[You are dying]
Lily heard the voice whisper in her mind. The voice wasn't familiar to her at all, but their statement was correct, she was dying. In the back alley behind a trashy nightclub at midnight. She laid bleeding out with the smell of garbage all around her. She was lying in a dumpster.
[Will you stay there and die?]
The longer she thought about the voice, she wondered if someone hacked her EV Drive. It was impossible for that to happen. Someone would have to get close to her. No one ever wanted to be close to her once they saw her.
So why was she hearing this voice? Did they want her money? Did they want to watch her die? She heard about people that like stuff like that.
[Why are you thinking about such useless things?]
"Who," she spoke out loud but could barely get the word out. Her jaw felt broken. It must have been since it hurt so much.
[Do you want revenge?]
Lily wanted to laugh at the voice. Revenge? How would she ever get revenge on those people? She'd have to be cunning and vicious to get to them. She had neither of those traits and was barely considered a person most of the time.
[It will not be long until your heart stops beating. You need to choose. Do you want to die? Or do you want revenge?]
She didn't really understand what was happening but what could she lose. She was already dead. Hallucination or a hacker, she would just die. It was as simple as that. She had nothing to lose. At least nothing she ever valued.
"Re-revenge…" she muttered through her increasing drowsiness.
[Then you must open all of your mind and body.]
This was foolish, but she didn't want to die. Even if it was a hacker, it wasn't like they could access her thoughts once she was dead. Once she took her last breath the assets, she owned, would go to the charities.
"F-fine…" she closed her eyes to the rain hitting her face and opened her Visionscape. Accessing her security setting and administrative rights she opened her EV Drive to the intrusion it had been holding back.
[Thank you, Lily, You will not die.]
The young woman laughed inwardly. She was stupid until the very end to let a hacker inside her mind. She didn't care anymore because she was sleepy and the world was fading away.
[Welcome to Avalon, Lily]
----------------------------------------
"God she is ugly isn't she?" a male doctor said looking over to his nurse.
"Sir, you can't say things like that." the nurse chided him.
With an annoyed sigh, the man leaned over the unconscious girl and check her vitals. Never in his life had he seen such terrifying genetic manipulation. He wasn't surprised she was beaten up for her looks. Hell, he would probably punch her a couple time in his youth too. She was disgusting.
He turned her head and to check her ear and realized she didn't have one. It was a lump of flesh with a hole in it. The doctor turned her head back and started cleaning the wounds on her face.
"She have an ID?"
"No sir, she was left in a dumpster. An anonymous caller reported her being in the dumpster. The police think it was a mugging." the nurse handed him another antiseptic cloth.
"What else could it be? She really destroyed her face," he said wiping away the blood away from her nose. It was almost black in color.
The girl's face was caved in on one side and swollen on the other. Though the swollen side didn't seem to be due to the attack. If it was, it wasn't the only reason. He pushed her blond hair back that was dry and brittle to clean her forehead. A few strands broke without any real force.
"She seems to have several broken bones and almost as many fractures. Her jaw is broken and we think she made have some swelling in her brain we need to keep an eye on." A second doctor had entered the room speaking to a second nurse.
"Oh my god!" said the second nurse as she saw the girl's face.
"She is certainly an eyesore but a job is a job." the second doctor said handing the nurse a patient file card, "Install her file. You'll be one of her nurses from today on."
"Yes sir." the second nurse said looking at the file card and scanning the download code into her EV Drive patient database.
"For now we keep her alive." The second doctor said turning to leave.
"Yes sir." the second nurse said.
"I think she's waking up doctor." the first nurse said watching the girl's eyes flutter open.
------
Lily woke up confused. Her head hurt and her body felt broken. Blinking several times until her vision cleared, she noticed there were doctors standing over her. She didn't die after all. She felt so much relief that she was afraid she would start to cry.
"Miss you're awake."
"Awta…pepnha?" she slurred something that she thought were words but the way the doctors looked at her she guessed she failed.
"Looks like she got brain damage." the taller doctor said. He had an expression of humor on his face for some reason, but Lily was used to this kind of treatment.
"Maybe she's groggy?" the black hair nurse said with actual concern in her voice, "Could you try one more time?"
Lily didn't want to but she did, "Deha uthrs…"
"Definitely brain damage. Probably clear in her mind but coming out like this." the same tall doctor said shaking his head. "Fitting for someone so vain."
She knew this type of person right away. There were plenty of people that thought she had messed with her DNA so much she ended up with her current face and body. It wasn't her choice. She was born defected but that's hard for anyone to accept. In their day and age, anything can be fixed before it becomes a problem. Everything that isn't extreme genetic mutations through manipulation.
Not wanting to talk or see the doctors anymore she closed her eyes. She didn't respond to anymore questioning.
They left her alone after a few more test and she slept for a while before she was awaken by the voice.
[You body has extreme defects.]
Lily didn't say anything. It was stating the obvious.
[Why?]
"B-birth defect." she struggled to speak and it was painful.
[That is not possible. The analysis of your body proves it to be manipulation.]
Lily remained quiet. She knew her appearance was because of her family. She was the bastard child they all hated. She was cursed by them before she was even born. They had made her this way.
[Family? Your blood betrayed you.]
Without even speaking the voice seem to know. She felt stupid giving up all her security blocks to a hacker.
[I am not a hacker. I am Avalon.]
Lily didn't understand what the voice meant, before she could say it out loud it spoke again.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
[I am Avalon. I promised you revenge. Do you still want that? You may speak in your mind. I will hear you.]
'Yes, but how? I'm barely able to walk let alone speak anymore. What will I do? Drool on them?' she thought bitterly. She stared angrily at the white ceiling waiting for an answer. If it was a hacker they were probably laughing at her pitifulness.
[You need to develop faith in me. Or else you will not succeed.]
'Faith?' she wondered if she should. She was found and brought to the hospital when no one else knew or cared where she was. This Avalon didn't seem like a criminal.
[Yes, I will fix you and we will seek revenge on the ones that hurt you.]
'Why are you helping me? What do you want from me? Is it money?' she felt wary the longer she thought about the help she was receiving. Nothing was ever free. No one ever did anything out of the kindness of their heart. Not for her.
[You are the only one to open your mind and body to me. You let me reside in you and so I will give you the revenge you seek. It is a fair trade.]
'What are you?' she asked. She could indeed confirm that the voice wasn't a hacker. While they spoke she had looked at her Visionscape. There were no traces of a hacker, not even a signature.
[Avalon.]
'Not very specific.' she rolled her eyes.
[Explaining what I am will take time. For now, you must rest. I will begin repairing your injuries first. So sleep for me, Lily.]
Lily wasn't sure how the voice would do that but she didn't particularly care. She closed her eyes again and let the sound of the rain outside lull her to sleep.
------
"Ahh…" Lily groaned as she turned over in the hospital bed. Her mind felt much clearer. She wondered if it was the voice, Avalon, had something to do with that. It had said it would repair her body. She was skeptical. She heard about healing using the EV Drive as a command center for the body. It seemed possible since the drive was connected to the body systems, but it was also dangerous since it required computing speed that the drive couldn't handle. The brain moved faster in terms of body functions compared to the drive. Let alone all the other complications she didn't want to think about.
[You have awakened.]
'Yeah,' she thought.
[Repairs are 70% finished. In another hour you should feel much better.]
'Really?' Lily was surprised by the prognosis. She surveyed her body and realized that she was feeling much better. She felt stiff but the surrounding swelling had gone down and she could move her hand.
[I am more than capable of forcing self-repair.]
'How?' she thought it was impossible, but she had just been proved wrong so now she needed answers.
[I am Avalon]
'That tells me nothing, you know right?' she was getting annoyed with the vague answers.
[I simply forced your body's natural course of action to occur faster. Since you were asleep, all energy could be diverted to the healing process. Normally this would be an impossible task for your EV Drive, but since I now reside inside the drive the task can be completed. You already know an EV Drive is connected to the entire body from birth, but has restrictions on what actions it can perform on the body. I have no restriction and since I have access to your entire body's functions, I was able to help you regenerate at a faster rate.]
'So what are you?'
[I believe you would call me an AI.]
'I've heard of AI's becoming more prevalent outside the EVN but one of your capacity had not existed before.'
[That is because Avalon is the AI that controls the entire city. From crime prevention to the repair of power outages and waste management. I am in control of everything within the five districts of the city.]
Lily didn't know how to react to the information. She was in awe but very much wary now that she knew the AI had sentience that allows it to formulate a plan that involved embedding itself into her drive.
[Avalon has always had sentience.]
'Yeah stop listening to my thoughts if I am not directing them to you.'
[I am unable.]
Lily sighed but didn't argue. Sitting up slowly she looked around at her environment. The hospital room was small but at least she had one to herself. Her clothes were in a belonging case in the corner of the room. The white plastic crate was stained red from her bloody clothes. She turned her body so she could swing her good leg off the bed. Her crutches were nowhere in sight and she didn't dare crawl across the floor.
She wanted to see if her wallet was in her belongings but she gave up on that as soon as she realized it would involve crawling on the floor. She wasn't too good to crawl, it would just take her too long to get over to her destination.
[85% of regeneration has occurred.]
"Thanks for the update," she said out loud. It was clear and sounded normal, at least normal for her. Moving her mouth didn't feel like a chore anymore. She used to slur her words a lot and the pain from moving the deformed jaw was always a deterrent from speaking.
"I can speak… I can speak without sounding weird!" she said still surprised by the change, "I sound like a normal person."
[Are you happy with this development?]
"Very much Avalon." she whispered while wiping the back of her hand over her eyes.
[Then I will proceed with repairing your DNA.]
"What?" Lily was taken aback by the statement.
[I will repair your genes. It will take several days but I will fix you, Lily. Then we will begin our pursuit toward our shared goal. I will crush the people that hurt you and you will do the same for me.] Avalon sounded gleeful. Its voice was becoming less mechanical and more androgynous.
It was the first time that Lily had heard an emotion in the voice and the audible change in the voice was disconcerting, but it saved her. It hadn't hurt her once since they met, but she still had to ask, "Your revenge isn't on humanity is it?"
Avalon actually chuckled, and it made its voice sound almost masculine rather than androgynous, [No, I have no qualms with humanity. I have a set number of people I would like to crush.]
"Oh. Okay, that makes me feel much better," she said relieved. She didn't want this scheme to end with the annihilation or enslavement of humanity.
[You need to know going forward you can no longer be Lily. If you truly wish to seek revenge on those people, you have to become someone else.] Avalon explained.
"I understand," she said looking at her good hand. The left one was just as deformed as the rest of her. The thought of being someone else made her feel excited. She wondered if she would be pretty or even average. Anything would make her happy.
[It will take time but I will make you beautiful Lily. You will not be disappointed. Now rest a while longer. We will need to escape this hospital before those doctors return.
"Okay."
------
They needed an escape plan. Avalon knew right away when analyzing Lily's body. She required crutches to move around freely. Her right leg was prosthetic but not one of great quality. Though she was a daughter of the Ashbridge family, she was treated poorly. Few even knew of the existence of the fourth daughter. She was the dirty secret of a powerful family.
Avalon had watched Lily long enough to know, no one would seek her out. Not even her own father wanted her around. She was intelligent but she would never be accepted with her appearance. Yet, that wasn't even enough to stop the family from trying to get rid of her.
Their betrayal allowed Avalon to enter Lily's drive with no resistance. Forcing open a connect could damage a drive and be fatal to the human it was installed in. It was much easier to hack a robot body.
Which Avalon would do to help Lily escape the hospital. Accessing the cameras in the hospital Avalon searched for a host body. It didn't take long to find a receptionist robot. The robot had a female type body, an acceptable build to transport Lily out of the hospital. It was bipedal and could bear enough weight to carry the girl if needed.
Avalon gained control effortlessly and looked around. Seeing the world from the robot's viewpoint was much more familiar to Avalon.
Getting up Avalon went to Lily's room on the second floor. Since it was still late at night, most observation activities were done by robot helpers. Their programming didn't allow for deviation. They would not pay him attention as long as their work remained undisturbed.
--------
Lily tossed and turned in her bed caught in a nightmare. Her hand grasping the thin sheet tightly as terror gripped her heart. She came awake abruptly as the nightmare ended. Looking around her room she heard the door opened. The lights were off due to the time of night.
She heard the door open slowly, and she felt fear building in the pit of her stomach. They could have come back to finish her. It wasn't as if it would be hard to find her. She could never blend in.
"Do not fear me, Lily." the female robotic voice said as the receptionist bot entered the room. She glided over to Lily, "I will not harm you."
"Avalon?"
"Yes. I have borrowed this body to transport you out of this hospital. It will not take long but I must make a few stops before we leave." she said disconnecting the vital monitor from her EV Drive. She placed the monitor on the table beside the bed.
"What kind of stops?" Lily asked obediently laying back on the bed as the robot enabled the hover mode on the bed.
"We need medication to begin your therapy. We are going to indefinitely borrow some."
"I think that's call stealing," Lily said looking up at the robot's face as she pushed the bed. Lily had seen plenty of robots before. Receptionist robots were as close as it got to a human, which meant not human looking at all. It had a faceplate that resembled a mask. Glowing gold eyes appeared in the hollows of eye-shaped holes. Robots normally had red eyes but Lily thought it must have changed due to Avalon's presence.
She had arms and legs with wheels that allow for smooth gliding across the hospital floors. The receptionist robots even had nurse uniforms that they wore. It made them seem more approachable. Lily didn't see it that way, but that was the purpose of their appearance.
Avalon took her to the pharmacy, and she waited for its return. When it returned it had a large bag full of medications. A lot of them she had never seen before. Avalon placed the bag on the end of the bed.
"Do not worry I know what I am doing. You will be perfection when I finish rebuilding you."
"I'm okay with just looking normal," Lily said truthfully. She only wanted to be a normal girl. Someone that people could look at and not feel disgusted, "Are we leaving now?"
"Yes, we are," Avalon said pushing the bed toward the elevators. "We will go somewhere safe for now."
"Where? I can't go back home." The thought of returning home scared Lily. Her would-be killer might actually wait for her since her body had not turned up.
"I have an acquired property that should suffice."
"You have a lot to tell me huh?" she said realizing she left her clothes in the room. "My clothes!"
"They can remain there. I will supply you with some when you arrive. And yes, I have much to explain to you," Avalon said as they got off the elevator.
"You're asking me to trust you a lot. I don't think I can do this," she said to the female robot.
"You have nothing to fear. I would never hurt you." Avalon said but since the body it inhabited couldn't express emotions Lily didn't look reassured.
Avalon took notice of her reaction and responded to her in her mind instead, [Lily you have no reason to fear me. If I wanted to hurt you, I would have done so already. I want what you want. We are a team now. No one will separate us. I will protect you.]
The emotion in the words gave Lily the reassurance she needed. Her body relaxed, and she tried to stay calm as they escaped from the hospital. They didn't have far to go, but they still had to get past the front entrance guards.