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In the Lunchroom...
Everyone was grabbing some lunch while Brett was preparing to sit with the gang when he noticed that a member was missing.
“Hey, where’s Reagan? I thought she was gonna sit with us.” Brett asked, since he was the one who suggested (begged) Reagan to socialize with the others.
After all, the whole fiasco not too long ago with the firing, and the clones happened, Brett felt people would better understand her more if she hung out with them a little more. Surprisingly, Reagan agreed.
“She’ll be here in a minute. She got held up helping with Charlie McCarthy’s eye.” Andre answered while the other cringed at the thought.
“Ooh, does he have pink eye? I have eyedrops for that.” Brett suggested before leaving his tray at the table, “I’ll be right back.”
“Brett, wait, that wasn’t Andre talking about-.”
But he was already long gone, eager to please and more so to get Reagan together with everyone.
“Well, he’s gonna have to find out about them eventually.” Glenn sighed before gobbling on his mackerel.
“Twenty bucks says he pisses himself.” Myc betted.
“Fifty he screams like a girl and faints.” Gigi betted.
“A hundred says he screams, pees himself, and his head runs away, causing him to faint.” Andre grinned, taking in the action.
At Reagan’s lab...
Reagan was using some hardware tools on Charlie’s face as she was trying to get a good look at the problem.
“Fuck, I knew that last mission damaged your eye,” Reagan grumbled while grabbing a screwdriver.
“I will miss it, it lasts longer than the last one.” Charlie sighed while he tried to keep himself still.
“Remind me, is this your third tune-up?”
“Fourth.”
“Oh, right, Operation Hippie Dance-town,” Reagan remembered.
“Remind me to mutilate the imbecilic fool who came up with that operation.”
Reagan was so hyper-focused on her Acolyte, she didn’t hear Brett come in with eye drops.
“Hey, buddy! Got your buddy some eyedrops~.” Brett offered.
“Mr. Hand, my eye problem is not that.” Charlie sighed, turning to face him.
That was a mistake, for the man was soon introduced with the open face of an android skull, or seemingly an android.
Brett shrieked in horror like a girl!!
“Brett, it’s okay, calm down.” Reagan tried, but Brett peed, ran for his life, and got knocked out by the door as Punch came in.
He looked down to see the unconscious man.
“...This is much too early for this.” Punch sighed before taking a sip, “I guess Mr. Hand finally saw our true nature?”
“By the look of things, yes. Get an Advil, a blanket, and pants with underwear.” Reagan ordered as she looked over Brett.
“Yes, Ma’am.”
An hour later...
Brett was still shaking with a cup of coffee in hand.
“Easy, easy. You took a nasty hit.” Judy soothed.
“Sorry about that. Right place, wrong time and all that.” Punch apologized to him.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m okay.” Brett chuckled nervously before having another cup of coffee, “S-so, you guys are... robots? Like Alpha-Beta.”
“No, though the technology is similar, we do have human bits. We are cyborgs created by Dr. Riddley herself.” Lamb Chop answered with passion.
“H-how?” Brett asked.
“You should return to the lunchroom or better yet, let me escort you to the medic while Dr. Riddley finishes her tune-up with Charlie.” Punch offered.
In the Medic....
It didn’t take long for the gang to arrive (And for Andre to pocket on his bet.) to find out what happened.
“So, you got introduced to Iron Skull, huh?” Myc snickered at the reaction.
“It takes some getting used to, but the Acolytes are pretty harmless unless you crossed him or Reagan,” Andre explained loosely.
“Not a tiny bit surprised by their loyalty to her, she’s the reason they’re even here at all,” Glenn responded with a tear in his eye.
“That’s just a rumor, I hear they were the X prison.” Gigi chimed.
“Hell, I heard they were the few humans from Hollow Earth and wanted to leave, then boom! Reagan pulled some strings.” Myc whispered.
“Wait, you never read their minds to get the full story?” Andre asked.
“Can’t, Reagan gave them some experimental serum so their minds couldn’t be read.” Myc answered, “Sneaky Bitch. Still got to hand it to the psychopaths; they were willing to consent to every bullshit thing Reagan possibly put them through, and yet they still were loyal to her.”
“Of course we would.”
Everyone jumped, then turned around to see Charlie, his face, the way it was, as he was spotting a new eye where Brett saw his face open up.
“Everything we have and are thanks to her. Not all of us were here for the same reason; some similar, mostly different, but we are loyal to her.” Charlie answered cryptically, “But we all owe everything to her and will never forget what she did.”
“Um... Charlie, if you don’t mind me asking, how did you meet Reagan and become her Aco-thingy?” Brett asked the man, who only gave a smile.
“I died a life before, and she gave me a new one. That is all you need to know.” Charlie answered simply, then left.
“Sheesh, fucking secrecy with these guys,” Myc grumbled.
Down the hallways...
Charlie quietly walked through the halls, remembering the day he became an acolyte to Reagan, the true start of his life.
Seven Years ago...
“Ma’am, are you certain this is wise?” Lamb Chop asked in the darkness, “You know who he is and your sires-.”
“He can be proven a useful asset. Besides, when I found him, he already decided to come with me, rather than choose willingly to do it, than to be bred to do.” Reagan reminded him.
“Like you, Dear Doctor? Is that a pang of compassion?”
“Trust me, “Charlie” will be a great asset to the project, and it would be a waste to let him stay there.”
“Let? He would have somersaulted in a volcano for you at that point. Though I was shocked when your sires consented to this.”
“Still calling them sires, huh?”
“Aren’t they?”
Charlie slowly opened his eyes.
“Charlie McCarthy.”
“Another reason to give him the name of a puppet.”
He soon saw the young woman and another person... wait! It was him!
“Well, looks like my new toy is awake.” Reagan greeted the man, who emerged from his sleep.
“Did you do it?”
“Yes.”
Charlie then looked at himself in the mirror, feeling changed inside and out.
“And now I am reborn.”
“Welcome to Cognito, you are now property.” Reagan proudly declared.
“Your property.”
Reagan then smiled slightly, “My property.”
Charlie then snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed JR was looking over his phone.
“Her Sire.” He greeted him politely, while causing him to cringe.
“Please stop calling me that, it’s just-just-ugh. JR, or boss, Heck, you can even call me Reagan’s second dad, but only in private.”
“The title father really doesn’t suit you any more than Rand was. She is simple, you hear, you next generation, you experiment.”
“Hey! Rand suggested it and I didn’t want to be parent, so he agreed to raise her with his ex-wife. But I still been there...”
“Hmm. Is that the reason why you fired her?”
“Hey! I wasn’t going to let her stay fired forever. Just to teach her a lesson.” JR countered.
“Oh, what a father would do?”
“Well, doesn’t matter. Reagan is proof that the project worked and that the deep state could benefit. Rands intelligence, my efficiency, and Tamiko’s compatible genetics, we made the perfect heir before the others.”
“Yes. Though I am grateful for your Project Reagan, it is still of a stretch from calling her father.”
“Agree to disagree. Anyway, go back to the lab and be a good toy for Reagan.”
“...Yes, sir.”
“Charlie then left, with some resentment for the kinship of those around her.