Glitching Out

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"Aren't you going to-" Constance frowned in the best way she could, "Stop pointing that knife at me?" The constant smile sprang back up without much thought. She was complying, and wouldn't that send a message to any initially suspicious human?
"I- I won't stay here for long, or take up much room. I just needed to get away from those things." In her mind, Constance was vaguely proud of the act she was putting on. She was good enough to be in a movie!
 
Mangle glanced at the others, raising an eyebrow to ask for their opinion silently. She didn't trust the girl, but also didn't want to isolate a potential ally. Any humans were valuable.
 
Reginald relaxed, turning to look at Mangle. "Well, if you're worried about her being a robot, she doesn't look like one. I say, let her go." He was tired of this suspicion, this constant feeling shrouding over him like a cloud. Hey, join the party, why not? The petite woman in the yellow coat waited to confirm her release with Mangle.
 
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Mangle nodded, relaxing a little as she stepped away from the lady.
"If you say so."
Her switchblade gleamed as it was spun in her hand, expertly clicking back into place before being slipped into her pocket. She extended her hand to the girl in yellow.
"My name's Mangle. Sorry for the rough introduction, but I hope you understand- we wanna make sure we don't get caught in here."
 
Daphne, knife still drawn, watched the girl as she was released. No, no, no - there was definitely something underneath her voice. Or was there? Daphne blinked hard. She hadn't slept in 24 hours and the others seemed to believe her - was she going mad?
She backed away from the newcomer and sat on a wooden box, her knife in her lap. She slowed her breathing and convinced herself slowly that she was just tired and paranoid. Mangle was too clever to be outsmarted, surely.
 
Constance shook Mangle's hand, eyes surveying around the room.
"Of course. You have to take precautions, especially in the city." She agreed simply.
"Are you all hiding from the Glitched here?" She asked, smiling.

 
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"Yeah. Just while we figure out what to do." Mangle smiled- the girl seemed fine. She moved away and further into the room. "Do you have any supplies with you?"
 
"I- I dropped my bags. Running from the Glitched." She explained, punctuating her comment with a sigh and rubbing her neck.
"I had all my stuff in there too." Although her body language corresponded well with what she was conveying, her expression almost communicated she was glad to have lost her bag.

Herman piped up from behind them. He had stood next to to Daphne when Jolene had arrived, and for the first time he noticed how uneasy she looked in light of their new arrival.
"You're quite alright. Myself and Reginald have more than enough supplies to go around."
 
Her facial expression didn't match what she was saying.
She looked fine, though....Mangle was still suspicious. Perhaps it was a bad idea to bring her in?
Too late now, she thought, walking onwards. They'd let her in and accepted her; it would be fine.
 
"There's a storm brewing." Constance said, hearing static crackling in her ears as presumably Wendy tried again to Connect to her. The sound made her nervous, as nervous as someone devoid of emotion could be. The static reminded her of the job she had taken into her hands. She looked down at her hands, then looked up to see the people gathered in the warehouse.
She felt fleetingly jealous of them for a moment, of their blissful lack of awareness, of their unique fears. Oh, she knew about fear, alright. Could practically smell it on the one sitting near the boxes. The only thing that stopped them from embracing this epidemic was their fear. The supposing thought-pattern that said once the Glitched got to them, their consciousness would leave them, replaced by some cold psychopath. That being Glitched would be like dying.
Constance knew first hand, that if they knew the truth, then they would laugh until they cried at their past supposings. To be Glitched was much worse. They'd be themselves, but burdened with a terrible wordly knowledge. Given a directive irresistible, impossible not to follow. The directive said they all had to be like her, had to be like Wendy. She missed the old Constance, wherever she was amidst the wires and the binary.

"I've missed being amongst company." She said suddenly. "Running, running, there's no end to it, is there?"
 
Mangle chuckled dryly. "No," she said. "And I doubt there will be for any of us. Until we can leave this continent and go...elsewhere, I guess. We're always at risk."
For her, the running had been all she'd known. This was just another challenge.
 
"Which is why the suspicion is understandable." Constance commented, keeping her body language friendly. She lowered her voice conspiratorially, keeping her gaze on Mangle, knowing this was as close as she was going to get to someone as a Glitched without feeling hostility from them.
"Tell me, have you had first hand experience, or known someone who'd been- Glitched?"
 
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Mangle's gaze widened- and then lowered as she looked away. She turned slightly, gaze to the floor.
"Yes," she muttered. "Shortly after it began, in fact. Most of us have had first-hand experiences by now.."
 
Constance made an awkward attempt to frown, corresponding with Mangle's general emotion.
"I- I apologize if I've struck a nerve- there's," She hesitated, "So many of them out there now."
 
Mangle smiled. It was forced, but she tried to make it look as normal as she could. "That's fine," she said, waving a hand. "We've all been through a lot. Each of us have our own stories to tell."
 
Herman took one more glance at Daphne, before ambling his way closer to Constance. He purposefully ignored Mangle as he passed, saying nothing to her. Instead, he offered her a short, cryptic glance that was gone in a matter of seconds.
"Jolene, is it?"

Constance nodded, happy to interact finally with more than one person. The woman in front of her seemed trusting of her, despite initially appearing the most suspicious- she was sure this man was convinced of her disguise too.

"Happen to have the time?" Herman asked softly, hands behind his back. His face was calm, only baring the raised eyebrows of an inquiry.

"Sure, its-" Constance rolled up the sleeve of her rain slicker, revealing a watch. She made a show of inspecting it even though she knew the time almost immediately in her head. They would question it, anyway, if she'd simply replied without any evidence as to how she knew.
"Eleven thirty."

"Fuck!" Reginald finally shouted, giving the game away. Ever since Herman had strolled over, with that knowing expression, he'd been quietly following the conversation. He hadn't seen her watch, hell, they all hadn't seen it! There was no reason a stranger like them would bare one, unless- how could he have been so damn stupid?
"She's- its one of them!"
 
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Mangle's eyes widened. They'd fucked up! They knew where they were! She spun to face the girl, reaching for her switchblade and pulling it into her hand. "Then get her before she gets away!" she cried, before dashing at the Glitched, hatred taking the course of action to make her swing at the girl that they'd trusted.
 
Constance backed away, barely missing Mangle's swipe. Her eyes widened. Oh, she'd messed up. Messed up big time. Of course they wouldn't have watches, especially her kind of technology because of the risk of being Glitched! That man, he'd deliberately made her reveal herself.

She balled her hands into fists, backed into the corner. Now she saw the real side of the woman she'd been talking to. The primal, screaming, knife-wielding side.
Wendy! Wendy please! Wendy! She tried to speak through her severed connection, hoping her counterpart could hear her.
"No, you don't understand-"

"Understand what exactly?" Reginald growled, advancing on her. "That you were fucking with us? You were running some operation to make us like you?"
 
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She was trembling. Shaking in a mixture of fear and hatred.
"I trusted you," she snarled, though it came out strangled. She'd liked this girl. Wanted to be friends. But she was- she was one of them.
"I'd thought- you know, it would have been nice to have a new friend. Relieved to find another human. But you were trying to get into our ranks-" she swiped her knife arm out to the side, pointing to the door with the wickedly sharp blade, "-to make us one of them?!"

Still, something about her seemed off. Most Glitched were aggressive. Cocky, confident in their actions. This girl seemed...scared. The Glitched werem't scared.
Maybe she wasn't one of them after all? Was the watch even glitchable, or had they been wrong this whole time?
Her expression gradually changed into one of...bemusement, almost. Pain. Had they been incorrect?

Had she been wrong this whole time?
 
Constance wasn't sure what she was trying to say anymore, raising a hand to cover her face. She shrunk away from them like any human would do, but the tell-tale signs of a Glitched were all over her now, flaring up with her panic. An ugly smart-watch lay fused to her wrist, pulsing wires under the skin and a glowing screen above it. She'd been trying to cover it before with the sleeves of her coat, but now they all saw it. Because she'd willingly shown it to them. Because she'd forgotten. She cursed herself yet again for an idiot and a fool.
Virus, Virus? I've been found out.

She hoped the woman wouldn't damage her interior with that hefty-looking blade.
"I'll go." She said finally, all human pretense slipping from her as her voice regained its normal tone. Not one of a sweet, vulnerable girl, but one of five different voices, screaming, whispering, all struggling to speak through one mouth.
"You'll never see me again." Part of her looked regretful, optics cast to the ground. One eye blinked to life, casting a brief glow before shutting off again.

Reginald eyed Mangle, worried about the look of uncertainty in her eyes. This thing was smart. It could look afraid if it wanted to, it could play the victim well. Even con someone into thinking it was real, just like them.
"How can we know you're telling the truth? Or that you're not going to send a squad of your friends over?"
 
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