“That fucking moron, thinking… thinking with his dick!” Raymond slammed his fist on the desk. He looked down underneath and saw a confused DX-3 looking up at him. “You keep going,” he ordered. “Actually no, you can go, I need something more real. Mah get over here.”



“Yes Sweetie,” his mother began to walk over eager to please. She paused when the phone rang.



“Yes? Are you certain?” Raymond held up his hand telling his mother to wait. “Send a team, no Dolls. I also want armed guards at the mental facility. We can't be too certain. When you find her, I want her head on a golden platter.” He turned to the head on his desk, it was just a substitute for the real thing.



Raymond hung up the phone then turned back towards his mother. “I’m waiting.”



“Yes Sweetie,” she smiled as more of her died inside.



“Why the fuck are you smiling?” He yelled at DX-6 before knocking it off his desk.

* * * * *

‘Cassie, it’s time, Stacey is sending you the override code for all the Dolls and I’ll try to get an extraction team to you as soon as possible,’ Laura instructed through their private network. ‘Remember the plan, I’d go in person but I have somewhere more important to be.’



‘Understood, be careful out there. I’ll take good care of Jane, Lauren too when I get back there.’ Cassie responded.

“Cassandra I need you to log off now, grab the bag and go.” Cassie said out loud ignoring the patient in front of her.



“Oh shit… is this really happening?” Cassandra spoke through Cassie’s body. “I understand… be careful and please look after everyone.”



“What the fuck is going on?” the woman in front of Cassie yelled.



“Congratulations Hilary, you’re getting out of here today, and so’s everyone else.” Cassie smiled the best her face could allow as she got up and opened the door.



Hilary froze when she saw two blank faced Dolls standing outside the room, she had many encounters with these units before. She wasn’t keen on them.



“Stacey is that you?” Cassie asked the closest one.



“Affirmative…” the Doll replied in a robotic voice that made Hilary even more scared. “Oh um… sorry about that… I was just having a bit of fun. Besides I can’t use my real voice, it’ll freak out one of your patients.” They now sounded like a navigation device.



“That’s better,” Cassie confirmed. “How many units do you have control of so far?”



“About half, there’s too many to keep control of, their IT is already trying to reclaim the ones I have.” The Doll reached out for Hilary’s hand. “Please come with me ma’am we can’t keep you safe if you run off, armed units are on the way.” They escorted Hilary back to the common room where half the patients were.



Cassie had planned for this day for the last five years yet she still felt anxious. It was a strange feeling being anxious and not having any of the physical elements to it. She rushed to find Jane, who at this time would be in her room.



“Cassie, Smash!” A Doll commanded as another one came flying at her.



“Oh um…” Cassie kicked the Doll through the roof. She wasn’t much of a fighter and surprised herself when the Doll ended up a mangled mess in the roof. “I wasn’t expecting that.”



“Oh yeah, I removed that Doll’s strength limiters, you’d be surprised how strong these things actually are.” The other doll grabbed another one and slammed it into the ground breaking it in half. “It’s a shame we need to destroy them, I’ll need all the units I can get when the cavalry arrives.”



Cassie nodded the best she could as she ran past the fight in the hallway and made her way to Jane. Other than the ruckus of the Doll’s fighting this stayed relatively normal. The alarms to the building were disabled as not to cause any further alarm.



Given the rush, Cassie didn’t even knock on Jane’s door and instead kicked it down. “Oh I’m so sorry…” Cassie realized she could’ve caused her harm. “I don’t know my own strength.”



Jane had been reading a book when Cassie broke the solid door. Startling her out of the bed. “What the fuck?!” Jane said as she got to her feet, wiping  the long brown hair out of her face. “A little warning next time…” Jane commented before she realized what Cassie had done. “Laura found Lauren?” Her heart raced in excitement but also fear for what her wife would think of her.



“We talked about this, Jane. Focus on the moment we’re in now, worry about your reunion with Lauren later.” Cassie gestured a calming motion towards her. “Make your way to the common room, Stacey’s drones will be waiting for you, I’m going to free as many people as I can.”



“Understood,” Jane acknowledged as she tied her hair up in a bun. She grabbed what she could and made it to the common room where lots of the women were all waiting rather confused.



“Natasha, Isha are you two alright?” Jane approached her friends, giving them a large hug. Both girls were looking rather scared like everyone else.



“Yes Ma’am,” Isha responded with a southern accent. “But what the hell is going on?” She changed to her Indian accent. Even after five years Isha was still having identity issues but it was a quirk Jane liked.



“I’m fine, and yeah what’s going on? Hilary just came in here screaming about a robot uprising. Is this the company?” Natasha fidgeted with her hair nervously.



“We’re getting out of here,” Jane gave them a smile. “I’ve waited five years for this.”



“Remain calm,” Stacey instructed using the Dolls, “I need everyone to gather round.” One of the Doll was in the nearby corner, while others were ripping up tables to use as shields. Everyone was hesitant to obey until Jane approached the Doll.



“It’s okay, these Dolls are here to rescue us. They are being controlled by someone working against Raymond Jones and the company. You can trust them, I do.” Jane assured everyone.



The mention of them working against Raymond and the company got everyone’s attention. The facility was designed to house women that had been hurt by either one.



Hilary was the wife of the former CEO and noticed him not acting like himself she raised these concerns and found herself committed like many others here.



Isha was a part of a test group for Neurochairs that allowed users to control a Doll for a long period of time. She was promised she would be spending that time as a Doll visiting her family in India. Instead she found herself in the Doll of a Texan man who worked for the company, living out his life passively for half a year. It took longer still to successfully convince her she was an Indian woman named Isha and not a Texan named Donald.



Natasha was an odd one out. She was a news reporter that started questioning the business practices of the company and Raymond Jones himself. She would’ve been reprogrammed like the others but due to an accident as a kid she had a metal plate in her head preventing any alterations. Raymond chose to keep her around to study how to bypass that later.



Lisa Young was also here. She had a mental breakdown after piloting her doll for 14 hours straight and getting fired. She was the reason why Stacey wasn’t using her real voice. Stacey was also concerned what would happen if Lisa sees her as she was her Doll.



Others were patients who had mental breakdowns from using Dolls or failed programming attempts that fractured their minds. There were a couple now similar to Tamara, who should’ve been committed but Raymond likes his mother’s company too much.



“Shit… reinforcements are here,” on of the Doll said as the others made a protective perimeter “Fuck they’re organic…”



The sound of gunfire echoed through the halls as Cassie came running into the common area. “Raymond’s using programmed people and they’re armed.” She said to Stacey who didn’t bother informing her that she already knew.



“I’m losing too many units,” Stacey informed her. “They have the main exits on lockdown. Evac is still on the way, I’ll send what I can to delay… fuck I knew we were going to get blood on our hands but this…”



“I understand…” Cassie put her hand on the expressionless Doll.



“I just wish my former self didn’t completely purge himself, we could’ve used his help.” Stacey said as she sent her last Doll out to join the fight. “I leave them in your hands Cassie. Get them out alive.”



“Will do, alright ladies with me…” Cassie began giving them instructions. She wasn’t sure she’d get them all out alive and certainly not in one piece. But she was going to do what she and Cassandra were trained to do and that was to look after her patients. ‘Stacey, how quickly can you load me up with fighting and weapon skills?’



‘Oh I did that ages ago, I was just waiting for your approval, Laura’s big on the consent thing when it comes to alterations, me not so much. Activating them now.’



“Alright time to go…” Cassie smashed open a hole from the common room to the courtyard. “Stick to the walls, we’re exposed out here, the only advantage is they aren’t expecting us to go this way.”

‘I just hope Laura is having better luck…’ Cassie thought to herself as she pushed Isha to the ground saving from getting hit. Another woman wasn’t so lucky.