Welcome to the Misfits

Interlude

Interlude

"Hey you, you're finally awake."

Owen looked around, and saw that he was standing in the middle of a forest. Birds were singing in the trees, a creek burbled nearby, and in front of him stood a woman dressed in a white lab coat and cat ears, in her hand was a coffee pot with a straw sticking out of it.

She gestured to their surroundings, the coffee sloshing around in the pot, "Well, not actually awake at the moment, but it seems they finally brought you back to the land of the living."

Owen was about to say something when the woman held up her free hand. "I'm sorry, but we don't have a lot of time for questions. But to answer the one you were probably about to ask; You're in a digital world of my design. As to why you're here," she paused to take a few sips, "when you were originally brought to me, you were in bad shape."

She walked over and began circling him as she talked, "Your left leg was mangled beyond surgical repair, a bullet struck the bone, causing it to essentially detonate."

She continued to circle him, "One lung was collapsed, the other only partially inflated, probably from the concussion of an explosion, both eyes were ruptured, aaannd," she stopped in front of him, and gently flicked his forehead, "you died. Your brain went without oxygen for four and a half minutes."

She took a step back, and beamed at him, "You gave me quite the challenge back then, I was absolutely thrilled when 9A sent me a message saying you were being revived without any major issues."

She patted him on the shoulder, "Consider your upgrades my way of saying 'I'm sorry'."

She then leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, coffee sloshed onto his shirt, "This is my way of saying congratulations for surviving, and saving my dolls."

Owen shook his head in confusion, "Sorry for what?"

The woman let out a nervous chuckle, "I was the person you were sent to retrieve from that damned city, by the time I actually listened to those who were telling me to leave, it was too late."

She sucked more coffee through the straw, then held the now half full pot up to her face, "Hmm, it tastes about right, but I can't get it to simulate the effects."

She then cocked her head to the side, her ear twitched a few times, as if listening for something. She stood frozen like that for a few seconds before her eyes darted towards Owen. A smile crept onto her face as she brought her hand up to her face in a thoughtful gesture.

"My my, you've got a busy day ahead of you, good thing I took the time to run a full diagnostic and iron out the bugs to your system." She said, mischief in her voice.

Owen's brow furrowed, "What exactly did you do to me?" He shook his head slowly, "Also, what happened to DuLaney?"

She let go of the coffee pot, which immediately disappeared in a flash of white light, reminding Owen his brain had been hijacked into a computer simulation, and clapped her hands cheerfully.

"I already told you," she said, "I saved you," she thought for a second, "well, most of you, the important bits."

He looked down at himself, "How much of me?"

She gave it some thought, "Oh, about fifty-five percent is still you."

"And the rest?"

"Well, let's just say you have a lot in common with those you're currently helping."

"Now then," she continued, "It's time for you to wake up, come visit me when things slow down," her eyes widened as she thought of something, "Oh! And bring 9A with you when you do, the poor girl has been alone for ten years without any updates to her system. She's bound to have a few things wrong with her at this point."

Owen tried to ask the woman what her name was, or where he could find her, but she just gave him a smile, waved her hands, and everything went dark.