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devastator1775 · 5 days ago

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Anne's Journey: Two eternal Souls And The Lost Daughter - Chapter 7: Reunions

Summary: The long-awaited reunion between two eternal Souls And The Lost Daughter.

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-blaster.” 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.”

#murder drones #vuzi #uzi doorman #serial destination v #immortal vuzi au #anne brinkman #vuzi fanchild #fanfiction #archive of our own

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