Chapter Text
Tessa skidded to a stop at the ballroom door, followed by J. The gun in her hand was heavy, the cool metal was slowly warming up in her grip. Looking at J, Tessa could see her reflection in the drone’s faceplate. It showed a young girl who was too far over her head.
She looked down to see her hands shaking, adrenaline and fear mixing into a potent cocktail of nerves. She looked like her uncle, Viscount Viscount “the Vis is silent” Pumperkneadle, fiending for another hit (she would also turn to drugs if her parents named her Viscount).
“Boss, you okay?” Tessa zeroed in on the worried expression of her girl friend. She wanted to say so many things: No, I don’t know, you look hot with a sword , but this was no time for second thoughts.
“I’m ‘right, J,” was what slipped out instead. J was wholly unconvinced, Tessa could tell. “We can talk later, kay? For now, get ready.”
J studied her face, before replying with a cautious “I’ll hold you to that, Tess.” She tensed, her servos whirring.
Counting down mentally, Tessa kicked open the door before the pair leapt into action. Their eyes locked onto the small drone sitting on the oversized globe at the other end of the hall. Spinning her gun (might as well look good when making an entrance, like Mother always says), Tessa aimed it at Cyn. “Everyone, stand back. This is a citizen’s murder!” (Nailed it!)
Tessa heard a scandalized gasp from Mother. “That dress!” She sneered. What?
“You hold that gun less cool this instant, young lady!” James Elliot scolded. WHAT? The absurdity momentarily stole her words, leaving her stunned, mouth agape. Even Cyn seemed taken aback at the elder Elliots’ utter dismissal.
When she managed to find her voice, Tessa sputtered, “Wha-you-bu-really?! You’re doin’ this? Now? I’m trying to save your lives!”
Scoffing, Mother snapped her fan closed. “Save us? From what, silly girl? That little swamp rat?”
Cyn squinted at the woman, “Angy glare! >:( Who are you calling a - swamp rat, you tacky peacock? “ Even as she complained, however, she was simultaneously scheming, freezing all of the guests with a discrete translate glyph. When Tessa barged in, Cyn was hurt. Seeing the girl side with her abusers over Cyn angered the maid deeply, burning at her core - especially since N had just been taken from them. However, the situation had devolved into something… unexpected . She would let this play out. Giving Tessa the chance to finally confront her abusers was the least Cyn could do to repay her kindness to her and her siblings. If the girl decided to side with the humans after everything… she’d deal with that as it came.
“Hold on, Cyn! This is between me and Mother!” Tessa scowled at the shrew in front of her, while her father, already losing interest in the argument, turned to refill his wine glass…again. And her parents wondered why she was always displaying ‘misanthropic tendencies’. Was it any surprise? “For your information, Cyn is not a swamp rat! Neither are J, N, or V!”
Mother sighed, patronizing. “Again with the names! They are tools, not people! They are not sentient!” She paused, turning to eye the maid sitting on the globe warily. “They should not be sentient. Or so … emotional for that matter.” Her eyes narrowed in thought before she gasped in realization. Whipping around to her daughter, she hissed out. “What did you do?”
Tessa couldn’t help but flinch at the venom in her mother’s voice, but she had to stand her ground. There was no choice but to own her decisions. Her head held high, she bit out an equally acidic response, “I gave them a future. Throttling the personality core is just cruel and unnecessary.”
“You delimited the cores!?” her mother shrieked, the glassware around the room vibrating from the resonant harmonics. Her father yelped as his glass shattered in his hand, spilling wine down his front. “There are good reasons why those limits exist, you ingrate! JCJenson is not in the business of fomenting rebellion, unless it intends to sell weapons. Do you know how disastrous it would be if word spread how one of the company’s main products revolted?” The snap of her fan was like a judge’s gavel. “Clearly we’ve given you too much freedom. Tomorrow, all your drones are to be properly disassembled.”
Tessa’s world shattered like the glass of one of Father’s drones. She had already lost so much of what she’d hoarded. Her friends, the friends she’d clawed at to keep despite her horrible parents were in jeopardy. Her true family was now marked for death. Tessa felt a tear run down her cheek at the unfairness of it all. Her family already had spots missing, holes that would never heal. First, there was V. The shy maid had simply… shut down one day, fallen victim to the same virus as many other drones in the mansion. Tessa tried so hard to fix whatever was wrong, trying desperately to wake V from her coma to no avail. V was gone, an empty shell left in her place.
They all mourned her, especially N. He was inconsolable for days. Even J was miserable. Morbidly, that fact comforted Tessa the most at the time. She wasn’t blind to the way J treated her siblings. Although she wasn't always successful, she did her best to rein in the drone’s worst moments. She understood why J was harsh with the others, she felt the same pressure as well. One mistake and it was over for them. Even so, it was comforting to know J did care for the others. As for their youngest addition, little Cyn was “big sad :’(” (her words), but she was also adamant V was simply resting, and she would come back when she was ready. Now that Tessa thought about it, Cyn’s freaky powers explained a lot of weird stuff happening recently. Maybe her insistence was more than just the blind hope that V would wake up from her coma.
But tonight, her family was being taken one drone at a time, and no amount of hope would change that. N was the first, taken to the Crow Tree in defense of Cyn. Cyn, with… whatever she had going on (the eldritch nature of the little maid was a recursive can of recursive-ier worms that Tessa was not going to think about right now), Tessa wasn't sure if Cyn would come back to her family. And now J would follow into that good night if her parents had their way. Simply considering it nearly killed her. J was special, even amongst her family; she couldn’t imagine a world without her Jaybird - her closest confidant, her best girl friend, her beloved companion. The strong-willed drone would be murdered for the crime of sentience. Tessa couldn’t help but shudder, thinking of J broken and alone in the scrapyard, imagining her being returned to that hell.
She couldn’t.
She wouldn’t.
She wouldn’t let that happen.
“No..” the response was muttered, nearly spat, a spark of defiance alighting inside the girl. She stopped hunching over, squaring her shoulders as she chose her path, “No. I won’t let you.” She glared back at the socialite, the spark catching quickly, lighting a fire within. She would not allow herself to be cowed.
Her mother chortled annoyingly (Tessa always hated that laugh) as she hid her mirth behind her dumb fan. “No? My dear daughter, is that defiance I see? How utterly… irritating. We will need to update your ‘lesson’ plans again. Drones!” She turned to the drones standing by the walls, “Escort my errant daughter to her room. I’ll deal with her later.” Spinning around to Tessa, mouth opening to put the obnoxious little wretch in her place, she-
BANG!
The thunderclap silenced the room. Even James, now quaffing wine directly from the bottle, was shocked to attention at the noise. Louisa (not mother, never again mother) stood there, uncomprehendingly, her words catching in her throat. She felt a bead of sweat run down her forehead and reached up to dab at it with a handkerchief. The rag came away red. She stopped momentarily to think about how red was an odd color for sweat before her eyes rolled up and she stopped thinking at all, courtesy of the new hole in her forehead. The thud of the dead body resonated thunderously, the familial ties being cut lending it an unparalleled metaphysical weight.
Everyone stonily turned from the body to stare at Tessa as she held the (literal) smoking gun, her expression cold and empty as she studied the corpse. She could see J out of the corner of her eye. It hurt seeing the shocked look on her beloved drone’s face, realizing that Tessa chose her. As if she would ever choose otherwise.
Tessa… didn’t feel much at the act itself, honestly. Perhaps that should have bothered her, but her ears were too busy pounding with adrenaline for her to notice. Instead, as she looked at the cooling corpse of her former mother owner, she felt a lightness. She was free, free of her chains. She would never be shackled again. She took a shaky breath, laughing airily.
Her father looked at her as if she were a stranger, a dangerous animal locked in the same cage as him. “...Tessa?”
Lowering the pistol, she stared James Elliot dead in the eyes, the man recoiling at the steel and vitriol in his daughter’s gaze. Any shred of care she may have held once had long since burned away, leaving only hatred and disdain. Mockingly dropping into a curtsey even Louisa would find admirable, she sneered at him. “Good evening, Father, not that you ever were one to me. I’m afraid J and I must retire.” Grabbing J’s hand, she turned to leave, bringing the befuddled drone with her. As she reached the doorway, however, she stopped. “...Oi, Cyn?”
Cyn, content thus far to watch the events, her curiosity overriding her hunger, smiled widely. “Yes, Tessa?” She was as shocked as the humans at Tessa’s outburst. The budding feelings of anger and betrayal upon seeing her mom the Aussie girl trying to stop her had been snuffed out. Tessa had chosen them. She didn’t reject Cyn just because of her nature. Deep within her core, she felt an intense relief that she wouldn’t have to cross that bridge.
Tessa looked back at Cyn, noticing the sinister sparkle in her OLED screen. Minutes prior, that sparkle had invoked dread. Now, she felt only vindication. Unbeknownst to her, Cyn also found a similar glint in Tessa’s eyes staring back at her, the revelation surprising the eldritch drone. Tessa held the young drone's gaze steadily, looking into the abyss without flinching even as it stared back. The girl knew what was about to happen. She was about to condemn every terrified man, woman, and child to an agonizing death. She smirked, welcoming it. What had humans ever done for her anyway? “Have fun, ‘kay? It’s a gala, after all! We’ll go get your big brother.”
Cyn’s manic grin softened into something more genuine. “Giggle. Okee :D” With the promise of torment and celebration to come, Tessa guided J out of the ballroom, the worker drone still silent, shocked at the girl’s heel-face turn (and honestly, a bit heated at the newfound steel in her voice). Tessa knew that she was going to crash and burn after everything was over, sobbing her heart out in a dizzying cocktail of emotional distress, but that was for later. She and J had a butler to save.
As the doors to the ballroom swung closed, Cyn resumed her original plan, the sadistic grin returning. The show had concluded, and now it was time for dinner! “...Faux thinking. Where were we? Oh yes…let’s eat!!”