Ava and Aphrodite: The First Human in 8000 Years (Featured)

Chapter 44: Lin and Rin

Ava lay on the cold, steel operating table. The room was one of the many engineering rooms in Aphrodite's central factory, one of the many rooms where she researched and experimented on how to fix human, and Evo bodies.

The bright light at the centre of the room made him flinch, and it was blinding enough to hide all the various grim Evo/human hybrid bodies she had cooling on the side. It seemed she'd since been desensitised to seeing dead bodies.

He felt two conflicting sensations, one was warm and caring, flicking his hair away from in front of his face and caressing his forehead in reassurance, another being a sharp but precise pain in his leg.

Aphrodite was operating on him, it turned out he'd done a pretty bad job of taking out that other Serv when he kicked it in the face, he'd dulled his pain receptors but it still hurt a bit. Having Sylvie reassure him by stroking his head certainly helped, even if it was a bit odd.

He wasn't sure why she was doing it.

He felt something clasp shut on his leg.

"Ava, I think there are modifications I can make to your body," said Aphrodite, "upon investigating it, it seems like there are a lot of physical limiters placed on your body. Did you know that?"

"Physical limiters?" Ava sat up and raised an eyebrow,

"Bolts that are cutting off parts of your body mechanisms, parts of your muscle tissue that have been drained of fluid, and some wiring has been plain chopped off. It's like the Servs found an awesome body for you, but then intentionally sabotaged it so that it wasn't working at full capacity."

"What? Why!?"

"Hm... no idea. I know who we can ask." Aphrodite put down her tools and quickly shuffled out of the room.

Sylvie helped Ava off of the table,

"Does your leg feel better now?" she asked,

Ava hopped on it,

"Good as new!"

"For a Serv built to be curious and calculating, you sure are impulsive Ava, jumping in there to fight an army of Servs like that."

"It's necessary in my line of work, being able to make snap judgements is something unique to Block-2s. You should know that, being one yourself."

"I guess, I feel like you were letting some other force making your decision for you yesterday though. A force you shouldn't really succumb to. Not as a soldier anyway."

"What force?"

Sylvie turned away, no words.

"I don't know." she said, after a beat.

Suddenly, Aphrodite smashed her way in through the door, she could be quite a bombastic character when she wanted to be.

"Ok guys, here they are!" she exclaimed. She was holding a tablet screen in her hand, inside of it were Lin and Rin. Scowling. Of course, she'd gone to get the two. They'd been left in standby in a storage cupboard for interrogation later on. Aphrodite must have turned the tablet on in advance. "These clowns will do anything I tell them to." she smiled, "including spilling any dirty secrets they've been keeping from you."

"Grrrr," Lin and Rin growled in response,

"Tell Ava why his body has physical limiters placed in it." Aphrodite didn't even wait for Ava and Sylvie to register her presence, she went straight into the interrogation. She seemed to be enjoying the power trip she'd gotten from being able to command all the Servs into doing whatever she wanted.

"Your body is a modified copy of the body that The Major uses. A Type-2 Imaginos body. It was developed to work in conjunction with Servs who are above Block-3." said Lin "Block-2 and Block-1s can't work to their maximum potential with normal Serv bodies, they need modifications. The mind and body and intrinsically linked after all.",

Rin continued the dialogue, "The extreme power behind the original body was built specifically for The Major, she's the only one who can control it properly. She's the first ever combat based Block-1, which is why we made that body for her. It just so happened it was compatible with Block-2 Hackers too. That said, you don't need access to the kind of power she has, so your body was modified to limit some of the abilities it has."

"But it's still a plus isn't it?" asked Ava,

"No, using your body in that way will put your brain into overdrive, you'll temporarily lose your ability to hack. Which is something we can't risk." said Rin,

"Just temporarily?"

"We've calculated it to be a few hours."

"If that's all it is I'm fine with modifying you Ava. Making you as strong as this mythical Major you've told me about, that sounds like it'll be an amazing feat." said Aphrodite with a smile on her face,

"No! Don't! That body is too dangerous! The Major is the only person responsible enough to be able to use that level of power." Rin growled, "and besides, hacking is a much more powerful ability, it's not something you want to compromise!"

Ava shrugged, "It's good to have the option though?"

"I said NO Ava! I'm a Block-1! You should be listening to me! What the hell is wrong with you!?" Lin was shouting, "And why the hell did you let yourself get controlled by the human!?"

"...What? Let myself get controlled?" asked Ava,

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Aphrodite,

"His mission was to capture, or kill you. But now here he is playing house with you. But... but you're a god. So he ended up succumbing."

Aphrodite looked shocked, her eyes were wide and mouth was opened. Gradually her face started to crease into a frown, "Shut up! He's not friends with me because I'm a human! Shut the hell up!" she barked, true anger in her voice,

"C-calm down Aphrodite," Ava jittered, "if what she said was true, I would've been affected when you told all the Servs to stand down yesterday. Remember?" but he wasn't. Her command didn't affect him at all, and he was trying to ignore the implications of that. It most likely hadn't been ignored by Aphrodite either, seeing as how astute she was. Neither of the two, had addressed the matter. The question was too complex, too uncomfortable, not something they wanted to deal with at the moment.

Because it made Ava question who or what he was. Which wasn't a question he wanted to ask at the moment.

"Well, either way. You're still programmed to listen to us. Ava... there's no place for you among the Servs if you're disobedient. You know that, don't you?" said Rin,

"The other Block-1s, and our originals, will cast you aside." added Lin, "or worse."

"Whatever. My target is Mother, defeating her was always my-" Ava started,

"Mother isn't a problem anymore. The Serv are facing a far worse threat now. An immediate one. That's why we need you back on Mars. The last hacking Serv." said Rin,

Ava tensed up, "...What happening on Mars?"

"A virus." the two looked at each other, "we're on the brink of extinction Ava. It's your fault, and you're the only person who can fix it."