"We shouldn’t have let her go," Sakura whimpered, burying her face in her hands, "L'Aquila insisted on going outside to see what was going on. We could have stopped her. But we were all so focused on hiding. We were so scared-"
Lynn tuned her out, not wanting to hear the robotic whining. Not wanting to hear anything. Just to disappear and not come back. Away from Courtney’s cramped house, away from all the still-functioning UTAU who had huddled here while their creators watched the death toll rise. Away from the pain and the loss and the fear, and maybe even-
Maybe even find herself wherever L’Aquila went.
Lynn had never been too religious, but she found herself wondering what had become of her UTAU in the metaphysical sense. Her body was only a few feet away on Courtney’s couch, being examined thoroughly by Nicola. But what about her mind? Her soul?
(Androids don’t have souls, Lynn, get a hold of yourself.)
But L’Aquila did. She did. She was every bit as sweet and polite and fun and expressive as any human. She was real. She was real. And she was gone.
Nicola stepped into Lynn’s line of vision, stifling her mounting grief with a friendly smile. "We can start her up again, easy," she was saying. "Re-record her samples and she’ll be just like new again. Like a new Act." Her voice hung in an odd way, and Lynn knew there was something she wasn’t saying.
"Like new," Lynn repeated quietly, empty hazel gaze drifting over brown-and-white hair, delicately freckled skin, glasses knocked askew- "You mean completely new. With no memories."
Nicola recoiled slightly, fighting to keep some semblance of a smile. "Yes…well…I mean, her personality can easily be re-programmed-"
"I don’t want re-programmed! I want L’Aquila!" Lynn snapped, instantly embarrassed by her rage, but unable to control it. Her eyes shot away from Nicola and settled on Courtney, who huddled between Sakura and Gomakashi and cuddled them both as if they were seconds from vanishing.
"I want revenge," Lynn growled, stepping closer to the frantic blonde. "I want them to pay. I want them to hurt."
Courtney sat up a little straighter, trying to appear as if she had a handle on the situation. "I know. And they will. But right now we have no idea how to reach them. And we hardly have-"
"Oh, God," Nicola gasped.
Lynn spun around to face Nicola, stomach churning from the tone of her voice. She rushed to L’Aquila’s side, searching the android for whatever horrific new thing had been found on her. And there-
There, on her left arm, previously hidden by her dark blue sleeve-
‘M’
"What is that?" Lynn whispered, looking up to Nicola for answers.
Nicola’s gaze darted away. "It…looks like she wrote it on herself before she shut down. With oil."
Oil.
Oil that helped her body function. Oil that kept the android moving. Her life source.
Like blood.
L’Aquila’s blood.
Lynn choked back a powerful wave of nausea before blacking out.
=======================================
"I think it’s fairly obvious: ‘M’ for ‘M.U.T.E’. They’re branding their victims like goddamn cattle."
"But it was L’Aquila’s own oil. She did it to herself. Maybe she was trying to tell us something."
At any other time, Lynn would have attempted to crack a joke. ‘Maybe she was asking for milk.’
But it hurt. It hurt so much. It took all of her effort just to lift her head and examine her surroundings. She had been covered with a blanket, an ice pack on her forehead. The nearest window provided a view of nothing but black night, and she idly wondered how long she had been unconscious. Turning her head, Lynn spotted Courtney and Nicola sitting on the floor in front of the couch-
(The couch where L’Aquila still lay, her arm covered in ‘blood’, shut up shut up don’t think about it-)
Nicola happened to look up and catch the girl’s eye, offering a sad smile. "Good morning. Or night, I guess. How are you?"
Lynn didn’t answer, pushing herself to a sitting position and letting the ice pack fall ungracefully to the floor. "We need to find them. We have to go after them."
Courtney sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I know how badly you want revenge, Lynn. Meg is pretty amped for it, too, even though we have no idea where Megan is. But we have to think this through carefully. If we just assault them, we could get arrested. Put in jail, Lynn. There has to be an easier way to get this done."
Sakura perked up slightly, triggering Lynn to notice her presence for the first time. She and Gomakashi still sat on the loveseat, silently taking in all that happened around them. Now, Sakura’s eyes glinted with an idea. "Well, we...um...if we want to find out more about them, we could always infiltrate from the inside."
Nicola tilted her head a bit. "How would we get in?"
The android sat up straighter, hands flying as she talked. "We could just, you know? We could like...if one of the humans pretends to be turning in a wanted UTAU-"
"That's a good idea in theory," Courtney nodded, "But there are already two problems. One, M.U.T.E. already knows a few of us. And two, what UTAU could we possibly turn in? We won't sacrifice one of our own. I won't allow it."
Lynn nodded fervently. The thought of yet another LUMEloid being lost to her was unbearable.
A light smirk tugged at Gomakashi's lips as she prepared a typical sarcastic remark to Sakura's ignorance. A few seconds passed, and the android's expression became clouded with confusion. Her pale fingers flitted to her throat, grasping at the small buttons and knobs that controlled the aspects of her voice. Still no sound was produced.
Nicola sat up quickly, eyes wide. "Gomakashi? What's wrong? Can't you-"
Her panic was interrupted by a harsh, jarring screech coming from the UTAU. Lynn desperately covered her ears in an attempt to guard against it. Try as she might to block out the blood-chilling sound, it viciousy assaulted her eardrums for at least a full minute.
The metallic wail died away suddenly. Only when silence reigned for a few moments did Lynn dare uncover her ears and redirect her attention to Gomakashi.
The android sat up as straight as possible, her joints apparently locked. Her violet gaze travelled far into the distance, as if she beheld a sight no other being could see. Sakura cowered away from her--only Courtney dared move closer to her UTAU.
"Goma-"
"A fatal error has occurred," a cold voice echoed from Gomakashi's internal speakers, her lip-synch programming apparently failed. "Internal data is corrupt. Please refer to your user's manual or insert factory disc to restore settings."
No one moved. Lynn found she could hardly even breathe. Nicola sat back on her heels, disbeleif shining in her eyes. Sakura wailed and dove behind her creator, who continued sliding toward Gomakashi as if on auto-pilot. Courtney stretched a violently trembling hand toward her UTAU, lightly gripping her shoulders. Gomakashi continued to repeat the pre-programmed error speech.
"A fatal error has occurred...data is corrupt...insert factory disc..."
Lynn felt her lips move on their own free will. "She...crashed...?"
"D-do you think--that virus?" Nicola whimpered.
Courtney's grip on Gomakashi tightened as she hung her head. Her body heaved with silent sobs, while the UTAU stared unfeelingly through her. Lynn gathered her wits and made to comfort her friend, but the blonde leapt to her feet instantly.
"Those sons of bitches! I've had enough of this! I'll hunt every last one down myself and end their stupid, pitiful lives!" she roared. Without wasting another moment, Courtney charged for her front door. Nicola choked and raced after her: "Wait! Wait!"
The next moment, the door was opened from the outside and yelps and slamming sounds filled the air. Lynn staggered to her feet, half startled, half curious. She followed after Courtney and Nicola, only to find them in a heap on the doorstep. They formed a pile on top of two new figures, both of whom were strikingly familiar-
"Meg?" Lynn ventured, hauling Courtney away from the dogpile to get a better look. Meg quickly dusted herself off and turned a tear-filled gaze up to Lynn. Her heart skipped for a moment, but Lynn soon realized they were tears of joy.
"You guys..." Meg sobbed, pausing to help up the other irritated girl buried under Nicola. "I found Megan."
There's an M on L'Aquila that she possibly wrote on herself?? Oh wow, I really wish that there'll be some more things being found out. I can't wait till the next chapter.