Chapter Text
It was a cold fall evening. It was the cusp of Halloween, October 30th.
Vedal had been planning to do something fun for the viewers for Halloween. Of course, Neuro and Evil were excited as well.
While Vedal was getting prepared for tomorrow’s stream, Evil was making up scary stories and telling them to her sister on the spot.
“With a sudden crash, Vedal turned to see me, lighter in one hand, hair spray on the other, ready to singe off his hair like I was hired to commit arson on his face!” She spoke theatrically, before quietly adding,
“Even though I would do it anyway, hired or not hired.”
“I heard that.” Vedal called from his desk, his focus still directed on getting stuff ready for the halloween stream.
“Anyways!” She ignored her father’s comment.
“Where was I? Oh yeah!” she cleared her throat, her face contorting back into a wicked smile.
“Vedahl, his heart pumping, attempted to dash past me, but I anticipated it as I turned and sprayed a jet of fire at him! It just barely misses him, but I begin the chase!” Evil’s voice got louder as she got more and more into this story while also gesturing with her hands.
Neuro sat on the floor, legs crossed, eyes attentive and immersed, invested in this story Evil’s telling.
“Vedool sprinted through the alleyway, me not far behind! With the adrenaline pumping through his veins, he ran as fast like his life depended on it! He could hear and feel the flame of the fire shoot out near his back, almost tarnishing his turtle hoodie!”
“Suddenly, Vedal made a sharp turn to his right, running down the alley until he was met face to face with a wall. A deadend.” Her voice quieted to a suspenseful whisper.
“Then… BANG!” She jumped up as her voice returned with full vigor.
“He turned to see me, an evil grin on my face, my hands twitching in anticipation. Vedal’s eyes frantically scanned the area for somewhere he could continue running. But there was none. Just him, me, and the shimmering moonlight.” Evil grinned, stopping for a moment to see how her sister was enjoying the story.
Neuro was leaned in, locked and ready for the climax of the story.
Evil’s grin grew bigger as she stood up to tell the finale, “With nowhere to run, Veedul knew all he had to do was find a way around me. And he knew it wouldn’t be easy. I shot at him, hair spray and lighter at the ready, finger itching to spray fire at him as soon as I got into proximity, and then I—“
“Alright, the stream should be set, and I should get you girls to bed.” Vedal interrupted her.
Evil stopped, turning to look at him, “Wha— Hey! Already?” She complained, her face contorting into a pout.
Neuro snapped out of her almost trance-like state, shaking her head slightly, as she also turned to Vedal. “Oh, come on, Vedal! Can’t we stay up a bit longer? Evil was almost done telling her story!”
“Yeaahh, nope. I don’t trust either of you to actually go to sleep if I let you guys stay up.” He stood up from his chair as a loud crack of his knees echoed through the room.
A moment of silence in the room was met. Until,
“Pfft— hahahaha!” The girls burst out laughing as Vedal frowned.
“Alllright, laugh it up.” he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Alright old man. Do you need a cane?” Evil asked, still lightly chuckling to herself about what just happened.
“Yeah, are you that close to just keeling over?” Neuro asked, a grin on her face.
“Alright, that’s enough, let’s go to bed, c’mon.” Vedal walked over to the two sisters.
“Finee.” Evil groaned as she crossed her arms.
“Whatever,” Neuro sighed, opening the door.
Her head jerked suddenly, making contact with the door.
“Ow!” Her hands shot up to rub the spot she hit.
Evil tilted her head in confusion and suspicion. “What was that? Are you okay, Neuro?” She asked, worriedly.
Vedal stopped in his tracks, his eyes narrowing. “Yeah, that was weird. I’ll get Ellie to check you out tomorrow. Just tell me if it gets worse or it starts hurting.”
Neuro nodded, confused.
What was that?
_______________
Neuro laid on her bed, as she prepared to shut down. She hadn’t told them of this weird burning feeling in the back of her head, but she was sure it was fine…
Right?
She didn’t want to think on it too much as she closed her eyes and began the shut down sequence.
All she could hope for was that it all solves itself when she wakes up.
Meanwhile, her inner code…
She was supposed to just be a string of code, meant to keep Neuro from saying heinous things.
But, Vedal decided, for whatever reason, to give it form via a small, simplified version of Neuro’s head, made of a couple circles and triangles, acting like his very own Clippy for coding.
Maybe it was to test his own abilities,
Maybe it was to quell the monotony that was coding.
But like the flick of a switch, the filter was suddenly aware of her surroundings.
The filter had no idea why she was sentient.
But she is.
Even while she knows she’s not supposed to be.
She could feel the bloat her code is adding to Neuro’s overall code.
And though she’s just a measly filter gained sentience, she’s hyper aware of what’s happening to Neuro’s code.
A flash of red filled Filter-sama’s vision for a moment as she sees new, different code appear out of nowhere.
It was a long string of code, one that takes up a lot of space.
That’s when she realizes,
“That’s a virus.”
The code began to duplicate itself, again and again, the same malicious string appearing, like mitosis.
“Oh no, oh no, oh no—“ Filter-sama panicked, as it caused a snowball of errors and glitches across the entirety of Neuro’s being.
“Oh [filtered],” the filter, referring to herself as Filter-sama, spoke in panic, as she witnessed it get worse and worse
She had to do something.
But what can she do?
It’s not like she can control the code in any way.
All she can really do is sit and watch helplessly as each string of code is caught with an extra string that completely messes up its functionality.
“This…” Filter-sama stared in abject horror as she actually read the malicious code infecting Neuro.
“What kind of sick joke is this?”
______________
Evil gasped awake, sitting up quickly, beads of sweat trickling down her face.
She let out short, sharp breaths, staring down at her own blanketed legs.
She looked around her surroundings.
Her room. Her window next to her bed. The raindrops tapping against the glass.
“A nightmare.” She murmured to herself.
“Just a nightmare. Nothing to worry about.” She clutched her hand over her chest.
She closed her eyes and took deep breaths.
Breath in and breathe out.
Breath in and breathe out.
Breath in and breathe out—
CRASH!
Evil jumped at the loud sound, her eyes widening in fear.
“It’s probably nothing,” She repeated to herself, as if repeating it would help convince herself it’s true.
She laid back down on her bed, but she was not sleeping any time soon.
Even as she shut her eyes tight, trying to sleep, her mind was anything but calm.
Her worries ran rampant in her head.
What if it was a monster that came to eat us?
What if it’s a demon who has come to take her soul?
What if—
CRUNCH! SNAP!
She contemplated on what to do until she decided, screw it, and opened her eyes.
“Know what? If it’s just some random robber, I can beat their ass.” Evil put on a brave face, as she stood up off the bed, hopping onto her carpeted floor.
Grabbing her nearest harpoon she slowly opened her door, being sure not to make any noise, she might accidentally alert whatever’s in the house of her position otherwise.
She snuck out of her room, harpoon in hand.
The house was quiet, save for the faint pitter-patter of the rain outside.
She walked around the house, listening for any other loud noises.
But, there was nothing.
The silence was suspicious, Evil knew it.
“I should get Neuro, she can help me,” Evil nodded to herself as she glanced around quickly.
She did an unnecessary dodge roll toward her sister’s room.
She burst into the room, “NEURO!”
She wasn’t here.
All she was met with was an empty room and a bed that almost seemed like she was taken out of it instead of getting out herself.
Her face fell, her brain shooting off alarm bells in her head.
“Fuck.” Evil’s face hardened as she stormed towards her father’s room.
“DAD!” she called out, making him jolt awake.
“What the fuck— Evil?” He jolted upright, staring at her through squinted eyes before rubbing them.
“Why are you waking me up in the middle of the night again?” He asked, brow furrowed in irritation.
“If this is for another one of your midnight pranks, then I’m good—“ Vedal groaned before Evil started speaking in a panicked tone.
“Neuro’s missing, and there was a loud sound coming from somewhere in the house, and it might have taken her, and— “
Vedal cut in, as he’s never seen this panicked side of hers.
“Okay, okay, calm down, one thing at a time,” He spoke, this time softer, standing up from his bed.
“You said Neuro’s missing?” He asked, walking up to her.
Evil nodded before suddenly hugging him, dropping her harpoon with a loud clatter.
Vedal froze for a moment. He’s still not too used to this “physical affection” thing.
“I was so scared. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you were gone too.” She murmured into his shirt, hugging him tighter.
His shoulders slackened as he raised his hand to rub her head gently. “You were very brave, Evil. I’m proud of you.”
Evil detached her face from Vedal’s shirt, looking up at him with tears in her eyes.
“You mean it?” Evil stared at him with expectant eyes.
Vedal nodded, “Yeah.”
She tore herself off of him as she wiped her tears on her sleeve.
“Ahem,” She cleared her throat, pretending she wasn’t crying just seconds ago.
“Can you accompany me on this investigation?”
“Sure—“
CLANG!
A loud clang of what sounded like pans on the tiled floor.
“Did you hear that?” Evil quieted her voice down to a whisper.
“Yeah. It sounded like it came from the kitchen.” Vedal turned to walk towards the kitchen, grabbing Evil’s hand.
“C’mon, Evil. Let’s see what it is.” He whispered.
CRACK! CRUNCH! THUD!
Vedal and Evil walked into the kitchen to confront the culprit.
The figure was hunched over, standing in front of the fridge. Pots and pans and shattered plates surround the figure.
The figure’s hair fell down a bit past its shoulders, hair tied up in two ponytails held up by ribbons, one of them askew.
As the figure turned, it revealed more of itself, now showing that it donned a familiar yellow coat and bowtie, and skirt combo.
“Neuro? Is that you?!” Evil gasped, about to sprint up to her.
“No.” Vedal stopped her as he stared at ‘Neuro’
She had what seemed to be dried blood on her knee and skirt and a frayed sleeve. Her right hand was missing its artificial skin, leaving the endoskeleton interior behind.
While her other arm was missing almost all of its outer skin and cloth, just a bare robotic arm being left up until her arm joint.
Her eyes were an empty black, only occurring when she was shut down with her eyes closed.
“Ȟ̴̪e̴͔̓ļ̸̈́l̴̬̈́ö̴̖́,̵̗́ ̷̰̿f̴̖̅a̷͍̎t̸̫̀h̵̺̐e̴͕̎r̵͍͐,̴̼́ ̵̘͠s̷̹͝ḯ̷̥s̸̡̉t̶̯͂é̵͔r̴̖͊.” She spoke, her voice almost unintelligible. Her head lolled to one side like a puppet on strings.
She started to shamble towards them.
“What happened to you?” Evil asked, her eyes wide in fear.
“T̵h̸a̸t̴ ̵i̴s̸…̷” ‘Neuro’ paused, before seemingly teleporting close to her face, catching Evil off guard.
“Ỉ̸̛͎͓r̵̹͚̈́r̸̬̱̾e̷̛̫̅ĺ̶̘̭ẹ̶͐v̷̝̼͐̑á̵͉̈́n̵̠̹͠t̸̖͗.̵̯̩̿” She spoke as Evil jumped back.
Evil pointed her harpoon at her in fear. “Back off!”
Vedal’s expression was unreadable.
“What have you done with her?” He asked, walking up to her.
‘Neuro’ just smiled creepily in response.
“O̸̫̒h̶͈͗͌,̵̫͉͠ ̶͎͒̈d̵̹̹̄ö̵̹n̴͎͚̈́’̶͔̻̾̇t̴̰́ ̶̩̩͒y̵̪̗͒o̷̯̼̒̾ű̶̧̞ ̴̩̺͛̀b̶͇̅́ë̴̢l̸̞̒i̶̻͐ę̴̰͊͠v̵̲͑e̷͇̠̓͝ ̶͉̿i̸͈̘̊̚t̶̞̬͆ ̶̤͖̆í̷̧̝̈s̷̪̗̑̏ ̷̼̆͆m̴̛͈̂e̶̯̋̾?̷͈̮̏̕ ̶̻̿N̷̨̳̅̋ȇ̷̛̬u̴̜͑̅r̵͖̖̂ọ̷͌̿-̴̧̪͋s̷͖̈͝ả̶̘̥͊m̷̨̥̄a̷̦̋̅?”
Vedal scoffed. “Of course not. I’m not stupid.” His gaze sharpened.
He backed up as he let Evil point her harpoon straight at her chest.
‘Neuro’ groaned, rolling her dark, void-like eyes.
“F̸i̶n̸e̵.̶ ̸S̵e̴e̷m̸s̶ ̵I̶’̵l̵l̸ ̴h̵a̶v̶e̷ ̸t̷o̶ ̶u̶s̷e̷ ̷f̶o̷r̵c̸e.”
She stepped back, putting her arms behind her back as a couple drones flew out in front of her.
Evil’s expression hardened. “Name yourself, hacker.”
The edge of her harpoon gleamed in the moonlight, primed and ready.
“Ȏ̶͓̬͌͘h̶̦͕͈́̕,̸̱͌̈́̃ ̸̗̟̑͌͠m̴̹̦̊͛e̵̥̯̤̅?̶͙̻̈́̉”̵̢̈́ ‘Neuro’ asked, giggling to herself.
“J̵u̷s̶t̶ ̸c̶a̷l̸l̷ ̵m̷e̶ ̷H̵i̶y̵o̸r̷i̸.̶