Avery insisted on going in alone. TO and DH weren’t sure it was the best of ideas, but Avery insisted, saying that Kei would never listen if they went as well. Still, as soon as Avery went in, Goretta put on the video stream from inside. TO and DH hovered around her, watching.

“If Kei does anything-” TO started, but trailed off, catching themself. What would they do? Would they kill Kei? Kill another person? Make their body count for the day an even number?

“If Kei does anything, I’ll take care of it.” DH said as they slipped their hand into TO’s. TO didn’t even bother to point out that their hand-to-hand was better, and it would make more sense for them to go in; They were just glad to have DH’s warm hand in theirs and the promise of their mate to take care of things. 

Kei was not at the table this time. This time, they were laying on the bed with their back to the door. Even from their limited view TO could see the remains of food left on the table; meals that Kei had picked at but hadn’t finished. When the door opened, they shot up and got to their feet.

Avery slipped in and closed the door behind them. Kei sighed and sat back down on the bed. For a moment, it looked like they might say something to Avery, but they just lay back down in silence and turned over.

Avery sighed and headed to the table in the center of the room. “Not hungry today?” they asked as they stacked the dishes atop the other, placing uneaten food on the topmost one. “They don’t have much variety, otherwise I’d see about giving you something different.”

Still no response from Kei; they didn’t even move.

“Are they sick?” Goretta asked, frowning as she watched the video, “They might need medical attention-”

“They’re not sick.” TO said, “At least, that’s not why they refuse to respond.” 

“They consider Avery an enemy I suppose.” DH said. “As far as Kei’s concerned. Avery’s working with the insurgency. If you get captured, you don’t speak to your captors.”

Goretta frowned, her tentacles twisting as she looked at DH, “You did though-”

“GiDi was the first one to come see me. I wasn’t going to not talk to them!” DH said. “They’re family. 

With the dishes stacked and tidied, Avery walked over to the bed and knelt down. “Kei.” They said, their voice softer than TO expected, “Talk to me.”

“I don’t converse with traitors.” The response had the practiced, automatic tone to it that TO recognized all too well. 

“I know.” Avery said, “I’m trying to help.”

“It’s going to be hard to convince them if they won’t talk.” Goretta said. “And did you see how they got up when Avery went in?” She looked at TO and DH. “They might go for the door when Avery tries to leave. Can you keep them from getting out?”

TO and DH nodded, but neither took their eyes off the screen.

“They don’t want to kill you.” Avery said. “The insurgents, I mean. They don’t want to kill you. I don't want you dead. TO and DH-”

“Are traitors, as well as defective and vile synths. Their thoughts mean less to me than yours do.” 

“I’m honestly surprised they said as much as they did.” DH said. Goretta stifled a snort of laughter.

“I know.” Avery said, “I know the only thing you do care about is serving King Decon.”

“And If I die in his service, then I will be content.” 

“Or you could live and serve Him better than you did before.”

TO felt their ears pin back as they watched. They were all beyond serving King Decon at this point; all of them but Kei. Was Avery thinking of helping Kei to escape? They couldn’t allow that. No, if Kei got out, they might kill GiDi, or someone GiDi cared about, like Pearla or Tham. Even if they didn’t, they’d report their location to Minister Gyrini. 

“You’ve worked hard to serve King Decon. You worked hard in training, you worked hard in your placement, but it wasn’t enough, was it?” Their ears tilted back in sympathy, “You still hated how TO-”

“Before they proved themselves to be entirely unworthy, I was happy that King Decon had such a competent synth serving Him.”

“But you felt ‌you worked harder than they did, didn’t you?” Avery said, “You followed all the rules, you did what you needed to, you reported what was wrong, and TO still got a placement where they could do more than you… right?”

Kei’s ears twitched as their only response. Meanwhile, TO felt their own ears flick out in confusion. What was Avery talking about? What were they doing?”

“You didn’t know why they were better than you, smarter, more clever, why they performed better than you.”

“It’s not my place to question why. It’s only my place to serve as best as I can-”

“And that’s what TO was doing; serving as best as they could-”

“No, they were more interested in fornicating with the other failure to properly serve King Decon.”

The way Kei said that word, fornicating, had the same tone to it as Petra might have for ‘synth.’ TO felt their stomach twist as their ears dipped.

“Even if that was true, they still performed well! They outperformed you without being entirely focused, and that’s because of their brains!” Avery leaned in and whispered, but despite that TO could still hear them clearly thanks to the sensitive microphones, “Their brains are raw.” 

“And that’s what ruined them as synths.” Kei snapped. “It allowed them to get distracted. A manufacturing error.”

“It’s also why they think like they do, why they seem so clever. DH is the same, their mind is different-”

“It must be.” Kei snapped, “Otherwise I know someone had corrected them long ago. They should have been corrected. TO would be a better synth if that abomination wasn’t around. I told them that a long time ago, though I take no joy in being right.” 

The blood suddenly pounded through TO’s head, Kei’s words repeating over and over. For a moment, they would have been more than happy to go into that room and make their number for the day even, but then they felt DH’s fingers tighten around their hand. When TO looked over, DH’s ears dipped down, their lips pressed into a thin line. TO squeezed back and gave a weak smile when DH looked at them. They returned a flicker of a smile to them before focusing back on the video. TO did note, however, that their ears stayed dipped down.

“Don’t you think you’d be the same if your brain was like theirs?” Avery asked.

“Never. I could never be that perverse, that self-centered and short-sighted.”

Self-centered and short-sighted, just like civilians. Maybe they were. They apparently came from a civilian race at one point, and they had the natural civilian brains so they would be just as bad, wouldn’t they be? As TO felt the warmth of DH’s hand in theirs, they realized they didn’t care if they were. Maybe that was part of the problem.

“Then why not have the procedure done?” Avery asked. “If you know you’ll never be like that, then why not get the procedure done?”

“To what end?”

“To stay alive longer.” Avery said, “To maybe live a little longer to serve King Decon a little longer. If it’s as you say and you won’t change with the procedure, and if the procedure helps you think like TO does, then you might end up being a better synth than they ever were.”

DH snorted at that, suppressing laughter as they watched. TO felt no such mirth. With Kei laying with their back to Avery, their friend could easily have lied about whatever they wanted, but they didn’t. Their ears showed no such deceit.

Did they really think that Kei would be a better synth than they were? Did Avery think that TO had been deficient in their service?

‘It’s true though,’ TO thought, ‘I am a terrible synth. I shot Kei to stop them from shooting an insurgent. I have a mate which I’m running away with.’ their hand tightened around DH’s fingers once more. “I’ve killed civilians. Innocent civilians. I killed innocent civilians to save an insurgent.”

“They’re listening.” Goretta said, “Avery might do this.”

TO’s attention snapped back to the screen where Kei had sat up, and was now facing Avery and watching their ears carefully.

“Say that again.” They said, their ears perked up just slightly as they leaned forward. “Say that all again.”

Avery was still kneeling on the floor, looking up at Kei now. TO held their breath, watching and waiting for Kei to attack them, but for now it didn’t look like they would.

“If you don’t get the procedure done, you’ll die.” Avery said. “That’s it. Best case there, they find your remains before they decompose to where they can’t be repurposed. If you get the procedure, then you buy yourself some time. Worse case; you’ll still die here. Best case? You escape, and become a better synth than TO ever was.”

“... And why would they want to do this?” Kei asked, “Why do the insurgents want to do this to me?”

“They don't want to kill you. They want to…” They paused, thinking of the best way to phrase Goretta’s desire to see if they could restore a mind, and the wish that TO, DH, Flit and Snout had to restore the minds of others who had been corrected. “The insurgents want to see if they can do it, and they think it’ll change you.” Avery shrugged. “Your only actual concern is if you think you will actually change and join them.”

“Like you did.” They spat, “Like all of you.”

“I understand if you’re worried.” They said, “If you think you might change. If you think you’d do the same thing that DH and TO-”

Kei’s ears pinned back down. “I could never be like them.” They hissed. “No matter what they do to me.”

“Then if you get it done, you buy yourself some time.”

Kei fell silent, watching Kei as their ears twitched in consideration. DH was holding their breath in anticipation next to them, and Goretta was muttering to herself in a language that TO didn’t know. 

“Very well.” Kei finally said, “I will submit to this procedure.” 

======

After that, Kei took the drugged food. They knew there were powerful sedatives hidden inside- Avery told Kei as much as they passed the meal through the little slot, but Kei took it wordlessly, and ate it without hesitation.

“... Do you really think they’ll be a better synth than I was?” TO asked as they watched Kei eat through the video.

“Not in a millenia.” DH scoffed. 

“I’ve no idea.” Avery said, “But at the very least, as they are now they’re better synths than we are, aren’t they?”

Well, Avery was right about that, at least. A ‘better’ synth wouldn’t have a mate, wouldn’t have shot Kei, wouldn’t be helping the insurgents now. A better synth would do exactly what Kei had done.

“I’m still surprised they agreed.” Goretta said, “From what you said, I thought they’d refuse-”

“Waste is one of the worst things to us.” Avery said with a shrug. “If there’s a chance to survive, then letting yourself die is a waste, isn’t it?”

“GiDi is intent on reusing nearly everything.” She admitted, “It’s become a bit of a problem. They horde garbage like the shells of the cocopods, utterly intent to find a use for it.” She sighed. “But that’s all you did? Convinced them not to waste their lives?”

“Well, that’s part of it.” They admitted. “So long as they’re alive, they have a chance to escape. Getting the procedure gives them more time to do that.” 

“I see… and do you hope that they’ll escape?” her eyes narrowed, her grip on her medkit tightening slightly, “Or do you plan to help them?”

“I… I hope that this might be helping them.” They said after a long moment of consideration, “I’d be happy if this changed them. If they were a little more like TO and DH. I told the truth and offered them something I knew they wanted.”

“Freedom?” Goretta offered.

“To surpass TO in their service to King Decon.” they responded. “They’ve always seen TO as.. Odd. Lesser? Especially since they-” They paused, their ears dipping with a light flush, “Since they discovered the nature of TO and DH’s relationship. Kei thinks they’re better than TO. I suggested that TO might have been the ‘better’ synth only because of the alterations.”

“So you basically told them they might serve King Decon better if they get this, and they fell for that.”

Avery shrugged. “I wasn’t lying. That’s just not what I’m hoping for.” They shook their head, “I know you don’t see much good in them. I didn't at first either. But they’re hardworking, they’re honest, and they just try to do good, even if that’s not what anyone else thinks is good. They take what’s important to them, and they hold that, follow it.” They looked at Goretta. “That’s why I figured they’d agree. It’s important to them, and because of that, they’ll push harder, and do more than others might.” Their ears dipped down as they looked at DH, “... That’s why they warned people about you. They wanted to help others be better.”

“Better is subjective.” Goretta snapped, “But at any rate, look.” She pointed to the screen. There was still some food left, but Kei was already slumping over, their ears moving languidly as they tried to continue eating with clumsy hands. After just another minute, they gently slumped to the ground.

“Alright, they’re under.” Goretta said. She unlatched the door and let it swing open. “Let’s get them ready.”