemed to only make it worse. Her entire circuitry seemed to be abuzz. She slowly exhaled, nodding to herself. “I guess … the things I’d like to know are … Where did I come from? Why did you have me, only to leave me behind? Your letter implies that you didn’t want to, but had no choice. Or am I reading too much into that?”

Uzi took a deep breath, giving V a look, who nodded. She turned back to Anne with a sigh. “It’s … not an easy answer, and you might not like to hear all of it.”

Anne felt her core tighten again, but this time it wasn’t anticipation. It was more a mild frustration that was building up. She hadn’t gone through all this crap the last few days, just to be met with half-answers. She took a deep breath. “Try me.”

A small smirk formed on V’s lips, giving Uzi a soft jab with her elbow.

“It all happened almost sixteen years ago, obviously.” Uzi started shifting uncomfortably around her seat. She had always feared this day, and now it was here. She thought she was prepared, but … “Me and V had just ended our latest chapter, and were preparing to start anew. Most of our preparations were done, but we still needed to change our ID-chip information, among other things. The best place to do so is in Cradle Facilities. They offered the best access to the Global Registry with the least amount of digital traffic. We had gone at night, when everyone was away. We’d have unrestrained access to the main terminal, so we could do our business without any obstacles. It was something we had done a dozen times before. We hadn’t considered that … something could go wrong.”

Anne felt her core tighten again, that same flame flickering in her chest. “Wrong?”

“As we plugged ourselves into the system … something unexpected happened.” V continued. “Uzi hadn’t noticed that some background programs were still running, and as she initiated her hack …”

“The entire system glitched, and there was a power surge …right into us.” Uzi said as she took over from V. She shuddered as she remembered the way her entire inside of body felt like it was on fire, only to heal at the same time. “Very painful. Extremely unpleasant. When I finally got control of the system again, I thought that we’d hit a stroke of luck. Nothing seemed to have been out of the order. No-one seemed to have noticed us. We thought we were done. And then I noticed it … a program that wasn’t mine had completed its task.”

Anne’s eyes hollowed as she realized what Uzi was saying.

“And then we heard a baby cry.” V added softly. “An Untrained Neural Network with gradient yellow-and-purple-colored eyes …”

“We panicked.” Uzi continued, her voice soft and slightly breaking. “This wasn’t something we’d ever considered. This wasn’t in our plans. Even so, we couldn’t just leave you there. What if people found you? They’d use your Parental Source Codes to find us. We didn’t know what to do, so … we took you with us, to decide later how to deal with this … “

“’Mistake’? Is that what you’re gonna say?” Anne asked bluntly. “That I was nothing but a mistake?”

“No, no, of course not.” V stated quickly, raising up her hands in an effort to soothe the situation. “You were more like … an unforeseen variable. But unforeseen or not, you were there, and we needed to decide what to do with you. We … we knew that we couldn’t keep you. It wouldn’t work. Our lives were too complicated to have a child, and- “

“Oh, I’m sorry? Was my birth too much of an obstacle in your perfect subterfuge?” Anne knew she was being too harsh, but she didn’t care. All the frustration came pouring out. She hadn’t even realized how deep this feeling actually went.

Uzi, knowing very well that a Doorman tantrum was gonna burst soon, tried to placate the situation. “Anne, I know you are angry, and rightfully so, but -”

“Oh, am I?”

“Anne, please, just -” Ashley cautiously pleaded, trying to calm down her friend, but to no avail.

“No, I want to hear this!” Anne nearly shouted as she stood up from her seat. “If I was such a hassle to have around your lives, why go through all the effort to leave me with the Brinkman’s? Why put in any sort of work into it at all? Why didn’t you just take the easy route and … just … KILL ME?!”

“BECAUSE I COULDN’T BE THAT MONSTER ANYMORE!” V shouted angrily, jumping up from the couch, her wings extended to their full span, showering Anne and Ashley and shadow.

Any anger that Anne felt earlier vanished as she fumbled back into the couch. It wasn’t the revelation, but the palpable pain in V’s voice that had jolted her out of her tantrum. Uzi’s visor was a radiant projection of pain, guilt and sorrow, as she reached out to touch her wife’s arm.

V’s angered expression slowly changed into an expression of sorrow and guilt. Her wings slowly retracted as she slumped back onto her own seat, burying her face in her hands. A soft sob escaped her throat, her voice barely audible. “I couldn’t do it, as much as I tried to convince myself, as I had Uzi, that it was necessary. One EMP blast while you slept, and you’d be gone. Quick and painless. Simple, right? It should’ve been so easy for me. After all, I’ve killed hundreds, if not thousands of Drones when I was a Disassembly Drone. I’ve committed so many horrors in the past. What was one more to my ledger?”

Anne, slowly beginning to fill with guilt about her outburst, wanted to call out V’s name, but her voice seemed to have gone offline at the moment. She noticed how Ashley had grabbed her hand, as if she was going to pull her back when the former wanted to try something.

“But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t pull the trigger.” V continued uninterrupted, her voice broken and small. “You were just a baby. Uzi’s baby. My baby. Our baby. It was our fault that we had brought you into the world, and … and.”

V threw her arms around Uzi’s neck, burying her face in her shoulders as she silently wept.

“It’s okay.” Anne croaked, her voice box finally back online. She was really trying to keep her emotions in check. She was feeling guilt rather than anger. She felt like such a glitch, not having realized how her long-lost parents must have struggled with their decision. They said Anne deserved to be angry, but … surely, they had a good reason. She needed to hear them out. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled. I- “

“Anne, you are entitled to your anger, but …” Uzi stated, interrupting Anne’s apology. She took a deep breath, pausing a moment to comfort V, who was still silently sobbing. “Try to imagine how your life would have looked like, if you had stayed with us. You’ll realize that everything we did … was for your sake. This life …it just wouldn’t have been fair to you.”

“What do mean?” Anne asked softly.

“Look at your friend, Anne.” Uzi’s gaze ventured over to Ashley, who flinched when she saw the purple eyes lock onto her. She waited until Anne had turned her attention to the redheaded girl, who nervously grinned at all the eyes on her. “You’ve been friends for a long time, I take it?”

“Since kindergarten.” Anne answered.

“Imagine having to lie to her, every single day.” Uzi instructed. “Imagine having to tell her things that you know aren’t true. Who your parents are, where you come from, possibly even your real name. You’d like to tell her about these amazing abilities that makes you and your parents special, but you can’t.”

“W-why?” Anne asked, her eyes still trained on Ashley. “Why shouldn’t I tell my best friend the truth? I know that I can trust her.”

“Can you? Sure, she might keep your secret for a while, but one day, she might slip up and accidentally tell someone.” Uzi suggested. “That someone might tell someone else, who might tell someone else. Before you know it, we’re are being rounded up and studied for our powers. We get locked up, to become experiments.”

“Isn’t that a bit of a … worst-case-scenario?” Ashley asked, beating Anne to the punch.

“Sure, this might never happen. Maybe you’ll keep your secret to yourself, but you’ll need to keep lying to her. Day after day after day …” Uzi continued, her expression sorrowful, and Anne felt deep in her core that Uzi was speaking from experience. “She’ll never know the real you. Only a version of you that is created to keep you and your loved ones safe.”

“That’s …” Anne didn’t know what to say. It sounded horrible. She didn’t want to hear more, but she knew Uzi wasn’t finished.

V, finally having calmed down enough, spoke up with a hoarse voice. “We know that you share our healing abilities and others, but have you considered what would happen what if you share our immortality?”

Anne’s eyes hollowed. She hadn’t thought of that. The mere possibility froze her core. “I …”

“This life, our life, is filled with sacrifice, Anne.” V continued calmly, pausing to sniffle. “Imagine spending time with Ashley, your best friend … knowing that one day, you’d have to move on. Like we said, we can’t let people get suspicious about us. One day, you’d need to say goodbye to her, knowing that you’d never see each other ever again. Knowing that you’d keep on living and one day, she’d be … gone. And this would be repeated over, and over, and over again.”

“W-what?” Anne’s voice was barely a whisper. She turned to Ashley, who had the same shocked expression on her visor. She reached out to grab her hand, almost as if she was scared that Ashley was going to float away. “W-would that really be necessary?”

“Didn’t you listen to our story?” Uzi asked gently. “This is what we do. This is the bane of our existence. Not because we enjoy it, but because it’s vital. We build a life for ourselves; we live it to the fullest … and vanish to start somewhere new. And you’ll keep on living with the memories of everyone you’ve ever loved. Can you imagine that pain?”

“It’s … it doesn’t seem fair.” Anne whispered, digital tears forming in the corner of her eyes. Why hadn’t she realized it: the pain and grief that these two had gone through. For centuries? Chapter after chapter? Still forming connections with other, despite knowing it would end someday. How …how did they do it?

“No, it doesn’t.” Uzi concluded softly. She stood up and walked over to Anne, gently taking her hands into her own. She rubbed her thumb over the back of her daughter’s hand, a sad smile on her face. “We didn’t want to burden you with that knowledge, whether or not you’ve inherited the full extent of our curse. This … existence is hard. Extremely hard. You didn’t deserve that. You didn’t ask for that.”

“And what if she didn’t have your abilities?” Ashley asked, voice croaking with emotion.

V sighed; her gaze trained on the ground. “The thought of that … was unbearable. How can you live a full life, knowing that you’ll outlive your child? Especially if that meant that we’d eventually have to move away, and she’d never see us again. She’d know we were out there, but she’d never see us again.” She looked up at Anne, smiling sadly. “No matter how we looked at it, we couldn’t bear the thought of letting you be burdened with that knowledge.”

“So, we did the best next thing …” Uzi continued, reaching out to caress Anne’s cheek. “We decided that you, at least for the time being, didn’t need to know any of this. You deserved to grow up somewhere where you’d be free, where you could make friends, go to school … maybe fall in love. And with a bit of luck, you wouldn’t have inherited our affliction. You would be completely normal.”

Obviously, that hadn’t been the case, but Anne decided against making such a comment.

“Uzi scoured the Global Registry, looking for suitable candidates.” V continued. “It took a little while, but eventually she found the perfect couple. A young couple, who were looking to adopt. Both doctors. Very respectable people.”

Anne smiled. “My moms …”

“Indeed. Naomi and Hazel Brinkman. Something about them just spoke to us.” Uzi stated with a soft smile, making her way back to her seat next to V. “We observed them from a distance, for a little while. We wanted to make sure they were as they appeared to be. We didn’t want to leave you with anyone we weren’t a hundred percent sure off. In the end, we found them to be a perfect match for you.”

V sighed, heavy with the emotion of memory. “And thus, during a stormy night …we went to their house.”

“V used her EMP to disable the lights in the entire neighborhood …”

“We placed you inside the basket, with a few of our choice possessions. If gave you my scarf and my glasses.

“I gave you my mother’s necklace and my old beanie.”

“We kissed you one final time.”

“We placed you by the door.”

“We knocked.”

“We watched as Hazel and Naomi took you in.”

“And ... we left, knowing you were safe and sound.”

Uzi took a raspy breath, tears running down her visor. “It was the hardest and most heartbreaking thing we’ve ever done in all our lives.”

Anne sniffled, realizing that she was also crying – as was her companion beside her. She was speechless. All that Uzi and V – her parents – ever wanted for her, was to be happy. They didn’t want her to have to live a hollow life, knowing she’d had to give it up.

It was the greatest gift they could ever give her.

“I …I don’t know what to say…” Anne stammered. “I …I guess … thank you? For giving me loving parents. For making sure I could grow up happy. I don’t know how I could ever pay you back for that.”

“Well, how about you start with answering a bit of our questions, Anne?” V asked. “We’ve told you plenty about ourselves, but it’s time to return the favor.”

Anne chuckled. “I guess that’s fair. Ask away.”

“When did you first start to get your powers?” Uzi asked

“Somewhere last week, I think?” Anne answered. “I … stumbled out of bad in a weird way and I broke off a piece of my visor.”

Ashley snorted. “Of course you did.”

Anne ignored her friend’s friendly jab. “By the time I actually could check it, the wound was gone. I thought I had imagined it, until I found the piece of glass later that day.” She continued. It had only been less than a week since that day, but it felt like so much longer. Her life had changed so much, in such a short time. “The next time I accidentally wounded myself, I saw myself healing.”

“And you didn’t have anything like that happen to you before?” V wondered.

“I wish.” Anne answered with a chuckle. “It would’ve saved me so many trips to the mech-doc.” She chuckled nervously when she saw Uzi and V’s confused expression. “Hehe, I, uh …am a bit of a klutz. Prone to tripping over my own feet.”

“So, something happened to trigger them …” Uzi mused, rubbing her chin.

“Did something happen?” V asked.

“Well, I found out I was adopted a few days before it happened, and …I was pretty stressed about it, as you can imagine.”

“So, the virus triggered because you were in an overwhelming, emotional state?” V asked.

“I guess.”

“I take it that it was also around this time you started to snoop around, trying to get answers regarding your adoption?”

“Yes.” Anne shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Is this significant?”

“Not really.” Uzi answered as she leaned back in her seat. “Just curious, I guess. I’ve been studying this virus for a long time, and I still don’t know everything about it.” There was a pause. “Any other abilities we need to know about?”

“I’m faster and stronger, but those things seem to come and go whenever they please.” Anne grumbled.

V barked out a laugh, seemingly amused by Anne’s pouting. “Yeah, that seems familiar.” She said to the confused teenager. “There’s a trick to that, but we can come back to that later.”

“Well, I wish that it didn’t do that.” Anne grumbled. “It certainly didn’t help me when those guys -”

“What guys?”

“Uh …”

“Anne Brinkman, what guys are you talking about? What happened?”

Beads of digital sweat dripped down Anne’s visor. They way Uzi and V were looking at her, with expressions that were both concerned and stern, she was reminded very much of her mothers back home. She let out a sigh. Maybe it was for the best that she’d tell them. If anyone had answers about what happened to her that day, it was them. “So, don’t get worried …”

“Do we need to get worried?” Uzi asked, crossing her arms together.

“So … this happened right before you found us.” Anne began, ignoring Uzi’s question. She told them the story of what happened in Faraday City. How she and Ashley had gone exploring and ended up in an alley in the bad part of town. How they got cornered by that group of thugs, and how they were threatening them. Of what happened to her when the leader of those guys started to hurt Ashley. How so sort of blacked out for a moment, and when she came through, she had somehow managed to knock them all out.

“Any idea what that was?” Anne asked nervously. She didn’t like the look on both their faces.

“How did it exactly feel like?” V asked.

“Like … a fire, I think?”

V tapped the middle of her chest. “Right here?”

“Y-yeah? Kinda?” Anne answered, trying to remember the feeling. “And the angrier I got, the hotter it felt. And it was like I wasn’t myself. All I wanted to do was … hurt them, in the same way that they were hurting Ashley. It was all I could think about, until Ashley brought me to my senses.”

Uzi turned to Ashley. “What did it look like?”

Ashley jolted up, surprised that she was being addressed to. “Uh, she was very fast. She was … laughing the entire time, like this mad cackle.” She answered, trying to remember as much details of that moments as she could. “Oh, she had this large X on her visor.”

“Like … this?” V asked, her eyes changing to a large, very familiar X. Her lips spread into a fang-filled smile.

“Just like that.” Ashley answered. “Like, eerily just like that.”

“I was afraid of that.” V lamented, falling backwards on the couch with a heavy sigh.

“Well, at least we know she inherited something from you.” Uzi joked, although it sounded half-hearted. “At least she didn’t have the urge to drink their oil, so that’s a plus.”

“Wait, this isn’t the virus?” Anne asked, completely surprised.

“No, it’s not the virus.” V answered, sitting up with a frustrated groan. “It’s Disassembly Drone coding.”

“Disassembly Drone coding?” Anne repeated.

“Me and my …kin had something similar.” V explained. “As we told you, we needed oil to regulate our overheating. If, for whatever reason, we went too long without oil, an emergency protocol would engage. Something we simply called ‘Hunter Mode’. As the name implies, it would completely overtake us with an urge to hunt. We were barely aware of our actions when it happened. Only when we had consumed enough oil, it would disengage and give us back complete control. I think what happened to you is something similar, but different.”

A question popped up in Anne’s mind, one she didn’t think she’d want an answer for. “Am … am I dangerous?”

“No, no, absolutely not.” V quickly answered, giving Anne an apologetic look. “At least, not to people you care about. It sounds more like a ‘protector mode’ than what I had. With a little bit of practice, I think you an even control it.”

“That’s … cool.” Anne felt a surge of relief. She didn’t need to fear about hurting Ashley, her parents or anyone else …anyone else who didn’t deserve it, at least. An idea popped up in her head. “Hey, could you train me? Teach me how to control it? And my other powers?”

“Train you?” Uzi repeated. “Anne, you and Ashley need to go home. Your parents -”

“Please?” Anne begged, interrupting Uzi.

“Anne, it took us years to completely learn how to use these abilities. You can’t expect to stay here that long, do you?” V insisted. She let out a sigh. “As much as we’d very much like that.”

“How about a few days, at least?” Anne tried again. “Enough to give me some ‘pointers’. And not only for that. I’d like us to get to know each other better. Please, after all we’ve gone through …”

Uzi and V glanced over to each other. After a few moments, V shrugged and Uzi let out a sigh.

“Me and V are willing to consider, but we can’t make that decision now.” Uzi said, getting up with a smile. “Give us a chance to talk it over, okay?”

Anne grinned. “Okay.”

“Thank you.” Uzi smiled.

“Well, I think we’ve talked with each other for long enough.” V got up, clapping her hands together. “How about a tour of the property?”

Anne and Ashley jumped up. “Lead the way.”

Chapter Text

To call where Uzi and V lived a ‘house’ was a severe understatement, in Anne’s opinion … and Ashley very vocal one. ‘Manor’ or ‘estate’ seemed to be a more appropriate qualification. Their home was built near the giant lake, with a lighthouse that overlooked the entire area. The immediate terrain around the house was spacious, yet somehow gave off a rustic, comfortable presence. It was clear that Uzi and V didn’t lack in funds.

The house was clearly renovated to meet Uzi and V’s high standards – or at least, the standard that their personas expected. Knowing the long lives that her two birth parents had lives, they must’ve had dozens, if not hundreds, of different jobs. They did kinda dodged the issue on how rich they actually were, when asked by Ashley, but assuring that everything was completely legal. V mentioned that they still received royalties from some of their previous, more successful personas.

The area, while easily accessible through the nearby road, was far enough from the town that people almost never came to snoop around. Although, the ‘private property’ signs and fences that surrounded the property probably helped a lot. Even so, with the surrounding forest and the tall cliffs on the nearby beach provided much natural camouflage, so the couple never feared to be seen when V went out flying.

V showed them around her studio, where she made painting – and the odd sculpture from time to time – for Uzi to sell in her shop in town.

“I think you’re going to like this, Anne. It’s something quite up your alley” Uzi grinned as she guided the two young drones towards a giant bookcase.

“Well, I do like reading …” Anne mused as she let her gaze go over the seemingly normal bookcase. “But this … is just a bookcase.”

“Oh really?” Uzi grinned mischievously, ignoring the way V was rolling her eyes in almost undetectable amusement. “Ashley, do an old-yet-still-beautifully-young lady a favor and pull the book titled ‘The Secret Entrance’, please?”

Ashley pulled the book. There was a click and, to Anne and Ashley’s surprise, the bookcase opened a bit.

“A secret door?” Anne grinned in amazement. “Okay, I’ll admit. That’s cool.”

“Wait ‘till you see inside.” Uzi said with unconcealed glee as she swung open the heavy bookcase-door. “Welcome to my little empire.”

“Stop being so dramatic, Zi!” V called out teasingly. Something buzzed in her pocket, and she fished out her phone. She gave it a quick look and sighed – more like a frustrated groan disguised as a sigh. “Uzi, I’ll need to step away to my office for a moment. That prick who can’t stop complaining about my prices just texted me …again. He’ll probably try to haggle about lowering them again.”

“Okay! Just … try not to threaten them too much … this time.” Uzi grinned as she watched V spin around, stomping away towards her office. She turned to the young Drones again. “With that little delay out of the way … welcome, once again, to m little empire.”

Anne’s jaw nearly dropped when she walked inside. It’s was a hacker’s paradise in there. Half a dozen screens, towers as tall as the ceiling, three sets of keyboards, a cup holder, … Anne considered herself quite the hacker, and she was pretty proud of her homemade tools, but she was nowhere near the level of type of tech that was in front of her. This … was God tier hacking.

“Wow, I’ll admit, that’s a lot of computer stuff.” Ashley stated dryly.

“This … is … amazing!” Anne called out with a squeal, jumping right into the chair in front of the computers. “Look at all this stuff! What kinds of systems are you running?”

Uzi chuckled, pretty pleased at her daughter’s reaction. “Things I don’t even have names for. Everything is home-coded, built from the ground up.” She stated, taking a seat next to Anne. “Of course, I’ve had decades and decades to perfect everything.”

“So, what is … all of this for?” Anne asked, gesturing to the whole setup.”

“A bit of everything. That screen is mainly security feed from the cameras around our property.” Uzi answered, pointing to one screen.

“What cameras?” Ashley asked, not recalling having seen them during their tour.

“Exactly.” Uzi answered with a grin. “That one has a direct connection to the Dark Web. That one shows our stocks. That one is for everything work-related. This one gives me a direct line into the Global Mainframe. What this one for again …? Oh, movies and video games.”

“Jeez, the power consumption must be off the charts.” Anne guessed, properly amazed with the technological demi-god that was the computer in front of her.

“Yeah, we even had to build our own underground power-grid. That lighthouse does a whole lot more than just giving us an amazing view.” Uzi said.

“No wonder you managed to detect my attempt to hack my core. I mean, darkXwolf17’s programs are supposed to be untraceable and unbreachable, but with tech like this …” Anne mused. She heard Uzi let out an amused chuckle, making her turn around in confusion. “What?”

“Didn’t you hear what I told earlier?” Uzi asked, a suggestive tone in her voice. “What does every program I ever made have, and for what purpose?”

“A backdoor, so you can enter it without much trouble, but I don’t get w-?” Anne froze, as realization hit her. “No way …”

Uzi grinned and nodded. “Way.”

“You are darkXwolf17?” Anne asked, her voice reaching a new octave. “THE darkXwolf17, who is regarded as THE legendary hacker? The one in long line of exceptional hackers who have inherited the title over the years?”

“Jeez, I have no idea who started THAT little myth, but darkXwolf17 has always been me.” Uzi grinned, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. She hadn’t expected the reverence in Anne’s voice. She knew about the ‘legend of darkXwolf17’, but she had no idea that it had taken such a ridiculous grade of …aw, who was she kidding, she loved it.

Ashley let out a chuckle, enjoying how her friend’s higher functions seemed to glitch out while she was processing the new sliver of information about her birth parent. “Looks like you’ve been fangirling over your mom, 2Tone!”

“2tone?” Uzi asked, hearing the nickname for the first time.

“Oh, because of the …” Anne gestured to her dual-colored eyes. “Two tones, get it?”

“Oh, clever … I guess.”

“Hey, I was, like, 6 when I gave Anne that nickname.” Ashley stated defensively. “It was either that, or ‘Huey’, because of the hues.”

“So, you said you have direct access to the Global Mainframe?” Anne asked quickly, wanting to defuse the situation. She knew how Ashley could get if her ‘street smarts’ got questioned.

“Everything I’ve build a backdoor into, yes.” Uzi answered with a grin. “Even then, what I actually can do from her is, somewhat, limited. For precise actions, sometimes a direct, physical connection with the Main Server works better.”

Something suddenly dawned on Anne. A question in the back of her mind that she had been meaning to ask. “Is that how you managed to track me and Ashley?” she asked. “Using our unique ID-codes to pinpoint our locations, using the system callback pings to bounce the signal between origin and destination?”

Uzi blinked a view times. “No, but nice idea. I wish I had thought of that.”

“Oh, did you instead disguise the tracker program as a redundant system, like the ETRNTY virus did?”

“Once again, great idea, but not that either.” Uzi grinned. “Why do you ask?”

“So, I noticed you tried to initiate a trace on me during our, uh … encounter when I hacked my core -”

“Stupid and reckless, by the way.”

Anne rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Anyway, after that, I ran every sort of scanner and malware remover on both myself and my laptop, and every scan told me that it and me were completely clean. Still, you managed to track us down. There was no way I could’ve missed something as specific as a tracer software, so I’m just wondering how you did it.”

Uzi grinned. “You really have no idea, do you?”

“Not a clue.”

“Nothing?”

“Zilch.”

Ashley let out a frustrated groan. “Can you please answer her, before I – AAH!” She let out a brief scream and a moment later, Ashley had jumped up on a nearby chair, her eyes hollowed and pointing at something at the floor. “KILL IT! KILL IT!”

Anne’s eyes darted to over where her terrified friend was pointing, and to her surprise she noticed something – rather, someone – very familiar scattering over towards her. A little gold-greenish robo-roach. She knelt down and held open her hand to let the robotic critter climb on it. “Crit? How did you get here?”

“Junior here hitched a ride in Ashley’s backpack.” Uzi explained.

“EW! That fil… that thing was in my pack?” Ashley asked horrified. “Ew-ew-ew!”

“Not a big fan of roaches, she is.” Anne whispered to Uzi, before she realized something that the latter had said. “Wait, did you call him Junior?”

Uzi grinned, holding out her hand so Crit could jump over from Anne’s hand to hers. “Junior the 23rd, to be more precise. The latest descendant from a long line of keybugs I’ve been breeding to help me maintain my connections in facilities all over Copper-9. I’ve got dozens of his brothers and sisters scurrying around. Everywhere I need to have a stable link, or where I can’t go myself, I send one of these instead. A little keybug for the backdoor, so to speak.”

“So … if Crit is yours …how did he end up in my room?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Uzi asked. “We’ve sent him to you, about a year ago. He was meant to keep an eye on you.” She brought the but to her eye level, giving him a stern look. “He was also supposed NOT to let himself be seen and definitely not become a hacking tool for novice-to-advanced hackers.”

“Really? What for?”

“Like I said, we left you with Hazel and Naomi because we wanted you to have a normal life, away from all the lying and moving away. Especially in case you’d didn’t turn out having our affliction.” Uzi explained, lowering the keybug onto the desk, where it scurried towards Ashley, who immediately relocated to the other end of the room. “But, if you did turn out to have … abilities, he was supposed to sent us a message, after which we’d … I don’t know, I figure we’d have something prepared by then.”

“So, you were spying on me?”

“Not exactly.” Uzi explained. “It’s not like we had a direct link to his eyes, or anything like that. He just needed to observe and report back to us when you developed powers.”

“So … why didn’t he?” Anne asked. “I mean, he was there when everything happened.”

“Because he needed something with a bit more ‘oomph’ than your laptop.” Uzi stated. “Say, for example … the computers of Rivetdale Municipal Centre. And since you were heading that way anyway, and was going to use him as a Connection Booster, he went along with your plan.”

“Uh-oh …” Anne had a feeling she knew what had gone wrong. “I did something to screw him up, didn’t I?”

“Hmmm, more like we both are in the were to blame.” Uzi grimaced, throwing the keybug an apologetic smirk. “I was running my tracing program, while you were trying to counter-hack my hacking. When you disconnected suddenly – extremely dangerous, by the way – the program got installed on Mr. Crit instead.”

“So, instead of tracking me or my computer, you were tracking … him.” “And I never scanned him for malware, because … I didn’t know keybug could get malware.” Anne watched as Crit climbed on the back of her hand, lifting him up to her eye level. “I hope I didn’t hurt you, Crit.”

“He’s fine. Keybugs are extremely resistant.” Uzi let out a sigh. “But he can only hold so much data, so when I tried to upload my tracker program, it automatically deleted the data files he needed to send a communication to us. So, without that, he did the next best thing and snuck away in Ashley’s backpack when you decided to run away, and let the tracking program do its work.”

“Well, I guess that solves that mystery.” Anne let out a deep sigh, slumping in her chair.

Uzi tilted her head, concern in her visor. “What’s wrong, Anne?”

“I just … I feel stupid, I guess.” Anne confessed. “This whole trip I made, all those risks I’ve put myself and Ash in, … worrying my parents back home. I just …” She took a deep breath, and turned to Uzi with a sheepish look. “In hindsight, maybe I’ve could’ve gone through all this in a bit more … sensible matter. I mean, I believed that there had to be this big conspiracy, with you my birth parents at the center of it all.”

“Technically, you’re not too far off.” Uzi said with a sympathetic smile. She scooted closer to Anne, reaching out her hand – she hesitantly faltered a moment – and placed her hand on her cheek, giving her a loving smile. “Look, I get it. More than anyone else, trust me on that. But tell me this: would you’ve let it go? Could you?”

Anne shrugged. “I dunno …” She sighed. “I feel like a jerk, knowing I’ve put Hazel and Naomi through all this, when it wasn’t actually necessary.”

“Anne, you are a Doorman, which means …. Well, we don’t really do well with obsessions and letting things go.” Uzi rubbed the back of her head. “What I think I’m trying to say is: don’t get too wound up about it. The point is: things worked out. You’ve found us and learned the truth. Me and V got to see our beautiful, smart and resourceful girl.”

Anne couldn’t help but blush a little. This felt so much like when Hazel or Naomi – often teaming up – would gush about her to their friends. Still, she couldn’t deny the warm feeling inside her core. Uzi was right. Things had worked out, even better than she could’ve hoped for. She hadn’t accounted for the whole complicated family history, but …

“Thanks M- …Uzi.” She took a deep breath, catching herself from saying something that was maybe a bit too early to say. It was brief, but she saw that Uzi had noticed the little slip-up. The older woman’s smile faltered for a brief moment, but otherwise didn’t react to it. “Hey, I’ve got a question.”

“Ask away.”

“What … what do I tell Hazel and Naomi? They are going to have questions. I mean, I ran away, leaving a cryptic reason behind. I can’t just go home and … pretend nothing happened.”

Uzi smiled. “Let me and V worry about that.” She said, booping Anne on the proverbial nose. “As you can imagine, we have a bit of experience in that matter. We’ll come up with something believable.”

“Can’t I just tell them the tr-?”

“No!”

Anne flinched.

Uzi coughed in her hand. “Sorry, didn’t mean to shout like that. … Anne, didn’t you hear what we told? We need to keep our abilities a secret, even from the ones we care about.”

“But … I know about it.” Ashley piped up, taking a few steps forward. “And I promise that I will keep this secret. I’m not going to let anyone mess with Anne.”

“Ashley …” Anne felt herself blush a little, but she quickly wiped those blush lines from her visor. “I mean, what are you gonna do? Wipe her memory?”

“Well …” Uzi mused for a moment, prompting a shocked look from the two teens, before she let out a chuckle. “Oh, don’t give me those looks, I’m not going to wipe anyone’s memories. There’s too much that can go wrong with that. Listen, you say that you trust Ashley, so that’s enough for us. But … no more after her, okay. The more people know, the bigger the chance someone might slip up.”

“But you trusted Hazel and Naomi to care of me, didn’t you? I’m sure you can trust them with this.” Anne pushed, trying her best to project her best puppy eyes on her visor.

“Anne, it’s not an issue of trust.” Uzi sighed, pinching the non-existent bridge of her equally missing nose. “It’s about safety. Our safety, your safety, their safety. Believe me when I say that there are people out there who’d go through anything and anyone to get what they’d want from us. You are not ready for that.”

There was something Uzi and V hadn’t told her, Anne figured. Something in their past. If her birth parents were anything like her adopted parents, she wouldn’t get any answers by pushing too hard. Instead, she relented, letting out a defeated sigh. “Okay …”

Uzi gazed at her daughter’s dejected face, and her expression faltered for a moment but she quickly steeled herself … for a few seconds, before she let out a sigh. “I’ll talk with V about it.”

“Really?” Anne asked surprised, her gaze snapping upwards. “What about –?”

“Listen, it has been me and V alone for the longest time. You and Ashley are the first Drones since the death of my parents and our friends at Outpost 3 that are in the know. It’s … not easy for us to open up about this.” Uzi stated, rubbing her arm nervously. “Even before the whole immortality thing, we both had our trust issues. That only got worse afterwards. The truth is … we are scared. Scared what could happen to us, but more pressingly: what could happen to you. We never had something so important as you in our lives before, and … well …”

“I get it.” Anne said, smiling softly. “I’m sorry for pushing.”

“It’s quite -.” Uzi paused when she heard yelling coming from another room. “And that would be V losing her patience with a pushy customer. Listen, I’m gonna deal with her. How about you girls just hang out until dinner? Just … stay around the Lighthouse, okay?”

“Okay.” Anne agreed.

Ashley gave a thumb-up. “No probs, ma’am.”

As Uzi left the room, leaving the two teens behind. Anne let out a heavy sigh.

“You okay, Anne?”

“Hmmm?” Anne looked up, seeing the worry in Ashley’s eyes. “Yes, yes, I’m … fine-ish. It’s just …”

“A lot?”

“A lot of a lot.”

“Wanna climb the lighthouse? Get some views?”

Anne smiled softly. “I’d like that.”

One set of stairs later, the pair found themselves atop the lighthouse balcony, overlooking the area.

“You know, I’ll give it to those two.” Ashley stated, pushing herself up on the railing. “They’ve chosen a prime location to get away from it all.”

“’It all’ being me, I guess?” Anne joked, putting on her best sad voice.

Ashley flinched, letting herself drop down again. “Anne, I didn’t-.” She noticed the half-grin her friend was trying very hard to conceal. She scoffed, giving Anne a playful push. “Oh, you are the worst, you know that?”

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist.” Anne admitted with a giggle. She took a deep breath, crossing her arms on the railing, enjoying the wind in her hair and the smell of the lake tingling her olfactory sensors – aka, her sense of smell, to put in in layman’s terms. The setting sun reflected in her visor, bathing it in a burning orange hue. “It’s been a long day.”

“I’d say …”

“And what I learned today.” Anne continued, more to herself than to Ashley. “My birth parents’ past, their abilities, their … sadness.”

“Yeah …”

“Do you think … that’s gonna happen to me, too?” Anne asked, finally letting that one question that was scaring her be spoken aloud. “Will I just … go on? Go from one identity to another?”

“Hey, you’ve heard them.” Ashley said, trying to cheer up her best friend. “Your abilities don’t work the exact same way as theirs, they said. There’s a good chance you don’t even have … you know.”

“Maybe …” Anne sighed and finally tore her gaze away from the setting sun, giving Ashley a pleading, sulky look. “But what if-?”

“Hey, worries for another time, okay?” Ashley interjected, grabbing Anne’s hands to give them a reassuring squeeze. She gave Anne a bright smile, prompting the latter to smile back. “I promise you, it will all be okay. You’ll see, we’ll figure things out. We figured the whole parents-mystery out too, right? Nothing can stop us when we’re together.”

Anne chuckled. “I guess that’s right. Thanks, Ash.”

A mischievous glint sparkled in Ashley’s visor. “Aaaand, if I get older while you stay young, I’ll just pretend I’m your mother.” She leaned in close, a near psychotic grin on her face. “Would you like that? Would you like to call me ‘mommy’?”

Anne burst out into laughter, pushing Ashley away from her. “Jeez, Ash, way to make it creepy.”

“C’mon, say it.”

“No!”

“Call me ‘mommy’, and I’ll spank you!” Ashley said darkly, raising her hands and wiggling her fingers in a tickling motion.

“Don’t you mean ‘or’?” Anne asked, already taking a few steps back to put some distance between her and her clearly deranged (affectionally, of course) friend.

“Nope! C’MERE!” Ashley lunged at Anne, trying to grab her.

“Ah!” Anne managed to duck underneath the redhead’s grabby arms and ran off. “Gotta catch me first, Ash!”

“You’re on, 2Tone!”

They ran after one another, laughing and playing like kids. It felt good to just … act silly, not a care in the world. After the last few days, Anne really needed that. Unlucky for Anne, the limited space of the lighthouse balcony didn’t leave much room for evasion and it didn’t take long for Ash to grab her friend by her sides and tickle her relentlessly.

“Okay, oka-ahahaha-ay! I yield, I yield.” Anne shouted between giggles, managing to tear Ashley’s ticking digits away from her. “You know, once I get my super-speed under control, you won’t be so lucky anymore.”

“Hmmm, we’ll see about that.” Ashley mused, prompting the two girls to burst out in giggles as they rested against the balcony.

“Hey, Ash?”

“Yeah?”

“I know I’ve said this about a dozen times by now, but … thanks for being here with me. I couldn’t have done this without your support.”

“Psssh…” Ahley waved the compliment away, blushing slightly.

“No, no ‘psshh’, Ash. I mean it.” Anne said sincerely. “Without you by my side … I don’t even want to think about that. I’m the luckiest girl in the world to have you with me.”

“Jeez, Anne, don’t get too sappy one, will you.” Ashley stammered, trying her best to keep her bravado up, even if her blush lines were betraying her. “But … the feeling’s mutual. I don’t say it too often – maybe I should – but …you mean so much to me. I …”

Anne noticed how Ashley seemed to be struggling to find the right words, and the sigh made something in her stomach flutter, for some weird reason. “Y-yes, Ashley?”

Ashley paused for a few moments, before she let out a soft chuckle and winked at Anne. “Jeez, all those emotions of today made me sappy as well. What I’m trying to say is: you and me, together? Nothing can stop us.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Anne giggled, but something deep inside her felt … disappointed? Maybe her emotional regulation matrix is acting up again. She’d better run a diagnostic on herself later that day. Better safe than sorry, with all those weird emotional flare-ups she’s been having lately. And the fact that Ashley was always there when they happened, was pure coincidence. Yes, of course it was.

A hand waved in front of her vision. “Anne, you still with me, girl?”

Anne flinched and chuckled nervously. “Y-yeah, just peachy.” She took a deep breath. “Hey, do you mind to leave me alone for moment? I … I’d like to call my parents.”

“You sure?” Ashley asked with a raised eyebrow. “What about what Uzi and V-?”

“Relax, I’m not going to tell them anything.” Anne assured, even tough deep inside, she’d really wanted to tell her parents everything. “I’m just gonna make sure they know I’m alright and stuff. No worries. You want me to give them a message for your dad?”

“Nah, I’ll just text him.” Ashley said as she made her way towards the stairs. “Tell H&N I said ‘hi’, though.”

“Okay!” Anne waited until she couldn’t hear Ashley’s footsteps anymore, before letting out a deep sigh as she turned back towards the setting sun. She fished out her phone – briefly allowing herself to be amazed that she had full bars. Great reception here. – and went through her contact until she reached the one labeled ‘Home’.

Her finger hovered over the ‘call’ button for a few moments, contemplating what she was going to say to them. She had promised Uzi and V that she wouldn’t tell them about the secret situation, but …. No, no ‘but’. She had promised, and Anne Brinkman wasn’t someone who was about breaking promises. She took a deep breath and slowly released it as she pushed the button.

Her core pounded with excitement as she waited.

“Hello, this is Hazel.”

“Mom!” Anne almost shouted. “It’s-.”

“And Naomi!”

“And Anne!”

Anne deflated. Voice mail.

“We’re not home right now!”

“Leave a message after the beep!”

“…”

“Mom, I think we still got a few seco-“

BEEP

“H-hey mom, it’s me. I’m just calling to say …” Anne began, taking a brief moment to gather her thoughts. She took a deep breath. “I’m just calling to say that I am alright. So is Ashley. She says ‘hi’, by the way. We … we’re, uh … we’re coming home soon, okay? I’m … I’m sorry for what I’ve put you through. This whole thing ….”

She sighed, forcing herself to smile … despite it being a phone call and no-one could see her smile. “Like I said, we’re alright and we’re coming home soon. I can’t wait to see you guys. I love you. …bye!”

She ended the call with a dejected sigh. She really wanted to hear her parents’ voices right now.

“Anne?!”

The Drone in question flinched and looked down, seeing Uzi standing there. “Yeah?”

“Can you come down? V and I are going to get started on dinner, and as our guests, you get to pick what you want.”

Anne couldn’t help but to smile a little. “Coming!”

* * * *

That night, a certain Drone had trouble getting some sleep.

“C’mon, just fall asleep, dangit.” Anne muttered to herself, tossing from one side to the other. With a sigh, she rolled on her back to stare at the ceiling, letting out a groan. Another groan in the room made her gasp, quickly looking over to the origin of the sound. To her relief, Ashley was still sound asleep, mumbling in her sleep.

Assured that she hadn’t woken her friend from her slumber, she checked her internal clock. It was close after midnight, but she wasn’t feeling sleepy at all. Her thoughts kept running through her head, keeping her from finding the rest she desired.

She let out a sigh and threw off her blanket, swinging her feet over the edge of the bed. Rubbing her face, she muttered a few curse words directed to the robotic deity of slumber and stood up. She walked straight towards Ashley’s bed, grinning at the sight of it.

Ashley had kicked off her blankets, with one of her legs dangling over the side of the bed. She was hugging herself, like she was trying to warm herself up. With a silent giggle, Anne picked up the blanket and laid it out over her friend’s sleeping frame. No idea what possessed her to do the next thing, but she leaned in closer and gently kissed Ashley’s cheek, smiling as the latter giggled in her sleep.

Tiptoeing out of the room, Anne made her way to the stairs, planning to go to the kitchen. Maybe a glass of warm oil could help her. As she made her way down, she could hear voices coming from the living room. A conversation that abruptly ended when the last step creaked.

A pause.

“Anne?” V’s voice called out.

“Yeah, it’s me.” Anne answered as she walked through the doorway leading to the living room. She smiled a little at the scene before her, because she had seen the same thing so often at home. V was sitting on the couch, with Uzi pretty much lounging on top of her, using the couch’s armrest as a pillow. They quickly took on more normal sitting positions as Anne walked in. Heh, just like with her parents.

“Hey, kiddo.” V greeted softly, gesturing her to come closer. “Can’t sleep?”

“Not really.” Anne answered with a shrug as she took cautious steps forward.

“Something wrong?” Uzi asked, and Anne couldn’t help but feel a warmth wash over her core as she heard the concern in her voice. That same concern her parents back home would use whenever they saw Anne was feeling troubled.

“I guess …” Anne began, rubbing her arm sheepishly. “I guess I’m feeling a little homesick.”

The looks on the two older women’s faces changed from concerned to endeared – once again, almost the exact reaction Hazel and Naomi would have.

“Anything we can to make things more comfortable for you?” Uzi asked with a gentle smile.

“Well, maybe you… “Anne flinched and caught the rest of the sentence before it left her throat, realizing she couldn’t just ask this of them. “No, forget I said anything.”

“C’mon, just tell us.” V urged softly, grinning.

“Well …” Anne took a deep breath as a blush started to form on her visor. “When I can’t sleep, my moms let me cuddle up with them until I fall asleep. They’ll brush my hair, tell me stories and stuff. I figured, you are …well, my parents too, so I thought maybe …”

There was a silence that formed in the room as her voice trailed off.

Anne chuckled nervously. “You know what? You’re right. It’s a dumb idea, I know. I’ll just-”

“Come here, Anne.”

Anne blinked. “Huh?”

Uzi scooted a bit away from V, making some room between them. She patted the space between them, giving Anne a soft smile. “Come here, and we’ll give it a shot.” She gave Anne an understanding smile. “If it’s starting to feel too weird, you can just hop off.”

“You sure?” Anne asked as she took a few cautious steps toward the couch. Her core was buzzing, and something deep inside her was just … longing to just jump right on the couch.

“Like you said …” V began, and Anne couldn’t help but hear the anticipation in her voice. “We are your parents too.”

After a few hesitating moments, Anne walked over to the couch and took a seat, nervously tapping her knees as she tried to force herself to get comfortable.

“Take your time, Anne.” Uzi chuckled as she relaxed herself into the couch.

“We know this might be … strange.” V assured. “No biggie if you’re not feeling up to it.”

It was weird, but not like Anne thought it would be. There was a … familiar warmth that was starting to spread around her body, despite the nervousness she was feeling. She thought that a part of her was going to feel like she was betraying her parents back home, but …

“How about a story to calm the nerves?” Uzi asked, having noticed Anne’s struggle with her inner thoughts.

“Like what?” Anne asked.

“What do you like to hear?” V asked back.

There was something, Anne realized. Something she had noticed when Uzi and V were telling their backstory. “Who was N?” She asked cautiously. “I mean …. Who was he to you. I know he was your friend, but … I know there was something more going on.”

V chuckled. “Smart kid.”

“My side of the coding, obviously.” Uzi teased, winking at her wife. She turned to Anne. “What gave it away?”

“My name.” Anne couldn’t help but grin a little. “I mean, ‘Anne’, ‘N’ … you’ve named after him, right?”

“It felt … appropriate.” Uzi stated, with V nodding in agreement.

“So, who was N, really?” Anne asked, scooting closer to Uzi to lean against her arm. She hadn’t realized she was doing it. It was just the same thing she did when she was back home, listening to Hazel or Naomi telling one of their stories.

Uzi, after a moment’s hesitation, slowly wrapped an arm around Anne’s shoulder, waiting a moment to see if the young Drone would object to this sudden display of affection. When Anne didn’t say anything – she adjusted her position to get more comfortable, even – she nodded to V. The latter leaned over and opened a drawer of the coffee table, taking out a book.

“N was …special, to both of us.” V began as she started to flip through the book. “Like I told you, I knew N from when I was still a regular Worker Drone, back on Earth. He was … a big goofball.”

“A silly Golden Retriever.” Uzi added with a chuckle.

“What’s a Golden Retriever?”

“A type of dog.”

“What’s a dog?”

“Really?”

“Kidding.”

“Hush, child.” V chuckled. She pointed at a picture, showing male Disassembly Drone with a pilot’s hat, saluting cheerfully. A blush started to appear on her visor. “I don’t have any pictures of us back then, but just imagine us … shorter. Less lethal.”

“I’m having trouble imaging you as lethal now, V.” Anne chuckled as she leaned over to look at the picture. “He looks … cheerful.”

“He was …obnoxiously so.” V chuckled. “Like we said, N – like me - was one of the Drones that was taken in by Tessa after he was discarded. When we met for the first time, he and I … had a spark.”

Anne’s eyes sparkled in turn. “Really?”

“Yeah …” V sighed warmly, but … also sad. “It never went anywhere, of course. I was extremely shy, back then. Terrified of doing anything that would upset our human masters. But … we were as close as we dared to be. Just friends, but …it was enough.”

“Until …” Anne began cautiously. “The Solver?”

“Yeah.” V acknowledged. “After the Massacre, we got turned into … this, and … well, we’ve told you what happened.”

Anne nodded.

“Well, after … all that, we were sent to other planets to ‘disassemble the population’, and eventually ended up here.” V continued. She paused, like she was gathering her thoughts. “My memories of our past were … scrambled, but I knew there had been something. I didn’t remember my deal with the Solver yet, but I knew I had to protect him. From the past, the horrors we’ve done. It was bad enough that we were forced to hunt our own kind, but …I needed to spare him that. Keep him at arm’s length, keep him safe. I pretended I never knew him, even if, deep down, I absolutely hated it.”

“You still loved him.” Anne stated with a smile. “That’s why you did that, right?”

V nodded, a soft smile forming on her lips. “It didn’t matter, though. I wasn’t right for him. Not like how I was in those days.” She turned to Uzi, giving her a soft smile. “That would’ve been this one.”

“This would be the part where you blew his head off with a homemade railgun?” Anne asked, turning to Uzi, who chuckled in response.

“Yeah … N and I had a real unique start to our relationship.” Uzi began, smiling as she remembered that extremely peculiar event. “But … unique or not, meeting him was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“How come?”

Uzi’s smile faltered a moment. “I … wasn’t happy in those days.” She began. “I didn’t know my mother. My dad was obsessed with doors – don’t ask – and hardly had any time for me. No-one at school wanted to have anything to do with me. I was great in class, but did the teachers notice? Nope, nothing. I … was alone. And I thought that building a railgun to kill all the Disassembly Drones in my path would fix that.”

“Seems reasonable.”

“Turns out … I only needed N.” Uzi smiled fondly at the memories that started to play in her head. “N, despite how much I tried to fight it, became my first real friend. And even more so – something I was heavily in denial of – I was falling in love with him. He too, but he had the lousiest timing of telling it, though.”

“Aww…” Anne leaned her head on Uzi’s shoulder, smiling as she noticed how V was scooting closer. She felt fingers play with her hair … just like her momma Naomi back home would do. “Did … did you ever tell him?”

Uzi expression saddened, and she let out a heavy sigh. “No, I never got the chance. He died of his injuries before I could tell him, but …” She smiled softly, flipping through the photo album. There were a few pictures of Uzi and N, probably taken from V’s memory storage. N had his arm around Uzi, who stood there with her arms crossed and appearing to look very annoyed, but failing to keep her blush hidden. “I like to think he knew. Somewhere, he knew, even if my angsty teenage denial spoke instead of my heart.”

“Would … would he have liked me, you think?”

V snorted. “Kiddo, he would have adored you.”

Anne smiled, suppressing a yawn as she flipped through the book. She ended up on a picture of two people. A man with a moustache, and a woman with purple hair in a wheelchair. The woman looked … familiar. “Who are they?”

“Those are my parents. Your grandparents.” Uzi answered. “Khan Doorman, and Nori Doorman. This was taken after my mom’s core got reinstalled into a Drone body.”

V snorted. “Took months before she stopped crawling on all fours out of habit, though. Oh, Uzi, do you remember when-?”

Anne felt herself relax as she got comfortable, pulling up her feet to snuggle up against Uzi’s arm. A smile spread on her lips. She was … happy. She felt safe.

…

She was tired.

…

Maybe she’d close her eyes for just a second.

“Anne?”

“Hmmm, g’way…” Anne mumbled, pulling the blanket over her head.

There was a moment of silence.

Next thing, something soft landed on her head, but with enough impact to knock the sleepiness out of Anne’s system. She bolted up with a surprised yelp, tearing the object – Ashley’s pillow – from her face. Her assailant in question – her best friend Ashley – stood over her with a big smile and fists on her hips.

“You up?”

“I am now!” Anne grumbled, rubbing her visor. She glanced up with malicious intent. “I’m getting you back for that.”

“I’m sure you will.” Ashley laughed. “C’mon, breakfast is ready.”

“Okay, I’ll be down soon.” Anne said as she swung her legs over the edge of the bed. “Now, get lost.”

Ashley saluted and made her way out of the room, calling out to Uzi and V that ‘Miss Sleepyhead had finally awoken from her slumber’.

Anne stretched, wondering how she ended up in bed. Last thing she remembered, she was listening to her par- … Uzi and V’s stories. They must’ve tucked her in when she had fallen asleep.

“Morning …” Anne mumbled as she stumbled into the kitchen, where Ashley was sitting at the table while Uzi and V were fixing breakfast.

“Just in time.” V announced as she placed a tray of food before Anne, who raised an eyebrow in surprise and confusion.

“Eh …, I appreciate you feeling the need to feed me, but … isn’t this a bit much? There’s enough to feed ten Annes, V.” Anne chuckled.

“You better eat as much as you can, to fuel up your energy cells and your backup cells.” V stated as she sat down. “Wouldn’t want you to faint half-way through training, would we?”

Anne looked up, spoon of ‘lucky screws’ serial halfway to her mouth. “Training?”

“Well, you’ve asked if me and Zi wanted to teach you how to use your abilities, right?” V grinned.

Anne expression grew from confusion to surprise. “For real?”

“Me and V talked it over, and …” Uzi began, sitting down with a mug of caffeinated oil. “You were right, you need to learn how to use these. But we need to cram a lot of knowledge inside that noggin of yours, and we only have a few days.”

“What happens after a few days?” Anne asked.

“Then you’ll go home, to Rivetdale.” Uzi announced, but her voice sounded a bit … reluctant. “To Hazel and Naomi. To your actual life.”

“So soon, but –”

“No buts, missy.” V interrupted sternly. She sighed. “We’d love to have you over for longer, but … we can’t keep you away from your parents back home. We’ll teach you what we can, and what we’ll do afterwards …. I guess we’ll think of something.”

“Hey, ish bett’r th’n not’ing, Anne.” Ashley spoke; mouth full of silicone porridge.

“Don’t speak with your mouth full, Ashley Yates.” Uzi sighed. “But, she’s right. And so is V. We’ll think of something.”

“So … did you happen to talk about the ‘other thing’ too?” Anne asked cautiously.

Uzi and V gave each other a look, with the latter letting out a sigh. “We’ll see how training goes, okay? Now, eat up, we’ll start after breakfast.”

Chapter Text

“So, your parents had gone to bed early yesterday?”

“Yep.”

“And Noami had forgotten to charge the house phone, so it didn’t ring for them?”

“Yup.”

“Which is why they didn’t pick up when you called?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And when they got your message and tried to call you back this morning, you didn’t hear it because you set your phone to both ‘silent’ and ‘do not disturb’ and basically slept through your parents’ attempt to contact you?”

“Bingo.”

“So … summarized: you and your parents – mainly Naomi – are both just a bunch of dorks?”

“…”

“Answer the question, Anne.”

“Bite me, Ash!”

Both girls bursted out in laughter, so engrossed in their conversation that they hadn’t noticed they were lagging behind until V called out to them to catch up.

“Well, I guess you should be glad that it was all a perfectly explainable situation.” Ash remarked, bumping shoulders against Anne, who playfully shoved her back. “We wouldn’t want people to think that something bad had happened to them.”

“Hey, I make a comment about being worried once.” Anne countered, smirking defiantly at her best friend. “Right before I noticed they left me a voicemail.”

“Are you girls done chattering over there?! We should have been there already, if you didn’t have to rest and chat every ten minutes!” V called, getting mildly annoyed at having to wait for the two adolescents. She and Uzi were standing at the top of a steep hill, waiting for Anne and Ashley to reach them.

“What do you expect, from a bunch of city girls?” Uzi asked rhetorically, barely holding back a snicker. “Never hiked a mile in their life, I’d say.”

“Hey, that’s not true.” Ashley shouted back as she picked up the pace. “Even if it is true.”

“That … doesn’t make sense.” Anne huffed as she started to climb the hill.

“I know, shut up.” Ashley puffed. She threw Uzi and V – who barely were containing their amusement at the two girls – a scowl … which didn’t last long as she crumbled when Uzi threw her a warning look back.

Anne took the bottle of water out her backpack – a small one, provided by Uzi and V – and took a sip. Right after Breakfast had ended, Uzi and V had taken them out for a hike – which started almost an hour ago – and they absolutely refused to tell where and what they were about to do. She knew they were going to train her abilities, but other than that …

Anne had to admit; she was enjoying the hike. The terrain owned by her birth parents stretched out much farther than she had anticipated, and it was absolutely gorgeous. She didn’t know the name of half of the plant life she was seeing, but it was pretty to look at. She knew that when the Collapse happened, it had wiped out all of the local fauna – humans included - and most of the flora. It had taken decades for nature to return to the new Drone-occupied planet, and it had brought with it a whole series of unknown new species of plants.

No animals though, but … yeah, toxic atmosphere and all. Perfect for Drones and plant life that had adapted to the new environment … not for frail organic life.

“I don’t wanna sound like an impatient backseat kid, but … are we there yet?” Ashley asked with a huff, accepting the bottle that Anne offered her, giving her a grateful grin.

“For the last time: ‘almost’.” V huffed.

“In their defense, V: you’ve said that a few times by now.” Uzi remarked. She threw V a mischievous smirk. “And if you hadn’t taken the wrong path earlier …”

“One more word, and I’ll snap your pretty little neck.” V warned, grabbing Uzi – gently, almost lovingly – by the back of said neck.

“Ooh, you really think it’s pretty?” Uzi asked in an all-too innocent tone of voice, completely unbothered by V’s playful display of self-perceived dominance. She fluttered her digital eye lashes at her wife, who briefly seemed to succumb to them. “What else do you think is pretty about me, hmm?”

A flirtatious glint shimmered in V’s visor as she let go of Uzi’s neck and slowly letting it slide down her back, lower and lower. “Definitely this perfectly sculpted piece of –-”

“Aargh, my eyes!” Ashley cried out suddenly and exasperatedly dramatic, as she threw her hands on her visor.

Anne, who had covered her eyes as well, couldn’t help but to giggle. “You two are just as bad as my parents back home. Mom and Momma are constantly flirting with each other as well, no regards for an audience or no.”

“Just wait until you got a sweetheart of your own, girls. You’re going to be flirting up a storm as well.” Uzi countered, playfully slapping V’s hand away, before pinching V’s arms. “And you, behave. Just because I like it, doesn’t mean they don’t have a point.”

V couldn’t help but smirk. “Me? How about you?”

“I am behaving.”

“You better …” The formed Disassembly Drone threw an arm around her beloved’s waist and pulled her close as her forehead touched Uzi’s, making the purple haired Drone blush. “Or else, I’m going to be forced to --"

“STOP!” Both Anne and Ashley cried out in icked desperation. Maybe if they stayed with the elder Drones, the latter wouldn’t feel the need to be overly affectionate in public for a while.

With the shenanigans come and gone, they continued in their track, leading them deeper into the terrain. They had exchanged well-laid traversable pathways in a forest area for wilder nature and lots of rocks.

Anne picked up the pace, taking long strides until she was right next to Uzi and V, giving them a questionable look. “So, where are we going, anyway?” She asked, hoisting her pack more securely on her shoulders. “What’s the big secret?”

“I guess we can stop leaving you gals in suspense.” Uzi teased, making V giggle.

“Son of a glitch, finally.” Ashley mumbled, sticking her tongue out at V when the latter threw the former a look. Judging by the chuckles both of them released immediately, it was purely playful. “Anyway, insert repeat of Anne’s question.”

“A long time ago, during our self-imposed exile, me and V visited this area before the lighthouse that would become or home, or even the nearby town, was build.” Uzi started explaining.

“I thought you didn’t leave your mountain home that first century?” Anne asked

“This was still in the early years, and Drones hadn’t started spreading over Copper-9 that far yet. This whole area used to be just forests, rough terrain and beaches. A somewhat mix ‘n mash of different biomes, if you will.” Uzi continued. “Completely uninhabited … or at least, not anymore. There were some JCJENSON research stations here, but not as big as the one we had taken for our home. From whatever data we managed to pull, they were researching the potential medical usage of Copper-9’s local flora. Not as devious as performing eldritch experimentations on innocent Worker Drones, but still capitalistic.”

“Is that where we’re going?” Ashley asked, hopping over from one boulder to the other, nearly slipping as she landed on her latest target.

“Nah, we’ve stripped them bare of anything useful and destroyed what remained.” V, who had deployed her wings and was gliding from one large branch to the other, explained. “But during one of those scavenging runs, we did find … well, you’ll soon see. Uzi, I can see the entrance!”

“Gotcha!” Uzi gestured the two confused girls to follow her, towards what looked to be an alcove, hiding among the trees. Uzi stopped and started to pull away rocks and branches that were covering something up. As she pulled away a ground-colored tarp, she revealed an entrance of some kind, big enough for a Drone to fit in. “Like V said, during one of our trips over here, to see if we could scavenge some more parts for our home, I, uh …, stumbled onto this little entrance.”

V let out a cackle. “Meaning that she had loaded her arms with so much stuff that she wasn’t looking where she was going, tripped, and fell right inside.”

“Bite me!” The Doorman woman growled, letting out a huff when she gestured Anne and Ashley towards the hole. “In you go.”

“Wait … you want us to go in there?” Ashley asked, taking a few steps back. “Uhm, I don’t do well in enclosed spaces. Or dark spaces. Or a combination of the two. Especially a combination of the two.”

“Oh, do you have claustrophobia, Ashley?” Uzi asked, genuinely concerned about her daughter’s friend.

“No, not that, just … uncomfortable. Because of … reasons I’m not going to tell.” The redheaded Drone answered, looking away with an embarrassed blush. She looked up when Anne grabbed her hand – her blush’s glow slightly increasing – and took a deep breath. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be brave.”

“Well, no need to be brave for too long.” V stated as she landed next to the youngest members of their ragtag group. She patted Ashley reassuringly on the back, giving her a warm smile. “The initial hallway is a big of a tight squeeze, but it will widen up soon enough. Me and Uzi have been here dozens – if not hundreds – of times and nothing ever happened. Just take long, calm breaths and you’ll be fine. Okay, Red?”

Ashley took a deep, calm breath and slowly released it as she nodded.

Anne peered down the darkness of the entrance. “How far does this go? And where does this lead?”

 “Don’t really know, actually. Pretty far, but as for where it leads … we’ll keep that secret for now.” Uzi answered as she took a place next to her daughter, crossing her arms as she peered inside as well. She looked over to V and indicated for the latter to go in first. “Why don’t you lead the way, Honey? You’ve got the inbuilt flashlight.”

“Always knew I was the light of your life, Babe.” V flirted back, grinning as she deployed her flashlight and squeezed her way through the opening.

“Stop …” Ashley muttered, facepalming with an exasperated groan. “2Tone, why is every set of parents you have so cringe when it comes to flirting? Promise me you’ll never act like this?”

“Depends on how much a flirt of my potential girlfriend will be.” Anne replied with a chuckle. She threw Ashley a smile. You ready?”

“Uuh ….”

Anne walked over to her friend and grabbed her hand, giving her hardware the command to lock the grip. “Hey, feel this? I’m not going to let go. I’ll be right behind you the entire way, okay?”

Ashley blushed ever so slightly, but nodded as she locked her grip as well, so both their hands were holding each other tightly. Anne carefully led the both of them into the hole – twisting her body a big awkwardly to accommodate for her holding Ash’s hand – feeling around with her feet for stable footing. And in doing so … didn’t look out for what was in front of her face, resulting her walking straight into the descending ceiling.

“Ow!”

“Anne, sweet little dingus … activate your night vision.” Uzi deadpanned.

“Oh … yeah.” The two-toned Drone blushed slightly; a bit embarrassed about forgetting that little feature. With a high-pitched buzz, her vision became clearer – and greener – giving her better sight. “You doing okay there, Ash?”

“Y-yeah, just dandy – whoa!” Ashley let out a yelp when she nearly slipped off a step, but managed to catch herself before she could fall flat on her posterior. “I’m good!”

Behind them, Anne could heard Uzi chuckle. “You’re doing great, Ashley.”

“Did you never considered widening this passage?” Anne asked, taking careful steps as she followed every step that v was taking.

V peered over her shoulder. “We have, but we couldn’t risk … what’s the phrase again, Zi?”

“Compromising the structural integrity of the natural formations and causing a series of disastrous fragmentations in the bedrock.” Uzi sighed. “A fancy way of saying that we were afraid of causing the cave to crash down onto us.”

“Isn’t that why a healing factor is handy?” Ashley asked.

“It’s not always such a good thing, you know.” Uzi stated, a tight tone in her voice.

“What do you mean?” Anne asked.

“Another time …” Uzi replied. “We’re about to reach a more open corridor, and then we still have a bit of a walk ahead of us.”

Anne felt a chill of discomfort pass through her, which had nothing to do with the narrowed enclosure she found herself in. There was something in Uzi’s voice that just … sounded wrong. Something that made something clench deep inside her metallic bones – if she had bones. But, like Uzi said … another time. Right now, Anne felt that her concern towards keeping herself from slipping – and dragging her dear friend along with her – and put aside the issue for later.

Anne had lost track of time on how long they’ve had been underground. Like Uzi had said, they had eventually reached a wider corridor and spent the better part of the past time following it down, turning a corner every so often to a new hallway that led further down. She had to admit, it was quite … cool to be here. She passed the time trying to identify some of the gemstones that were embedded into the rock. She had seen quartz, an emerald or two and a lot of crystal formations – which seemed to be growing larger as they went deeper.

“How much further?” Ashley asked, still holding on to Anne’s hand like her life depended on it.

“Not too far.” V called out, having gone ahead of the group to check for potential dangers. “In fact, … we’re actually there.”

“Uh, that looks like a dead end, V.” Anne stated, as she noticed that the former Disassembly Drone had halted in front of a wall.

“Is it now? Now you see me …” V grinned, and Anne could hear Uzi let out a quiet, yet exasperated sigh behind her, which meant that shenanigans were about to be afoot.

Anne and Ashley both let out a gasp when V seemingly started to phase into the wall.

“And now you don’t.” V’s disembodied voice stated.

“Wait, how did you … is that some sort of advanced matter-phase-scrambler?” Ashley asked.

Uzi chuckled, planting her hands on the two girls’ shoulder and guiding them towards the wall of vanishing Drones. “Nah, just a trick on the eyes.”

“What do you – oh, I see.” Anne giggled as she saw that it was indeed just a trick. It was another hallway, but the end of it blended perfectly with the wall, making it look like there was no tunnel at all.

“Are you going to gawp there all they, or are you coming?” V called out from the other side of the hall.

Uzi rolled her eyes and ushered Anne and Ashley to go through. It wasn’t a long walk; they could see the light at the end of the tunnel. They stepped over the threshold, covering their visors as the sudden increase in light temporarily blinded them.

As their vision started to clear up, Anne’s jaw started to drop at the sight in front of her. They stood at the entrance of an enormous cave with an underground lake. The walls stretched out so high, she almost couldn’t see the ceiling, if it weren’t for the numerous holes shining light through, almost like stars in the night sky. The cave itself stretched out for … Anne couldn’t really guess how long. The lake itself glistened undisturbed, looking almost like glass. The light that peered through the holes in the ceiling reflected in the water, projecting waves of color on the surrounding walls. It was … beautiful. Anne felt like she had stepped into a whole different world.

“Woah …” was her appropriate comment.

“It looks like something out of a movie.” An impressed Ashley breathed out in awe … before shaking her head and crossing her arms. “I mean … I’ve seen better in movies. Not that impressive – ouch! Anne, don’t smack me.”

“Then don’t try to be a hard-ass, then.” Anne grinned. “You have to admit, this is pretty cool.”

Ashley chuckled, dropping the tough kid façade. “Okay, okay, I’ll say it. This is pretty rad, and totally worth the tight squeezes.”

“I thought you’d enjoy this.” Uzi grinned, wrapping an arm around V’s waist.

“What is this place?” Anne asked, as she carefully started to make her way down the slope.

“A cave, Anne.” Ashley jokingly answered, giggling as Anne stuck her tongue out at her.

“Har-har, very funny, Ash.” Anne replied dryly, rolling her eyes. Noticing that they were still holding hands, she quickly let go, ignoring that warm feeling in her core. “But, as for my question …”

“Like I said, we found this cave while scavenging one day.” V stated, deploying her wings and taking off into the air with a giggling Uzi in her arms. She landed at a flat plateau where, as Anne figured, were camping supplies; all neatly stored away. “Seems like JCJENSON did an excavation of some kind, but just abandoned it all together. We figured that we could use it as a hideaway, in case we ever needed to vanish for a long period of time. Hence the camping gear.”

“ECHO!” Ashley shouted, grinning as said echo rang around the space, mimicking her voice. “How far does this go?”

“This room itself is a bit less than a mile, but it goes further than that.” Uzi answered, squirming herself out of V’s grasp. “There’s a whole system of tunnels starting from an entrance by the lake over there. All leading to smaller caves – both natural and man-made.”

“Question …” Ashley began, walking over while she looked straight up. “I assume those holes in the ceiling lead to the outside? Why didn’t we just go through there and roped us down or something, instead of trekking through all those tunnels?”

“Besides the fact that those holes are too narrow for our Drone bodies, and attempting to widen those holes would most likely lead to the ceiling caving in?” V questioned, grinning as Ashley’s eyes hollowed out. “Besides, it’s too dangerous anyway. A fall from that height will put you out of commission for months.”

“If not permanently.” Uzi added, as she started to unpack something that looked like a tent. “Come help me set this up, Anne.”

“Why?” Anne asked as she knelt down, taking one of tent poles.

“Do you want to make that trek here-and-back every day?” Uzi asked, grinning as Anne and Ash threw each other a wry scowl. “I didn’t think so. That’s why we’re going to camp here a few days, so you can train and try to get a better hold on your abilities. There’s plenty of space for when you’re doing combat training –-“

Anne’s eyes hollowed. “Combat training?”

“--when you’re doing combat training with V.” Uzi continued like she wasn’t just interrupted. “Plus … what better place to train secret, nigh-eldritch abilities than a deep underground cave? You can’t beat that kind of privacy.”

“I guess …” Anne muttered as she tried to put two halves of a pole together.

“Something wrong, kiddo?” V asked, carrying something that looked like a generator – with ease – to the corner of the plateau.

“I dunno, it’s just … it just seems like I’m not getting enough time to learn about these things. How am I going to master this in just a few days?”

“You’re not.” Uzi answered, as she dumped the entire duffle bag of tent gear on the ground. “We’re gonna teach you the basics – just enough to get a better grasp on your abilities – and from there you’re going to have to teach yourself.”

“How?”

“Like we did, one step at the time. Preferably whenever you’re sure no-one is gonna see you.” Uzi smiled reassuringly at Anne, reaching over to place her hand over the younger Drone’s one. “To be honest, there’s no manual to this. A lot of times, you’re just going to have to … wing it, you know? Figuring things out on your own is part of growing up.”

“You’re making it sound easy.”

“It’s not.” V answered, tinkering with the generator until it came to life with a humming roar. “We’re still figuring things out, and we’ve been around the block more than a few times. But that just means we can give you the most helpful pointers to get a better start.”

“Are we talking about my abilities, or still about growing up in general?” Anne asked with a grin.

“Bit of A, bit of B.” V chuckled. She peered over her shoulder with a grin. “Just humor us and let us bestow some parental wisdom upon your impressionable mind, okay?”

Anne giggled. “Okay.”

“Good girl.” Uzi stated, patting Anne playfully on her head. “Now, let’s get all this set up, and then we can get started on your first lesson.”

“So, what’s the first lesson?” Anne asked excitedly, hopping from one foot to the other. Both she and Uzi had changed their regular clothes for something more suitable for exercising. Shorts, tank tops, sweat band – or all the good that would give – and running shoes. They looked more like they were going out for a jog than practicing super abilities. “Super speed? Super strength? Leaping from wall to wall?”

“Settle down, you’re going to blow a fuse.” Uzi sighed, grabbing the excited Drone by the shoulders. She couldn’t help but to grin at her offspring’s enthusiasm.  “Jeez, you could have given N a run for his money.”

“And that’s saying something.” V chuckled. She and Ashley had settled down in some lawn chairs, both with a can of oil in their hands.

“Before we get started, tell me about the times that you used your abilities.” Uzi began, crossing her arms. “What did you do when they activated?”

Anne raised a digital eyebrow as she tried to remember every moment. “Uuh, first time my healing kicked in was when I …” She blushed slightly; a bit embarrassed by the memory. “…fell out of bed and cracked my visor. Ashley, I can hear you giggling!”

“Sorry!”

“The second time I – Ash, I swear…! – was when I dropped a wrench on my visor.” Anne continued, ignoring the chuckles of both Ashley and V behind them.

Uzi nodded along. “Mm-hmmm, anything else? When did you first do enhanced speed?”

“I was racing Ashley, trying to beat her to the Municipal Center.” Anne peeked over her shoulder, throwing her friend a cheeky grin. “-which I won. Coincidentally, not too long after that I almost jumped over a closed gate in one go. Almost, though …”

“I take it that you took a running start?” Uzi asked.

“Yes, why does that --?”

“Nevermind for now, tell me what’s next.”

“O-kay … I used super-strength the first time … oh, when I needed to pry open the door of the cargo container we snuck on when we … ran away from home.”

“On a side note, I’m still gonna make sure your parents ground you for that.” Uzi stated with a mischievous grin.

“R-right … and I’m pretty sure I used it to carry Ash after V … you know … shot at us.”

“I already apologized for that!” V shouted from her chair. “Don’t give me that look, Red.”

“It stung like hell!”

Uzi rolled her eyes, shaking her head. “Okay … anything else?”

“Not really.” Anne answered. “Uzi, what does this have to do with learning to master my abilities?”

“You’ll see.” Uzi stated with a grin. She guided Anne to the edge of the plateau where they had set up their temporary housing. “Okay, you see that boulder over there?”

“Where?” Anne scanned the cave. “You mean the one way over there? By the other side of the cave? The large one?”

“That’s the one.”

“No, can’t find it.”

V snorted, before bursting out in laughter. “And that would be the Doorman snark showing its face.”

“Anne …please take this seriously.”

“Sorry, I’ll be good.”

Uzi sighed, mentally apologizing to her long-departed father for giving him so much grievance when she was growing up. “First exercise is simple: just run try to reach that boulder as fast as you can. I’ll time you.”

“Sounds … easy enough.” Anne said with just a hint of confusion in her voice. She didn’t know how this PE exercise would help her, but she figured that she just needed to trust Uzi. “So, do I just …?”

“Run as fast as those short Doorman legs can run.” V shouted, laughing both mother and daughter threw a nasty look her way.

“Ignore her. Being short is awesome.” Uzi grinned, giving her child a reassuring wink. A timer appeared on her visor, ready to start timing. “Whenever you ready.”

“Okay, okay …” Anne hopped up and down a few times, shaking her joint loose. Okay, running … nothing too difficult. Just like in school … where PE wasn’t one of her best classes. Last time they had dodgeball, she dented the side of her head – and she didn’t have enhanced healing back then. Why was she stalling? She needed to run. Anne got herself into a starting position, ignoring Ashley’s wolf whistle as she lifted her rump up into the sky. “Ready. Set. GO!”

She jumped down from the platform and started to run as fast as she can. Her eyes fixated on the boulder, she tried to pick up speed as much as she could, but however she tried, she didn’t feel faster than usual.

‘Okay, Anne, don’t try to get the fastest time. Or even show off for Ashley, as tempting as it is.’ Anne thought to herself, huffing and puffing as her stamina was running out – as shown by the little meter in the corner of her HUD. ‘Just … proof to you par- … Uzi and V … that you have some grip on your abilities. Make them … proud of you. You’re doing this for them. You want to make to know you can handle yourself.’

It was then that she felt that familiar feeling in her legs, just like when she was racing Ashley that time. She felt herself picking up speed, faster and faster. She ran faster than she’d ever done before. The boulder was getting closer with every second. Anne couldn’t help but let out a laugh, even the fatigue that had been building was started to ebb away and was replaced with new energy.

This rush she was feeling was unlike anything she had felt before. It was … intoxicating. It filled her entire being, making her feel like she could do anything she’d set her mind to. She was invincible! As she nearly reached her destination, she allowed herself to slow down – since she didn’t feel like running head-first into the rocky obstacle.

With a little jump, she dug her feet into the sand-like surface of the cave, making long drag marks as she skidded to a halt. Catching herself before she could topple over, she slammed her hand against the boulder, grinning from ear-to-ear, so to speak.

She spun around, turning to the others that were still at the starting point. “I made it! Uzi, I …” She noticed that Uzi wasn’t standing where she had previously stood. “…made it? Where is --?”

“Not a bad time, Anne.”

Anne yelped when she heard Uzi’s voice above her, and she spun around. To her absolute surprise, Uzi was sitting on top of the boulder, legs crossed and having a grin not unlike Anne’s on her face. “How did you …?”

“Simple. I ran.” Uzi explained. “A bit faster than you, obviously.”

Anne blinked, dumbfounded; flabbergasted; and various other words that could describe her confusion. When had Uzi passed her? She noticed that there were two sets of timers on Uzi’s visor. One for herself, but Uzi had seemingly timed herself as well. Much to Anne’s shock, Uzi’s time was almost a quarter of what she herself had run. “How were you so much faster than me?”

“All in due time, Anne.” Uzi stated, pretty much smugly, as she hopped down from her rocky throne. She patted the rock. “Punch it.”

“What?”

“Punch it. The rock. With your fist.”

“I know how a punch works!” Anne stated in a flustered tone, as she balled up her fist and pulled back her arm. She was still so confused about what just happened that she didn’t really think through on how hard she actually should punch. She just … punched the boulder as hard as she could.

And when her fist connected with solid rock … something cracked … but not the boulder. Anne froze, her eyes hollowing as her entire body seemed to vibrate on impact. After a few moments, her entire body frozen in a punching pose … she let out a pained squeak and fell on her knees. She gasped as she looked at her hand, which was completely broken. The hand dangled from the wrist by wired, the fingers were mangled and sticking out in every direction but the right ones. Her the rest of her arms wasn’t in any better condition. She could feel the cracks inside her arm, and she was pretty sure that she had dislocated her shoulder. All in all, the pain she felt was so unbelievably bad that she couldn’t even yell out in pain.

“Jeez, Anne, I said ‘punch the boulder’, not ‘shatter your hand’.” Uzi knelt down next to Anne and gently held her broken hand in her hands. “Now, don’t panic. It’s gonna be alright.”

“It hurts!” Anne managed to squeak out. She sniffled, trying – and failing – to keep the digital tears to form in the corner of her eyes. She was angry at herself. Why did she mess up like that, in front of Uzi, her mo- …Uzi? She slammed her good fist on the floor, a choked sob escaping her throat.

“I know, I know. Don’t focus on the pain. Focus on my voice, Anne.”” Uzi soothed, keeping her voice calm and hushed, despite that feeling of panic building up deep inside her. Seeing her child hurt like this .... She smiled reassuringly, nodding as Anne took slow, deep breaths. “That’s it, sweetheart. Just like that. Calm down, take deep breaths, and let the healing take over. It will all be over soon enough.”

Anne winced in discomfort as she felt that familiar burning sensation, starting from her wrist and slowly creeping down her hand. As every time before, the damaged parts started to burn red-hot; a heat that was starting to spread over her entire hand and through her arm, all the way to her shoulder.

Anne whimpered and hissed, clenching her teeth so hard that she swore she could feel her jaw getting unhinged. Robo-God, why did it hurt so much this time? She had blown out her visor a few days ago, and even that hadn’t hurt as much as this. She couldn’t do anything but wait in anguish, as her hand slowly started to pull itself together. Fingers popped painfully back into their place, cracks slowly closed and wires pulled themselves back into her wrist, fixing her mending hand back into place.

There was a loud, metallic screech as her shoulder popped backed into place and her entire arm tingled as she cracked interior smoothed itself out. It took less than half of an agonizing minute, but soon the burning subsided and the pain pretty much vanished – safe for a tingling, sore sensation over her entire hand.

Anne carefully opened and closed her hand, turning it over to inspect it. It looked like new, as if she hadn’t just punched something with a higher density than her own. Still a bit sore, though. She rolled her shoulder, feeling relief as the hurt slowly ebbed away. She let out a long exhale, digital beads of sweat rolling down her visor. She looked up at Uzi, a miserable expression on her face, letting out another sigh of relief. “That … was really unpleasant.”

“The bigger injuries always are. I wish I could say that you get used to it, but …” Uzi stated softly, patting Anne’s hand. She flipped the hand over, caressing the smoothed-out surface with a gentle touch. It was completely healed … physically anyway. She exhaled slowly, and gave her child a concerned look. “You good? We can take a break, if you want.”

“I’m good, I guess.” Anne mumbled as she scrambled back up, flustered and embarrassed about the whole situation. She rubbed her visor, trying to wipe away her tears – which wasn’t physically possible, considering they were a projection on a screen. She noticed the concern on Uzi’s face as she watched her. Anne took a deep breath and pushed away the embarrassment and feelings of humiliation. She needed to show that she was stronger than that. She forced herself to produce a reassuring grin, puffing up her chest in an attempt to embolden herself. “I’m fine, Uzi. I can keep going.”

“Are you-?”

“I’m sure. I’m sorry for making you worry. I promise I’ll be more careful.”

“If you say so.” Uzi sighed, making a mental note that she had to ensure that V wouldn’t overdo it with their child when it was the former’s turn to train the latter. There was a part of her that wanted to coddle Anne, but there was a time and place for everything. Right now, she needed to make sure Anne was understanding the lesson. She crossed her arms, giving Anne a questioning look. “So, any idea what the point of all this was?”

“Besides reminding me why our Worker Drone Ancestors used tools like pickaxes and hammers to shatter rocks?”

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’ and you can drop the sarcasm, missy.” Uzi sighed, tapping her feet while she gathered here own thoughts. “Okay, let’s take a step back, and let the physical portion of our exercise wait for a bit. So, when you were running your hydraulics off to get here, how did it feel? When did you notice your enhanced speed kicking in?”

“I guess … normal, at first. Like, I was running at my regular speed, but I definitely wasn’t building up speed.” Anne began, crossing her arms, pondering on how to phrase the sensation. “It took a while, but I eventually felt it … kicking in, to put it like that. Just like when I was racing Ashley that time.”

“And what were you thinking about when you felt it ‘kick in’, like you said it? Both now and then?” Uzi asked.

“I guess … I wanted to win, or something like that? I needed to get there fast? Once I got that thought – that goal – in mind, I started to feel more energized and my legs got faster.” A light bulb appeared on Anne’ visor, as she suddenly realized the connection. “Hang on, is that what triggered it?”

“Smart girl.” Uzi beamed pridefully. “You said it yourself, you set a ‘goal’ for yourself, which in turn activated your ability.”

“How does that work?” Anne asked, confused. “To trigger my speed, I need feel like I need to win something?”

Uzi shook her head with a sigh. “No, no, now you’re completely thinking wrong about it. Pfff, how do I …? Hang on, I’ll try something else. You see that far wall?” she pointed over to the wall at the side of the cave. Not anywhere as far as Anne had to ran to reach her newly appointed arch-nemesis, the boulder, but still a good distance for a short sprint.

“Yeah?”

“Now, pay close attention to me.” Uzi looked over to the wall for a few moments, staring it down like it had offended her … and suddenly took off faster than Anne had could’ve imagined. It took more seconds before Uzi reached the wall. She couldn’t help but grin at her child’s amazed expression. “Impressed, I take it?”

“Yeah, like, how did you do that?” Anne asked as Uzi casually walked back over to the boulder. “You didn’t even need to speed up, like I had to. It was, like, instantaneous speed.”

“That’s the trick I’m trying to teach you, Anne. The key of using our powers.” Uzi explained as she reached her adolescent pupil. “Targeted intention.”

“Huh? Targeted wha-?” A buffer symbol appeared on Anne’s visor. She shook her visor clear and tilted her head in confusion. “I’m not getting it.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed. Guess I’m running ahead of myself a bit too much here”. Uzi sighed as she leaned against the boulder. “Maybe It’s best if I’ll start explaining how the ETRNITY virus works, and work our way from there.”

“Sounds good to me.” Anne took a place next to Uzi, casually kicking the rock with the heel of her shoes – she still was cross at the inanimate thing.

Uzi took a deep breath, diverting her reminiscent gaze towards the ceiling of the cave, the light that seeped through the holes reflected in her visor. “When The Solver infected us with this virus all those years, its goal was – is - to ensure that me and V keep on living. To punish us for the Solver’s defeat. It needs to make sure that we don’t die by any means possible. Injury, wear and tear, degrading software and so on. Its only function is survival: for us, and thus itself. As long as we keep on existing, it does too. That’s it’s one and only directive.”

“So … is that why we can do these things?” Anne asked. “The virus gives us these powers, because they’ll help us survive?”

“Kinda, but not exactly.” Uzi clicked her tongue, trying to come up with the best way to explain it. “Look, remember that burning sensation you feel when you’re healing, or when your super speed kicks in?”

“How can I forget?” Anne deadpanned, clenching her previously injured hand. But Uzi mentioned something that Anne hadn’t really thought about. Thus far, she had only felt the burn when she was healing, but … now that she thinking about it; it had happened on other times too. She had indeed felt her legs burn as the super speed started to build up. She had figured that it was just strain from the physical exercise, but … “What is it, anyway? I just figured that it was the healing factor’s side effect.”

Uzi shrugged, making a ‘so-so’ gesture with her hand. “Eh, it kinda is, but it’s more than just that. Look, I’m not gonna bother explaining the extremely advanced scientific, quantum-mechanic and technological process that is involved.” She blew a raspberry, feeling a bit too much like she was making a presentation in front of the class.

“To say it extremely simplified: in some way, the Virus constantly supercharges our power cells, producing an overwhelming reserve of energy for it to tap into. Whenever you, me or V are injured, it diverts that power to the damaged parts in order to accelerate the self-replicating process and thus heal the injury. Obviously, that creates a lot of heat, hence burning sensation and red-hot glowing wounds every time.”

Anne had to admit that it sounded really logical, now that Uzi was pointing it out. All Drone bodies had an inbuilt repair module that manufactured nanobots called N-cells, who were responsible for repairing internal damages, albeit the minor ones – like a diode out of place, or a cable that was starting to lose it isolation. But external damages would require too much of a strain on a Drone’s energy reserves, because of the number of N-cells it would require to be made. That was why Drone Society still had doctors and medi-technicians. People, like Anne’s adopted parents, who were qualified to make the repairs too severe for the internal systems to handle.

“So, to summarize: Virus supercharges power cells and uses the overabundance of energy to greatly improve our internal repair system.” Anne slowly started to connect the dots, seeing the picture form in front of her. “If the virus diverts energy towards the production of N-cells; logically, it could also divert energy to supercharge other systems if needed? Say, like, the hydraulics in our arms and legs, so we could lift more weight, run faster or jump higher?”

“Right so far.” Uzi agreed with a smirk. “Answer me this: If our bodies are capable of doing these feats, then why isn’t this a regular thing among Drones?”

“Because it is a regular thing among Drones. We do it all the time, but in a way smaller scale because our software regulates the amount of energy used. If not, the over-exertion can lead to all sort of injuries and damaged systems, if you are lucky.” Anne felt a rush as she started to understand. “There is a limit to what our bodies can handle, and our systems are designed to prevent malfunctions.”

“Bu-ut …?” Uzi pretty much sing-sung the question.

“But while it’s true that exerting like this would normally damage a regular Drone …an overcharged repair protocol could counter the negative effects.” Anne’s eyes widened as she reached the logical conclusion. “And that’s why overexerting ourselves doesn’t affect us negatively as much, because our systems get healed as fast as they get damaged, because the N-cells are already there to immediately repair whatever damage happens. And that’s how we can push ourselves harder than anyone else, even beyond the usual inbuilt limitations!”

“Bingo! Top marks.” Uzi stated proudly, giving Anne a wide grin. “You’re catching on quick, Anne. What we are calling our ‘abilities’ is the virus reacting to the situation, and making sure our bodies can handle the strain.”

“So … there’s nothing supernatural about this? It’s all just overclocked hardware?” Anne had to admit that she felt a bit … disappointed about it. “I’m gonna be honest, I was kinda hoping that the secret behind it wasn’t so … logical.”

“Don’t get me wrong, there is still so much unknown about this.” Uzi stated, knocking on her chest. “I’ve been studying this virus for longer than I care to remember, and I’ve still haven’t figured it all out, just enough to make it work for us.”

“Yeah, how do you make it work for you, anyway? I mean, isn’t it weird that the Virus allows you to freely use those abilities?” Anne asked. “You said that that its original purpose is to make sure that you and V … you know, but why would a thing that someone – something – put in you to punish, end up being helpful?”

“And you’d be right to find it weird, Anne, but me and V have been around for a very, very long time, remember?” Uzi began, pushing herself off from the boulder. “In those years, me and V learned how to use this feature for ourselves.”

“How?”

“Simply put: we trick the virus into working for us.”

“Again, how?”

“Remember how I said that ‘targeted intention’ was the key?”

“Yeah?”

“Back when I was first studying the ETRNTY Virus – trying to find a way to erase it from our system without it taking us out as well -, it didn’t take me long to get to the same conclusion as you did, Anne. The Virus could potentially supercharge other systems, other than the repair one.” Uzi began explaining. “It took years – decades – of trial and error, but we eventually figured out how to trick it into triggering at our command.”

“Which is?”

“Like I said: ‘intention’. Or ‘objective’. However, you want to call it. You just have to make the Virus believe it needs to react to the situation.” Uzi explained. “In the simplest of terms: you need to set some sort of specific goal in mind, and the virus will supercharge the appropriate systems to react. But it can’t just be something willy-nilly. There must be some deeper reason behind it. A purpose.”

Anne nodded with Uzi explanation. Even if it sounded a bit … farfetched, she did realize Uzi was right. She had indeed experienced this, now that she thought deeper about it. “So … when I was racing Ashley to get to the Center back at home, I didn’t get faster because I wanted to win, but because my actual goal was to get there so I could hack the mainframe for answers?”

Uzi nodded, albeit with a little scowl. She still wasn’t too happy that her daughter had taken such a big, dramatic and dangerous risk for answers. Then again … pot calling kettle black and such ancient expressions.

Anne crossed her arms, trying to wrap her brain all over this new information. She sighed as she rubbed the back of her head. “It can’t really be that easy, right?”

“Of course not.” Uzi replied, picking out a shard of stone that had wedged itself between the segments of her fingers, playfully flicking it against Anne’s forehead. “Having a goal, a purpose in mind isn’t enough. We set those types of objectives for ourselves on a daily basis.”

“So, what else is needed?”

Uzi’s expression turned serious, holding up a finger to emphasize the seriousness of her following explanation. “This … is where it gets tricky, though. Like I said, setting up a purpose isn’t enough, because it won’t trigger the virus to act. The virus reacts to stimuli, both internal as external, and that’s how it makes our bodies adapt accordingly. But you can trick it into believing it needs to react, or rather: make your system believe that it needs to react to stimuli. It’s like … getting your mind into a state of constant alertness. Once you reach that state of mind, your abilities are yours to play with.”

She chuckled as she saw Anne’s unconvinced reaction. “I know how it sounds, but trust me: once you figure it out, you’ll be able to do things like—” Uzi spun around to the boulder and slammed her fist against the rocky exterior. This time, unlike when Anne did it, the rock didn’t prevail over its attacker. A crater formed where Uzi’s fist had connected, and more cracks slowly kept forming from its center. After a few moments, the rock gave up its fruitless fight and broke off in several large pieces. Uzi shook her hand, wincing a bit. “—this. Ouch, might’ve overdone it a little.”

Anne couldn’t help but feel admiration for her moth- … Uzi. “Woah …I wanna do that.”

“And with a little bit – a whole lot of ‘little bit’ – of training, you will be able to do that as well.” Uzi grinned mischievously. “Without breaking your hand this time.”

“Hang on, when me and Ashley got cornered by those thugs in Faraday City, I tried to use my superstrength, but it wouldn’t work.” Anne exclaimed, feeling a shiver down her flexisteel spine as she remembered that awful moment. “Why didn’t it, then? I mean, they were … beating up Ashley and all I wanted to do was help her, but … I was helpless. Until … you know … the whole Disassembly Drone part of my coding taking over.”

“Well, considering the situation you were in, you were scared, panicking and logically not in the right state of mind to activate your powers.” Uzi explained, giving her child a sympathetic, soft look. “Anne, you’ve had these abilities for, what, a bit longer than a week, or so? You can’t expect to master them in such a short time. It took me and V years, if not decades, to gain complete control over it. And even with our help, it’s going to take you a long time to get where we are.”

“Decades, huh?” Anne deflated. Logically, she knew that Uzi was right. There was no way that she could master this in the few short days she’d still be spending with her two birth parents. It would take time and practice. On the other hand, the less logical part of her wanted to play around with super powers as soon as possible. Anne sighed. “Okay, I guess we better get started? What do you need me to do?”

“We’re gonna start simple – as simple as these things get, anyway – and just focus on triggering your super speed for now, since it’s the most controllable.”

“What about superstrength? I’d like to lift some boulders and see how much of a splash I can make when I throw ‘em in the lake!”

“You really want to start throwing things around in here? In this cave? Possibly injuring your friend Ash?”

“Eh … not really.”

Uzi grabbed Anne by the shoulders and dragged her towards a spot. “Then how about you stand riiight about here, and see if you can insta-trigger your superspeed to run to that wall and back?”

“O-okay …” Anne hopped up and down a few times, grinning widely. She had this in the bag.

It took Anne an hour of running back and forth to realize that she, in fact, did not have this in the bag. Either her superspeed activated halfway her run, or not at all. Hard as she tried, she couldn’t activate it immediately. She tried everything Uzi had told her: set her goal, try to get in the right state of mind, concentrate and … run!

Once again, she just ran at her normal speed. She had lost count of how many times she had run back and forth, back and forth and back and forth again and again and --!

“This is getting NOWHERE!” Anne cried out, collapsing on the ground. Her servos were burning, more out of exhaustion rather than the activation of her powers. She leaned on her arms, taking deep breaths.

“How about we take a break?” Uzi asked. “Gather your thought and, like, start fresh.”

“Whatever … yeah, ‘kay.” Anne didn’t mean to sound so snappy. She always got like this whenever she was frustrated, or tired; or both, like now.

“I know you can’t see it right now, but you’re doing great, Anne.” Uzi soothed, sitting down next to the disgruntled adolescent, who huffed in response.

“Doesn’t feel like it.” Anne muttered, picking up a rock from the ground and chucking it towards the lake.

“Anne, you can’t expect –-“

“I know that it’s gonna take time!” Anne interrupted. She groaned, letting herself flop down on her back to stare at the ceiling. “I just … hoped I’d have some sort of progress.”

“I know how you feel. I’ve been where you are.” Uzi reached out, wanting nothing more than just brush her daughter’s hair … but decided against it. If Anne was anything like herself, she’d just brush her off with a snarky comment.

Uzi took a pause, lying down next to her daughter. After a few moments of silence, she let out a giggle, making Anne curiously look up at her. “I just remembered the time after I just got my wings, and I was still getting used to them. N was trying so hard to teach me – the big goofball, he was so patient with me, even if I pretty much bit his head off whenever I lost my own patience.”

Anne sat up, wrapping her arms around her pulled up knees. “What happened?”

“One night, I had trouble sleeping, so I decided to sneak out of the Outpost and visit N.” Uzi started, smiling at the memory. She let out a soft chuckle. “Man, I was in deep denial about my feelings towards him. All these soft moments between us, I’d just shrug them off. I was happy with being ‘just friends’, and didn’t really feel like jeopardizing what we had.” She side-glanced over to Anne. “You get what I mean?”

A slight blush formed on Anne’s visor, as her thoughts immediately went towards Ashley. She cleared her throat and shook her head. “N-not really.”

“Uh-huh, right.” Uzi didn’t buy it, but maybe any teasing towards her daughter about her obvious growing feelings towards her friend were best kept for another time. “Anyway, as I said, I had snuck out and made my way to the corp- … where he and V were living, to meet up with him.”

“What about V?”

“Oh, we couldn’t stand each other during that time, remember?” Uzi laughed, shaking her head at how ridiculous their animosity was, in hindsight. “V was off, and it was just me and N.”

“What did you do?”

“Well, I’ll spare you the sappy details, but … we were heading towards a bit of a moment, if you get my drift.” Uzi chuckled, blushing softly as the memory resurfaced. She rolled her eyes at her past self’s antics. “But me, being angsty and edgy, quickly tried to steer away from it all, so I instead suggested some flying lessons instead.”

Anne snorted.

“Hush.” Uzi playfully shoved her daughter’s shoulder. “Anyway, me and N had done some flying lessons before, but they weren’t going anywhere fast, and I – as you are right now – was getting extremely frustrated with the lack of progress. It was then that I had the brilliant idea to just … take it up a notch.”

“Oh-oh …”

“Oh-oh, indeed.” Uzi sighed. “I decided that the best thing I could do was to climb up to the top of the Drop Pod – where N and V had made their home – and … jump down, spread my wings and hopefully let some sort of instinct take over. I was sure I’d be flying in no time that way.”

“I take it that it didn’t work?”

“Considering that the only reason I didn’t planted face first into the snow was because N caught me … nah, it didn’t work.”

“So … what did you do afterwards?”

“Then N had a bright idea. Something in the same line as my earlier attempt, but … a bit more advanced.” Uzi laughed. “In short, imagine him flying with me dangling from his tail. Man, I was throwing every curse word in my database at him.”

Anne giggled.

“Yeah, I was so glad that V wasn’t there to throw shade at me.” Uzi chuckled. “As I was dangling there, N advised me to ‘calm down and learn to feel the wind under my wings’. Silly as it sounded, it did make sense and well … it worked …sort of. Once I understood what he was trying to teach me, I did fly on my own for the first time.”

“What does it feel like, flying?” Anne asked, curious.

“It’s … liberating.” Uzi explained, closing her eyes as the rush of that first flight filled her circuits. “It’s like being freed from everything and anything … it’s also just pretty cool to do.”

“I’d imagine.”

“Well, unless you get cocky, like me, and forget you never learned how to break your fall.” Uzi chuckled awkwardly. “Long story short: I managed to plunge me and N into a snow bank so deep that he had to dig me out.”

Anne snorted and bursted out into laughter, joined in by Uzi – who now could laugh at that story herself. Once a humiliating event, it now was a precious memory.

“So, is there a moral to this story?” Anne asked, resting her head on her knees.

“Nothing that I haven’t told you before.” Uzi stated with a smile. “Take your time, learn to ‘feel the wind under your wings’, and you’ll be getting there before you know it.

Anne nodded, letting the words sink in. It was kinda … nice, knowing that even Uzi had struggled at one point in her life. Even her adopted parents had enough stories like that. She took a deep breath and jumped up. “I think I’m ready to try again.”

“Good girl, how about we –-?“ Uzi began as she stood up, but got interrupted when her visor projected an incoming phone call, with V’s picture under it. She pressed a button on the side of her head. “Yeah, V? What? …it’s getting there …you’ve been watching us; how do you think it’s going? … she’s trying her best, V. Obviously, you can’t expect it her to master it in one go.”

Anne had to stifle a giggle. It seemed that she wasn’t the only one who was getting tired of her lack of progress.

“Hang on, hang on, what are you saying? … What do you mean, ‘incentive’?” Uzi paused with a puzzled expression. Suddenly her eyes hollowed in shock. “No, V, we are not – V, don’t you dare! V, don’t you – and she’s ended the call. Oh boy …”

“Uh, what’s happening?” Anne asked, seriously confused.

“V suggested we’d give you … a better incentive.” Uzi sighed, pinching the bridge of her non-existent nose as she gestured towards the far end of the cave, where V and Ashley were still waiting.

“What do you – Oh …”

Even from where Anne was standing, she could clearly see V and Ashley. And she could clearly see how V suddenly had jumped up from her chair and grabbed Ashley by the scruff of her jacket. Even from this distance, she could hear Ashley’s confused screams – which quickly turned to anger. It was … kinda funny, seeing Ash flailing her arms around in a frantic attempt to escape V’s clutches. She eventually gave up, crossing her arms.

“V …” Uzi groaned, as she tried to call back her wife.

“Uh, what is she going to do?”

“Oh, nothing much. Just a little bit of ‘extreme motivation’.” Uzi sighed. “Either you reach V before she had stopped counting down … or she’ll throw Ashley into the lake.”

“What?!” Anne’s gaze snapped towards V and Ashley, faintly hearing V’s loud voice – probably counting down. “Is that safe?”

“Perfectly safe, she’ll just get wet.” Uzi shook her head. She cupped her hands in front of her mouth, forming a makeshift bullhorn. “THERE ARE BETTER WAYS TO MOTIVATE, HONEY! PLEASE PUT THE MILDLY ABBRASIVE YOUNGSTER DOWN!”

Anne knew Ashley, and she knew that Ashley and water don’t mix very well. It wasn’t that the redheaded Drone couldn’t swim, she just hated getting wet. She especially hated being thrown like a ragdoll, Anne imagined. Also, even if Uzi claimed that the lake was perfectly safe, she didn’t like the idea of her best friend just being chucked into the water like that. Even worse, she’d have to face her best friend’s wrath afterwards, and she really didn’t feel like apologizing for hours on end, just to placate hurt feelings – warranted or not.

Obviously, for her friend’s sake, she needed to stop this.

She got herself in a starting position.

She needed to reach V before it was too late.

She took a deep breath.

She needed to … run!

She took that first step.

It was like the world slowed down around her. She immediately felt that fire in her legs, but this time it was a more … comfortable warmth, and it was spreading over her entire body. With every step, she was getting closer and closer.

Alas, it seemed that she still wasn’t fast enough, as she saw how V was preparing to throw her friend into the lake. A moment later, Ashley was soaring through the sky, towards the water. The fire in her legs burned even hotter, and she jumped – lunging herself towards her best friend.

The world returned to their normal speed when she collided with Ashley mid-flight. Another moment later, they landed on the ground – or rather: crash landed – with Anne using her own body to shield Ashley from the impact. They rolled over each other a few times, before coming to a standstill.

It took a few moments before Anne came back to her senses. She rolled over to face Ashley. “Ash, y-you okay?”

Ashley, face down on the ground, let out a groan as she pushed herself up. “Oh, just dandy, I love being thrown around like a ragdoll.” She sighed. “And while the landing could have gone a lot better … at least you saved me from a watery fate. Thanks, Anne.”

“No problem.”

As Anne scrambled up, she couldn’t help but to gaze at Ash, who snickered as she sat up, dusting herself off. She looked okay, but … maybe Anne should … hug her? Comfort her? She reached out, wanting to grab Ashley’s hand, when --

Someone clapped, making the two teens look up. It was V, who didn’t have a hint of regret on her visor. “Nice work, kiddo.”

“No, no, what was that?” Anne asked angrily as she planted herself between V and Ashley. “What the glitch were you thinking: throwing Ash like that?”

“Hey, from where I was sitting, it looked like Uzi’s method wasn’t working, so I decided to motivate you in another way.” V grinned. “And, hey, I asked Red here if she wanted to help you out.”

“When you asked me, I didn’t think you’d do that!” Ash huffed, her eyes throwing daggers at the older Drone.

“It worked, didn’t it?” V crossed her arms, giving Anne a look of pride – which the latter kinda appreciated, despite feeling cross at the moment. “You ran at super-speed, Anne.”

“I hate to agree with Old Lady Throws-a-lot here, but … she’s got a point.” Ashley stated, ignoring the angry scowl that V was giving her. She playfully jabbed her elbow against Anne’s sides. “You did it. And you went so fast! And the way you caught me!”

Anne couldn’t help but to blush a little, shuffling her feet. “W-well, okay, sure, but, she shouldn’t --”

“SERIAL DESIGNATION V DOORMAN!”

V froze, her eyes hollowing as digital beads of sweat rained down her visor. She slowly spun around to see Uzi stomping in her direction, fists balled and shaking with anger. Her eyes were burning with such intensity; one could think they’d bore a hole wherever she was looking at.

V was in trouble.

“Uh, hi, Uzi.” V began, slowly backing away from the incoming raging inferno. She knew that this ‘motivational exercise’ would ruffle Uzi’s feathers, but clearly, she had underestimated the consequences. “Okay, I crossed a line, I get it. Before you – urk!”

Uzi had grabbed V by the collar of her jacket and pulled her down to her eyelevel, purple eyes glaring intensely down yellow ones. Her voice came out as a low growl. “You. Me. Talk. Now!”

V gulped and nodded, knowing very well that she’d best go with whatever Uzi told her to do. Several decades of marriage had taught her as much. “Uh-huh …”

Uzi looked over to Anne and Ashley, her expression softening to a warm smile. “Good job, Anne. I’m amazed how fast you were going.” She glanced over to V, who was trying to squirm out of her wife’s grasp. “I’m not agreeing with the method, but I’m sure that won’t happen again, hmmm, V?”

“N-nope.” V replied with a forced, nervous grin. “Uzi, please, I’m sorry. I won’t –-gah!”

“I’m just going to have a talk with V.” Uzi stated in an overly sweet tone, dragging a very regretful V along with her. “How about the two of you take a break? V, in all our years, in all the stupid stunts that you and me have ever taken, I’ve never--!“

Uzi’s voice trailed off as she and V got farther removed from the two, somewhat flabbergasted, adolescent Drones. They slowly turned to each other, eyes hollowed in shock … and suddenly both bursted out into laughter.

“Oh man … I didn’t think that V could look so scared.” Ashley laughed, wiping away a digital tear.

“Remind me never to get Uzi that angry, Ash.” Anne snickered. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down the giggles. She gave her friend an apologetic, somewhat shy grin. “Listen, what V did there …”

Ashley waved the apology away. “Aw, don’t be like that. At worst, I was gonna get soaked. Besides, it was cool having my own private knight in shining armor come to my rescue.”

“R-right …” Anne cleared her throat, trying to push away those warm, fuzzy feelings that – once again – reared their fluffy heads. She stretched, totally not because she wanted to change the subject. “Man, I’m already beat, and I still have that training with V later.”

“Meh, something tells me that she’s going to go easy on you. Especially if she’s surviving that scolding from her wife.” Ashley giggled, looking over toward the side passage where they clearly could hear Uzi shouting against her beloved partner.

Anne grinned, taking a seat in a chair and accepting a can of oil that Ashley tossed her. As she took a sip, greatly enjoying how the cool liquid slid down her throat, she felt a sense of pride washing over her. It had taken a somewhat … extreme measure, but she had taken a big step towards mastering these abilities.

Next, she was going to tackle this unpredictable Disassembly Drone side of her.

She had to admit, she was curious what V had in store for her.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘PRETTY SURE SHE’D BE FINE’!?”

For now, Anne and Ashley were just going to sit back and enjoy the show.

Chapter Text

“Remind me again why we’re making a stone circle again, V?” Anne asked, really wondering why she, Ashley and V had just spent half an hour collecting big rocks and placing them in a circular pattern – and activity Uzi had excused herself from.

“Because she’s an idiot.” The latter Drone shouted from her lawn chair, an oil drink in hand. “You’re an idiot, V!”

V rolled her eyes to the sky, letting out a frustrated groan. “Yes, we get it: you’re still mad that I tried to chuck Ashley into the lake.” V half-shouted in exasperation. “I said I was sorry. How long are you going to stay like that?”

“Until Ashley gives me the signal that I can stop being mad at you.” Uzi replied, holding up her drink to the redheaded young lady.

Ashley turned to Anne with a shit-eating grin, shaking her head as her visor sparkled with mischief, making the latter giggle. If Anne knew her friend as well as she did, she was sure that Ashley was going to make this last for at least another hour. She wasn’t even mad anymore; she just wanted some playful revenge.

Uzi’s expression briefly turned concerned. “Just don’t overdo it, okay?”

“I won’t.”

“Uh-huh … we’ll see.”

“Anyway …” V sighed, vindictively glancing over to Ashley, who wiggled her fingers at the older Drone with this big, mischievous grin. “Believe it or not, there’s a reason – a few even - for this little extracurricular activity. One, it’s a good warm-up for the muscles, and get the oil and energy flowing.”

“What, so that whole ‘running from A to B countless times’ thing I did with Uzi didn’t count as warming up?” Anne asked, grinning as she crossed her arms defiantly.

“No.” V answered plainly, prompting an annoyed grunt from the young Drone. “Reason two: for my training, we needed an arena, so we made one.”

“Uh, I don’t think I’m ready for gladiatorial combat.” Anne mumbled, a digital bead of sweat dripping down her visor.

“It’s not combat training … not really.” V explained, as she started doing some stretching exercises. “We know that you’ve got Disassembler coding in you, but we’re also dealing with a few unknowns. You are the first Worker-Disassembly Drone hybrid since … ever. We know that you have my … Huntress Instincts, but besides that there’s no real way of knowing what else you’ve inherited from me.”

Anne couldn’t help but notice the brief look of sorrow in V’s eyes. As a kid, she had heard all the scary campfire stories about the ‘mythological Murder Drones that stalked the nights in search of Worker Drone oil’ so often, that she knew them by heart. Having met V, she figured that most of those stories - while having a big chunk of truth about them, judging by the stories that V and Uzi told them about their shared past – were blown wildly out of proportion. Still, Anne knew how V felt about her own past – having called herself a monster – and probably regretted heavily that she had inadvertently given her only daughter those same problems.

“So … what’s the plan, coach?” Anne asked with an optimistic tone in her voice, trying to distract V from her own building guilt.

V looked up with a surprised smirk. “Well, like I said, we know you’ve got that same Hunter Mode that I and my fellow DDs, or at least something similar. I’m kind hoping that’s where the similarities end, though.” V rubbed the back of her head, giving Anne long, almost analytical look. “Unless there are some things you’ve forgotten to mention, Anne?” 

“Like what?”

“No interchangeable claws, swords or wings?”

“Sadly, no, and there’s tail either.”

“Meh, figures. Those things were built-in, anyway.”

“Mine weren’t!” Uzi yelled from her chair.

V smirked mischievously. “Doesn’t count! You were horribly mutated. Grotesque beyond compare!”

“Bite me!”

“Speaking of which … after you blacked out and attacked those thugs, you are sure that you … didn’t drink their oil? Or felt the need for it since?”

“Ew, no!” Anne gagged. She couldn’t imagine having to drink another Drone’s inner oil. The thought of that just made her matter-to-energy-converter (her stomach) queasy. She suddenly realized how inconsiderate she was acting, considering the person in front of her. “Uh … sorry about that. No offense.”

“None taken, I’m quite happy myself that it’s no longer a requirement for my own survival as well.” V chuckled, amused by her daughter’s antics. She sighed. “In any case, it’s something less to worry about … at least, for the time being.” V concluded, adding the last part softy so Anne and Ashley couldn’t hear her. Just because she didn’t have those … quirks now, didn’t mean that they couldn’t surface later. She had seen it happen with Uzi back then, and she rather hoped that history wouldn’t repeat itself with her daughter.

“I still don’t know what we’re gonna do, you know.” Anne informed her instructor-to-be.

V knelt down to push a button the side of her prosthetic boots to open them up, so she could step out of them. She handed them over to Ashley, indicating to put them somewhere farther. She stretched herself in an almost feline manner, her tail whipping around as it emerged from … wherever it stored itself when it was out of sight. “It’s quite simple, actually. You told us that the first – and only time – that your Hunter Mode activated was when those aforementioned thugs attacked you and Red over there, right?”

“R-right.” Anne glanced over to Ashley, who was trying on V’s prosthetic limbs, blissfully unaware of the nervous concern her friend was showing. A shiver went down her metallic spine as she remembered that moment; the image flashing vividly in front of her eyes. Ashley, lying on the ground; shielding herself from that bastard’s kicks and verbal abuse. The helplessness as she was trapped in the big guy’s iron grip. That nasally, sickening laugh of the third thug as they all just gleefully watched their leader abuse this young, innocent girl. “How can I forget …?”

V rubbed the back of her head, an apologetic look in her eyes. “Listen, kiddo, I know it’s not a pretty memory, but whatever feelings it is giving you, try to hold on to those.” V started to explain. “Clearly, something triggered the HM’s activation, since you’ve got no inbuilt overheating system to do that for you.”

“So, how am I going to activate this Hunter Mode, if I have no idea how I did it the first time?”

“That’s what we’re gonna find out.” V explained, a grin slowly forming on her face. She held up her hand, counting on her fingers as she explained the steps of their training. “First, I’m going to try and force your Hunting Mode to be triggered. Once it’s activated, it’s your job to keep yourself conscious and in control. If you black out, the program is going to take over, like it did in Faraday City.”

Anne gulped, a drop of sweat running down her visor. “Um … isn’t that extremely dangerous?” She asked cautiously. “What if I hurt you or Uzi … or Ashley?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you don’t.” V reassuringly said, giving the nervous Drone a thumbs up. Robo-God, how she reminded herself of N, with his goofy smile, overly-positive attitude and quirky mannerisms. How she missed him. “I promise that nothing bad is going to happen.”

“O-okay …” Anne took a deep breath, but despite of what she had said, her nerves weren’t going down. “So … what do you have in mind?”

“Oh, what I have in mind is both simple and elegant.” V answered, a wide, fanged grin forming on her face. She deployed her blaster. “I’m going to shoot you.”

“Uuh …, nah-ah.” Anne held up her hands, in an effort to shield herself. “Last time you shot me with that thing – EMP bolts or not – I was out of commission for hours.”

“Relax, I’ve set the voltage of the bolts to the lowest possible setting.” V reassured with a roll of her eyes, waving the blaster around. From the corner of her eye, she could see Ashley slowly backing away. “They can’t knock you out. They’re just gonna hurt a little, just enough to make you feel the sting. Worst thing it can do, is disable your tactile sensors for a few seconds.”

“Uuh …”

“Oh, for the love of … here, I’ll show you.” V placed the blaster against her shoulder. There was a quick sound, like a pellet whizzing past one’s audio receptors. V winced slightly, but seemed otherwise still okay. She rolled her shoulder, giving Anne a reassuring look. “See, I’m fine. Nothing to be scared about.”

Anne bit her lower lip, still feeling unsure about this.

“Uh, want me to try it out?” Ashley cautiously asked, already taking a step forward.

“No! No, that’s fine. I’ll do it.” Anne quickly closed the distance between herself and V. Ashley already had been used once by V as an ‘incentive’ to train her powers. She didn’t want to put her friend through that again. She held out her hand, offering it to the former Disassembly Drone. “H-here, I’m … sort of ready.”

“At the count of three.” V said, as she aimed the blaster at Anne’s outstretched hand. “Three … two –-"

ZAP!

“Ouch! That was nowhere near ‘one’!” Anne shook her hand, as in the corner of her vision the message [TACTILE SENSORS OVERLOAD] appeared. True to her word, the bolt just stung a little, but she really didn’t care for the numb feeling that was spreading over her hand. It was like static in those old TV screens. But, like V had said, it only lasted a few seconds, after which she slowly started to get feeling in her hand again. “That … wasn’t too bad. Still packs a punch, though.”

“Good, otherwise this will go nowhere.” V grinned, giving Anne a wink. “Took that as a trooper, though. Tough as nails, you are.”

Anne couldn’t help but blush, but she could also tell that V was just hyping her up a little. A bit of a pep-talk … and it worked. “Okay … I think I’m ready.”

“Then let’s get started.” V deployed her wings and with a single, powerful flap, she moved herself to the outer edge of the of the little arena. “Okay, now you go to the other end.”

“Can do … … … Okay, I’m here. Now what?”

“Simple: try and reach me while I’m pelting you with shock bolts. And no superspeed.”

“Weird question: why?”

“Because it helps when you’ve got a clear goal in mind. And … it makes it just a little more fun, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Okay, I … kinda get that.” Anne crossed her arms. “Why not just shoot me where I stand, though?”

“How, like this?”

ZAP!

“Ouch!” V had just shot her! It didn’t hurt much, but still … Anne rubbed her shoulder, where the bolt had impacted, pouting. “Hey, I wasn’t – OUCH!” V had shot her other shoulder. “Stop shooting me, I wasn’t ready!”

“I noticed, which is why I took the shot. And the second.” V explained, looking pretty pleased with herself. “And this one! Think fast!”

ZAP!

“Oomph!” That one hit her right in the stomach. Anne doubled over, holding her gut as digital tears were forming in the corner of her eyes. She looked up at V, who was just standing there with a massive grin on her face. A growl escaped her throat, and she threw the older drone an angry look. “Stop grinning!”

“Then stop dawdling and come and get me, kiddo! I’m still waiting!” V shouted, aiming her blaster again. Deep down, she winced every time the blaster sounded, hating the idea that she had to shoot her own daughter … on purpose, this time. Still … she had discussed this with Uzi, and both agreed that this was the best way, at least with their short time window. So, for now, she’d play the hard-as-steel drill instructor. She’d be ‘proud mommy’ afterwards. She took another shot, this time purposely hitting the ground in front of Anne’s feet, making an explosion of rocky pellets fly up.

Anne grumbled, straightening herself. Right, if V wanted to play this game, Anne was gonna show her that this Drone could match her wit. She counted herself down, and took off, as fast she could without using her superspeed.

ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!

“Ouch! Ai! OW!” While the hurt was minimal, each bolt stung just as hard. Still, she persevered. She wasn’t going to back down that easy … until two bolt hit her in both her knees, making her plant her face into the ground. “…ouch.”

She definitely had broken her visor. And, yes, as she pushed herself up, she could see a big shard lying there. She sighed, picking up the shard and putting it back into its place. There was that familiar burning feeling as the glass melted together again, forming a solid, singular piece again. It was weird how … regular this felt now, considering how a week ago it freaked her out.

“You okay, Anne?” V called, blaster resting on her shoulder.

“Fine …” Anne huffed, picking herself up from the ground and dusting her off.

“Great, then let’s try this again. And don’t worry, I’ll avoid hitting your knees this time.”

“Great…” Anne grumbled as she sauntered back to her starting point. Robo-God, that was so humiliating, and right in front of Ashley too. Judging by that lobsided grin the redheaded Drone was currently sporting, it was clear to Anne that she was going to get an earful of jokes later. Great, something to look forward to. She stomped back into place, counted herself down … and took off.

For another two tries in a row, she met the same fate. She’d get pelted by the EMP bolts so much that she’d tumble and fall. Every time, it just … infuriated her more and more. She was getting really tired of the taste of dirt, and that hushed snicker of Ashley – which she could clearly hear – wasn’t helping at all.

…

Then again … it was probably a funny sight. Honestly, if the roles were reversed, Anne would probably chuckle too. It wasn’t in malice or anything, right? Just … harmless amusement at a friend’s dwindling efforts.

“Heh ….” The giggle escaped her before she even realized it. She could feel something burning deep inside her core. It felt … good, almost euphoric. It made her head feel heavy. Her body swayed as she walked back to her point. “Heh-heh … Hah …”

“Anne, you ready for another round, or do you want to take a break?” V asked, adjusting some settings on her blaster. Maybe she just needed to up the voltage just a little bit, or … Hang on, why hadn’t Anne answered yet?

“Uh, V?” Ashley called out from the sidelines. “I think Anne just reached ‘step one’!”

V’s gaze snapped to Anne, who was standing there, head in her hands, giggling like madness was overtaking her. The Disassembly Drone covertly increased the voltage of her stun bolts, slowly approaching her daughter. Anne suddenly looked up, and V thought for a moment that she was looking in a mirror, staring at that wide, fanged grin and the big yellow-and-purple X shining brightly in the young Drone’s visor.

For a moment, the grin faded, turning to a distressed grimace “V-Vuh-V, w-what’s --?”

“Don’t panic, Anne.” V cautiously instructed, covertly signaling Uzi, who had jumped up from her seat, to stay put. “You’ve entered Hunter Mode. Stay calm, and try to keep control over yourself.”

Anne panted, her attempts at careful breath failing, as only mad, gleeful giggles came out. The fire in her chest kept growing bigger and hotter. Her feet placed themselves firmly into the ground, as if getting ready to lunge. She stretched out her fingers in a claw-like manner. Her vision was … blurred … wrong, as if a layer of red paint had washed over her visor. Her gaze fixated on the older Drone in front of her. Her … target.

She needed …

“Heh … hehehehe…”

She wanted …

[Automatic Hunting Mode Activating]

An euphoric laugh escaped her throat, and …

Everything turned black. Anne felt like she was adrift in a sea of darkness, wind howling in her ears while the currents jerked her around, as if in a mad, chaotic dance. Her body felt … numb.

“-alm d—”

Huh? V’s voice?

“Come b—”

The darkness opened up, filling her vision with light. A gasp escaped her mouth, and if she had lungs, she’d imagine they’d be burning.

“That’s it, Anne. Nice and easy.”

Anne blinked, confused. Just moments earlier, before she blacked out, she was standing … over there. Now she was … currently on the ground, being restrained by V. The former Disassembly Drone had her in a tight hold.

“V?”

“Back with us, Kiddo?”

“Y-yeah, I guess?” Anne smacked her lips. There was a weird, metallic taste in her mouth. Something thick stained her lips. “W-what happened?”

“Hunter Mode took over.” V explained, her tone almost … casual, like she had expected it to happen. Probably the case, too. “You, uh … sorta attacked me.”

“A-attack?” Anne glanced over to the side, seeing a worried Ashley staring at her, seemingly having been hold back by Uzi, who had her arm around her. “I … I didn’t mean to—”

“I know. It’s not your fault.” V quickly assured her, slowly releasing her grip on Anne. “The Emergency Hunter Mode was designed to be vicious, so … yeah, don’t worry about it. Any of it.”

V seemed to be emphasizing on her lack of fault, Anne noticed. Why was she … hang on, what was that on the ground. Was that … part of an arm? Oh no … Anne tore herself away from V, and noticed to her horror that the yellow-eyes Drone was missing the lower part of her left arm.

“V, your arm!” Anne shouted, horrified. “D-did I--?”

She remembered the taste in her mouth. The thick … something on her lips. It couldn’t be …? She touched her lips, her eyes hollowing in shock when she noticed how her fingers were stained with … oil. “P-please tell me that’s my own oil …”

She turned to Ashley, her eyes pleading her friend to say the words that would vanquish her fears. The redheaded Drone just … looked away. Anne’s stomach turned, and she fell to her knees, retching and gagging. A hand gently landed on her back, rubbing her softly.

“That’s it, just get it out.” V said, smiling sympathetically at the distraught youngster, who was puking her synthetic guts out.

After the last of the foul sludge had ejected from her stomach, Anne wiped her mouth. She gasped, as digital tears started to form in her eyes. Her breath hitched in her throat. “I … I ... didn’t mean to … I’m s-sorry. I – URK!”

Anne heaved, but having emptied her stomach earlier, nothing came out. Her throat felt raw and scratchy; her head was spinning. She felt like she was going to pass out. The ground suddenly vanished from beneath her, as V wrapped her good arm around her waist and guided her to the sides, where Uzi and Ashley were waiting.

“Set her down here.” Uzi instructed, patting on a larger rock. “Ashley, get something for Anne to drink, please.”

“O-on it.” Ashley replied, and she took off to their ‘pantry tent’, looking over her shoulder to give Anne a worried look.

“Easy, easy now.” V softly said, gently lowering Anne onto the rock. “Deep breaths, Anne.”

“I … I …” Anne muttered, staring at her own, still oil-stained hands. She frantically started to wipe them, trying to get the thick substance from her fingers.

“You … didn’t do anything, Anne.” Uzi quickly stated, kneeling down in front of the distraught girl. She lifted up her chin, making her look into her mother’s eyes. “The EHM did all that.”

“I … I ate V’s arm.” Anne whimpered.

“Technically, you just ripped it off.” V corrected. “You didn’t ingest any of it.”

“Is that … supposed to make me feel better?” Anne muttered, feeling worse and worse about herself. She knew that … this thing would made her violent, because it happened with those thugs back then. But … this was something else. Anne gripped the sides of her head, pulling at her hair. Her eyes hollowed in fear and disgust at herself. What if she lost control around Ashley, or her parents, or anyone in general? What if-?”

SLAP!

Anne gasped, her hand flying to her burning cheek. Uzi just slapped her!

Uzi gave Anne an apologetic look, while V stood behind her with an expression that was a mix of horrified shock and slight amusement. “Sorry, but you seemed to be spiraling down towards somewhere you have no reason to be.”

Anne rubbed her aching cheek, managing to produce a halfhearted smirk. “Y-yeah, no worry. I … needed that.” A tap on her shoulder made her look up. Ashley stood behind her with a bottle of cherry-flavored coolant – her favorite. She mumbled a quiet thanks, and downed nearly three-quarters of the drink down her throat.

“Honestly, it’s looking way worse than it actually is. You moved so fast that you caught me by surprise.” V, who had casually collected her arm in the meantime, stated. She held the severed limb to its remaining stump. After a few moments, wires seemed to spring alive; making connections and pulling the arm back into place. The area around the torn metal started to glow hot-red – making V grunt softly. Soon, the arm started to cool down, looking like nothing had happened. V clenched and opened her hand a few times, and eventually held it out towards Anne. “See, good as new. Not the first time I’ve gotten my limbs bitten off, you know. Eh, Uzi?”

“Shut up.”

“You good, Anne?” Ashley asked softly, gingerly touching her friend’s shoulder.

“No … not really.” Anne confessed, burying her face in her hands. She inhaled deeply, and had to restrain herself from gagging. Her hands still smelled of oil. The fact that she had seen V’s arm heal in front of her … didn’t really help with the knowledge that SHE had done that.

“How about a break, huh?” Uzi suggested. “Or maybe … how about we just stop for the day?”

Anne tore her head away from her hands. “What? No! We just started!”

“Anne, you clearly—”

“No, I can keep going!” Anne stated, bringing the bottle of coolant to her lips to down the rest of it. She jumped from her rocky seat. “Let’s try again.”

Uzi and V gave each other a look. Uzi looked apprehensive, while V had this proud glint in her eyes. The purple-haired Drone sighed and nodded, before turning to Anne. “Are you absolutely sure?”

“Yes.” Anne confidently said. Truth be told, she was still a bit shaken, but she wasn’t going to get anywhere if she just let this … thing set her back. She turned to V, giving her a worried look. “I mean, if you are up to it.”

V playfully ruffled Anne’s hair. “What, and let my kid get the best of me? No way.”

Anne grinned, feeling that anxious boulder in her gut slowly fade away. She glanced over at Ashley, and noticed her expression. A new boulder dropped in her stomach, this time … guilt, worry and a whole lot of similar feelings. She sighed and turned to V with a sheepish grin. “Uh, hang on for a moment?”

V glanced over to Ashley as well, immediately realizing what Anne was up to. “I’ll be waiting in the circle.”

“Great … I’ll be right there.” Anne spun around and held out her hand to Ashley. “Can we talk?”

Ashley blinked in surprise, her thick eyebrows raising up. “S-sure?”

Anne grabbed Ashley by the hand and pulled her away from the two older Drones. When they had reached a little distance, Anne let go of her friend, uttering a sigh. “Ashley … wouldn’t it be better … if you returned home? Maybe Uzi can give you a lift, or I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a private jet stashed away somewhere.”

“Woah-woah-woah, what’s this all of the sudden?” Ashley asked, crossing her arms with a confused/angry expression. “You don’t want me here, or something?”

“No, it’s not that, but …” Anne glanced away, chewing on her lip as she tried to find the right words. She rubbed her arm. “Ash, you saw what happened out there. I … blacked out, went absolutely crazy and straight up bit off V’s arm!”

“So?”

“What do you mean, ‘so’?” Anne grabbed Ashley by her shoulders, visor filling with worry. “V and Uzi can heal themselves, but … you can’t. If I—"

“Yeah, I’m gonna stop you right there, Brinkman.” Ashley quickly said, planting a finger on Anne’s lips. “And the answer is: no way, nah-ah, nope, not gonna happen. I’m staying right here.”

“But—!”

“No way, nah-ah, nope, not gonna happen.” Ashley repeated, grinning from proverbial ear to proverbial ear. “Yeah, it was scary; seeing you go berserk like that. News Flash: it’s the second time I’ve seen that happening, and the first time was way scarier. But guess what: you didn’t hurt me then, you didn’t hurt me now, and I’m gonna bet my allowance you’ll never gonna hurt me ever. I trust you, Anne; even if you go a little nutty sometimes.”

“Ash … are you sure?” Anne asked, trying to hide the blush that was stubbornly starting to form in her visor. “If I’d hurt you, I’d never forgive myself.”

“Anne, I’ll be fine.” Ashley reassuringly stated, throwing her arms around Anne to pull her into a tight hug. “I’ve got these two hot immortals to make sure you won’t hurt me. I mean … V owned your metallic behind with only one arm. Who knows what she’ll do when you’re not getting a lucky shot in.”

“I know what you’re trying to do, riling me up like this.” Anne huffed, returning the hug.

“Is it working?”

“…no comment.” Anne took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a few moments. She eventually gave Ashley a wide grin. “Okay … just do me a favor? Don’t stand so close to the circle this time? It’ll make me feel better.”

Ashley rolled her eyes, but nodded. “Now get going. Try to go for her legs this time. And, uh … don’t tell them I think they are hot.”

“No promises, Ash.” Anne chuckled. She made her way back to V, who had been patiently awaiting while her daughter and rambunctious friend were having their conversation.

“Yeah, I figured that Red would wanna stay.” V chuckled when Anne gave her a surprised look. She tapped the side of her head. “Advanced audio receptors, kiddo. And don’t worry, she’s right. Me and Uzi are gonna make sure she’s safe. Promise.”

Anne nodded, taking a deep breath. “So … after that fiasco … what now?”

“We try again.” V stated matter-of-factly, deploying her blaster. “This time, try to focus on how it felt before you blacked out. Try to concentrate on keeping control.”

“How am I gonna do that?”

“We’ll figure that out along the way.” V gave Anne a confident grin. “You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” Anne replied, stepping towards her starting point. She took a deep breath as she spun around to face V. “Okay … here I go!”

She started to run towards V, who started firing her blaster at her. Anne grunted as the bolts were hitting her, stinging her like hundreds of tiny needles getting jabbed in her synthetic skin. While she ran, she tried to remember what happened the last time, before she blacked out. Trying to memorize that feeling in her core. That almost euphoric madness that seeped in, without her realizing. This time it wouldn’t catch her of guard.

She noticed that V was taking things a little easier this time around with Anne. Her salvos weren’t as fast, and she waited a bit longer before firing off another flurry. Anne didn’t know if she had to feel grateful … or insulted. She was about to reach V, when the latter suddenly deployed her wings and flew off towards another end of the circle.

“Hey!”

“Gotta be faster than that, sparkplug!” V teased

Anne growled, a bit embarrassed by the tease. “Fast? I’ll show you – urk!” Anne felt a sudden punch in her gut. For a moment, she thought that one of V’s bolt had hit her again, but … then she felt that fire again, rising up in her core and spreading over her entire body. Her eyes hollowed in shock, but she quickly shook it off. She couldn’t afford to panic, or the program would completely take over her again.

The fire seemed … steadier than before, Anne noticed. It wasn’t going away, but it didn’t feel like she was going to pass out. A good sign maybe, she figured, deciding to take her wins whenever she could. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, and started to run in V’s direction again, determined to catch up with the older Drone.

More bolts hit her, stinging her and making that fire in her gut flare up, but beyond that, nothing happened. Maybe she should be worried, considering what happened earlier. If she’d let her guard down, she’d pass out again and who knows what she’d do in her berserker state.

And yet … she couldn’t deny that there was something … enjoyable about it all. This feeling was … she couldn’t really describe it. It was scary, sure, but … she was having fun. This chase between herself and V … was fun. The hunt was on, and she was going to proof that she … she was the better hunter.

A grin formed on her lips. “Heh … heh-heh.”

[Automatic Hunting Mode Activating]

Despite the chuckle, deep down she could feel herself starting to panic. It was happening again, wasn’t it? The Hunter inside her would take over? She could feel her grin stretching widely, and her visor slowly blurred red as the X appeared, all while a soft chuckle escaped her throat. Suddenly, Anne lunged towards V, who narrowly managed to dodge. The younger Drone wasn’t equipped with any sort of claws or other weapons, but V had seen firsthand, from her experiences with Solver Uzi that time, that anything could be torn apart.

“Anne!” V shouted as she made some distance between the two of them. She had noticed the X in time, and managed to deploy her wings before she’d get chewed on again. “Try to regain control!”

Control, control, easier said than done! V had decades and decades of experience, while Anne … hang on, why was she still conscious? She hadn’t blacked out this time. Her body was moving on its own volition, but Anne was still there. It was like … being in the backseat of her own body, watching it all happen from her visor. It was an extremely weird sensation, but … maybe this meant … something good.

Okay, Anne, try to regain control … how exactly? It’s not like there were controls she could fiddle with. She was stuck inside her own mind … wait … her own mind? That’s it. It was still her body, her mind. The Emergency Hunter Mode was just a program. That meant that … maybe if she’d muster up … every … drop … of … mental … determination …. Inside her …, she could …

‘STOP MOVING, BODY!’

Anne’s body froze in place for a moment, the X flickering in her visor. The sudden stop hadn’t been unnoticed by V, who hovered down a little, giving the berserker an uncertain look.

“Anne? Are you …?”

“C-can’t - heh - … hold …” Anne managed to say, but it was like speaking through thick sludge. Something inside her was definitely fighting against her, though.

V quickly flew down, grabbing Anne around her waist and forcing her down on her knees. “Got ya.” She wrapped her wings around her into a tight cocoon, making sure Anne didn’t have much room to move.

Anne didn’t know how long her body struggled; both against V’s grip and Anne quickly weakening grip on her own. Just as she thought that she was going to lose her flimsy control again … it stopped fighting. Anne let out a gasp, feeling like she got flung back inside her own frame. She panted, feeling extremely drained.

“Anne … you good?” V cautiously asked, keeping her grip tight and secure – just in case that the Huntress inside Anne tried to play a trick on her.

“It … it’s me, ma– …V.” Anne breathed out, letting her head hang. Everything about her felt at least thrice as heavy. She tried to squirm out of V’s hold, but it looked like the older Drone had no intention of letting go. In fact, V’s wings seemed to close even tighter. Was it precaution, or … protective instinct? It felt kinda … warm and comforting, for some reason. “Uh, V … you can let go now.”

V opened her wings, letting go of Anne. She held out her hand, pulling Anne to her feet with a big grin. “You did great, Anne!” She stated, patting the younger drone on her back.

“Did I …?” Anne mumbled, rubbing her visor. Her processor was aching, and all the bolts ‘n screws in her head felt like they’ve gotten extra tighter.

“Well, you did better than before.” V shrugged with a teasing chuckle. “You managed to control yourself … a little. And trust me, once Hunter Mode is engaged, it’s not easy to get that control back while it lasts. So … take this win, and be proud of yourself. I certainly am.”

Anne couldn’t help but blush a little, looking away to hide it from V – who had definitely seen it. After a brief moment of rest, they tried again: once again ending up similar results. Every time, Anne felt like she was getting just enough control to get her body to stop, but never enough to completely break away the hold the Hunter program had on her.

“Okay, time to take a break.” V quite suddenly suggested after the third attempt in a row. She was already making her way towards where Uzi and Ashley were watching them. Anne noticed the slight limb in her step, but didn’t think much of it.

“It’s okay, I can keep going.”

“You can. I can’t.” V grunted in discomfort, and this time Anne noticed how she seemingly had trouble walking. One of her legs didn’t move like it should, dragging behind a bit. “My bad leg is acting up …”

“Oh!” Anne’s eyes hollowed in concern, biting her lower lip. “Did I--?”

“No, it’s nothing you’ve done, I promise.” V reassured as she hopped over to the rocks, letting out a heavy sigh of relief as she plopped down. She rubbed her leg, hissing in pain. “Uz, can you --?”

Uzi was already halfway to their tents, seemingly looking for something. “Already on it! Just relax!”

“What’s wrong?” Ashley asked, kneeling down to check out V’s leg for wounds or any other damage.

“Oh, don’t – agh – worry about it.” V said, but her words sounded … forced, like she was trying to sound more okay than she really was. “It’s an old wound, from long ago. Remember how I told you about those Sentinels that protected Cabin Fever Labs? Yeah, those mongrels really did a number on my legs. This one never really got better.”

“So, the cane is not just for show?” Anne asked, feeling guilty that she had made that assumption. She had seen the older Drone walking around with the cane just as often as without it, so she had just figured that it was pretend; something to throw off people’s assumptions.

“No, not for show …” V grunted, looking up as Uzi arrived with the first aid chest. She popped open the case and took out a soldering gun, which she promptly handed over to V. “Thank, babe.”

Uzi smiled softly, patting V’s shoulder, before saying something about things getting late and getting started on something to eat, before she left the three remaining Drones behind. Anne hadn’t noticed until then, but the day had flown by. The cave was getting darker, but the ceiling sparkled due to gemstones embedded in the rock. It was like they had the starry skies inside.

Anne watched curiously as V popped open a hatch on her leg, dark whisps of smoke rising from the opening, letting out a heavy sigh and started to work on the damaged parts. Something suddenly dawned on Anne; something she should have questioned earlier. But it seemed rather … prying, and maybe it wouldn’t be appreciated by Uzi and V. Would this be a right time to ask, or should she let her curiosity wait for the time being?

But, true to her nature, Ashley didn’t have the same kind of apprehension.

“Hey, dumb question, but why is your leg busted like that, V?” The redheaded Drone flat-out asked, even hopping closer to gawp at how V was soldering wires together. “I thought you guys could heal from any wound?”

“Ash …” Anne muttered warningly, as she pulled her friend away from V. “Sorry about that. Ashley wasn’t installed with common sense.” She emphasized that last part with a smack on Ashley’s head, who sheepishly shrugged.

V chuckled, shaking her head in amusement at the two younger girls’ antics. “Nah, it’s alright. To be honest, I’m shocked you didn’t ask before.” She pulled away the soldering gun, giving her work an approving nod, before taking out a screwdriver to work on different damages. “We told you how the virus keeps our programming and our hardware in perfect condition, right?”

Nodding heads.

“Well … it’s a bit … more complicated than that, but I’m not a mechanical computer whiz like Uzi, so I’m going to keep it simple.” V explained, letting out a groan as she tightened a screw. “You know that we were infected with the virus the very moment Uzi destroyed the Absolute Solver. The virus itself didn’t activate until many months later, and it took even longer before we even noticed the effects. The virus uses that moment, when it fully activated and its effects became noticeable, as a sort of … reset point. It basically brings reverts our bodies to that moment.”

“Oh …so that’s why …” Anne began. “Wait, if it took months and months, why wasn’t your leg fixed by then?”

V let out a dry laugh, rolling her eyes. “Because everyone knew me as Serial Designation V, the monster outside the walls that delighted in tearing everyone she met into pieces with upmost glee. The people inside the outpost weren’t really rushing to get me into top shape anytime soon. They kept postponing my repairs, or did patchwork jobs with a lot of time in between. They even forbade Uzi from fixing me herself, implying that her mother’s own repairs might be undergoing ‘administrative hold-backs’.”

“That’s … awful! Anne cried out, horrified at hearing how her birth parents were subjected to that kind of treatment. “It’s unfair! It’s--!”

“—has been a long, long time ago.” V interjected, smiling at her daughter’s sympathy. She chuckled as she turned back to her repairs. “And don’t worry. When Uzi’s dad Khan heard about that, he went ballistic. I still don’t know what he did, but after that, my repairs were scheduled without problems, albeit still on a long waiting list.” She let out a sigh. “Not that it mattered anyway, because by the time I scheduled my final surgery, the virus had been fully activated. A couple of weeks afterwards, my leg stared malfunctioning, so we went back for repairs. And some months after that, it happened again. It wasn’t until the third time that noticed the pattern. Uzi did some tests, we found out about the virus, and the rest, as they say, is history.”

“Does it … hurt much?” Ashley asked. There was a hint of guilt in her eyes, Anne noticed. Ashley had always been a blunt person, but that didn’t mean she was apathic about her possibly overstepping.

“Not really. Most days, I just have this … numb feeling. Of course, when I overexert myself, wires tend to come loose, something gets jammed, things like that.” V explained, nodding approvingly at her work and closing the hatch, bending her leg a few times before she stood up. She noticed how Anne and Ashley were giving her these sorrowful looks, making her chuckle. “Now c’mon, don’t give me those. This is the sort of thing one tends to get used to over the years, and I’ve had plenty of those.”

“Still … it doesn’t seem right.” Anne stated, crossing her arms.  

“Things like that seldom are, kiddo.” V clapped her hands together. “Welp, it’s going to take a while before Uzi has the grub going, so how about we try it again?”

“Are you sure?”

“Sure I’m sure. C’mon, you really almost had it last time.”

“Really?”

“I dunno, I’m just making a pep talk here.”

* * * *

It felt like Anne was just repeating herself over and over again, without any change in outcome. Every time they did the same little dance routine, with Anne barely grasping control while V had to pin her down to the ground long enough for her to snap out of it.

‘Doing the same action over and over again, expecting a different result.’ It was the definition of something.

And here they were again, her third – maybe; she had lost count – attempt at doing this. Anne was about ready to give it up. They would just end up doing the same thing again. That same flame that built up inside her core; her slowly slipping out of control before the Hunter Mode took over; Anne narrowly wrestling control away; V grabbing her.

Her vision blurred, and she could feel that mad euphoria that made her giggle unwillingly. She grunted, holding her head as she tried to gain control of her own body again. But as hard as she struggled, she just … couldn’t do it. “I … I can’t do it.” The words felt foreign, almost like she wasn’t the one speaking them.

“C’mon, Anne, you’ve almost got it.” V shouted supportively, all while increasing the voltage on her stun bolts. She was supportive, not stupid.

“V, I … I think I …” A flurry of laughter escaped her throat, as Anne’s body suddenly made a run towards V. She could feel the intention to tear, to rip, to maim … to feed.

Then … someone did something stupid.

CLANG!

Anne – or rather the Hunter Mode program in control of Anne’s body – froze.

‘Oh no …’

“Hey, why don’t you try me on for size, 2Tone!?”

‘No, no, no …don’t tell me that she –-'

It was like the world moved in slow motion – without the use of superspeed – as Anne turned around and saw Ashley at the edge of the circle, bouncing a stone in hand.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” V shouted, eyes hollowing in shock. “GET AWAY BEFORE—!”

Anne took off, changing direction and running straight at Ashley, who didn’t seem to make any effort to run away. She just stood there, with that familiar, cheeky grin that Anne had come to love over their years of friendship. And now … she was going to …

‘NO, NO, NO!’

She was getting closer with every step, hands outstretched like claws.

Ashley didn’t move an inch.

‘Please, Ash! Run! Uzi, V, do something!’

At this rate, she would –

‘I WON’T HURT MY ASHLEY’

Anne instantly came to a halt, stopping right in front of the redheaded Drone. A large cloud of dust and dirt covering the two Drones from view. As it settled, one could see Anne pacing back and forth in front of Ashley, giving her a piece of her mind.

“What the heck is your glitch, Ashley!?” Anne shouted, grabbing her friend by the shoulders and giving her a good shake. Oh, she couldn’t remember the last time she was so mad at her best friend, but she had gone too far this time. “Don’t you know that I could hurt you? Why are you doing this?”

“Because I know you won’t hurt me.” Ashley stated, crossing her arms with this – in Anne’s opinion – obnoxiously victorious grin. “I’d say that it worked, Madame X.”

“What are you--?” Anne froze when she noticed. In the reflection of Ashley’s visor, she could see her own visor … and the yellow-and-purple X. Her interface … it had changed. While it was still red, it was no longer blurry. In her view, she could see … everything. It was like seeing the world with a clarity she never had before. Messages were popping up, giving tactical readouts. There was so much information being shown to her, that it made head spin.

In the edge of her vision, she could see a pop-up: [Autonomous Hunting Mode Engaged]

She backed away from Ashley, looking at her hands. The flame in her core was still there, but … it felt … comforting. Less of a blazing inferno, and more like a soothing, crackling fire in a hearth. The mad euphoria was gone, replaced with … stillness and calmness.

“I’m … in control?” Anne whispered to herself.

Her audio receptors peaked, and she turned around to see V flying over to them. She was still so far away, yet it was like she had been flying right next to her. It was like Anne’s senses had been turned up to eleven, if not more.

“Red …!” V growled as she landed right next to the duo. Ashley’s smug grin promptly vanished and she quickly stepped behind Anne, hiding behind her. “That … was the stupidest, irresponsible, dangerous … thing I’ve ever seen someone do. And I’ve seen a lot.”

“Back off from the girl, V. I had it under control.” Uzi said as she casually strolled towards them. “Ashley told me what she was gonna do, and I was ready to grab her if things were gonna go south … which they didn’t. Besides, aren’t we missing something. Anne has taken control of her Hunter Mode.”

V’s gaze went from the sheepish Ashley to the smug grinning Uzi … and her jaw dropped. “Hang on … you used Ashley to help Anne, putting her in danger in the process, and we’re just … okay with that?”

“Uh-huh.”

“But when I did it, I got an earful?!”

“Technically, it, uh … was my plan.” Ashley pointed out, yelping when V threw an X-glare towards her. She pointed at Uzi, who was cackling at the scene before her. “SHE OKAY’D IT!”

“But … I … she …” V rambled in confusion … before admitting defeat and letting out a long groan.

Anne closed her eyes – Eye? X-vision? – and took a deep breath, imagining the fire slowly dying down. The red interface faded away and returned to the purple-yellow one she was accustomed to. Her senses dialed down too, returning back to normal. She felt … great. She had conquered her inner monster – not that she’d ever call it that in front of V – and taken control of it.

“I have to admit … stupid and dangerous as it was … it did work.” Anne stated sheepishly. “Still … Ash?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“I’m gonna count to ten, and then I’m throwing rocks at your head.”

“Uh, why?”

“Payback for the one you threw at me. Ten... And because I’m mad at you for this little stunt. Nine...”

“Wait, I helped, didn’t I?!”

“You put yourself in danger. Eight…”

V picked up a rock from the ground and handed it over to Anne. “This is a nice, big one.”

“Thanks. Seven-six-five...”

“No fair, you’re speeding up your counting!” Ashley shouted, eyes hollowing as she realized that Anne was dead serious. Digital beads of sweat were dripping down her visor. “Can’t we talk about this?”

Anne pretended to think about it, bounding the rock in her hand. “Hmmm … nope. Fourthreetwoone!”

Ashley let out a yelp and quickly took off, with Anne – after giving the girl a few seconds head start - bolting after her at full, albeit regular speed.

“Uzi, have you ever heard of the phrase ‘double standards’?” V asked, scowling at her wife with feigned murderous intent.

“C’mon, don’t be that way.” Uzi chuckled, patting her wife’s arm. “Besides … haven’t you noticed how both times that Anne managed to completely control her powers … Ashley was involved.”

V grinned. “Yah, duh, I’ve noticed.” She chuckled, throwing an arm around Uzi’s shoulders, pulling her close to kiss the side of her head. “Do you think those two are in denial, or just plain oblivious?”

“In Anne’s case … bit of A, bit of B.” Uzi stated with a roll of her eyes. “Ashley … I think she’s just scared to make the step.”

V noticed how Uzi fell silent, just watching as Anne was chasing Ashley around the cave, laughter filling the hollow halls. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just … I’m just curious about Ashley.” Uzi confessed. “She hasn’t talked much about herself, besides some little things. I don’t know, there’s just something about her.” She looked up at V. “You’ve seen it, right? In her eyes … she’s hurting on the inside. Or maybe I’m just imagining things.”

“You want me to talk with her?”

“Maybe … but not today, or when Anne is nearby.” Uzi let out a sigh. “For now … let’s get started on dinner.”

“Sounds good to be.” She pulled Uzi closer as they walked towards their tents. “I’m still gonna get you back for that stunt with Ashley, you know.”

“That’s fair.”

Chapter Text

Anne had always considered Copper-9’s nights to be absolutely beautiful, especially when the frequent storms that normally reigned during those hours would give away for clear skies, revealing the spectacle of stars above them. She never thought that she would see anything more breathtaking – a weird expression, since Drones don’t actually breath –, but she had been pleasantly proven wrong.

Embedded along the walls, the ceiling, and even the ground were clusters of a rare type of mineral. During the day, it would absorb UV-radiation and store it, but once the light had vanished … they’d lit up. Basically, nature’s glow-in-the-dark stickers, but they … weren’t … stickers.

If Anne didn’t know any better, she would have assumed that she was in the void of space, surrounded by the stars that she loved to stare at. She was floating; drifting weightless … if not for the fact that she was firmly seated in her chair, listening intently to the story that Uzi was telling them whilst gorging down snacks.

After Anne had finished having fun chasing Ashley around, which ended in a tickle fight, Uzi and V had decided to give it a rest for the remainder of the day. They had finished setting up the tents and started a campfire – because the cavern cooled down considerably during the night; something that Ashley had eagerly complained about. Once everything was settled, they had gathered around the campfire and just … relaxed. Roasting Cobalt Corns, making robot-s’mores and enjoying the plethora of stories that Uzi and V had in their repertoire. Uzi was currently telling one about the time that she and V were living in different Chapters. She had come to the part of her story where she just had found out her then-boyfriend was cheating on her, and he didn’t know that a friend of Uzi was working tables that night.

“So, my friend at the restaurant gives me the call, telling me that his unfaithful posterior is sitting there with this – and I quote – ‘poshest sounding, heir-of-the-kingdom-attitude, yet-surprisingly-nice woman’ and was wondering how I’d like to handle it.” Uzi continued, grinning from ear to ear, enjoying the sight of the two girls’ excited expression. “Of course, I couldn’t let that slide, so I did the most reasonable thing.”

Ashley chuckled, mimicking the Cheshire-like grin that their storyteller had. The sarcasm in her voice was so thick, you could’ve easily sliced through it with V’s hand-blade. “You waited until he got home, so you could have a genuine core-to-core talk?”

“HECK NO!” Uzi jumped up, slamming her fist in her hand with a grin so wide it would’ve split her face in half sideways. “I went straight to the place, ready to tear him and whoever he was with to scrap!”

“Calm down, honey.” V calmly instructed as she pulled Uzi back on her seat.

“So, what actually happened when you got there?” Anne asked, her eyes fixed on the purple-haired Drone while she aimlessly tried to grab another handful of popped bolts … at the same moment as Ashley, and accidentally grabbing her hand instead. She quickly let go, giving her friend a sheepish grin that was nearly identical to Ashley’s.

“So, I arrive at the scene of the soon-to-be crime and just plow my way through the entrance, practically stampeding the poor guy who was hosting that evening.” Uzi’s grin widened. “I see him sitting, on the very table we had our six-months anniversary dinner, and he still has no idea that I’m there. I still had no visual on who he’s there with, though.”

“Hey, how much you wanna bet it was some dumb blonde, or something?” Ashley whispered to Anne, elbowing her arm.

Anne couldn’t help noticing the very brief scowl that formed on V’s face.

“I stomp over to my soon-ex-boyfriend. I grab his chair, pulling it back so he can look me in the eyes …” Uzi stopped momentarily to soak in the excited expressions on the young Drones’ faces. “And then I notice with who he was on a date with.”

“Who?” Anne asked.

V jumped up and took a bow. “Tadaa!”

“NO WAY!” was the appropriate shout Anne and Ashley simultaneously cried out.

“Way.” V assured, chuckling as she sat down again. “I was dating a guy who was dating my secret wife. Talk about coincidence.”

“And you had no idea?” Ashley asked, incredulously. “Really?”

“Remember that, at that time, me and Uzi had been out of contact for at least five years.” V explained, scooting a bit closer to her beloved. “We were living our own, separate lives, no idea where the other was or which persona they had taken on. I met what’s-his-face six months prior, during some kind of week-long convention where the companies we worked at were attending, during which we … clicked. He seemed like an okay guy.”

“He failed to inform you he was already seeing someone, though.” Anne helpfully added, grinning widely. She was loving this story. At first, she felt bad about Uzi being cheated on, but with V in the mix … this was like one those fanfics about her favorite show she loved reading.

“Well, jokes on him: I was planning on breaking things off anyway. He was … a creep. I had no idea that things were going to get … interesting, though.” V explained, glancing over to Uzi, who was holding back a cackle. “One moment, I’m sitting there; waiting for a moment where he shuts up so I can give him a heartfelt ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ speech, and then … well, you know.”

“So … you guys had no idea that you were in the same city, dating the same guy and currently in the same restaurant.” Anne summarized, grinning as she leaned forward. “What … did you do?”

“Well, I was extremely surprised – and a bit flustered – when I saw V sitting there, but … I couldn’t just let it seem that I knew her, so … I started throwing insults and accusations.”

“Which I promptly started to play into.” V crushed the can of Oilnade she had finished and threw it into the trash bag. “Having known each other for so long, we really know on how to work with each other with situations like that. It also did help that I was actually angry. Six months, and he never told me had been dating someone named ‘Ziva’. I mean, if he just had told me, I could’ve had some more fun with it. I do like playing the home-wrecker from time to time.”

“Don’t deny you didn’t have fun tearing the guy apart.” Uzi chuckled, but then noticed the shocked expression on the girls’ faces. “Uh, verbally, I mean. We shouted at him just as much as we were shouting at each other. Me and V are no strangers to putting on an act, but that night deserved an award. We went all-out.”

“We got into an argument on who had the right to break up with the jerk first. Long story short: the verbal fight quickly turned into a physical fight. I’m talking a rolling over the floor, hair-pulling, visor-scratching, clothes-ripping fight that gathered quite a crowd.” V stated, chuckling at the memory on how she even managed to sneak in a kiss a few times. She laughed when Anne’s eyes hollowed in shock. “Don’t worry, it wasn’t the first time me and Uzi had played the role of ‘disgruntled, cheated-on furies’ … first time we actually had to improvise the whole thing, though.”

“So, how did it all end?” Ashley asked curiously.

“We ended up in jail for ‘public misconduct’.” Uzi snickered, leaning her head on her other half’s shoulder. “Me and V ended up sharing a cell, and we were instructed to ‘talk things out’.”

“Any idea how hard it was to stay in our role?” V asked rhetorically. “I hadn’t seen Uzi in so long, and all I wanted was to hold her, kiss her and, uh … do other things.”

“Ew.”

“Grow up, Ash.” Anne snickered. She stretched her arms with a groan, trying to suppress a yawn that was trying to force itself out. She threw an arm over Ashley’s shoulder, who scooted closer to rest her head against her friend. “So, how did the whole thing end?”

“We paid our fines, got released and … went out for coffee, still in our tattered clothes.” Uzi continued, glancing over to V to wink at her. “Partially to discuss the whole situation, and partially to catch up. Halfway through, Jerk-face gives me a call, wanting to ‘explain the whole situation’. He never expected V – or Charlise, as V called herself then – to be there. Well, we used the moment to very publicly break up with him over the phone. ‘Ziva’ and ‘Charlise’ became good friends afterwards, as the two scorned women bonded over their mutual hatred over a no-good, cheating son-of-a-glitch.”

“After that whole fiasco, we decided that completely cutting of contact when we were living separate Chapters was too big of a risk.” Uzi continued. “So, I created this private communication program that only we can access, so we can at least periodically give each other updates when needed.”

“Uzi can’t stop posting memes on it, though.” V snickered. She cracked her fingers, grinning. “So, I believe it’s my turn for a story. How about something more casual … oh, did you know that I lived as a man for time? Funny how that started, actually. You see, -”

“V? I think you better tell that story another time.” Uzi suggested, her voice lowered while wearing a massive grin on her face.

“Huh, wh- oh, I see.” V couldn’t help but grin at the sight in front of her. Anne and Ashley had fallen asleep together, with the two Drones heads resting against each other. She snorted amusingly. “Okay, our stories weren’t that boring, right?”

“After everything those two did today, I’m surprised they lasted past the first two.” Uzi giggled softly, indicating to V to pick up one of the two sleeping youngsters. She gently picked up Anne in her arms, while V hauled Ashley over her shoulder. She made sure that she had a good grip on her daughter, but smiling softly as Anne nuzzled her face against the former’s shoulder. “Let’s get you to bed, little one.”

Uzi and V carefully relocated the two sleeping beauties to their tent, tucked them in and gave Anne a soft kiss on her forehead. Once they were sure that the girls were comfortable, they made their way back to the campfire, where Uzi let out a heavy sigh as she plopped down.

“What’s wrong, Uz?” V asked, wrapping an arm around her wife’s waist, pulling her closer.

“I’ve been ... thinking.” Uzi explained, glancing over with an expression that told V that she shouldn’t be making any sort of jokes at that moment. “About … Anne and her adopted parents. I don’t think that Anne is really on board with lying to them about us.”

“Yeah …” V bit the inside her of synthetic cheek. “I guess she has that from me. Back then, I never liked lying to N all those years neither. But … it was necessary, just like … this will be.”

“Yeah …” Uzi took a deep breath. “It’s what we’ve always done. It’s … our way.”

“Yup …” V’s grip on Uzi’s arm tightened a little. “It’s for our protection, and theirs.”

A silence fell between them, only the crackling of the fire – and Ashley’s quiet snoring – being heard. Uzi scooted closer to V, nuzzling her face against her arms.

“So, uh … what’s the cover story?”

“Hm?”

“The cover story that we’re gonna tell Hazel and Naomi. Anne’s put them through a lot, so … we’re better give them something good.”

“Oh yeah … I was thinking about taking some inspiration from a real-life event that happened a few years ago.”

“Which is?”

“Remember that story about those twins who coincidentally got their babies on the same day, but their kids got accidentally switched up?”

“Oh yeah, and it took a few years before the truth got found out?” V reminisced, scouring her databanks for that particular story.” Something about the twins producing identical strings in their Parental Source code?”

“Yeah, I was thinking that the story could be that me and my ‘twin sister’ hadn’t spoken each other in years, after a big falling out. She ran off with someone ‘the family’ didn’t approve of. We heard that she and her partner had perished in an accident, but we never knew about them having a child.” Uzi explained, but her tone of voice was … uncharacteristically neutral. Normally, she loved making up backstories for their personas; but this time, it seemed like her heart wasn’t in it. “So, when trying to trace ‘her mother’, Anne accidentally ended up connecting with … her aunt, who lost a child around the same time that of Anne’s birth.”

“How do we explain all the other things?” V asked.

“Daddy spent a lot of money rigging the system, so the family won’t be connected with the wayward daughter.” Uzi hooked her arm around V’s and pulled herself closer. “It’s a sad story, but … the only story, I guess.”

V hummed, nodding along despite looking a bit … absentminded.

“V?”

“Hm?”

“What do you think?”

“I think …” V trailed off, letting her sentence die in the wind. She let out a frustrated sigh. “Wanna hear what I really think?”

“Always.”

“It sucks.” She chuckled dryly when Uzi gave her a startled, annoyed look. “I mean … sure, it’s a good explanation, so Hazel and Naomi wouldn’t have a reason to doubt it. And it would give us an opening in Anne’s life. We’d become the long-lost aunties, who wants nothing more than just connect with their niece.”

“But …?”

“But … it feels … I don’t know … not enough? It’s not like we’re be able to see her every day, or every week even. I just … I want us to really spend time with her. As her mothers.” V let out a huff, leaning her head on top of Uzi’s. “Maybe the last couple of days have spoiled me. I mean, we’ve been spending all this time with Anne, and …”

“And they’ve been the best days we’ve had in a long time?” Uzi stated, guessing her wife’s trail of thought. She giggled when V gave a pouty nod. “I know what you mean, V. I’m not ready to let her go neither.”

“Is it selfish that I want more? Am I a bad person for being envious of those we left our daughter with?” V stared up at the cavern ceiling, the lights of the illuminated gemstones reflected in her visor. “I know it’s wrong to feel like this, but I can’t stop feeling like Hazel and Naomi are getting everything, while … while …?”

“While we’re settling for scraps?” Uzi guessed. She sighed softly, rubbing V’s arms. “Immortal or not, we’re just Drones, V. We’ve got these icky, complicated feelings that we’re dealing with, just like any other Drone out there. You’re not feeling anything that I haven’t been feeling these past few days too, Honey Bee. Doesn’t make us bad people … just people.”

They fell into silence, staring at the dying campfire. They leaned closely against each other, not only for physical comfort but for emotional as well. Every caress one gave the other was like a whisper, telling each other it would be alright.

“Maybe …” Uzi began, her voice quiet and unusually timed. “Maybe Anne is right?”

V looked at Uzi with a raised eyebrow, confused. “About what?”

“About Noami and Hazel being trustworthy.” Uzi avoided her wife’s gaze. “Maybe … we could tell them?”

V stared at her counterpart, expression dumbfounded. She opened her mouth, as if to reprimand her, but … slowly closed it again as her expression changed. She looked back to the campfire, which had died down to smoldering embers. She glanced over to Uzi. “Everything? The whole thing? Our past, our secret abilities, Anne’s abilities?”

“I know it’s a big, big risk, but … V, they’re currently covering up for Anne and Ashley being gone.” Uzi couldn’t help but grin. “They could’ve gone to the police to report her missing, which is what any sensible Drone would do. Instead … they’re trusting Anne and even helping her in her mission, in whatever little way they can. Maybe … we could follow their example. If Anne says they can be trusted …”

V took a long, deep breath, letting out an even longer, deeper exhale. “Maybe.”

“We don’t need to decide tonight.” Uzi intertwined her fingers with V’s, giving her wife a soft smile. “How about we go to bed? It’s been a long day for us too, you know.”

“I do know.” V grinned slyly as she scooped up Uzi from her seat, giving the giggling Drone a little spin. “I also know that my poor leg’s been aching, oh, so much from all that training with Anne. I could use someone to give it some thorough TLC.”

“Is that so? Oh, my poor baby.” Uzi chuckled, her voice sounding overly sweet. She held V’s face, her own face inches away from the blushing Disassembly Drone’s visor. Planting a kiss on one cheek, she savored the way that V softly gasped. She brought her voice to a low whisper, just the way her wife liked it. “I know just how to fix that ache. I’ll use my … special screwdriver.”

V gulped loudly, very much aware that her attempt at flirting got turned around on her … and boy, did she love it when Uzi got like this. She spun around and marched straight towards their tent. “Okay-let’s-get-to-bed!”

Uzi just giggled. Another point for her.

The next day Anne spent most of her time doing more of what they had done yesterday. In the morning learning to activate and manage supercharging her systems, followed by mastering her Huntress Mode, as she liked to call it, without losing control. It was … almost funny how different this day was, compared to the previous one. Where she once struggled and failed so often, she now felt like it was … easy. Then again, Anne always had been like this. Once she knew how do something, it wasn’t much of a problem to repeat it.

When her abilities first appeared, she had been scared and anxious, feeling as if her whole life was coming apart at the seams. But now … she loved it. Running, jumping, even thinking faster than she had ever done. Her already enhanced senses being even more amplified during her Huntress Mode was a total rush.

She felt like she was on top of the world.

Nothing could stop her.

…

Except maybe –

“There’s no use complaining, Anne. Me and V have decided, and our word is final.” Uzi stated firmly, crossing her arms in annoyance when her darling daughter voiced her disagreement- again – with leaving the Training Cavern. “I told you that we were only going to be here a few days. Me and V have been away from our responsibilities in town for far too long. I’ve got a business to attend, you know.”

“Can’t we -?”

“No.”

“But -!”

“Anne Elliot Brinkman, do I need to repeat myself?!” Uzi asked sharply, smirking slightly when Anne flinched. “That’s right, cower under the use of your full name. Now get to packing as much as possible. We’re leaving tomorrow morning, and I don’t want lose too much time.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Good girl.” Uzi patted Anne on the head with a chuckle, spun around, and promptly scowled when she saw V lounging on a chair, wearing shades for some reason. “V, that means you too!”

V made a blabbing motion with her hand.

“Are you giving me sass!?”

“Man, it’s like watching one of those old romcoms in real life.” Ashley chuckled, very much enjoying how V scrambled out of her chair, clearly realizing she took the act a bit too far. When her best friend didn’t answer, she looked over in the latter’s direction. Noticing the somber expression on Anne’s face, she gave her a playful shove. “What’s with the long face, 2Tone?”

“Hm? Oh, nothing.” Anne muttered, letting out a deep sigh. She laughed softly when she noticed her friend’s expression, which scream ‘I don’t believe you’. “Oh fine, I guess … I’m just not ready to have this end.”

“Oh, but I am.” Ashley countered, giving Anne a playful smirk. “I’m having withdrawal symptoms from lack of TV and bad cell coverage.”

Anne couldn’t help but snort. “The important stuff, right?”

“You know it.” Ashley joked, gently elbowing her friend against her arm. She threw an arm around Anne’s shoulder, giving her a shake. “C’mon, lay it on me.”

“I guess I was hoping this would’ve gone on a lot longer.” Anne confessed, leaning her head on Ashley’s shoulder with a sigh. “I’ve just met my birth parents, found out they are probably the coolest Drones on the entire planet-”

“Don’t let them hear that.”

“And I’m just starting to learn how to use my abilities.” Anne continued, ignoring her friend’s little jest. “All in a span of a few days, and now … I have to go home?”

“We still got a few days before we actually leave you know.” Ashley reminded her. “You still got time to hang out with them. And can’t you work on your powers back home too?”

“Oh, where I have to keep them secret? Even from my parents?” Anne asked rhetorically, raising an eyebrow. “Because of the Rules that Uzi and V can’t stop reminding me of?”

“We’ll figure out a way, you and I.” Ashley reassured Anne, giving her a wink. “We always do.”

“I guess.” Anne sighed, managing to produce a small smile. “Thank, Ash.”

“Anytime. Now, how ab-?” she began, but looked up when V called her over. “Hang on, one of the old-timers needs some help.”

“I heard that!”

“I know!” Ashley grinned, throwing a sly wink in Anne’s direction. “BRB, 2T.”

Anne sighed as she watched her friend walk away from her. Deep down in her Core, she knew that Ashley was right. They’d figure something out; make all this work for them … somehow. And she knew that Uzi and V were right too, obviously. Some things were not meant to be shared. As awesome and cool these abilities are … people would most likely fear them: or worse, they’d try to take advantage of them. So … keeping them secret was the most logical thing.

…

But glitch it if it didn’t suck that she had to do that. She wanted to show off to her parents back home. Show them how much more awesome their already great daughter is.

…

Then again … there was the whole ‘fearing those powers’ thing, and she had no idea how she’d explain the whole ‘hey, my birth parents are still alive thing’, though Uzi and v had assured her they’d take care of that.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Anne absentmindedly grabbed a handful of rock from the ground and started tossing them. Until she noticed something shiny among the dull rocks: a piece of those gemstones that littered the caverns walls and ceiling. Must’ve chipped off some time ago. She looked around, noticing a lot of shiny specks glittering along the floor. Outside, the night was falling, and the gemstones – even shards – were slowly starting to glow.

Staring back at the little shiny shard in her hand, Anne got an idea. Maybe she could show off her abilities in a way that she’d never actually have to show them to Naomi and Hazel. She’d bring one of those gemstones back home. One that she’d pluck out of the walls herself. She’d have the satisfaction of knowing she’d used her abilities to get it, without her parents knowing how she’d got it. Plus, it would make a neat little gift for them that would look great in the big living room display case. Win-win!  

Dusting off her hand as she stood up, she looked around to try and find a perfect specimen for her quest. She walked up towards the nearest cavern wall, letting her vision zoom in as she searched.

“Hey, Anne, what are you doing?” She heard Uzi ask her from the other side of the cavern.

“Looking for one of those gems to bring back home with me! For my parents!” Anne answered, not letting her gaze wander away from the wall. She paused for a moment. “Is that okay?”

She could hear Uzi’s chuckle, and Anne could imagine her standing there with her fists on her hips while she’d shake her head in an amused manner. “Fine, just be careful. We wouldn’t want to cause a cave-in.”

“Wouldn’t it technically be a cavern-in?”

“Go outside and see if we still have enough stuff to camouflage the entrance!” Uzi huffed. “Like I said, just be careful, Anne.”

“Mm-hmm …” Anne hummed, allowing herself to smirk. She got why Uzi wanted her to be careful but c’mon, there’s no way that this cavern, which had stood solid and firm for all those years, would suddenly would collapse.

Right?

…

Yeah, it’d be fine.

“Hmm, that one’s too small, … that one’s too big, … that one way too big, … ew, too suggestive!” Anne muttered to herself as she tried to decide on which one she wanted to get. She searched all along the wall, her gaze climbing higher and higher, until … something sparkled in the corner of her projected eyes. There she saw it: the perfect gem to bring with her.

Only problem was … it was on the ceiling, near one of the holes that littered the topside of the cavern.

Scratch that, two problems: she’d have to scale the ceiling somehow.

And she had been warned about climbing up there.

…

But that was before she had done all that training. Sure, it had been only been two days, but she had learned so much about her own abilities and how to use them. She was faster, stronger and surely more durable now. She wasn’t the same, oblivious Anne as two days ago. If anyone could get that gem, it was the new, improved Anne.

A grin spread on her face as she rubbed her hands together. “Easy-peasy.”

She walked up to the wall, giving it a good look as she tried to figure out how to get up there. Maybe an enhanced jump could bridge a good part of the way? Yeah, great idea! And from there … just climb as fast as she could. Yeah, absolutely nothing that could go wrong there!

And the ceiling … just … hold on tight?

“Y-yeah?”

Yeah!

Anne closed her eyes and took a deep breath, thinking back on all that she had learned about using her enhanced powers. Targeted intent. Clear objective. Focus on which of her limbs need to be supercharged: Her legs for jumping, hands to dig into rock, charging her vision so she could see where she’d get the most grip.

She felt that familiar burn building up in her legs and her hands. She slowly breathed out, feeling the hot air shimmer around her mouth.

She opened her eyes.

And jumped as high as her enhanced leap would take her. At the peak of her jump, she slammed her hands into the wall, digging her fingers in as deep as she could.

“Whew, can’t believe that worked.” Anne said to herself, grinning widely.

“Anne, what are you doing?” she heard Uzi ask her.

“Climbing!” Anne replied, as she reached up for a protruding piece of embedded stone that she could pull herself up with. She slowly lifted up one of her feet, and gently placed it against the wall, paying attention to any slippery surface. She grinned victoriously as she kept pushing herself up. This was working great!

“I can see that!” Uzi shouted, her perceived nonchalance betrayed by a hint of concern. “Didn’t I tell you to be careful!?”

“Don’t worry, it’s not like I can’t heal instantly or anything!” Just as she said that, her foot slipped, but she managed to grab on before she slid down too far. “Whoops. Don’t worry, I’m fine!”

Ashley’s voice suddenly called out. “Anne?! Are you crazy!? Come down!”

“I’ll be fine!” Anne pulled up her feet as far as she could, planted them firmly on the wall, concentrated … and jumped up, gaining a lot of altitude before she had to grab unto the wall again.

“Anne, come down right now and we’ll get that gemstone together! It’s not worth it cracking your skull open.” Uzi shouted. When the rebellious teenager wouldn’t heed her instruction, she started to look around for her winged companion. “V, where are you!?”

“Ugh, will you guys stop panicking?” Anne groaned out loudly as she looked down to the others. “It’s gonna be – woah. Okay, that’s … high.”

Anne hadn’t realized how high she actually was, just as she kinda underestimated how high the cavern was. It looked a lot less deep from the ground … She took a deep breath and steeled herself. With renewed, yet slightly faltering confidence, she resumed climbing up, one foot at a time. She didn’t feel like jumping anymore. “No turning back now.”

“ANNE, PLEASE!” Ashley voice cracked with worry, but Anne was too far to climb down now. Besides … if she’d fall, she’d just heal and she’d be alright. She was the daughter of two immortals, after all. There was nothing in the world that could harm her.

Soon, she had reached the top of the wall. She made sure that one hand had a firm grip on the wall, then slowly released her grip of her other hand so she could look behind her. The gemstone was … a bit further than she had anticipated it to be. Like … a lot further.

A digital bead of sweat slid down her visor as Anne grimaced. ‘Wow, I am not doing great with perspective today.’

“ANNE, COME DOWN!” Uzi shouted once again, frustration clearly in her voice. She was trying to keep Ashley from climbing up the wall as well, which was the only thing preventing her from doing that same thing as well.

“I’VE ALMOST GOT IT!” Anne shouted back, grinning confidently. She turned her attention towards the gemstone, trying to figure out the best way to grab it. Her eyes fell on the holes in the ceiling. An idea started to form in her head. The holes were spread apart with various distances, but … if she could swing herself fast enough …  Anne looked down at the two other Drones. “I’M GONNA JUNGLE GYM IT!”

“WHAT?”

“ANNE, YOU SUCK AT JUNGLE GYM! YOU ALWAYS FALL FLAT ON YOUR FACE!”

“YOU GUYS WORRY TOO MUCH!” Anne let out a huff, rolling her eyes. “SUPER-HEALING, REMEMBER!”

“Anne, that doesn’t mean you c-!” Uzi shouted, but Anne muted her hearing, blocking out whatever the purple-haired Drone was gonna say next. She needed to concentrate for this, because … well, Ashley was telling the truth about her jungle gym experiences. She got her feet in position, making sure she could push herself off the wall with enough force. She took a deep breath, holding it for a few moments … and started counting down.

3

2

1

…

GO!

Anne pushed herself off as hard as she could, arms stretched out toward the nearest hole. The world around her seemed to slow down as her destination seemed to edge closer and closer.

She reached out with her hand … and grazed the edge of the hole.

A gasp escaped her mouth.

‘No!’

Her other hand shot up … and managed to grab on. She quickly latched on with her other hand, pulling herself up. She let out a sigh of relief, sweating profusely. She let her body go limb and started to swing back and forth until … she could jump again.

She quickly went from hole to hole, until she reached the gemstone she wanted. She made sure she had a firm grip, before letting go with her other hand and reaching out for the gem. In the corner of her eyes, she could see a muted Uzi and Ashley shouting at her. Probably encouraging her.

Anne grinned as she let her finger glide over the gem. The wind that traveled through the openings in the ceiling had eroded the top into a smooth surface, but the part still embedded in the rock would be all jagged and stuff. Momma Naomi would go mental for that.

Ann tried to take a hold on the gemstone, which was about the size of her fist, but groaned in frustration when she encountered a problem. The smooth surface of the stone didn’t allow for a good grip. Her fingers kept sliding off. “Glitch it, that thing is slippery.” She muttered to herself. She’d surely get it out if she could use both her hands, but if she’d let go …

Then saw two openings not too far from the gemstone. Anne got a crazy idea, but crazy ideas seemed to have helped her thus far, so why not just keep this crazy train going? She swung her body back and forth again a few times, arching as far back as she possibly could, and … swung forward. She managed to stick one of her feet in one of the holes, and immediately jammed her other foot into the second hole.

Once she made sure that her feet pretty anchored her in place, she reached out with one hand towards the gemstone – using all her enhanced might in her other hand to keep herself in place. Once she got a hold on it, she took a deep breath, because now came the tricky part.

She counted down from three, two, one, … and quickly grabbed onto the gemstone with her other hand. A grin spread on her face; she had a good grip with both her hands, and she could feel the rock already wiggling.

“Okay, Anne … now pull!” Anne said to herself, pulling as hard as she could. When the first attempt failed, she tried another time. This time the stone slightly moved, but still was in there pretty deep. Deciding that this rock needed some enhanced persuasion, she let her arms supercharge, wincing slightly as the burn build up.

She steeled herself.

She strengthened her grip around the gemstone.

And pulled.

And pulled again.

And ag – oh, it came loose.

Anne let out a yelp when she suddenly hung upside down, shiny gemstone in her hands. She let out a victorious laugh, holding the gemstone up – rather, down – in glory. Her laughter died quickly when she realized that she had no idea how to get down. In hindsight, maybe she could’ve thought this one through a bit more. No biggie: V would soon be back and she’d probably get her down.

Good thing that she made sure she wasn’t going anywhere for the time being. If it hadn’t been for her feet anchoring her in those holes, she probably … hang on, did she drop a little? She unmuted her hearing … and felt her core tighten when she heard a crackling sound.

She suddenly dropped a few inches, rocky debris raining on her. From her bat-like position, Anne had terrifyingly good idea what was happening. Cracks were starting to form where the gemstone had previously been … and they were spreading towards her anchors.

“Uh-oh, not good.” Anne gulped, pressing the gemstone to her chest. Time to call in the cavalry. “Uhm … guys, can -!?”

She never managed to finish her sentence.

As the rock around her feet broke away … she fell.

This time … the world didn’t slow down around her.

No. This time, everything seemed to go so fast.

The ground closed in at terrifying speed.

She didn’t even have time to yell.

Anne just closed her eyes … and waited for the crunch.

…

There was a rush of wind.

Something grabbed her.

The crunch never came.

Anne’s eyes blinked open. “Vuh- V?”

“You are so lucky that I heard Uzi yell, Anne.” The yellow-eyed Drone, wings spread out, looked down at her daughter securely in her arms, giving her the angriest scowl Anne had ever seen. “By the way, you are in so much trouble, young lady.”

V circled around, flying back towards Uzi and Ashley, who were already running in their direction. V landed with a grace that only centuries of practice could’ve brought … and unceremoniously dropped Anne on the ground.

“It’s okay! I’m fine!” Anne announced with a slightly trembling voice, which wasn’t the only thing trembling. Her legs didn’t seem to work right, she noticed as she scampered up. She dusted herself off, grinning as she noticed Ashley making a beeline towards her. She held up the gemstone in victory, feeling so proud of herself. “Look, Ash, I got the-!”

BANG!

CRACK!

BANG! (again)

Anne groaned, confused about what just happened. Why was her visor hurting? How was she looking at the ceiling right now? Why was she on her back?

Oh.

Did Ashley just … punch her?

She had. And hard, too.

“ARE YOU INSANE, ANNE?!”

“W-whu?” Anne managed to push herself up, her eyes replaced with twirls. She shook her head, trying to shake the dizziness away – it didn’t help. “Ashley, why did you just punch me? What’s your glitch?”

“My glitch? MY GLITCH?” Ashley scoffed in indignation, giving her friend a look like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She accusingly pointed at the confused Drone. “What’s your glitch, Anne? What in the name of Creators were you thinking: pulling a dangerous stunt like that?”

Anne glanced over to the shiny gem, now lying next to her. “I just-.”

“‘Wanted to show off’?” Ashley interrupted, absolutely seething. Her visor was practically glowing red, huffing as she started to pace around. “If V hadn’t caught you, you’d-! Do you have any idea how scared I was; seeing you hang up there?

“Even so, I would’ve been fine!” Anne countered, scrambling up and puffing up her chest. “I have super-strength and super-healing, remember?”

“So that makes it alright for you to do extremely dangerous stuff like that?!” Ashley shouted back. She got right into Anne’s face and gave her a shove. “You don’t even know if you can survive a fall like that?”

“W-well …”

“DO YOU?” Ashley waited for Anne to answer … but nothing came. She huffed. “That’s what I thought. Sure, V caught you, but what if…?”

The hypothetical question hung thick in the air, loaded with uncertain fear.

“Ash, I …”

“What would I have told Hazel and Naomi?” Ashley asked, her voice quiet. “If the worst came to pass, I would have to break the news to them. I’d have to explain what happened. How could I ever explain them that …?”

Anne’s voice faltered with guilt. “Ashley, I’m -”

“And you didn’t even listen!” Ashley continued, her voice back at full volume. Her fists were balled up with so much force, Anne thought she could hear the metal cracking. “Not to Uzi! Worst of all, not to me! Your! Best! Friend! All over, what, some stupid shiny rock?!”

“Ashley, I … I know I messed up, but-!”

“Forget it, Brinkman!” Ashley huffed, spinning around on her heels and walking away from the group. “Forget it! Leave me alone! I don’t want to hear it! I don’t want to hear or even see you right now.”

“Ashley, wait!” Anne tried to run after her, but got pulled back by her collar by Uzi.

“Let her walk away, Anne.” Uzi instructed softly, while having a firm grip on her daughter.

“I need to-!”

“Mess things up even more?” V filled in with venomous sarcasm.

“V!” Uzi hissed. “Can’t you be a little more-?”

“Uzi, Ashley is right!” V growled, her eyes falling on Anne, who shrunk under her gaze. “Anne … what were you thinking? You could’ve gotten yourself extremely hurt, or worse!”

“Why is everyone getting mad at me?” Anne questioned. “I mean … with my super-healing-!”

“Oh, like the way that your eye is healing right now?” V asked sarcastically. “Or haven’t you noticed?”

“Noticed wh- ow!” Anne had tried to touch her visor, but she winced as a sharp pain jolted straight through her head. She immediately realized that something was very wrong. Her visor … it was still broken. She could clearly see the crack in her vision. And it hurt, a lot. It … wasn’t healing itself like it did the other times. “My … my visor? Why isn’t my visor healing?”

“This … is why I wanted you to be careful, Anne.” Uzi sighed, kneeling down to give the cracked visor a look.

“Why … why isn’t it healing?” Anne repeated her question, wincing as she felt a shard of glass come loose and fall to the ground.

“You really haven’t listened to our story, haven’t you?” V asked with a venomous tone in her voice. “Jeez, I thought that you’d at least be smart enough to-!”

“V! That’s enough!” Uzi reprimanded sternly, her angry gaze snapping towards her beloved partner. After a tense staring contest of a few moments, her expression softened. “Please. Enough. It’s not her fault … it’s ours. We should’ve been more … forward about the potential consequences. We shouldn’t have spared her like that. Had she known …”

V sighed, her expression changing from a scowl to an apologetic grimace. She rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah … okay … I think you’ve got appoint there. Hey, sorry for yelling, Anne.”

“Can someone please explain what’s going on?” Anne whimpered.

“Anne …” Uzi began, getting her daughter’s attention. She placed a hand on Anne’s cheek, rubbing her thumb gently under the girl’s cracked visor. Her core ached when the young Drone winced, as digital tears were slowly forming in the latter’s screen. “While V was a bit … tactless with her words … she has a point … somewhat.”

Anne swallowed hard, still trembling a bit. “I don’t-?”

“Listen … we’ve called this virus and the abilities it’s given me and Uzi a lot of things over the years: our curse, our affliction, our problem, a sickness, infection, you name it.” V explained, her expression souring a bit as she rubbed her arm. “The one thing we’ve never called it, and will never call, … is a gift. That’s the one thing it will never be, no matter how you look at it.”

“Why?” Anne asked, wincing as her visor sparked. “I mean, sure; it sucks to have to deal with all those rules, but –”

“No, Anne, you really don’t get it.” V sighed, pinching the bridge of her visor.

“V …”

“Uzi … she doesn’t get it.” V interrupted, clearly done with dancing around the issue. She looked over to Anne. “Anne, you only had these abilities for a little while. You look at this, and you see … excitement, thrills, things like that. Don’t deny it.”

Anne really wanted to retort, but bit her lip instead. V … was kinda right.

“That’s what I thought.” V folded her hands behind her head, gazing up towards the ceiling – and the new hole that Anne had made – letting out a heavy sigh. “Yes, you can heal from nearly any wound, but don’t think for a second that it means you are invincible, Anne. That’s a dangerous way of thinking; a great way to put yourself – or whoever you care about – in some real nasty situations. There are things that are way worse than death that can happen to you, Anne. We should know … we’ve experienced them.”

Something about the way V said that just made sense of pure dread pass through the young Drone’s core. “Wh- … what do you mean?” Anne quietly asked.

“Anne, remember what we told you. When the Absolute Solver infected us with this virus, it did so to punish us.” Uzi took over, trying to be the calmer, more levelheaded one of the two Ancient Drones – something her younger self would have never considered before.

“Yeah, I know.” Anne said, still trying to shake away that feeling of dread that seemed to have hooked itself into her core.

“You don’t know, Anne.” V took over again, kneeling down in front of her. She poked her finger against Anne’s visor, inwardly wincing as her daughter yelped in pain. “Like I said, you’ve never lived our lives. You’ve never … reached that point that we have.”

“What point?” Anne asked, groaning as her visor’s wound ached.

“The point where you’re done with it.” Uzi answered with a low, sorrow tone of voice, glancing away from her daughter. “All of it. Where you just want things to … end.”

“Permanently…” V added with a dark, gloomy look in her eyes.

Anne’s eyes hollowed as she realized what Uzi and V were trying to tell her. “You guys …?”

V sighed heavily as she stood up and walked up to her wife, planting her hand gently on the latter’s cheek. “This life … takes a toll. Especially in the beginning. There were times that we felt that we just … couldn’t handle it anymore. Everyone has days like that, I suppose.”

“N, my dad, my mom, Thad, Lizzy, Doll, Charlie, Maggie, Sylvester, … all people we’ve known … and aren’t there anymore.” Uzi blinked away a digital tear that was forming in her eyes. “We’ve lost so many friends; kept so many secrets, lied to everyone we’ve ever met. Move on from one identity to another. Over and over again. One day … we just … had enough.”

“And you …” Anne gulped as the question hung in the air like a thick fog.

“Tried to end it.” V confirmed, letting out a heavy sigh, before a dark chuckle escaped her lips. “Heh, tried and failed. And believe me: we’ve been creative.” There was some sort of … maddened glee in her voice, and it made Anne shiver. V’s expression darkened, her voice lowering to an almost … frightened whisper. “But every time we tried to kick the bucket, this sunova glitch virus brought us right back. No matter how much damage we did to ourselves.”

“That’s … horrible.” Anne muttered, feeling like her core would turn over. “I can’t imagine …”

“Oh, but you are experiencing it right now.” V stated curtly, pointing to Anne’s visor. “Because, like we said, this virus’ job is to punish us, and sometimes it punishes us by … well, not doing its job. Oh yeah, it can do that. Me and Uzi … learned that the hard way.”

“Do I … want to know?” Anne gulped.

“You really don’t.” Uzi winced, as the memory of that night in that abandoned scrapyard popped up. The sound of shrieking metal. That sickening crunch. The way her body was crushed and compacted into an unrecognizable piece of thrash. The pain. The first time they realized how cruel the Absolute Solver was when it forced this virus upon them. The slow agony as what usually happened in an instant was dragged out into weeks.

“Do you know … what’s it like, Anne?” V asked, placing her hands on the uncomfortable young Drone. Uzi tried to stop her, but V held up her hand. Anne needed to understand the ugly side of their abilities. “Lying there motionless, while your body is this mangled, crunched up, unrecognizable piece of scrap? Unable to move or speak … but still being completely conscious through it all? Unable to stop the pain. Nothing to distract yourself from the agony. Can you imagine the torture of having your body very slowly restoring itself in a span of weeks?”

“V, stop it.” Uzi warned, seeing the horrified expression on Anne’s face.

But the yellow-eyed Drone wasn’t done. This was a lesson that Anne needed to learn. No matter how hard it was to hear.

“And you know what was even worse?” V continued, tightening her grip on Anne’s shoulder. She pointed over towards Uzi. “The love of your life is right there, going through that same torture … and you can’t do anything to help her.”

“Please … stop.” Anne whimpered, tears running down her face.

Uzi quickly stepped in, wrapping an arm around Anne and facing her away from V, who glanced away. She rubbed Anne’s back, waiting for the distraught youngster to calm down

“I … I’m sorry.” Anne whispered. “I …”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. While I’m certain V could’ve handled that …a little better …” Uzi started, glancing over to her wife, who was still looking away. “I do hope you understand what we’re trying to say. This virus … is not your ally. It’s a tool made by something malicious, meant to punish us. We’ve just … learnt how to live with it. That’s the whole point of what we were trying to do here. We’re giving you the tools to manage your life without having this … curse slowing you down.”

“So … there was a chance that I would’ve just … stayed broken for a while?” Anne asked, trying to voice her question a bit tactful.

“Or worse …” V mumbled, letting out a sigh as Uzi threw her a scowl. “I’m right, aren’t I? We don’t know how much the Virus has affected her. Let alone the fact that it emerged on her differently than with us. For all we know, it’s by design.”

Uzi rolled her eyes, letting out a defeated sigh. “I hate to encourage her, but … V does have another point.” She tucked a stray strand of hair back under Anne’s beanie. “Like we said, the Virus is meant as punishment, so there might be a chance that … well, …”

“-that I’m not immortal.” Anne swallowed hard. This wasn’t the first time that her birth parents had brought up the possibility that she didn’t share all of their … symptoms. She shuddered, feeling sick that she almost called ‘gifts’ again, but knowing what Uzi and V had put themselves, or rather the virus, through made earlier overconfidence seems …

Anne’s eyes hollowed in horrified realization. “Oh … I could’ve died.”

“Still the smart one …” the corner of V’s lips turned into a wry grin.  She sighed and patted Anne, who was already wobbling on her feet, on the back. “I think you owe Ashley a big apology.”

Anne wanted to jump up and ran towards her best friend. Fall on her knees and beg for forgiveness. “Right! I’ll go right n-!”

“But-!” Uzi grabbed the collar of Anne’s jacket and pulled her back. “Right now, I doubt that she’ll want to talk with you.”

“Yeah, best to let her simmer for a while.” V added, giving Anne a sympathetic grin. “Once she had time to cool down, she’ll be less likely to wanna tear your head off. Take it from someone who’s been married far longer than anyone should ever been.”

“One time!” Uzi held up a finger, an annoyed expression on her visor. “I did that one time! I gave it back afterwards.”

“Yeah, after being stuck in a confined space three days!” V huffed, grinning. “Which you put me in.”

“Not my fault that the code that came that safe wasn’t the right one!” Uzi defended herself.

Anne let the elder couple’s argument fade to the background, as she stared wistfully at the tent where Ashley had retreated into. Maybe V was right … she’d wait a few hours or so. She needed to overthink some things herself, too. She knew how Ashley could be when she got this angry. It would take more than a bad joke and a quick apology to remedy this.

If she could remedy this …

A couple of hours later, night had completely fallen and most of the stuff was packed away. The mood, however, was far different than last time. Anne sat in silence, staring at the campfire while Uzi and V quietly talked with each other. She glanced over towards the lake where Ashley was sitting, skipping stones on the water. She had come out of her tent a little while ago – Uzi had asked her, because the tent needed to be cleaned out – and just … ignored Anne for the meantime.

Anne pulled her knees to her chest, hugging them. She wanted to go over to Ashley, but … she was scared that she’d go too soon and make things worse. So, she opted to wait until the two more experienced Drones gave their permission.

Anne carefully touched her visor, which had finally healed completely. Her birth parents hadn’t been wrong about the … experience, which had been awful. It had taken its sweet time to get started, and took even longer before she could finally see out of her left eye again. Not to mention that it hurt the entire time. As of right now, there was still a throbbing ache, but she figured that it would go away on its own eventually.

When V cleared her throat, she looked up. The older drone nodded at her, nudging her head towards Ashley’s direction. Anne glanced over for a moment, but shrunk in herself, making herself look smaller. Uzi smiled sympathetically at her and nodded as well. Anne let out a heavy sigh and stood up. Time to face the music.

She cautiously walked over to her (hopefully still) friend, her mind racing over what she’d need to say to smooth things over between them. She had … a few ideas, but … Ashley could be unpredictable when she was in a mood like this. Anne really didn’t feel like throwing more fuel on the fire.

As Anne approached Ashley, she tried her best to read the latter’s body language. If she hadn’t heard Anne approach, she was doing a fine job of pretending she didn’t.

Anne stopped a little distance from Ashley, unsure of what she’d do now, or what she’d say. She opened her mouth a few times, but nothing sensible seemed to want to come out. Eventually … Anne decided to just take a seat as well.

She kept a respectable distance between herself and Ashley, not wanting to provoke her in any way. She pulled up her knees to her chest … and waited. Maybe Anne herself would say the first word or maybe Ashley would, but for now … silence seemed better.

The minutes passes in silence, with only the occasional pebble skipping across the lake. Ashley hadn’t said a word yet, but the fact that she allowed Anne to still be there was a good sign … right.

Restlessness started to overtake her, prompting Anne to pick up a pebble as well. She threw it … and made a pitiful splash as it just sank to the bottom.

An amused snort.

Anne glanced over to Ashley, and noticed the ghost of a grin tugging at the corner of her lips, which made her core flutter with cautious hope. Still … better to keep quiet for now. Anne grabbed a handful of pebbles and tried skipping them again; with moderate success. A little while later, Ashley joined in. They sat in silence, skipping stones over the lake for … Anne had no idea how long.

“Sorry I punched you.”

The sudden breach of silence startled Anne so hard that she almost yelled, hadn’t she been able to stop herself from doing so. It hadn’t gone unnoticed by her companion though, who snickered.

“It … it’s fine.” Anne said quietly, unwittingly rubbing her visor. “It healed … eventually.”

“‘Eventually’?”

“Yeah … turns out the Virus can … stubborn.”

“Heh … serves you right.”

“I know.”

…

“Did it hurt?”

“The punch or the healing?”

“The healing.”

“A little.” That was a lie.

“Oh …”

“Yah …”

…

“Anne, I –!”

“Ashley, I –!”

…

The two girls couldn’t help but giggle.

“Anne …” Ashley started … but no other words came. She seemed to be as much at a loss for words as Anne was. She sighed, rubbing the back of her head. “Listen, I meant what I said back there, you know. Just because you’ve got these abilities, doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want, or ignore when people are trying to warn you to stop.”

“I know, and you were right.” Anne admitted. It felt good that they were talking again. “I was showing off. I was overconfident; my ego got a bit too sure of itself.”

“Sounds about right.”

“It was dumb. Egotistical. Arrogant.”

“Keep going.”

“And things could’ve gone … much worse.” Anne winced as she thought back on what V had told her about their … act of desperation.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Ashley grabbed another pebble of the ground and threw it, grinning as it skipped over the lake.

There fell a silence between them, but it wasn’t as uncomfortable as before. Tense, yeah … but less foreboding. Anne even dared to scoot a bit closer; which Ashley seemed to permit.

Eventually, Ashley broke the silence. “Anne, for as long as I can remember, I was the one watching your back. If we got into trouble, I was always the one who’d get us out.” Ashley sighed, leaning back as she gazed up the ceiling. “Seeing you dangle up there, seeing you fall … and feeling so helpless ...”

“I promise I won’t pull any stunts like that again.”

“You better, but … it’s not only that.” Ashley chewed her lower lip, seemingly uncomfortable with what she wanted to say. She eventually let out a sigh. “Seeing you train with V and Uzi; watching you as you master these cool powers … it kinda feels like you won’t need me to watch your back again. I feel like I’m … going to be left behind.”

“What?” Anne scoffed. “That’s not true. Ash, you are my best friend in the whole wide world. The universe, even!”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get sappy on me.” Ashley rebutted, but Anne noticed the blush lines on her visor.

“Why would you ever think that I’d … Does this have anything to do with -?”

“What? No! … okay, maybe a little.” Ashley let out a huff. “You see a shrink a few times a month, and you’d think I would’ve gotten over my issues by now.”

“Ash …”

“Meh, enough about … her.”

“So …we good?” Anne asked cautiously.

Ashley grinned widely. “Yeah, we good, 2tone -oomph!”

Anne had pretty much tackled Ashley to the ground with her flying hug, making the two Drones burst into laughter.

“Oh Ash, I’m so sorry! I’ll never do it again!” Anne promised as she snuggled up against Ash.

“Jeez, I’ve already forgiven you, Anne.” Ashley said with a slight tremble in her voice. “Get off me.”

“Not yet!” Anne stated, and she planted a kiss on Ashley’s cheek. “I need to show you I mean it.”

“Anne, sto-o-op! Weirdo!” Ashley laughed, trying to wrestle the overly apologetic Drone off her. But despite her best effort, Anne kept planting her lips on the redhead’s cheek.

And another.

And another.

And .. Anne suddenly felt something soft brush against her lips.

Ashley’s lips?

The two girls quickly pushed themselves from one another, putting an arm’s length between them. They remained silent while giving each other a shocked look as both of their visors were illuminated with blush lines. Anne had her hand on her lips, while Ashley had a sudden intense interest in the cavern ceiling.

“So, uh … did we just …?” Anne asked quietly.

“Wha? Nah, nah, absolutely not.” Ashley quickly answered, her visor lighting up even more. “That was … anything but that. That was just … a touch, right?”

“Y-yeah.”

They fell into an embarrassed silence for a few moments … before Ashley eventually let out a nervous chuckle.

“T-that should teach you to get s-sappy with me, huh?” Ashley stated, grinning nervously.

“I guess so, hehe …” Anne’s smile was anything but genuine. And there were those confused feelings again that she really needed to push down for now. “So … everything’s back to normal between us?”

“Yup, normal as can be!” Ashley assured, her voice reaching a new pitch.

“Just friends who made up after a fight.”

“Yup.”

“Yah.”

…

Anne let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and scrambled to her feet, dusting off some debris off her outfit. She cautiously held out a hand towards Ashley, intending to help her up. The latter initially reached out, but flinched when their fingers brushed against each other. After a few moments more of blushing … she grabbed Anne’s hand. Muttering a quiet ‘thank you’ and ‘you’re welcome’ to each other, they made their way back towards the campfire.

A few moments of awkward silence passed, but were promptly broken when Ashley suddenly threw an arm over Anne’s shoulder and pulled her close. The tense air surrounding them immediately dispersed, as Anne returned the gesture by putting an arm around her best friend’s waist.

Earlier awkwardness aside, it felt great to have her best friend back. Anne couldn’t be happier.

Which explained the butterflies she was feeling fluttering around in her stomach.

Right?

Chapter Text

[SLEEP_CYCLE COMPLETE. WAKE_UP_MISS_DENIAL!]

Anne groaned as she opened her eyes, ignoring the taunt on her wakeup message. Denial? What denial? She’s not in denial. Nuh-uh! Not Anne …y-yeah!

Throwing her legs over the edge of the bed, she stretched herself while letting out a long yawn. Man, she slept like pill baby.

…

And very deeply, Anne figured as she let her gaze go around the room … where she was the only one. It seemed that Ashley had awoken before her, a feat that not often occurred. Even less of an occurrence was that Ashley hadn’t taken the opportunity to pillow-slam her best friend during the latter’s slumber. Then again, after their fight, Anne wouldn’t want to throw fuel on the fire as well.

Anne stood up and walked over to the wardrobe, where a fresh batch of clothes was awaiting her, provided by her … caretakers. She sighed as she got herself dressed. There was still this weird feeling in her core whenever she thought of Uzi and V as her parents, and she couldn’t figure out why it still made her feel that way.

From the moment that she had learnt about her adoption and the peculiar circumstances, which seemed like a lifetime ago by now, all she had wanted was to know about who her birth parents were. When she found out that there was a possibility that they could’ve been alive, she had been over the moon. All she wanted were answers, and she got those and so much more.

These last few days had been great: getting to know her birth parents and their story, training together to learn control over her powers. Okay, there was that big fight with Ash, but once that was resolved, things had been great again. So, then why …?

“Ugh, I haven’t been awake long enough for this kind of internal monologue. I’ll have this existential parental crisis later.” Anne mumbled to herself as she hoisted herself into a pair of skinny jeans.

According to the name haphazardly sewn into the waist, this pair used to be owned by Uzi. Anne couldn’t help but smile a little. Back home, most of her wardrobe was made up with hand-me-downs from her mothers. Or rather … they became hand-me-downs after she liberated them from the sealed boxes in the attic. Robo-God forbid that anyone found out that Naomi went through an emo-phase. Or that Hazel used to be a hardcore (yet closeted) punk-rocker.

She sauntered over to the bathroom to brush her hair. As she saw her reflection in the mirror, she let out a heavy groan. Great, her hair was a mess. The dye job was starting to fade, courtesy of the intense training, most likely. The black had faded towards a very dark grey, and even the red tips were a lot lighter than a few days ago, too. Not only that, but judging by the small patch of light lavender roots at the top of her head, she had forgotten to change the settings on the inbuilt follicle fabricator. After her dye job, she had planned to put the normally scheduled hair growth on hold, but … she’d apparently forgotten. And because of that, the little printer inside her head did its job while she was sleeping, and … well, in short … her hair had grown out a little.

Anne sighed, trying to convince herself that it wasn’t that noticeable … and she wore a beanie most of the time, so nobody was gonna notice or know, right?

“Ugh, I’m gonna know. Bleh.” Anne muttered, going with a brush though her hair a few times before she promptly planted the beanie on top of her head. Giving herself a last look in the mirror, she nodded approvingly and headed downstairs for breakfast.

“Hey, Ash.” Anne greeted as she saw her closest friend and confidant sitting by the table, toast with thickened oil-paste hallway towards her mouth. The instantaneous mischievousness that flickered in the latter’s visor just gave Anne enough warning for the tease that was surely to follow.

“Hey there, Mauve Tone.” Ash greeted with a massive impish grin. She laughed as Anne visibly deflated. “Oh yeah, I saw it.”

“Grand …”

“Don’t worry, this is the only teasing I’ll do … for now.”

“Thanks, I can always count on you for your undying consoling maturity.” Anne deadpanned as she took a seat. Despite her minor irritation at the jest, a small grin did form in the corner of her mouth. There was truth in her words, deadpanned or not. Ashley’s habit of making light of admittedly silly situations were … comforting in a way. The kind of comfort that made her core tingle lately. Gosh, she’d really need to confront these new emotions sooner or later, before … she’d had no idea.

“Well, at least we know why your OG hair is that color now.” Ashley stated as she took a bite of her toast, getting bits of metal shaving sprinkles stuck on her cheek. Bits of toast launched from her mouth as she tried to keep speaking. She quickly swallowed down before continuing. “Uzi – purple, V – silver. Give those a little mix and, tadaa, you get Anne with the lavender locks.”

“It’s still doesn’t make sense! The Worker Drones from the first Era wore wigs. How does that influence my coding today?” Anne huffed, taking another bite of toast.

“It makes more sense than saying you’ve gotten it from Naomi. I mean, I had a hard time believing that she actually dyes her hair pink; until your moms showed me that picture of them in high school.”

“Yeah, Momma hated being blonde, for the simple reason that she just didn’t like the way it looked on her.” Anne took a sip of her coffee –immediately regretting forgetting the sweetener – and ignored her friend’s giggle as she made a face. She glanced over warningly. “Like momma, like daughter, right?”

“Hey, I said I wouldn’t tease anymore, didn’t I?” Ashley reminded, pointing the remainder of her toast in Anne’s direction, pelting the latter with a hail of crumbs.

“Where are Uzi and V anyway?” Anne asked, expertly changing the subject, as she looked around for their gracious, immortal hosts.

Ashley shrugged as she popped the rest of her toast in her mouth. “Haven’t seen ‘em yet, but it looked like they’d already eaten breakfast before I got here. I’ve heard commotion in their room, though.”

“Uh, were they …?” Anne really hoped that she didn’t have to voice the rest of the question.

Ashley grinned wickedly. “Wrong sort of commotion sounds.” Her expression fell for a second. “Trust me, I, uh …, know the difference.”

“Yeah, no need to elaborate.” Anne grimaced, not wanting to be one responsible for making Ashley reminisce about a … less pleasant period of her life. “So, what do you think they’re doing?”

“Getting ready for the day, darling.”

Anne and Ashley both yelped in surprise when a new voice answered from the hallway. The two friends looked at each other in surprise, almost as if they’d expect the other to explain who was in the house with them.

“Uh … who’s there?” Ashley cautiously asked, butterknife in hand as if she’d brandish it as a weapon.

A giggle. “Really, you need to ask?”

It was then that Anne noticed something familiar about the voice. It almost sounded like … nah, couldn’t be? Her voice was totally different, right? But … it sounded so much like --

Her suspicions were confirmed when someone entered the kitchen. Anne had to blink a few times, because she thought that her visor was glitching out. she was … like 96% certain that Uzi had just walked in, but … she looked completely like a different Drone.

Gone were the punkish clothes that screamed of teenage rebellion and long-resolved daddy issues. She wore a knee-high, dark blue skirt and a red turtleneck. A simple pendant around her neck. It wasn’t just her outfit, but … it was Uzi herself too. Her hair was curly and bouncy. Even her eyes seemed to be lighter than the other day.

Anne titled her head slightly in confusion. “Uzi?”

“Hang on, that’s Uzi?” Ashley squinted her eyes, giving the older Drone a long look ... before her jaw dropped in shock.

Uzi, standing straighter than Anne had ever seen her, folded one arm behand her back, holding up her other one to waggle her finger. She tutted disapprovingly. “Uh-uh, Ruby, Abbigail, I’ve told you a dozen times: it’s Luci. Don’t call me Mrs. or anything else, otherwise I’ll feel so old.”

“Luci? Ruby? Abigail? I … am … so confused.” Ashley muttered, a buffer symbol playing on her visor.

Something clicked in Anne’s mind! She knew what was going on!

“Oh! I get it!” Anne shouted in mild excitement, which grew when she noticed how the older woman visibly winced.

“I don’t!” Ashley stated, matching Anne’s volume.

“Oh dear, please, no shouting this early in the day, if you please.” A new voice asked, sounding a bit meekly; almost as it was scared to go any louder. Anne couldn’t help but grin when the owner of the voice shuffled almost timidly into the room. She was dressed in a more casual attire than the other one: a light pair of jeans with a red crop top. Her dark blonde hair was long, reaching almost to her hips. A few dyed streaks of pink hair fell over her right eye, which she kept brushing out of the way.

“And who the glitch is that?!” Ashley almost screamed, gesturing towards the new Drone walking in. “Why is Uzi acting like that, and where is V?”

“Excuse me, what did Eve just ask?” Uzi asked, raising her voice a little as she planted her fists on her hips, giving the two girls a stern look. “I won’t have anyone shouting at my wife, thank you very much!”

“Luci … now you are shouting.” Eve timidly stated, gold amber eyes gazing worriedly over at the other woman. There was a brief moment, in a blink of an eye, where her expression changed. A smirk at the corner of her lips, and golden amber flickering neon yellow.

Ashley looked like she was going to have another outburst, so Anne quickly snapped he fingers in front of the former’s visor a few times to grab her attention. “Ash, don’t you get it?” She pointed towards the two women, grinning. “In whose house are we staying? I give you a hint: it’s not Uzi and V’s.”

“2Tone, I don’t get wh --!” A lightbulb suddenly popped up on Ashley’s visor. “Oh! Ooh! I see!”

Anne turned her attention towards the two ladies. “Me and my friend are so sorry for causing such a ruckus this early in the morning, Mrs. and Mrs. Mossberg.”

“Oh, It’s alright. I just don’t do well with noise before my coffee.” Eve stated with a soft smile. She nervously wrung her hands together as she shuffled over towards the kitchen counter. She poured herself a mug and took a sip, her eyes peering over the edge. Suddenly, she let out a snort; a laugh promptly escaping.

“Ugh, V!” Uzi scolded, dropping her persona almost immediately as her eyes also went back to their usual color. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot, letting out an annoyed huff. “Way to break character.”

“I’m sorry.” V apologized with a grin. Her eyes had changed back into her regular neon yellow. “Ashley’s reaction was just too funny.”

“As long as it doesn’t happen out there.” Uzi rolled her eyes, but the grin tugging at her lips betrayed her amusement.

“So, this is what you do, huh? To not get caught and all that?” Ashley asked, looking pretty impressed. “Playing these characters?”

“Well, I was convinced.” Anne stated with a grin. “It was like there were two completely different people in front of us.”

“That’s the whole point, Anne.” Uzi explained as she took a seat next to her, giving her a soft smile. “We might have made it sound like we just play pretend, but it’s so much more than that. When we take on these identities, we don’t just act like ‘em.”

“We become them. Body, mind and whatever we have for a soul.” V added, her confident grin a stark contrast with the timid persona she portrayed a couple of moments ago. She nodded towards the hallway leading towards the front door. “The moment we step out those doors, we leave Uzi and V behind.”

“Yeah, no kidding.” Anne squinted, as if trying to get a better look at Uzi. “It’s, like, everything changes, right? Eyes, voice, personality, even the way you move. I mean, me and Ash really thought someone else was in the house.”

“Well, you pick up a thing or two about acting when you’re doing it for several decades in a row.” V stated almost smugly.

“So, I’m guessing you guys are going out for the day?” Ashley asked, slumping back into her chair. “Leaving us to fend for ourselves?”

Uzi stood up from her chair and it was almost like Anne blinked … and Uzi was gone, with Luci standing in her place. Anne made the mental note that she’d keep referring them by their actual names in her thoughts, if only to keep things coherent in her mind. Something told her that Ashley would be doing the very same thing.

“Actually, I wondered you, Ruby--?” Uzi pointed a finger at Anne, who blinked in surprise. “--would like to accompany in my shop today? Help around the store and so on? Earn a little money?”

“And why would I, Ruby Porter, be doing that?” Anne asked with a grin.

“Well, me and Eve have graciously allowed you and Miss Abbigail Lecter over there--" Uzi nodded towards Ashley, who snorted amusedly, before continuing. “--to stay at our place for a few days, before you’ll resume your trip.”

“And the reason you’d let two strangers hang around your house would be--?” Anne asked, understanding that they were essentially making up their backstory for the possibility that people would be asking questions.

“Oh, we didn’t mind, because your parents are old friends of mine.” V clarified, falling back into her ‘Eve’ persona. It was such a weird transformation to see; even the way that V held her mug changed. From the confident grip around the handle, to holding the mug between two hands, like she was afraid to drop it. “Speaking from experience, taking such a big trip across districts is not only adventurously scary, but expensive.”

“I can’t decide it this is weird or cool.” Ashley whispered as she leaned forward, grinning from ear to ear.

“Bit of both.” Anne snickered softly. She turned her attention back to ‘Luci’ and nodded. “Sure, I’d be happy to help around.”

“Same here.” Ashley added with a small wave. She glanced over to Anne with a mischievous grin. “I help Pops around his store all the time. My time to show you a thing or two, 2tone.”

Anne grinned back with the same level of mischief. “Like how to drop an entire supply of pickled batteries in seven seconds?”

“Six seconds. Get your facts straight.”

“Ahem … before we go anywhere—” Uzi let her gaze go around the kitchen table, letting out a disappointed sigh. “—clean up your mess.”

V cleared her throat, glancing over towards Uzi with a cautionary expression. “Ahem …?”

Uzi let out a sigh. “Please?”

“Much better.” V cheered happily, clapping her hands together. She clasped her hands together and, with a wide grin, turned to the two very amused girls. “Now, we’ll leave in fifteen minutes. By then, this table will surely be spotless and the dishes stored away—” Leaning forward, her expression instantly dropped into a rather foreshadowing glare with an intensity that could stop a rampaging sentinel dead in its tracks. “—or else I’ll be very disappointed. Are we understanding each other?”

The two young Drones shrunk in their seats, gulping audibly. Anne had such a childhood flashback to the time that she and Ash had pretty much rampaged in her mothers’ kitchen during some game they were playing. Her usually laidback and fun-loving momma Naomi had given her such an eerily similar look.

“Yup.”

“Understood.”

V jolted back up straight, the glare vanished behind the cheery smile plastered on her face. She spun around, hooked her arm into Uzi’s and started to walk out of the kitchen with her. “Very good. Fourteen minutes remaining.”

Ashley and Anne had never in their life jumped up so fast to clean up a kitchen. Fake persona or not, they had no desire to see what kind of punishment that ‘Eve’ would give them should they dare to disappoint her.

“Who said the threat of dire punishment can’t be a good motivator?” Uzi chuckled approvingly as she gazed around the now-tidied up kitchen. “Good work, girls.”

Anne threw her damp kitchen towel on the table, letting out a sigh. “You could’ve just asked normally too, you know? We’d have cleaned up anyway.”

“Would’ve we’d?” Ashley huffed as she threw her kitchen towel on top of … Anne’s head, grinning as her friend glared warningly at her. “Yeah, probably.”

Uzi chuckled. “Well, V likes to have fun with her personas.” She said as she rummaged around in her jacket pocket. “Girls, before we go. Where did I – ah, found it!” She took out a pair of USB drives and held them up towards Anne and Ashley.

“And those are …?” Ashley asked.

“New Identities for the two of you. And thank you for volunteering to go first, Ashley.” Uzi explained, gesturing to the latter to take a seat. When the redheaded Drone seemed reluctant to do so, she let out an annoyed sigh. “These are just a temporary measure; just in case you need to ID yourselves for one thing or the other. They’ll revert back in a day or two. Just in time to …”

“Go home?” Anne concluded with a glum expression.

“Yeah …” Uzi sighed, letting the drives twirls around her fingers as she seemingly started to get lost in her own thoughts. She shook her head, jolting herself back to reality and prompted Ashley to sit down again. One insert in the neck port later, and it was Anne’s turn. As the latter sat down, Uzi patted her shoulder. “Now Anne, I’ve added a little something extra for you.”

“Oh?”

“Nothing major.” Uzi reassured. “More of a … cosmetic thing.”

“Like?”

“Your eyes.” Uzi explained, although her tone of voice seemed … hesitant. “They’re not what you’d call a bit … inconspicuous.”

“Oh …” Anne hadn’t really thought of that. Then again, why would she. She’d only had them for her entire life, so why would she ever think that they’d stand out. When she was younger, she had often disliked her eyes – easy thing for bullies to pick on her for – but nowadays she loved them because they made her stand out. But she understood where Uzi was coming from. If she would see someone with two-toned eyes in the company of two Drones who suspiciously had those very eye colors … she’d have questions. She took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, I understand.”

“Attagirl.” Uzi gently patted Anne’s shoulder, giving her a soft smile. “And don’t worry; like with Ashley, it’s going to be temporary. But as a fun little feature I’ve added a little toggle in your settings, so you’ll be able to switch between the fakes and your own … with a cooldown of a few hours, so don’t try it until you’re back here, okay.”

“Okay.” Anne let out a sigh of relief … before wincing a little as the Drive connected with the port in her neck. But if she had to be honest, that little tidbit of information made this feel a little easier. In fact, she felt kinda overdramatic for worrying about it.

“And the reason my visor’s not getting a make-over is …?” Ashley asked.

“Red eyes are actually a fairly common color in this district. You can’t turn a corner without seeing the various shades of red roaming around town.” Uzi explained as turned to her laptop, where strings of code were raining down the screen. “Back when the humans still ‘owned’ this planet, the Worker Drones that originally worked in this part of the planet were owned by a Russian sister company of JCJENSON. Most of the Drones manufactured there had red eyes. Like Doll’s mother, Yeva … before the whole Absolute Solver taking root in her system and being abducted by JCJENSON scientists for experimentation debacle, of course.”

Anne glanced over to Ashley with a dour look. It was … weird, hearing a Drone talk about humans with such venom in their voice. The Creators were revered by Drones today. The Path of Remembrance was created to honor their memory, by recreating the way the humans originally lived. It was the closest thing to a religion that they had.

But, after hearing the stories of how horrible V and other Worker Drones were treated by Lord and Lady Elliot – Miss Tessa excluded – and how Uzi mother – her grandmother – Nori was experimented on … Anne couldn’t blame her birth parents for the resentment they felt. Hack, she’d be just as spiteful if she had been in their shoes.

“And … done! And mother dare to claim that learning how to code wasn’t a proper hobby for a lady.” Uzi exclaimed cheerfully, back in her Luci persona. She rummaged around her purse for a moment and took out a little compact mirror. She opened it up and presented it to Anne. “What do you think?”

“Wow!” Ashley exclaimed as she got really close to Anne’s visor to check out the change.

“I’ll say …” Anne agreed as she cautiously touched her own visor. She knew it had worked, since her UI had changed color, but it was so weird to actually see it. Her usual purple-yellow gradients were replaced by green ones of a really familiar shade. “Emerald and mint, huh?”

“Like your parents. It seemed … appropriate.” Uzi stated, clicking her mirror shut and stuffing it back into her purse. She let out a sigh, seemingly avoiding making direct eye-contact with her daughter.

Anne chewed on her lip, having noticed the saddened look in the older Drone’s eyes. “Uzi, I--.”

“Oh, don’t fret about me, darling.” Uzi stated cheerfully – a bit too cheerfully – waving away whatever Anne was gonna say. She clapped her hands together. “Now, we best get started.  The day is young, and we’re wasting daylight where we could be working. My dearest Eve has been working on a large series of paintings and I need them lifted into the van. Follow me. Chop-chop!”

“So, this is how you make your money?” Ashley asked as she and Anne hurried after Uzi as she guided them towards V’s workshop. “V’s making paintings, and you sell ‘em?”

“Correct, if not a little … oversimplified, Abbigail.”

“Abby! People only use my full name when I’m in trouble.”

“So you must hear it quite a lot then.”

“Hey!”

V greeted them into her workshop, where a bunch of crates were waiting for them. Which, much to the young Drones’ dismay, had to be loaded into the van decorated with the logo of Uzi’s shop. Even worse … Anne wasn’t allowed to use her enhanced strength. As Uzi explained it: now that she had got a grip on how to use them, she needed to learn how not to use them. To act mundane and ‘become someone in the background’.

While it made sense to Anne … Ashley complained that hauling those crates would make her spine pop out of her back. By the time that they had loaded the third crate into the van, Anne had to agree with her best friend.

** ** ** **

The drive to town was rather uneventful, save for that one wild turn Uzi took that made Anne and Ashley temporarily weightless. It was funny, seeing how V scolded Uzi in this soft manner for ‘reckless driving with two precious children in the back seats!’. Once again, Anne almost seemed to forget that this was essentially an act – Ashley quietly called it ‘a bit pointless, yet highly entertaining’.

Which didn’t go unheard by V’s enhanced hearing.

It was by the time that they had reached the town’s border that Anne realized that this would be her first visit. They had spent almost a week there, and never had gone to town. Little Diodeton was this picturesque little town, obviously relying on tourism for the income … which Anne and Ashley technically were, as they were already discussing what stores they’d check out later.

But plans for sightseeing would have to put on hold for now, as they arrived at ‘Luci’s Art Boutique’.

“Here we are.” ‘Luci’ announced proudly as they parked the car in the loading docks behind the store.

“Hey, I think something got spilled here!” Anne called out, noticing a puddle as she opened the back of the delivery van. She hoisted herself into the back and carefully tested the floor with her foot. It felt slippery and it looked shiny. “Maybe a bottle of varnish … or something else that’s slick stuff?”

‘Eve’ clicked her tongue, giving ‘Luci’ a sideways disapproving glance. “I told you to be careful in that turn.”

“Like I told you to make sure the lids of your containers are tightly screwed on?” ‘Luci’ retorted, giving ‘Eve’ this mischievous smirk. “Remember how you accidentally painted the trunk of our car?”

“Hmmph.” ‘Eve’ stuck up her nose, walking around the car to check the damage. She let out a quiet sigh, crossing her arms. “Yes, that would indeed be a spilled container of varnish, and this kind is particularly slippery, so … be careful not to fall when hauling out the crates. Maybe we should throw down some towels first?”

“No biggie.” Ashley announced, already making some distance between herself and the car. “I’ll just jump over it.”

“Uh, Ashl- ahem …  Abby … I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Pff, I might not have super-legs like you, 2Tone, but I can jump over a little puddle.”

“Abby dear, I think you should listen to your – and there she goes.”

Ashley took a running start, jumped … and miscalculated how far she should have jumped, so she ended up right in the middle of the puddle … and slipped.

Anne winced as Ashley not only fell hard, but tumbled out of the back of the van, landing on her back.

“Oh my gosh!” ‘Eve’ called out – Anne could hear genuine fear in her voice – as they all rushed to Ashley’s side. “Abby, can you hear me?”

“… ow.” Ashley groaned, her eyes spinning swirls bouncing around her visor. “Anyone got the plates of that puddle that ran me over?”

“Try to sit up, dearie.” ‘Luci’ gently instructed as she helped Ashley into a sitting position.

“Ooh, the world’s spinning.” Ashley rolled her head, groaning softly. She shook her head and looked up with a sheepish grin. “So … I could, in fact, not jump over that little puddle.”

Anne let out a sigh, feeling slightly relieved that Ashley was cracking jokes. “Ashley, I want you to know that I’m doing everything in my power not to get angry at you right now. You know, about ‘reckless behavior’ and ‘showing off’?”

Ashley laughed as she, while brushing off the extended hands of ‘Luci’ and ‘Eve’, scrambled up.  “Yeah, yeah, message understood. I’m a hypocrite, I—” She placed her foot on the ground. Her eyes hollowed and grew trice in size, promptly letting out a yelp as she fell to the ground again. “Okay, that’s not good.”

“Ash?” Anne felt a surge of worry as she knelt down. “What’s wrong?”

“Dunno, I wanted to stand up and my right leg just said ‘no, you’re getting pain instead’.” Ashley chuckled sheepishly as Anne gave her an unamused look. She held up her hand in defeat. “Okay, okay, not the time to joke. Lemme just …”

Ashley’s visor went blank for a moment, before a progress bar and the words [Self-diagnose in process] appeared. A moment later, the bar filled up and Ashley’s eyes returnee, albeit looking very annoyed. “So, good news: I’m 99% fine. Bad news: that one percent? My ankle’s damaged.”

“Can you move it?” Uzi – having completely dropped her ‘Luci’ persona for now – asked.

Ashley wiggled her foot, wincing as she did it. “Yeah, but … ugh, it feels … icky? I dunno, just weird to move it.”

Uzi sighed as she stood up, gesturing to Anne to pick up her friend. “Probably a loose wire, or something got wacked out of place.”

“Could you fix Miss Walking Disaster here?” V asked, also having dropped her meek voice to let the‘I told you so’ tone ring in full effect.

“I could … but my tools are back home.” Uzi sighed, rubbing the back of her head. She had to open her store soon, so she had no time to get back. Judging by Ashley’s casual behavior, it didn’t seem that the young Drone was in any danger of malfunctioning. It probably wouldn’t hurt to wait for now. “Okay, here’s the plan: Eve, you take the girls back home, and –”

“Don’t you need help in the store?” Anne asked.

“Until I can take a good look at that leg and fix the damage, ‘Abbigail’ should take it easy.” Uzi stated, giving Ashley a look warning her that she was being serious.

“Yeah, I get the message.” Ashley sighed. A smile suddenly appeared on her face as her eyes lit up when she got an idea. “Hey Anne, why don’t you stay and help out like planned?”

“Me stay? What about you?” Anne asked. With Ashley hurt, she wanted to take care of her … because they are such good friends, obviously.

“Jeez Anne, I can handle one day without you.” Ashley grinned, giving her friend a wink. “Enjoy some quality time.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll look after her.” V stated as she took over supporting Ashley from Anne. She looked at Uzi and gave her a wink. “I agree with Red here. The two of you should spend some time together.”

“And you don’t have to spend time arguing with picky customers.” Uzi grinned as she crossed her arms. She knew how much her spouse hated talking to people who had no business having opinions about art … especially her art.

“Exactly!” V grinned.

“Hey, another bonus!” Ashley grinned, chuckling as she saw Anne and Uzi near identical irked expression. “Trust me, there’s a reason why Pops usually has me working inventory when I’m helping him out in the store.”

“O-okay, if you say so.” Anne rubbed her arm, feeling weird about having separate from Ashley after having spend almost the whole week practically attached to the hip. She managed to produce a smile. “Just … don’t do anything crazy.”

Ashley let out a cackle. “Me? Crazy? 2Tone, I’d be insulted if your warning wasn’t totally warranted.”

“I like this one more and more.” V chuckled. She started to guide her new ward towards the passenger seat. Her looked over her shoulder, once again portraying the meek and timid persona of ‘Eve’ – albeit with a mischievous glint in her eyes. “How about the two of you get started unloading these crates, eh? We’d help, but poor Red here is hurt and my leg is acting up.”

Uzi pulled back Anne before the latter could throw back a counter. “Choose your battles, my child. We’ll get them back for this. For now, let’s just get out these crates.”

“Regularly or …?”

Uzi grinned and winked. Nothing wrong with using enhanced skills when the need for it was dire. Plus, it would wipe those smirks of their partners faces. Which was always a bonus.

V hummed as her brushes waltzed over the canvas in a delicate dance of shape and color that would become her next masterpiece … just like the masterpieces before this one. She chuckled quietly, allowing herself to enjoy the egocentric pride to fill her before she’d let humility replace it.

She’s had dozens of aliases over her lifetimes that were artists, painters, sculptors, ect … After being a servant in her first life and a destroyer in her second one, it was nice to be a creator in the lives that came after. Knowing that she had made something with her hands that people were enjoying brought a special kind of warmth to her core. And fueled her ego too, but she tried not to indulge in that specific feeling too much.

She knew better than letting her head get too big for her shoulders. She was good – good enough for several of her works from previous lifetimes to be hanging in art galleries – but she liked to think that she’d still could learn something. No, she knew that she could still grow as an artist, as a creator. It was a comforting thought.

Besides, if she dared to get too much of an ego, Uzi would absolutely find something to bring her down to Copper-9 again. Then again, this worked both ways. Uzi was an excellent writer and had several books to her various names. V grinned as she remembered that one time that she showed Uzi a book she really liked, and it turned out that it was written by the Purple Thing during one of their Chapters where they were separated.

Robo-God, she had to endure Uzi’s smugness for weeks after that day.

Robo-Devil be damned, why was a smug Uzi also a very attractive Uzi?

V picked up a thinner brush, and started working on some details, with lifetimes of experience guiding her hand. Content with her work so far, she laid down her brush and stood up, taking a few steps backwards to observe her work.

It was an abstract piece, inspired by the struggles of the last few weeks. Inspired by Anne.

Her darling Anne.

Their daughter.

The thought made V smile. What a beautiful young woman that little ‘accident’ had become. It amazed her that how much she could see of herself and Uzi in Anne.

There was still a part that felt like it was all a dream. Like this happiness could end at any moment and she’d wake up in bed with her Uzi beside her. She let out a sigh, happy knowing that it wasn’t a dream and their daughter had found them – with the necessary shenanigans and mishaps along the way.

Some things can’t help but run in the family, it seemed.

She checked her internal clock and felt surprised when she noticed how long she had been at it. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time that V ended up painting most of her day away. Losing herself in the flow and all that.

Still, time for a break.

V took a first step, but winced when a jolt of pain went through her leg. She hissed, hopping over towards the supply rack to steady herself. Yup, definitely time for a break. This always happened when she’d do these long painting sessions. She was used to them.

“C’mon leg, don’t be a glitch…” V muttered to herself as she shook her leg a few times. Sighing as she felt the pain subside, she took a few moments to see if it wouldn’t return. When it didn’t, she strolled towards the kitchen to pour herself a glass of oak aged gasoline. Uzi would throw a fit if she’d see that V indulge like that, but like the Earth expression went: When the cat’s away, the mice will play. Uzi being the cat … for once.

V had jus poured herself a glass when she heard voices coming from the living room. Oh yeah, she’d almost forgotten about her injured houseguest. And now she felt a little guilty for leaving Ashley on her own for so long.

Although, by the sound of it … she wasn’t alone. And the latter wasn’t too happy about it. Probably got a visit from --.

“Shoo, get away. Leave me alone, you filthy --!” There was a little shriek. “Away, not closer! Scatter off, bug!”

As V entered the living room, she grinned as she saw her prediction was true. Ashley had pushed herself, as much as was possible with her injured foot, as far back against the couch as possible. She was throwing angry scowls – with a hint of fear – at the resident keybug. Mr Crit, the keybug that Uzi had sent to check on Anne, was seemingly trying a fruitless attempt to befriend the teenager, but the latter wasn’t having it. Amusing as it was, V knew that Ashley would probably injure herself more if she didn’t rest, and then SHE would have to hear it from both Uzi and Anne.

“Be nice to Crit.” V said as she approached the couch to save the startled girl from the techno-bug. “He just wants to be friendly.”

“He can be friendly over there somewhere.” Ashley stated, pointing in some general direction away from her.

“You know, he’s not gonna hurt you.” V said, lowering her hand to allow Crit to walk on the back of it. She restrained herself from grinning when Ashley let out a sigh of relief.

“W-well …” Ashley stammered, before letting out a huff as she crossed her arms. “I know that! Doesn’t mean I can’t be …”

“Afraid?”

Ashley let out another huff, this time almost offended. “I’m not scared. Just … don’t like ‘em.”

“And why is that?” V asked as she walked over to the bookcase, where she let Crit scamper off her hand. With the bug out of sight, maybe Ashley would be a bit more … agreeable to talk.

The redheaded Drone scoffed in amusement, but the way she glanced away made V feel … suspicious. “Reasons. Drop it. Why do you wanna know?”

“Just making conversation.” V stated as she sat down on the armchair next to the couch. “Uzi commented the other day that we don’t actually don’t know that much about you. You can’t blame us for getting to know someone who’s clearly dear to our daughter, right?”

“What’s to know?” Ashley scoffed, wrapping her arms around herself, looking a bit uncomfortable. “I met Anne when we we’re still Untrained Neural Networks; have been friends ever since; I’m better with my fists than my words; I do okay at school; I help my dad out at his shop from time to time; I’m a great matchmaker, and let’s not forget: I’m crazy enough to run away with my best friend to find her long-lost parents who she never knew she had. Oh, I’m a sucker for romantic movies, but you tell anyone, I’ll deny it with the force of a thousand suns.”

“Okay, that’s Ashley Yates summarized. You mentioned your dad. What about your mom?” V asked, genuinely curious. She didn’t expect how hard Ashley would flinch at that question, though. Nor did the way the redhead’s eyes hollowed in shock for moment escape her notice. She smiled sympathetically, keeping her voice soft and approachable. “I take that topic is a bit … difficult for you?”

“Nothing difficult about it. Marlene’s out of the picture. Haven’t seen her since I was six years old, and good riddance. And yes, I’m fine with that. My dad is so much better than she ever was. At least he never –-!” Ashley promptly stopped, blush lines glowing on her visor. She pulled her knees up to her chest, wincing as her foot ached. “I have no idea what kind of immortal magic you did to make me spill like that, but … forget it, okay? I’m done talking about that.”

“I didn’t do anything.” V gently reassured, folding her bad leg over her good one. “Sometimes you just need to vent whatever is bothering you.”

“Why would there be something bothering me, oh immortal sage?” Ashley scoffed, adjusting her pose into something appearing to be an ‘I-don’t-care’ relaxed one, but … V could see it was very forced. “Man, what’s with the questions? What are you: my therapist?”

“Well …I am a licensed therapist, or rather … was.” V shrugged, mildly amused at Ashley’s exasperated eye roll. “You get what I mean.”

“So?”

“You’ve heard our story, Ashley. Uzi and I have lived through some of the worst things that can happen to a Drone in their singular lifetime, and we had to struggle to build those pieces back into something strong enough for us to not only endure, but to thrive. It gives us – me – a rather unique insight. In other words, …” V leaned forward, giving Ashley her most sympathetic, warmest smile. “I know what trauma looks like.”

Ashley glanced away. “Again: so?”

V smiled sympathetically. “I know that those with the toughest attitudes often have the deepest pains. I know that putting up a wall doesn’t only let people who care about you out, but it also keeps that pain trapped inside. Believe me, it’s not healthy, and you won’t like how it could end up.”

Ashley let out a sigh, falling backwards into the pillow that was supporting her back. “You really sound like my therapist right now …” She remained silent for few moments, staring at the ceiling with a blank expression.

V let out a breath, feeling a bit guilty about pushing the young girl like that. “Listen, I’m sorry if it feels like I’m pushing. If you’re worried about Anne fin—”

“Anne knows what happened.” Ashley interjected, still staring at the ceiling. “So does her parents … adopted parents … you know what I mean. It’s not that I’m scared or something about it, but … ugh.”

A silence fell between them, with Ashley still looking up at the ceiling. After a few moments, she let out a heavy sigh and sat upright, folding her hands on her knees. “Maybe … all this stuff with Anne finding out about being adopted, finding out you guys were alive and all … have made me a bit … jealous. No, not jealous … just wondering ‘what if’, you know. And I thought I was done with ‘what if’s’ a long time ago.”

V hummed, folding her hands together. “Go on.”

“And I know ‘what if’ are meaningless. I can’t just make up some alternate universe where things go another way than they have, right?” Ashley continued cautiously, tapping her thumbs together. “But … you know.”

“What if this; what if that. I know what you mean, Ashley.” V stated softly. “Both me and Uzi have had these as well. Long discussions about things that we’ve could’ve done different. Arguments on which fault fell on whose shoulders. But in the end, like you said, it’s meaningless. You can’t change what happened. It’s not something you can just rewrite to suit your needs.”

Ashley stared at the glass of oil in front of her, like it could encourage her to speak. She sighed. “My dad and Marlene met in high school … childhood sweethearts and all that. Pops played sports – as in several - and she was a cheerleader, all those clichés. Pops often talked how he wanted to go professional and provide this luxurious life for all of us, but somewhere along the way he figured he’d have a better chance working construction, so … he became an electrical engineer instead. A good one, too. Got a job at a big construction company.”

“How did you mom – I’m sorry; Marlene - react? It couldn’t have been easy for her to see her prospects of a dream lifestyle shatter like that.” V asked, leaning back in her chair. “I’ve got … some experience with types like that. My best friend Lizzy was a cheerleader – or something like that – and while she matured over time, she, well … she could act a bit much when she didn’t get her way.”

“I dunno, but she did end up marrying pops anyway, and they decided to have me.” Ashley muttered, her good leg starting to bounce. “Things seemed … fine, I guess. Marlene stayed at home, taking care of me while Pops went to work. I never saw anything wrong between them. There were … loud discussions, but … I don’t think they ever really fought. Not that I’ve noticed, anyway.”

“You were a kid, Ashley.” V stated softly, yet with firm conviction. “It wasn’t your job to notice anything.”

“I know, I know.” Ashley sighed and produced a wry grin. “I’ve actually been to therapy for this, y’know. I’ve dealt with these issues a long time ago … I thought so, at least.”

“Trauma is funny like that. It has little hooks that keep it from completely going away, even if you, as you put it, dealt with it.” V smiled warmly, leaning over to place a comforting hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Don’t you ever think something is wrong with you because they still affect you. I know that mine still do.”

Ashley smiled softly, empowered by V’s words. “Right … well, I do know that everything started when the construction company where dad worked got a major contract in another district. Big payout, huge bonuses, shit like that.”

“Language.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Go on.”

“Yeah … because the job was in another district, it required Dad and his colleagues to stay there.” Ashley continued. She chuckled. “Pops showed me pictures of their ‘housing situation’. There were sleeping in these, like … barracks or something. But it meant that he wasn’t home for long periods at a time. He’d call all the time, and he often visited in weekends, but other than that … it was just me and Marlene.”

V noticed how Ashley fell silent, her gaze fixated on the floor. After a few moments of silence, she spoke up.

“At first … things were like they always were, but after those first few days, it was like she got … colder. I remember one time that I ran up to hug her and she just … brushed me off. Not a word, just a scowl and waving me away.” She took a deep breath, letting it out in a shudder.

V waited for the young woman to continue her story, but … she knew that she didn’t like Ashley’s mother at all. She had a bad feeling that this story was gonna get worse before it got better.

“One night, after dinner, Marlene told me that she was having a friend over and that I had to stay in my room, not make a sound ‘like a good girl’. Sounds reasonable, right? Nothing wrong with that. She and Pops often had friends over.” Ashley let out a dry chuckle, letting her gaze go back to the ceiling. “And I did what she asked. I went to my room, got into bed and went to sleep. Only, a little while later I woke up, because I was hearing these strange noises coming from outside my room. Marlene giggling and a voice of a man I didn’t recognize. Her … friend.”

Oh-oh … V had heard plenty of similar stories in the past.

“The next morning, I asked Marlene about the noises and if she had fun with her friend.” Ashley leaned back with her arms crossed, letting out a scoff. “Should’ve known something wasn’t right, the way she reacted so shocked. And I really should’ve have suspected something when she told me that I wasn’t allowed to tell Pops about it, because ‘it was for a surprise for daddy, and daddy would be really disappointed if his little girl spoiled the surprise’. I liked surprises and I loved my Pops, so … I agreed to stay quiet. Didn’t suspect nothing.”

“She was your mother, Ashley. A kid trusts her mother without question. Why would you ever suspect something?”

“Yeah-yeah … anyway, I believed her, and kept my mouth shot. When Pops visited and asked about what we had been doing, I’d just went along with what Marlene told me.” Ashley took a pause, taking her glass from the table to take a swig. As she brought the cup from her lips, she stared at the liquid as she swirled it around. “It all changed a few weeks later, when Marlene had another friend over. Business as usual: go to my room, crawl into bed, go to sleep, don’t ask questions and stay quiet … and then I got really thirsty … and I decided to sneak to the kitchen. Which you could only reach through the living room.”

V waited while Ashley seemingly was gathering her thought. The redheaded Drone looked … nervous. Jittery.

“If you want, we can drop it for now.” V suggested, but Ashley shook her head.

“I’m fine. I … want to tell this. It feels … I dunno, good, or something.”

“Okay then … but take your time, and please tell me if you do need a break.”

“Mm-hmm …” Ashley nodded. She drank the remainder of her glass in one big gulp, taking a deep breath before she continued. “In the living room I could hear those noises again. I thought that if I could stay really quiet, I wouldn’t get caught. So I tiptoed to the living room and … well, at the time I didn’t understand why Marlene wasn’t wearing most of her clothes, or what the strange man – who was equally as underdressed- that she was, uh … ‘hugging’ was doing there.”

“Oh no …”

“Yup. Her ‘friend’ was certainly surprised to see a kid standing there. From what he shouted at Marlene, he was under the impression that there were no children there at all. He was really surprised when I asked if he was there to help with daddy’s surprise. I didn’t understand why he didn’t know Marlene was married.” Ashley sighed, letting out a dry chuckle. “Oh, I know better now. I understand perfectly what was going on there. Dad was out of town, so she had room to play, but the daughter was a problem that had to be hidden away.”

“What happened afterwards?” V asked cautiously.

“Well, after her ‘friend’ had stormed off, she got really mad and practically threw me back in my room, warning me that I should never tell my dad or anyone else what I had seen, because he would – as she told me – be so mad at me when he found out I hadn’t done what she had asked.” The redheaded Drone clenched her fists, taking a deep shuddering breath. “I tried to say that I was sorry, but she just slammed the door shut.”

V remained silent, keeping a close eye on Ashley’s expressions. It was clear that they were nearing the part of the story that had left the greatest mark on the young girl.

“A few days passed, and Marlene … well, even I could tell that she was still mad at me. I felt so guilty, and I just wanted to make her happy again. So, when one evening she told me that she had a ‘new friend’ coming over, I promised that I would stay in my room this time. But … I guess she didn’t want to take any chances.”

“What … what did she do?” V dreaded the answer.

“She grabbed me by the arm and … and dragged me towards the basement. There was a little cupboard under the basement stairs. She practically threw me in there and told me that I had to sleep there ‘until I could be a good girl again’. No nightlight, no matrass, no snack before bed, not my plushies … just an old pillow and a filthy blanket.” Ashley clenched her eyes shut, shivering as the memories flooded back. “It was dark … cramped … the air was musty. I was so scared. I wanted to cry, but six-year-old Ashley didn’t want to make her mommy mad at her again.”

During her time as a therapist, V had learned how to keep her face from showing the emotions that she was really feeling deep down. As a professional, she was expected not to be showing anger, sadness or any other strong reactions to the stories her clients told her. Most of the time she’d succeed, but there have been lots of times that she would struggle.

Right now … she felt that struggle resurfacing, as she pursed her lips to a thin line and her eyes narrowed. If Ashley had noticed any of that, she certainly wasn’t showing it. She kept telling her story without interruption.

“We … we had a roach infestation in our basement at the time. The kind that really likes to nibble on Kid Drones toes and fingers when they were asleep. You could hear them scatter around the room. That little pitter-patter that grew louder as they got closer and closer …. Until they were close enough to have a taste. As you’ve probably guessed, this is why I’m no good with roaches.” Ashley continued, eyes hollowing as her voice trembled. “But … I still didn’t cry. Still kept quiet. I wanted to be a good girl. So … I kept my mouth shut. I wanted daddy to be happy with me. He’d be so proud that his little girl listened to her mother.”

“No-one ever noticed anything?” V asked cautiously. “How about Anne? Her parents?”

“Hazel and Naomi noticed something was up with me, but … they asked Marlene about it and she’d just say that I didn’t sleep well because I missed my daddy.” Ashley let out a dry, emotionless chuckle before glancing up. “I don’t blame them for never noticing, before you ask. Judging by some stories I’ve heard afterwards, Marlene had a knack of throwing people of her scent. Even dad believed her when he’d ask why I was acting so skittish.”

“How long did this go on?”

“Weeks? Maybe a few months? I don’t remember. A lot of details are … foggy, while other ones … I can recall too well.” Ashley admitted, shrugging. “One evening, though, when Marlene would have another ‘friend’ over, I decided I had enough of sleeping in the basement. When she was busy prettying herself, I snatched her cellphone and managed to hide it in the cupboard without her noticing. After she’d lock me up, I rang up Anne’s parents. Naomi was really surprised that I called so late, but even more so when I asked if I could come have a sleepover. She asked ‘why?’, and I answered … told her I didn’t want to sleep in the basement anymore.”

“How did Naomi react when you said that?”

“She asked me if I was making a joke. When I said ‘no’, she got really quiet.” Ashley smiled softly. “Then she said that she and Hazel come get me. Some time later, I heard this big commotion upstairs. Yelling, shouting, people kicking open a door and running down the basement stairs. The cupboard door swings open and I see Naomi, hollow-eyed and astounded. I remember her grabbing me and pulling me into a hug before she’d rush me out. I remember Hazel and Marlene shouting and screaming at each other. Things became a blur after that. I think I passed out in the car.”

V nodded, gesturing for Ashley to continue.

“Ashley and Naomi took me in until my father got home, and … when he did … the look on his face when I apologized to him for ‘having been a bad girl’, I-I …” Ashley let out a huff. “Anyway, long story short: my dad and Marlene had this huge divorce battle. She tried to spin it in some way that would make me seem like some kind of problem child and that my dad was an absent deadbeat, but people knew my dad and what kind of person he was. And my testimony was, well … quite damning. And once her ‘friends’ stepped forward with their confessions, it was all over for her. The judge quickly ruled in my dad’s favor. I don’t remember what kind of punishment the judge gave my mom, but I’ll never forget that last day in court. How I tried to get her attention, and she just … ignored me. Like I wasn’t even there. She just …went away.”

“I guess she never tried to patch things up with you or your father?”

Ashley actually laughed out loud. “Yeah, nah, that last day in the courthouse was the last time me or my dad ever saw her. She skipped town that same week. Without my dad providing for her, she needed a job. Alas, no-one would hire her, or even be seen with her. In a town like ours, news travels fast. But … yeah, that’s why I’m so afraid of roaches.”

V knew that Ashley was making a joke with that last comment, but still. She stood up and took a seat next to Ashley, placing a hand on her knee with a soft smile. “In our long life, me and Uzi have seen a lot. We’ve seen the good, the bad … and the worst. I’m sorry you had to experience the last one.”

“Pfff, don’t act like that, please.” Ashley groaned, albeit with blush lines clearly visible on her visor. “What happened to me … sure, I’ll never completely get over it. But I’m not going to be all ‘Oh, woe is me: my mommy didn’t love me. Oh, why wasn’t I enough?’

V chuckled at Ashley’s dramatic performance. “I can see that.”

“Honestly, if anything, I’ve gotten to much stronger because of it. I’ve had so many people help me in the years that followed. My therapists showed me how to love myself again. Pops has been moving mountains to make sure I get the live he always wanted me to have. The Brinkman family has been showering me in more motherly love than I can ever need and Anne …I would’ve fallen apart long ago without her. And because of all those people, I am in a good place right now. What happened to me in the past, I can’t change. But I can work on building towards my future. I’ve got big plans with my life. I’m not gonna let some deadbeat like Marlene ruin that for me.”

V smiled, resisting the urge to applaud as she didn’t think that Ashley would appreciate that after that emotional confession. Instead, she took the girls hands in her own and gave them a good squeeze. “Thank you for sharing your story with me.” She said with genuine appreciation, smiling softly. “I know it couldn’t have been easy for you.”

“Honestly, I’m feeling great, actually. It’s been a while since I’ve told anyone that whole story.” Ashley smiled softly, patting her chest with a sigh of relief. “Feels a lot lighter here suddenly. That stuff must’ve been building up in there. I guess you were right about the need of venting. And you know – oh boy, mood ruined. Crit, I told you to back off!”

In the corner of her eyes, V noticed how Crit was skittering towards them, unperturbed by Ashley’s scolding. She chuckled as she lowered her hand to allow the little critter to hop on. “You know … I believe I can help you with your roach phobia.”

“Good luck, my therapist has tried everything, and while my fear has been a lot more manageable than it was at first, I’ll never get rid of it. All I’ve got out of those sessions is the certainty that me and those … things are never going to be friends.” Ashley stated, pushing herself away from the little robotic bug. She eyed Crit with a hint of fear in her visor. She let out a breath and looked V in the eyes, a glint of sadness shimmering across her eyes. “You know what happens to me when I see a robo-roach? I feel like my six-year-old self again, stuck in that cupboard under the stairs, with those biting roaches as company.”

“Which is an understandable reaction, considering what your mother made you endure.” V stated, scratching Crit on the top of his head. “Because of your trauma, you associate the sight of roaches with Marlene’s abuse and coldness towards you, which triggers—”

Ashley held up her hand, mild amusement in her eyes. “V, you are directly quoting my therapist right now. Whatever you’re gonna say, I’ve heard it before. How about we skip a few sessions forward?”

V chuckled, shaking her head in amusement. She was liking Ashley more with every passing day. The redheaded Drone kinda remind V of herself. Someone who overcame great trauma and ended up becoming stronger. But in V’s experience, even the strongest minds needed some a little push for mending.

“Okay, how about I get straight to the point?” V asked with a grin, bringing Crit – while still keeping him at a respectable distance away from the red-eyed young woman – up to eyelevel. “When we sent Crit to keep an eye on Anne, we did that with the best of intentions. All we wanted was to have a means of being contacted when our daughter potentially would develop her abilities. We never thought that he’d actually form a bond with her.”

“Or that we’d mess up that means of contacting you.” Ashley said with a grin.

“Even with his software corrupted, Crit never stopped trying to contact us. He did everything that he could to complete his mission. He even went beyond what Uzi had programmed in him, when he showed himself to Anne and decided to work for her in the same way that he works for us.” V explained, repeating what Uzi had told her a few days ago. “Do you know why he keeps trying to get close to you, Ash?”

“To bug me, pun not intended?”

“Because you are special to Anne.” V said with a soft smile. “And that makes you part of his mission. He wants to keep an eye on you too. Make sure you are safe. Now tell me: does that sound like something the roaches in your past?”

“Not really?”

“Then why are you scared of him?” V smiled, tilting her head a little.

“I …” Ashley blinked a few times, her eyes darting around as her mind was processing what V had been saying to her. She cocked her head, her eyes lighting up as she reached a conclusion in her head. “Huh …”

V held out her hand where Crit was still patiently sitting. She gave Ashley a reassuring smile, nodding as if telling her it was okay.

Ashley stared at the keybug for a few moments, eyeing it with apprehensive indecision. She closed her eyes for a few moments, took a deep breath … and held out her hand. She kept her eyes closed, wincing as Crit hopped into her open palm. After a few moments, she slowly opened one eye just enough to peek.

Her other eye slowly opened as she looked down at the docile keybug on her hand. After a few moments, a smile slowly started to form on her lips. “Hey Crit … you’re not so scary, are you?”

The bug chittered happily, making Ashley chuckle.

V smiled contently. “Told you I could help.”

“Thank you for visiting! I hope you enjoy your exquisite painting!” Uzi said cheerfully as the last customer of the day exited her shop. “Please come back soon.”

She closed the door and turned the flipped the sign from ‘OPEN’ to CLOSED, letting out a frustrated sigh. “But not too soon. Jeez, every tourist thinks they’re art connoisseurs these days. Not a lick of appreciation for the hard work that artists put in them.”

“Is that why you’ve asked double the price for ‘this one-of-a-kind unique painting’ you sold him?” Anne asked with a grin as she leaned on the counter. “Instead of the same price those three suspiciously identical copies in the back?”

“First of all, those are not ‘copies’.” Uzi said with her haughtiest ‘Luci’ voice. “Eve painted all of those herself, by hand, so each one is slightly different. Just enough for my statement to be technically true.”

“And the price?”

“That man was a jerk.” Uzi huffed. “Did you hear how he talked to me? My word, he was just begging to be swindled for all the money in his pockets.”

Anne snorted, letting out a groan as she stretched. “Man, today flew by.” She looked around the room. “Want me to sweep or something?”

“No, let’s keep that for tomorrow.” Uzi answered as she pressed a button that rolled down the metallic blinds. How about we go home and see how our girls have been doing on their own?“

Luckily, Uzi and V had the foresight to park their second car in the private garage, just in cases like these. The ride back to the Light house was in a comfortable silence … until Uzi broke that silence.

“So, Anne …”

“Yeah?”

“When are you going to ask Ashley out?”

Anne’s eyes hollowed. “O-out? Out where?”

“On a date.”

Anne jumped up out her seat so high that she nearly hit her head on the car ceiling, if it hadn’t been for the seatbelt securing her in place. She let out a nervous laugh as blush lines lit up her visor. “Wha- Ashley – me – ask – why-why-why would you think that I would want to do that? Not that I … I … ”

“Anne … I’ve got eyes, you know.” Uzi said, letting out a giggle as she glanced over to her panicking daughter. “I’ve seen how you look at her. And don’t try to deny it. I’ve lived long enough to recognize a crush when I see one. And you’ve got it bad.”

Anne remained silent, averting her gaze from the Drone next to her. The blush on her visor was so strong that she thought her visor was going to melt. It was true that she had been feeling … weird around Ashley lately. Those warm, unexplainable sensations that had been happening more and more. Especially when she and Ahsley were standing really close together. Or when they hugged. Or teased each other. Or when Ashley laughed. Or when those red eyes would wink at her. Or that time they slept in the same bed. Or after she kissed her cheek. Or—

It all clicked together.

Anne’s core jumped when the realization hit her.

“Oh Robo-God … I DO have a crush on Ashley …”

“Told you.”

“But Ash is my best friend!” Anne hid her face in her hands, as if she could hide herself away from the developing truth. “I couldn’t have a crush on her. It would just be … plain weird. We can’t just … date each other!”

“Why not? You’re hardly the first Drone ever to catch feelings for their best friend.” Uzi said with a soft smile. “I should know. It happened to me. Twice. First N, then V. And a few others during my other identities. Nothing wrong with that.”

“But … it’s Ash.” Anne wished she could bury her face even deeper. “We’ve known each other since we were babies. We do everything together. Know everything about each other. We’ve shared secrets no-one else knows. We … oh Robo-God!”

“Anne, calm down.” Uzi chuckled. “Listen, I’ve been where you are right now. And trust me, denial only works for so long. Like I said, sometimes friends get feelings for each other. Would it be so bad if you and Ashley … gave it a try?”

“I …” Anne stared at her feet for a few moments. She tried imagining herself and Ashley … dating … holding hands … kissing. A warmth rushed through her, and she hid her face in her hands again. This time … it was to hide the smile that was forming on her lips; to muffle the giggles that were escaping her throat. It took a few moments for her to compose herself. She raised her head, letting out a heavy sigh. “What do I do, Uzi?”

“Like I said, ask her out.” Uzi answered with a soft grin. She gave her a reassuring look. “Maybe not immediately today, but … sometime in the future, when you’ve managed to process these feelings a bit more.”

“And … what if she says ‘no’?”

“What if she says ‘yes’?”

Anne blushed as a dozen scenarios simultaneously played in her mind … each one ending with her and Ashley kis – nope, suppress those urges for now.

“Listen, Anne …” Uzi continued, having noticed her daughter’s internal turmoil. “Sleep on it. Trust me, a realization like that is … well, it’s heavy. It’s important not to rush things. Just try to take it one step at a time. You’ll find the right moment.”

Anne took a deep sigh. “Thank you, Uzi.”

“Anytime, Anne.” Uzi said with a wink. “Don’t be afraid to come to me or V, if you have more questions. We’d be more than happy for the chance to impart some motherly wisdom upon you … while we still can.”

The rest of the ride was … silent. Just silent. Anne had spent most of her time steeling herself, so she wouldn’t blurt out any sort of confession the moment she saw Ashley – her crush – sitting there. Her core jumped when she saw the Lighthouse loom in the distance.

“Oh, Robo-God …”

“One step at a time, Anne.”

“O-okay.” Anne took a deep breath. She knew that being nervous right now was just a natural reaction, but … c’mon, it was still Ashley. Nothing had changed between them … right?

…

Not for now, at least. Like Uzi said, one step at a time.

As she stepped inside, she could hear Ashley talking in the living room. Electricity surged through her entire body … well, it always does, but this one was more metaphorical. She took a deep breath, tried to keep her face as regular as possible and walked in.

“Hey, Ash, how is your …?” She started to ask, but the rest of the question and all of the anxiety that she had been feeling earlier vanished when she saw the most unlikely scenario before her. Ashley, who was infamously afraid of robo-roaches – was currently letting Anne’s own keybug, Mr. Crit, walk around her hand. “L-leg? Ashley, what the [beep]?”

“LANGUAGE!” Two sets of voices shouted from the kitchen.

“Sorry!” Anne sheepishly shouted back before turning her attention back to Ashley, who had bursted out into laughter at Anne’s reaction.

“Wow 2Tone, good thing your profanity filter still works, eh?” Ashley chuckled as Anne scowled at her. “Leg’s fine, by the way. Aches a little, but otherwise okay.”

“Don’t give me that.” Anne couldn’t help but grin as well. She normally wasn’t one for casual swearing, but this was one of those situations that certainly called for it. “What’s going on here? Yesterday, you ran out of the bathroom because Crit was chilling in the sink. Today, you’re playing with him! Like it’s the most normal thing in the world. What the glitch happened this afternoon?”

“Me and V … had a long talk. Real core-to-core stuff.” Ashley explained as she lowered Crit to the ground, smiling as he skittered away underneath the couch. She glanced up with a serious glint in her eyes. “About Marlene and … the whole situation back then.”

“Oh …” Anne rubbed her arm. She obviously knew of what happened to Ashley when they were kids, even if she only got the bigger details when she was older. She knew that it wasn’t easy for Ashley to talk about that period of her life. She sat down next to her injured friend, placing a comforting hand on the latter’s shoulder. “You good?”

“Don’t give me that, I’m great.” Ashley quickly said as she waved the concern away with a reassuring smile. “Long recap short: V made me see that, while I’ll probably never going to completely get over my katsaridaphobia, I don’t have anything to fear of Crit. He’s a buddy.”

“That’s. What. I’ve. Been. Telling. You. All. This. Time!” Anne stated with a certain degree of exasperation, putting emphasis on every word with a clap of her hands. “One afternoon with V and now you change your mind about Crit?”

“Well, you’re no licensed therapist.” Ashley grinned widely, enjoying the defeated look on her best friend’s face way too much. “C’mon, enough about me. What did you and Uzi do today?”

“Oh, uh …” Anne cleared her throat, a bit taken aback by the sudden spotlight. She produced her most convincing smile and leaned back on the couch. “Not much, actually. Cleaned up the back room. Sold some paintings. Had a talk with some customers. Had the pleasure of seeing Uzi swindle a really rude guy out of a lot of money. Had a bit of a core-to-core talk with Uzi of my own.”

Oops. She hadn’t meant to tell that yet.

“Oh, what about?”

“Uh, I’d rather keep that between Uzi and me, if you don’t mind, Ash.” Anne admitted. “It was … personal.”

Ashley chuckled and held up her hands in surrender. “Fair enough. I’m sure you’ll spill the bolts about it to me soon enough.”

She wasn’t wrong about that.

“How about we take a look at that leg, Ashley?” Uzi asked as she walked in the living room, toolbox in hand.

“Yes, I am so done with laying on the couch all day!” Ashley said with an unbridled level of relief.

“Anne, while I’m tending to her, can you see if could help V in the kitchen?” Uzi asked as she stared to lay out various tools on the coffee table.

“’kay!” Anne agreed as she jumped up. She gave Ashley one last grin before she made her way towards the kitchen, where V was taking stuff out of the fridge. She walked in the kitchen and was about to ask if she could help with anything, when she noticed the way that V was looking was her with this soft smile.

Then she realized that Uzi had come out of the kitchen. She had been alone with V.

Anne gulped, pulling on the collarnof her jacket. “Uh, did Uzi tell you about …?”

V grinned, glancing over to the living room entrance, after which she gave Anne a sly wink.

“I’m, uh … gonna set the table.” Anne announced, bolting out the kitchen.

Only to return when she realized she hadn’t gathered any of the plates.

Luckily, Ashley’s injury wasn’t that bad and Uzi had her fixed in no time. That evening, everyone was having dinner when Uzi’s phone suddenly rang. She let out aa frustrated sigh, muttering something about ‘better have a good reason to call her this late’ before she answered it

“Luci Mossberg, who am I speaking with? Oh, Augustus! … No, not a problem at all. We’re just having dinner. How’s little Tala and the other kids? … Good to hear. …. Hmmm?” Uzi’s eyes suddenly hollowed, her phone almost slipping out of her hand. “T-the gala?”

The glass of oil in V’s hand froze halfway towards her mouth as her eyes hollowed in shock as well. Anne and Ashley gave each other a confused look, their curiosity rising with every second.

“No, of course we haven’t forgotten.” Uzi stated with a forced chuckle. She kept throwing nervous glances over to V, trying to keep her voice as even as possible as she answered the questions of the person on the other side of the call. “Of course we’ll be there. Wouldn’t miss it. Especially since Eve has put so much time and effort in it. … Yes … certainly … Oh, while I have you: would it be a problem that we’d bring two extra guests with us? …Two girls who are currently staying with us … the daughter of an old friend of mine and her friend … No problem? You’re a darling, Augustus. … Yes … yes … okay, see you tomorrow. Give my love to your Donatella. … and you as well, Augustus. Bye. Yes. Bye!”

Uzi ended the call with a heavy sigh. She took a deep breath as she slowly turned towards her wife. “So … did you also forget that …?”

V slowly stood up, still hollowed-eyed in shock. “With everything that was going on the last week … it had totally slipped my mind.”

“No need to panic.” Uzi stated with a forced smile. “We still have time to get ready. To get them ready.”

“Can anyone tell us what’s going on?” Ashley asked, throwing her arms in the air.

Uzi and V turned to the two young Drones, the former giving the latter an amused shrug before she turned her attention to Anne and Ashley.

“Would you girls like to go to a gala at the museum tomorrow night?”

Chapter Text

“So … tell me again how you and V are the Guests of Honor on this gala?” Anne asked, watching out the window of Uzi’s car.

“Well, I helped organize it, since I’m in the committee.”

“Aaaand?”

“… and me and V have donated a considerable amount of funds towards the renovation of the new wing of the museum. Which is probably why they’ve named it after us, despite our objections.” Uzi admitted, a small smirk forming in the corner of her lips. “V even provided some of her artwork on display there. Some … unknown works she forgot we had locked away.”

“Uh-huh … how much money do you guys have, anyway?”

“Young lady, that’s not an appropriate question to ask you host.” Uzi playfully scolded, bringing out her ‘Luci’ voice for it. She glanced over with a wink and brought her voice down to a whisper. “We have so much money.”

“You know, I think this is a good time to discuss your backpay on 16 years of birthdays.” Anne joked … kinda.

“Need to focus on the road here, Anne.” Uzi quickly stated, a mischievous grin tugging at her lips.

“How convenient.” Anne chuckled as she looked out the window again, taking in the sights of this unfamiliar environment. She and Ashley hadn’t really gotten the chance to appreciate the beauty of this District … considering V had both rendered them unconscious.

Ashley … the thought of her best friend-turned-crush made something flutter inside Anne’s chest. The realization that she had feelings for someone she had known since they were just little babies had hit her hard. Last night she could hardly sleep, as her thoughts just kept running. All those moments between herself and Ash these last few days. All those times that warm feeling rose up, and she tried so hard to denial what had caused them. All those fleeting touches, the hugs, the pecks on the cheeks, …

How would she ever tell Ashley about her feelings? How would she react? Shocked? Surprised? What if the whole thing just turned awkward?

If only she had an idea of how Ashley felt about her. Anne had no way of knowing. It wasn’t like the redheaded Drone was an open book, even if they had known each other for their entire lives.

What if … what if she didn’t feel the same way? Would she be appalled by the very idea of them dating? Would she laugh? Make fun of her? Would … would she end their friendship because of these feelings?

Anne huffed and shook her head, a confident smile slowly forming. No, she wouldn’t think like that. She couldn’t think like that. Maybe Anne didn’t know how Ashley’s feelings were going to turn out or how she would react, but she knew one thing: she and Ashley were always going to remain friends.

Anne sighed and leaned back in her seat, fishing out her phone to check for any messages. Just a few quick updates from Ashley during her outing with V. They had split up in two groups that morning: Anne with Uzi, Ashley with V.

“Ah, we’re here.” Uzi stated, jolting Anne out of her thoughts.

“Good thing … I think my backside sensors deactivated after sitting so long.” Anne wriggled in her seat, wincing a little. If she remembered her human lore correctly, they would’ve said that it’s … asleep? It felt like she imagined TV static would feel like. She took a look out the window, spotting the enormous clothing store they had parked in front. “Not that I’m complaining about going shopping – especially since you’re paying for it – but did we really have to travel to the City Capital for this?”

“Did you happen to bring a fancy gown with you when you ran away from home?”

“I thought I did, but I must’ve lost it along the way.” Anne joked.

“Uh-huh … so, since you are in need of a dress, we’re going dress shopping. And because it’s for a special occasion, why not splurge a little while we’re at it?”

“Well, I do enjoy when my parents back home take me out on shopping sprees.” Anne stated as she unbuckled her seatbelt. She glanced over to Uzi with a genuinely happy grin. “I’m glad we’re doing this.”

“As am I, Anne.” Uzi stated with a soft smile, her display shimmering with barely contained delight at her daughter’s statement. She shut down the car and stepped out. “As for why we took the drive; V is taking Ashley with her to the Dress Emporium in Diodeton.”

“Again … why?”

“To keep your new dresses a surprise for each other, of course.” Uzi glanced over with a mischievous twinkle on her display. “Just imagine how she’ll swoon when Ashley sees you all dressed up.”

Anne blushed slightly, smiling bashfully as her imagination immediately presented several different scenarios that could play out … some of them edging towards the mature-ish kind. She shook her head, trying to clear the blush lines of her screen ... and the naughty visions out of her mind. She rubbed her arm sheepishly, giving Uzi a shy grin. “That … could be fun.”

“I also made an appointment with a hairdresser after this.” The purple-haired Drone said as she walked through the automatic doors, Anne following quickly behind her. “I’ve noticed that you’re in need a touch-up, Ruby.”

Right … fake names.

Anne touched a lock of her hair, grimacing as she noticed how faded it was started to look. Well, she couldn’t go to a fancy gala looking like something the Sentinels dragged in. She smiled. “I guess it could use … a little work. How about you?”

“What about me? My hair’s looking perfect.” Uzi huffed, her Luci voice back on.

“Meh …”

“Less sass and more shush.” Uzi said, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. She walked over towards a Drone wearing the store uniform and waved her over. “Excuse me, I have a young, wayward damsel in need of a gown for tonight. Do you have anything available?”

“Never been described as a ‘wayward damsel’ before …” Anne muttered, wincing as the really enthusiastic employee started to drag her along. “Hey, why are you dragging me to the kiddie section? I’m sixteen years old!”

“Welcome in my life.” Uzi whispered amusedly as she followed her daughter.

A little while – and about six miles walking through rows and rows of dresses – later, Anne had been given a few choices of dresses.

“How’s it going in there, Ruby?” Uzi asked, sitting patiently on the other side of the changing booth that Anne had disappeared inside. She was taking a long time deciding on a dress.

“It’s … going?” Anne answered, letting out a quiet sigh as she hung a rejected dress back on the hanger – she really wanted that one, too. On the mannequin it reached just to the knees … on her, it nearly reached her ankles. Does the fashion industry make taller mannequins to fool their customers? Anyway, up the next one … Robo-God, she was running out of options here. “I’m sorry for taking so long!”

“No problem! Take your time.” Inside, Uzi was starting to get a little impatient, but … this was her daughter. There were only a few days left before Anne was going back home and there was no saying when they’d have another opportunity to spend time together. So, for her sake … she’d bear the discomfort.

An annoyed grunt sounded from behind the curtains. “Isn’t there a ‘short and cute’ section in this store? All these dresses come out way longer than they should.”

“You want to go back to the kiddie section?”

“Bite me!”

‘Attagirl’ Uzi thought proudly.

Anne groaned as she rejected another dress – too much frill and girly-looking – and took the … the last one already? She sighed as she zipped open the bag it was in … and let out a soft gasp, her display filled with stars. “So … pretty!”

“Anne, everything alright in there?”

“Yeah! I think … “ Anne grinned as she tried on the dress; her eyes sparkling even more as she saw her reflection. The dress itself looked rather simple, but … the colors were beautiful. Shades of purple and pink flowing into one another … it looked like she was wearing a nebula. With the exposed shoulders it had a bit of a naughty vibe … something she knew that Ashley was going to enjoy.

“I think I’ve found my dress.” Anne grabbed the edge of the curtain. “Coming out!”

“Honey, I already know you’re into gi- oh my …” Uzi gasped when Anne stepped out, the latter acting a bit bashful. “Oh yeah, that’s the dress.”

“I know, but …” Anne fiddled with the price tag. “It’s a bit –”

“Don’t worry about the cost. It’s my treat.”

“Bu—!”

“Nuh-uh, don’t wanna hear it.”

Anne couldn’t contain her smile, practically running over to Uzi to throw her arms around her. “You are the best.”

“Anytime, darling.” Uzi patted the back of the excitable youth’s back – trying very hard not to get too emotional – and pulled her into a hug. With a sniff, the purple-haired drone broke away from the hug. “Now, I saw the perfect pair of shoes to go with that dress. How about you wait here while I get them?”

“Don’t we have an appointment for my hair?”

“We’ve got plenty of time!”

Anne sighed as she retreated back into the changing booth. She wondered how Ashley was fairing right now. Knowing the redheaded Drone and her lack of patience when it came to cloth shopping, she was not having a great time.

* * * *

“I’m not having a great time … is what I’d normally say. But … this has been pretty fun, actually.” Ashley stated, peeking inside the bag that held her new dress for that night. She and V had gotten a bit of script, which was completely fine by her. They had spent a total of five minutes in the fancy dress store before V had grabbed her by the arm and brought her somewhere, as the elder Drone had said to the younger one, ‘a bit more to your liking’. “Not that I’m complaining, but isn’t Uz-uhhh … Luci not gonna be mad that you took me to a thrift store for my dress?”

Then again … it had some pretty solid choices for a thrift store. Seemed most donations came from the bigger cities in the district, which were filled with … ugh, Influencer Drones that liked to throw away three-week old fashion the moment it started to drift out of style. Their loss, more for Ashley to buy at excellent low prices.

V giggled – a cutesy, fluttering song that seemed so off for the disassembly Drone, but sounded exactly what Ashley would think ‘Eve’s’ would sound like – and waved the potential problem away. “Oh, don’t you worry about my lovely Luci. I know how to handle her … and what she doesn’t know, doesn’t hurt her … or us.”

“Gotcha.” Ashley snorted amusedly.  “So, what now? Back to the Lighthouse?”

“Oh sweetie … no.” V answered – Ashley couldn’t help but noticed the mischievous twinkle in the elder’s eyes. She waved in the general direction of the redhead’s face. “We’ve got to do something about … all this.”

“All wha- you mean my hair?” Ashley’s eyes looked up, catching a glimpse of some of her curls that were escaping her beanie.  She could feel the buns that she kept contained in a complicated-yet-stylish contraption at the back of her head bounce as she walked. She let out a scoff as she ran her hand over one of her braided ponytails. “Yeah, good luck taming that mess. I’ve been doing my hair myself since pretty much every hairdresser back home gave up on it.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ve got just the guy for you.” V stated. “He’s a bit … excentric at time, but he’s a master when it comes to styling hair. He’ll sort yours out.”

“I’ll take your word for it, V.” Ashley took a bottle of fizzy coolant out of her bag and took a sip … which for V seemed like the perfect moment to ask something the elder Drone had been dying to embarrass the redhead about.

“So … you had that crush on Anne for long, or is it more of a recent thing?”

That sip of coolant instantly shot down the wrong kind of tubes. Ashley managed to spray the liquid over the dashboard, coughing as she tried to clear her airflow tubes from liquid. “Wha- crush? Wha-wha-what do you – *cough* - mean? I don’t have a crush. Who said I had a crush? On Anne? *Cough* Crush on Anne? Me? Crushing on my best friend? No, why-why-why would you ….?”

Whatever further incoherent protests that Ashley tried to formulate died when V shot her that sideways glance with a grin that just screamed that she wasn’t fooling anyone.

Ashley sighed, slumping in her seat like a sack of melted rubber. “Please tell me that I’m really not that obvious?”

“Only to those with eyes … or multiple, in my case.” She glanced over with a grin. “Your visor lights up like a spotlight whenever she hugs you. She kissed your cheek the other day, and I thought that you’d actually were going to crumple.”

Ugh, and that was one of Ashley’s fears confirmed. As for the second … “Is it … very noticeable for, uh … everyone?”

“If you’re talking about Anne … I wouldn’t worry too much about it.” A barely noticeable smirk tugged at the corner of V’s mouth.  “Uzi and I … were never really attuned to other people’s feelings. If she’s anything like Uzi, she’s probably oblivious to the signs, or she’s seeing them but just telling herself she’s seeing things that aren’t there. If she’s like me … well, I ignored them … until it was too late.”

“You guys still ended up together, though.”

“Yeah, after running circles around each other for the longest time, pining hard when we were alone with our thoughts.” V rolled her eyes, letting out an exasperated sigh when she thought back on the time that she was just pacing around her room, getting angry at herself for even thinking that she was getting feelings for Uzi. Same thing happened with Lizzy, but … that would be the ‘too late’ part of her earlier statement.

Ashley felt a blush coming up as she dared to ask her next question. “Do you, uh … have an idea if Anne …?”

The question hung heavily in the air.

“That … is a question that you’re gonna have to find out by yourself, Ashley.” V said, turning a corner. She drove up to a hair salon named ‘Armand’s’ on the end of the street and parked her car. She sighed and turned to the redheaded Drone. “Listen, in all my experience in the dealings of feelings and romance – both with Uzi and others -, I’ve learned one thing: Someone is going to have to take the first step, you or them; but you’re not going to get anywhere by standing still.”

“I can’t just … tell Anne!” Ashley wrung her hands together, her display sweating digital drops.

“Sure you can …” V grabbed her cane, her voice changing to Eve’s again. “You just need to have the right moment. And when you do, don’t chicken out of it … like those few times before.”

It was a wonder that Ashley’s display wasn’t on the verge of overheating, the way she was blushing right now. She took a deep breath. “But what if … she’s not--?”

“No way of knowing … first step, remember?” V took her cane, her voice and eye color switching to those of Eve’s, and gave Ashley a soft smile. “But if there’s one thing I do know … she’ll always be by your side, whatever the outcome. Things might get awkward, but … trust me, is better knowing and spend a little time healing … than never knowing and regretting it forever. It takes just … a little courage.”

Ashley rubbed the back of her head, their conversation running through her mind. She took a deep breath, giving V – Eve – a sheepish grin. “I’ll … try to remember that.”

“Good girl … now, let’s go.” V – Eve – grinned from hypothetical ear to actual audio receptor. “I want you to meet someone.”

As they walked through the glass door, a little bell ringing as they stepped through, Ahsley didn’t really see what could be so special about this place. It looked like any other hair salon that she had ever visited. Washing basins where they could apply the acidic softener. Comfy chairs with the interface hoods that could program new styles into the Drones inbuilt hair fabricator. Welding tools. A regular Drone hair salon.

“Yoohoo, Armand?” V called out. She elbowed Ashley against her arm, wiggling a digital eyebrow. “Word of advice … just let him flow.”

“Flow? What do you-?”

Something that Ashley could only describe as a delighted screech of a bubbly banshee interrupted what the redhead was going to say … as well as any sort of thought that could’ve popped up.

“Is that Eve Mossberg I hear!?” A drone popped up from behind the curtains leading towards the back of the salon. Ashley had never seen a man with a more stylized moustache in her life. The tips curled past his shoulders. He squealed – yes, he actually did – in delight again as he practically ran up to V. they gave each other one of those check-to-cheek air kisses, before Armand clasped his hands together. “Why, if it isn’t my favorite mistress of the brush. How are you, sweetie? I haven’t seen you in a spell.”

“Busy, busy, busy.” V answered, adjusting her cane to keep her balance. “You know how it is.”

Armand let out a sigh, dramatically planting the back of his hand against his forehead. “Oh, don’t I know it? Just the other week, I had a whole flock of young girls, all needed their hair done for a party. All wanted something new, yet classic. I mean, I’m a master of my craft, but …” He stopped as he – finally – noticed Ashley standing next to V. He let out an excruciated gasp, his hand over his chest. “Oh, my stars, honey, who dared to cage you?”

Ashley blinked, taken aback by this sudden attention. “M-me? Cage? Wh-?”

Before she could even form a coherent sentence, Armand was already walking circles around her. V was right about the ‘flow’ thing … the man seemed to glide on air as he spun around her. Ashley let out an involuntary yelp when the hair stylist suddenly – yet as gently like he was handling the most fragile and delicate object in the known universe – took hold of her buns, clicking his tongue in disapproval.

Another yelp escaped her as he spun Ashley around her axis, so she was now facing him.

“These magnificent curls, child! Why are you constraining them?” Armand actually twirled as he appeared in front of the really confused redhead. “They are screaming to be released and let their beauty be shown for all to see.”

“You … are really, uh … passionate, I take it?” Ashley asked, wondering if she could make her escape before she’d be caught in the clutches of this fruity whirlwind of a Drone.

“Armand, maybe take it down a little?” V asked in a timid voice, but Ashley could see the amusement twinkling in her display. “Our young friend here is not used to someone with your level of, uh … theatrics.”

‘That’s wild, coming from someone who changes identities and personalities on a, quote-unquote, regular basis.’ Ashley thought to herself, praying to the Creators that she’d be able to keep herself from snorting at V’s statement.

Armand clicked his tongue and stepped back, clasping his hands together while giving Ashley an apologetic smirk. “Oh, I’m sorry, Precious. I do tend to get ahead of myself.”

“Yeah, no kidding, twinkletoes!” The young redhead a tendency to lash out with crude remarks like that whenever she got too flustered by strangers. It was a bad habit that had put her into as much trouble as it helped her get out of it.

“Abbigail, for shame!”

“Oh, don’t be too harsh on her. It’s my fault for being too much ‘me’ in front of someone who’s never had the pleasure of dealing with me before.” Armand grinned enthusiastically, his eyes sparkling. “And what a magnificent reaction. This little kitten got claws and a nasty bite! I adore you already.”

“Uh … thanks? ”

“So, I take it that she’s my client today?” Armand asked as she spun on his heels to face V, who nodded. Without any more questions, he took Ashley by the shoulders and guiding her to the washing basins. “So, how long has it been since your last hair maintenance?”

“A while?” Ashley felt like her processor was running overtime, trying to keep up the hurricane named Armand. Before she knew it, she was seated. She felt Armand untying the hairband that kept up her buns, and … oh-oh, he was going to pull the loadbearing string. “Uh, I wouldn’t--!”

Armand let out a surprised shriek, followed by Eve – who Ashley believed had actually been taken by surprise – as the redhead’s carefully assembled hairdo exploded in a jungle of curls. It looked like she had stuck her finger into a very powerful energy socket. It stuck out into every direction.

“Too late …” Ashley sighed. This is why she wore the same style for the last few years. It was impossible to work with on her own, and her dad … well, he was bald for a reason.

“Oh my!” Armand sounded more excited than surprised. He appeared in Ashley’s field of vision, grinning widely. “This is what I meant by ‘caged’, by the way.”

“I can honestly blame this on my dad, y’know.” Ashley huffed as she allowed Armand to pull her head back. She closed her eyes as the hair stylist started to pour hot water over her curls. “He’s classified as ‘Heavy Industrial Equipment”, and I inherited most of his coding used on the hair fabricator. She-who-shall-not-be-named provided the curls.”

“Oh, I know what you mean, darlin’. Heavy Duty means heavy hair. I dated a construction foreman once, and his hair was just the worst. It had an even more nasty attitude than he had.” Armand huffed as he applied a week’s worth of shampoo and other product to the unruly curls. He let out a dreamy sigh. “Ooh, but those hands could give massages like no other. Among other things …”

Ashley snorted. She was really starting to warm up to this guy. He was … fun. A bit much, yeah, but … he seemed nice.

“So, I take it that this is for the gala? I’ve had plenty of clients this week who are going.” Armand asked V as he washed out the product.

“Oh, yes.” V answered with a giggle. She threw an uncharacteristically-for-her-current-persona mischievous look in Ashley’s direction. “She’s trying to impress a girl.”

“Hey!”

“Oh, sweetie pie, ninety percent of the girls stepping foot over this threshold do so to impress someone.” Armanda didn’t seem impressed. “You’ve got to give me something juicier than that.”

“Friends since childhood.”

“Eve!”

“Ooh, now that’s more like it!”

“Can we please don’t talk about it?” Ashley whined. “I’m mortified enough as is.”

“Oh fine, be boring.” Armand chuckled with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. “Washings done. Follow me to the chairs, if you will.”

“I don’t even know if I’m gonna – agh, why am I still talking about it?” Ashley blushed as she followed Armand.

“Magic of the hair salon.” Armand threw the cape over his redheaded client – with more flair than was necessary – and proceeded to take out whatever he’d need for this extensive operation. “People blab about all sorts of things once they sit in my chair. Gosh, the stories I could tell … if I weren’t a big believer in stylist/client confidentiality.”

“Sure …” Ashley rolled her eyes. She’d never met someone working in a hair salon who wasn’t a big gossip.

“Me-ow. I just wanna adopt you. Just kidding.” Armand chuckled. “Now, I’d ask you what you’d want me to do, but … inspiration has hit me, and I must sculpt a new masterpiece!”

“I can see why you like this guy, Eve.” Ashley chuckled, as she decided that trying to fight this would be an impossible endeavor. “Okay, Mr. Master Stylist … uncage my hair.”

“With upmost pleasure, honey!”

* * * *

“’Plenty of time’, eh?” Anne couldn’t help but to grin from ear to proverbial ear as Uzi let out an annoyed sigh.

“Not my fault that prick of a hairdresser gave our spot to someone else.”

“We were late, though.”

“Only by half-an-hour …” Uzi sighed as she parked her car into the garage. She’d never been happier to see their lighthouse home. “And then the nerve to let out wait so long before he’d even take you on!”

“Can’t complain about the results.” Anne grinned as she looked at her reflection in the rear-view mirror. The hairdresser – despite all the attitude and snippy comments – had done a really good job. Her hair absolutely sparkled. The faded dye-jobs had been more than just ‘touched up’; they looked amazing. The red tips really jumped out of the black hair; not to mention the hairdo. She looked … really pretty.

Hopefully, someone else would think the same thing.

“Welp, I guess it was worth it, then. Anywho, this has taken up so much more time than it needed to.” Uzi sighed as she got out of the car. “We don’t have as much time left as I wanted before we need to go to the museum. We best get ready.”

“V? We’re home … finally!” Uzi called out as they walked through the front door. She had messaged her wife that they’d be away longer, which didn’t seem like a problem as it turned out that Ashley’s hairdresser appointment had turned out to be a long one as well.

“I’m going to get dressed.” Anne called out, but the moment she stepped foot on the stairs, someone pulled her back.

“Not so fast, kiddo.” V grinned, chuckling at the near-identical scowl Uzi and Anne were giving her. “Ashley is getting ready in your room. How about you get ready in the bathroom?”

“Oh … okay.” Anne took her dress up the stairs … her core beating with anticipation as she wondered how Ashley would look like.

“Hey, kid?” V called out from down the stairs, smiling softly as Anne stopped to turn around. “Your hair looks nice. You’re gonna turn heads for sure.”

“I guess she only wants to turn the head of one person in particular.” Uzi joked, nuzzling up against her wife as she threw a teasing glance in her daughter’s direction.

Anne, already feeling her visor lighting up, quickly ran up the stairs towards the bathroom. She briefly paused when she passed the door of her and Ashley’s room, putting her audio receptor to the door. She grinned when she heard what appeared to be sounds of struggling and mild cursing. For a moment, she considered going in … but decided against it. Still … better to let Ashley know she was home.

“Ashley?” Anne called out as she knocked on the door, grinning when she was answered by a yelp. “Just saying I’m going to get ready in the bathroom.”

“O-okay!”

“You need help in there?”

“Nope! All go – agh! – all good!”

“If you say so!” Anne giggled as she skipped away.

A little while later, as Anne made her way down the stairs, she could hear Uzi and V bickering against each other. For a moment she was worried, until she heard what the bickering was about.

“—the artist here, huh?” V’s voice asked. “Just let me do it.”

“I can work a camera, V!” Uzi’s voice replied. “Point, click, photo! Anyone can do that!”

“But your pictures are sh—”

“Ahem!” Anne grinned widely as she saw how her birth parents’ faces dropped as she walked into the room. She gave a little twirl. “How do I look?”

“Anne …” V looked like she was gonna cry. “You look beautiful!”

“The two of you look great, too!” Anne was actually impressed how fancy the two of them were dressed up.

Uzi wore a dark-purple dress with an exotic pattern and a wide synth-fur collar, complete with matching belt. V’s strapless dress, while with the same exotic pattern, looked simpler by comparison, with is darker blue tone and bright red belt.

“Is, uh … Ashley not done yet?” Anne asked, a soft blush forming on her visor.

“I say she’s about done.” V grinned, her eyes darting to something behind her clueless daughter.

“Anne?”

The latter spun around … and the world froze around her when she saw Ashley in her new dress. The dark green flowing over to a lighter green looked really good on her, but it was her hair that made Anne’s core stop. The usually braided and contained hair was completely loose, given way for long, bouncy curls that reached to her middle. A little black bow on the top of her head completed this stunning metamorphosis. 

“Woah … Ashley, you look … woah …” Wow, Anne, real smooth. You see one pretty girl and you get your wires crossed? And yes, she was acknowledging to herself that she found Ashley really pretty right now. Acutally, Ashley was always pretty. Man, realizing that she had fallen for her best friend really had removed any sort of need to deny her true feelings … if only to herself.

“Well … you look pretty ‘woah’ too, 2Tone.” Ashley said a bit bashfully, blushing at how Anne was looking at her. She spun around, giving her friend a good look. “How’s the dress?”

“I think she’s going with ‘woah’!” V teased, grabbing the camera out of Uzi’s hands to take a few pictures herself.

“B-bite me …” Anne muttered, feeling her core jump as Ashley got closer. Her thought jumped to what Uzi had told her about ‘finding her moment with Ash’, and while it wasn’t the right time for a full confession – she was so not ready for that – maybe … she could take that first step in the right direction. “So … Ash, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Oh?” Blush lines briefly flashed in the redhead’s visor.

Behind them, V elbowed Uzi gently in the ribs, the latter shushing the former. The smiles on their faces grew as they watched the adorable scenario unfold before them. That first step being taken. 

“I was wondering if you want to, because it’s kinda what people do during these sorts of events, if you wanted to go … together with me?” Anne winced at how she was wording this. “I mean, I know that we’re already going together – with Uzi and V – but I was wondering if … you … wanted to go … with … me?”

“Are you …?” Ashley gulped, hand nervously wringing together. “-asking me out?”

“What? No-yeah-sorta-kinda-maybe-not-like-that-in-a-way!” Anne squeaked, briefly pausing to take a deep breath. “I mean like my official plus-one? So we don’t have to worry about randos asking us for a dance or something. Ugh, I’m making this sound all sorts of weird! You must think I’m—”

“Yes.”

The silence hung strongly in the air … with the exception of the camera shutter clicking once … and V grunting when Uzi elbowed her excitedly in the sides.

Anne figured her audio processor must’ve lagged for a moment there, because she’d swore she heard Ashley agreeing. She blinked a few times, display lighting up with blush lines. “Huh?”

“I mean …” Ashley blushed a little, rubbing the back of her head and fiddling with the hem of her dress with the other. She bit her lower lip for a moment, averting her eyes from Anne before she looked up again with a small smile. “I’d like to be your plus-one, Anne. It … would be fun.”

“Oh, uh … yeah, definitely!” Anne felt like she was gonna melt into a puddle of blushing slag.

Ashley quickly composed herself, clearing her throat before throwing Anne a fierce grin. “But you owe me a dance, 2tone! I’m not going to humiliate myself on that dance floor alone.” She paused for a moment … before turning to Uzi and V. “There’s a dance floor, right?”

The two elders nodded.

Anne giggled, feeling the tense feeling deflate a little. “Sure, you’re on.”

“Well, I think it would be appropriate to have a proper photo of this!” V called, grabbing the two young Drones by the shoulders and bringing them to a place where, according to the former, the light was perfect. She started giving instructions to the two slightly flustered girls. “Anne, a bit closer to Ashley. Red, can you put your arm about – yeah, no, lower, okay, right there! Anne, lean your head a little against her arm. Great! Now … smile!”

Uzi waited for few moments, giving V the right amount of time to indulge in embarrassing Anne and Ashley, before she patted the former Disassembly Drone on the shoulder. “That’s enough, Honey Bee. Plenty of time to tease them later.”

“Oh, fine … how about one more, all of us together?”

“Okay, one more.”

“Alright, everyone, gather around.” V instructed as she fiddled with the camera settings. “How do I … where’s the timer on this thing?”

“V …”

“Got it!” V quickly joined her wife, planting a quick kiss on her cheek – making her blush. “Everyone, say ‘cheese’!”

“CHEESE!”

‘FLASH’

V grabbed the camera and checked the photo, smiling softly. She gestured Uzi to come over, who’s exasperated expression softened when she looked at it.

“Well … that’s a keeper.” Uzi grinned. She clasped her hands together. “Okay, now we really need to get going.”

“You know …” V began as she wrapped her arms around the Anne and Ashley, giving them a sly grin. “… I think that tonight is going to be very special. What do you girls think?”

The two dressed up Drones gave each other a sideways, quickly looking away blushing and giggling. Ashley started to follow V to the front door while Anne stayed behind for a moment, gathering her thoughts and convincing herself that what she just did was reality and not just another dream. She gasped when Uzi gave her a quick side-hug.

“How does that first step feel like?” Uzi asked in a whisper.

“Heavy …” Anne took a deep breath, deleting the digital downpour of sweat of her display. She glanced at Uzi with a confident grin. “But … good. What do I do next?”

“That’s for you to figure out.”

Outside, V was waiting patiently for Ashley to snap out of her boot-loop. “You okay, Red?”

“F-fine, I guess?” Ashley slapped herself. “What now?”

“Hang out with each other, have fun, see where this road takes you.” V grinned, patting the blushing redheaded mess on her back. She glanced over to the front door, where she could hear the muffled voices of Uzi and Anne having their conversation, which she figured was going something similar as the one she was having with Ashley. She gave the latter a wink. “Just don’t step on her toes when you dance.”

“Get glitched, V.” Ashley grinned.

Calling the event a gala was … a little bit of an overstatement. Sure, you had the guests who were dressed up in their fanciest outfits, but … the overall vibe was a bit more casual than Anne had suspected it to be in these sorts of festivities. Maybe because Little Diodeton was a smaller town.

Still … this was surely the fanciest party that Anne had ever been to. The evening had started with a speech from the mayor – a lovely older gentleman who thought his little jokes were much funnier than they actually were -, followed by speech of V – rather, Eve.

Anne had to contain her giggles as she watched how V completely lost herself in her role. ‘Eve’ was so nervous; fumling over her words and looking so frightened to stand in front of a crowd. The way she visibly relaxed as she took a stand next to her wife, who immediately grabbed hand and squeezed it.

The following hour was filled with a tour of the new wing, displaying a lot of artwork from ‘Eve’ … and Anne suspected that some of V’s work from previous identities were on display as well. She made a mental note to ask about it later.

After that … the dance floor opened, and Anne amused herself watching other Drones dance around. It certainly helped her keep herself distracted … from the only Drone in the entire building that she couldn’t keep herself from thinking about.

A smile formed on her face as she watched Ashley talk with some Drones their age, having found some new subjects for her – in her words – extraordinary matchmaking skill. She was so fixated on the redhead that she never noticed that she was being approached.

“Excuse me?”

A soft yelp escaped Anne’s throat. With blush lines staining her visor, she turned to the stranger. It was a boy her age, who chuckled at her reaction.

“Sorry about that.” He said, rubbing the back of his head. “I was wondering … would you like to dance with me?”

“Uh …” Anne wrung her hands together. “I am waiting for someone.”

“I’m sure they’ll be –-“

“Hello, pardon the interruption.” Ashley, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, stated with a large grin. “Hi, I’m Abbigail, Ruby’s friend. Listen, mate, my darling friend here is a bit too shy to say it, so I’m just gonna. It’s not gonna work out.”

“And why would that be?”

“Because you and she are playing for the same team, if you get my drift.” Ashley stated with a wink.

The young man looked puzzled for a few moments … before his eyes hollowing in realization. He let out a sheepish chuckle. “Oh, I see. I’m sorry, I didn’t want to make things awkward.”

“That’s okay …” Anne smiled, genuinely grateful for Ashley’s timely intervention.

“However, …” Ashley grinned as she leaned in with a hushed whisper. She discretely pointed over towards something behind him. “There is this blonde, stunning young lady who’s been glaring daggers at you – of more likely, at my dear Ruby here – since you’ve started talking with her. Looks to me she’s a bit jealous you’ve been given someone else some attention.”

“Uh … green eyes? Hairclip shaped like a leaf?”

“Yup.”

“Cynthia …” The young man instantly blushed. “I know her from my class. She’s … cool.”

“How about you go talk to her?” Ashley suggested with a wink. “Maybe she thinks you are cool too.”

The man nodded, turned on his heels and walked straight over to the blonde girl, who’s entire angry demeaner changed to a bashful one the moment they locked eyes with each other.

Anne let out a sigh of relief. “Phew … thanks for the safe, Ash.”

“Anytime, 2Tone.” Ashley winked, just at the moment that a new song started. The two girls glanced at each other for a moment, blush lines forming on their visor. Eventually, Ashley cleared her throat and held out her hand towards Anne. “So, uh … I believe you owed me a chance to humiliate ourselves on the dance floor?”

The dark-haired girl accepted her friend’s hand with a giggle. “I believe so, too.”

As they made their way to the dancefloor, giggling and giddy as could be, they were being watched by two very anticipating elders. V had an arm around Uzi’s waist, her head leaning on top of the purple haired Drone.

“You’re better be recording this, Zi …” the blonde Drone whispered, chuckling as she watched the two girls dance excitedly, making moves that … didn’t really looked like any dance they’d ever seen.

Uzi chuckled, giving her wife a wink. “I’ve hacked all the security cameras in this room. I’m getting footage from at least four different angles, and everything is being uploaded to my private servers as we speak.”

“You’re a hacking Goddess, my little crow.” V chuckled, planting a kiss on top of Uzi’s head. A mischievous grin formed on her lips. “You couldn’t do anything about the song, couldn’t you?”

“Way ahead of you, Honey Bee.” Uzi grinned as series of codes flashed over her visor, as she hacked into the DJ’s playlist. “I’ll just move this song up a few spaces, and … you fancy a dance, Eve?”

V giggled, reverting back to her Eve persona, her visor alight as she blushed. “Oh, I’d love to, Luci dear.”

The song changed from an upbeat dance to something more … slower.

“Oh, guess they opted for some actual gala music too.” Ashley commented as she watched various couples of Drones, including Uzi and v, made their way to the dancefloor. She sighed a bit resigned. She was having fun, and now … “How about we --?”

The rest of the question stayed away, as Anne took Ashley by the hand, blushing a little. “I … I’d like to keep dancing, if that okay with you?”

“Oh … yeah, sure!” Ashley’s smile couldn’t be bigger as she wrapped her arms around Anne. They started to sway to the music, the red-eyed Drone’s head resting on her dearest friend’s head. She spotted something in the corner of her vision that made her chuckle. “And another point for the Mistress of Matchmaking.”

Anne glanced over to where Ashley was looking, and chuckled when she saw the boy that asked her to dance earlier dancing with who she assumed was the blonde girl that Ashley had directed him to. They looked … happy, twirling around the floor without a care in the world. “You’ve got a real knack for getting people together, you know that?”

“Yeah …” Ashley’s face soured a little as she let out a heavy sigh. “For everyone … except for myself.”

“Ash …”

“Nah, don’t listen to me.” Ashley quickly stated, twirling Anne around in an effort to distract her from her statement. “I’m just being melodramatic.”

“You’ll find someone, I’m sure of it.” Anne glanced up into Ashley’s eyes, smiling softly. “You’re a kind, courageous and loving Drone. You are funny, smart as they come … and unbelievably pretty. Even more so with your hair like that. Any girl would be so lucky to have you. I know I feel like that … you know, in the most normal sense.”

“R-right …” Ashley was happy that Anne was suddenly avoiding her eyes for some reason, because the redhead couldn’t stop blushing.

They kept dancing in silence for a while … but it was a nice silence. There was a warmth between them as they found comfort with each other. Uzi and V, dancing a discrete distance away from the young duo but close enough so they could see everything, smiled softly at them. There was an energy in the air, and something was bound to happen. If only they could just … stop getting into their own way.

“You know … maybe there’s a reason why you can’t find someone …” Anne eventually stated, as she felt her core buzz with the knowledge that this very well could be that next step … and everything would change, for better or worse.

“Oh?” Ashley grinned, raising a digital eyebrow.

“Maybe … you’ve already found her – them!” Anne gulped, hiding her blushing visor by resting her head against Ashley’s chest, who blushed even harder.

Those few moments of Ashley’s silence were deafening. Eventually, the redhead chuckled. She gave Anne another twirl, before pretty much pulling her against her chest to gaze in to her eyes. “Maybe I did …”

The slow dance ended and the music turned back into something more energetic and upbeat. Anne fanned herself, feeling a bit overheated. “How about we take a break? The museum has a garden that I really would like to see.”

“Yeah, I could use some fresh air.” Ashley agreed. She glanced around the room. “It’s gonna be pretty deserted. It seems like everyone is here.”

“Well … I don’t mind.” She held out her hand, pinky finger sticking out.

Ashley chuckled and intertwined her pinky with Anne’s, giving her a wink as they walked into the direction of the ‘GARDEN’ sign. “Me neither.”

The garden was absolutely beautiful. Anne couldn’t remember the last time she saw so many different species of flowers in one place. Pinkies still intertwined, they walked over to the edge of the garden, taking a rest against the railing overlooking the town.

Anne sighed dreamily, pushing herself up so her feet dangled a bit of the ground. There was a serene calmness in the air, stars sparkling in the night sky and the ringed ‘moon’ showering the area in a cold light. It was … beautiful.

She flinched a little when Ashley took a place next to her, resting her head on her arms to gaze at her. Anne felt a blush coming on and in involuntary giggle escaped her throat. Biting on the inside of her cheek, she pondered what to do next.

She took a deep breath and scooted closer to Ashley, who immediately raised an arm so Anne could nuzzle against her. Another giggle escaped Anne’s mouth as Ashley’s arms wrapped around her.

Silence fell; the two of them just gazing to the quiet town.

Anne needed to say something.

No … she needed to say it.

The one thing that had been lingering in her core for longer than she realized it had.

Because if she didn’t say anything now …

Anne steeled herself.

Now or never.

Deep breaths.

“Ashley, I need to tell y--!”

“Anne, I think I love you!”

…

Dead silence …

…

Anne’s mouth, still agape for her interrupted confession, slowly turned her head to face her frozen-in-place friend. “Ash?”

Sudden realization dawned over the redheaded Drone’s face, as she quickly took a few steps back, hands slapped over her mouth, eyes hollowed in shock and the disbelief that she just blurted that out. “Did I just … ?”

Anne slowly nodded.

“O-oh no … oh no-no-no, this is not what I –” Ashley started to back away, her visor alight in embarrassment. “What I meant to say was, uh …”

Anne slowly felt herself coming back to reality. “Ash … what you said … is it true?”

“O-okay, look, what and why I said that …!” Ashley swallowed down a lump before she started to pace around. “With you technically asking me out earlier, the dance we had just now and what you said to me … we can all agree that I got my wires crossed, right? Got a bit too sappy for my own good.”

Anne took a step forward. Ashley let out a squeak.

“Yup, me getting some wires crossed and getting a complete mixed-up interpretation of what you said.” The redheaded Drone seemed to be speaking at twice the speed now, backing off until she felt the railing against her back. “You probably meant everything you said in a more platonic way. You know how I can be, the eternal romantic at heart.”

Anne took another step … and another. It was like her body was moving on its own. Her core was buzzing with both excitement and anxiety, and a warmth was spreading throughout her entire being, like it was anticipation what was going to happen next.

“I know I’ve made thing awkward right now, but maybe it’s best that we just …uuh …” Ashley stammered when Anne closed the distance between them.

Yellow-and-purple eyes stared down red ones.

Anne’s core thumped in her chest.

“Ashley …?”

Ashley’s core felt like it was going to vibrate out of place.

“A-Anne?”

…

“I love you, too!”

Anne instantly stood on the tips of her toes, raising herself to her fullest height … and planted her lips on Ashley’s. She threw her arms around the redhead’s neck and pulled herself up, anchoring her in place to make sure that their lips wouldn’t dare part before she wanted them to.

Her entire body was buzzing now and she felt like her entire system was going to going to crash from the heat she felt rising. After a few moments she felt the frozen Ashley relax. A pair of arms slowly wrapped around Anne’s waist, pulling her even closer.

And then Ashley actually kissed back … and the whole world around them vanished. No music, no distant cars, no nothing … it was just Anne and Ashley.

Without any sort of regard how this might possibly ruin her brand-new dress, Anne jumped up – never breaking up the kiss with her redheaded flame – and wrapped her legs around Ashley’s waist, who immediately secured the former in place.

The heat rose even more as Anne slowly tilted her head, allowing Ashley to deepen the kiss. With one hand having a tight grip on Ashley’s shoulder, Anne let her free hand roam through the red curls, a muffled giggle rising up.

It felt like an eternity passed where they did nothing but just kiss; their mouths exploring one another as they craved this new sensation.

But eventually … they parted lips with a soft gasp.

Breathing heavily, both girls started at each other … almost if they were unsure what just happened had really happened.

Then … Ashley giggled.

And Anne giggled too.

Which quickly turned in uncontrollable laughter, cheering as they held on to each other.

Anne’s laughs echoed through the quiet town and Ashley spun her around. “A-Ashle-ey! Calm down, you’re going to launch me into space at this speed.”

“R-right!” Ashley blushed as she slowed her spin and allowed Anne to slide down – arms still around the redhead’s neck. They stared at each other, smiling softly.

“So … how long?”

“Hmmm?”

“How long did you have a crush on me?” Anne giggled, genuinely curious.

“Uuh …” Ashley blushed as she rubbed the back of her head. “Not that long. About … a few months?”

“Months?” Anne was genuinely surprised. “Really?”

“You … never noticed?”

“No!” A laugh escaped the raven-haired girl as she hugged Ashley. “Not a thing!”

Ashley chuckled. “And here V dared to suggest that I was being obvious!”

“V knew?”

“V guessed.” Ashley shrugged. “She ambushed me earlier today. So, uh … when did you … you know?”

“Oh, yesterday!” Anne sheepishly admitted. She brought her voice down to a whisper. “And I had to have Uzi point it out to me.”

“Really?” Ashley snorted. “Maybe V was right about us being both obvious and oblivious at the same time.”

“I’d say so!”

They laughed as they embraced each other, their yearning lips connecting for another kiss.

“So, does this mean …?” Ashley asked as she broke away from the kiss, her entire display alight as she blushed harder than she ever had before.

“Mean what?” Anne asked, acting all innocently oblivious.

“Are you really going to make me ask?” A wide smile formed on the redhead’s lips.

“You’re the ‘romantic one’.” Anne grinned, taking Ashley hands in her own. “Ask me.”

Ashley grinned widely, squeezing Anne’s hands softly. She took a deep breath, her eyes never breaking contact with her soon-to-be. She brought her voice down to a whisper, so no-one but the two of them could hear. “Anne Brinkman … will you be my girlfri- MMMPH!”

Anne knew she had interrupted what should have become a very romantic moment, but the very second the question had started to leave Ashley’s lips … all she wanted to do was kiss them. Hopefully that would be answer enough.

But, to be sure …

Anne broke away from the kiss, giggling at the dazed Drone. “Yes, Ashley Yates … I want to be your girlfriend.”

As the new couple embraced each other, celebrating with kisses and cheers, they were oblivious to the hacked, purple-glowing security camera that had been witnessing their entire conversation. Inside the museum, Uzi and V clinked their glasses together before leaning towards each other for a kiss.

“It was about time those two got their act together.” Uzi whispered, trying really hard to keep digital tears from forming her eyes.

V wrapped an arm around her wife and pulled her close. “Told you that tonight was going to be special.”