A Bioweapon's Rhapsody

Chapter 188: Home is where we can eep in peace.


After the [Vulcanus] person left, both [Eleanore] and [Elder] left, leaving Alexa with [Fan Girl] and [Golem]. They didn't say much and, in the end, ended up pulling at Alexa to go back to Alexa's house. The walk there was mostly quiet as they didn't have many things to speak about.

And Alexa was happy about that since she had half her mind on other things.

"Alexa wants an explanation, and a good one at that." As Alexa was busy being angry at Ale and Alexandra.

"....We…tried our best," Ale answered.

[Start thought acceleration.]

[Overcharge neural pathways.]

[Accelerate Consciousness Stream.]

[Save current thought process for next step.]

Alexa started the process manually, as Main Core wasn't an option anymore, and Alexa refused to build a new one; she had started this path of being understanding of what other people wanted, of respecting the opinion of the people she cared about.

She started this path of listening to Ale and Alexandra, of not delegating them as merely mean one and naggy one.

So she would listen to Main Core, dang it!

Even if it made her sad, even if she…Even if she really didn't want to.

—----------------------------

After Alexa made sure the whole process was done right and she wouldn't leave her body empty while coming here, Alexa materialized her inner self in the blank canvas that was the mindscape thingy inside Alexa's head.

A blank space, or well, not quite blank space, it was more like a replica of one of the test chambers she had lived in before. A place to fight and test weaponry, both against and by her.

"....I'm sorry." Ale was the first one to materialize after Alexa.

"It wasn't her fault, Alexa," Followed by Alexandra, the older woman towering above Ale and Alexa, "I was there; it was my responsibility and my idea to ask you to let us deal with the maintenance."

It was because of the maintenance? That…that shouldn't be.

"How?" Alexa asked confused, "It was a maintenance run, Alexa…there is nothing within Alexa that would make Main Core to…to want to die like that."

Alexa was sure of that, even if she left Maintenance and most of the things like that for others, Alexa knew what needed to be done, and how it should be done. Just because Alexa wasn't actively doing it didn't mean she didn't know what was to happen.

"It… first of all, let's take a step back." Ale said taking a deep breath, "What do you know about our latest maintenance run?"

"It ended like normal," Alexa said, extending her hand forward for a folder to materialize atop her hand, "No weird bugs, and all functions stable."

Alexa, as stated, knew everything that she needed, she could even read all the thoughts and memories of Ale and Alexandra if she wanted, the same could be said about Main Core…or what was left of him, since even after looking for it, Alexa hadn't found anything of value.

Only the former database he left for Alexa.

"Okay, but do you know why he decided to leave?" Alexandra asked next, "What prompted him to do that."

"...He said that it was so Alexa could grow." Alexa answered, "Alexa doesn't….Alexa doesn't understand that, she can grow well enough while keeping Main Core too!"

"...That is not true," Ale said shaking her head, "We…or well you, depended on him too much."

….

"But he was good at his work!" Alexa said back, "Main Core was very good at his work, so of course Alexa would ask him for that!"

"Yes, but because of that we aren't using our Core more….we aren't even using our Nanites right." Alexandra said back, "Think about it, when we first tried to change manually from one body to the next what happened?"

Alexa winced at that, she did remember…

"...You ended with a right leg longer than the left…" Alexa said in a small voice, looking down.

"And that was while having a blueprint, an actual instruction manual about how to make the body. The nanites aren't that smart by themselves, they need direction. And while Main Core is the perfect fit for it as it is quite literally an AI Core…They shouldn't do all our work." Alexandra said in a smaller tone, kneeling in front of Alexa, "We can't…you can't grow if you always depend on others, Alexa."

"But Alexa doesn't need to grow…" Alexa said shaking her head, "That's why Alexa has you two…"

"But you do need to grow," Ale said from the side, "What will you do when Glory and Alan grow? They will mature and grow, more so now that you gave them Core Powers."

They would?

Of course they would…

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"...Humans grow…" Alexa said, nodding, "But Alexa isn't one…so she doesn't need to."

"No, Alexa," Alexandra said shaking her head, "You will need, to some degree, even if you don't want to. If you want to stay around near Glory, you will need to grow and match to them. If you want to spend time around humans, then some degree of adaptation is needed."

….It was?

"Think about it, what will they think if you remain the same?" Alexandra said, summoning a holographic TV screen, "When Glory grows to Ale's age, will she want to spend time with a five-year-old Alexa? Or with a twelve-year-old Alexa?"

"....But what about Ale?" Alexa asked, "Wouldn't…Wouldn't she become an extra if Alexa grew to that age?"

"I'll just skip another seven years and replace Alexandra," Ale said shrugging, "I wouldn't mind having a body as mature as hers."

As hers?

"Not hers?" Alexa asked tilting her head.

"Are you going to use my body as you grow older?" Ale suddenly asked.

Alexa thought about that and shook her head, "No." She didn't want to do that, it felt wrong, "Alexa would rather grow her own, thank you."

"It's the same thing, I also don't want to use Alexandra's body, I would love to have her chest, don't get me wrong. But I am sure I can grow my own." Ale said nodding, "...Yes, they will grow just fine."

Why was Ale nodding that much?

That wasn't the point!

"And when I grow a body that old…Alexandra will…" Ale said pointing to Alexandra.

"Settle in a 24 to 26 form." Alexandra said shrugging, "We don't need to go farther and we will deal with that as we go. Perhaps do a reset at that point? I can be the younger one for a couple years, and Ale the responsible?"

That…sounded weird.

"Alexandra is weird." Alexa said looking at Ale, "But…If it comes to that, Alexa will be the responsable and care of everyone."

Alexa would do it, she would take care of those she cared for, Alexandra and Ale…hadn't started as the bests in the relationship, but Alexa still loved them. Even if she herself wasn't entirely sure what to make of feeling like that.

"...And while Alexa understands what point Main Core made…" Alexa really did, "And what point Ale and Alexandra make…"

They were right; Alexa…hadn't started taking care of her Nanites or even attempted to use her Core Power beyond what was barely above what was needed…

"She still thinks that if Main Core had said it to Alexa, she would have understood." Alexa was sure of it.

"Nope," "That wouldn't happen at all." Even if Ale and Alexandra negatively answered within a second.

Rude…they were rude!

"Alexa totally would!" Alexa said, stomping her feet down to show dominance.

"....Alexa, I make breakfast for you. Even though we don't need to eat." Alexandra said pointing out the first, "Technically, all we need is biomass, sugar and some water here and there. We don't need cooked food."

"But it's yummy!" Alexa complained, "Alexandra cooks the best!"

"...compliments will not get anywhere," Alexandra said, nodding at Alexa's statement, "But as I said, we don't need cooked food. We can work just as well with raw meat and a couple hundred grams of sugar per day."

"And I deal with most of the work for [Haephestus' Forge]," Ale said shrugging from the side, "I'll let it slide the fact that you and Alexandra do stand in for me, but my original work was combat for you."

Gnuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

"Fine!" Alexa said crossing her arms and pouting, she was pouting cutely okay! "But Alexa would have gotten around…eventually."

"...we don't doubt that." Alexandra said, surprising Alexa, she had thought they would keep doubling down and doubting Alexa, "We know you care about our opinions and would listen to us…eventually."

"But the point is…Main Core also had his own opinions about…and while he also was grateful, he….was not like us." Ale said sighing, "At the end of the day, he and P4…aren't…they aren't like us Alexa."

P4? P4 too?

Was P4 gone too?!?!?!?!

"No, they aren't gone quite yet…we think." Ale said as if she had read Alexa's mind, "But they aren't…precisely human either…So just in case, don't give them any space in the Consciousness Stream…if possible."

….The consciousness stream?

But…Alexa….

"....is it….was it because Alexa gave Main Core space in her Consciousness stream?" Alexa asked as she started linking the data points, the fact of how Main Core had evolved, from the dumb thing she knew, to the dumbass she liked.

"....Not entirely," Alexandra said from the side, earning a glare from Ale. "It probably only accelerated what was going to happen, Main Core didn't spend too much time thinking, so he probably already was aware. And you giving him a Consciousness Stream seed only made him more certain…or more decisive."

…Main Core was already thinking like that?

….He really was dumb. If he really was thinking about Alexa, why couldn't he understand that Alexa would be happier with him around? See? Alexa knew he was dumb.

"It's fine Alexa," Ale said suddenly hugging Alexa, "It's fine….we also miss him, we did spend almost two years of relative time trying to piece the stupid marble from our memories…and yours memories too."

They did?

Wasn't….wasn't that dangerous? Oh right…

"*sniff* Was that why Alexandra was sleepy? " Alexa asked, remembering how Ale had pulled her into here to take care of Alexandra.

".....That is another whole can of worms," Ale said, but there was something in her tone that Alexa couldn't quite point, it sounded like… accusations?

"That was my fault, we had a sort of accident and I needed some Alexa to fix it, so we had to pull you like that." Alexandra said, suddenly, joining the hug and turning it into a Grupal hug; Alexa liked Grupal hugs. "We promise it will not happen again, okay?"

"Alexa doesn't mind," Alexa said in the middle of the grupal hug, "She liked eeping with Alexandra…Alexa will see about coming to sleep here with everyone else some time."

"That wouldn't be so bad, but you are sleeping in the middle." Ale said with a weird evil smile on her face, "Alexandra is a hugger, you like hugs right Alexa?"

….

"Alexa does…" Alexa answered, unsure why Ale was smiling like that, "Alexa will hug Ale too, so she doesn't miss Alexandra's hug."

There was something in Ale's smug face that Alexa didn't understand. But she would leave that for later.

"So…what is Alexa supposed to do?" Alexa asked closing her eyes and focused in what she wanted, she had noticed a trend in something here.

Unless Alexa wanted it, wished for it, or attempted to do it, this space of them, their mindscape, remained as an empty white space. Alexa knew why of course, it was a reminder of what most of her life had been, a test chamber.

But she wasn't P4 anymore, she didn't want Ale and Alexandra to live their life like this while they awaited for their time, and while Alexa did in fact change the scenary when she came by…

"We all should enjoy good times," Alexa said as she pulled forward what she wanted, "All should be at home when they rest!"

With a will and effort, she pulled forward the image of her house, not the place she had spent most of her time, not the place she first thought as a base of operation. But the apartment they had in the building where she lived. The same place she was returning to right now.

With some modifications, of course.

The place they landed was the living room, that was the same, a comfortable couch, a small table with smaller legs that Alexa still didn't know what was called, so she called it the smoll table.

A dining table with chairs, one for each of them. A fully furnished kitchen that had no reason to be there since they didn't actually need to eat here, and the three of them would rather eat in the real world if possible.

A slightly bigger bathroom with a rather larger bathtub and showers.

And the last change, instead of a door into Alexa's bedroom, there was a hallway there, one that gave path to three different doors.

"One for Ale, one for Alexandra and one for Alexa!" Alexa said proudly pointing at them, the first to the right was for Alexa, the one in front of it was for Ale, and the one in the middle was for Alexandra.

"...Alexa….this is a master bedroom," Alexandra said as she opened the door into her bedroom.

"And this one is a normal one?" Ale said turning to Alexa, "Favoritism much?"

"Nu-uh!" Alexa said shaking her head, "Alexandra is bigger, so she gets the bigger room; Ale is almost as small as Alexa, so she gets a room like Alexa!"

Alexa said nodding proudly, of course, she also knew that now that Alexandra had the bigger room, they could go and play there, make a mess there, and not have anything to clean!

"Ale gets a copy of the weird PC Alexanders sent, one that is only connected to our database…since Alexa can't wire the internets here….not without something to stand between the internets and Alexa…" Before they could get away with it since they had a two-point stopgap…But now that Alexa had lost Main Core…she didn't want an open line like that; she didn't mind the occasional search here and there…

But having a line that could connect them to the Saintsworths server…She trusted Alexanders to some degree, but not enough for that. Not yet anyway.

"So what do you think?" Alexa said turning to Ale and Alexandra, each girl standing at the door into their bedroom, each one looking to what they had.

"...I love it." Ale said first, "And I can see the advantage of having this…."

"Thank you, Alexa," Alexandra said next, "You didn't have to."

"Alexa did have to!" Alexa said shaking her head, "She gets to enjoy most of the time outside, so this is the least Alexa can do, she can't imagine what spending two years in a test chamber must have felt like…"

Only she knew, to some degree, even if she didn't have the emotions and understanding she had now…They all did have access to the memories as P4, even if most of it wasn't possible to be parsed or emulated.

Alexa…did not want to spend time in an empty test chamber or even a populated one. She…did miss to some degree fighting like that, but she did not want to become a test subject again.

She wanted to fulfill her wish.

More so than ever.

"Besides, we are going to fulfill Alexa's wish!" Alexa said shaking her head, "So we need practice, you two are also Alexa. So if Alexa is to be happy, you also need to be happy!"

Of that Alexa was sure. Why? Because she was Alexa! And Alexa couldn't be wrong!

How could she be? She was this cute! Being wrong wasn't being cute, that was being dumb!

The math didn't math! How could she ever be wrong if she was this cute?

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