'We're in. We've found Ava being abused by her brother and a neighbor. Brit has ripped them off her sister, and is currently destroying their manhood, as well as their limbs.' Leen said with a cold voice inside the connection.

'Slap the collars on them, Leen.' Tandy said. 'Aya is across the street. She watches for interference. Does Brit want to stay to take care of her father?'

'Negative. Her anger is spent. Now she's torn up about Ava, and rightly so. The poor girl is a year or two younger then Brit, and her body is in horrible shape. Bruises. Cuts. Scars. Restraint marks that bit into the skin.' Leen said as she examined the girl's body.

'Bring her home, Leen. Leave the others there to wait for the father, and anyone else who paid to lay with his own daughter. Break them into pieces, and slap the collars on them.' Tandy stopped for a minute. 'Hold on.' Another short delay. 'Aya will hack their systems. The computers are active. No need to bring them. They've been mined. Destroy the computers before you leave.'

'Understood.'

* * *

"She's not comatose, but she's depressed, and scarred mentally, Brit." Jill said quietly. "Help me to wash her down, and flood her so she will be clean inside." Brit couldn't stop crying, but she made no sounds. Just tears that rolled down her cheeks.

Her sister, Ava, had a dead look in her eyes. As they gently washed her, Tandy scanned her body.

'Signs of severe abuse, and some malnutrition. They must have used food as a weapon. Jill, retrieve the saline packs, and the nutrient packs. We'll have to inject the fluids, and hopefully, she'll become cognitive enough to drink the nutrient solutions. If not, we'll need to inject that as well.' Tandy sighed. 'No broken bones, but a lot of her ligaments are strained. They used force and torture to make her compliant.'

'What can we do, doctor?' Brit asked within her connection to the construct.

'Console her. Let her know that it's over, and she won't return to that place. The rest is between the two of you. The boss can put in an interface, and dock so that she can digitize her trauma, and help her through it, but that is a brute force approach. She would prefer that Ava choose that method rather then do something without her knowledge.' Brit sighed.

'I understand.'

* * *

'How is she, doctor?' Aya asked.

'Traumatized. Brit is just laying with her, holding her, and waiting. After some brief words, letting her know that her father and brother were dead, she waits for Ava to come back.' Tandy said sadly.

'Smart girl. Ava has to be willing. She might become angry, or she might stay safely within her own mind. It's really up to her in the end. For now, if she's unable to come out of it, keep her in the lab. If she wakes up, let Brit take her to a secured entry room where she can be assured that she's safe.' Aya growled.

'I can understand why you feel this way, baby. Dossiers have been compiled. They filmed her, and did things to her that I can't give a voice to. We'll find each one, and end them one at a time.' Tandy said firmly.

'Agreed. Let the gang take care of the small fish. I'll take care of the big ones. Even if it goes to one of the families, I'll hunt each and every single one of them down.' Tandy listened and frowned slightly. She gave a command to the system silently.

Her eyes flew through the details. It was a slight modulation in Aya's tone, a slight sound wave as though her voice was artificial instead of her natural vocal chords, which she kept intact.

'How is this possible?' She looked and gave another silent command to do a more thorough scan.

'Baby, did you do any upgrades to your frame?' Tandy asked. Aya tilted her head, her state of anger pushed aside like a switch that turned off.

'No. I've considered some possible upgrades to the frame and superstructure. I've wanted to work with some stronger materials, that would allow less bulky actuators, but also use more powerful ones.' She thought for a moment. 'Computer, detailed scan.'

'I've already completed the scan, baby.' She sent her the file. She watched Aya's face twitch a bit.

'So that is where those materials went.' She mind whispered. 'Computer, can you detect micro machines in my blood?'

'Baby, are you thinking about that sci-fi show?' Tandy asked, which made Aya chuckle a bit.

'No. Those were on a nano based level, and well beyond useful application sizes. The size of cells. The ones I considered were small, but capable of micro surgery. If there are enough of them, they can disassemble an entire actuator into its base material, and replace the material. I thought about this as a way to replace bones, muscle, and ligaments, but I realized that they can't replace organic materials with synthetic.' She pursed her lips. 'They can only replace synthetic with synthetic. That is the current limitation, and one I hope to be able to circumvent eventually.' She sighed a bit internally. 'They can repair defects in organic materials though.'

'I had hoped to design an organic interface, one that would allow minimal mental upgrades to be installed, but use the micros to install the links. I even wanted to upgrade the neural interface, and see if we could access more of our unused brain portions. There are memory specific areas, and some stronger mental control areas. I don't think we could get into levitation, or ESP, but the additional access could help mitigate mental fatigue, or emotional trauma.' She waited.

'Several thousand micro machines are present within your body. There is no specific area they are located. They can be rapidly redirected.' Tandy said as she intercepted the file. Aya thought for a moment.

'Computer, access user interface, Doctor Tandy. Tie system to user's interface, allow override controls to user, and allow user to filter all data prior to upload to subjects.' Tandy's real face twitched.

'Baby.' This was an incredible amount of power that Aya just entrusted to her.

'Do not override your stasis protocols, love.' She said with a soft sweet smile on her lips. 'I may get stuck in the construct, but you do not.'

Tandy realized that Aya had given her the override for a very specific reason. She had built one micro machine in order to test a theory. The remainder were built by the original, programmed by her subconscious to do so.

She had evolved again, and didn't know the limits of her body, or mind anymore. She needed the doctor as her anchor, and she needed her now more then ever.

* * *

'Tell me about the organic interface.' Tandy asked after she had scanned Aya thoroughly, and updated her frame schematics. She took note of the carbon fiber composites at some high stress points, and frowned slightly. 'Before that, why not experiment with the magnesium metals that have just been developed?'

'Too experimental. There is hope for the metal, but there hasn't been enough testing to verify its long term usage. I can't take that chance with the human body. Stainless steel is stronger then some titanium alloys, but a lot heavier. By switching to a combination of titanium alloys, like gold based, or the aluminum and vanadium blend, it's strong, light, and corrosion resistant.' She sighed. 'Would be nice if there were some science fiction metals, like neutronium, or duranium. It just doesn't exist yet.'

'Okay, so this organic interface. Explain your idea.' Tandy persisted.

'An overlay of filaments that acts like a circuit. The micro machines would lay the filaments in silicon lined channels, to protect the user, and prevent cross wiring. The circuit would act as a weaker form of the interface, and allow a directed connection to the brain. This could be useful in cases like Ava's, and also allow Jia and Jenni to be plugged in to their partners. As time went on, and the machines map their brain functions, the circuits would be expanded, and enhanced.' Aya laid back on the couch as she felt Tandy's mental avatar enter the construct.

Aya murmured and opened her connection. Tandy was able to slide within the layers of Aya's interface, and directly interact with her through the connection.

'Overwriting?'

'No. Interconnection. Master slave dependency. Like the chips. Jia, Jenni, and Ava would have the slave dependency, while Brit, and the others would act as the parent, or Master part of the set. Each would work better while connected to the other, and become more fully melded together.' Aya closed her eyes as she felt Tandy's mental fingers slide along her spine.

'Is it the same, baby?'

'It's necessary, love. The price I had to pay in order to bring you back to life.' Aya's eyes opened and she focused intently on the nude woman's body within the vat. 'I would do anything to make you live again.'

Tandy smiled within the vat and began to explore their connected state. As she twitched, and her mental avatar shuddered, she realized that Aya meant what she said.

If she had to sacrifice the inhabitants of the city they lived in, in order to allow her out of the vat and be fully alive, she would do it in a heart beat.

She was completely ruthless, with the only caveat being that whatever happened, it had to have a reason, or a benefit. She could not kill for pleasure. Unless it was someone who touched her girls. Then she got a lot of pleasure out of tearing their limbs off.

However, this was something that made Tandy a bit upset. Aya had already evolved, and moved onto a different trajectory.

Aya's mind had given the micro machines unconscious directives to upgrade her frame. If they continued to follow suit, she would soon have the new neural interface as well.