Glitching Out

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"Not likely," Zelroth snarled, picking her up. He grabbed the girl by the arm, dragging her back through the corridors. Behind him, doors slammed shut as they went along; that was Datascare, controlling Virus. He dragged her kicking and screaming into the room, ignoring her as he barged through, coming to a halt in front of the machine and lifting Constance up to place her inside it.
Virus snapped at Zelroth, his optics lacking any detail, merely lines and lines of green binary. He attempted to make noise, but all that came out was the beeping of thousands of lines of code being processed at once.
Datascare growled, clenching her fist.
His rebellious attempts turned into a glitched scream, his head throwing back and back arching out as he thrashed in pain before falling limp, hanging his head down and facing the ground. He couldn't do anything when his siblings were controlling him.
But he could try and protect the parts of Constance that she cared about. He could do that. He could preserve those parts.
 
Constance struggled, face hot with tears. Was she really so different she had to be corrected? Stamped out through their means? She looked to Wendy, then Virus, then Datascare. Her palms grabbed the edges of the machine, and she tried to force herself backwards, prying away from it.
"Don't touch me! I don't want-"

Wendy sat crosslegged, rubbing her chin. "Put her in, goddammit. This is taking far too long." Every thing about Constance was a pisser, but there was something almost endearing about how she fought against them every step of the way. Hell, she hadn't even thought of protecting her face. Her eye was sore, flickering momentarily whilst she blinked.
 
Zelroth snarled. He gave her a forceful shove into the machine, snapping the ribcage shut around her. Holes in the spine at the back opened up and wires protruded forth, jamming into her back.
Virus let out a screech, arching up. He was connected to her.
Constance!
 
Daphne, brushing down her blouse and pencil skirt determinedly, took Mangle by the arm and pulled her towards the door of the warehouse.
"Let's get out of here, now," she said. "They'll be back soon."
 
Mangle didn't need to be told twice. She hopped up immediately, grabbing her stuff and walking towards the crates leading to the back exit. She turned towards the others. "They'll be expecting us outside," she said. "It'll be easier to take the roof. I think we can climb back up. Come on."
 
Daphne didn't hesitate to follow, scrambling up the crates. Her heart pounded; it felt like it hadn't slowed in hours and there was a constant stream of adrenaline sparking her muscles like a live wire. She looked out into the dark, biting her lip.
 
Constance fell slack in the jaws of the electric monster, lids closing over her eyes. Her heartbeat slowed, drumming alongside her thoughts. Bursts of static flooded her mainframe.
Virus, Virus, Virus...

Wendy grinned, admiring the view. They'd make a Glitched out of her yet. In the gloom, her shoulders curled in an arch, giving the impression of a perching gargoyle on a castle roof.

Herman gathered his stock, tying his bag up and slinging it over his slight frame. He walked in pace behind the girls, silent with his head held high. Reginald followed. His face as solemn as it could be with the added effect of a flickering to his left eye.
"Christ. I didn't think they'd find us so quick."
 
Mangle scaled the warehouse crates with ease, helping the others up and guiding them through. She looked up at the staircase above her, that broke off just out of her reach.
"I can help you all get up there," she said. "There shouldn't be any Glitched on the roof. As far as I can tell they don't know how to climb."

Virus reached out, coming to rest alongside her conscience. He watched as she was remade in front of him, reprogrammed, and silently wrapped glitching packets of data around the little emotions she still had left. Preserving them.
I'll let you continue to feel, he told her. It's all I can do, for now. Maybe, in the future, you can get more gifts; but for now, this is all I can do. You must hide it. Pretend to be emotionless, just like them.
Can you do that, Constance?
 
Daphne stepped out into the familiar cold, pulse pounding. The wind whipped flyaway hairs that had escaped her ponytail and the sky was dominated by endless, swollen black clouds. She felt spots of rain on her cheeks but ignored them, steeling herself and looking up at the wall she'd have to scale to reach the roof.
 
Reginald stared up in disbelief. "Climb this? In the middle of a storm?" Wind whipped his hair over his brow. The roof looked high, terrifically high, suddenly.

Herman looked to his protesting companion, and clapped him on the back sharply. "What choice do we have?"
 
"It's either that, or we walk right out the front doors and hand ourselves in. We'll be fine."
She looked around. "If you can carry your stuff on your back then do that, otherwise I'll pass it up to you after."
She turned to Reginald, holding her hands out to create a foothold near the wall.
"I'll boost you up. C'mon."
 
Like Wendy- was Constance's last transmission to Virus, before she let their combined powers overwhelm her. She'd have to pretend, adapt. She'd have to change.
 
Virus kept her safe. The little parts of Constance that made her so uniquely her, he kept wrapped up in little packages of glitched data, hiding them from Datascare.
And he let his sister work on the rest.
 
Glitchdancer was crouched outside. A bunny was clutched in her hands, and her optics were unblinking as she studied it. Such a simple, pointless lifeform, yet these human idolised it and many other "animals". What was their deal with these creatures?
It snuffled; a small noise, yet indicative of fear. White eyes. Trying to get away from her. She held it more firmly, watching it struggle. Fear. Such a useless emotion. Fear exposed you to harm; it blocked your senses, stopping you from reacting quite as quickly. What was the point in it?
She picked up the bunny, causing it to freeze in fear. Its fur was soft, and that at least was something she could appreciate it. What would happen if she tried to convert a creature with little intelligence, such as this one?
She took it to a separate room, where the doors slid shut behind her and she started her little test.

Datascare had underestimated how much work there was to do. With Virus' touch, she reprogrammed Constance, turning her from the closest thing they had to a human to...more like one of them. To the First she had the potential to be, but wasn't able to be. She managed to stumble across the memory banks of the girl; specifically, the memory of the girl at the warehouse.
That climbing girl.
She raised an eyebrow at Virus, deep inside the mini-matrix they'd created to fix his First.
What do you think? Should we give her this edge?
It'd be hard, Virus admitted. But there's information left by the humans that we could use. Here.
Information flooded Datascare's mind; transferred over by her brother, it was all the files she needed to make Constance just as skilled as the girl. For a moment, she debated keeping it for herself; but then decided against it. They didn't need human means to get about; they could dissolve and reform themselves at will, and with the amount of tech around they could get anywhere. It was something that their Firsts and all other Glitched just couldn't do.
She took the information and programmed it into Constance, so her brain absorbed the information and skills, bringing her up to the level of any experienced climber. Then, she watched as Virus remodeled her body, putting more strength into her arms, legs, torso, and everywhere else that muscles for climbing were needed.
Virus sat back and admired his work. The flickering packets of data that only he could see were still there, still protected; Constance was still there under all this. But now she could get to places that no other Glitched could.
Ready.
Datascare pulled out. She relaxed as the wires pulled away from her arm, releasing her, and vanished back into the wall.
Quickly, Virus released the little packets, allowing Constance to be free again. He disconnected himself from her conscience, pulling back into the real world. Optics turned from complete green-and-black rows of data to the usual black void, before green irises flickered to life again. He turned his head to stare at her. She looked different. Muscular. Yet she still looked like Constance under it all.
With half a thought, the machine containing her opened up, pushing forward before delivering a sharp jolt to bring her back into consciousness. The straps holding her up melted back into the wall, releasing her.
 
Constance shook herself free of the straps, face expressionless. Her optics, once flickering to indicate levels of stress, now retained a steady glow. There was something strange about this new, adapted form she'd been forced into. Information flooded her mind, and she stood teetering for a moment, trying to take it all in.
"This is a first. I seem to know how to climb." Her voice was monotone, lacking everything she once had.

Wendy's slow claps could be heard first as she got to her feet. "Nicely done, folks." She strode over and resumed her default position behind Constance, a steely grip on her shoulder. She felt reinforced "muscle" underneath for the first time.
"Welcome back to the world of the living." Wendy said bluntly, her mouth curving upwards to expose a silver scar snaking over her upper lip.
 
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Virus nodded. "You can go after that girl that bothered you before," he said. "You contain all present information about climbing."
Datascare grinned. "Virus did a good job fixing you up. We can send you two back out safely."
 
Wendy liked that idea, Constance could tell. She was never one for staying cooped up, no, the prospect of fieldwork was what got her up in the mornings. Things to do, lives to ruin, it was all part of the job description.
"What do you say, Constance?" Wendy said, tone gloating. It struck Constance funny she was treat better, if not more patronised, now that she had been re-Glitched. Because the prospect of human emulation was something that scared Wendy. She was far more comfortable having an understudy to direct, to make cruel, sneering conversation with.
Constance played along, comfortably dumb in her responses. "Why don't we direct my new skills first, towards the group that drove us away?"
 
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"That's a fine idea, Constance." Wendy commented, tipping a head to the group.
 
Virus chuckled darkly. "Go on, then," he said, as though he were addressing two kids that were begging to run into a candy shop. "It's a perfect day for a test run."
 
She'd always wanted a partner like Datascare, someone who shared the same values, and certainly didn't distract from the situation with her fickle human supposings. But instead she had been stuck with a pathetic wreck for five years, as if fate had turned a sarcastic eye on her wants. To travel with Constance after the institution was a nuisance, after all. She had left the place busted, a squirming awkward mess, but the kicker was she had always been like that. Even before the intervention of humans. Virus shouldn't have been allowed to make a First, she thought dimly.
But this new Constance, upon inspection she looked the same, but Wendy was begining to grow fond of the new concentration writen on her face. She looked intent, all there.

They'd left the headquarters after getting the okay from the others, and now Wendy drove, a toothpick hanging loosely from her mouth. Constance sat in the passenger seat, silent and still. She watched the scenery pass by with a vacant expression. She hoped for the sake of herself that Wendy wouldn't read too much into her actions. Constance hoped, on top of it all, she was doing what it meant to be Glitched a justice.

Under this new Light
She looked illuminated, fine and born anew
But underneath, she was cast aside
Grey and splintered

The car's engine sputtered out as Wendy pocketed the keys. "We're here." She said, the cold leaving her voice for a moment so a bloodthirsty excitement could replace it. Constance could tell she'd wanted to hurt those humans at the warehouse, but they'd had to turn tail and leave. Now they were here.
"I say we rush 'em. No play acting this time, as we all saw how well that went."
 
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