I leaned down, spitting toothpaste into the sink before looking back up at myself in the mirror. I was feeling… oddly good this morning. Maybe it was just lingering feelings from last night, but I just couldn’t keep a smile off my face, and that smile was reflected on the girl in the mirror. Remembering that connection I shared with Brianna for those scant few moments sent sparks shooting through my belly. We had to do that again sometime.
But, that wasn’t all that had me giddy this morning. There were marks on my neck; dark round bruises in all the spots that Brianna had focused her mouth on. Actual, physical remnants of our activities. It felt almost like proof that it hadn’t all been a wonderful dream like last time. I couldn’t stop staring and running my fingers over them. They would probably go away in about a week, like most bruises, but until then I was going to enjoy every second of them I could. Maybe after that, Brianna could give me some more…?
I really shouldn’t get my hopes up. While Brianna said that she’d like to, who knew if I’d even be allowed? If Father found out about what I did last night, I’d probably be in a ton of trouble. He might forbid me from talking to her.
I desperately hoped that wouldn’t be the case. Sex aside, Brianna was a great friend, and I didn’t want to lose her.
As if summoned by my thoughts alone, the door to my quarters slid open, and Father stepped inside. I watched him approach through the mirror, gripping the sink and steeling myself for whatever punishment was to come.
“You returned to the facility quite late last night,” he said without preamble.
I turned around, trying to think of a reply. Before I could get any words out, however, Father gently grabbed my chin and tilted my head up. My stomach tightened. I knew exactly what he was looking for.
“You have hickeys,” Father muttered. He released my chin. “You’ve been intimate with someone.”
Intimate? Well, yes, I supposed sex was quite an intimate act. I swallowed down my fear, clenching my fists by my sides. “Y-yes.”
He tilted his head slightly. “Did you have sex?”
I sucked in a breath. “Yes.”
His voice dropped, becoming darker; more dangerous. “Did you remove your helmet in front of them?”
Oh god.
“Brianna’s blind. I- I figured it would be okay because she wouldn’t see my face anyway.”
Father slapped me. The sting on my cheek reverberated through my whole body and I tensed up, waiting for the next strike. It never came.
“It was not your place to make that decision, Seven. Your orders were to never remove your helmet in public, regardless of any technicalities.”
I clenched my teeth, looking down. “S-sorry, sir.”
“I’m barring you from the mess hall for four days effective immediately. If I hear any reports of you trying to acquire food elsewhere, you will be spending any remaining days in the penalization room.”
I pursed my lips, trying not to let it get to me too badly. Four days wasn’t that bad. Sure, I was already feeling the rumbles of hunger in my stomach, but I was sure I’d be able to persevere. Frankly, it was a lot less punishment than I deserved for such a flagrant breach of the rules. Father must’ve been in a good mood. “Yes, sir.”
Father observed me for a few seconds before speaking again. “That aside, this little loophole you found could prove useful to our goals. Thanks to her blindness, you are able to maintain a more intimate relationship with Brianna Moore than any other Union hero, which could be a shortcut in getting them all to trust you. I permit you to continue your relations with her. However, should I hear that you removed your helmet in front of any other hero, there will be grave consequences. Do you understand?”
My heart raced in my chest. This was way more than I could have hoped for. “Yes, I understand. Thank you, Father.”
He nodded. “Finish getting ready. You have patrol today.”
“Yes, sir,” I replied. With that, Father turned and left me alone in my quarters. My stomach rumbled loudly.
Getting through these next few days without food was definitely gonna suck, but I could manage. It was a small price to pay for getting to keep being friends with Brianna. Besides, this proved that it really didn’t matter that I took my helmet off, so long as no one saw my face. He was just upset that I broke the rules. If it was actually important, he’d have punished me much more harshly. I still didn’t understand why I had to hide my face, though. I really needed to talk to Vivienne, like Brianna said. She’d know the answer. She seemed to be smart like that. I just needed to make sure I was careful with how I talked about it to her, to make sure Father didn’t pick up on it too much through the footage.
I went to grab my tanktop so I could slip out of my sleep clothes and get dressed, but it wasn’t where it should’ve been.
Oh, of course. I left it in the laundry room, hanging out to dry after being washed. Better go pick it up.
—
Andreas sat at the desk in his facility office, going through his morning emails while reflecting on the interaction he’d just had with G-7. He’d already known about the sex, obviously. Checking in on G-7’s camera feed only to find it staring at a floor, with moans reverberating through the speakers, was more than enough to make that clear. It was good that she was honest about it, though. It showed that she was still pretty firmly under his control. A little bit of give to the Union was to be expected in this mission, and trying to fight it would only make things more difficult. He had also noticed that G-7 hadn’t been cutting her hair recently. Ordinarily, he would’ve called her out on it, but… Given that it wouldn’t be that long before her usefulness ran out, he figured there wasn’t any harm in indulging her. After all: happy subject, happy… Well, whatever.
That setback at the door to the Godling’s prison was quite annoying, though. His lovely, family-name-betraying second cousin Siobhan had demonstrated quite handily that simply gaining their trust wasn’t going to further his goals at all. Clearly, the Union heroes didn’t make a habit of checking on the Godling, and as such, G-7 wouldn’t be able to slip inside Its prison no matter how much they liked her. He needed a new plan…
The door opened and Sadler poked his head in; a frantic look in his eyes.
“Sorry for the interruption, sir, but… Mr. Beaumond is here, and… there’s a bit of a problem.”
—
“Beaumond, what are you doing?! Let go of her!”
A small crowd of scientists had formed in the corridor, watching the scene unfold as they looked between each other with uncertainty. Beaumond spared a glance at Andreas from his place throttling G-7 against the wall, but quickly focused back on his victim. “Oh hey, Andy. Don’t mind me, just working off some steam.”
He wrung his hands together tighter and G-7 gurgled, scratching and kicking at him as her face turned pink. Andreas charged forward and tightly grabbed Beaumond’s wrist.
“I said let go of her! Do you realise what you’re doing?! You’re going to kill her!”
“Oh, relax. I’m just having a little fun. Worse comes to worst, you just pop out another subject and train her up again. It’s no big deal!”
Taking a closer look, Andreas could see just how bloodshot Beaumond’s eyes were; how heavy the bags underneath them hung. If Andreas had to bet, he’d say Sebastian hadn’t slept a wink last night. But how in God’s name did that translate to strangling his subject?!
“It is a big deal, you fool! Don’t you think people would ask questions if she just up and disappeared? How am I supposed to explain that to the rest of the police?”
“Oh, don’t give me that bullshit, Andreas. Don’t pretend for even two seconds that any of this is about the fucking police. I told you, I know what you’re really after.”
That same cold dread from the night of the investors’ party settled into Andreas’ gut. He’d never uttered his true goal to anyone, but somehow he knew with certainty that Beaumond was telling the truth. There was something frightening about the deep, dark deadness of his eyes that made Andreas think Beaumond knew more about everything than anyone could predict right now. Regardless, he needed to put a stop to this, or his prized subject was going to die.
He clenched his fists. “If you know what I’m really after, then surely you can understand how killing Jordyn might cause a bit of a setback in those plans?! The Union isn't going to just not notice that she’s disappeared now that she’s one of them.”
Beaumond looked at him, an unimpressed expression on his face. He sighed. “Fine.”
He turned and finally released G-7’s neck, effectively throwing her to the ground. She coughed and sputtered, wheezing in lungfuls of air as she ineffectually scrabbled across the floor, trying to get away from Beaumond.
“...But,” Beaumond continued. “That doesn’t mean I’m not gonna get my money’s worth. Keeping the lights on around here costs a lot, after all. Don’t try to stop me this time.”
Before Andreas could say anything, Beaumond had already dropped to his knees, flipped G-7 onto her back, straddled her, and began beating her face in. She tried to cover up, but Beaumond just grabbed both of her wrists in one hand and held them against the floor above her as he continued his onslaught.
Andreas stood paralysed, watching the scene unfold. He was certainly no stranger to handing out punishments when G-7 deserved them, but she hadn’t done anything, least of all to Beaumond. As far as Andreas knew, they hadn’t even seen each other since the party. Did he really just come all the way here because he was in a bad mood and needed a punching bag? If that was the case, he could’ve just asked to have G-8 or one of the other subjects in stasis. Sure, they’d have the faculties of an underdeveloped child, but how much did that matter to an obvious sadist like him?
One punch sent multiple teeth flying out of Jordyn’s mouth in a bloody glob. Another definitely blackened her eye so bad Andreas doubted she’d be able to see out of it for the next week. She was gasping between punches, trying to suck in enough air to scream or sob before it was knocked right out of her again. Andreas just stood there watching as his prized subject; the one he’d worked years to create and train, was beaten to a bloody pulp in front of him for no apparent reason. What was he doing?
“That’s enough, Beaumond!” he yelled, grabbing the man under his armpits and dragging him off of Jordyn. “You’ll give her brain damage at this rate. You want a punching bag, I’ll go wake up a new subject for you, but I will not let you continue to just beat on Jordyn for no good reason.”
Jordyn curled onto her side, covering her face and taking deep, wavering breaths through her constant shaky whine of pain. Most of the scientists continued to stand by and watch, but Sadler, good man that he was, went to Jordyn and helped her drag herself away from Beaumond. Blood fountained from her nose, practically caking her entire face, aside from the trails that tears had made down her cheeks. Andreas couldn’t help but feel at least a little bad for her; the pitiful sight that she was.
Beaumond got to his feet and shoved Andreas. “I told you not to stop me!”
“I won’t stand by and let you throw a wrench in this project just because you’re helping pay for it!” Andreas returned. “I don’t care what it is that you’re going through right now, but I will not let you act that way in my facility!”
Beaumond let out a harsh breath through his nose; his eyes wide and lightly crazed. They made Andreas uneasy. “I own you, Andreas. I own this facility. You do as I say, not the other way around!”
Andreas grit his teeth, his temperature rising as that statement went through him. This anger; this… humiliation. It was exactly the reason he came up with this plan in the first place. The idea that a man-child such as Beaumond could hold such sway over him and his actions was unacceptable. Him. A de Vygon. A direct descendant of the saviors of the entire fucking human race. Unforgivable. It didn’t matter what he knew, or how much he paid in service of this goal: Beaumond would be the first to die once Jordyn succeeded. And it would not be a quick death in the slightest.
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He took a deep breath, letting everything bubbling up inside of him flow out on the exhale. Soon.
“If you came here to discuss something with me,” he calmly explained, “please accompany me to my office.”
Beaumond raised an eyebrow and looked Andreas up and down, his lip curling. “Nah. I just came to teach this useless little copy a lesson for blue-balling me last night.” He walked over and kicked Jordyn in the back. She cried out, curling further into Sadler’s lap. “See ya.”
Beaumond gave a two-finger salute, turned, and walked away.
Andreas watched him go, just to make sure he was really leaving, before kneeling down at Jordyn’s side. He filed away Beaumond’s parting statement for later consideration. “Go home and change, Sadler. You’ve got blood on your pants.”
He nodded, gently depositing Jordyn on the floor. “Yes, sir.”
Sadler left, and the rest of the milling scientists took the hint and followed, leaving Andreas alone with his subject.
“Let me see,” he said, holding a hand out to support her as she gingerly lifted herself into a seated position, leaning against the wall.
Jordyn looked up at him; brown eyes damp with tears. Her left eye had already started to swell, and the other one had a split in the skin through her eyebrow that was leaking blood down her face. Her nose was definitely broken as well, and she was missing more than a few teeth behind her fat, bleeding lips. The bruise around her neck had already turned a wince-inducing shade of purple. Andreas was no stranger to doling out punishment where necessary, but this was excessive and indulgent, even for him. Especially considering she hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Why didn’t you defend yourself?” he asked, speaking softly.
“I… I c-couldn’t,” Jordyn mumbled, lisping her words. “He was too strong.”
Too strong even for her? Andreas doubted it. “What about your shadows?”
“Th-they… they weren’t listening. I c-couldn’t control them.”
A shiver ran down Andreas’ spine. Did Beaumond secretly have some sort of power of his own? That, combined with his earlier comment about apparently being ‘blue-balled’ by Jordyn last night… Hm, interesting.
“Forget about patrol today; you’ll stay here and recover. Tomorrow, you can continue your mission at the Union, but take it easy. No strenuous activity for a week, and that includes your parleys with Miss Moore. Now, go on. Pick your teeth up off the floor and head to the medbay.”
Jordyn nodded, shakily getting to her feet. She hobbled over to the patch of blood on the tile and began carefully doing as she was told. Once she was done, she turned back to Andreas; a nervous look on her face.
“Um, s-sir?”
Andreas cocked his head. “Yes, Jordyn?”
“A-am I still… Uh…” She swallowed thickly. “Am I s-still banned from the mess hall?”
Andreas considered it for a moment. “You still broke the rules, so you’re still being punished. However, considering the circumstances, I’ll reduce your sentence to two days for now. You’ll make up the other two once you’ve recovered.”
With the way her face dropped, apparently that hadn’t been the answer she was looking for. Still, she nodded, and went on her way towards the medbay.
Jordyn certainly had her faults; that wasn’t up for debate, but Andreas couldn’t help but be a little bit proud of the trooper he’d raised.
—
Vivienne teleported into the Union conference room, running her hand through her hair and sighing. She’d finished her classes for the day, finished her studying, done a week’s worth of meal prep, and visited her uncle. Exhaustion sat heavy in every fibre of her being, but the day wasn’t over yet, so there was no reason to stop. She hadn’t seen Jordyn in a while after all; not since the shoulder incident. It would be good to touch base with her. It was at least comforting to know that Brianna was keeping her company in Viv’s stead. Jordyn needed to trust them for this plan to work, and no one was better at easing people’s nerves than Brea.
Vivienne made for the common room: usually a safe bet when searching for her friend after studying hours. Sure enough, Brianna was there, lounging on the couch listening to a documentary on the TV.
“Hey, Brea,” Viv greeted.
“Hey,” she returned, scooting up to make room on the couch. “How’s it going?”
“Pretty normal,” Viv replied, taking that seat, only for Brea to scootch back down and put her legs in Vivienne’s lap. “How about you?”
“Same. Say, you didn’t happen to run into Jordyn on the way here, did you? I wanted to touch base with her about the other night, but she didn’t show up to the gym yesterday.”
Vivienne raised an eyebrow. “No, I haven’t seen her.” She looked away, pretending to be uninterested, not that Brianna could see her either way. “The other night, huh? So, you went through with it.”
Brianna grinned. “Yeah. It was a good time, for the most part. She was a little clueless about things, but… let’s just say she’s a quick learner.” She winked.
Viv fondly rolled her eyes, trying to process that idea. It wasn’t all that hard to picture, given what she knew of her disposition. Definitely naive, but… there was a determination there as well. If Brianna gave her the grace and time she needed to catch up with things – and, knowing her, she definitely did – it was easy to imagine Jordyn putting her all into it; all those muscles tensing and rippling as she figured out how to get her partner to release and worked towards it; sweat running down her tan skin; those long, calloused fingers stroking through red hair-
Oh, wow, okay. Vivienne would need to take some time tonight to figure out just what the hell that was. Though… after witnessing her body at work during her fight with Rishta, maybe figuring it out wouldn’t take all that long. What could she say? The woman had a nice figure.
Brianna sighed, continuing. “The thing is… She’s fun, and nice to hang around, but… Do you think you can keep some sensitive information to yourself?”
Ah. Vivienne had a feeling she knew where this was going. “Yeah, sure. What is it?”
Brea chewed on her bottom lip. “I… I dunno, it’s just… She has these scars on her back. Felt really thick, and raised. Definitely from some serious injury. But there were tons of them. And when I asked about them, she said that she ‘made a mistake, and those were her lesson.’ Those weren’t the only scars she had, either. Viv, I… I think she’s being abused or something.”
Vivienne sighed. Brea was gonna figure it out eventually; as close to Jordyn as she was. Might as well let her in on things. “Yeah. She is.”
Brianna paused, sitting up. “You knew?”
“Me, Maddie, and Ashley. The whole reason we invited her to the Union in the first place was to try and get her away from Andreas de Vygon, the one who’s doing it to her.”
Brea frowned. “Isn’t he her dad?”
Viv winced. “As far as we can tell, it’s kinda complicated. But, ‘no’ is a pretty safe answer, despite what Jordyn believes.”
Brianna leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. “Damn. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“We decided not to tell anyone else, so as to make Jordyn’s experience here as normal as possible. That wouldn’t really work if everyone was constantly looking over her shoulder or walking on eggshells around her. And, well… would you have done what you did if you knew?”
Brea hesitated. “Good point. Also… I didn’t bring it up to her because it felt kind of rude, but… I’m like ninety percent sure she doesn’t have a belly button.”
Viv frowned. “Ninety percent sure?”
“I don’t know, I spent some time around her abdomen, but I never felt it.”
It would track with what Vivienne knew about Jordyn’s origins. “Well, we figure there’s a decent chance Jordyn was grown in a tube, and that her memory problems come from the fact that there’s nothing there to actually remember, so… You might be right.”
“I’m sorry? Grown in a tube?!”
“It’s a long story.”
Brea blew out a raspberry. “Clearly. Well, I guess I’ll just try to keep things normal with her. We had a good time the other night, and she seemed eager to go again. So…”
Viv smiled. “Just keep doing what you’re doing. Any semblance of a normal life we can give her helps, I think.”
Brea hummed. “I’m just… a little worried I might have gotten her into trouble. If she’s really in such a rough situation, she’s probably not allowed to have sex, either, and I wasn’t really careful about not leaving marks. It’s just worrying that she didn’t show up yesterday.”
Viv rubbed her leg in what was hopefully a comforting gesture. “Try not to think about it too much. It’s all I can do to stay sane about it all.” She laughed, but there wasn’t much humour in it. “We can only do so much to help her, given de Vygon’s resources. We’ve gotta be smart about it. Small things, like offering our friendship to make her more comfortable, are extremely useful, because it gets her to trust us more. If she trusts us more, we can slowly start easing de Vygon’s leash from around her neck, just by trying to inform her about how wrong the way she’s being treated is. It won’t be easy, and she might fight back against us if things get too personal, but given the situation, it’s the best thing we can do for her right now.”
A meow echoed from down the hallway outside the room, quickly turning into a rapid chorus of feline neediness.
“Aw, okay, okay,” said a muffled, electronic voice.
“It’s a little early for Jordyn to be showing up,” Brianna said, frowning.
“For your own sake, you gotta stop over-reading into every little thing, Brea. You’re gonna drive yourself crazy.”
Brea blew another raspberry, this time directed at Viv.
Jordyn rounded the corner into the common room, with Muffin perched on her shoulder. It couldn’t be comfortable on that hard armour of hers, but apparently he was too needy to care.
“Hey, Jordyn,” Viv greeted.
“Hi, Vivienne. Hi, Brianna.”
“Hey, Jords,” Brea replied. “I missed you on the treadmills yesterday.”
“Sorry. I was, uh… indisposed. But, I’ve got a few days off from patrol, so I can hang around more.”
Jordyn sounded like she was speaking through her teeth or something. She was definitely lisping, regardless.
“Are you alright?” Vivienne asked as she shifted over, making room on the couch. “You sound a little strange.”
Jordyn sat down, and Muffin transferred from her shoulders to her lap. She took off her gauntlets to pet him. “I broke my jaw yesterday. And my nose. Lost a few teeth, too. They were put back in, but my mouth still hurts, so… talking’s a little funny right now.”
Brianna sat up. “Oh my god. Are you okay?”
“Um… Right now, yeah. I slept through most of yesterday, so I’m a little pent up today, but Father said no strenuous activity for a week. I’m grateful for the rest, but I’m a little bored, y’know?”
“It wasn’t because of… what we did, was it?”
Jordyn looked at her for a few seconds before it clicked. “Oh. No, it wasn’t. I… I don’t know why this happened. I was just heading to the laundry when I ran into him, and he just…” She trailed off.
“Your dad?” Vivienne prompted.
“No. I’m sorry, I… probably shouldn’t say any more.”
Vivienne’s gut clenched with unspoken words. Even if it wasn’t de Vygon that did it, the idea that Jordyn was living somewhere where people could just come up and beat on her whenever they wanted broke Vivienne’s heart. She needed to fix this. Sitting around passively wasn’t good enough anymore.
“Jordyn, I… I was wondering. You know about how we offer housing for all our heroes?”
She nodded. “Like Brianna.”
“Yeah, like Brianna. Uh, would you be interested in… living here full-time?”
Jordyn paused, hesitating. “Why?”
Okay. Time for a little honesty. “I just… Sometimes, you say things that make me think you aren’t very safe at home. You shouldn’t have to… to live in a place where someone can just beat you up for no reason. Here, you would be safe. No one would want to hurt you, or order you around, or any of that.”
Jordyn froze, looking down. She didn’t say anything for a long moment. “I… don’t think I’d be allowed.”
Vivienne sighed. “That’s kind of my point. You’re a grown woman. You should be allowed to make these decisions for yourself.”
“Plus, you’d be able to hang out with me more,” Brianna added. “If you… if you want that.”
Jordyn sniffed. “I… I want to. B-but, I need to ask Father, and I don’t know if he’ll say yes…”
Vivienne gently took her hand, trying not to disturb Muffin too much so as to not get bitten. “If he says no, tell us. We’ll figure something out, okay?”
Jordyn turned her head, looking at Vivienne. “It’s not normal, th-that he hurts me, is it?”
Vivienne swallowed down the feelings that question drew up in her, shaking her head.
Jordyn’s shoulders hitched; a sob echoing out from behind her helmet. “I don’t want to be hurt anymore…”
Vivienne leaned forward and put her arms around Jordyn as she broke down. It was awkward and uncomfortable thanks to her armour, but Viv could put up with it. Brianna got up, moving around to Jordyn’s other side, and embraced her from behind.
This was a big decision she’d just made, without even consulting Ashley or Maddie, but fuck it. Neither of them spent nearly as much time around Jordyn, so she felt justified in making it. This was simply her role. Vivienne was in charge of saving Jordyn. Ashley dealt with the administrative stuff, and Maddie… Maddie would be in charge of assisting Jordyn during the move and helping her settle in, as was her role as Union co-leader. Vivienne would make sure she did. That was just how it was.
Jordyn might move into the Union. This was big. It was obvious that Jordyn was unhappy, and she was clearly beginning to realise that her treatment was wrong, but how far was it gonna go? It was easy for Viv to get her hopes up, but she needed to stay realistic about all this. Even if she was allowed to live at the Union, they couldn’t expect that de Vygon would just let Jordyn go completely. Their job wasn’t done.
Jordyn pulled out of the hug. “Ugh. Now my face is all wet.” She laughed, though it seemed forced. “I, um… I’ll ask my dad about it. But… later. I just want to stay here for now.”
Vivienne smiled. “What do you want to do?”
Jordyn shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Well, what do you like to do for fun?”
“I… I like to draw, if that counts.”
Bingo. “You wanna try painting?”
“Jeez, real inclusive,” Brea joked.
“Hey, you got to spend your time with her. Now it’s my turn.”
She chuckled. “I didn’t know this was a ‘joint custody’ situation.”
“Shut up.”
Jordyn giggled. “You two are fun.”
—
G-7 stood in front of him in his office, head hanging, looking every part the pathetic dog begging its master for a treat. Andreas mulled over the idea in his mind. Sending G-7 to live at the Union. It certainly had its risks; there was no denying that, but that didn’t mean there weren’t also benefits. Over the past few days, he’d been devising an alternate plan to get into the Godling’s prison, and if G-7 lived at the Union full time, it would be much less risky to carry out. The only problem was, constant contact with Union heroes risked pulling G-7 completely out of his grasp before he had the chance to fully enact his plan. It would be a balancing act. He needed to keep her on his side, but at the same time, he also needed to let her go free, just a little bit. God, was all parenting as stressful as this?
“I’ll allow it,” Andreas said. “With a few conditions.”
G-7’s bruised face lit up. “What conditions?” she mumbled.
“Once you recover, you will continue to go on daily patrols following your usual routine. You will continue to report back here to me after every patrol. You will continue to follow the rules regarding your armour and helmet while at the Union; the only exception being while you are in your own room, alone. No one is to see your face under any circumstances. If you find yourself in a situation without your helmet, you must use your shadows to conceal yourself. If I find out that you’ve broken any of these rules, or that the general quality of your patrol performance has begun to decline, I will be revoking permission and you will move back here at the earliest possible opportunity. Do you understand?”
She nodded frantically. “Yes, sir!”
Andreas nodded. “Go on, then. Better get yourself ready.”
G-7 nodded again, eyes shining, before spinning on her heel and practically sprinting out of his office. Despite it all, Andreas couldn’t help but feel a tiny twinge of pride in his gut. Her excitement was infectious. He supposed if she was his actual daughter, this would probably be the equivalent of having his child move out of home for the first time. It was normal to have some feelings about it.
Only, she wasn’t his daughter. She was a test subject he grew in a vat to do his bidding.
Hm. Better get those feelings under control before they cause him to do something stupid.