A Bio-Weapon’s Rhapsody

"You saw something on Ale's face?" [Meat Shield] said confused, "What do you mean?"

"Fear." [Fan Girl] said, "For the briefest of seconds before Alexa came out, I saw fear on her eyes."

"Why?" The [Meat Shield] said confused, "They have changed before, they do it seamlessly."

"Not this time they didn't." [Fan Girl] said shaking her head and pointing around the room, "This time Ale's body bursted in an explosion of blood and gore, then Alexa stood where Ale had been before."

"Yeh." Alexa said nodding, "Our usual method didn't work so Alexa had to improvise, it hurt more to Alexa than to Ale."

"But they are still the same, right?" [Meat Shield] asked turning to Ale, "I mean, they are their separated selves, but ultimately they are still in the same body. Right?"

"Ale is still part of Alexa." Alexa pointed out, "And Alexa is still Ale's sister."

Like, that wasn't going to change anytime soon. Alexa liked Ale, she was good with Alexa.

"Then the fear?" [Fan Girl] asked, Alexa could see the mana had decided to plead the fifth, smart Mana. "And the showing?"

"Gnnu…" Alexa gnued to see if it matched her vibes… It didn't, but it also made her sound cute, so maybe she could use it here and there? "Ale changed."

That was the easiest part to explain, "Before Ale was like this small tiny thing, but now she has grown and is bigger and more coolz."

Alexa had seen her grown up in real time after all, Alexa was still unsure how she did it, since she was out of the service area when it happened, but it was okay! Everyone had their own secrets, and Alexa was not salty about it! No sir!

"And she also has kinda… become her own thing?" Alexa wasn't that sure about that bit either, but she knew that she was no longer a simple [Consciousness Strand] but a [Consciousness Stream] in her own way, it was also part of why her Main Core didn't like [Main Core]… Probably… perhaps… Alexa was half sure of it! "So Ale can't summon Alexa, but Alexa can summon herself. We just need to work that more!"

"… You aren't making any sense." [Fan Girl] said frowning, the mana seemed to stabilize a little, "You are saying that Ale is her own person, but you are still part of her? Or she is part of you? But also are separated entity?"

"I see…" [Meat Shield] said nodding, "So while Ale is part of you, she is also independent. But you yourself are independent."

"Yes." Alexa nodded, why couldn't [Fan Girl] get it? It was simple!

"… That makes no sense." [Fan Girl] frowned even more, how could one triple frown? Alexa didn't know! But she was doing it. "You can't be part of someone and not be part of someone."

"But Alexa can." Alexa said pointing at herself, "Want me to summon Ale and then summon myself again?"

"No!" [Fan Girl] suddenly shouted, "No… First you need to fix how that happens. Also, you can get your Main Core thing to come out and speak, can't you do the same for Ale? I remember you two doing something similar before."

They had?

They probably did it at some point.

"[Main Core]!" Alexa said raising her finger to the ceiling again, "Do the thing!"

And Alexa felt [Main Core] doing the thing!

"*Ringing*"

"Wait a second, I think we have bad reception." Alexa said as the sound of the phone ringing continued on sounding, weird. Why wasn't Ale answering?

"…[Main Core] is Main Core being petty again?" Alexa said when she stopped to think about it. "There shouldn't be a ringing phone tone."

"[Checking connection integrity.]" [Main Core] answered and Alexa left him to do his thing, "[Confirmed. Entity designation: Inferior Main Core iteration is derailing the mana stream communication. Do you wish to eradicate the inferior version and replace it with a superior one?]"

"Okay stop there." [Fan Girl] raised her hand again and threw a pulse of mana at… nothing. What was she even trying to do? "Can you transmit a message?"

"Alexa can." Alexa said pulling a microphone from her hand and pointing it at the [Fan Girl], "What do you want Alexa to send?"

[Fan Girl] cleared her throat and took a deep breath, then moving towards the microphone she kneeled and spoke in a softer voice, "Hey Ale… Its me, Skye. Are you okay?" And then [Fan Girl] stopped talking and instead looked at Alexa.

"… [Main Core] deliver the message!" Alexa said and pointed at the TV again, so everyone turned to look at that instead.

"[Delivering payload. Do you wish to add an additional viral payload?]"

"No." [Fan Girl] answered for Alexa! She was cheating!

"Not this time." Alexa said nodding, "Alexa is feeling magnanimousse today, but if the cheeky Main Core doesn't answer we are sending her glitter bombs next!"

Alexa's mercy was limited after all.

"[Message received. Incoming data stream detected, display?]"

"[Mistress is currently unavailable, we are stabilizing her psyche at the moment.]" The voice of the cheeky Main core! "[I'll not confirm that she is okay, our preparations weren't as thorough as needed.]"

"What happened?" [Fan Girl] asked before Alexa could speak! Rude!

"[… She happened.]" Then on the TV the image of a round yellow bird appeared, it looked kinda fluffy and cute, but it was glaring at Alexa!

"Alexa is innocent!" Alexa said defending her honor! "Ale asked Alexa to do it and not tell, so Alexa did that!"

"[Mistress trusts you.]" The cheeky main core said glaring at Alexa! But Alexa is innocent! You shouldn't glare at an Alexa! You should only glare at the baddies! "[The fact that even at this moment Mistress is stable… Is the only reason we haven't retaliated.]"

"Okay… okay…" [Fan Girl] nodded and feel to her knees, "Good… I was not ready to deal with the implications if she wasn't okay."

"Why wouldn't she be okay?" [Meat Shield] asked confused, see! He gets it! "Alexa has never meant any harm, she helped me too, did she not?"

"Yeah!" Alexa said nodding and patting her chest proudly, "Alexa does her best and helps Ale's frens!"

"… Right…" [Fan Girl] still seemed suspicious of Alexa! Why! She wasn't like that before! "Can you tell her to send me a message when she wakes?"

"[…We can attempt doing so, but any message we try to relay…]" The cheeky Main Core said pointing her stubby short wing at Alexa, "[Will need to pass through… that thing.]"

"Rude!" Alexa said puffing her cheeks! "Alexa is not a thing, she is Alexa! The cutestest there ever was!"

"Is Alexa not Ale's sister?" [Fan Girl] asked, ignoring Alexa! Rude! "Are they not… helping each other?"

"[… Mistress cares for… Entity designation: Alexa.]" Cheeky Main Core said grumbling, heh! Get that! Ale loves Alexa the most! Not as much as big Brother, but plenty enough! "[And she claims that Entity designation: Alexa does the same. I am not sure of such statements, or if they are truthful or not. All I can do is help Mistress as best as possible.]"

"Alexa also loves Ale." Alexa said as it was the most obvious thing ever, "Ale knows that, everyone knows that. Didn't you know that?"

"I do know that." [Meat Shield] said nodding, "It's somewhat obvious if you think about it. They are practically family. There is no stronger bond than family."

"Until it isn't as strong as you thought it was." [Fan Girl] said shaking her head, "Here."

And before Alexa could even see it clearly, [Fan Girl] threw a sphere at the screen. Only the sphere dissapeared?

"[… I'll pass it along to Mistress.]" And then on the TV the birb was now holding a sphere of mana? How did it got there? Alexa didn't allow that to happen! "[Was that all you needed?]"

"Yes." [Fan Girl] said turning to Alexa, "I just wanted to make sure because Ale looked scared."

"[Mistress was surprised, she hadn't expected Entity Designation: Alexa, to swap places as soon as she let the timing to her.]" The birb spoke one last time before closing the connection, "[I wish you luck.]"

Close the connection Alexa said!

There! Alexa turned off the TV!

"See." Alexa said hmphing, "Alexa was innocent! Ale was being edgy, she was fine!"

"…She didn't answer though." [Fan Girl] pointed out, "But sure, sorry about that."

"Then if that is solved." The [Meat Shield] said pointing around them, "Care to tell me where we are and what is our status?"

"We are in a plane, on the way to Aquila." [Fan Girl] said with a shrug, "Ale got us into the plane and saved us… God knows how she pulled that one, the video stopped before that happened."

Alexa stopped it because it was not relevant! She wanted to tell that bit after all!

"Ale sent an encrypted message to the Taxi person." Alexa changed the channel on the TV, it now showed the Taxi person receiving the message, "She asked it to move closer to the building quietly, then when you all were under the area that could receive protection from the plane, they came and rescued you!"

The TV showed the plane shooting at the bad people that were attacking Ale and her friends, then armed people coming out of the plane and moving Ale, [Fan Girl] and the bits of Alexa's [Meat Shield] into the plane.

"When that was done, the non relevant people got dismissed and the plane took off." The image on the TV then showed how the plane took off, just like Alexa said it would. "And now we are here!"

"I see." [Meat Shield] said nodding, "It was a good plan, wish we could get it sooner, before they attacked us, but insight is 20/20."

"That wouldn't have worked." [Fan Girl] shook her head, "They were paying attention to the plane and the relative position to us. They stopped doing that when they jumped us, which is when I guess Ale sent her message?"

"Yeh." Alexa said nodding, "Wanna see that bit?"

"…I'd rather not." [Fan Girl] said shaking her head, "I can imagine what happened, and would rather ask Ale later when we see her again."

"Fair." Alexa said nodding, she understood that some people didn't like spoilers, and that was fine! Alexa didn't mind them, because she was more powerful and immune to the damage of the spoiled people, but that was besides the point. If someone was being a meanie and ruining Alexa's fun time, she would just nom them.

"Then if we are in our way to Aquila…" [Golem] said sitting on the floor, the ground under them groaning, oh right.

"Alexa forgor!" Alexa forgot to fix the space around! "Nom!"

She quickly went running around in geometrical figures noming the extra space she had made! She couldn't leave it like that! Bad girls always clean their playground when they are done! And Alexa was not a bad girl! She was a good girl!

"What's our next course of action then." [Meat Shield] ignored Alexa, but the [Fan Girl] was looking at Alexa weirdly, oh right, her thing was space mana… But this was Alexa's mana! She couldn't have it!

People got stomache when they took Alexa's mana when it wasn't ready!

"The pilot said something about needing to talk with Ale about what was to follow." [Fan Girl] said turning to look at the [Meat Shield], "Now that Alexa is the one out I guess we should be the ones talking to him?"

"We can have Alexa see what he wants." [Meat Shield] countered the argument, he was smart, if Ale could do it there was no reason for why Alexa couldn't do it too after all!

"It probably isn't something important, if it is important we can help Alexa deal with it." [Meat Shield] was earning points! Not like the [Fan Girl] who was being a meanie for no reason!

"Only one way to find out." [Fan Girl] stretched as she stood up, "Alexa, are you ready to put on the big girl pants?"

"Alexa likes shorts and sundresses," Alexa said shaking her head, "Alexa doesn't like pants."

"… Not what I meant." [Fan Girl] said shaking her head, "Well, let's call the pilot. Wanna come too big guy? Or do we bring him here?"

"I am unsure if the plane can deal with my weight moving around." [Meat Shield] said shaking his head as he sat on the ground, "I would rather not cause more issues."

"Alexa reinforced the plane when she was fixing [Meat Shield]." Alexa said helpfully, "So it should be fine."

"Better safe than sorry then." [Fan Girl] nodded at [Meat Shield], "Let's bring the pilot here then to discuss."

And like that, [Fan Girl] walked out of the room, leaving Alexa alone with her [Meat Shield].

"So… How's it going?" [Meat Shield] asked, as they continued fiddling with his insides, that was… kinda rude was it not?

Who messes around with their internal working while speaking with someone as cute as Alexa? They should focus on the cute little thing in front of them! Not their nasty insides!

Well, not nasty, since it was mostly made of rocks and dirt…. So their dirty insides? Yeah! That! Who messes around with their dirty insides with a cute girl like Alexa in front of them?!?!?

"It's okay." Alexa magnanimously answered, see, Alexa could be magnanimous to those that understood her! And [Meat Shield] was doing just that! Unlike [Fan Girl] who had Ale as favorite! Only reason that Alexa tolerated that it was because Ale was indeed coolz like that, so Alexa didn't mind sharing some of the people around with Ale!

"Don't mind Skye too much." [Meat Shield] continued speaking, "She has a bad experiences when dealing with loss of loved ones."

She did?

"That's because she isn't careful with where she leaves her stuff." Alexa said with a hmph, Alexa had learned that lesson early on, that's why she always made sure to remember where she left her favorite stuff. "If she put her stuff where it was supposed to go, she wouldn't have those issues!"

"It isn't like that," The [Meat Shield] said shaking his head, "For people we lose our families, we lose our friends, our coworkers… And sometimes, we miss them so much that the idea of losing a new friend terrifies us. So we lash out in anger at the people we suspect is responsible for it."

"But Alexa didn't do anything!" Alexa complained, "She helped!"

"I know." [Meat Shield] said nodding at Alexa, lifting his hand and slowly lowering a finger atop Alexa's head, ruffling her hair. "But like I said, hindsight is 20/20. Sometimes it is harder to take that step back and see with calm, more so if Ale really showed fear, probably she was thinking of something else and not about you. But we will not known unless we ask her next time."

"Right…" Alexa said whistling to the side in an attempt to look innocent, Ale had really been scared though. And she was indeed scared about the change. Since she had won so many new things….

The truth of it was that Alexa also knew, maybe more than Ale did. They… That Ale had grown too big, she was still attached to Alexa, but this was closer to Ale extending her hand towards Alexa and not letting go.

Alexa couldn't hold her in place, she was… too small.

Ale was too small compared to Alexa, even if she was now her own Consciousness Stream. If Alexa tried to keep her in place by force Ale could break again, and while Alexa could fix her over and over, it was bound to break Ale at some point, so Alexa could only hope that Ale stuck to her as long as possible.

Alexa would find a way to solve it, and if she couldn't they could ask Big Brother!

When in doubt, Big Brother always found the solution to everything! Alexa knew that!

She didn't know why she knew that, but she was sure that it was right! And besides, she already had some ideas!

They could get to work in those later on though. For now, it was time to speak with the Taxi guy! As [Fan Girl] had returned and the door was about to open!