Ale arrived at home quite easily enough. There wasn’t much problem, and most of the minions were in the festive hall or on their way to the after-party; no one stopped her on the way out nor made a fuss about her. If anything Ale had more problems when she arrived at the floor level, as there the people continued as if nothing had happened.
Or worse.
People were running from side to side asking if someone had seen X or Y person, and they even set up a board on one of the walls with photos and names of people; there were one or two people with desperate looks running around with pieces of papers with photos printed on them while asking “HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?!?!?”
It was quite…harrowing.
Yes, quite harrowing to see, from how [Vulcanus] had said it, they had solved everything already and dealt with it, but seeing this?
“It is quite sad sight isn’t it?” Ale almost jumped away when the voice said that at her side.
She had walked forward to see the wall of pictures and names, just to get an idea of what was the average face and name. So Ale had been focused on that, the fact that she had not noticed that someone had walked to her side. She didn’t even think to plan for this eventuality. After all…she had got the impression that this particular [Human] wouldn’t talk to her again.
“You don’t need to be so guarded; I’m unable to affect you in any meaningful way. And as long as we are within one of his buildings, he can monitor what is happening, so you are safe.” [Eleanore] said, motioning at her and moving towards the stairs.
[Eleanore] didn’t wait for her answer and started walking in that direction. Unlike before, when a group of [kids] would be playing there, Ale found nothing, nothing besides [Eleanore] resting against the wall.
“What do you need?” Ale asked warily, she wasn’t sure why [Eleanore] had come. Or why she had approached her like this, should she bring out Alexandra?
“I’m ready to change whenever.” “Yes, Alexa is ready to change anytime!”
“I…want to…explain to you why I did what I did.” [Eleanore] said in a measured voice, as if she had practiced those words. “I know you aren’t at fault, not after everything we know about you…or what little you told us.”
Hadn’t she already said that?
“You already said why you did that.” Ale said, tilting her head to the side. “Or did you lie?”
“No, I can’t lie.” [Eleanore] said with a grimace, “Even lies by omission are anathema to me.”
Well, that was interesting to know, not that Ale could do anything useful with that information, there was no way that she could make her lie about something…actually…would it work if the information was a lie if she wasn’t aware of the truth?
Ale would need to lodge that for experimentation later.
“So? You waited for me to be around? Since Alexandra was someone you couldn’t bully? I can summon her at the snap of my fingers.” Ale said raising her hand, her middle finger touching her thumb ready to do the snap motion.
“....I don’t mind speaking with her, but….I want to apologize to you and Alexa too.” [Eleanore] said in a small voice, “The others don’t really get what you three are going through, they think it is just another case of DID.”
DID?
What was DID? How many types of problems did a [Human Brain] have?!?!?
“But I know better, so I was waiting to speak with you to apologize, no matter what your last name is. You have no fault on whose blood runs in your veins…or who your family is.” [Eleanore] said as she hugged herself back and shook her head. “So yeah, I want to apologize for trying to use you. Even if your brother confirmed your connection to the Saintsworths, chances are you aren’t even that important.”
Well, that was just rude.
“They took something important to me, destroyed something valuable…” [Eleanore] started up speaking; Ale, of course, already knew what she was talking about; some weird MPI-something took her for [Human Experimentation] and triggered their [Core].
Ale didn’t see a problem with that, if anything they didn’t do a good job since [Eleanore] wasn’t as emotionally stable as Ale was.
Perhaps they needed to check or implement a better system for their tests?
“They took my future, our future…I wanted to be a teacher, you know…To teach other kids and help them achieve their dreams…” [Eleanore] said, turning to the side, “I study in my free time, psychology, teaching techniques, I go to classes for first aid response, and I was planning to get a teaching license one of these days…”
“...Well, that is awkward.” “Wonder if that licensy-thing is tasty?”
“Good luck with that.” Ale said with a smirk, she didn’t knew what the requirements were to acquire one of those licenses. But chances were that if [Eleanore] wanted to get one, Alexanders wouldn’t let her have it.
Not with her [Core Power] that could bind other people, if her alleged brother was smart, he would never let someone like [Eleanore] near such valuable assets.
“I know…I’m not worthy of being near kids, not after what I almost did…” [Eleanore] said while pulling a handkerchief from one of her pockets and rubbing her eyes with it, was…was she crying? “...I didn’t notice it till Alexandra said it, you know? The fact that I always asked for Alexa to scold her for things you or Alexandra did, only because she was easier to manage.”
….She didn’t notice? How could she not notice?
“The fact that I was manipulating you while you trusted me and showed your more vulnerable form…I...I can’t…” [Eleanore] said covering her face with both hands as she let her body slowly drop to the floor. “The fact that I did…I did something so horrible, the same as those Saintsworth’s bastards…”
“Same as them?” Ale asked confused, as far as she had found out the Saintsworths had ended the experimentation hadn’t they? Alexanders and Andre closed the laboratory.
“They gave us hope, said we would be fine. They let us live together as a happy family till they got the data needed from us…” [Eleanore] said as her fist trembled with rage, “I knew something was off, so I used my Core Power to ask him…I asked Alexanders if he was good or bad.”
…Well, that couldn’t have ended well.
“And he said that he was bad.” Ale guessed as much, that man was not sane. He was actively flirting with an AI Core in front of her, and from what she had seen on the internet, that wasn’t even the weirdest thing he had done.
“Yeah, he answered, and I’ll quote the asshole: ‘There is no good or bad, but If I was to guess. I am Evil.’” [Eleanore] ended the quote with a febble hit against the wall behind her. “But if he is Evil, then why did he save us? The answer is obvious, he didn’t. He just wanted something and took it, the fact that we got ‘Saved’ was not important. Later on we found out that the Saintsworths bought the company after finding out what they did. They merely came to inspect and get some good press. Their stock rose after the raid and they managed to keep the results from the study.”
That was…not evil? Ale couldn’t see anything wrong with that at least.
“So you see Ale? The Saintsworths can’t be trusted, I don’t know how much you remember of them, or how much you got taught. But you can’t ever trust anything a Saintsworths says…you need to be better.” [Eleanore] said before standing up and leaving her on the stairs alone.
“Hmm……Should we tell her who our brother is?” Ale said aloud to no one.
“Probably not a good idea.” “Yes!”
“[Host is advised to keep that information secret, current key members of Haephestus’ Forge seem to hold a hostile relationship with Brother Designation: Alexanders.]”
“Brother designation?” Ale said arching her eyebrow, she didn’t like that one, she had noticed that Main Core liked to squeeze weird references on those designations. But the fact that he added the Brother Designation…Ale didn’t like the implication, it reeked of hidden plots. “Whatever, let’s go back to the apartment. I want to sleep and prepare for tomorrow.”
Ale still had many things to prepare, since she doubted that Alexa would do it, and if she changed to Alexandra, then they would end up spending the night either dancing or drinking [Beer].
“Rude!” “True, Alexa will not prepare anything!”
…Dang it.
Morning came as surely as Alexa would eat every mango on Terra Nova, if possible, without warning or fanfare.
".....why do we have to suffer…" Ale said as she pulled out her cell phone and turned off the alarm for the morning before it even started sounding. Today's alarm was a song about bling, bangs and being born or something, she had seen it as a popular on the music lists, so she decided to pick it for her playlist. Either way, last night before going to sleep Ale had bought a few things and ordered overnight delivery, so setting up the alarm earlier had to be done since she needed to go and prepare everything up before they suspected something.
So, in turn, when she had woken up five minutes before the time her alarm would have gone off last night, after dealing with [Eleanore], she went to the apartment and took a bath; she did not play (For long) with Lieutenant Poo or start a coup-de-ta on the setting that Alexa was building.
"Lieutenant Poo would never do anything like that! That was not canon!" "...it was cute tho."
"I have no idea what you two are talking about, but spying on what a twelve-year-old girl does while bathing is not appropriate," Ale said aloud, getting no further answer from either.
"It's fine cuz Ale is also Alexa!" "I mean…we are kinda the same…so it's like looking at myself…if I was more pitiful no the chest area."
Yeah, Ale got no answer at all. No sir.
"DANG IT!" Nor did she scream at the heavens at the obvious injustice of a version of herself that had finished growing up using that as a means to bully her.
What she needed to do now was to prepare breakfast, and that limited her options greatly.
"I can make up pancakes, scrambled egg with bacon, some toast…" "Oh, oh, Alexa wants cereal!"
"I guess Toast is fine for breakfast, Alexa will have the weird tests today, so something light ought to be good…" Ale said reviewing the information they had sent to their email. It did suggest for the guardians to give light breakfast.
"Okay, just change and I'll get to it." "Yaaaaaay!!"
"Now…the bread should be around here…" Ale said, going to the cupboard and fishing the bag with slices of bread.
"Yes, thank you…I can take it from here…" "Oh?"
Ale then placed three plates on the table and went to her next target, the toaster. That one was easier since it was already on the counter, "We set up a couple slices per person…" Said Ale aloud while setting up two pieces of bread per plate.
"Ale…I can….Why can't I…? Alexa…?" "I mean, this looks fun."
Ale couldn't help but smile, she had trusted that Alexa would find it funny and help her, but this only made it better by the second.
"Now we put two pieces of bread and pull the lever down…" Ale said aloud while waiting for the toaster to…well, toast the bread.
"Fine….not like it matters," "Nye…."
Ale repeated that a couple more times and soon enough each plate had two toasted slices of bread, "Now we go for the PB & Jelly." Ale said going for the peanut butter, jelly and some butter.
"Alexa, of course, would want PB & Jelly," Ale said, covering one-half of the slices of bread with PB and the other with Jam to make the abomination that was PB & Jelly.
"YAAAAAAAAAY" "So many calories…"
Ale was with Alexandra on that one.
"I want mine with only butter… I'll make some coffee for it," "Blegh! Blegh I say!"
"Alexandra butter only…." Ale didn't mind fulfilling that request; it wouldn't matter in the end, after all.
"Wait what?"
"Mine will be Jam only," Ale said covering her toast with Jam and preparing the two cups that would have juice. Hers and Alexa, Alexandra said that she would have coffee after all…not like it would matter…heheheh.
"Okay, what the hell is that?!?!?" "Why wouldn't it matter? The mean one is acting weird."
"That was good breakfast if I say so myself." Ale ignored both girls and ate her toast. Next, she drank her juice…
"Okay my turn, give it over."
"Now we wash our teeth, leave our plates on the sink…" Ale said, first she left her dirty dishes on the sink…and thinking it over decided to wash them first, "I will be a good girl and clean my dirty dishes."
"We get it, now give it back." "What is mean girl doing?"
That done, Ale smirked and walked to the bathroom, she was enjoying this.
"...We will need two more sets of toothbrushes…" Ale said, seeing their only toothbrush, "This will do for now, I guess,"
And without thinking about it too much, she let the nanites flood the toothbrush and remake it anew; when that was done, she went ahead and brushed her teeth clean, used the mouthwash, and smiled at the reflection. Her teeth pristine white.
"You made your point," "Will my toast taste weird?"
"Remember, Alexa, you will need to hand over the body to Alexandra for her to eat breakfast." Ale said, smiling at her reflection.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, let's think this over…" "Oh? OH?!?!?!?"
"Main core…pull the lever," Ale said with the brightest smile on her face as she laughed at the panic that was rising at the back of her mind as the implications settled on Alexandra.
“[....*Sigh*....Starting shift.]”
"Main Core you brat!"
"ALEXA HAS ARRIVED!" Alexa screamed as she peeked at the reflection of herself (Only her head showed since she was smoller), "And she declares that we need a stool!"
Alexa said looking around and placing the stool on the correct place so she could see herself, she looked as cutestests as always, so everything was alright.
“Hahahahahahahahahahah,” “Aaaaaghhhh what is your problem?!?!?!?”
Even if the mean one was laughing like the theater guy, why was she laughing like that? What was the naggy one complaining about?
Alexa did not know! And she didn't care for she had PB & Jelly sandwich to [Devour]!
"To the dining table!" Alexa proudly declared to her reflection while doing a somersault 360º no scope (She merely let herself fall from the shelf into the floor) and ran at Mach 1032i834ru23423784y98479875321 (She jogged to the table).
There Alexa found the second holy grail lost to mankind (Two plates filled with toast), to the right she had found the hidden secondary grail…" A sippy cup!" One that people had theorized could exist but hadn't found evidence of their presence across the ages (Ale had bought it on the internet before going to sleep, and they delivered it during the night to their front door).
The second great treasure was not one of historical relevance (There were only so many variations of sippy food eating utensils), but a bounty of treasure, for Alexa had found plenty!
Two feasts for her to have!
"...Wait, one of those is mine!!" “Hahahahahahahahahah.”
Alexa had found great things, even if one lacked taste and presentation.
"Yes! Leave the badly prepared toast aside…good girl," "Hey! I did my best making those for Alexa!"
"But Alexa will never leave a [Prey] once she has set her mind to it!" Alexa declared as she set for her mighty Spork!
She would make sure the world knew the true might of the Spork! By using her hands and letting a bite into the PB & Jelly sandwich!
"Hah! I got you! You thought I would use the Spork and be dissulacionated because it didn't work! But Alexa knew that and so she used her hands to eat this PB & Jelly Sandwich! It is obvious that one uses their hands to eat this!" Alexa smirked at nothing while taking a sip from her juice.
"...I mean, you used that thing to eat almost anything that you come across. It is a wonder you haven't used a spork to try to eat one of the sewer rats." "That is true, but leaving that aside, remember Alexa…the two untasty ones are mine."
"Alexa will not embarrass the Spork by using it on food that it wasn't designed to be used," Alexa said while taking another bite into the PB & Jelly sandwich and quickly jumping to the side, doing a barrel roll and barely dodging the drop of retaliation from her PB & Jelly Sandwich (Alexa squished too hard the sandwich and some of the Jam fell from it).
Really it was a miracle Alexa managed to escape with such grace (She threw herself to the side and fell into the floor, both hands forward, one holding the PB & Jelly Sandwich, and the other holding her sippy cup).
"That was dangerous…" Alexa said as she left her PB & Jelly Sandwich and her cup of juice to stand up.
"Alexa… don't eat that, it's dirty…eat your other Sandwich and switch out for a second…" "Alexa, don't forget that the other TWO toasts are for ALEXAndra."
Right…
Alexa didn't understand why she couldn't just eat the sandwich on the floor, she had eaten stuff from the floor, heck, Alexandra had eaten stuff from the floor too!
"I did not!" "She did?"
"Yeah, she ate those rats remember." Alexa said as she walked to her raised chair and grabbed her other sandwich, "They didn't taste that good, but those had been on the floor."
"..." "No wait, she does have a point." "HER MOTHER HAS A POINT! HER AUNT HAS A POINT! THAT DOES NOT COUNT AS A POINT!"
"....Now I'm missing food…" Alexa said as her hand started going for the other plate.
"... don't you dare.." "Yes….YEEEESSSSS!"
"Oh…who would have thought… Alexa's got more to eat!" Alexa smiled as she nodded on the butter toast.
They weren't as good as her PB & Jelly Sandwich, but they would do. Besides, she still had half of one waiting for her, that one would even have extra protein!
She was waiting for her side dish to jump to it. She wondered what those [Smoll Insects] that looked like the [Ants] stuck in that city that the breaking reality teacher showed them would taste like.
