Tess's heart lurched, then dropped into her stomach. She had known this day would come, she knew it was about to happen, but even as he'd stepped into the doorway a part of her had hoped that it wouldn't come to pass.
But it had, and there was no changing it now. She took a deep breath, raised her head, and squared her shoulders. Whatever happened next was her responsibility - she didn't have time for regret or indecision.
"Okay, Fara, we've completed your power station. What now? I really don't relish the idea of fighting our way out of here, even if we are healed."
"Oh there won't be a need for that." Her smile was pure innocence as the guards behind her tore the humanoids to pieces.
"There are ways out of here that cut through the service tunnels onto the grounds. I have sent the last of my drones to clear out all creatures in the surrounding areas. I have also activated vehicles to allow us speedy travel in the outside world. I understand that the distances to be covered are not optimal on foot."
"Can you even leave with us? Is this even a real body?"
Fara stepped closer to Tess and held out her hand, turning it over to look at it from all sides. "Unfortunately, no - this body is only viable inside this facility. Once I give up control of the power station I will no longer be able to sustain any of my creations, including this construct."
"Then how do you plan on leaving?"
Fara perked up. "Oh! That's easy. I'm leaving with my new family, carried out by my new mother. I've never had a mother before, I'm excited to experience one."
Her hand flashed out, faster than even Tess could react to. The small fingers gripped Tess's wrist in a manacle stronger than any iron. The twins began to move, but even Cass's speed was no match for Fara in this moment. Her body lost all color, turning a deep silver, then began to separate into shimmering strands that continued to thin. Cass was halfway to them when the strands dissolved into microscopic dust, flowing up her small arm, across her hand, and into Tess's body.
Cass had reached her, but it was too late. His batons scattered unnecessary mass, the dust exploding out in a cloud of metal that had lost all its shimmer. The hand gripping Tess disincorporated from the wrist, then the hand, then the knuckles, and finally the fingertips, dust dropping to the floor as the last of the nanite-sized particles flowed into Tess.
Darkness.
Fara floated in darkness, having no familiarity with being inside a living thing. She'd eviscerated and dissected enough bodies to become intimately familiar with them down to the cellular level, but none of her experiments could have prepared her for actually being inside one.
She absorbed chemicals, then discharged them. She swam around red blood cells the size of houses, dodged white blood cells that were even larger. Some of her was absorbed by them, but she easily pulled them apart from the inside, learning as she did. Some she managed to put back together, others she left to drift on the currents of Tess's circulatory system.
She knew what she sought, and even knew how to get there, but there was no roadmap for finding the brain - no markers to tell her where she was. Darkness faded as she learned to process the inputs from around her. No light was needed, but she was learning to see. She was in no rush as she drifted. She knew from her research that blood only took 20 seconds to circulate through the body of a human man within one standard deviation from the norm. She'd calculated that Tess's height and body mass would have her make the circuit in approximately 17 seconds.
Part of her giggled. 'Approximately.' I am estimating! I am already more human.
What passed for excitement flashed through the multitude of her being and she sped up, eager to take the next steps.
She reached a barrier and recognized the filter for what it was - the blood-brain barrier. The impassable filtration system may as well have been an open door for her, the passages through it cavernous. She left part of her behind to begin infusing with the rest of Tess, much of her already converting living tissue into microscopic extensions of herself. It was messy and poorly designed, the human body, but it would service her needs.
She flowed into the brain and breathed a metaphorical sigh. Home. Electricity crackled around her, jumping from circuit to circuit. No, she corrected herself, neuron to neuron. The pathways were winding and unorganized in their organic way, but still had an impression of circuitry more advanced than anything that had been designed by human minds.
She took her time now, not wanting to rush this process for fear of doing damage. She carefully avoided electrical discharges, not wanting to interrupt vital limbic functions. She moved through structures, the hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, and basal ganglia her playground. There had been no information on the human nervous system - no textbook or even electronic document that could teach her what she needed to know, so she went by feel. She sampled cerebral activity like a sommelier, interpreting and cataloging each. As the terrain became more familiar she branched out, flowing into everything and everywhere at once. The signals that moved across Tess's brain were studied and shared between all of her nanites, and patterns began to emerge.
Tess was frozen, tremors rippling through her body in waves. Luna had her by the shoulders and was shaking her, voice loud in the chamber. Cass had frozen, his face a rictus of shock and disbelief.
And still Tess stood, unable to move, unable to be moved. Every muscle in her body stood out in sharp relief, the tendons on her neck stretching taut under her skin. Her eyes rolled and teeth ground. They reflexively tried to check her health bar, but the connection of Tactical Synergy had disappeared with their father.
Knuckles cracked, then other joints joined them. An ominous creaking sound came from Tess's teeth. Her chest hadn't moved and even her dark skin was showing the beginnings of a blue tinge.
Then everything released at once and Tess fell to her knees, gasping. Her limbs moved weakly to her pocket before stopping as she realized there were no more healing pills.
"Mom?" The twins sounded in unison, both dropping to their knees in front of her.
Sweat poured off her face and she lifted her head slowly, the burning in her muscles finally starting to fade. Her breath came out in measured pants.
"I'm. O-" She froze as a voice sounded in her mind.
"Hello mother!"