Monika calmed down after a few minutes. I embraced her as we sat on the floor together. It was only now that I started to wonder what Monika was. She felt close to human but I'm pretty sure humanity has yet to be able to insert AIs into human bodies. I guessed that she might be some sort of android.
"Love," Monika called out.
"I'm here."
"What are we going to do?" Monika pulled away from me then stood up, turning away from me. "There's no way I can go against Creuset at this point."
"Well, I'm not giving up now." I stood up. "There's no way I'm abandoning my future wife."
Monika turned to me quickly, looking very surprised. "You're… really serious about that?"
"You thought I wasn't?"
"No! I mean, I knew you are but it's just that our circumstances are a bit weird so maybe I thought you might have second thoughts and—"
I pushed my index finger vertically on her lips. "I would never have second thoughts with you."
Monika took my hand and held it with both of hers. "I don't even know what to say to that."
"You don't have to say anything."
"But Creuset…"
"I'll figure something out."
And then, we heard a very loud noise from above.
"What was that?"
I then remembered Luce; she probably brought her pistol with her. Then, who did she shoot? Was it Creuset? There's also the chance Creuset fought back and shot Luce with her own pistol. I felt panic creeping up to me.
"We have to go," I told Monika.
"Why? We don't even know what's out there."
"Luce. That's most likely her gun."
"She… shot someone?"
"Only one way to find out."
I then carried Monika on my arms like a princess. She's not as heavy as I thought she would be.
"Ah!" Monika gasped. "I can walk just fine!"
"I want you to rest. I'll do the running for the both of us."
I walked towards the door and opened it up. As I stepped into the hall, I ran.
"Love, you really don't have to—"
"Just relax, Monika," I said. "This is just practice."
"Practice?" Monika looked at me with much confusion.
"When we get married."
Monika looked down as she heard that. I climbed the stairs and reached the next floor. I hid the fact that I was getting a little tired from running and carrying Monika at the same time. And so I kept running until we reached another staircase.
"Wait!" Monika ordered.
I stopped in my tracks and it took effort not to drop Monika. "Yeah?"
"Let me down."
I put Monika down. Was I overdoing it? I hope not.
"What's with all the styrofoam here?" Monika then noticed and pointed at a door next to the staircase. "Look."
I went close to it and tried to open it. Apparently it's a sliding door. Looking inside, I just saw a ditch.
"What the hell is this?" I wondered.
Monika peered in. "It's an elevator shaft."
"What?"
"There's cables and everything. How can you miss that?" She pointed out.
"Let's just call the elevator then." I said as I looked for the panel.
"I don't see anything that can call it."
"Back to the stairs then."
I took Monika's hand and looked at her. After she nodded at me, we were running together, passing through hallways and climbing stairs. After a while, we found people at the end of the hall. We ran towards them and upon closer look, I recognized Luce, and surprisingly Yuri. Yuri got a body too? That made sense since Monika and Creuset had theirs too. That probably meant Natsuki had hers too. Mackenzie was a few feet away from Luce's back.
When we got stopped before reaching Mackenzie, I noticed Luce was pointing her gun at someone atop the spiral staircase.
Creuset.
"Luce!" I called out.
"Sherlock!?" Luce turned her head but then looked back to Creuset. "And Monika too!?"
"Luce, what's going on?!" I asked.
"This bitch is hiding something on the top floor!"
I looked at Creuset, who still smiled at me when our eyes met.
"It seems you people haven't learned your lesson." Creuset folded her arms.
"Creuset, you have to stop this! As your friend please listen to me!" a blonde woman protested. Who's she?
"Holly, you are one of the few who I truly trust," Creuset said." It saddens me to see you on the wrong side."
Holly? Luce's best friend who died? Did she faked her death?
"It's like you've forgotten who brought you back to life," Creuset reminded.
Brought back? She made Holly an AI? What else can she do?
"Enough bullshit!" Luce barked. "You're gonna let us through or I blow your head!"
Creuset laughed, placing her hand over her face. "You are certainly welcome to try."
"Don't," Holly said as she pulled down Luce's arm. "She's connected to a wireless network. She'll escape by the time you shoot her."
Luce clicked her tongue and put her gun away.
"It's useless to resist," Mackenzie said. "We have the upper hand."
"Why are you doing this?" Yuri asked. "You brought us to life just to torture us?"
"I would never hurt you, Yuri." Creuset bemused as she smiled. "Just Monika."
"If you did brought everyone back, where's Sayori?" Monika questioned then promptly fell to the floor unconscious.
"Monika!" I yelled, raising her in my arms.
"What have you done!?" Yuri hollered. "You know what happens when you shut down one of us!"
"Exactly." Creuset said coldly. "Defying me can only lead to ruination of your mind."
"You motherfucker!" Luce screamed then shot Creuset three times. One of which was on her forehead.
Creuset staggered but regained her posture. "You still don't get it, don't you Luce?" Creuset waved her hand in front of her.
Yuri fell face down on the floor.
"Yuri!?" Luce immediately knelt next to Yuri and turned her over. "Hey, what's wrong!?"
Yuri breathed back to life screaming nonsense.
"You're really going to let her do this, Mackenzie!?" Holly wailed as she turned to Mackenzie.
"Yes." Mackenzie said.
I looked at Mackenzie's back. She stood there perfectly straight and still. How can she not feel any remorse for everything Creuset was doing? Instead, it's like she's enjoying every second of it. Whatever Creuset did seemed to be a good thing for Mackenzie. I wanted to scream at her. I wanted to tell her that she was being crazy but before I could, Creuset fell to her knees, making her almost fall onto the stairs. She grabbed on the railing, trying to keep herself standing.
"No. No, this can't be." Creuset's eyes widened. "Someone's at the terminal. No, this is too early!" Creuset ran upstairs.
"What the fuck?" Luce wondered.
"We have to go after her," Monika suggested. "This is our chance."
I nodded at her but then she began to fall unconscious. I barely caught her in time.
"Luce!" Holly called out."You have to stop her! I don't know how but—" Holly fell unconscious to the ground.
"Creuset!" Luce screamed then ran after her.
Mackenzie turned to face me, still smiling.
"You're gonna stop me, aren't you?" I asked.
She shook her head then moved aside and gestured for me to go after them.
"What, I thought you're with Creuset?" I questioned.
"I can't let my daughters to just gather dust on the floor now, would I?"
I looked into her eyes. I couldn't tell if she was telling me the truth or not. I decided not to think about it. I laid Monika down on the floor, silently promising her that I would be back. I stood up and ran towards the spiral staircase.
