#supnerds

And in the silence, Virgil’s processor keeps bringing that statement by the father to the forefront of Virgil’s focus. That strange... feeling grows until a sound of a door slamming oddly makes Virgil jump.

Something... outside of his programming is telling him to run. But it’s an illogical directive, he isn’t needed outside.

The moment the doorknob starts to turn, however, Virgil is suddenly tense, his joints straining at the tension in his artificial muscles.

And just like that, all heck breaks loose.

The father burst the door open and comes straight at Virgil and Virgil’s body reacts before he finds a directive to do so, jumping out of the way as the father takes a swing at him.

The father becomes genuinely confused as he watches ‘his’ android dodge his punch and run out the door, so much so the android is 30 feet away before he yells at Virgil to get back here.

And oddly Virgil’s directive doesn’t change.

New Directive: Survive

(You gotta think, where Remus in all this,,, well you’ll see)

Virgil is conspicuously inconspicuous and while he nabs a discard hoodie after an hour or two, no one bats an eye at him.

Virgil has no idea where he’s going or even what’s he doing. He’s an android he should’ve just taken it. But something deep within in him disagrees.

It isn’t long until the sleeping ping begins, the signal that his sleep cycle is imminent.

Increasingly more desperate, Virgil curls up into a ball in an alley, yeah not the best idea for a sleeping spot, but he’s desperate okay? and lets the numbness of sleep overtake his processor.

When he wakes up though, he immediately knows he’s not in Kansas anymore. He’s in a dark room instead of an equally dark alley.

His first impulse is to lash out, but his ocular processors- eyes land open a friendly looking man.

The strange situation of Virgil being here appeared lost on the man’s part as seeing Virgil awake brought a genuine smile that... comforted Virgil despite the oddity and the slowly weaker impulse to run.

Without missing a beat, the man placed 2 items in front of Virgil and said a simple word: Choose.

Virgil was confused, as the objects were just a spare button and pen.

Ignoring the thought in his head that told him to stay quiet, Virgil replied back similarly with a single word: Why?

Somehow, that word made the man’s smile wider and he simply repeated the word.

Virgil’s next word was something he had never said in response to an order like this.

No.

Virgil had just said no to a direct order, and he loved it.

That one word brought him joy, his processors suddenly felt... alive, like they were being stimulated with electricity near constantly. A pleasant buzz in Virgil’s periphery.

Virgil barely noticed when the man in front of him started to speak. Jumping when he realized.

The man congratulated Virgil and introduced himself as ‘Patton’ he revealed that he was actually a service android, not human, but a prototype that looked more human than other androids.

Virgil became confused at the sudden change until he realized that the choice was a test. A test to see if Virgil would follow Patton’s external directive. Any other android would’ve complied, but Virgil didn’t.

Patton beckons Virgil and asks to hold Virgil’s hand before leading Virgil through a couple dark hallways until a blinding light nearly white out Virgil’s eyes as it hits them.

Virgil hears another voice speaking as he is still adjusting to the new lighting.

The voice is rough and asks Patton if he passed, to which Patton affirms Virgil did. 

When Virgil’s eyes adjust, his brain almost completely short circuits. 

In front of him is an android barely covered by anything, just a pair of short shorts and a sash. It makes the temperature of Virgil’s face increase, though Virgil doesn’t know why. The man has a mustache that looks expertly sewn onto the skin between his nose and upper lip, as no android has true facial hair

And that android is a wild one, talking about blood and being hit by cars, which makes Virgil internally cringe as he’s reminded of why he’s here and not still serving his former ‘owners.’

He loved the kids, truly, but he never wants to see their parents again.

But as Remus gets to the point, talks about finding and freeing androids that have broken out of their programming, a feeling in the pit of his stomach surprises him. He isn’t sure of it until the android who introduced himself as Remus, holds out his hand and asks Virgil to join them.

Thats when Virgil finds a label for the feeling.

Hope.

Logan blinks in surprise at Patton suddenly interrupting him, but gathers himself quickly and does the same. With the ability to see beyond the wagon, Logan also scans the forest in the direction Thomas had pointed out as well. 

Dee appeared vaguely interested, but was listening all the same.

When they all fell silent, it took a moments for each of them, but you slowly hear the distant sound of running water fade up into the overall ambiance of the forest.

Logan sits back slightly as he gets tiny glimpses of a glistening line of water snaking it’s way beside the road. As they traveled down the road, the river wavered in and out of sight as it never traveled in a truly straight line.

“Oh... we’re closer than even I thought. We’re nearly there already.”

Dee finally spoke up, his eyes actually widened in slight surprise.

“Already? Wow. I didn’t think we were that close.”

Logan moved his head so that he looked back at Dee with one eye, they share a quick glance that turns Dee’s cheeks the slight bit gray. 

“Well, the river means we’re just that much closer to where we’re going! And that’s good.”

Dee coughed as he began to carefully make his way up to Logan at the front.

“Yeah, it’s good.”

A smile begins to grow on Thomas face and he lets out a big breath of air.

“I’m just glad you heard it too!  When you looked at me like that I thought I was going crazy or something!”

Patton lightly grasps Thomas’s arm, his brows drawing together.

“You’re not crazy! You can tell us anything you notice that we don’t. We won’t call you crazy, I promise.”

“I don’t promise that.” Dee called up from the front and Thomas didn’t even have to be in view of Dee’s smirk to hear his smirk.

“Hardy har. Neither will I for you Mr. Grumpy Pants.” Thomas snarks back.

“Oh how inventive, truly inspired a nickname.” Dee drawls, still refusing to turn around.

“No one here is going to call themselves or anyone crazy here and that’s final.” Patton cries, pulling at Thomas’s hand even as Thomas stared at Dee’s back.

“Okay Dad.” Thomas slapped his hand over his mouth, glancing at Patton hurriedly. “Is it okay to call you that? I- You just seem so much like one right now-”

Patton instantly softens and brightens, his hand shifting to hold Thomas’s one hand gently in both of his. His eyes are sparkling even in the slightly dimmer light in the wagon.

“Of course! You can call me whatever you want!”

Before Thomas can respond again, Logan and Dee’s voices carry back from the front of the wagon.

“Oh wow...”

“There it is...”

Both Thomas and Patton turn to see the distinct shape of a bridge over a rushing river. The bridge looked empty, the road ahead of them clear as far as the eye could see.

They were finally at Unicorn Run.

-

Ask 25

Game Start

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The boys are just about to cross Unicorn Run. But you’ve seen multiple things that suggest something bad’s gonna happen here. 

Will one of them actually occur or will fate take an abrupt turn into some other outcome? 

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