But the mother and child reunion, is only a moment away

“Nicholas, you do not understand Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin as well as you think you do,” Amelia bluntly informed her stepson.

Nick scowled. Like that was news to him.

“Yeah, I know,” he groaned, shaking his head. “You think I don’t know that?”

He sighed and looked down at the floor. “But I want to, okay? I want to know more about her.” Right now, his promise with Rose and the other girls was the last thing on his mind. After messing up with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, all Nick could think about right now was finding some way to make things better.

But that was easier said than done. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was difficult when she was happy. But when she was upset? That made her even harder to deal with.

If Nick wanted things to go smoothly, then he would have to put aside the other girls for a second, and focus on Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin.

“I have to go find her,” he said. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had retreated to her sanctuary in the Arcade Suite, and that was where he’d find her.

“And then what?”

Amelia’s question may have been a genuine one, but the way she said it, it stung in Nick’s ear like an accusation, and he stiffened. Nick lowered his head and sighed, and turned back to his stepmother.

“…I don’t know,” he admitted.

Amelia was right. He didn’t understand Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin. Not at all.

“Because you do not understand her nature,” Amelia pointed out. “You do not know anything about her past. Her life. Or what she wants now, either.”

“Well, I mean, I’m not exactly psychic,” Nick pointed out. “And it’s not like I can just ask Dakota to give me a slideshow of all the shit that happened in her past, that’s a massive invasion of privacy!”

“I did not say that,” Amelia replied coldly.

Nick frowned. “Then… what?” He asked. “What are you saying?”

Amelia took a deep breath, and then exhaled. “What I am saying… is that you need to understand why she does not wish to be named, by you, or anyone else here. Or even herself, for that matter.”

Nick looked at Amelia in surprise. “Wait, you know…? How-?”

Amelia narrowed her eyes. “I am more perceptive than you give me credit for,” she said calmly. “I asked.”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin hadn’t answered. Not in so many words. But Amelia didn’t need that from her. After all, she knew enough.

She was a mother.

“You are not a parent, Nicholas,” she said calmly. “Not yet, anyway. And no matter how you play house with Sylvia, that cannot take the place of a genuine bond between parent and child.”

Nick was completely lost. “Mom… err, Amelia… what are you talking about?” He stammered. This talking about parents, it made his face turn scarlet in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin has a bond of her own that is precious to her,” Amelia said bluntly. “One that she is **** to conserve. That is all I’ll tell you.”

Although the assassin had not technically confided in her, and thus she was not sworn to any sort of secrecy, Amelia still had standards. She wouldn’t just reveal all of Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s secrets and feelings, not even to Nick.

Not even if it would help him.

If she did, it would almost be like betraying her own bond with the mute girl.

She’d given him enough hints as it was. If he couldn’t figure it out from this… then maybe there was just no helping her stepson.

But judging by the expression on his face, that would not be the case.

“…Thanks, Amelia,” he said, nodding. “I think… I think I understand.”

Amelia smiled. She was not the best at expressing her own feelings and thoughts, and so part of her had feared that she’d been too subtle with what she’d said. But judging by the look on Nick’s face, she didn’t have anything to worry about.

“Good luck,” she said, leaning forward and planting a kiss on her stepson’s forehead. Nick looked at her, shocked, and then nodded, scurrying off towards the Arcade Suite.

Amelia watched him go, and sighed in relief. It looked like Nick could clean up after himself after all. It was good to see that he was becoming much more responsible now.

“Okay, Nick, you can come in now- huh?” Vivian poked her head out of the Fashion Suite and looked around. “Where did he go?”

Amelia let out a tired sigh and turned to who was now only her second-most troubling student.

“Nicholas is engaged in a far more important endeavor at the moment,” she coldly informed Vivian. Helping Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin absolutely was of greater import than whatever flighty, superfluous flirtation Vivian had in store for her stepson, she was certain of that, at least.

Vivian blinked, then ran her tongue along her teeth and chuckled. With a shrug, she agreed with Amelia, and let her know that they would be waiting for him to come back.

“You’ll pass on the message, won’t you? Rose here is quite looking forward to seeing his reaction.

“No I’m not!” Rose cried from deeper in the room. “I-I just think I look nice, that’s all! It’s not like I’m expecting anything!”

Amelia raised a curious eyebrow. It wasn’t like Rose to be so easily flustered like this.

“…I’ll pass along the message,” she said dryly.

Apparently, it was not yet time for her to take a much-needed break. Which was unfortunate, because Amelia had been brought to that strange room without the opportunity to eat breakfast or enjoy her morning coffee.

Something that was starting to catch up to her now.

Nick didn’t have time to worry about his stepmother’s problems at the moment. Sure, about halfway to the Arcade Suite he remembered that he had a standing agreement with Rose, but he hoped she would understand. This was his fault, after all, and he desperately needed to make it right.

If he didn’t, well…

The look of irritation on Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s face stuck with him. He remembered the way she had scowled, and it wasn’t a look he was used to seeing aimed in his direction. That was definitely a bad thing, no question there.

I really hope she isn’t crying right now, he thought as he knocked on the door. She didn’t seem the type, but as Amelia had indicated- he really didn’t know her at all, no matter how close they’d grown on their date yesterday.

Hopefully, learning how to read and write would be a good first step to proper communication. He didn’t know how Amelia had managed to pull it off, but he was grateful. Now if only he could avoid messing everything up this time.

The silence he received from his knock was a strong accusation. But Nick was undaunted. He knocked again, harder this time, ignoring the pounding echoing through the hallway.

“Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, it’s me. Please let me in. I just want to talk. I just want… to apologize. Please? I’m pretty sure I was really out of line back there, even if I don’t exactly know why.” Maybe it wasn’t the best thing, admitting you didn’t know exactly why you were apologizing. To some people, it might make the apology seem insincere.

But Nick was nothing but sincere. It didn’t matter what he had actually done wrong- he was still sorry he’d hurt her. And the fact that he’d hurt someone he cared about was bad enough.

To Nick’s relief, she door cracked open. Just enough for him to see Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s cold blue eye peek out through the gap.

She wasn’t crying, that was a relief.

But she wasn’t happy to see him, either.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin stepped back, and let the door swing gently open. She crossed her arms over her chest and allowed him to enter, all the while scrutinizing his every move.

He noticed that she’d changed out of her schoolgirl uniform in the intervening minutes since they’d last seen each other. She was back in black leather, a familiar choice of clothing that he knew well. And it supported the hypothesis he’d developed with Amelia’s hints.

Nick sighed.

“I need to apologize,” he said, looking into the assassin’s eyes. He didn’t care if she was upset with him, the fact that she’d let him inside told him that she was at least willing to hear him out, and that was all he could ask for.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin raised her eyebrow and looked at him curiously. Her ears twitched.

“…I’m sorry for what I said before,” Nick apologized. “Not just in the lounge just now, but on our date, too. Pressuring you to pick out a name, it… that wasn’t right of me.”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin blinked, and her face softened. She’d lowered her guard, going from defensive to curious, which Nick took as a good sign. He pushed forward, hoping he could capitalize on that shift in her demeanor.

“My stepmom- Amelia- she said something and I realized… I don’t know anything about you,” Nick pointed out. “You… you must know so much about me by this point, thanks to Dawn, Amelia, everybody really… but I don’t know the first thing about you.”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin bristled, switching to defensive again. But that was alright, Nick anticipated that.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to open up to me that way,” he said gently. “Everybody is different. I don’t need your full life’s story. I don’t need to know what skeletons you have in your closet, or where your bodies are buried.”

Knowing Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, these common aphorisms might be shockingly literal. But Nick pushed right past that.

“All I need to know, is how we can get along and make this work together,” Nick said. “And that’s why I’m not going to pressure you about a name anymore. Sure, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin is a bit of a mouthful, and it would be easier to have something else to call you by. But ‘easier’ doesn’t always need to be the priority, right?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin looked surprised to hear that. She blinked and stared at Nick curiously, like she wasn’t sure what he was trying to tell her.

“Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin… it isn’t a name. It’s a title you were given,” Nick pointed out. “But… that doesn’t mean it isn’t special to you, does it?”

The slender killer’s eyes widened, and she looked at Nick in surprise. She must have never imagined he would ever see the situation that way.

Slowly, but surely, she gave him the smallest of nods. Nick sighed in relief.

“Yeah, I… I thought so,” Nick said, scratching his head. “My stepmom, she said something to me, she said… I didn’t understand where you were coming from, because I’m not a parent. That because she’s a parent, she was able to understand why you felt so opposed to getting a name, and why you were so resistant to learning how to read and write.”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin bit her lip and nodded sullenly to him.

“…Did you have parents? In the facility you were raised in?” Nick asked, getting to the heart of the matter. All his doubts and confusion, if this was the case, it would make everything make a lot more sense.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s eyes widened in shock. That was enough of a tell for Nick to know he was right on the money- normally the assassin had much better control over her emotions like that.

“Did you have a father?” He asked, receiving a shake of the head from the assassin. “Or a mother?”

That one got a nod.

A mother, then. Of course it would be that.

“I’m such an idiot,” Nick groaned, starting to pace around the Arcade Suite. “How could I have not realized it? Probably because I don’t like thinking about your past at all… because of, well, you know.” He looked at her sadly, and she frowned.

Nick didn’t like the fact that one of the women in his harem was a professional killer any more than he liked that one of them was an axe murderer. Oh, he cared about the girls themselves, of course he did, but if he could choose to make Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin not be a trained assassin and keep Cinder (or Ella) from killing her family, he would do so in a heartbeat.

Until now, anyway.

“I was rejecting that part of you because I didn’t like it,” Nick admitted. “I mean, can you blame me? After hearing that you escaped from your facility and burned the place down to ground…”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin looked sharply at him, and waggled her finger from side to side. But the gleam in her eye revealed her mirthful joke.

“…Right. ‘Allegedly’ burned the place to ground, of course,” Nick said, rolling his eyes. Like this was really the time to quibble over details like that?

She smirked. But he could see it was a mask she put on, to hide the serious weight of her feelings.

Nick wished he could do the same right now.

“I assumed you wanted to wipe the slate clean, and focus on the present,” he said. “You know, ice cream. Horror movies. Making those awful clay pots…”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin scowled and crossed her arms over her chest. She clearly didn’t like being reminded of that little mishap.

“…Well, yeah, sorry,” Nick apologized, scratching his head. He walked over to the bed and sat down on it, looking up at her. “But that isn’t it. You escaped from that place, but… you also had good memories of your time there, didn’t you?”

Nick couldn’t see how that was possible. Raised in a lab, trained to be a killer, not even being given a name… If he had been raised like that, he would have done anything he could to escape himself. Anybody would have.

But he had just been assuming that. The truth was, to Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin… that facility had been an odd form of home for her.

And this “mother” of hers… it was obvious that she still cared deeply for that person.

“And that’s why you don’t want a name,” Nick said, gazing into the assassin’s watery eyes. “Why you were so resistant to learning how to write.”

Your parents were supposed to give you a name. But the “name” she’d been give was “Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, Unit 27”.

That wasn’t a name. It was a designation. A code number. Something that indicated that she was a factory model, off the line- less than human.

That was how Nick, and pretty much everybody else saw it.

But to Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, it was her name. Something given to her by her precious parent. And everyone coming up with new things to call her, to replace that precious name, simply to make it more convenient for them?

No wonder she was starting to get tired of it.

“Can I ask you something personal?” Nick wasn’t sure how much leeway he had here. It seemed like Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was ready to forgive him. But he didn’t know how that would change if he said what he felt like he needed to say.

It could be that she would react even worse.

Maybe I should just drop it. Leave well enough alone.

But he couldn’t. If he didn’t get to know her better, then they would just continue with this superficial relationship, and never connect on a deeper level the way he desperately wanted to. Maybe the time wasn’t right- but he could feel the mood in the air. He could see the yearning to connect in the woman’s eyes.

So when she gave him a hesitant nod, lip quivering, he asked.

“Your mother… did she love you?”

It was a loaded question, and he knew it. The second Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin confirmed that she had a “mother” Nick immediately realized that they were probably one of the chief instruments in the assassin’s conditioning and creation. Someone who used her for their own ends, and concealed their ambitions under the façade of a “mother” to instill a sense of affection and loyalty in her subjects.

But had the assassin realized that? Was she trying to avoid it? Or was there something else at work here?

If Nick really wanted to get to know this strange, mute girl better, then this was the only way he could do it, even if it ran the risk of damaging their relationship. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had revealed a lot to him already, even without her words, but talking to her, it was like dealing with an exposed nerve.

If he wasn’t careful, he might do some serious damage to the sensitive woman.

Finding true silence in the Arcade Suite was impossible. The beeping and whirling of the games filled the air around them as Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin looked at Nick with a face just as silent as her voice. He couldn’t see a hint of emotion from her as she looked at him, and it was as if the light had drained from her eyes.

He recognized the look of nostalgia from other people he’d encountered. She was sifting through her memories right now, looking back on a time in her life that she probably never chose to recall.

I just hope it won’t hurt her.

Then Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin closed her eyes, and called back to her mother’s voice.

“It’s alright if you can’t do it just yet. You’re perfect. Just the way you are.”

Her eyes slowly opened, and for the first time, Nick saw them filled with tears. The glistening beads rolled slowly down her pale cheeks as she pulled her lips up into a smile.

A nod of her head was the only answer Nick would get. And while it left him with more questions, not one of them needed to be asked right now. No, right now the only thing Nick needed to do was return her smile.