They did not appear in a single city that could be contained. New York. San Francisco. Tokyo. London. Moscow. Madrid. Beijing. Egypt. And other cities. They all appeared at once.
As such did not appear in tiny numbers that could be quarantined. They expanded their numbers from those they converted in a day.
They were called the 'cyber-fairies' 'cyber-elves' or 'the dolls.' 'The liberators' is what they were called by those who welcomed them, while other said they were 'the next step in evolution.' Others called them 'the disease' or 'the invaders' even if they were was no direct proof they were from outer space.
They called each other 'big sister' 'little sister' or 'best friend' or the like. In general, they called themselves 'Friends.'
Atomic bombs had been used on them once, their wings had protected them, even as it reduced the landscape around them to radio-active ash.
Appearance-wise, they looked like little girls, with hair color that ranged from blue, green, red, purple, or the like, each color with it's own hair style. Many speculated their hair color and hair style suggested some form of caste system (workers, fighters, healers, researchers, organizers, police, etc), but none knew except them. And even when some were seen given orders, they were treated by their sisters as 'first among equals' rather than 'superiors.'
Their skin was shiny, and smooth, like the plastic skin of a doll, and they were as devoid of private parts as a doll. Their eyes were large, innocent, and had eyes colors that matched their hair (like their wings).
due to not suffering from the elements, many chose to go around in nothing or next to nothing, too innocent to understand why people might find this wrong.
And who could miss those pointed ears?
A 'break out' always started the same, with a person, young, old, man or woman, would spontaneously turn into a 'cyber-fairy' with ankle-length long platinum blond hair, a year or two older than the others. And she'd begin changing those around her into cyber-elves, with those she changed able to repeat the process with others.
Those changed knew 1) what they become was happiness, 2) and that it HAD TO BE spread to as many as possible, as quickly as possible, 3) even if it meant making sure they took their medicine if they didn't want it.
But what most noticed first and foremost, was that they could FLY.
Not glide, FLY. Truly honestly FLY!
No set of wings was EXACTLY the same, the pattern on the wings was slightly different even between sisters of the same 'caste.' Their wings looked like pieces of stained glass almost, connected to their shoulders by limbs that looked almost like quick silver that bent and moved. These wings, it was the source of their 'magic' letting them bend the laws of physics and enabling them to fight in the air in a way that put them on even footing with fighter yet.
But they had one strength that made them by far the most dangerous.
They could LEARN, and ADAPT, not only their strategies on a group and individual level, but also their 'magic' they could change and adapt to new situations. Unlike in the movies, they were not a stagnant enemy who would blindly use the same strategy over and over, never changing, never learning as they threw themselves at defeat after defeat.
They originally transformed humans by hugging them and covering them in their wings.
It had remained a standard strategy to aim for a cyber-fairies' wings. Without which their abilities to convert others was greatly reduced. Those slain and dissected were found to be on the inside a perfect harmony between biology and technology to where it was impossible to tell where one began and one ended.
When their opponents began wearing hazmat suits, they adapted and created a powerful dart that while much slower, could easily pierce the material and human skin.
When their destroyers began wearing heavy armor, they adapted their wings' magic to phase them through solid matter for a short time, letting them hug the human inside.
When humans began using remote controlled drones, they developed a way to quiver their wings and created a beautiful light pattern that could entice humans to come to them at a short range, and could reek havoc on electronics.
And so . . . rather than having a stagnant enemy whose superior technology was crushed by humans imagination and ingenuity, they faced an enemy who was just as capable of learning from their mistakes as they were. An opponent who WASN'T content to sit on its rear as the enemy adapt a new way that completely destroyed their old stratagedy and kept using it anyway.
But what about that first day when it all began? When the cyber-elves first appeared across the globe?