No, I would not give you false hope

Amelia did not like it when her students chose not to open up to her. Especially when they refused her help. As a teacher, it was her job to reach out and teach her students- when they shut themselves up in their thoughts and refused to accept her efforts to teach her, she found herself unable to do anything.

Which was the situation she was facing now, unfortunately.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had never been a chatty person. But that went without saying, literally.

Right now, though, it was more than just her being a mute. She was completely closed off at this point, and she stared venomously forward, wearing a face completely devoid of emotion.

For someone who was normally so expressive, it was an unnerving sight to see. But closed off as she was, Amelia actually considered this somewhat progress.

It was change. And change, as intense as this, was a good thing. At least as far as Amelia could see. Now if only she could leverage that change in a positive direction…

Amelia bit her lip and studied Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin closely. She closed herself off. There must be a reason for that. A reason she chose now, of all times, to completely shut Amelia out like this.

Which meant she was making progress. Even if the assassin didn’t like it.

Amelia stood in front of Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin and stared down at her. The assassin didn’t raise her head to meet her gaze. She just stared forward, completely shut off.

“You can’t speak. You won’t read. You won’t write. You’re just going to sit here, then, ignoring me. is that correct?” Amelia pressed her.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin didn’t even nod. She didn’t look like she was breathing- if Amelia didn’t know any better, she would think the other woman was dead.

“You can’t stay in here forever,” Amelia pointed out. “Dakota made it very clear. Until you open yourself up to the possibility of learning to read, you will be stuck here. Perhaps for all eternity. …We both will be.”

Amelia did something she wasn’t used to doing with her students. She walked over to another desk and pulled out a chair, sliding it over to the other side of the assassin’s desk and sitting down across from the other woman.

She looked at Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin as an equal, as if they were on the same level. Not that Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was willing to return the courtesy; she continued that same stony, dead-eyed stare.

Amelia was undaunted.

“…Well then. If we are to be spending the next eternity together, we might as well open up to one another,” Amelia said. In her eyes, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was like a daughter to her, and she didn’t abide disobedient children well. “My name is Amelia Campbell. I used to go by the name Amelia Reynolds. I am the stepmother of Nicholas Reynolds. I am 37 years old, and I work as a finishing instructor. …It is a pleasure to meet you, my dear.”

She was a little awkward adding that last part, but it felt like something she should do. She looked at the beautiful woman in front of her, wishing there was some way she could get her to open up and bring happiness to her.

For the briefest of seconds, she saw a spark of insight flash in Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s eye. A brimming gleam of true connection- that only lasted for a moment.

Then it was right back to that cold, stony glare again.

“…You will never see Nicholas again,” Amelia pointed out. “Are you willing to accept that? Just to avoid learning to read?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin revealed nothing. If it was a bluff, Amelia could acknowledge- it was a good one. But Amelia could sense that it was a bluff regardless.

And she did not take to bluffing.

“I love my stepson. And I care deeply for you,” Amelia continued. “And I understand the depth of your feelings for him. Which is why it confuses me- why do you insist on pushing things to this degree? When you want to be close to him?”

She received no response, but then, she didn’t really expect to.

How do I reach this girl?

“Having difficulties with our student of the year?” Dakota popped into the room with a smirk. She took a sip from her juice box and set another one down in front of the cold-as-ice assassin. For obvious reasons, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin refused to take it. She didn’t even acknowledge Dakota’s presence, not any more than she was acknowledging Amelia’s.

“…She’s a difficult one, isn’t she?” Dakota turned to Amelia and clicked her tongue. “You certainly have your work cut out for you! Good thing she’s already had her evening with the master- if not for that, then I would have qualms about keeping you both locked up here, forever.”

Her golden eyes twinkled and she ran her fingers through Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s silky black hair. “Wouldn’t that be nice…?” She purred into the girl’s pointed ear. “Getting to enjoy some quality time, with mommy…?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin bristled. For a moment, a curtain of murderous anger rose up around her, pushing against Amelia and forcing the blonde to her feet. She realized she was sweating and wiped at her forehead with a cloth.

And then it was gone. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was back to coldly ignoring everyone again.

“…Yes, a very troublesome student indeed,” Dakota acknowledged. She took a step back and patted Amelia on the shoulder. “Good luck with her, that’s all I can say.”

Amelia glared at Dakota, but didn’t say anything. The dark-haired host seemed completely content with letting Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin stew. When what Amelia was after was actually helping her in some tangible way.

They weren’t on the same page. Not in the slightest.

“Oh, I forgot to mention, Gina and the others are preparing for a slumber party,” Dakota added. “She’s looking for you, to extend an invitation. Shall I put you down as a ‘miss’ then? Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin?”

That, of all things, caused Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin to raise her head and look Dakota in the eye, much to the pale girl’s surprise.

There was a fierceness in her cold blue gaze. But she slowly shook her head.

“…I see. You weren’t interested in something like that anyway, then,” Dakota said, sounding disappointed. “A bit of a pity, if you ask me… …Although I suppose you wouldn’t be much fun swapping ghost stories in the lounge.”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin rolled her eyes.

Amelia sighed. She took off her glasses and wiped them, before replacing them. So much for leverage. It seemed like Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was determined to fight this out- it would be a waiting game, to say the least.

If only Amelia could understand just why it was Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was so opposed to this? She knew there had to be something deep down inside her memories, something that was affecting her, but Amelia couldn’t begin to guess what it was.

“Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, I care about you and want to help you,” Amelia said gently as Dakota disappeared from the room. “But I can see that will be easier said than done. So in that case, I will stop playing nice. Understood?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin let out a silent snort and rolled her eyes.

Amelia pinched her lips together in a tight smile, and stared into the assassin’s eyes. Now she could see a genuine reaction from her.

That was something to build off of.

“I believe we should start by talking about your mother.”

Immediately everything changed. Like a switch was being flipped, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin stiffened and stared at the older woman, radiating a cold wave of overwhelming emotion. Just that word, “mother” and the response it elicited made it clear to Amelia that this was indeed something tied directly to the root of Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s issues.

“So that’s it, isn’t it?” She asked quietly. “You do have a mother. I was not certain.”

Amelia could bluff with the best of them, herself. The sulky, venomous expression that crossed the assassin’s face when she realized that she had been tricked spoke volumes.

“You were grown in a lab, and raised in a facility, is that correct?” Amelia didn’t have much in the way of facts or evidence, but she could sense that she was on the right track here. “So who was your mother? The scientist who created you? …No. No, that’s too literal. No, the person you would consider your mother… she was the woman who trained you. Who turned you into… this.”

She gestured at the assassin, and reached out to place a hand on her wrist.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin flipped the script and pinned Amelia’s wrist to the table. She stood up and her other hand snapped forward, grabbing Amelia by the throat and holding onto her tightly as her blue eyes flashed with ****.

Snarling silently, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin lunged forward, pushing the desk to the side and pinned Amelia to the ground.

For a moment, Amelia felt a surge of terror run through her body. But it stopped as soon as it arose, and she grabbed Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s wrists. Trying to push the strengthened woman off would be a futile effort, but the show of defiance was enough.

Sensing the resistance from the teacher, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin released her grip on the blonde’s neck and rose to her feet, shaking slightly.

That was enough. In a flash, Amelia jumped to her feet and conjured her riding crop. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin looked at it briefly in surprise as Amelia whipped it towards her, trying to dissuade the assassin from her bad behavior.

Amelia did not like using the riding crop. Not after what happened with Gina. She was smart enough to know that using something like that wouldn’t make her many friends, among the other women or the audience.

But discouraging a murderous assassin from strangling her, even if she couldn’t actually do it? That seemed rather reasonable as far as actions went. So Amelia did so.

Or she tried to, anyway. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin wasn’t exactly easy to hit. The woman dodged bullets for a living, a british teacher approaching middle age wielding a narrow piece of leather wasn’t exactly a threat.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin easily evaded the riding crop, and her arm coiled around Amelia’s like a snake. Quick as a whip she broke the woman’s grip on the weapon, pulling her arm behind her back and forcing her back onto the ground again.

“…Nick will not accept this behavior!” Amelia spat out, even surprising herself by the amount of emotion in her voice. “You understand that, right? He will not allow you to use **** against me! If he finds out, then…”

She didn’t need to finish her sentence because Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s grip had already loosened. She stepped back, almost stumbling, carrying herself as if she couldn’t think clearly about what was going on.

To Amelia’s eyes, the poor girl looked lost and scared. But she did a very good job of covering it. She looked down at Amelia, her lips pinched together tightly. She balled up her fists and took a deep, silent breath, exhaling it slowly.

Amelia didn’t mistake the hatred in her eyes. She may have gotten through to the assassin, but that wasn’t necessarily a positive thing.

“…Your mother, was she blonde like me?” Amelia wasn’t living smart right now, apparently. “Or did she have dark hair, like yours?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s eyes twitched, and she pinched her lips together into a scowl.

“…Dark hair, then,” Amelia said, even though she didn’t know if that was the case or not. She was fine just pushing through things, right or wrong. “Fitting.”

The way the assassin’s scowl deepened served as proof that Amelia was correct.

“You want to be strong, isn’t that right? Is that what this is about, then?” Amelia narrowed her eyes. “You don’t know how to read, so you don’t want to read. You just want to be perfect, isn’t that right? And that is why you do not want to learn. Because learning requires struggle. And you seem completely opposed to struggle.”

A surge of fury shot across the assassin’s face. Her hands trembled and she sulked at Amelia, who pushed right past that.

“It’s either that,” she continued, studying the assassin closely (yet from a safe distance) and took a step closer. “…Or it could be that you don’t want to learn, because… I’m the one teaching you. And not her.”

Then she gasped. “…Wait, that’s it, isn’t it? That’s why you don’t…”

Amelia shook her head. An ache surged through her breast and she lowered her eyes. A sigh escaped her lips and she approached the assassin, letting her guard down. If Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin wanted to strike, there was nothing she could do about it.

To her relief, the assassin allowed her to approach without laying a hand on her.

“…What do you think of the name Ash?” Amelia questioned. “It fits you quite well, while being accurate. You are Augmented. Synthetic. And Humanoid. And with that name, it would be as though you were throwing aside your career as an assassin, and moving forward with your life.”

But even as she said that, she knew that the assassin wouldn’t take her up on the offer. After all, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin liked being an assassin. She liked being strong and capable and fierce.

And more importantly than that…

“You don’t want that name?” Amelia asked as Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin shook her head. “No, of course you don’t. It’s like all the others they tried to give you, isn’t it?” Amelia sighed and shook her head. “My Nicholas… he cares so deeply, but he just doesn’t understand. Perhaps when he becomes a parent he will understand, but…”

She reached out and caressed Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s cheek. The assassin didn’t pull away. She leaned into Amelia’s touch, her eyes watering.

“The bond between parent and child… it’s incredibly strong, isn’t it? Even in a relationship that is not… the traditional sense.” Amelia was talking about herself a little bit there, too. Her voice echoed painfully as she reopened her old wounds for the sake of Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin. She lowered her hand and took a step back, letting out a sigh.

“…You would not be aware of this, but once upon a time I wished to be a mother myself,” Amelia said, placing her hand over her womb as she paced slowly back and forth, her eyes glazing over in warm yet painful nostalgia. “In many ways, I am. Nicholas is my child, in every way that matters to me. But… before him, I…”

She shook her head and **** those painful thoughts down. Even though Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin couldn’t and wouldn’t share what she said with anyone else, that didn’t mean Amelia liked drudging up those old memories.

Still…

“I always wanted a child of my own,” she continued, turning back to the assassin. “But even if the family life I ended up with wasn’t how I imagined, I would not trade it for anything, not even a child of my own blood,” she firmly assured the other woman.

Sometimes, life didn’t go the way you planned. But Amelia was a mature woman who knew the way things worked. She carried herself proudly and lived with her head held high.

She would make things work.

Even with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin.

“So that is where we stand,” she said, facing the assassin directly. “I have my stepson. And you, you have… your mother.”

She couldn’t imagine what kind of woman Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s mother could possibly be, or how she treated the assassin to get this level of devotion from her. But Amelia had some ideas.

None of them were good.

“I don’t want to replace your mother,” Amelia said gently. “In truth, she should have been the one to teach you how to read. And to write. But she didn’t.”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s eyes watered. She looked so fragile and **** like that, looking down at the ground.

Like a scolded child.

Amelia had to handle this delicately. She approached Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin cautiously, not wanting to scare her off or hurt her in any way.

“Would it be alright if I taught you?” She asked. “You can be **** with me, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin.”

She realized, from the tense expression on the assassin’s face, that the other woman was taking her request the wrong way. So Amelia decided to make things a little clearer for them both. “I don’t want to change you,” she clarified. “I don’t want to take it away, that connection you have with her. I would not do such a thing.”

Amelia hoped that would help a little. Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin seemed a little less guarded, at least.

“Would that be alright?” She asked softly. “If I just taught you? That is my role, after all. To serve as your teacher. Not your parent.”

In Amelia’s eyes, she saw Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin as her daughter, thanks to the transformation she had acquired. But Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin didn’t want that. She already had a mother, after all, and she didn’t need a replacement.

Amelia had been unknowingly treading on the ground Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin had reserved for her beloved mother, a woman she had never realized even existed. But this way, they could have a bond. A bond of some kind, at least.

“Not as a mother,” Amelia repeated, in case her original statement wasn’t clear enough for Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin to understand. “As your teacher. Would that be alright?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin still looked like she wanted to cry. But she carried herself fiercely, not backing down in spite of her overwhelming emotions.

A crooked smile tugged up her tearstreaked cheeks, and she nodded softly.

Amelia managed to smile as well.

Finally, they were making some real progress.