The Gala

Behind them, the wall slid down and the entire tunnel was put into darkness. Cosmos plucked one of his little cameras from his belt, where it floated in the air. The small camera on its front went to night vision, while the rest of the tunnel was light up by a camera from the bottom of the casing. Cosmos smiled at the girl, let go of her hands and walked forward. The security bot light up two long brass rails in front of them, which went on straight into the darkness. About ten foot from the bumper of the truck sat a squat little machine on the tracks. Clement smiled, pulled a hooked cable from it and attached it to the front of the truck.

”Come, Miss. The little crawler there will pull the truck to my...” He laughed quietly, before turning to her. ”To my lair.” Another of his little cameras moved from his belt and hovered over her shoulder, switching on its own little camera to light up the elderly tunnel. Here and there, large cracks and fallen masonry seemed to hint at the unsafe state of the system. ”Don’t worry, Ma’am. But I’d prefer if you kept quiet...”

Behind them, the clock work crawler pulled on the truck. Without the handbrake the wheels moved slowly but surely, and the tracks kept them from turning one way or another. Surely, with the two of them walking in front of it, they eventually rounded a large sweeping corner and came to what looked like a repurposed warehouse basement, except there seemed to be no access to the floor above. Here, the truck slowed to a stop. ”Now, I think we’re safe to speak. If anyone hears us, they have to be in the Subway system.” Clement walked to the rear of the truck and pulled open the doors, coaxing his little machines back to his belt. With a critical eye, he looked over the equipment and smiled.

[color=silver]”Miss...”[color] He walked to the young woman and removed about four discs from his person. ”Could you please attach one of these to each machine? They’re anti-gravity devices and will allow you to move the things from the rear of the truck. While you do that, I’ll be preparing the... Preparing my daughter.”

The words of "Be quiet," struck Ashley. Maybe she needed to let him be alone with his thoughts about his daughter, and perhaps she should make herself more useful. The robots circled in the air, while she was attaching anti-gravity devices to the bottom of the devices. They floated and Ashley moved them effortlessly from the truck.

Her manicured nails pushed against the devices and they floated along in front of her. Unloading the device moved easy with the alien technology that Cosmos employed. Ashley felt as though she were in the presence of godliness within this warehouse. She moved in and out of the truck, carefully going to down to prevent a broken heel.

Voices echoed through the tunnels that created the labyrinth of subways. Bliss followed the tracks on foot to avoid any loud noises from the luxury car. She came across an exit that lead outside of the tunnels. Her phone's GPS had long since faded from lack of satellite guidance, leaving Bliss to her own devices to find Ashley. She reentered the tunnel system and listened for any signs of voices emanating from the tunnels. The silence of the station made it easy to track where she needed to get to. Voices rung from a nearby room, pulling Bliss towards a large warehouse. Bliss moved up to get into the large room before the door sealed, giving her a distraction to crawl behind crates. Cosmos looked very confident in stature and in voice; he looked like a formidable foe indeed.

A truck and a number of odd devices dominated the center of the room. Bliss hastefully snuck up to Ashley and placed her hand around Ashley's mouth. Bliss put her finger to her mouth, while Ashley elbowed Bliss in the stomach. "Ow." Bliss crunched over.

"Never do that again." Ashely looked sternly over her friend. "What are you doing here?"

"Keep your voice down. You've been telling me to get here for like an hour."

"Yeah, well we don't need you here, so leave." Ashley moved the device forward away from her friend. "This guy knows what's he doing, and he has plans that can actually benefit someone other than himself. Unlike you, so just go."

"I'm not leaving." Bliss straitened up her posture and dropped her eyebrows. "It's you and me. Its always been you and me."

"It has not always been you and me." Ashley pushed the device towards the opening to the lab.

"You better have my back."

Bliss walked past Ashley and into the hallway of that lead to the lab. She could see the frozen body of Chassidy Rose surrounded by grates. The lab presented the greatest mixture of jury rigged homemade technology and advanced corporate technology. A figure ascended the grating to stand over the top of the scaffolding. Bliss began to focus her pressure on a number of glass tubules on a table. They shattered along the table, giving Bliss the debris she needed for her attack. She lifted the shards and began to throw them towards Cosmos, when A wrench struck her in the back of the head. The hard blow sent Bliss to the floor. Ashely raised the wrench again to strike Bliss again, knocking her out.

"You're not fucking this up for me."

Clement smiled as she took the discs, before he turned away and moved around the front of the truck and the crawler that had pulled it through the dark tunnels. He walked forward into what seemed to be the dead end of the warehouse’s only other tunnel. ”I’m almost there, Cassidy. Almost.” The wall lifted up and a silver grate extending out, digging into the track before him. The darkness of the tunnel was flooded with light, but it seemed to put him into a silhouette. Carefully, almost as if walking in a dream or on a rope, he climbed up. As he reached the top, his legs almost gave out as he swayed to one side, reaching for the tiled wall. The excitement was replaced now, as sorrow welled up inside of him.

Walking up the few steps left on the rear of the passenger car, he put a hand out for the rail and stopped himself from walking any further. The water in his eyes was now threatening to spill out down his cheeks. But the thing in his head, the monstrous little solid diamond of hatred, forced him forward, towards the capsule now laid at forty five degrees. Clement reached a hand out and felt the cool, cool steel under the tips of the gloves. As he moved up to look down on the face frozen just beneath the glass, he was greeted with a sight that always made him flinch in pain.

She was smiling. His daughter, in pain, so much pain she had screamed until she had lost her voice, lay smiling in her metal casket.

He remembered the joke. The silly thing he had said. ”What do snowmen eat for lunch?” He had leant over the capsule, making sure that she was secured down and wouldn’t move erratically while the freezing process began. She had replied, with the softest of giggles, ”Iceburgers!” He had kissed her, above her left eyebrow, and she had waved a painfully thin arm and hand as she giggled. The smile never left as she the special, non-water liquid filled the whole capsule and was flash frozen.

As his tears fell down on the glass, he felt the dark lump in his mind shift and flex as it giggled and smirked at his misery. The hideous thing that now reminded him that he wouldn’t have her back, not really, not if... Crack

Clement turned to see a few shards of glass fall out of the air as he straightened himself. The light shining on his back and shoulders kept his face in darkness, his tears and shame at the things he must and has already done. A few pieces of equipment bobbed in the room, but there seemed to be a voice coming from the darkness of the tunnel. Carefully, Clement moved forward, pulling his Ray Gun from his belt while with the other hand he brushed his face clean. ”Miss?” He asked quietly as he stood at the top of the incline. The darkness was only partly light, but from what he could see, there were now two women. As he pointed his gun, he frowned, trying to keep himself from pulling the trigger simply because someone dared try to stop him. ”What is going on here?” The anger, however, stayed in his voice.

"I'm just typing up some loose ends." Ashley lifted her head to the scaffolding to speak with Cosmos. A loud clank rang out, as the wrench clanked violently against the metal floor. A red stream of blood began to pour from Bliss's forehead. Ashley lifted Bliss by her under arms and dragged her towards the grating. "Everything's fine down here. Don't let me bother you."

Ashley taped Bliss's hands behind her back and continued on to her legs. A twitch came from Bliss's eye as she tried to move her trapped hand in front of her. Ashley pushed her back to the ground, causing her head to roll against the hard floor. The abrupt knock to her head caused her to take notice of the situation. Wide eyes tried to see through the blurry haze of the head force trauma. "What? What are you doing?" Bliss struggled against her wrists, trying to get her elbows to force herself up.

"I'm saving you." Ashley whispered in a stern voice, ripping off a piece of tape. "Now shut up for once." She pressed the tape over Bliss's mouth and forced her head to the ground. Ashley walked back to the edge of the room to recover the device. "An intruder came in, but I took care of it." A look of dismay could be seen in the eyes of Dr. Cosmos. "I'm sorry." Ashley sincerely spoke into the emptiness of the room. She continued bringing the devices into the room. "We'll save your daughter. I won't let you feel this way anymore." Seeing Dr. Cosmos in this state brought Ashley to an emotional catharsis. He seemed breached and emotional, like an iron fortress with a hole in the walls. Hopefully her daughter would patch that hole up, but Ashley was beginning to feel like she could be that mortar. The glue that could hold him together.

Several layers of tape kept Bliss down. She tried to work against it, but heeded Ashley's words this time. Air came in through her nose, slowing down her breathing against the rise in heart rate with the rising action she partook in. Knowing the odds looked stacked against her, she flipped over to her back and laid her head against the cold floor. A cough materialized but stayed in, causing a burning in her lungs. Starring up against the grated appearance of the man kept him out of her full view. Fearing any kind of repose to an escape, she quietly tried to leverage her feet to move her scarf up towards her head, giving her some cushioning from the floor.

Clement made a choice that he had made before. That he would make more than once, that he has already made. He turned his back on someone desperately in need of help and instead went to serve his own family. He worked quietly, moving the large machinery around in the air like weighted balloons. He linked the computer to the large screen between the columns, placing the capsule onto the train chassis. The capsule sat across from the frozen body of his daughter but it had a large enough area for the arms to spin. Clement looked it over carefully, because when the capsule would rise it shouldn’t brush the roof because that would slow the process. As he worked, he removed a camera from his belt and placed it in the air, hovering over the form of the intruding woman.

All the while, Clement tried to keep his face down or dark, working like a man hurried by the nature of his job. ”Miss?” He called loudly, looking up and away from the ports that leading towards a power system that had been yet indicated. ”Miss, I need your help. Would you please move up to the cryogenic capsule? There is a computer on its side that should swing out. The power system should be in the green. I want you to slide you finger down the bar towards the red zone. We’re almost ready.” He voice wavered once or twice, but he tried to keep himself consistent.

”Do it slowly. It should take you a minute. If you move too fast, a small yellow triangle would appear.” With the power cables only need a source he stopped his work and stood, brushing a hand over his brow, his tongue feeling dry. He walked towards the kitchen but paused as he heard the struggled breath of the woman. As he glanced over his shoulder, he moved towards the bleeding semi-conscious form of the intruder. She laid face down, trying to cushion herself with her own scarf. And Clement, so close to reaching his own goal, paused to help someone less fortunate. Not because he would feel superior, but because he couldn’t bear to see people in pain.

He lifted her, by her shoulders, and moved her into a sitting position against the wall. Then, with one arm under her leg and behind her back, lifting her from the tunnel and taking her into his “lair.” He moved to the home made kitchen, where a cheap chair sat against the wall. He placed her into the chair and leant her back, so that she wouldn’t slip and hit the ground on either side. With that done, he turned the tap and the local water system poured into a clean glass. He took a sip and glanced over at the intruder. ”Miss, how is it going?” Clement called, glancing once at the woman.

”If you’re finished, could you... Take care of this woman’s wound? It looks... unsightly.”

Breathing grew heavier and heavier. The air built up in Bliss's mouth, while a streak of blood ran into her eye. She shook her head, trying to dislodge the drop from her eye. Heat remained trapped in her lower jean legs from the attempts to dislodge her feet from the tape. Her fingers latched around the back support of the chair to keep herself from falling. The build up of air did her no favors with the injury she sustained. With the gained support of her hands against the back of the chair, Bliss tried pulling her left foot out of the wrappings. Cosmos stood too close to her for her to attempt any escape artistry, so she exhumed a breathe and letting out a muffled sigh.

"I'm almost finished." The device Cosmos instructed her to take was now in place. She powered up the energy source as commanded and then looked over to the kitchen. A slow hum rose from the machinery at hand. It provided a musical atmosphere to the surroundings. Dr. Cosmos looked to be in charge of the situation at hand, so it only seemed right for Ashley to take control of her situation.

She walked towards Bliss and lifted her bangs out of her face, looking for the cut that Bliss was bleeding from. Her second wrench shot caused a bruise to rise on the right side of her head. Ashley ripped off a piece of tape and placed it over the cut, entangling in her pulled back hair. Ashley grabbed a towel and wet it down. Bringing it to Bliss's face, Ashley removed the blood that ran down her face. Ashley smiled. "I was talking to him about using this device to use our power to affect organic material." Ashley looked over the restrained position she put Bliss in. "I was going to volunteer myself to test it out." Bliss struggled forward trying to get free, but failed to leave the chair before being brought back. "But..." Ashley began wrapping Bliss to the chair. "Now that you're here, you can go and I'll do the research. You wanted to stay partners right? Well generally I do research and you do the dirty work." Bliss thrust her shoulder forward but could not move away from the chair. "Don't be a drama queen; you'll survive this." Ashley finished wrapping tape around her torso and chest. "I told you I would get you out of this. I'm just taking a pit stop along the way. I owe you one for saving me after all." Ashley ducked down and kissed Bliss on the top of her head, eliciting a muffled protest from Bliss. "I have business to take care of, and you're not disturbing to look at anymore. I'd let you help, but every family you've ever come close to has faltered and died and I won't let you ruin this for him or me."

Bliss went limp at the accusation. She moved forward against the tape that held her and let a tear roll down her cheek, as she tried to fight back the emotions Ashley elicited from her.

The generators beneath the train chassis and the iron grating hummed to life, electricity now running between them and the iron grating above. Meanwhile, the capsule had been powered down, the liquid inside of it no longer put under the constant below zero conditions that had been working for more than six decades. Now was a crucial time. The capsule and computer needed to be fit in quickly before Cassidy was moved. As he worked, he glanced over his shoulder, spotting the young woman now attaching the intruder to a chair. He tilted his head as she got close, but he turned away and concentrated on what had to be done. Carefully, he lifted the grating above the large power connection sat next to one of the many generators. Taking the connections of the capsule, he reached down into the flashes of electricity.

His nerve endings tingled and danced as the rather unhealthy amount of energy danced through his thick skin into the tips of the nerves beneath. However, if his assistant had done this, she may have already been flung across the room or burnt to crisp. The power connection for the capsule slid into place, while he used his other hand to screw it in tight. Moving to the connection for the computer, he licked a gloved thumb and then did it again, humming something under his breath, not really concentrating on the tune as it wormed it’s way from his subconscious. The computer was linked, now he needed only input the data needed to perform what was necessary.

He slid into the chair, set out before the large and confusing array of buttons set into a brass board. In the middle was an obviously repurposed keyboard that he slid up to, his fingers moving quickly and smoothly as the screens before him showed a huge number of things, all that had to be addressed. Firstly, they needed a sample. The one already saved to the computer was pulled up, a form of DNA he had been basically building for nine years, ever since he had been told what he must do.

Oh god, what am I doing?

The data was sent to the computer set against the pillar and waited for the conformation code in the capsule. He was... done. All he had to do was move Cassidy Rose from her frozen grave into the Genetic Manipulator.

This is wrong. You’re tricking them. You’re tricking her, and yourself.

The thoughts rose in him, but his face remained neutral as he walked around the pillar on the right and moved to the Cryogenic chamber. ”Miss...” He called, even as a battle was fought silently behind his eyes. ”I’m almost ready. I could use your assistance at the computer. Just make sure nothing goes red or an alarm is set off.” His voice wavered, ever so slightly, as the thought thundered through his mind.

Will she be Cassidy Rose?

And a voice replied, with as much glee as hate; No.

"I love you Bliss." Ashley lay back with Bliss in her arms. They were both bleeding from the shoot out with The Duke. They arrived at the museum hours prior dressed to impress. Dirt kicked up from the construction site gave the green dress Bliss wore a rustic look. The attempted execution of Ashley tore a crease in the turtle neck of her black dress. They failed to get what they set out for, but one thing was for sure, they needed to get to a hospital. "It's nice to know how distraut you were when you thought I was dead."

Bliss laughed and leaned her head back against Ashley's shoulder.

The event came. The finale to this long episodic adventure Ashley involved herself in. Memories stirred up, but this was important. It was too important. Joining the melody of the machines, Ashley hummed as she approached the computer. All she needed to do was monitor the screen. Do not let it go red, she reminded herself. "I'm good to go Doctor." She placed her weight back on the heel of her stiletto; she didn't really want to be corporeal anymore. She loved her memories, she loved her friend, but she couldn't give up the chance to give so much good to the world. She turned her head to survey Bliss. If Ashley did not say what she said, Bliss would certainly be trying to escape. Since she gave such a harsh lashing, Bliss lost her will to fight.

It was for Bliss's own good that tears rolled down her face.

The door to the Cryogenic chamber opened the softest of hisses, as tears streamed down his cheeks. He was losing himself. Being torn apart now, from inside, as the shrivelled and emancipated form of his daughter’s body came into sight. He took a glove off and placed it against the glass, a silly old fool hoping for some kind of heat glowing from within. Nothing. No stirring, no faltering of a smile as she awoke from a nightmare. The tears kept rolling, stinging him, shaming him, alluding to the terrible thing he was about to do. And here she smiled, sleeping innocently. This would be the last time he saw her like this. He would wrestle away her childhood, turn her into a thing to be used, rather than the girl she deserved to be.

You are wasting time. Do it. Now!

Black pain blossomed like dark roses behind his eyes as a thing, a horrible thing, forced his hand. He took one of his nifty little toys and placed it on the Ice, pulling the block free. It bobbed in the air and turned around so easily. Through stingy salty tears he opened the door to the Genetic Manipulator and slid her inside easily, the large round diameter fitting almost as if had been designed for the sole purpose. He suppose it had. Maybe Cassidy would have been the first to be placed within it, had he left her in the care of the thick headed military men.

She is important. We need her.

Clement unlocked the device and bit his tongue, instead placing the little brass thing to his belt where it secured itself. Now, he closed the door, slowly, so slowly, trying so hard to resist the urge and simply to stand and smile back at the sleeping form of his child. But in a moment, the whole thing was sealed off. The door locked as the safety protocols kicked in. Clement took a step back and looked on as the arms moved in the slowest of ballets, each moment a terror to him, like a man drowning in quick sand. How could he have been excited before? He had to stop it...

You will stay where you are. We have broken you before...

The threat seemed enough to stop him. He turned his back on the capsule, closing the one on the cryogenic chamber. Beneath his feet the Generators sighed and sang their evil songs, arcs of golden electricity jumping from the grates to the Chassis, to him. The pleasant tingle he had enjoyed so recently was replaced by a jolt of every nerve, a reminder that this was no nightmare he enjoyed in a warm bed, back in 1958. His hand wandered to his weapon, sitting in its holster on his built, begging to be pulled from its place. Clement pulled on the handle, begging for a release, but his hand was stopped and the tears ran freely.

You are needed, you pathetic thing.

He felt his legs go weak as the cells of his daughter were pulled into thousands of pieces. He leant against the capsule and covered an eye as a part of him died, a part that had always believed that even though so much had happened, it would all be restored, all put back into the way it was meant to be. The part called hope.

Do not weep, thing. You will be rejoined. This is our promise.

Within the machine, the shards of ice were pulled and destroyed as the body of a ten year old was torn into shreds. Then the real work began. The recoding of the DNA, the adding of new parts and the removal of old, as if the child was a machine to be repurposed. She wasn’t a child anymore though. Ten years, maybe fifteen, was added. A child didn’t fit their needs; a child would only slow them. No, they wanted a perfect being, a receptacle for something hideous and ungodly. Muscle and bone was replaced with Carbon fibre, brain replaced with some horrible empty glass machine.

She went from ten year old girl to an empty monster, a body suitable only for the creature that dwelled deep within his mind.

The machine stopped, resting finally. Steam escaped it as Clement finally worked up the courage to open it. Inside, an empty girl stared wide eyed. No smile on her lips. No life in her eyes. But Clements blood ran through her veins. Clement was still its father, in both organic and in-organic design.

”Oh, my Rose. What have I done?” His knees finally gave way and he collapsed at the things feet, his forehead pressed against the floor of the capsule. Nothing would redeem him for his sins, now. He was broken man.

Clement died, curled up on the darkened floor of a train station.

When the body he inhabited finally opened its eyes, Dr Cosmos stared out of them.

Bliss buttoned up her blouse. Dr. Ferrier gave her a smile as he walked in front of her to his desk. He watched her to make sure her attention was diverted before he lifted the picture of his wife back up.

"We should get to work." He let out a laugh. "We're very close. I can feel it."

They were too close. Too confident in their pursuit of the quantum computer.

A cradle of tape held Bliss still in her defeat. Not just at the hands of Ashley's betrayal, but more importantly the betrayal Bliss delivered to Ashley. And the condemning silence she hid from Ashley. Glass shards litter the ground; she needed to act. Tears retreated into her ducts, as she focused on moving a glass shard to her. It moved as she clinched her hands into fists. The shard dragged over the metal floor to rest in front of Bliss. Reality blurred in and out of existence for Bliss. Her mind floated in and out; her memories that she hid from everyone relapsed to reality before her very eyes.

"Dr. Clements?" Ashley kept her distance from the machine. "Dr. Clements; it's me Ashley. Are you alright? The buttons and readings are all fine." Timidness came back to Ashley's composure. Perhaps she displayed too much bravery today, and her body needed to retreat into its normal display. She looked to Bliss, who hid the shard under he foot, and did not know whether to give her a smile or an apology. She starred vacantly and then turned her head towards the machine. She needed to tell Clement about the machine Bliss created. The ability to entangle memories within a machine and communicate with the inhabitant seemed relevant to this situation. With her resourcefulness and know how, Bliss may know how to build the machine here and now.

Ashley sunk into the pit of her vanity and felt the sorrow of her actions; Bliss rose to the occasion of this moment and began cutting the tape around her wrists.

"Dr. Clements?"

It was odd, feeling a part of him die. It was done like a simple medical procedure. Like a cancer being cut from the body. However, that metaphor was a poor substitute for what it actually felt like. It felt like the healthy flesh around the cancer was being removed, until only the hard dark tumour was left, festering away inside of his insides. For a moment he felt sick, but the thing in his mind refused him the tiny release. Instead, he was pushed up from the floor, standing now, looking into the cold and dead face of the corpse in front of him.

The one striking thing that hurt him was the way her red hair, which she had inherited from her mother, had been replaced with a raven black similar to his own. Her skin had paled taking on a waxy tone, but it seemed to have a dark undertone to it, like a black light was glowing inside of her chest. He supposed there was something like that beating in her chest, some magical artefact that had been quantified and now replaced organs. Her eyes were the scariest thing, they way they seemed to exhibit an intelligence that was yet to be supplied. He knew the technical details. The carbon fibre bones, lightweight and durable. The plastic muscles which mimicked heat and movement, which supplied an above human strength. The nervous system that had never been replaced by a number of iron wires linked into supernatural machinery running up and down the things spine.

It was an empty sculpture, awaiting for a driver to inhabit that hidden plastic and brass brain beneath her skull. The monster inhabiting his own mind flexed and stretched, awaiting the moment it could leave his mind and inhabit the vessel before him.

This was the final form of control, the thing that would permanently push him down a path towards a goal already decided.

"Dr. Clements; it's me Ashley. Are you alright? The buttons and readings are all fine."

”So your name is Ashley?” He asked, leaning back and putting on a large and false smile as he made eye contact with the young girl. ”Pretty name. Shame you decided not to tell me earlier. Wouldn’t have to call you Miss all that time.” He was in pain. His heart was broken, and he was smiling as easily as he breathed. He was defeated. ”Everything is going fine. Just one more thing needs to be done and... And then we’ll get to work on your own project.”

Two days earlier Bliss attended the funeral for The Ferriers. Laid to rest after a tragic accident that claimed both of their lives.

Nothing felt alive in the home of the Ferriers. From the family portrait to the potted plants lining the antechamber that welcomed Bliss. If only her shoes did not squeak when she met with the tiles, she could pass through the home with a realistic intangibility. The best kind of intangibility.

Breaking the silence around her, a bottle crashed from down the hall. "Hello?" She moved quickly down the hall to see the light on in the bathroom.

"Is everything alright Dr. Clements. You seem distraught." Wanting a more clear examination of his face, Ashley moved closer. She began to speak an utterance, but closed her mouth and turned back. He needed a moment; a moment without the problems of others. The air around the laboratory died down to only accommodate the low humming of the machines. Electricity gave the room an omnipotent feeling; a spectre that hid from everyone, but instilled them with life.

Bliss continued to saw away at the tape around her wrists. The apex of the glass head pierced through the tape near the bottom, giving a small crease in its stability. Discomfort turned to pain when the chaffing of the skin caused it to break. Bruises ran over themselves with blood, pulling away her skin. Dropping a bead of sweat to her lap, Bliss hunched over and moaned.

Feeling remorse for her the suffering she put Bliss is, but not for the actions she carried out, Ashley slowly walked back to Bliss. Her hands took place on Bliss's shoulders, pressing her against the chair. Silence sat between the two for an eternity. Slowly Ashley's hand moved towards Bliss's neck. They took hold of the scarf and removed it from her neck. "I know you tricks." Ashley wrapped the scarf around Bliss's hands, keeping her from pulling anything to her. "Don't worry. I'll take care of this one. You're in no condition to fight this one." Bliss mumbled out a response that could not make it past the tape. Probably reminding Ashley she knocked Bliss into this situation. Gravity shattered the piece of glass Bliss held onto. Plush cotton now comforted her blistered hands. A plush captivity still held no freedom.

"Is everything alright Dr. Clements. You seem distraught."

Ashley, as he now knew her, stepped forward. Cosmos glanced at her, his dark eyes now ringed with a darker red. The tears had dried however, replaced by a cold and dry expression. The humour, the easy smile, seemed to be replaced by a numb sort of shell. He knew this day would come. He had been guided by the hideous thing itching in his brain to this very spot, its demands, its needs only being addressed. Cassidy Rose was like the twist of a lock on the door of his cell. For a mad moment he imagined destroying the creature and ending the madness. And of course he wouldn’t. Family over the world. Even if it wasn’t family, but a monster

He glanced at Ashley as she walked to the prisoner, briefly speculating about her behaviour. She seemed far too... intimate with the woman. At the very least, she was more morally loose then he believed. At the very most, she and the woman probably had some kind of relationship. Clement would have cared. He would have stopped what he was doing and would have requested. However, the woman wouldn’t have been captivated in the first place he still thought like that.

Pain stung behind his eyes, black flowers blossoming and blinding him. He grunted, stumbling to the left and the right, his arm swinging from left to right as his nerves burned. Clement could feel it, bulging under his skull, over his brain, snaking beneath his skin as it slipped and slid forward. The pressure travelled to either temple as it flexed out. The pressure behind his eyes made him cry out, his hands clutching his cheeks and dragging down.

Then he felt it leave. Felt the pressure pour from his eyes. Anyone who watched would have seen long black ghostly strands seem to pierce outwards of Clements pupils. They snaked from side to side in the air, rising upwards, into the capsule where it pierced into Cassidy’s eyes. And then she was awake, twitching, lurching forward. She gasped, the empty human vessel now filled with a dark burning hatred... And her first words, hissed cruelly, meant to be as much as an attack as a knife to a heart, filled with sarcasm and hate.

”Daddy?”

Alcohol splattered on the floor next to an ornate claw-footed tub. A scared, crying girl spilled tears of anguish along the side of the tub that offered her ceramic comfort. Brown hairs lost their manufactured textures, and devoured tears with a vengeful despair. It would not take long for the chemical decay to shut down Ashley's body. She lay empty within the tub, surrounded by vanity, but filled with hollow sentiments. Tears drowned the hope in her eyes.

Invasive by nature, Bliss opened the door to the bathroom. Sadness struck her heart, forcing her to move towards the daughter of Dr. Ferrier. Bliss grabbed her arm and pulled her from the tub, pressing her finger down Ashley's throat to induce vomiting. Before she could relocate behind Ashley, a liquid substance plummeted upon Bliss's lap. The viscosity reeked of alcohol as the watery substance spilled upon the floor.

They met. They knew each other from unpleasant meetings and differences of life. Now they met because they shared a common death. A stir of thoughts and reactions filled up in Bliss's head, but all she could do was throw her arms around Ashley and bring her close to her. More tears crept into Ashley's hair, but they refused to be devoured in sorrow.

"I need to check on Dr. Cosmos." Ashley kept her hands cupped around Bliss's jaws, elevating her head. "Be good." Their foreheads touched, as Ashley grazed across Bliss. Bliss fought against the bonds tearing the hole she punctured in the tape. She shook her head to try and gain more momentum, while releasing a muffled yell. Her hands were far from free, but the tearing of the tape now came at a better proportion than the tearing of her wrists.

Returning to the lab for further review, Ashley came across the doctor completing his experiment. Tendrils stretched across the spatial difference between the family. They reunited in a fashion that brought vertigo to Ashley. She could not bring herself to speak as it occurred. Her hand rose to keep the terrified breath from exhuming itself. She wanted nothing more than to ask Bliss what to do. Her head darted back to the kitchen; Bliss sat with her head leaned back and her hands free at her side. She tore the tape, but still sat bound to the chair.

"Daddy"

It rang so hard and cruel. She remembered her father. Everything he did for her; everything he would have done. Even in his death, his spirit lived on. It was not the trust fund, but the ingenuity. The intelligence and will to do what was right. Up to this point Cosmos gave her a final glimpse of her father. Just as Dr. Cosmos tried resurrecting his daughter, Ashley wanted nothing more than to resurrect her father. But now, Cosmos brought his daughter back, and she seemed hollow and empty.

Sacrifices were set in place. Ashley planned on experimenting with Bliss to develop the technology to harness the molecules of organic beings. The girl who mocked her during college, and held her when she tried to end herself after her father's funeral. Sacrifices to a hollow father figure.

Anger boiled within him, coaxed forward by a single word and the dark twisting manipulation of the thing behind him. He had been called that word by two people in his life and this thing, this monster, had dared use it. But this was one of those people, slinking out of the darkness in a dress it had designed for itself. It spun in the spot, bouncing once or twice on feet that had once done ballet. Cosmos was struggling with keeping a clear mind, instinctively calling the being in front of him his daughter, while another part wanted to grab the nearest blunt object and just hit the thing until it stopped breathing. Or maybe take the GODDMAN RAY GUN FROM HIS SIDE AND FILL THE THING WITH HOLES.

”Daddy! Is this how you see? And feel? I like it.” She bounded forward, leaping in the air and landing with grace, grabbing Clement by the front of his clothes. She smiled at him, but it was too toothy. It looked more like a predator baring it’s teeth to a meal.

”Don’t call me that.” Clement straggled out the words, glaring into the thing’s unnatural eyes. It blinked once, slowly, before pouting. The thing was searching through Cosmos mind and finding little quirks and expression that the real Cassidy Rose seemed to be an expert in. Clement felt sick to the stomach. He stepped back and turned away, scowling darkly.

”But Daddy...” She whined, grabbing the hem of her dress and leaning forward. If she had been an actress, Clement would have declared her performance overly affectionate and unreal. Of course, that was what this creature was. ”Haven’t you missed me? It’s been so long! I’ve missed you.” She moved forward, the sweeping thin limbs giving her the air of a dancer, performing around a pillar of unmoving indifference. She twirled in front of him and leaned in too close. She was too familiar, too flirtatious, and it was making Cosmos feel sick to the stomach. The taste of tin was rising in the back of his throat. ”It was so coooold, Daddy. Hug me warm?” She tried to put her arms around his chest and he broke.

With a shove he pushed her back. She slipped, her stylish footwear finding no grasp. With no grace whatsoever, she fell down the steps separating the train cart to the iron grating below. She landed with a gruff “oof” sound, on her side. Her arms had stopped her face from simply grinding against the metal, but this was used to its advantage immediately. She turned, looked up at the dark face of her “father” and wept bright, shining tears. Clement felt his heart drop as he saw both the horrible monster in front of him and the daughter that he had lost so long ago. ”Daddy... That hurt...” She sniffled, rising a hand to wipe away a tear. Without a moment’s hesitation, Clement had rushed to her side, lifting her up and muttering over and over, ”I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”

Cassidy Rose nuzzled his neck and smirked darkly, cold eyes staring out as she was set onto her feet. Clement didn’t let her go though, he held her against her chest and put his face into her hair, muttering, ”Of course I missed you. I’m sorry. It was an accident. She patted his shoulder and smirked wider, muttering back, ”I know. Silly daddy.”

It was then that Cosmos remembered that the room wasn’t as empty. Ashley and the other woman. He looked down at the thing in his arms, the thing he felt protective of and immediately thought of a large stone wall, stretching from one end of his mind to the other. This wall held thoughts in and out. On the outside were the normal thoughts that Cassidy Rose should find. Hatred coupled with deep sorrow and protectiveness. But behind it, a sea of ideas teemed. He now had to keep both Rose away from Ashley and the prisoner, because he instinctively new that the monster would want to test it’s prowess in battle. No, it would be better to remove her from the situation somehow.

Another thing darkened this secluded part of his psyche. If the machine was left here, when Cassidy Rose (Or more importantly the evil thing inside of her) found out it had limits it would demand to be granted greater powers. That meant the machine had to be destroyed much to the disappointment of the woman or women hidden away. ”Daddy?” He stopped his rocking motion, looking down at the form of the thing in his arms. ”Are you going to stand there all day? We have things to do, don’t we?” The words held an edge to them, a razor blade running across his emotions. He nodded once or twice.

”Of course we do... C... Cassidy Rose, dear.”

Nothing felt real anymore. Her thoughts collapsed and all that remained of her life, all that held her father's goals and aspirations sat behind her shoulder, in a makeshift kitchen. Dazed and disenchanted, Ashley stumbled towards Bliss. A feint light headed state over came her during the trek. I made a mistake. Formed on her lips, mouthing the truth in silence to Bliss. This came as no surprise to Bliss, who now found the clarity to fully express her contained emotion by stomping her feet and trying to yell.

Tears would come if the situation could lend her any clarity as to what was happening. The floor greeted her during a calculated plummet to the side of her right thigh. Her hand reached back and unsnapped the strap on her heels, pulling them off. "Nothing feels real, Bliss. I finally know that my father's dead. He can't come back; you can't bring him back. You never could, and neither can Cosmos." Looking to the ground for answers was all see could think of. "What the fuck have we been doing Bliss? I tried to help you build that computer, that machine. What came of it?"

Feeling static in a whirlwind of calamity, Bliss made her move. Old converse pushed against the kitchen floor to turn her chair around. No longer needing to see Ashley's demeanor gave Bliss the ability to slide her way out of the kitchen and towards Ashley. Glass slid towards Ashley and sat sat in front of her, courtesy of Bliss. All Bliss needed lay before Ashley. Just one quick action and she could handle this situation.

Drunkenly, Ashley got to her feet with the shard of glass and began to saw through the tape around Bliss's arms. Implying a more pressing matter, Bliss let out a muffled command and leaned her gagged mouth towards Ashley. Fibers let go of their grasp and tore apart. Freedom came closer and closer.

A strong push from Bliss's shoulder ripped the tape with a loud creak. With a renewed vigor Bliss stood to her still bound feet. Working to free Bliss's leg gave Ashley the leverage she needed to keep Bliss form falling. Bruised and beaten, but far from out, Bliss moved away from the chair. She ripped the tape from her mouth and flung shard of glass into the air around her. All the issues that occurred prior to this could wait. "Where were we!" Bliss was pissed.