Chương 203: 5.42 - Eudora (Euphonia)

Eudora (Euphonia)"Senior Technology Manager Niyam," Euphonia said, emphasizing each word of the trembling man's title.

"Are you sure you don't recognize me?" She gripped the edge of the metal table with the mechanical hands growing out of her back, effortlessly crunching its surface as part of the show, staring into his teary eyes with her own bionic eyeballs. She made them glow red for an extra intimidation factor as she hissed, "You've risen to such a grand ol' position in Greaves and forgotten about me? The people you've stepped along the way not worthy of a space in your memories?"

"I-I'm sorry!" Niyam cried out, putting his hands together as if in prayer, the chains of his handcuffs clinking together.

"Please, please, please, don't kill me." He repeatedly bowed to her.

"Is this about the Denzer account? I'm so sorry if you were fired because of that. Are you one of the people who went to prison? I had no idea that would—" Euphonia rolled the lip of the table as if it was a picnic blanket. The frightened man let out a hilarious squeal that might take first place in a mouse-imitation contest.

"Don't take me for a tool. That's not what I'm talking about…" she growled.

"Please just tell me who you are. I'll make sure to do everything in my power to make it up to you." He waited for a response, but Euphonia simply glared at him.

"Is this connected with the previous CFO? I know he—I don't know what he did! I had no part in it, I swear to the Mother Core!"

"Swearing to the Mother Core in front of an Adumbrae," said Crocker, the muscly imitation Adumbrae standing beside Euphonia. While it might appear to Niyam that the Tea Party skank was guarding Euphonia against danger, the actuality was that the heavily-tattooed Crocker was keeping an eye on her in case she betrayed them. The first time they met, Crocker inexplicably branded Euphonia a chancer—not a wrong impression, but it made Euphonia's job harder that Crocker was already predisposed to judge her as dodgy.

"A-Adum… Adumbrae?" Niyam's hands shivered uncontrollably.

"Yo-you're an Adumbrae?"

"Both of us," Crocker said with a laugh. Euphonia engaged her override systems to divert all energy to stop her eyes from rolling into her skull. The audacity to claim we're the same! Like a bogger trying her best to guess city matters to mask her rural background. Someday, when the time was right to take down the Tea Party, Euphonia promised to personally capture Crocker as a test subject.

If Crocker weren't around, Euphonia wouldn't have to put on a show terrorizing the Greaves corporate cogs, who were, in some ways, less human than her. A sore grievance with the giant company sounded a sufficient justification for Euphonia to 'betray' her group and team up with the Tea Party. Capture all the important muppets at the Tech Fair, kill or torture a few to sell her angle, and release the rest for a ransom to look neat and tidy.

But the insufferable skank beside Euphonia didn't buy the story despite witnessing her beat up several hostages, infecting them with the parasites, then tearing apart their mutated forms. No, Crocker had to be a nosy twat and prod about the specifics of Euphonia's motivations like a Classical Literature professor dissecting the protagonist in a long-dead guy's boring novel.

"Remember the old Carlow Plant?" Euphonia mentally crossed her fingers, hoping Niyam had heard of it. She shouldn't have killed the more senior officers earlier because they were more likely to know of the Carlow incident. Sometimes, her mechanical hands get carried away. The Tea Party needed a large group of people with varied demographics—it was Euphonia's mission to find out for what. Euphonia and Legba came to them, offering their services and ready with a plan to attack the Tech Fair.

Too convenient—she could scarcely blame Crocker for being suspicious. Euphonia chose the Tech Fair because it'd fit the plans of the Tea Party, and she'd have control of the situation if she picked the target in advance. But she had to come up with a reason why the event instead of the Greaves' head office or some other important place if she truly had a beef with them.

Her explanation was that several of the displayed items were derived from her works, and she wanted to teach Greaves a lesson not to continue using data from her files. If the Tea Party knew about her works, they'd detect this blatant lie. She wasn't an unevolved slug to come up with children's toys like those at the Tech Fair, touting them as technological advancements. That alone was too shallow of a motivation.

So, she revealed that many of the Greaves officers in attendance were part of why she became an Adumbrae. Unlike March Hare, Red Head, Crocker, and the other fake Adumbrae, she was forced by circumstances to become an Adumbrae. Revenge was her goal, and such a public event would announce to the others that she was coming for them. Not to mention the business ramifications of hundreds of people getting kidnapped at a Greaves event. March Hare believed her.

Black Spade, the pompous tool leading the operation, also believed her. And so did other Tea Party executives. Crocker didn't. And now, Euphonia was squeezing anything she could from the hostages to stitch together a believable backstory, like rushing to finish a forgotten homework just as the teacher was collecting it.

"Carlow Plant?" Niyam's forehead wrinkled, doubtless racking his brain of anyone who'd have a grudge against him in Ireland. Euphonia said, "Eight years ago, the plant—""You mean that explosion!" He grasped his hands tighter, his eyes growing fearful. He quickly rattled sentences, almost blending them in his haste.

"I was a rank-and-file employee then. No knowledge of anything worthwhile, that was all above my clearance. The-the controls… and there was a breach, and the police—I told them everything! I was just following orders. Please don't eat me. Please! It was the fault of the plant director! Everything was his fault. Are you one of the victims? I lost friends there too, I, uh, many friends like, like—" Euphonia slammed one of her metal fists on the table.

She was mildly surprised they captured someone who knew about Carlow in addition to her friend.

"Can't even remember the names of those who died? Some friend you are." She also couldn't remember anyone from that time.

"It's so long ago! I-I was new back then. Just migrated to Ireland. Didn't know anyone, tha-that's why I can't give you names. You can check my records. Believe me, I had zero part in that explosion." I believe you, Euphonia replied in her head. Because the explosion was all on me. She did have a past with Greaves that led to hearing the voice and accepting its invitation, though it wasn't the Carlow plant incident—that was several months after she decided not to be human anymore.

She engineered the explosion to cover evidence that she was using Greaves facilities to experiment on her powers.

"Would you look at that," Crocker said.

"Someone with a connection to your story." The previous two they had interrogated didn't give Euphonia enough material for her ruse. Each of your organs is going in separate containers… with no labels, Euphonia thought as she met Crocker's gaze. Backing down would raise suspicion. I'll turn each of your tasteless tattoos into wallets I'll give to the other Adumbrae. Except for Penemue; he didn't have any use for a wallet. Destroying this entire place would be cathartic.

None of these off-brand copies could hold a candle to her biomechanical creations, should she choose to unleash them. Legba could open the door to the zoo and give Crocker a view of hell on earth—that was if the slag survived long enough to process what was happening. But it wasn't the time for that. If this place were destroyed, they'd have nothing to go on about the actual plans of the Supplier. Nothing to give their Corebring patron —Euphonia didn't know what to call him—to keep them hidden from the Hive.

Hedley Kow and the others might be doing this for moral reasons, but Euphonia only wanted to stay alive to continue her projects. Legba? She didn't know what that bizarre grouch wanted. Luckily, he went along with her plan; no one else did.

"No part in the explosion?" Euphonia asked the man, who seemed to be getting smaller in his seat every second. He shook his head. Stopped. Nodded. Then a mixture of shaking and nodding.

"Curious how you're alive even though most people died that day."

"I wasn't there when it happened." He sharply drew in his breath, realizing how that looked.

"I-I was… uh, I was probably late to work! Yes!"

"Why were you late?"

"I can't recall. It's been years. Traffic? Nothing to do with the explosion! Please don't eat me, I beg you."

"I'm done with you." Euphonia pointed at the door with her three right hands—one organic, two mechanical.

"Take him away to the dungeons!" The two burly men behind Niyam looked at each other and then at Crocker, who shrugged, nudging her head towards Euphonia. The bigger man respectfully bowed and asked Euphonia, "Dungeons, ma'am? You mean back with the—""I just wanted to say that," Euphonia said, chuckling.

"Put a parasite in him and do with him what you want."

"No!" Niyam exclaimed.

"Mercy! Please, I'll do anything you want!"

"Is that enough for you?" Crocker said as her men dragged the Greaves manager away.

"Didn't feel like enough revenging happened."

"There's no need to waste more energy than necessary," said Euphonia.

"It's enough that they know what they've done before dying."

"But what exactly did he do?"

"Something small, inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. It's just fun to work up the ladder of revenge."

"Is that so? I can't believe you betrayed your friends for this."

"Friends?" Euphonia said after a pause meant to show conflict brewing inside her.

"Hardly."

"Teammates, comrades, cohorts, whatever you want to call them." Crocker sat on the table, peering at Euphonia like she was a cop interrogating a captured suspect.

"Is it so easy for you to betray them? Maybe you'll do the same with us someday." The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Betrayed? No, I'd view it as going our separate ways." The voices of Hedley Kow, Penemue, Culpa, and the other goody-two-shoes in their group with their holier-than-thou attitudes rung in her ears. Those supposed good guys, each with a way higher body count than her, dared lecture her on the morality of her plan. Morality wasn't even the question. They were Adumbrae. In the end, it boiled down to a disagreement on how many innocent lives they were comfortable with as collateral damage.

For Euphonia, a few hundred was very low, considering they haven't made any progress in finding out the Supplier's ultimate goal. Yes, they had stopped many of his operations all over the country. But they were no closer to finding out what they were trying to stop. A few hundred for the greater good—Satori and the rest agreed, shouting down Penemue and the others.

"Seems so abrupt, changing sides," Crocker said.

"Are you trying gauge an Adumbrae's thinking?" Euphonia replied. Crocker's nose flared at the insinuation that she wasn't Adumbrae enough.

"One moment you're fighting the Supplier, the next you're helping us with our plans." Is this a trick to ask them what their plans were?

"No, not helping you." Euphonia poked at Crocker's chest with a metal finger.

"You guys are helping me. It just so happens that our plans overlap in places. I'm on my side… always been that way from the beginning."

"Okay then." Crocker nodded. That answer seemed to satisfy her somewhat.

"Anyone else you want us to fetch for you?"

"Call in that woman," Euphonia said.

"I'm ready to talk with her."

"Your friend from when you were still human?" Euphonia nodded. Crocker waved at the remaining guard.

"Go fetch the one with bleached white hair." As the man closed the door, Crocker jumped off the table.

"Is she also connected to how you became an Adumbrae?"

"Yes." Euphonia slowly nodded, letting her erratic mood drop into something more somber. No, was the actual answer. Her friend was one of the reasons she staved off the voice for so long—that may sound like a good thing, but it wasn't. Euphonia would've preferred if she had become an Adumbrae much earlier.

"I'm interested in how someone becomes a true Adumbrae… Would it be possible for me?"

"Why would you want that?" Crocker shrugged.

"More power."

"For what?"

"For power's sake." Boring answer. Engage eye-rolling prevention protocol. Not the first time she'd heard that load of unimaginative crap from those wanting to leave their humanity. The handful of true Adumbrae she met never mentioned anything close to that motivation for answering the voice. Such a narrow view of the world.

"Like getting rich for the sake of getting rich?" Euphonia said.

"Yeah, I suppose you could put it that way," Crocker said.

"But not really. Those billionaire dudes—give them a hundred million dollars more, and nothing would change their lives. Maybe another yacht to show off to others how rich they are? That's not the case with becoming stronger as a true Adumbrae.

"The change from human to this body… it's amazing. I knew there was something different. Becoming richer? That's an outside thing. Even money's value is external. The internal value of a dollar bill is just that paper a little kid can easily tear. Wealth, political power, and influence are all external. The power of an Adumbrae is intrinsic. My value is my strength, no matter what the world says." We got a philosopher on our hands here, people.

Euphonia struggled to stop her mechanical hands from sarcastically clapping—something she'd do if Penemue or Hedley Kow said something like this. She settled for tapping the floor with her flip-flops. The door opened, and one of the guards from earlier led a tall woman with pure white hair into the room. Here was the reason Euphonia wasn't trying so hard with her lies—someone who could lend some credibility to her fake story.

Adumbrae were the enemies of the Mother Core, but it appeared that the Mother Core, or some other deity out there, blessed her by sending someone she didn't think she'd ever see again to help her unknowingly. Euphonia's scanner immediately analyzed the newcomer's body, detecting the bionic eyeballs. Her scanners zeroed in on the small implants, breaking down the material components and detecting minute emissions. She always left a signature in her works, which was readily evident here.

She replaced her eyes with my work? Euphonia wanted to burst out laughing but managed to keep her composure.

"Where are the other people?" the white-haired woman demanded.

"I want to see my daughter! Just keep me with her. I have nothing to do with Greaves." Euphonia waved at Crocker.

"Can you all leave us alone? Some privacy for old friends?" Crocker hesitated, grumbling about security—this was just for show. There was a recorder and camera in this room.

"And remove her cuffs. No need for that." Crocker eventually relented and left with her men.

"Are you the leader of this Tea Party group?" the white-haired woman said.

"I've been saying this to your men, but I don't know what you want with Greaves. I wasn't supposed to be here! I'm just filling in for someone. Please, I just want to see my daughter."

"Your daughter who barely cried when she was a baby? She also experimented with insects, didn't she?"

"Wha-what?"

"It's been years, but I recall your stories about her. They're just so funny that I sometimes smile when I remember them. Like how she swung her toy drum at another kid's face like a flail mace when he told her he liked her?"

"How did you know about that?"

"I remember you told me you were scared when your daughter just had a blank face when you and your husband scolded her and that she didn't seem to understand why you were angry."

"Who are you?"

"Lendina… Lendina… Sup? It's been a long time, isn't it?"

"I do-don't know—""Should I say, Len-Len?" Euphonia turned her bionic eyes blue to match hers. Then her mechanical hands produced a bow with a polka dot design to tame her frizzy hair.

"The only one who called me that… it can't be."

"But it is."

"Eudora?" Len-Len covered her mouth in shock.

"Aye! Although, I go by Euphonia now."

"You're dead! I was there at your funeral!"

"A casket with no one inside. Not the first time you've seen something like that, am I right?" It was proof that she was indeed Eudora, a former colleague from years ago. Len-Len had asked her help to track down her husband, whom she believed to have faked his death to join the Corebring Hive.

"The explosion…"

"Didn't kill me." Euphonia recounted other things that'd prove to Len-Len her identity, like when they wore the same costume for an office Halloween party, buying it together at the dollar store on the way to the office. Slowly, Len-Len came to accept that Euphonia—Eudora was alive.

"You kept my eye as you promised." Eudora pointed at Len-Len's head with her aug-arms.

"I did. And I used them to replace my failing eyes to remember you by."

"I feel honored."

"You're with the Tea Party?" Len-Len asked.

"They, the other hostages—we were talking about why we were taken. Is this for revenge for what happened?"

"In a way."

"I—""I know you don't have anything to do with it," Euphonia interrupted.

"No… I was going to say… I'm so happy to see you." Len-Len's shoulders trembled as she sobbed. She wiped her nose. Her tear ducts must've been redirected when the augs were implanted. Then Len-Len shook her head.

"My daughter. Eudor--Euphonia, my daughter's here. She doesn't have anything to do with what happened to you."

"She's with the rest of the hostages," Euphonia said, which wasn't technically a lie. She didn't elaborate that her daughter likely now had a parasite in her and was no longer human. She wouldn't see Len-Len after this, so she wouldn't deal with the drama of lying to her old friend.

"Thank you, thank you!" Len-Len said.

"That's all I ask. You can do whatever you want with me. Just keep my daughter safe." I probably should've watched out for her daughter. But she didn't know that Len-Len would attend the Tech Fair. She only realized when Legba started teleporting people, and she picked up the signal of her old bionic eyes nearby. Eudora said, "I like what you did with your hair. Did you bleach it?"

"No, it's a new treatment. I had too many white strands—" She shook her head again.

"Euphonia, why are you doing this? We can go to the police and expose the people who caused that explosion. You don't have to be with the Tea Party."

"It's not that simple."

"You can get your life back. You're a genius with no comparison. The government would hire you in a heartbeat. If you'd ask that several Greaves higher-ups be jailed for their crimes, the government will do it. You can try for Greaves again. Those shadowy folks of the Greaves Board would skewer their hand-picked officers to get you back."

"It's not that simple," Euphonia repeated.

"For ordinary people, no. But for you, anything is possible. I've always looked up to you, to your accomplishments."

"I wonder if you'd still think the same of me if…" Euphonia paused. She already had enough material for Crocker; she should send her friend away and help Black Spade continue with the operation to wrap this up.

"What if… what if someone you thought you knew, someone close to you, turned out to be completely different?"

"Are you talking about yourself?"

"Take your husband. You were surprised when your suspicions were confirmed. Funny how that worked. How about something different? Completely the opposite direction. Instead of the Corebring… the Adumbrae. Let's say… how about your daughter? What if she's an Adumbrae?" Len-Len locked eyes with Euphonia—both pairs of aug-eyes, both creations of Euphonia, scanned each other. Len-Len slowly grasped what she was trying to say.

"Are you an Adumbrae?"

"Answer my question. What if your daughter became an Adumbrae?"

"I'll love her and do everything I can for—""Lie."

"I'm not lying!" Euphonia tapped her eye.

"Lie." Len-Len said, "Of course, I'm conflicted about it. That's what you're detecting. But I'll be there for my daughter. And I'll be there for you if you come—""I'm not going anywhere. An Adumbrae has no place on your side of the fence." Silence fell between them.

"Just stay put. You'll eventually see your daughter." A lie—Euphonia considered that it might be better if Len-Len wasn't alive.

"Thank you."

"Crocker!" Euphonia shouted, keeping up the play that she didn't know a recorder was picking up their conversation.

"Can you hear me? I'm done over here!" Euphonia slumped down in her seat. She massaged her temples with one of the upper mechanic hands, switching its metal claws with foamy fingers, as Crocker entered and Len-Len was taken away.

"Had a good time talking with your friend?" Crocker said.

"Yeah… let out a lot of feelings."

"What do you want to do with her?"

"Slug her."

"Huh? She's your friend."

"Was." Acting this cold-blooded would leave a good impression on Crocker.

"If you say so." Euphonia remained in her chair for a couple of minutes, reminiscing about the days she was human. They were fun but a passing moment. Len-Len was a good friend. She'd suffer if she continued living with her husband gone and her daughter dead. This was for the best.

"Maybe I should witness her last moments as her friend," Euphonia said, remotely tapping into the Tea Party's surveillance system, pushing aside the security walls made by a monkey. Len-Len did visit her supposed funeral. This was the least she could do. Cycling through cameras, she eventually found Len-Len, still very much human, running through the corridors.

"What the hell?"