Upon entering the next room, Hope checked for potential dangers.
It was a small piece which mostly served as a checkpoint for the researcher staff but also a security office by peeking at the skeletal guard on his wheeling chair.
Hope looked at the large desk of the deceased guard. The uniform it was wearing indicated that his former name was Larry and that he should worked here in the past.
"Why is everyone dead in here?"
"Let's find out evidences in this room," Amy replied as it turned on itself, winking and posing.
There were two screens, surely to monitor the area in which they had travelled so far.
But what caught Hope's attention was a dusty and damaged collapsed frame.
She took the frame and returned it, revealing a family photo composed of a father, a mother and their little daughter which was spared from the accumulating dust over the years due to its position.
Hope let her head fall on her hands holding the family photo, hot and sweet tears ran down Hope's cheeks, resonating in the room as they were falling on the metallic ground.
"What's wrong all of a sudden?"
"I cannot believe that my father has a part of responsibility in this carnage..."
"You should smile Hope. It makes everything better when you smile," Amy smiled at her leaning its head a bit to the right.
Hope giggled drying her tears. "You're right Amy, how is my smile right now?"
Amy gave Hope a thumb's-up. "Awesome! Even if I can't see it though..."
"Then I'll promise you that you'll be able to see it one day," Hope also gave Amy a thumb's-up.
Taking a look at the photo a second time, she understood that the father on it was the guard but it would be hard to recognise him in his state at the moment.
Hope deeply stared at the photo and especially the daughter who would not be more than 10-year-old on it.
"I don't understand why you could do something like this dad. I mean you wasn't a bad person, you always cared about your family, you always believed in others by helping them out from time to time. So, why?" Hope sighed.
"Maybe that for some reasons, he changed a bit. All of this bringing us to this moment."
"My father would never kill a family, I know it as I am his daughter," Hope clenched her fist from frustration.
After calming a bit, she placed the photo in Larry's hand and made a prayer for him and his family.
Amy waited silently for her to finish, staring into her eyes and then turned to the following room.
As the robotic bunny was heading towards it, the blonde and young woman followed its footsteps.
Both arrived in a huge hall decorated with colourful banners and posters. Hope's blue eyes widened as her mouth slowly opened at the sight of the area.
She ran to the centre of the piece and took a few steps back to admire the hall until she noticed the huge pile of skeletons in the corner of the room.
Hope screamed and fell at its sight now realising that the ground was completely immersed in coagulated blood.
Her breath instantly rising, she tried to get up using the bench near her while her whole body was shaking.
Among the dry red liquid was many dark blue and orange flyers portraying some kind of attractions.
Like a new-born, Hope picked up one of the flyers to calm down and evacuate the stress accumulated by the scene.
"An 'AI tour around the globe' huh. Was this place a theme park inside a laboratory?!" Hope asked staring at Amy still heavily breathing.
"It is more of the opposite and it isn't a theme park at all but a magnificent museum about the chronology of AI, a sacred place for my kind if I can say so."
"Too sad that the place is in ruin, not mentioning the dead visitors in the background. I would have liked to visit this museum with you," She put down the flyer on the bench.
The blonde woman was more a little girl than a grown-up at that moment, closing her blue eyes to control her breath.
Serene, she took some time to invest a further more the museum looking at every single poster with enthusiasm.
Hope even went to the souvenir shop testing every mask there was in the shelves. She stopped when she saw that robotic mask.
It was white with a straight black line cutting the mask in half. Both halves were identical, a black straight line going out of the holes made for the eyes to the edges of it.
The young woman found that mask strangely attractive as she stared at it for several minutes and put it on her for fun.
"Excuse me for interrupting your fantasy but the exit you were searching for before is right behind you. Tell me when you're ready for the open world out there," Amy jumped to the reception desk, watching the rotating door in front of it.
Hope left the souvenir shop and went to join Amy at the reception desk but, on her way, she stumbled on a rather round object.
It was the same mask as hers except that it was tainted with blood and deformed by the woman's feet.
"I wonder who was wearing the same mask as me..."
Reaching the reception desk, Hope returned herself and spotted light under the entrance of the museum. She took a good breath and reached the rotating doors in front of her.
As she pushed the door panel, the sunlight still at its brightest dazzled her.
Once her view got comfortable, she opened her eyes only to see a giant park where trees have grown into a small forest and damaged buildings in the surroundings of it.
The city's streets were also blocked by an absurd number of cars and the concrete on the ground was broken.
Nature was slowly reclaiming its rightful place on Earth but it was not enough to take down these massive skyscrapers.
Hope was stunned by this gorgeous landscape as well as Amy standing next to her. They both sat on the steps leading to the museum from the street.
"So that massacre isn't restricted to the museum, the whole city has suffered from an uprising of AIs," Hope rested her head in her hands contemplating the tall skyscrapers in the background.
"What made you think that AIs were responsible for the annihilation of this city?"
"There were no remains of AIs in the museum and I don't see anything else that could have destroyed a city like this other than robots."
"Thanks for your review, I'll add it to my database for further improvements."
"You didn't need to do that..."
"Hehe, too late to cry. My data now."
Hope sighed. "Now that you're at it, I am completely confused about my father. Last time I saw him he was already distant with me, preferring spending time with my sisters. Worse, I was sent alone in those ruins for no apparent reasons."
The young lady then went down the steps of the museum. "I would probably say that my father isn't the only one who left me, my sisters abandoned me too..."
Amy suddenly appeared floating in the air until she was in front of Hope's field of view. "Hope. I'm sure that you're getting the wrong idea about your family, you should probably talk with them to clear up this misunderstanding."
"But I have no idea of where they could be currently. Moreover, they might be dead already considering this ruined city."
"What about we try to search info on them, maybe that they are still out there."
After hearing this, Hope continued to stare at the skyscrapers in the distance for a while.
"You want to know something truly important Hope?"
The young lady agreed. "All that should matter to you is what's coming next and smiling," Amy winked at her.
Hope chuckled. "Glad to have you by my side Amy."
"No problem Hope. I am here for that only purpose, to make you smile," Amy gave her a peace sign as it posed.
Hope got up and stretched herself. "You're lucky I can't grab you and hug you until I'm satisfied enough of that cuteness."
"Talking of satisfaction, you might need to search for some water within the city otherwise you will suffer from dehydration according to the data collected from your body."
"You're examining my condition?! That's private!!" Hope grumbled.
"Well, I cannot let you die so I have to inform you about those kinds of details. I'm not spying on anything 'personal' if this is what you meant," Amy giggled.
Hope blushed and hid her face in her hands. "Could you stop saying such embarrassing stuff in front of me please?"
"As if I could. Anyway, you should go to the park. There is a source of water that is still drinkable according to my data but you might have to check just to be sure as it might have changed since what happened in this city."
"Lead the way then, my little robotic friend but do not expect me to pardon you that easily."
It took them about 15 minutes to reach an entrance to the park. The grass was rather tall but it seemed like there was a path that was recent among those.
Hope approached the path and followed it as it was leading near the source according to Amy.
When they reached the end of the path, Hope and Amy were at the centre of the park in front of a river.
The water in this one was a transparent blue. Hope stepped forward and kneeled to drink water from her hands.
Once done drinking, she looked on the other side of the river out of curiosity and found a fire camp on the shore.
As the water was relatively calm and shallow, Hope took off his moccasins and crossed the river.
On the other side, Hope began to examine the camp with the help of Amy. There was a bunch of eaten fishes that had been cooked and the sticks that served to cook them.
As Hope couched to check the fire, the embers were still warm.
"I have a bad feeling about this Hope," Amy said.
However, as soon as Amy pronounced those words, Hope felt a cold and circular shape touching her back and shivered because of it.
"If you ever move slightly, I'm going to make a hole in that chest of yours," The voice said with a confident tone.
"You should listen to that person Hope, I don't want you to die straight away. I can help you learn some combat tricks I have in my database if you wish so."
Hope did not move but was still highly focused on the voice coming from behind.
"Are you human? Just nod to answer," The unknown voice murmured in her ears.
Hope nodded slowly to avoid any confusion with a potential aggression. Then she felt a hand grabbing her wrist, mostly checking for her heartbeats but also temperature.
She could felt the same about the soft hand pressuring her wrist. After an awkward minute, a woman revealed herself.
She was as young as Hope, even a little younger and smaller at first glance. And Hope was about 1.73 meters tall.
She also had short dark hair and fire red eyes staring silently at her for a while.
On the contrary of Hope who was almost naked, the teenager wore a full black sporty outfit with a short and tights revealing her thin but somehow athletic appearance.
She also had a dark and well-equipped backpack and an unknown revolver in her right hand.
Hope did not know what to do in that kind of situation so she stayed immobile as she was eyed by the young woman.
"What is your name?" The teenager asked.
"Huh... I'm Hope Dā, Just Hope," She muttered, stressed by the encounter.
The woman held out one of her hands, the revolver still in her other hand. "Hi Hope, I'm Evelyn, Evelyn Springer to be formal. Nice to meet you Hope."