... SO. Thank you Red for typing this up for me, and here you go people, the ShinAka that I planned writing ever since I joined the fandom. So it's about eight months overdue...
Don't own anything. Really. I don't.
How to Raise a Cyborg Child
... And not go insane in the process
Step One: Do Not Attract Attention From Dying Scientists
"Mother, I sense the presence of five wielders approaching our location. There are four Enforcers and one Inspector with them," a stilted, almost mechanical voice rang out as fingers touched pale, wrinkled hands curiously. "What does thou wish me to do, Mother?"
The elderly hand grabbed the other proffered hand, as she struggled to sit up straight. Her aged voice croaking with disuse as she gave her orders. "Identify their real allegiances and tell me the Inspector's name, Domina." The younger woman nodded briefly, eyes glowing bright blue.
In an eerie chant-like voice, Tor Domina replied: "Allegiances to the MWPSB, the lead two are recognized as Enforcer Kougami and Inspector Tsunemori Akane. What shall I do?"
Here the woman looked at her so-called 'mother' expectantly.
Domina was female, of average human height, weight and build, with loosely braided black hair and electric blue eyes. If one watched carefully though, there were glint of metal when the holo-lights shone on her arms and hands. Her face was perfectly expressionless.
The other person in the room, her mother of a sorts, was an aged woman whose eyes were glazed and near-sighted, her body wheelchair bound and hair grey with the decades.
"I must go out and meet them, child," she stated, warming her heart as Domina wheeled her to the entrance. "There's no need to arm yourself, child, I brought them here."
Her time was almost up, but the System will never complete itself.
One week ago
Division 1 was at a mall. Lovely. Kagari was shamelessly taking the opportunity to purchase sweets left and right, and Yayoi was busy browsing the cosmetics section. They were technically on lookout, but it wasn't like they couldn't attempt to blend in on the job, right?
The rest of the team was the security centre at the meantime.
"Shion, do you have any idea what is going on?" Masaoka scratched his head looking between his Communicator and the security tapes. "Is the System playing favourites with them or something?"
"If it does play favourites at all, then I have no doubts that this is Sibyl's favouritism," she rasped. "Thirteen times drones have been commanded to apprehend them but none of the orders were carried out. They also have deliberately walked side-streets so facial recognition did not get them, their images are not being processed by the internet either."
"This is so suspicious that even a child would see them as latent criminals," Ginoza remarked cynically.
Division 1 has been called by confused mall security about two individuals that were not being analyzed by the street scanners, Drones have begun malfunctioning in their presence and one of them, a wheelchaired woman was clearly blind, the second one apparently had a odd appearance- the kind that raised area stress levels.
"Either way, such an abnormal occurrence has to be looked into," Kougami muttered. "Shion, any ideas?"
Typing furiously, "Why not ask for a general profile of the people?" she suggested.
Akane frowned. "Uh, but logically, wouldn't it be better to follow the trail of the malfunctioning drones?" she asked aloud.
"..."
Masaoka chuckled at the simple suggestion and Yayoi facepalmed.
Following the way of malfunctioning drones was easy, which lead them to spotting more drones every few metres. Some uselessly running around in circles, others ramming backwards into building walls and the oddest ones were playing classical music as they stayed in place.
The drone path led into an alley eventually, but the team (expector Yayoi and Kagari who were still keeping surveillance at the mall- and buying stuff of course, I mean, besides, they had released the newest line of games out) halted upon seeing a single drone leading to a dead end it lead into.
The lights were off and the alley was completely empty, the four looked around wearily before Masaoka took a tentative step towards the machine. It's lights flashed on immediately and recordings voice suddenly bounced off the concrete walls, causing them to back away.
"MWPSB, I have a question for you," a stilted, almost mechanical voice boomed. "DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? IN THIS CASE, NO. DO CRIMINALLY ASYMPTOMATIC BRAINS DREAM OF SHEEPLIKE SUBJECTS?"
There was a taunting, mocking laugh and the team hit the ground as the drone exploded, a rush of heat and displaced air attracting the attention of innocent passer-bys. They were forced to cordon off the area as the message drone or its remains, or really its remains were scraped up and shipped to headquarters for investigation and analysis.
The entire time, the question drifted to the back of their minds; criminally asymptomatic brains and sheep-like subjects?
Kasei Joshu, Number 43 was alarmed. The mechanical face didn't show it as the other brains of SIbyl informed her of what they had heard from the Dominator.
"Who in the world would know?" she asked cautiously.
Her brethren had restless thought patterns. "In all feasibility: none. However, it may be one of the scientists."
"But haven't they already been killed off already or sworn to silence?" she protested.
They thought together. "Perhaps it is the traitor," they buzzed after 3 hundredths of a second. "Order the CID to investigate and destroy her. Use the name of Makishima Shogo to motivate them."
And then there were silence.
"It doesn't seem like what Makishima would do though," Kougami retorted to no one in particular, upon hearing Ginoza's repetition of the Chief's orders. "There's no malice, only the movement of two suspicious individuals that..."
"Could it be registered?" Akane continued, her eyes widening. "By the System, like him?"
Kougami turned on her. "There is no clear connection. Even he was registered, but these two were rejected completely."
"But what if they were test-runners of a sort? Maybe he did something so that the street scanners wouldn't work?" Kagari lazily suggested, cutting into their conversation, rolling in between them.
In a corner, Yayoi muttered 'cockblock.'
"That would be too much effort- no- overkill for him. Why send out two people who would provide a distinctive response and gain attention?" Kougami lectured. "Rather than go himself, unnoticed? It's not his style."
Kagari winced and was going to roll back to work when Akane added in her two yen.
Thoughtfully, "Then who were they and what was their motive?" she asked again. "And that message..."
...No one could provide an answer, and they went back to typing away on their tablets.
"Domina, do you have any idea of the reason for today's excursion, which I denied you so often?" the frail voice asked, amused.
Jerkily, the woman shook her head. "No, mother. I do not question your motives," Domina replied, flatly.
The woman's eyes gleamed with amusement. "Do androids dream of electric sheep, I wonder?"
Domina frowned. "The answer is a rejection of values possible to be inputted into my originality circuits. Then what of the question afterwards?" she asked inquisitively.
Nanamine Ayame smiled, baring her yellowing teeth. "They will be too death to dream soon, dearie."
"Yes, mother. But what of your current physical condition of that body?"
"I'm dying soon."
Domina blinked, but did not say anything in reply.
"I have already arranged caretakers for you for when I am gone. Sibyl will never find you, but you will be right there, will have good parents and hopefully, will be right in the perfect position to kill the abomination I created."
Internally, Domina's systems ran through a potential list of possible caretakers.
In the office, Akane and Kougami sneezed.
This is short, but it's a prologue-
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