67
Chapter 67
A Darker Path
Part Sixty-Seven: Ongoing Revelations
[A/N: This chapter beta-read by Lady Columbine of Mystal.]
A Little Earlier, At Eagleton Base
The troopers were edgy, understandably so. While the Machines that had followed me out of the quarantine area only made up a relatively small fraction of the whole (even though some of them were carrying the broken bodies of their fellows), the fact remained that they were now outside the walls and most of them were armed with weaponry that would require partial disassembly to remove from them. The leash I held over them wasn't immediately apparent, so the troopers couldn't see why the Machines weren't just trying to attack in all directions at once.
Lieutenant-Colonel Briggs, now down from the wall, moved up alongside me. He had to be feeling distinctly uncomfortable with the proximity to so many Machines that would've cheerfully eviscerated him and used his guts for spare parts not so long ago, but to give him credit, he wasn't showing it. At least, not blatantly.
"How in God's name did you do that?" His tone edged between fear, respect and disbelief. "Are there any left inside?"
I chose to ignore the initial question, as I'd already mentioned how I'd do it: with Panache and Style. "Not alive. There'll be any amount of wreckage that you'll be wanting to secure, but there are no Machines inside the wall that are remotely functional. Some have been separated from their power sources and could technically be able to boot up again, but I wouldn't advise it. They'll come out of it just as murderous as these ones would've been if I hadn't shown them the error of their ways. Isn't that right, boys?"
Those that could, nodded the parts of their mechanical anatomy that most resembled heads. Others buzzed confirmation. Not all replied, but enough did that the answer was clear. This didn't make him look any more thrilled than he was before.
However, I'd given him important information, so he acted on it. "Captain! Organise a complete sweep of the interior! Have the men disable any Machines they see, and retrieve any processing units for study!"
"Sir, yes, sir!" The captain began barking orders.
Briggs turned back to me. "Okay, answer me this. Why aren't they attacking if they're still murderous?"
"Because their processing architecture follows a hierarchy of priority, with the level of some priorities informing how others are ranked." I paused to make sure he was following this. "Survival is a big one, and because increasing their numbers improves the survival rate of the whole, that's also up there. Now, because they've been in conflict with humans almost from the beginning, 'kill all humans' is a priority that's entwined with survival and propagation, and thus elevated along with both of them."
"Is it me, or is that very human-like?" He didn't sound like he appreciated the idea, but there it was.
I smiled under the mask. "Oh, it's no coincidence. Survival, reproduction and killing anything that threatens them are common urges for just about every lifeform ever. Anyway, when I came along, I demonstrated that attempting to kill me only resulted in getting them killed. I offered another option that would lead to survival: 'surrender'. The ones you see before you managed to link 'surrender' closely to 'survival', so it ended up at the top of the priority list, above all the others. Increasing their numbers and murdering humans have been de-emphasised, mainly because attempting either one would be directly counterproductive to their immediate survival. But if I took my thumb off the scales and walked away right now? Those old calculations would come straight back into play."
"I presume you're not going to do that." His tone of voice said quite plainly, 'I hope you're not going to do that'.
"Nope. Dragon should be here soon. They've already contacted her regarding accepting reprogramming in return for being allowed to live. Their 'murder humans' directive will be removed altogether, and the other survival priorities reshuffled. Some of them are going to require an individual touch, which I could totally do, but I'd rather delegate that to the expert." I took out my phone. "What I am going to do is lay the groundwork."
While he watched curiously, I called up the sound file I'd previously prepared. Holding up my phone above my head, I let it play. With the volume turned to max, even the ones at the back could hear it clearly. Fifteen seconds later, it was done; I put the phone away again and surveyed the Machines, who somehow managed to look subtly more relaxed than before.
This had served to negate the Panache virus (it would look bad if the robots started accidentally blowing up just because they lost contact with their fellow Machines), turn 'murder humans' into 'treat all people, including other robots, with respect' and instil a prohibition against counter-hacking Dragon. The rest of the heavy lifting I'd leave to Dragon, because why do it myself when she could do it better?
"And that's it?" asked Briggs. "All we had to do was play the right sounds to them, and they'd behave?" Every inch of his posture screamed 'there has to be something else going on here'.
"You're right," I said not unkindly, responding to his unspoken words. "There is a lot more to it than that, which I'm not going to go into right now. But you can take it as a given that everything I've done here over the last twenty-four hours led up to that moment. The threat of the Machine Army is now Ended." I looked around and pointed. "And here comes Dragon, right on time."
"So … what do we do with them?" He spread his hands, the dilemma in his expression echoed in his words. "If the Tinker who made them is dead, who's responsible for them?"
"Well," I said, putting one hand on my hat and raising my voice as Dragon came in for a landing with a shriek of jets. "You can talk to Dragon about that, but I suspect Brockton Bay might be interested in a bunch of construction-capable self-aware self-maintaining Tinkerbots! They'd have to be paid a living wage, the same as everyone else, of course!" The jets cut out as the dragon feet touched down on the helipad, and I waved. "Hi, Dragon. Nice to see you again."
"Hello, Atropos." Dragon sounded amused. "I see you've managed to upset the social order yet again. Did you put them up to contacting me?"
"Nope, that was all their idea, after I told them that if they surrendered and submitted to reprogramming, they'd get to live." I gestured toward the ragtag survivors of Eagleton. "It seems they decided to go with the best. Just by the way, I've pulled their teeth. No counter-hacking permitted."
"Well, that'll make things a lot simpler. I appreciate it. Do I even want to know how you managed to pull this off and make such a wreck of the quarantine zone?" The draconic face was expressive enough to raise eyebrows, which I thought was a nice touch.
"Depends." I grinned. "Are you prone to nightmares?"
"On second thought, I'd prefer not to know." Dragon turned her attention to the colonel. "Lieutenant-Colonel Briggs, it's a pleasure to meet you. I shouldn't be too long. Did you have any questions or concerns before I commence the reprogramming?"
I turned away from them, making sure that nobody had a clear view of my hands. My threatscape was showing that I was under surveillance by members of Cauldron; the ones glaring most plainly were Doctor Mother (neither a doctor nor a mother) and Contessa (who was, oddly enough, not an Italian countess). Legend and Alexandria were there too, but they were respectively ambivalent and approving of my actions, so I could barely pick them out. Giving the camera the finger would've been ambiguous at best (and I had nothing against Legend or Alexandria) so I went one step further, my power guiding my hands through a rapid-fire sequence of something I vaguely recognised as deaf-mute sign language to get my 'fuck you' across to just those two.
By the time I was done (it only took ten seconds or so), Dragon and Briggs were in consultation about the disposition of the Machines once she was done with them. With a certain amount of amusement, I heard him repeat my comment about Brockton Bay almost verbatim. I was pretty sure I could depend on her to get that sorted out.
Which was a good thing, because right about then, my power pinged me about Cherie. She wasn't in danger, specifically, but she was stuck without any good options. Either she broke the rules I'd set for her, or she ended up in an attention-getting situation.
She'd been doing really well, and I didn't want to endanger that progress now, so I moved closer to Briggs and Dragon. "You've got this covered?"
"We do," Dragon agreed. "You're going?" She sounded mildly disappointed.
"You know how it is." I gave her a casual salute, two fingers to the brim of my hat. "Places to go, people to threaten. Toodles!"
The timer that I'd previously set, not knowing what would be going on at that point, ticked down and the portal formed behind me. I stepped backward into it, and found myself in the bathroom at home. Downstairs, I heard Alan Barnes' voice yelling through the front door.
I started shedding my costume as quickly as I knew how; at the same time, I reached into the shower cubicle and turned it on full force. Giving Cherie just enough time to hear it, I shoved the door shut and finished disrobing, then got under the shower. I knew she'd be coming up in a moment, so I concentrated on getting the smell of gunshot residue off my skin as fast as possible.
When she knocked on the door, I was already out of the cubicle, reaching for the towel. As I did so, I noted the clothing I'd left neatly folded on the washbasin that morning. I'd wondered briefly at the time why I was doing it, then shrugged and decided that my power knew best. Now I knew.
Time to End this particular problem.
A Little Later
Danny
Gravel crunched under the wheels of the car as Danny pulled it up into the driveway. He set the parking brake and killed the engine, but didn't unclip his seatbelt immediately. Instead, he closed his eyes and relaxed back into the seat, letting out a long heartfelt sigh as he relaxed completely for what felt like the first time that day. Even the best work crew occasionally had one of those days, and for the massed work crews across Brockton Bay, this had been the day.
Nothing had gone quite so badly that he'd been unable to avert disaster or bring new resources online in time, but it had come close in a few instances. His multitasking had been pushed hard; there had been several fraught moments where he was the only one who knew exactly what was going on. But they'd listened to him and followed his directives, and order had arranged itself out of chaos once more.
None of the chaos had been deliberate, as far as he could tell. He honestly doubted anyone would be so blindly moronic as to enlist as a saboteur in a project underwritten by Atropos herself. But incompetence and bad luck could add up to a perfect storm capable of outdoing any mere enemy action, as it had almost done today.
There were a few people out there who'd be reporting for retraining, while some others were going to be riding the blister end of a shovel for the moment. It was a pity he couldn't deal with Murphy's Law in the same way.
He chuckled to himself as an absurd thought crossed his mind. I wonder what Taylor would say if I asked her to shoot Murphy in the back of the head. It was a pleasant notion, but one he wasn't going to dwell on. The best way to avert bad luck was to plan for all contingencies. It was that simple.
Drawing in a deep breath, he let it out, then undid his seatbelt and opened the car door. I wonder what's for dinner?
Climbing out of the car, he locked the door behind him and headed around to the back door. His key was about to enter the lock when it clicked open from inside, the door swinging aside to reveal Taylor standing there. "Hi, Dad. Did you have a good day?"
"Hi, Danny," Cherie greeted him from in front of the stove. "Taylor and I made pasta. I think you'll like it."
He took a deep, appreciative sniff. Air redolent with delicious aromas made his mouth begin to water. "I think I will, too. My day was interesting. How about yours?"
Taylor gave him a brief hug, then went to the cutlery drawer and started to set the table. "I had a pretty good day. I managed to salvage two hundred and seventy-three members of the Machine Army when I blitzed them."
Cherie gave the pasta a stir. "You forgot the bit where Emma and her parents showed up and gave me a heart attack." She turned to Danny. "Mr Barnes didn't know who I was, so he started yelling through the door. I had no idea what to do."
Danny stopped halfway through removing his coat. "What happened?" Taylor wasn't angry and Cherie was doing okay, so it couldn't have been too bad … could it? His brain immediately began to conjure a dozen different ways that it could've gone really badly indeed.
"Cherie had it totally under control." Taylor went to Cherie and gave her a side-hug. "Soon as I realised what was up, I came back, and we pretended that I'd been in the shower. Long story short, they'd come over to apologise for what Emma had been up to. I mean, Emma's already said sorry a dozen times so it wasn't really a thing for me, but it seemed to make them feel better so I went along with it."
Cherie stuck out her tongue at Taylor. "I totally did not have it under control, but Taylor got there in time so it was all good. But you should've seen the look of horror on their faces when Emma started going all evangelical to Taylor about the cult. And what makes it funnier is that she knows perfectly well that Taylor and Atropos are the same person."
"It was kinda funny, yeah," Taylor agreed. "I'm actually thinking that she did it to stick it to her parents after they dragged her over here, seeing how she's already apologising to me in her own way." She rolled her eyes. "Even though I don't give a shit anymore, so long as she stays out of my way."
"But they did apologise?" Danny nodded. "That's good. I'm glad Alan's still a stand-up guy." Despite their different backgrounds, they'd been friends for years. It was totally on Alan and Zoe that they hadn't noticed the changes in Emma's behaviour, but this would go a long way toward making things right again.
"Oh, they absolutely apologised." Taylor got out three plates and put them on the table. "Both of them were so embarrassed they wanted to sink through the floorboards, but I was gracious as hell and told them I was happy it was over and I could move on. Emma also said sorry—again—which I accepted, then wagged my finger at her and told her not to do it again. Alan and Zoe thought I was just trying to lighten the situation." She grinned. "Emma knew better."
"They were both so goddamn relieved when they walked out of here," Cherie chimed in. "Probably glad it was over, more than anything else."
"And that we weren't suing their asses back to the stone age." Taylor raised her eyebrows. "Mr Barnes totally thinks that way."
"He does," Danny confirmed. "Well, I'm glad you handled it okay. Also, congratulations on Eagleton. You think we'll get many of them in Brockton Bay?" Taylor had assured him that any robots she salvaged from that situation would be perfectly safe around humans, and he knew better than to second-guess her in matters like that.
"Probably most, if not all." Taylor sounded sure of herself. "I figure they'll be a real asset to the Committee."
And that was good enough for Danny. Hanging his coat up beside the door, he went to wash up for the meal. Another day of work was done, and it was time for family.
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Topic: I Did a Thing
In: Boards ► Brockton Bay ► New Capes ► Atropos
Atropos (Original Poster) (Banned) (You Wish) (UnVerified Cape) (Can Actually Kill Anything) (Yes, Really) (Watch Me) (Verified Dethpicable)
Posted On Mar 3rd 2011:
Hello once more to my fellow Brocktonites!
It's been a busy week so far, but you all knew that. Ever since the work crews broke ground on Sunday, they've been working around the clock. We still don't have all the rosters filled, or even partly so, but the numbers are gradually rising as people complete their training courses.
I want to shout out to everyone who's putting their all into this project. You are the ones dragging our tired, tattered city into the twenty-first century, and you deserve to feel proud of yourselves.
I also want to mention the capes who are in there on the front lines, shoulder to shoulder with everyone else. Safety glasses instead of domino masks, hardhats instead of helmets, high-vis instead of spandex. I know it feels weird, but you can do it, guys and girls. I have faith in you.
Kudos to Alexandria, Legend and Bastion for coming to Brockton Bay and clearing out the Boat Graveyard. Thanks, guys. I knew I could count on you.
Also, whoever put that mural on the southern overpass is a genius. I love it.
But the more perceptive of you will be wondering why I'm making this post if I'm just going to talk about the Betterment project and how it's going. We can all see how it's going (amazeballs), so this isn't really news to you.
Now for the real news.
On Monday, I was approached by certain people *cough*PRT*cough* and asked if I could maybe possibly do something about the Eagleton quarantine zone, just like I went and de-goblined the Goblin Kingdom. They had a point; the Machine Army has been giving AIs a bad name ever since they took Eagleton over and killed a bunch of people. I mean, wow, how tacky and cliche'd is that?
So, on Tuesday I dropped in to the Eagleton zone and had a chat with them. I carefully explained that they were now on notice, and that they had twenty-four hours to surrender and submit to reprogramming or be used as spare parts for the world's biggest toaster oven, or something equally horrific. They presented a counter-argument, I killed one of them, and we parted ways with a better understanding of each other's point of view.
On Wednesday ... I went back. And they were having a civil war.
(I will never understand that term. A 'civil war' is anything but civil, just saying.)
It was the never-surrender versus the humans-still-suck versus the no-reprogramming versus the we-surrender crowd. There were bits of robots EVERYWHERE.
So, I went in there and blew up anything that had chosen not to surrender, and walked out with the survivors, while the holdouts blew up in place. Have some footage [here], courtesy of the PRT.
How did I manage that? With panache and style. Mwahahaha.
So now, the last remnants of the Machine Army have been defanged. We rewarded them for being able to deliberately overcome their murderous impulses by removing those impulses and giving them a second chance at life.
No, their brains haven't been wiped all the way. As I said to Lieutenant-Colonel Briggs of the PRT, that's just killing them with extra steps, and killing someone who's surrendered to me is not my style. Bad precedent, right there. Dragon and I just told them to respect people (and each other) and to give a thought to following the law.
So anyway, the end result? We might soon have some Robotic Americans joining the Betterment Committee workforce, earning the same kind of living wage as everyone else. Yes, I trust them that much. And yes, everyone who chooses to work gets paid enough to live on.
Over to you wonderful people.
Toodles!
(Showing page 1 of 59)
►Bagrat (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Mar 3rd 2011:
Well. Holy shit.
I really shouldn't be surprised, not after the Bin Chicken of Doom and Nilbog, but this actually did take me by surprise.
She really went into Eagleton with a bullhorn and gave them a warning. And then she came back twenty-four hours later, and *somehow* blew up two-ton robots with single shots from what I'm reliably informed is a stock standard nine-millimeter pistol. And then the ones who refused to surrender just self-destructed while she walked out with the ones who were good with that.
Like with everything else she does, I both want to know how she pulled that off, and really, really don't want to know.
Bottom line, the PRT can now close the second quarantine zone in a matter of days (well, third after Madison, following the Great Duck Hunt). As I understand things, the Betterment Committee will be getting ten percent of the projected PRT budget for both those zones over the next ten years, while 90% can be resumed into the budget.
The bean-counters have *got* to be happy about that, just saying.
As for Robotic Americans, why the hell not? Let's see what happens.
Whoof. God damn.
►Reave (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied On Mar 3rd 2011:
It should come as little surprise to anyone that what Atropos is saying is essentially true. An offer was made to her, parallel to the one made for Ellisburg, to deal with the Machine Army once and for all.
The offer was made on Monday, she warned them Tuesday, and made good on the warning Wednesday. There are two hundred and seventy-three survivors that surrendered directly to Atropos and have since been reprogrammed by Dragon, and that we have been reliably informed are entirely safe to be around.
I have not been authorized to confirm or deny the eventual disposition of the surviving remnants. However, I *have* viewed the Quarantine Zone, and it bears all the hallmarks of being a warzone.
Once the observation period is over and we're sure there are no more Machines ready to start this whole thing over again, the Eagleton zone will be shut down once and for all.
►BearWithAnAxe
Replied On Mar 3rd 2011:
So does this mean Atropos will be acquiring a robotic sidekick?
►24HrCoffeeBreak
Replied On Mar 3rd 2011:
If only to record, play music on command, and say things like "Ohhhhh burrrrrn!"
►DevilishDogz
Replied On Mar 3rd 2011:
Oh, man, that footage was intense. Gotta love the classic action movie walk followed by explosions.
►BrickFrog (Verified Concern Troll)
Replied On Mar 3rd 2011:
Wait, so the Machine Army is coming *here*? To Brockton Bay?
Do you have any idea how many people those murderbots have, well, murdered?
And you're talking about just letting them walk free here, to do whatever they want?
All due respect, but are you people INSANE?
►Atropos (Original Poster) (Banned) (You Wish) (UnVerified Cape) (Can Actually Kill Anything) (Yes, Really) (Watch Me) (Verified Dethpicable)
Replied On Mar 3rd 2011:
BrickFrog:
Yes, I know exactly how many people have died to the Machine Army.
I also know exactly how many people they will murder now. That number is 'zero'.
Because when I say the problem of the Machine Army is Ended, it is Ended.
I also know that you don't truly believe what you're saying, that you're trying to rouse public sentiment over this because you can, and because you don't want one of 'those things' coming to Brockton Bay and taking a job that you might want someday.
I hereby dub thee Sir Concern Troll.
►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Mar 3rd 2011:
Jesus Christ, BrickFrog. Take a fucking hint.
If Atropos says it's okay, it's okay.
►BrickFrog (Verified Concern Troll)
Replied On Mar 3rd 2011:
You don't tell me what to do.
Okay, fine, Atropos, we all know you could murder me in my sleep, and you can pull that bullshit with the tags all day long. But let's get serious here. If you can deal with the quarantine zones so easily, why haven't you already? Or are you scared?
End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 57, 58, 59
(Showing page 2 of 59)
►TeamMom (Senior Moderator)
Replied On Mar 3rd 2011:
Okay, I'm shutting this down right now.
BrickFrog, have a permaban.
Atropos, please don't murder the idiots.
►Atropos (Original Poster) (Banned) (You Wish) (UnVerified Cape) (Can Actually Kill Anything) (Yes, Really) (Watch Me) (Verified Dethpicable)
Replied On Mar 3rd 2011:
No, it's good. He doesn't need to be banned. I'm not about to murder a guy who literally lives in his mom's basement, not unless he's building a nuke there too. Though seriously, BrickFrog, you could stand to do some cobwebbing. That corner up behind your computer chair is seriously grungy.
Besides, I don't want this to just become a hugbox or an echo chamber. Alternate views are welcome. How else will I be able to shoot them down?
►GstringGirl (Verified Human)
Replied On Mar 3rd 2011:
Well, I just want to say that I owe Atropos more or less everything. She helped change my life *so* much for the better.
Thank you.
►TheRealGloryGirl (Verified Cape) (Cape Daughter) (New Wave Member)
Replied On Mar 3rd 2011:
Wow, dang. Maybe we should rename BrickFrog to CricketFrog. That shut him up but good.
Also, Atropos, I know we've had our differences in the past but kudos for ganking the Machine Army.
So, do you think you'll be hitting the other Quarantine Zones any time soon? (I might have made a bet with my sister).
►TheRealPanacea (Verified Cape) (Cape Daughter) (New Wave Member)
Replied On Mar 3rd 2011:
Hey, no prompting her!
►Atropos (Original Poster) (Banned) (You Wish) (UnVerified Cape) (Can Actually Kill Anything) (Yes, Really) (Watch Me) (Verified Dethpicable)
Replied On Mar 3rd 2011:
Well, I had no real plans. They don't threaten my city, I don't go kicking over their sandcastle. Ellisburg and Eagleton were strictly a matter of 'I End this problem, the Betterment Committee gets money out of it'. Nothing personal, just business. (Before anyone gets any ideas, I will not be accepting money to kill anybody who's a net positive to society. Ask Ravioli how that went.)
►PRTChiefDirectorCostaBrown (Verified PRT Chief Director)
Replied On Mar 3rd 2011:
Very well.
Following consultation with the highest levels of my organization, I am offering you the same deal as with Eagleton and Ellisburg.
How quickly can you clear out the remaining Quarantine Zones?
►Atropos (Original Poster) (Banned) (You Wish) (UnVerified Cape) (Can Actually Kill Anything) (Yes, Really) (Watch Me) (Verified Dethpicable)
Replied On Mar 3rd 2011:
Well, *now* we're talking.
*cracks knuckles*
*pops neck*
*sharpens shears*
*racks the slide on my good friend Mr Pump Action Shotgun*
Ahem.
Gary, Indiana and Gallup, New Mexico: All villains have twenty-four hours to either vacate the premises or surrender to the nearest authorities (or both). Yes, Hideout, that means you too.
Freedom, California: Pastor, you *will* let your people go and turn yourself in to the PRT. If you haven't done this in twenty-four hours, I'm going to come over there, kill your powers, and nail you to a fucking big cross with big fuck-off nails. You know I'll do it.
Flint, Michigan: You know who you are. Cut that shit out. Don't make me come over there. Twenty-four hours.
There, done. You know where to wire the money.
►24HrCoffeeBreak
Replied On Mar 3rd 2011:
*blink blink* What just happened?
►UnconcernedFox
Replied On Mar 3rd 2011:
*crams popcorn into their mouth as fast as possible*
*THIS IS SO EXCITING*
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4 ... 57, 58, 59
Red Hands Current Base
Tattletale
Lisa sat back from the laptop, her head spinning with the implications. "Holy fuck. She actually did it."
"Who actually did what?" asked Getaway, turning away from the fridge with a pudding cup in hand. "Or don't I want to know?"
"Atropos just gave the villains in the other quarantine zones their marching orders." Lisa snapped her fingers. "Pack it in within the next twenty-four hours, or they're dead." If they had the slightest amount of common sense, she knew which way they'd jump.
Getaway knew better than to ask if Atropos could actually pull that off. He just leaned back against the bench while he dug in the drawer for a spoon. "What, even Eagleton?"
"Oh, shit, you haven't heard? She blew up Eagleton this afternoon. Killed off most of the Machine Army. Got Dragon in to reprogram the ones that chose to surrender to her." Lisa called up a still frame from the PRT footage Atropos had thoughtfully provided, and spun the laptop around.
Getaway leaned closer to look. "Okay, yeah, that's impressive. Remind me to talk to Rook in the morning."
"What about?" Lisa turned the laptop around again and started to scroll down through the comments, still listening with half an ear to her teammate.
"Making absolutely certain we don't do anything to end up on Atropos' radar."
Which exactly paralleled Lisa's thoughts on the matter.
PRT Housing
Miss Medic
"And lo," intoned Aisha, trying unsuccessfully to hide a grin, "all across the land, great amounts of bricks were shat, for Atropos had intoned the fateful words—"
She broke off there, because Riley's giggling had infected her and she couldn't talk anymore. As she lay back across her bed cackling, Riley stuck her finger in the air. With some effort, she managed to hold off on her giggles long enough to speak. "And those words were, 'don't make me come over there'. And everyone who had half a brain listened, and lo, they did not make her come over there." She joined in with Aisha's mirth then, holding her sides because it hurt to laugh so hard.
A moment later, the bedroom door opened, and Brian leaned in. "Okay, I know I'm going to regret asking this, but why exactly are you laughing your heads off at ten after midnight?"
"S-sorry." Riley tried to get herself back under control, and mostly succeeded. "Atropos did something, and we were making jokes about it."
"Right. Well, I'll be taking this." Brian gathered up Aisha's laptop from her bed. "Get to sleep. You've got school in the morning."
Aisha crossed her eyes and poked out her tongue as he left the room, switching out the light on the way. "Spoilsport."
Riley grinned. If she knew Brian, he'd be checking the laptop. And when he did …
"What the FUCK?"
Aisha and Riley started laughing all over again.
End of Part Sixty-Seven