Disclaimer
I don't own Angelic Layer. CLAMP does. I don't own Chobits either. CLAMP owns them too. I do own Hitomi, but who really cares?
Misaki closed the door quietly behind her. It was late, and she had little reason to expect her mother was still awake. The prosthetics helped her get around, but they were fatiguing to use, and her Mom often grew tired early.
So she could be forgiven for jumping when her mother spoke.
"At least you're in before your curfew," chuckled Shuuko. "If only just."
"Sorry, Mom." She hung her head. "I had a lot to think about."
"So I heard." Shuuko was in her wheelchair, and started rolling towards the kitchen. "I was down at the office about half an hour after you."
"There were three of those new Angels in the locker," Misaki said. "One of them was for you?"
"Yes. And the third was for another long-time player." Shuuko looked down at her hands. "I don't know who the third player was. But the first person to be offered one of these new designs was--"
"Ohjiro and Wizard." Misaki nodded. "Well, it's his brother, so it's to be expected."
"What do you think of the idea?"
"Honestly?" She grinned. "It excites me. I'm really looking forward to it. What about you?"
"It scares the hell out of me."
Misaki blinked. She'd never heard her mother use language quite that strong before. "Why?"
"The first time Athena moved on the Layer without my assistance, I panicked. I called Ichigo, and asked him what was happening." She stood up, somewhat unsteadily, and Misaki was surprised to see that she wasn't wearing her prosthetics. "He ran some tests, and told me that the neural network that made up the Angel's control circuitry had the ability to learn. This was to make it easier for the Deus to control the Angel; the Angel would learn what the Deus wanted. And when enough neural connections are made...they..." She broke off, and grabbed the kettle. "Tea. Tea always helps. Calms me down, helps me think..."
"They wake up, don't they?" Misaki sat down heavily. "They become...people."
"No." Shuuko shook her head. "They're not people. They're something else, a new kind of life. One based on optronic circuits and plastic and myomers. Not people, but still alive." She filled the kettle, set it on the stove. "Given the size and complexity of their brains, Icchan felt that they'd become about as smart as a cat or a dog. A pet, at best. It still terrified me, though. To be responsible for a life..." She sat down again in the wheelchair, gasping at the effort.
"So what did you do?"
She looked down at her folded hands. "I packed Athena back into her Egg."
Misaki gasped. "Oh, Mom..."
"You're different from me. I saw Athena as my avatar in the game. You see Hikaru as your partner." She looked up at her daughter. "To you, the Angel always was a person. To me, it was a tool."
"But the upgrade--"
"Misaki, I've had one daughter already, and I made a terrible mess of things. I don't want to inflict my bad parenting on another little girl."
"You didn't do so badly, Mom," said Misaki.
Shuuko snorted. "Then why did the two of us end up standing in the rain, bawling our eyes out?"
"You weren't standing," Misaki giggled, then turned serious. "But I do feel sorry for Athena, locked away in her Egg."
"With no power, she's not even awake." Shuuko sighed. "What are you going to do about Hikaru?"
Misaki paused. "I don't know yet. I'm still thinking about it."
Shuuko turned her wheelchair to face her daughter. "You've got a good heart, Misaki, but you love too easily. I don't want to see you hurt. Hikaru might be truly alive, but if you go through with this upgrade, she'll be alive in the same way that you and I are. You will be, for all realistic purposes, her mother."
Misaki's eyes widened.
"So it is a big responsibility. Think very carefully before you decide to do this."
The kettle begin to whistle.
Misaki left the light off as she walked into her bedroom. The room was lit faintly by the glow of the Layer in the corner. She sat down next to the Layer, and pulled Hikaru from the pocket in her purse where she regularly rode.
She set the Angel on the Layer, and Hikaru came to life, eyes opening. She steadied herself and looked up at Misaki, a brilliant smile lighting her face, until she saw Misaki's troubled expression. She walked over to the edge of the Layer, and sat down, leaning towards Misaki.
"Big decision, Hikaru. I'm sorry you weren't awake when I found out, but there was no active Layer." Misaki leaned forward. "Mister Icchan says he can make you bigger. Bigger than me. Smarter, too. Would you like that?"
Hikaru cocked her head to the side. Misaki wondered how much of what she was saying was getting through to the Angel. She might not recognize the words, might not even recognize the concepts.
"He also said it would let you walk off the Layer."
Hikaru had emotions, Misaki was certain, but from what Icchan and her mother had said, they were probably primitive and limited. Hikaru scowled at the thought of leaving the Layer, the same scowl she used when facing an unknown foe. It looked like uncertainty, possibly even fear.
"And it will let you talk."
It was as though a switch had been thrown. All uncertainty left Hikaru's face, and she almost leaped off the layer. Her hands clasped beneath her chin, and she looked up at Misaki, a look of pleading in her eyes. Misaki chuckled.
"So I take it that you like the idea?"
Hikaru nodded vigorously.
"Okay. I've got school tomorrow, but after that, we'll go visit Mister Icchan."
Icchan looked up as Misaki walked into the lab. "Have you thought about it?"
"Yes, we have." Misaki nodded. "When I thought about it, I kinda got scared, especially with what Mom told me. But when I talked to Hikaru about it..." She smiled. "Well, she was kinda firm on going ahead."
"Hikaru?" Icchan frowned. "Now I'm worried. I never expected that an Angel could comprehend the ideas. Their computers are not really that complex."
"I'm not sure that she does fully understand." Misaki pulled Hikaru from her purse, looked down at her. "But when I told her that she'd be able to talk to me...that was when she got excited."
"Ah." Icchan nodded. "So shall we begin?"
Misaki nodded.
Ichigo opened the locker, and pulled out the palette with Hikaru's new body on it. The access panel on her chest was still open, and Ichigo extracted the connector. He then carefully took Hikaru from Misaki's hands, and set her down on his workbench. "Now, this might be a little disturbing to watch. I need to disassemble Hikaru."
"I'm not going anywhere," stated Misaki.
"Should have expected that." Icchan quickly removed Hikaru's clothing, leaving her naked except for the hair. Next, he picked up a precision screwdriver, and began removing screws from her joints. Misaki swallowed nervously.
"Can she...feel that?"
Ichigo shook his head. "Without power, her...well, pain sensors is close, but she doesn't really feel pain. Without power, she won't even register the disconnections. On top of that, the pain sensors aren't wired to the places I'll be opening." He paused, and glanced over at her. "More than any other Deus, save one, you have anthropomorphized the Angel. You identify her as a separate person, always have. That's why I offered this to you."
"You offered it to Mom, too, and she's not like that."
"Well, that's because your mother still holds a special place in my heart." Icchan chuckled, and turned back to the Angel. He finished removing screws, and set down the screwdriver. He then picked up another tool, and popped the Angel's carapace open.
Underneath was a mass of wires and chips. Icchan set down the tool, and picked up the screwdriver again. He undid three more screws, and carefully lifted the mass of circuits out of the Angel's torso.
"Stand clear. This has to be done quickly." Misaki scrambled to get out of his way, tripping and falling in the process, but he merely stepped over her, and settled the circuitry into the cavity in the new body. He attached the connector, then closed the compartment.
"Thirty seconds of life, after the power is disconnected. I made it in ten." He breathed a sigh of relief. "You're still a klutz, Misaki."
"Sorry." She looked down at her feet.
"Well, she's installed, and her old circuitry is receiving power, but the new hardware needs to be started up." He indicated one of the fin-like antennae attached to her headband. "Care to do the honours?"
Misaki nodded. "What do I do?"
"The power switch is in here." He tapped the rondel at the base of the antenna, and the antenna split open. Inside were a few cables, and a small red button. "That's a startup button only. There's a shutdown button inside her chest cavity, but you should never use it."
"Why not?"
"Because it will flush her memory," said Icchan. "In other words, it will kill her."
Misaki gasped. "Then why did you put it in?"
"Because it's needed for the creation process. I flushed the RAM in the body, to ensure a clean slate, before I installed Hikaru's old brain." He indicated the startup button. "When you press that, Hikaru's old memory will be copied to the new body, and her new computer will come online."
Misaki nodded.
"Go ahead."
Misaki slowly reached forward, and pushed the start button.
