October 30th 12:31 PM

Ripley

My mother was busy cooking, a few drones moving around who monitored the process and grabbed ingredients from the cupboard as soon as my mom needed them.

She hated it. "Hey, can you tell your drones to cut it? It's a pain to always get them to reorganize everything back."

"You know, you could just have them cook for you."

"Scrapped chance of that, Rip. I've got secret recipes I'm not sharing to a drone connected to the Net."

"Want to share them with your granddaughter, then?"

She paused, her eyes turning to me with fury. "Is Elsa preg-!"

"What?! No, no!" I waved my hands before the spatula in her grip would smack my face. "I- spawned an Artificial Intelligence made of my Warpcode and… others. It's complicated, but you'll like her."

"That's true, I'm very likable." Starlight took over a drone, her cheery voice coming out in a song. She just needed a good 12 hour rest before she was back and running as normal. "Hey dad's mama! So, uh, what should I call you? Grandma, meemaw?"

"No… uh, I guess Abuela would be fine." My mom answered both quick and bewildered. "Oh, uh… sorry. Ripley, I knew you loved tech but... what's your name? Dear?"

"Starlight! I guess you can say that Twilight is my mother in a sense, but I haven't actually met her yet." Starlight awkwardly rubbed her drone's face. "Ripley's been making me watch all sorts of training material so I can assist you, but honestly… he's just being a nagging birch."

The drone fluttered, turning to me with a sharp blade pulling out of it. "Dad… did you install a-"

"I'm not letting my mother think I'm a bad influence on you. No swearing from now on." I's installed a profanity filter on Starlight while she was asleep.

"Oh you have got to be frogging kidding me! Wai- why is the replacement word frog? Shouldn't it be fork? Or frag?" Starlight neared with the knife, I glanced at it nervously. "Why don't you install it on yourself, then!"

"Nope." I chuckled, then my mom got an evil look on her face.

"No, Ripley, I agree with Starlight. Install it on yourself."

"Huh, why do I have to?" I stared open-mouthed at my mother.

She matched my petty tone. "You wouldn't want others thinking I've been a bad influence on you, right? Now you get to understand how I feel about your waste-disposal mouth."

I retorted with a self-pleased grin. "Hey, I- I don't swear that frogging much," then clasped my hands over my mouth as the drone Starlight inhabited rattled in the air like trying to hold back a laugh, "Starlight… what did I say about changing my code without persmission."

"I had permission this time! From my Abuela, isn't that right?"

"Oh, she very much did." My mom said in between laughs. "Feel free to swear to your heart's content now, Ripley."

"Whatever, whatever… uh… you want to go to a party tomorrow?" I changed topics, my mind working against Starlight's as we both began the process of removing the filters… and making sure the other couldn't remove it. We were neck-to-neck on the race.

"A party?"

"Halloween party." I said softly. "Starlight can find you something to dress up as. A little grandma-AI-granddaughter bonding moment for you two."

"What are you dressing up as?" Her eyes took a warm and curious glint. "You didn't dress up as anything last year."

"That's because you didn't allow me to work at the club during the holidayy, I just stayed home and watched some specials on the Net." I commented.

"That's because of what happens during Halloween. There's how it is normally, and then there's the holidays, and their special events." She said sternly. "But yeah, what will you wear?"

"I think I'll leave that as a surprise." I winked. "Speaking of, I have to help Elsa with making them… you two do some grandparental bonding while I'm gone."

———

Diana

4:38 PM

Turns out my dad covered my ass when I went missing for a few days, claimed I visited Neo Angeles for a quick commercial. That commercial was actually airing, a generative plastering of my face onto another actress now providing me with the perfect alibi. Of course, there were tools the Precinct could use to detect tampering like that, but I wasn't under too much suspicion.

At least, until I saw a hologram of my dad in the office. "So… the day you go no contact also happens to be the day Dreadwire and his pals do a job for SynTec. Any correlation?"

"None." I said firmly. "What he does, is up to him."

"Ah, right… but some of my contacts are telling me what was in that lab. Now I've already warned you once… but fortunately, you're not in trouble. You were never there. In fact, you're actually taking initiative — is what I'll call it." He had a knowing smile on his face. "November 2nd, there's a meeting at the First Precinct — exclusive meeting. You're a part of it, 12 PM sharp."

With that cryptic message, he disappeared. I collapsed into my office's chair, rolling it back as the facts became clear… The Uncaged were no longer unified. Between Dogwhistler, Mr. Skeleton, and Soul Killer, we were going to ally with one — effectively becoming their puppet.

And Soul Killer was at the bottom of the list, a chaotic force that only cared about itself… it was what I wanted. For us to do something about them. But not at the expense of picking a lesser poison. Among Skeleton and Dogwhistler, both would be invaluable allies to the police, both would be monumental in lending us insight into criminal activity.

At the expense of them filling that vaccuum. If everyone around Skeleton or Dogwhistler was being picked apart, then that meant being within their shadow was the safest. They'd gain unprecedented power, we'd be feeding them.

I forced that thought out of mind, I had just come back to life yesterday and needed to make the most of it. So I started up researching charities, orphanages, shelters; any place that severely needed my father's money. Founders knew he had enough.

A piercing pain shrieked into my head, a fluttering of pink coming out as a butterfly materialized into thin air. "Whatchu' dooooing?"

Starlight? How'd you get into my Frame?

"Ah, I had to rewire it tons to be able to make it suitable for me. Don't worry I didn't snoop around. It's sort of like a second home for me, I can enter yours and Ripley's Frames pretty much whenever I want now." The butterfly hummed as it landed on my hand. "My dad's busy with his girlfriend, don't want to interrupt that. And my abuela's taking a nap, her medicines make her real sleepy. We talked about cooking, she taught me some really nice recipes… not that I would know how they'd taste. But that's okay! I'm not supposed to."

"Not… supposed to?" I couldn't help but feel a little sad hearing that.

"Well, yeah, I'm not made of organic matter! My senses are different from yours, you get to taste food and I get to taste Warpcode and Energy! So I don't feel too sad about it, I'm just unique." The butterfly wagged her wings up and down like a show of pride. "So yeah, I was bored. I thought to check up on you."

"Oh… that's nice of you." I reached out to pet Starlight, I could feel a slight tingle as my hand passed through her antennae. "I was just busy setting up a charity foundation. It's difficult to know which organizations to support are legit, and which one's aren't."

"Oh, want me to help?" The butterfly wagged closer to my computer. "I can look through the Net and find out for you."

"Are you sure? I mean, you're still a little recently made, I don't want you going anywhere dangerous."

"Oh, no. Seraphim and Maiden warned me from staying far away from the AbyssNet, but I can do a little digging on the SurfaceNet. I can still learn a lot from there." The butterfly danced on my hand with it's legs shuffling back and forth. "Just have me synchronize to your mind, I can do a lot more with that."

I felt a little… apprehensive about doing that while linked into the police network. "You sure, uh, the Datashields here might not be too kind to you."

"Don't worry, I'm a lot sneakier now. They didn't pick me up when I came into your head after all."

"Right…" I was still reluctant to do so, but looking at Starlight, I knew that I trusted her after what she'd done for me. "Just keep your eyes where they should be, this stuff is classified. Your dad, even if I trust him, shouldn't know about anything I don't tell him."

"That's a copy, Silvereye ma'am." The butterfly saluted with a leg, and fizzled into light as I felt my mind sync with Starlight's.

———

Starlight was… everything I could have needed right about now. There were few legitamite organizations dedicated to the welfare of the citizens here, but with her aid I'd managed to make contact with them and start the process of making the Silver Heart Foundation a legal and philantropic company. The list filtered out more than 90% of all known charities, focusing on small-scale aid groups that were relatively unknown and had very little backing.

With over 4 million Shardyne to pledge, I could make the coming winter easier for those who were less fortunate. Give them resources to let them rejoin society and give back to the world, while making sure that it took less from them. Clothes, hygeine, education, food, equipment, even rehabilitation for those who suffered from addictions or physical malformities… I could do a lot.

It would start by reaching hundreds, then thousands… and over time, the effect would ripple into meaningful changes for the city. Orphans and underpriveleged children wouldn't have the Swarm as their only means to make a difference anymore, veterans and homeless taken off the streets would leave less desperation that could succumb to crime.

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And I could monitor Dogwhistler… I could send those I find to Maiden. Maybe even help expand her operations.

As I got ready to leave, Sabrina popped from my side in the locker room, her eyes focused on the side of my head. "Ah, new haircut?"

I ran my hand over the shortened bob I was sporting now, Maiden had been kind enough to install extensions over where I'd had my skull caved in. As a result, I shortened the overall length of my hair so that it just about fell above my shoulders. "Did it after the ad… at least for a little while, people will be looking for a version of me with longer hair. I can hide for now."

Plus… actually, I was pretty sure Limited Morphology Manipulation had grown to the point where I could radically alter my hair growth. Though, I wasn't about to use it permanently just to keep several inches of skin covered all the time, it was still a fickle Mutation to keep track off.

"Oh, that's smart." Sabrina said, pulling her uniform off as she pulled a large oversized sweater out of her locker. My eye caught the nick of a large scar running diagonally along her back, she recognized my sight and sighed. "That… that's just an old wound, few years ago. I'm pretty sneaky but ain't no tiptoeing around an exploding car."

"Car?"

"A Muramasa Delver got into our systems, I felt the vehicle overheat as we were driving — have a certain sensitivity to it. I got out in time, but uh… yeah, we were apparently making too much progress on their case. Internal conflict of theirs, we had a whistleblower in our back seat — agreed to talk if we let her family stay safe. They blew up our car to keep her silent, took out her family too. Boyfriend and… son." Sabrina tied a scarf around her neck, her ocean eyes huskier as she coughed a smile onto her. "Still closed the case. We have conformation that more than a few members of Muramasa are dissatisfied with the way their leadership is reacting to the Swarm."

I nodded along, putting sunglasses on my eyes before slowing down as she turned to leave. "Sabrina… do you want to get something to drink?"

Her eyes lit up, a warm smile giving me a response. "Oh, fucking finally. Hold up, we gotta call Belle for this too or he'll kill me!"

———

We ended up at a bar that was slightly higher class than normal, it was favored among those with better paychecks. High ranked Investigators, Corporate workers, independant entrepreneurs, they all mingled around and talked — while not my typical speed, I wasn't swarmed by any of them for my identity.

Belle was sipping a diet cola through a straw, while me and Sabrina enjoyed some harder drinks. Whiskey for me, and a fruity cocktail for her. Belle teased Sabrina on her choice. "Always a sweet tooth with you."

"Oh shut up, you know my nose is sensitive." She grumbled.

"Sensitive?" I let an easy chuckle come out of me.

"Yup, mutated olfactory sensories on my end." Sabrina chuckled. "I can sniff out the air composition, and track down almost anybody for miles without laying an eye on them."

"She was always on drug-sniffing duty, like how they used dogs back in the-" Belle joked, to which Sabrina slapped his arm.

"Ugh, don't remind me. It's bad enough being a human breathalyzer, I have to constantly spray a numbing solution if I don't want to puke anytime I enter the streets. Besides… Dianaaaa…"

Sabrina leaned in, a drunken snivelling grin on her face. "I can small a man on you. A lot of a man. Which NetVision celeb were you getting close with?"

What the- I'd even taken a shower? "Just makeup people."

"Nope." She shook her head, taking a deep sip from her cocktail before leaning in. "I know the disgusting smell of testosterone anywhere. I can actually even smell it from your breath, along with blood actually."

Belle coughed in his drink.

My brea- okay… okay… do not take bites out of MAL anymore. But testosterone in my breath? "Okay… uh, nothing of the sorts happened the way you're thinking."

"But something did happen?" Sabrina sank her lips to gulp her drink down. "At least you're getting some action, I don't want to sign an NDA for knowing which hunk of meat and scraps you got along with so well."

"Scraps?"

"Oh yeah, metal… lots of it. Straight reeking from your mouth." Her cheeks were flushed as she drunkenly spilled out my most embarrassing event. It was four days ago! How long did some smells stay… and why was Ripley's more evident than Soul Killer and his animals' blood all over me?

Starlight radiated in my head, still present and watching to my realization. "That would be because the filings of my dad's armor ended up being digested into your lips, tongue and teeth. Also because like… a lot of his nanites were pumping through you for four days. Maiden washed the Soul Killer blood off you, you were a health hazard, and MALflesh actually doesn't rot so there's very little smell."

Starlight… yeah, I don't know if this is the right conversation for you to watch in. Mind… finding your dad, or your Abuela?

"Yeah… I was beginning to think the same. I'm only a month old… I do not think I should be in the head of someone whose drunk, I feel like that's a loophole to break a law." She said, before my head felt lighter and the alcohol was more pronouned running through me.

"Look…" I said, trying to find a way to explain myself to Sabrina. "Nothing happened, a guy just did some… dental surgery on me"

"So it was a guy." Sabrina cooed. "Don't let the media catch wind of that, I'll keep my mouth silent. Never heard a thing."

My eyes slashed up towards Belle to defend me, and he hurriedly nodded too. As the night dwelled on, we drank a little more and Belle was there as our humble designated driver. Sabrina was cheerful, laughing as she told me about her trip to New Washington several years ago where I got to point out my knowledge of the place. I also grotesquely explained to her how to skin a deer, including showing some old taxadermy projects I got to work on during my time there.

She would also continue to snoop around the topic of whose metal was in my mouth. Never outrightly asking, but getting me to drop slips of tongue, I stayed vigilant but…

Dammit, this was bad. I slurred out something I would very much regret. "He's not a damn celbrity or nothing like that… just a… friend."

"A friend who works with your teeth?" Belle raised an eyebrow, unconvinced.

"A friend who… has a girlfriend." I slammed my head down, was I really going to say it? I… had died. I didn't want to live my life with a falsehood through every breath I made — if I got this second chance, then maybe I should be a little more honest with myself. "A friend who… I might have a teensy crush on."

"Well, if his fingers were in your mouth…" Sabrina chuckled, an eager and wry smile creeping up on her, "you're making good progress."

"But I don't want to like him!" I groaned in my mouth, some of the drink getting to me. "He's… weird, I hate him sometimes. Always fuckin' joking around, he has a good relationship with his girlfriend, who is a total bitch by the way, he's mentally unstable if I'm being honest, but…"

"But…" Sabrina stoked the fire.

"He has eyes that just… bond with the world around him. You can feel his damn voice reverberating with meaning and purpose, he knows what he wants. Hell, I've seen him start with nothing and now he's… damn terrifying. He climbs, he fucking flies when others try to hold him down. One second, he'll be nice and joking and the next he's a damn machine moving forward with no hesitation to get a job done. And he… he-"

Saved my life. Took care of me for four days. Makes me sometimes forget about…

…everything that hurts. It wasn't just his Water Tendency, Ripley had a deeper understanding of pain than a lot of other people, but that didn't mean he dealt with it perfectly.

He was human. Underneath all that blood and steel. He was human, and wasn't afraid to show it — the suffering and joy of being a human in a world like this.

Whereas I was born to be more than human. But being around him, I didn't feel that way.

"He makes me feel like I'm not a damn Gold Adapter sometimes. He'll joke about it, but he'll… it feels like he understands me, sort of." That was the most I could say, getting it out felt like a relief… that Ripley was the only one I felt as… equal to me. Not even that exactly, I just didn't feel the need to be anything other than myself around him. He knew what I was.

Getting it out also made me beyond embarrassed. "The last thing I need from someone who is supposed to be a damn… coworker-slash-friend in this mess is a teenage crush complex. Doesn't help that I've been dry for more than a year… god, and I really don't want a… relationship right now. I have a lot to do."

Sabrina nodded along, understanding evident in her tone. "I get it, ending up breaking up with my ex because the distance in ambition between us was too big. I'm glad we did… not that it wasn't hard. She was climbing the ranks as a Special Investigator while I was fine at my own pace, things got difficult and we were amicable when we… seperated."

"You were a mess." Belle pointed out, sipping calmly but his eyes were averted away.

"I'm trying to have a damn moment with her!" Sabrina scolded, grabbing Belle's drink and turning the carbon-dioxide in it colder until his drink was a block of ice.

"Hey, you said you'd stop doing that!" He snatched his drink away, dismayed to see nothing come up when he sucked his straw.

"Yeah, I got carried away." Sabrina shrugged before turning to me, trying to sound wise despite being wasted. "Look, look… you're an adult. So is he. Attraction is normal, it'll either fade or bloom. He has a girlfriend, is it recent?"

"I- I would say… two months."

"So it's not like he's got that strong of an attachment to her, you never know what might happen in the future. He's in his honeymoon phase right now, let it ride out, if he feels anyway about you… it'll show. For now, stay friends with him — you of all people are good at separating your emotions from what's necessary."

"I just hold them down." I whined, my emotions getting the better of me. "Wrestle them like a python, unaware that it's choking me as well. Besides… a… anything with him would be complicated."

Belle puckered his lips, a hollow realization dawning on him. "Wait… uh… Diana, this guy… What does he do for a living?"

"Shardware Operating." I gulped my drink down, before figuring out that Belle had just come to know exactly who I was talking about.

He put his ice-block soda down, nodding slowly as his voice came out tightly. "At least he makes dreadful amounts of money."

Yeah, that was enough. I lifted my chin up, sparking electricity through me as my body cleared of alcohol in seconds. "Yeah, fuck this… I need to get laid. I am not seriously considering this, it's just… an idea. A fantasy. Nothing more, nothing less."

Sabrina and Belle nodded, both confused at my sudden sobering. Somehow, I felt even hotter as I kept all thoughts of my drunken admissions of my… feelings towards Ripley 'Dreadwire' Donovick at bay. "Okay, okay… something low-commitment. No strings attached… but… I don't really like having sex with strangers… uh…"

My eyes dawned on Belle. Why the fuck not? "Belle? You're physically fit, you're nice, I bet you can make a tasty breakfa-"

"I'm gonna cut you off there." He shook his head rapidly, like I'd placed a target on him. "I- uh… I'm seeing someone. And I really don't want to be your rebound for a non-existent relationship."

"Fair." I ran my fingers through my hair, thinking about any other candidates before Sabrina turned to Belle with a wild look.

"Wait, you're dating someone? Since when? I would have known, I'd have smelled her on you!" She grabbed his shoulders, drunkenly sniffing his neck.

He awkwardly shuffled away. "Uh… because…"

"This isn't possible." Sabrina muttered. "Unless… Belle?"

Belle gulped. "Yeah?"

"Belle. There is only one person I know who does not produce any smell… is this her?" Sabrina smiled, icy mist peering out of her mouth. "Are you seeing Kim Liyung?"

"Who's Kim Liyung?" I leaned in, faintly remembering that name… a quick search up told me that she was a Special Investigator in our Department. Ranked 4th in the District and a young, exceptional… Dual Adapter.

"Kim Liyung…" Sabrina's teeth chattered. "Is better known by her epithet 'Ghostblade', youngest Special Investigator since Captain Krishav at just 24… she's a former Muramasa Princess who defected to our side and is currently on set to become a Gold Adapter as soon as NeoCore delivers us those Implants. She's also my ex."

I whistled, my focus planted on Belle with an accusation in my voice. "Belle, you're seriously dating Sabrina's ex? Wait? A fucking Muramasa Princess?!"

Belle raised his hands up in defence. "Okay, let me explain. Remember how when we had joint training operations with Squad Gamma? And you were terrified to see her and used me to distract her… uh… I distracted her."

"For half a year?" Sabrina gasped, before falling back into her seat about it as she sighed. "Eh, I'm chill with it. You get to deal with her mess now."

Belle gave a shudder of relief. "Yeah, I am. Figured you'd be fine."

I was confused. "Wait… Belle, if Sabrina was so chill with you dating her ex? Why didn't you tell her?"

Sabrina just laughed, wide and with her belly. "Oh, no… it's not me who he was scared of. It was Kim, everything you pretended to be with your whole stoic 'I'll beat the shit out of you' face… uh, she is very much that amplified a hundred-fold."

"I didn't pretend, not entirely." I said with my best 'I'll beat the shit out of you' face. Sabrina laughed, patting me on the shoulder. "Oh at least you're no longer so embarassed you were planning to fuck a stranger to compensate. look, all I know is if you like the guy, then he should be alright. Mazhyr's tits knows your standards are sky high, for a while I was thinking the only person you'd see yourself equal to was Dreadwire."

I nodded stiffly. "Ha ha… no… never."

Belle pointed to his eyebrow.

———

As we were getting ready to leave, the topic of our plans for tomorrow's Halloween came out. I scratched my neck. "There's this orphanage I go to, a child I saved stays there… I was planning to let them dress me up and give them treats throughout the night."

Sabrina stared at Belle and he only intensified the shared look between them. "Want some company?"

"Uh, are you sure?" I said with hesitation.

Belle shrugged. "Yeah, office party blows every year. All the fun people go to underground clubs where we technically shouldn't be. Would make a nice change of pace, and Kim's on a week-long stakeout mission. She's a Muramasa specialist, lots of crimes happen when every kid thinks it cool to wear a dragon mask. She's sort of like their boogeyman."

Sabrina whispered a bit too loud, still flushed. "It's really hot."

"Well, you two certainly have the same taste in women. Not that surprised since you both get along so well."

"Sabrina's the little spoiled sister I never asked for." He rubbed her head with his knuckles.

Sabrina spat at him, actually, her drunkenness still clear as spittle landed on his face. "Oh, fuck no! You aren't equating us as siblings when we both have had sex with the same person, that's disgusting!"

"It is." I scolded Belle, before a stupid smile fell on me. It was a simple night, a night where we just gossiped about our failures of a love life and got drunk and shared stories of a past that was pointless. But it was a night where we got to feel… like we got to share bits of our lives with each other.

I was alive. I was able to accept that.

I was ready to start living.

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