Mantis and Antonio watched as the strange girl stared back at them, upon entering the apartment Mantis had taken hold of the young girl and placed her in their bed, puffing the pillow behind her head, almost as if she was unable to just leave her be, always hovering, always fussing with something to make her comfortable.
"Hey hey, she's ok, she's out cold" Antonio said with a chuckle before his smile died, his gaze once again being drawn to the window, the pillar of black smoke in the distance still bellowing strongly, Antonios mind going back to the sights of the cars smashing into the truck, it all happened so fast.
Mantis looked up at him with a small smile as she tapped his shoulder
"Hey, don't linger on it, trust me, there have been worse ways to go happen in this city" she said with a sigh, the weight of her words indication that she herself had lived through worse
"And as for your little comment, forgive me for feeling a little fucking maternal" she said with a small chuckle, kneeling down beside the sleeping girl, gently reaching across to brush a stray hair from her face.
The sight of this, Antonio couldn't help but smile, gently rubbing her back with his hand before he walked over to the fridge, leaning on the top of the shelving as he eyed it's contents before zeroing in on a piece of what looked like lemon cake, sat neatly on a plate as if waiting for him, inviting him to take it.
Wordlessly Antonio grabbed the plate and a spoon and began to dig in, walking back over to stand beside Mantis as he enjoyed the sweet treat, Mantis of course heating Antonio enjoying himself turned to him with a mischievous grin
"And what the fuck are you doing with that?, you were going to share obviously, right?" She said as she stood up, putting her hands on her hips, raising an eyebrow at him before they both burst out laughing.
However the laughter quickly died as their attention was once again drawn to the tower of smoke in the far distance, a look of grief filling her eyes as she began to break down, collapsing to her knees in defeat as she began to sob
"God fucking dam it Lucy, dam it" she cried, her chest heaving as she drew breaths between tears, Antonio immediately setting the plate down and got down to her level, resting on his knees and enveloping her in his arms, stroking the back of her head in slow soothing circles
"It's ok, it's ok babe, I'm here" he said in a calming voice
"I- I know" she sobbed, before returning his embrace, her grip like iron as she cried into Antonio's chest, the moment was broken however by the feeling of a third pare of arms holding them both, Antonio looking up in surprise to see the girl out of bed, her eyes closed and her arms wrapped around Mantis and Antonio in a gentle hug.
It didn't take long for Mantis to catch on to what was happening, her red puffy eyes growing wide in surprise as she came face to face with the girl.
"Oh good your awake, how you feeling?" She asked, the girl just stared at her blankly, before walking up to her and wrapping her arms around her, burying her face in Mantis's chest, who gave a yelp of surprise.
Antonio eyed the girls actions curiously
"I think......I think she's copying, she saw you hugging me and she's repeating" he said in fascination, the girl looked up from Mantis's cleavage to stare at Antonio, that same wide eyed expression as before on her face, her eyes seeming large, full of wonder and curiosity
"Can you talk?" Mantis asked, no response
"Can you understand what we're saying?"
Still no response, the same unchanging look, at this point Mantis looked up at Antonio as the girl hid her face in her chest again
"Ok, what the fuck do we do now,I've never seen anything like this, like her, she's a fucking kid Antonio, A KID!"
This was beyond anything either of them had expected, now as they looked at the girl they had to think of their next steps.
As Antonio looked at her he noticed a small engraving on her back, just above her shoulder blades, getting down on one knee he examined it more closely.
"E-8A" he read aloud, the girl perked up at that, now seeming to stand at attention, like a soldier would, her feet smartly together, hands by her sides, head held high as she faced Antonio
"Jesus fucking Christ" Mantis breathed in both disbelief and relief that they had finally gotten through to her.
Antonio felt a bit on the spot in that moment, this girl, E-8A as she was named, seemed to be waiting for something,but exactly what Antonio didn't know, or rather he didn't think he'd want to know what uses this girl and her cyberware would be put to in the hands of whoever wanted to use her, she was a living weapon after all, or at least that's what she was designed to be, it wasn't right.
"Hey can we call you E?" he asked, calling her E-8A almost felt like the name you'd give to a piece of equipment, calling her E seemed to be the best way he could think of to humanize her a bit more, to Antonios surprise she worked up at the name, her eyes flashing rapidly from their brilliant blue to a glowing red before returning to normal.
"New designation accepted, I am E"
Her voice, she had a voice Mantis and Antonio looked at the girl in awe at the sound of her voice, it sounded like music, ringing like bells, high pitched yet still maintaining a level of cold monotone, the odd sound of mechanical reverb echoing behind each word.
"Oh so you can talk" Mantis piped in, now standing beside Antonio, however E returned back to her wide eyed stare, her grip of silence returning, Mantis chuckled
"Not much of a talker huh?, ok then E, I'm Mantis, this is Antonio" she said with a smile, the girl looking back and forth between them before hesitantly taking a step forward, instantly ducking and wincing as she did, however when nothing happened she tried again, getting more and more confident with each step, then before Antonio could say anything she was off like a shot, disappearing from in front of them and reappearing kneeling on the bed, her face pressed against the window as she looked out at Neon city.
As soon as she was satisfied with the window she sped over to one end of the apartment, looking all over at a beanbag and eyeing a TV screen, jetting off again she reappeared in the kitchen area, picking up a whisk with curiosity, hesitantly grabbing the handle and began rotating it, making the whisk spin, gaining speed at an alarming rate until with a light snap the whisk was sent flying up into the apartment roof, burying itself in the ceiling.
Mantis raced over to try and save her apartment from anymore damage however E was off like a shot again, now pressing a panel on the wall to reveal another smaller room, a large round window facing the door in the small cube, a neon purple light flooding into the room from a neighboring building, Antonio watched with a small smile as E began to bounce up and down in her feet
"She's like a kid on sugar" he chuckled, looking over to see Mantis desperately using her mantis blades to pry the whisk from her ceiling.
"Well I hope this sugar rush ends soon, a kid on sugar is bad enough, but a kid that can take on an army single handedly on sugar is another thing" she said with a nervous chuckle, all of a sudden E appeared right in front of Mantis, eyeing her curiously before following her arm up into her blades that grasped the projectile whisk, then as if understanding, E zipped off and reappeared now attached to the ceiling, her feet having split into two appendages that formed a cross on both feet, letting her stick to the ceiling with ease, then without a word she crouched down and yanked the whisk from the ceiling, crushing it slightly in her hand and flipped back onto the floor, her feet returning to normal and held out the retrieved twisted metal for Mantis who accepted it with a smile, this seemed to please E as she jetted off to the window once again.
"My poor whisk, just how much of my apartment is she gonna destroy by the weeks end?" She sighed as she threw the twisted remains in the trash
Antonio gave her an apologetic smile and kissed her warmly, invading her mouth with his tongue for a moment, satisfied when a breath like moan escaped her lips
"Sorry babe, I couldn't just leave her there, and I couldn't let anyone else get their hands on her, at least for a while she can be safe here right?"
Mantis looked at E, her mind becoming lost in thought before she looked back at Antonio
"Yeah, until we can think what to do next she should be safe here for a while, us as well" she said, before her face went slack, her face turning a pail shade of green
"Of fuck-hurgk" she wretched as she darted for the small bathroom, the panel sliding shut behind her before the sound of heaving and throwing up echoed from the bathroom, Antonio didn't know what the hell that was, but he had a pretty good idea.