Kindling the Flames of Mystery

New Robotic Companion

*Ame POV*

Is she... okay? She's not moving... it doesn't even look like she's breathing. I suppose I should check her pulse, right? I put two fingers on her neck, but I don't feel any pulse. Yet, I'm startled when her eyes open up.

"Scanning... Scanning... subject identified, good afternoon, mistress," I hear the girl say, as she looks up at me.

"Huh? Did you just call me mistress? Never mind that, are you okay?" I ask, reaching my hand out to her. She just stares at me blankly.

"All systems are functioning normally, thank you for your concern, Amelia Watson," she says, taking my hand. I'm taken aback by her comment.

"How does everyone seemingly know who I am?! And all systems, are you a robot?" I ask, pulling her up. I then notice what exactly she is wearing, she has a cute sweatshirt, and um... those are certainly a type of pants.

"My name is Roboco, and yes, I am a robot. I scanned your face into my system, and ID'd you through the national facial database. And now I'm here to serve you, mistress," she says, bowing.

"Okay, what's with this mistress talk? It's making me feel weird," I explain.

"It is what my programming is telling me to do, it wants me to serve you. So I will," Roboco explains.

"Okay... I guess, but stop calling me mistress, it's weird. Also, how'd you end up in a box on the side of the road?" I ask, finally realizing I have my gun out, and putting it away.

"I... do not remember. I had just finished a performance, and I was approached by a masked woman and a woman with pink hair. Next thing I knew, I woke up to see you," she tells me.

"That's odd... *grumble* oh my, I'm starving. Hey, Roboco, are there any places around here to eat with gluten free options? Maybe we can talk more there," I ask.

"The closest restaurant would be KFP, while the chicken contains gluten, there is onigiri and salad, which don't contain gluten," she informs me.

"I'll take that, can you lead the way? I'll pay for us," I offer.

"I do not need to eat, but I'll lead the way, Amelia Watson," she says, beginning to walk, and I follow her.

We enter the KFP, and Roboco grabs us a seat.

"Hello, I'd like to order the Onigiri on bread, a side salad, and I'll take a medium fountain drink. Also, is there any gluten free bread for the buns?" I ask, and the girl at the register looks surprised.

"Yeah, we have gluten free bread... but are you sure? I don't think anyone has ever actually ordered that before..." she tells me.

"Well there's a first for everything, right?" I ask.

"Not many people even knew it was on the menu, but alright. I assume you're sitting with that woman over there? We'll have your food over in a minute or two," the lady says as I pay for the food and go sit down with Roboco.

"Okay, so we're dealing with a kidnapping situation here, huh? So do you have any idea who could've done this? You said that one of the girls had a mask, correct, and the other one had pink hair? Is there anything else you can tell me?" I ask, pulling out my investigation journal.

"The masked girl was also wearing a hood, so I did not get a very good look at her, but I believe she had silver hair, or was it white... maybe grey? Wait, yep, it was grey, I found it within my memory banks.. I only saw the other girl for a split second before shutting down, but I believe she was wearing a lab coat," she recounts as I write it down.

"Okay, anything else? That's not a lot to go on," I ask, but my food arrives before she can answer. I thank the employee, and begin eating while listening to Roboco.

"The masked woman had a sizable bust, but other than that, I have nothing else. I apologize, my memory of the event is unusually fuzzy..." she admits, looking ashamed. Before I can respond however, her eyes widen like she just remembered something.

"Wait, I found something within my databanks! I was designed with a sort of anti tampering feature. If my systems detect any tampering, they will automatically record the audio around me, and upload it to a private database. It seems that was triggered when I was shut down, and it's impossible to delete, so even if they found it" she explains, looking proud of her design. As I finish my food, I respond to her.

"Ah, that's actually kinda smart... can you access that audio? That might be crucial to uncovering this," I ask.

"Of course, may you hand me your phone for a second?" She asks, and I oblige. She holds it in her hand and stares at the screen for about 15 seconds straight, then hands me the phone back.

"There, it is done. Check your files, is should be in there," she says.

"Wow, that was fast... ah, here it is! Alright, let's take a listen," I play the audio loud enough for both of us to hear it, but not loud enough to be obnoxious to the people around us.

"Hey, are you almost done?" A voice of presumably one of the girls plays.

"I told you to be patient 👍︎♒︎●︎□︎♏︎, unless YOU want to try reprogramming a robot?" Another voice plays, presumably the other girl Roboco saw.

"Nah, you and ☹︎◆︎♓︎ are the smart ones, but it's been 3 hours already, hurry up!" The first voice whines.

"Keep rushing me and the first order I'll give this thing will be to force you into the bath! Maybe I should just do that anyways... whatever, it's done," The second voice says.

"Yay, it's done! But also, no baths!" The first voice declares.

"Well, me and ✋︎❒︎□︎♒︎♋︎ have something else to take care of. Are you sure that you and ☹︎♋︎🏱︎●︎◆︎⬧︎ can handle getting it back to base?" The second voice asks, sounding annoyed.

"Of course! We've already got the truck on the way, you can count on us!" Voice 1 proudly exclaims.

"Alright, I trust you. Wait a second... ooh, that's quite cheeky, that almost got me. Let me just..." the audio is promptly cut of there.

"Oh my, it appears it wasn't as safe as I thought. Not only did they find it, it seems like they managed to scramble out any of their names... I'll have to report that vulnerability," Roboco says, as I finish taking notes on what I heard.

"It seems whatever organization they work for planned on reprogramming you to serve them, and one of them at least seems very intelligent... that begs the question of how you ended up on the side of the road, and why you feel compelled to serve me of all people..." I ponder out loud.

"If only we could hear their names... I do not recognize their voices," Roboco sighs.

"I'll send it to my boss to see what he can do, he knows some people who deal with stuff like this. In the mean time, I believe we should part ways for now, it's quite late. But I think you should stick close by, so I can keep an eye on you, and we can deal with all of this faster. Do you need help finding a place to stay? I can pay for it, if you want," I offer, but she shakes her head.

"I already have a place to stay around here, so do not worry. I shall see you later, Mistress Amelia... oops, I mean just Amelia," she smiles as I throw out my garbage and we leave the KFP, each of us going our separate ways.

As I'm walking back to my dorm, I think on everything that's happened today. Reuniting with childhood friends, having to deal with seemingly two shadowy organizations now, and stumbling upon a robot girl in a box who calls me mistress. Her case is the most urgent right now, so while it's not my main mission, it must be solved first, that council and those creatures don't pose any immediate threat, whoever these people are seem to. They were willing to strip someone's free will to further their own goals, whoever they are, whatever they want, on my honor as a detective, they WILL be stopped!