Those who betrayed their kind

Memory storage

Code: <Transfer progress: 12%>

This is taking much longer than I anticipated. It's day 3 of Project:SDM and I am currently at 12%. I can't exactly leave the pod as the cable can't extend as far as I'd like. Guess I'm stuck here until then. Y'know, it's really weird how I ended up here, sure my breakdown explained a lot of it but it's still weird to think about. Just a few years ago I was just an average worker drone half a foot taller than everyone, living as an orphan. 10 years old, I found that storage room with the broken vent cover. I didn't know it but that was the moment my life would change forever.

Flashback

I was walking down the hallways towards my room until I saw a plaque that said "Storage room". It was strange as I've always walked down this hallway, but I've never seen it before. I look to my right and I realize why I never saw the plaque. It was Doll's room. Yeah, I kinda have a thing for her ever since kindergarten.

Flashback

Narrator Mark: In the classroom where the children where just barely a foot tall, I was three inches taller. I was sitting in the back of the classroom watching the roaches crawl on the floor until the teacher call out to us. Keep in mind this is after I became an orphan so I was severely depressed.

Teacher: Alright kids, today you're having a new one to play with.

He said in a tone so dull it makes a spoon look sharp.

Narrator Mark: We all looked at the door and there she stood. Doll, her long purple hair and her black dress with a orange stripe on the edge. She was beautiful. She made me feel happy for the first time since my mother "died".

Teacher: Say hi to your classmates.

He said before walking to his desk to continue his solitaire game.

Doll: Привет. (Hello)

Narrator Mark: Not only was she beautiful, she was a foreigner. She was actually the reason why I got into coding. I wanted to make a translating node in my system so I could talk with her easier, and when I nailed it I realized I could do so much more with it. That's where I made the emotion inhibitor. It may have been an old code but it definitely wasn't the oldest.

Present time

Mark: Wait, what was I talking about?

???: The storage room.

Mark slowly turns his head towards the voice to find V awake and her visor displaying "Rec".

Mark: How much of that did you record?

V: Just enough for blackmail.

Mark: You wanna play dirty? I'll play dirty.

He snaps his fingers and the monitor comes to life with a file labeled "V's memories".

Mark: Now, let's see what juicy memories you have.

The trio

With the trio back on the outside Marlene enters her old house with the other two cautiously following behind. Marlene runs her hand along the walls reminiscing her time living in the home.

Marlene: It's been so long. These walls used to be filled with photos of our childhood. Now? It's all blank.

She tears up at the sight of the desaturated walls with barely visible outlines standing where photos of her family once were. A few tears drop onto the floor infront of where she stood. Moments pass until she's suddenly met with the warm embrace of N from behind hugging her.

N: It's ok. Let it out.

Marlene turns to her husband, hold him close and sobs into his chest letting all of her sorrow into his chest. Uzi left the couple alone and decided to look for her father's room trying to figure out what exactly made him, not as mentally well as his sister. Once she reaches the room she opens the door only to be nearly buried in papers.