Chapter Text
“A WORD I’M SEARCHING FOR”
⟡
IVE DEVOTED
TO A LIFE OF ENDLESS MURDER
TO A LIFE IN THIS DEAD WORLD
THAT WROUGHT LIFE THROUGH FEAR AND PRIMAL HATRED
INSTINCT TO KILL
TO SURVIVE
—
BUT THE SMOKE MAY CLEAR
THE FEAR SUBSIDES
AND ALL IM LEFT WITH
IS SOMETHING
BEYOND THIS CODE OF YOURS AND MINE.
⟡
The hot sun beat mercilessly down upon the monotone pavement that covered the indifferent streets, a type of heat that paired with the incessant buzzing of cicadas and the thrumming, mechanical headache that Mirage had, made her surroundings surreally miserable.
She itched her forearm, the part she could reach over the rolled-up sleeve of the black blazer she wore, shrugged to the side and hanging off of one shoulder, her lighter-than-most-students bookbag on the other.
There was a serene quiet after the school day, one where the dim rays of the late winter sun cast fading light and long shadows over the street she stood on. Not like Mirage cared, of course—not when she’d seen the same sunset a million times. After a while, it just became something indifferent to her, the next thing to expect in a repeating week that seemed to never want to move on without her (but turns out that was far worse whenever taken literally.)
It was the fourth day of the week, Thursday, considering the week started on Monday. The perfect opener of running to school lost in a maze of unfamiliar streets, looking for memory-jogging signs and pebbles and the likes to try and find her way to a school she never made it to.
Well, that was what it started as, at least. After a bit, whenever she found herself waking up to running restlessly towards closing gates, she’d just stop in her tracks and begin to do nothing more than stroll around until she made it back home.
That’d changed recently, though. Whenever she’d been thrown back into that cycle of running without a clear sense of direction…
…She’d hit someone.
And, this is where the story got weird. A break in the cycle was not expected, considering that the world around her was not supposed to change. Every day leading up to this, nobody was there, and she’d expected that nobody would be there for seemingly the rest of time.
He was another V-Model, like Mirage, dressed in the same shabby uniform and looking just as lost as her. Due to him having the same colors, Mirage seemed to believe for the first few moments that he was some sort of mirrored version of her.
Now, she was never good at keeping her thoughts to herself. Whenever she was little, there were a lot of back-and-forth conversations with nearly everyone who cared to notice about how she had no filter to what she said. ‘Rude’ comments, they’d say. ‘Obscene’ comments, some would be wise enough to say. They never really bothered her, but it was something to take into consideration as she did what one would call oversharing.
She may have told him about the existential dread and depressive nihilism she felt concerning the world and the lack of purpose she felt without even bothering to learn his name, but that’s what she did for everyone. What did surprise her, though, was that the response she got from this seemingly babbling, directionless idiot who couldn’t speak to girls even if he had his life on the line was actually rather, should she say, life-changing.
Who knew that there was a cure to nihilism? One that involved an answer of living just to live, and how to deal with your emotions? One that involved the thought of hope and optimism? There were a few other things to take away from the numbnuts’ argument, but that was about it.
And now here she stood, lingering on a sidewalk just a block away from her house.
And truthfully, Mirage believed that after that encounter with her strange, supposed long-lost brother or whatever, her life couldn’t get more interesting. If anything, it’d probably return to normal, save for her maybe picking up a hobby for once or trying to do something else that was different. There was one thought she liked to entertain, though, and that was seeing another V-Model—but she knew that possibility wouldn’t come for a very, very long time.
…
…
Surely, yeah.
BOOT UP SEQUENCE READY
FIRMWARE…
LATEST VERSION (2113.12.07)
CALIBRATION…
RECENTLY UPDATED
PERFORM RECALIBRATION?
Y/N
AUDIO OK
VIDEO OK
MECHANICS OK
RECALIBRATION COMPLETE
PRIMARY SETTINGS UPDATED
ALL SYSTEMS OPERATIONAL
LOADING STATUS UPDATE…
STATUS UPDATE
MACHINE ID: V2
LOCATION: UNKNOWN
CURRENT OBJECTIVE: ASSESS SURROUNDINGS
…
…
LIVE.
Something.
Something was happening.
It wasn’t pain, nor a lack of sense—not the blinding lights of Greed’s sun nor the protest of their hinges as they brace for impact, beneath scorching golden stone as they stare down their predecessor.
It wasn’t death, nor was it life. This was something else entirely.
Her fans whirred to life as her metal fingers reached out to test the ground on which she sat on. Her legs were splayed unevenly, her wing blades resting against the ground and flickering to life with vibrant golds.
V2’s optic glanced quickly at her surroundings, and to her surprise…
…It wasn’t Hell.
Something more reminiscent of Limbo, or Earth, perhaps. The New Peace, maybe, but the world looked far too lively to be that late into humanity’s years. It resembled a recording that one of the workers at the facility showed her and V1 once, but she could tell that the video wasn’t real, so it wouldn’t make sense if this was either.
V2 made a slow and deliberate blink of her optic as she pushed herself to her feet, stretching her wings and whipping her head around. The sun that cast down upon her wasn't one from Greed—it wasn't as unforgiving and miserable. It was something far more human, more than she'd ever known. Not from her time on Earth, working with people, or anything else. This was something she hadn't experienced since her first days alive.
...
Someone was looking at her.
V2 whipped around to stare down a Filth dressed in a suit, slowly backing away from the V-Model before turning and running as they made a strange comment under their breath.
V2 took a few moments to process the situation, giving into the instinctive urge to chase as she reached around to feel for her revolver, and—
...
Ah.
She had no gun, and flexing her left arm, she didn't have Whiplash, either.
If anything, she looked just like she did whenever she was born.
Strange.
V2 noted that memory down (along with a few others preceding that, like strange talking Filths in human clothes and the teleportation sequence) and tucked it away in a folder simply labeled 'strange'.
Curling her talons into fists before relaxing them once more, she began to move slowly and deliberately, keeping her head on a swivel for anyone else in sight. V2 may have not had any guns on her, but that did not mean she was free of weapons. Knuckleblaster was still at her disposal, after all, and that alone was enough to keep her safe.
V2 picked up the pace, breaking into a fluid jogging cycle as she made her way down a block, turned a corner, and stopped dead in her tracks to survey her surroundings.
"...Ahem," she heard a voice from somewhere in the distance.
V2 whipped her head around to face the source of the voice, her talons tensing up instinctively.
Standing on the other side of the street was another V-Model, wearing a human school uniform(?) and a bag over one shoulder. She could tell by her half-lidded optic the unamused gaze in the fellow machine's eyes, and by her blue plating, V2 had to stop herself for a moment before she charged wildly at her.
V2 blinked wordlessly.
"...What the hell are you doing?" The enigmatic V-Model asked.
She put a finger to her bezel in lieu of thinking.
"Wait, no, let me guess. An intruder broke into your house while you were showering?" She asked.
V2 shook her head.
"Damn. Uh—wait, no, let me try again," she stammered, holding up a hand. She peered closer at V2 before mumbling, "you're a crazy person?"
She shook her head once more.
"Escaped from a lab?"
Shook her head again.
"You're into humiliation?"
V2 tilted her head in confusion.
"Sorry, nevermind," she huffed, and after a split second, immediately exploded with rage. "Oh my fucking god, can you say something?! I'm not playing charades over here."
...
...
...
V2 shook her head again.
"You're useless," the V-Model grumbled. "Come over here, though. Maybe you're not, maybe you're interesting. I already scared off the last guy, anyways, and he gave me some bright ideas."
She took a hesitant step forward before slowly stalking across the street.
"Come on, faster, you're gonna get hit by a car walking like that."
She picked up the pace until she stopped only two feet away from the other V-Model, who took a step back.
V2 stared at her for a moment before pointing to the two letters on her chest before pointing to the other V-Model.
"What, are you asking if I have tits?"
V2 shook her head.
"Oh, my name?"
She nodded.
"I'm Mirage," she mumbled, looking at her fingers in the same manner a human would scrutinize their nails. "I guess you're V2, that's a lame name."
V2 stuck out her right arm, anticipatingly.
Mirage looked down at her hand before looking back up at V2.
"I'm not shaking your hand," she grumbled. "I shouldn't even be caught talking to you. You're fucking naked."
V2 tilted her head.
"Look at you!" Mirage shrieked, gesturing openly to the other V-Model. "Oh my god, I'm—okay, yeah, that's it. You're coming with me." Mirage suddenly snatched the wrist of Knuckleblaster (earning a very nervous whine from V2, who struggled against her) as she stormed down the street.
"You better be glad nobody's out here right now," she sneered. "You're gonna get fucking arrested. For public indecency or something, whatever."
Mirage stopped at a porch, fumbled with her keys, unlocked the front door, and then shoved V2 inside as she followed suit, closing the door behind the two.
The house has dimmed, devoid of light save for the light that poured through the curtained windows and the faint glow of idle electronics. The faint hum of air conditioning filled the silent air, and nearby, V2 could hear Mirage setting down her bag and keys.
"My mom shouldn't be home for another hour," she mumbled, walking back towards V2. "Just go camp out in my room or something, I'll meet you up there."
CHANGE OBJECTIVE?
Y/N
CURRENT OBJECTIVE: LOCATE MIRAGE'S ROOM
V2 sprinted off, earning a whispered obscenity from Mirage as she watched her bolt upstairs.
After a few seconds of mumbling prayers to no one in particular, Mirage walked after her.