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At that moment the twins went completely silent, both suddenly overcome with dizziness. After they broke their mental connection, Cole noticed a little bit of blood slowly trickling down from Leslea's nose. A moment passed before he realized the same was happening to him too.

"Here, let me help..." As the twins were handed a pair of clean tissues by Angie, they ironically had forgotten momentarily they weren't alone in the room, even though the redhead had been the sole focus of their argument. Cole quietly offered his thanks, and Leslea hesitated briefly before slowly nodding her own. The room remained quiet until Leslea cleared her throat and sighed.

"Look, I know that when the two of you went on that scouting mission, that it was dangerous. We all knew that... and so did she."

Cole said nothing, prompting his sister to continue.

"I hated that both my brother and my best friend had to be the ones to go, but it made the most sense. You're the tech expert around here, clearly," she said as she gestured towards the redhead. "I doubt anybody who didn't know the truth could tell Red here is actually one of those ANGRY bots you reprogrammed."

Still no response.

"And Angie is... was... the sneaky one of our group, so she had to be the one to get you in and out. She knew that too, and even though I tried to convince her otherwise, she wouldn't budge. If anything, that just made her more determined to make sure you got back in one piece."

Cole finally spoke, a weak smile on his lips. "...and she did..."

"Yeah," Leslea said, trying to discreetly wipe a tear from her eye as she slowly smiled too. "She did, just like she promised she would."

The twins spent the next several minutes discussing just how much they both were affected by their friend's death.

Cole's guilt drove him to try modifying a previously damaged mechanical enemy soldier he had been conducting studies on, originally hoping to find any exploitable weaknesses, into a replica of Angie as a form of atonement. Every night for nearly two months had been nothing but constant construction and programming a personality more or less the same as what she had been, and in the end surprised even him on how close the result was. The others were understandably caught off guard, but Tim and Elly managing to get past their reservations relatively quickly had been a relief for him. Which made Leslea's negative reaction hit harder, since he had done what he did for her more than anyone else. He also hadn't wanted to be apart from his wife for this long, especially in her present condition, and still worried about the strain this had put on their marriage, but he had felt so guilty that he couldn't focus on anything else.

Leslea talked about the grief she'd felt over losing her closest friend so violently, and how tough it was to begin getting over that loss. When Cole revealed the mechanical copy of Angie - though the original had been dying her hair blue in recent months, the copy's was back to Angie's natural red hair, so they all ended up calling this new one 'Red' - to everyone, it had thrown her into complete shock. She had also felt her brother was acting like a replacement would suddenly make everything better, and so decided to openly despise Red. Deep down Leslea knew it was wrong to act that way, but she thought that easier than dealing with the possibility she might eventually treat her brother's work as a close friend too. And that felt like, in her mind, a betrayal to Angie's memory.

"I know that I wasn't fair to you, Red." Leslea's tone was the calmest it'd ever been when speaking to the focus of her now former hatred. "And I know that Angie wouldn't be happy to see any of us at each other's throats either, so I'll try to do better for her sake."

The nod she received in response made Leslea feel like a giant invisible weight was being lifted from her.

"I will do my part to honor her memory too. But now, you should both get what sleep you can... our mission starts in less than seven hours."

"Good point, Red," said Cole as everyone departed for their respective rooms. "See you both in a while."

With the long built up tension between them now finally dissipating, Leslea felt better than she had in what felt like a long time. As she undressed and slipped under her bedsheets, she murmured softly to her deceased friend as she fell asleep.

"It'll be different this time, Angie... it has to."

One way or another, they would all find out soon enough if she would be right or wrong.

To Be Continued

_______________________________________________________________

Tensions within the group dwindle, and just in time. Things are about to get far more serious.

Also turns out the 'mystery girl' in the first chapter was the real Angie all along. Surprise?

Description
Start
Previous chapter
------------------

At that moment the twins went completely silent, both suddenly overcome with dizziness. After they broke their mental connection, Cole noticed a little bit of blood slowly trickling down from Leslea's nose. A moment passed before he realized the same was happening to him too.

"Here, let me help..." As the twins were handed a pair of clean tissues by Angie, they ironically had forgotten momentarily they weren't alone in the room, even though the redhead had been the sole focus of their argument. Cole quietly offered his thanks, and Leslea hesitated briefly before slowly nodding her own. The room remained quiet until Leslea cleared her throat and sighed.

"Look, I know that when the two of you went on that scouting mission, that it was dangerous. We all knew that... and so did she."

Cole said nothing, prompting his sister to continue.

"I hated that both my brother and my best friend had to be the ones to go, but it made the most sense. You're the tech expert around here, clearly," she said as she gestured towards the redhead. "I doubt anybody who didn't know the truth could tell Red here is actually one of those ANGRY bots you reprogrammed."

Still no response.

"And Angie is... was... the sneaky one of our group, so she had to be the one to get you in and out. She knew that too, and even though I tried to convince her otherwise, she wouldn't budge. If anything, that just made her more determined to make sure you got back in one piece."

Cole finally spoke, a weak smile on his lips. "...and she did..."

"Yeah," Leslea said, trying to discreetly wipe a tear from her eye as she slowly smiled too. "She did, just like she promised she would."

The twins spent the next several minutes discussing just how much they both were affected by their friend's death.

Cole's guilt drove him to try modifying a previously damaged mechanical enemy soldier he had been conducting studies on, originally hoping to find any exploitable weaknesses, into a replica of Angie as a form of atonement. Every night for nearly two months had been nothing but constant construction and programming a personality more or less the same as what she had been, and in the end surprised even him on how close the result was. The others were understandably caught off guard, but Tim and Elly managing to get past their reservations relatively quickly had been a relief for him. Which made Leslea's negative reaction hit harder, since he had done what he did for her more than anyone else. He also hadn't wanted to be apart from his wife for this long, especially in her present condition, and still worried about the strain this had put on their marriage, but he had felt so guilty that he couldn't focus on anything else.

Leslea talked about the grief she'd felt over losing her closest friend so violently, and how tough it was to begin getting over that loss. When Cole revealed the mechanical copy of Angie - though the original had been dying her hair blue in recent months, the copy's was back to Angie's natural red hair, so they all ended up calling this new one 'Red' - to everyone, it had thrown her into complete shock. She had also felt her brother was acting like a replacement would suddenly make everything better, and so decided to openly despise Red. Deep down Leslea knew it was wrong to act that way, but she thought that easier than dealing with the possibility she might eventually treat her brother's work as a close friend too. And that felt like, in her mind, a betrayal to Angie's memory.

"I know that I wasn't fair to you, Red." Leslea's tone was the calmest it'd ever been when speaking to the focus of her now former hatred. "And I know that Angie wouldn't be happy to see any of us at each other's throats either, so I'll try to do better for her sake."

The nod she received in response made Leslea feel like a giant invisible weight was being lifted from her.

"I will do my part to honor her memory too. But now, you should both get what sleep you can... our mission starts in less than seven hours."

"Good point, Red," said Cole as everyone departed for their respective rooms. "See you both in a while."

With the long built up tension between them now finally dissipating, Leslea felt better than she had in what felt like a long time. As she undressed and slipped under her bedsheets, she murmured softly to her deceased friend as she fell asleep.

"It'll be different this time, Angie... it has to."

One way or another, they would all find out soon enough if she would be right or wrong.

To Be Continued

_______________________________________________________________

Tensions within the group dwindle, and just in time. Things are about to get far more serious.

Also turns out the 'mystery girl' in the first chapter was the real Angie all along. Surprise?