October, 2010

"George. Place this collar on his neck. Once it closes, it will engage the interface." Aya handed the collar in her hands to him.

"This looks..."

"Brutal." Tandy smiled. "But necessary. Those prongs will go into the spine and brain stem. The system will access the information and download it quickly. Choose the one least likely to have the necessary information. They may die before we get it all." George cleared his throat.

"Understood. Did you have a hand in its design, doctor?" Tandy smirked at George's accusation.

"Not me. This is her design the whole way. She feels nothing for these specimens. They are not even the enemy. They are information sources only." Tandy felt a shiver. "She's wonderful, George. Completely capable of detaching her emotions from the necessity of her actions."

"Don't corrupt her doctor. The boss won't like that." George said as he wrapped the collar around one of the men strapped to a stretcher.

"I'm not corrupted, George. She keeps me from taking a knife and doing the job in a more visceral manner." Aya said frankly. She looked at her screen. "Collar online. Engaging interface." The mechanism began to close. He started to scream as the prongs drove into his spinal cord relentlessly.

"We need to gag them from now on." Tandy said. "That can give a person a headache." She watched the computer. "Interface seated. Mechanism online. Download initiated." She watched the readout of her life support equipment. "The interface is too slow. We're going to lose them before we get anything substantial. Only two terabytes. And they have red lined." Aya looked at the data.

"First attempt has been successful though. We've gotten a lot of data, even if it's only superficial. Initiating backups." She watched as more data continued to accumulate. "Backups successful in restarting dormant memory modules, however, the power is too high. The brain has become inactive due to overload." She initiated a filtering program.

"Did you get anything usable?" Tandy came over to her monitor.

"Very little, and all that applies only refers to these companions. The data in regards to the interface has given me some avenues to pursue to fine tune the methods." She typed another few lines of code.

"Data has been filtered, and compressed. Garbage data has been discarded." Tandy looked at her readings. "Excellent. A ten megabyte data file that can be indexed and referenced. Human beings really have too much useless data stored. How green the grass was. That cute girl's ass, and so forth." George walked over.

"So what now?" He asked quietly.

"Dispose of that specimen. I'll refine the data capture device, and the uploading procedures. I'll also work on the backup support systems so it remains active for a lot longer. We'll soon be able to keep decapitated heads alive long enough to get all the data we need. No torture necessary." Tandy said, at which point George looked at Aya.

"She's correct, George. Grandfather will benefit in the long term from this." Aya said, and watched as George left with the body.

"You know they will use this." Tandy said.

"I'll move it offsite when it's time. I already have a backup base set up, just unmanned." She turned slightly. "There is a lab there." Tandy smiled gently.

"You know I will." She sighed sadly. "Are you sure it's going to happen?"

"Without a doubt, Tandy." Aya closed her eyes. "He is our ultimate enemy, not the ones we help him to purge." She sighed. "Mom should have done this a decade ago, but she wasn't strong enough."

"How long do you think we have?"

"Two years at the most. He won't kill me." Aya said as she looked at the one she came to call her mentor, and the only one she had a base fondness for, other then her sister, and her mother.

"I know. He'll kill me."

* * *

October, 2012

"It's been two years, baby." Tandy said quietly. Her little friend had grown a lot in the last two years. Her intellect was astonishing, and almost inhuman, while her slender body matured a little.

"I've moved our tech offsite. The data on the manufacturing method is gone. I've left him the data I've gathered to chase after Coral's kidnappers. Just this one last piece to move." Aya looked at the box, then at Tandy.

"I'm ready, baby. When will you come back to get me?"

"Tonight. Don't let out a squeak." Aya took one last look at her mentor, and felt an overwhelming sense of dread. In spite of all her meticulous plans, she knew that something could still go wrong.

"Don't worry, baby. I'll be ready to move out with you when you return. If I try now, they will stop me, so make sure you're not seen when you enter tonight." Aya nodded, then walked over and kissed Tandy lightly on the cheek.

"Stay alive."

* * *

"Boss, she just left." George spoke into his phone.

"Then you know what to do. Erase the doctor." The line closed, and George put it away.

"What's the word, George?" One of his men asked him.

"It's a go. Go in fast, disable, cut off her arms and legs, and put a bullet in her brain." He pinned each of them with a hard stare. "No mistakes. Be quick. No fucking around. If it isn't fast and brutal, she'll return and find the clues."

"We understand. I never thought...are you sure this is necessary? She has the stones to take over without this." The guy asked.

"I know, but it's the boss's way. If she hesitates in any way, his enemies will eat her up. She has to be more ruthless and brutal then him in order to take over. Go on. Remember, fast and precise. No hesitation. No mistakes. And definitely do not draw it out. Knock her down, cut off her arms, then her legs, and put a bullet in her skull. No more then one. Anything unnecessary will be ruthlessly punished."

George opened a laptop and accessed the camera. It went as it was told. He still shivered as the doctor watched her limbs get cut off without a twitch.

"That was one deviant woman."