Glitching Out

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Mangle nodded. "Yeah. I've been gathering for a while. Raiding abandoned houses and suchlike. I have food, a couple of guns and their ammo, and medical kit. Other than that it's clothes for me and personal effects."
 
Daphne moved her knife warily to her back pocket, but kept her fingers touching its handle. She really wanted this to work, and for these two to join forces with them - but she couldn't shake the possibility of something bad happening.
She gave a small smile as the conversation progressed, and attempted to seem friendly when she said,
"I have lots of tins of beans with me."
 
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Reginald let out a small chuckle at that, his initial confusion and suspicioun wearing off. These girls, they were just like himself and Herman- seeking shelter and safety amidst all the chaos. At least, he hoped they were. If they were robots, they were unnaturally good at hiding it.
He got to his knees, rifling inside his own duffel bag and revealing a startling amount of tinned ravioli.
"Hey, beans and ravioli. That's one hell of a gourmet combo."

"It's the best we can do." Herman cut in, eyeing the quieter girl of the pair that had just spoken.
"What's your name? I'm Herman."
 
Mangle let out a chuckle, watching him root through his gear. Yes, these two were human, and safe- for now. She could relax. "You got any cookin stuff for it?"
 
Daphne moved forward so she was stood beside Mangle; her right shoulder shifted back as if ready to shield the younger girl at any time.
"Daphne." She smiled.
 
Herman nodded and smiled. He stayed on his feet as Reginald sat cross- legged on the floor. He began to stack the ravioli cans on top of each other in a distracted manor.
"We ain't got any of that luxury, sadly. But it's a good thing you can eat tinned ravioli on its own! Same with soup. Just gotta have it cold is all."
 
"We're redirecting."
"Where to?" Datascare was used to this. Zelroth had the most solid connection to the Creator, and was able to communicate with them telepathically. So whenever they gave a command, Zelroth related it to the others.
"You move your First and get them back to this city, along with Virus' First. We've gotten a report of some humans still in the city that we're gonna need their help to get."
Glitchdancer's head poked up from an ATM attached to the side of the building, where she was currently running a Glitch. Sparks played through from where she was holding her hand, the front lying discarded off to the side somewhere to reveal the mechanisms within. "Where are they? We can get them ourselves!"
"Nah." Cyberdark's voice was bored, perched as he was in a half-squat on the low wall nearby, elbows on his spread knees. He'd been watching her this whole time. "No point. Let the girls handle it, and if they fail then we'll move in."
Glitchdancer pouted, but didn't argue. She turned her attention back to the ATM, and the golden glow grew again as she stuck her head back inside. She was striking deep with this glitch.
Zelroth chuckled loosely. "They're situated in a warehouse on the other side of the city. I'll send an image to you, Datascare, so you can give it to your First. Virus is getting the same to send it to the accident."
Datascare nodded, recieving the image. "Got it."
She turned away briefly. Interrupting your mission. There's still humans in this city. Take Constance with you; she should be getting the same message from Virus at the moment. Strengthened, since I'm fairly certain he's still in the system at the moment, so she might be acting a little funny. There's four of them, situated in this warehouse. She forwarded the picture to Wendy as she spoke. It's on the opposite side of the city to us. Reckon you can get em?
 
Have I ever failed to? Wendy sent a pleased, cocky transmission back to Datascare. We'll be in and out, fast, if Constance can keep it together. See you soon.
Constance noticed Wendy tilting her head, her optics darting as if reading information at an exponential rate.
"Somebody say something?" Constance asked hesitantly, looking up at the taller woman.
"It was Data. She says there's a couple humans in the city. We're redirecting."
"Okay." Constance headed back towards the car.
 
Datascare's amusement could be felt down their bond as she cut off the transmission for now, turning back to her crew. She lounged back against the car and waited for Glitchdancer while she had her fun.
Constance?
He knew he couldn't get through to her. But he wanted to get through to her, all the same. He hoped they brought her back soon. Though....he hated having to re-Glitch her, but not being able to communicate with Constance was nothing short of painful. He couldn't tell if she was unable to hear him or just ignored him, and he wasn't sure which was worse.
 
Constance felt a strange calling sensation, like static running through her as she started up the car. It was gone as soon as it came, however, and she was glad of it. The institute had severed her connection with the Others, and only the guilt of straying so far away from their intended path was keeping her from doing anything to fix it. Not that she could. Now all she heard was cold static, aside from vocalized words. A dark, undulating silence.
Her head snapped to the side as Wendy hit her sharply, the car swerving to the right for a moment. The light on her face sharply blinked out.

"Your eye was glowing." Wendy muttered, whilst Constance rubbed her cheek. It wouldn't take long for the virus to envelope her completely now, but if Wendy hoped to Glitch the remaining humans in the city, then she'd have to remain convincingly human passing for the job. It scared her she hadn't been even aware of it until Wendy hit her.
 
Daphne stopped herself from asking about a fire when she glanced up at the roof; it was low and metal, no good for letting out smoke. Cold beans for now, then, she thought with a grimace.
 
They arrived at the warehouse, a heavy downpour of rain greeting them. Constance wrung her hands in her lap now that the car had rolled to a stop. Wendy plucked the keys from the ignition, placing them inside her pocket.
"Alright. Head on in there, do the act, give me the signal." Wendy muttered, not looking at the other Glitched.
"Okay." Constance opened the passenger seat door for the fourth time that day, and stepped out. Wind buffetted her short hair.

She ran towards the warehouse, opening her mouth in a panicked scream.
 
Mangle immediately jolted upright, staring towards the door. She dumped her bag on the floor and unzipped it, hefting out a sniper rifle and quickly loading a round into it before zipping it up, grabbing her gun and her bag and moving back to one side, hidden away.
"Take shelter behind the crates," she said. "Wait to see who it is."
She trained her rifle on the door, peering through the sights, and flipped off the safety.
 
"Help! Help!" Constance raised her voice, stopping at the door and banging on it with both fists.
Wendy, in the distance, slunk into the night.

Reginald paused, looking uneasy suddenly. His tic made a quick appearance as he watched Mangle train the rifle on the door. The voice seemed like a lady in distress, but he wasn't ready to go out there and help her yet.
Herman looked up, instinctively holding the flashlight again.
 
"Jesus fucking Christ!" Daphne squeaked quietly as Mangle pulled a rifle from her bag. She tugged her further into the shadows and gripped her knife. The kid was clearly street-smart, but Daphne couldn't help feeling protective.
She heard the banging on the door and the cries for help. There was something in that voice she didn't like. She had spent weeks studying Jamie's voice and how he manipulated it - it almost sounded like his.
"It's not human," she whispered to Mangle, her heart pounding. "I don't think that's a human out there."
 
Mangle frowned. Finally, she muttered, "I'll have a look." She handed the gun to Daphne and scrambled up one of the crates to a higher floor, where she peered out of one of the windows at the girl below.
"Keep any weapons you have ready, and come over if I give the signal," she called. "She looks human." That said, she swung over the side and dropped back down before walking to the door, where she quickly shoved it open, grabbed the girl's wrist, yanked her inside and slammed the door before pinning her to the now-shut doors with a knife to her throat. Peering into her eyes, Mangle saw no signs of glowing or any hints that the newcomer might be Glitched. She glanced back without turning away from the girl, jerking her head to signal to the others to come over. All the while her grip was firm, restraining her.
 
"Uhm- uh-" Costance spluttered at the sudden contact, making her eyes wild and dart around like that of someone frightened. She locked eyes at the woman who held her in place with the threat of a blade. There were the others in the warehouse behind her, steadily gathering around her in suspicion. It struck her how warm and real the touch restraining her was. Had they clocked her before she'd even begun? Constance swallowed, mirroring the nervous panic protagonists in the horror movies she had seen often possessed.


Reginald stood up, narrowing his eyes. Just an hour ago he'd been sitting reading a comic book, undisturbed with Herman. Now there were five of them.
"What's going on?" He shouted amidst all the confusion. Mangle had been lightning fast pulling the girl in, giving him hardly enough time to process it all.

Herman stood by his side, silent as always and assessing the situation.
 
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"Dunno," Mangle growled, focusing on the girl. "But I wanna know who you are and if I can trust you not to attack us the instant I let you go." She was hoping one of the others would take over asking questions, so that she could just be allowed to hold the girl hostage and not have to run the whole damn questioning.
 
"I- My name is-" Constance paused. "Jolene. I was being chased- by those awful Glitched. Thank you for letting me in, before they got to me." She let out a shaky sigh, although her smile was still as permanent as ever on her face. Perhaps they would see it as gratitude, or simply being happy to be alive on her part. A hand slowly placed itself on Mangle's shoulder, dwarfed by her rain coat.
"You can trust me." For a small moment, she didn't want to do what she had to do. She took solace in the fact that once they were Glitched, she'd have more friends like her.
But don't they deserve independance? Freedom? The independance you had but lost?
No, to be Glitched was to be freed from all human err. Mistakes were never made, agenda's were all unified and equal. If they were all like herself, wars, all forms of human depravity would be a thing of the past. They would see it soon.
She bit her lip, acting out the necessary vulnerability. Tears shined in her eyes.
"I think they've left off now."

Herman clasped his hands behind his back, frowning. Why had Daphne been so sure this woman wasn't human? She sounded just like any shaken person would sound.
"What part of the city are you from?" He asked suddenly, catching Constance off guard.

Constance blinked. "I'm not from here. I- I came to see family, but when I arrived- this whole place was full of the Glitched."
 
Mangle felt intense relief at Herman's interference. The girl seemed human enough- terrified. But she kept the knife to the girl's throat, having tugged her in here just to reduce the risk of the Glitched finding their hiding location. It didn't mean she was in here entirely. They could easily kill or shove her back out if they suspected her of being a Glitched.
 
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