In the middle of the darkest night in the year 2066, a figure swiftly dashed hastily across the dim moonlit night. The figure was holding their third arm as if wounded. They were gasping for every painful breath from running through the rooftops of the dense city of Atalantia, Georgia. The moon sustained grave injuries, with only the remnant scars of an old war. The pursuers' silhouettes looked like burly men with tutus.
They yelled at their pursuant, "You won't get away with this!! Give us back the diamond!!".
But the pursuant was not listening to their roars of demand, the men were catching up to them. The pursuant panicked. They looked towards the edge of the rooftops and revealed a smirk. They took hold of the necklace across their neck and dove from the rooftops downward to the streets.
The pursuant started singing, and she thought, 'I hope this works!'
A gentle glow appeared as a song traveled through the wind. It stopped the assailants' chase toward the edge of the rooftop. They witnessed a pair of wings with glaring eyes, small hands that looked sewn together with twine. The winged creature looked over at the two men.
The strange skeletal doll-like being enraptured by them. Hair in the color of death, and gems that glistened from the faintest moonlight bejeweled her. The men became distracted, smitten with this angel of death. The moth woman flew off.
As fast as she could through the bustling city of Atalantia. And chanted a haunting lullaby as the children of the city slept.
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A couple of hours later, she landed on a second-floor patio and opened the doors. The woman whispered to herself. As if she was talking to someone in the same room as her. Or, on this occasion, the same body.
'You could have gotten her killed, Zakor!' exclaimed another voice inside their head.
Zakor responded, 'Hey you gotta take a risk to have fun.'
The voice giggled as the moth woman leaned against the porch railing.
"Look, Señora Ava needs to get back to finishing her deadline. She has had enough adventures for the month," said Moth Woman.
Zakor sighed, 'Yeah, yeah. Whatever, lady.'
The moth woman then started mentally talking to someone else and said, "Wake up, Ava. It's your turn." whispered the Moth Woman.
Then everything went dark.
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The next morning, a silhouette wakes up with a headache, and a mechanical glow appears from the body.
"Ugh. Who took us out now?!" they asked.
The person threw her blanket away from the bed and stumbled across the room to close the patio doors quickly before her parents woke up. A woman named Ava, a miracle child of surviving an attack that left her to live without half a brain and an eye. She wanted to live a good life for her family. Working hard during the day and trying to keep the System in order at night. It became a constant cycle of communication. There was almost no rest when she involuntarily switched when their body was unconscious.
"Dammit, guys! For once, can someone just not take us all out?! Especially you Zakor!" said the anxious Ava.
Zakor replied, 'Hey it's not healthy to be sitting at your desk drawing for like a billion hours a day, okay? Be glad ya ain't dead from drawing all these things anyway. Little Art Scientist...'
Zakor scoffed at Ava.
"I can't believe I'm already behind these damn meetings!!" said Ava.
She threw her clothes around the room posthaste.
"Seriously, when are you guys going to stop using my body without consent from everybody, please?" said Ava.
Ava was putting on her clothes while brushing her teeth at the same time. Ava tripped on a rubber duck and fell.
She yelped and groaned, "Owie..."
Ava ran downstairs with equipment in hand. And saw that her parents made breakfast for the toddlers. They were playing, arms flailing and cooing for attention. Ava saw a plate of food made for her. She grabbed two pieces of toast and quickly stuffed them with scrambled eggs and bacon.
"Sorry, Mom!! Sorry, Momma!! I will come back to pick the kids up from Granny's!!"
Ava kissed her family and ran off, swearing under her breath. She used the clicker of her key to a grounded car and drove through the outskirts of town. She drove through the pristine wildlife as floating vehicles zoomed across the gray skies above. With an old van driving towards the sunrise.
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The van was driving through the dirt roads, made for those who cannot afford the luxury of becoming part of the future's worldview. Ava knew that having this vehicle in their possession is violating the environmental law of the Grotto. But they didn't care about the dirt roads. It's best for people of inferior status to get around, and cheaper to maintain.
The van stopped by an abandoned parking lot, and they honked their horn in a sequence.
The ground shook and revealed a ramp. She drove the van through the tunnel, and the door closed from behind.
Ava said, "Well then, time to get to work."
Ava was just finishing her sandwich thinking, "How the hell am I going to find him..."
They're pondering in the parked car.
Ava brings out their bag and starts listening to some alternative rock, and said, "Well then, Moira, let's get started." laughed Ava.
The diamond around their neck began constricting Ava's body and an angelic glow and Moira appears, with golden crosses for pupils, with a sharp-toothed smile, four tails, and of short stature.
"Of course!" boomed Moira.
Moira put on a lab coat, working in the giant lab. The name "Empath" appeared on the frame of the entrance as Moira walked through them. She then opened the bag to take out her laptop and saw the three dark silhouette faces on the screen. She also kept her identity secret, but she knew who they were.
"You are late. Ms. Rin," said one of them.
"Yeah? And I am the one who's just giving you what you guys all want. Money." stated Moira.
"Money." the figures said in unison.
"So, what is up with the Americas?" asked Ava, looking to the right.
"The same old, same old, New America loves your product, and Old America is just on the same side as New America as well. People are killing for your products, Ms. Rin." said the man on the left.
"Oh, my god... Are they rioting again?" Ava questioned and does a facepalm.
"Well, no-," said the woman.
Moira interrupted the woman.
"Then stop saying literal, I can't differentiate between sarcasm and reality, man!" exclaimed Moira Rin.
The silhouette apologized. Moira looked around her lab of creative destruction and looked at the woman's silhouette.
She asked, "How about the factories in Eurina? Workers are doing okay?"
The lady's silhouette stumbled to find her composure and started stuttering.
The lady said, "W-well, there has seemed to be some protests for higher wages for the warehouse workers and the assembly lines. They demanded another $2,000 a year increase."
Moira stops pacing and looked sternly at the woman in the middle and angrily spoke through her teeth.
Moir sucks her teeth and retorted, "But I gave them enough to live off well in their economy. Tell the workers we can replace them, and if they still protest, fire them at once."
The female panicked at the response and nervously said, "Yes ma'am."
She turned off the screen and there are two figures left. Moira was scowling at the two figures and looked down at her necklace.
"Look..." she said with a sigh.
She walked over to the left silhouette and scowled at the person.
"How is the space program then?" she continued to ask the third individual.
The third voice replied, "It is progressing ahead of time with the cheap parts, we may be able-"
Moira interrupted the third person, "Ahead?! Of schedule?! Cheap parts?! What do you mean by cheap parts?! You better not have spent the money on yourself and your colleagues! I will go there and make sure you get the DAMN RIGHT PARTS!"
Moira glared at the left figure.
She screamed, "All of your finances are on record in my drives. And if I find ONE CENT MISSING FROM THAT FUNDING WHERE IT ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE!! OR YOU WILL BE FIRED!!"
The left man squeaked like a mouse and ended the call.
The man on the right said, "I guess the meeting has adjourned for today."
Moira regained her composure and smiled at the man to the right.
Moira said in elegance, "Thank you all for your arduous work. I would like to look over the sales reports sent to me by the end of the day. Now then, I have other business to address."
The right man nodded in approval and replied, "Of course, madam, and you will receive those reports today."
She looked at him, her smile glowing a bit, and said, "Have a good day."
And hung up the call. Moira goes to the fridge and makes a lox with capers and onions on thin bagels.
"My dear Ava, today was a success!" Moira said gleefully.
"Well, no, I mean you were kinda mean to the lady and the other guy...." Ava said with a concerned tone.
Moira ate a part of the lox bagel and poured a hot kettle of Earl Grey into her cup.
"Look darling, there are people who would ruin this entire operation for the rest of us. Without a proper labor force with laws, there would be no way for them to survive without us. We both created this company for those who want to learn how to feel, find a stable way of life, and arms to fall into because they trust us." said Moira.
She stirred her tea, then she sang the end of the song and transformed back into Ava. Ava looks at the lox bagel and continued to eat.
Ava said with a sly smile, "Well, at least I get to enjoy this before I have to do commissions again."
While she ate the food, Moira replied, "Yes, a rich, successful woman is still doing art commissions for the world to see, with powers only WE can take control of."
Ava drank the Earl Grey tea and exhaled in relaxation.
Exhaustingly, Ava said, "Moira, let's all just enjoy this moment of silence for like a couple of hours. Okay? I mean, you mention you needed rest, which means I need rest."
She chuckled at her joke, looking at the tea.
A couple of hours later, she was in a state of relaxation, with silence, hot tea in hand, and humming. Checking her emails on the laptop. She started working on quick commissions, started authoring her novels, and made some work calls. Ava then turned her attention to the lab deadlines and felt a sense of nostalgia when she touched a scorch mark on the table.
Ava reminisced about how she got these abilities four years ago in the same bunker. She was working on the schematics of the final testing for the first transformation suit from a small compact. They did not even make the company during that time.
But when it was time for Ava to take her medication, the diamond-shaped device activated and scorched the surrounding table. Ava reached for the diamond, and it burned her palm. Forever scarred, she looked at the device and felt her identities bonded with the device, and even heard them loud and clear.
It told her, "Wear it, and you will believe in who and whom you want to be."
Ava was still cautious, but at that moment, she was determined to risk it all. Even if it meant doing her something greater, becoming a leader within the shadows, something more. Ava grabbed the device, her eyes fell back as she could not keep focus.
Her identities had visions of their forms. The voices become beings that have shaped her mind, not having divided voices speaking all at once. They each respect each other, knowing that their voices are what Ava became a part of. A small device that she had dreamt of having since she was a child.
Who has practiced non-stop to feel the relief of freedom and escape as an alien, yet an alluring form of all beings within her mind has now become a fictional reality. An alarm blew up, and Ava snapped out of it. She woke up to find out that she was late for picking up her siblings.
"Crap!! Crap!!! Crap!!! Crap!!! Crap!!!!!" she whispers loudly, while she frantically gathered her things and stuffed them in the bag.
She gently put away her laptop and a drawing tablet.
"Hopefully, I can get there on time..." Ava said in a worrisome tone.
She revved her van to drive hurriedly through the tunnel, and disappeared into the distance.