Amelia, Ch 355- Taylor
Alexandria leaned forward. "I'm sorry, you really don't have much choice in the matter. Nor do I for that matter."
"Fush off," Synth managed to utter with his newly regenerated tongue and mouth. We hadn't gotten around to his hands or feet yet, but we needed him to be able to talk. "Ah wanth mah lawer, I know mah riths."
"Actually, Synth, the right to a lawyer doesn't apply here," Dragon spoke next, from her spot leaning against the door. "You are not in America, you are currently being held on Avalon, which has a very different legal standard. Notably, it actually works. You have no right to remain silent, and while you have right to counsel, it's not quite the same sort of counsel as a lawyer."
Synth watched silently, put off by Dragon's dry, inhuman tone. Dragon's android body was perfected to the point of indistinguishable from human, complete with a vat grown organic layer atop the cybernetics inside. I wasn't certain why she'd go through that level of effort, when our changelings were exponentially better than human bodies, but we weren't going to tell her she couldn't.
"Avalon employs lie detection technology as an established legal precedent. There can be no question of guilt or innocence, merely of justification. If this goes to trial, you would confess why you committed the crimes you did and explain why you did them while monitored to ensure you're telling the truth. It is your right to have counsel to help you prepare your statement to better express yourself. Then the judge and jury determine the severity of your punishment based upon the statements of both you and your victims."
Alexandria slid a folder over to the man. "In your case, you're being charged with twelve counts of murder, two hundred and fifteen counts of kidnapping and human experimentation, over four hundred cases of murder and conspiracy to commit murder by use of powers, and one hundred and seventeen counts of the use of powers for conspiracy to commit sexual assault and rape."
Synth jumped out of his seat. "Rafe, I newer!" By the time he'd finished the sentence, he was already tumbling to the relatively soft floor of the Yggdrasil, screaming in pain. I wasn't feeling particularly sympathetic.
"The drugs you sold have been used in numerous cases of date rape and other similar crimes." Dragon's voice was carefully neutral, even mechanical. Intentionally so, for whatever psychological game the pair of them assumed would get to Synth. "You provided those drugs, and continued to provide them even knowing how your clients were using them. According to Avalon law, you would be provided to the territory which has the highest punishment you'd be eligible for. Then passed down to the nations with lesser crimes upon completion of a given sentence. Hold no illusions, you're guilty of capital offenses and you can provide no justification that a jury would accept. This means you are going to be the first legal execution on Avalon soil."
Alexandria drummed her fingers on the table. "I'm afraid it's true. While there are some questions of how this works from an international jurisdiction that might allow the USA to turn this into an extradition battle, that would require the President to want to save you. I don't suppose you have any ideas why he'd want to?"
I drew my attention away from them, Dragon could handle everything. Alexandria was there so they could play 'you're already fucked' cop and 'I can't do shit for you' cop. Or something like that. A simple problem that would be handled simply. Worst case scenario, we'd invoke our military resource right to take him from whomever got to convict him. What I had in front of me was far, far more complicated.
Amelia broke the silence first, her voice sounding very much like her mother's. "So, I hear you don't think we're really us."
Lisa didn't pull her eyes away from me. "Don't be obtuse, of course you're really you. To claim otherwise would be absurd. What I said was that you're not really Amelia Lavere and Taylor Hebert. You have their faces, their names, even most of their memories. But you're not really them, you're replacement copies."
FrustrationAnger. "That doesn't stop us from being them," I spoke through the haze of emotion flooding our link. If I didn't have Amelia backing me up, I already would have punched my supposed best friend. "I still love my father, he still loves me. Then Crystal has her mother, and the list goes on." I tactfully left out the quagmire that was the Dallon household. There were other, perfectly valid, reasons that Amelia didn't consider Mark and Carol her parents.
"Because we should trust a bunch of people whose children are all died in various, horrible ways to accept the harsh truth when they have convenient copies right in front of them to support the illusion that their deaths never happened? I'm sorry, that doesn't work."
"Taylor's real," Amelia slammed her hands down onto the table. "I am real. She's the same girl I fell in love with."
"Your predecessor," Lisa corrected. "She's the copy of the copy of the girl you were copied from fell in love with."
I rubbed my eyes with my hand. "This 'we're not real' shit is getting old, Lisa. I'm pretty sure if someone killed me, they'd be guilty of murder."
"Of course that's murder!" Lisa exclaimed. "It's murder to kill any three month old!" She took a deep breath and looked at me. "I'm not saying you're not alive or not people, that would be preposterous. But you're not the same people. And don't give me that 'same memories, same person' bullshit, because that's all that is. Bullshit. If you grow a clone, wake her up, and then kill her right after, that's not a suicide. If you kill yourself and your clone gets woken up, then that's still a suicide even though you knew you'd have a replacement."
She took another breath, then continued. "Or what happens if you create a clone, then kill the original? Or for that matter the clone? In both cases, it's a murder. Kill them both, it's two different murders. What we did to Noelle was murder, and any court would convict us."
GuiltRegretAnger. Amelia sighed painfully. "Noelle wanted to die, if that was the only way to save herself from becoming a monster. And you're the one who lied to us and said it was a mind transfer device, not a copying machine."
Lisa shrugged. "Okay, I'll concede that point. It was an assisted suicide, and only Riley and I are guilty of any part of it that can be considered a crime. Doesn't change the fact that Noelle was killed after she had a fantasy copy built to replace her. The point remains, if you were given it to do over again knowing what you currently do, would you be able to do the same thing and then claim you had not just killed someone?"
ConcernDoubtPain. I reached over and placed my hand on Amelia's shoulder. "That doesn't mean I'm not Taylor, and she's not Amelia."
"That's a question for philosophers to debate," Lisa dismissed. "It doesn't change the reality. You may be
a Taylor, but you're not
the Taylor. Oh, and don't pull the whole 'interruption of consciousness, every time you sleep you functionally die' pedantry, either. No matter how you look at it, when Taylor died, she died. There may be powers out there that can change that, but the restoration tech is not one of them. You're a duplicate, and not even a complete duplicate."
I kept still, letting Amelia calm me while I calmed her in turn. We both needed it. I thought back at the notes I'd left myself, letting me know at least the basics of the events I wasn't expecting to remember. "So, I lost a few days, nothing that can't be done by a good blow to the head or alcohol or whatever Master/Stranger power comes out that does memory alterations, I'm sure someone out there can do it. They'd still be the same person."
She looked at my partner. "Come on, Amelia, I know you remember all that fear after Taylor's first death. Knowing what you got back wouldn't be the same person. Very close, but not the same. You remember what that Taylor said, right before she killed herself."
RageDisgustGuiltHate. "Thin. Fucking. Ice." Amelia spoke through gritted teeth.
Lisa didn't back down.
Then again, why would I expect otherwise? She mouthed off to Jack Slash while within feet of the Siberian. "And how we were so desperately hoping our time line turned out worse, so we could delete it and keep one where Taylor lived."
Amelia slumped back. "Yes, I remember."
PainRemorse.
Lisa pressed. "Go ahead and tell Taylor her own last words."
"She told me to take care of..." Amelia glanced at me. "You. That was her last wish. That I didn't hold you responsible for her mistakes."
"Don't forget that version of Taylor died as well. So, for that matter, did the original Amelia who was given that dying wish."
Amelia's head snapped back over to Lisa. "But that doesn't matter! She's still Taylor, I'm still Amelia, and you're still a bitch for putting us all in this position."
"If you think this Taylor's the original, how come you never talked to her about that? I should think her own death would be important. The actions that led up to it even moreso. If you love her so much, how are you able to justify lying to her like this?"
Amelia slumped down. "Fuck you. Fuck you so much for this."
I glanced over at Amelia.
FearGuiltLoss. "Amelia?"
She looked at me, tears forming in eyes. "Your lost week, before you died to stop the Butcher. We spent it fighting. The bond was broken because... because you had your brain altered to... be attracted to me. Not even attracted to women. Just me. and it looked so fucking much like what I did to Vicky. And I flipped out and ended our bond and... and that's the only reason Dinah gave us an all clear to attack the Butcher, because she predicted you'd kill yourself to fix everything. I'm so sorry." She fell into her arms, weeping.
Every possible kind of fuck. I got out of my seat and moved over to Amelia, leaning over her and wrapping my arms around her. Then I looked up at Lisa. "Is this what you wanted?"
Her eyes met mine. "For my best friend's loved ones to cry for her loss? Not exactly the happiest moment of my life, but it's better than what I've been watching for the better part of a year, now."
"By your own logic, your best friend doesn't have any loved ones in this room."
Lisa flinched before I realized just how that statement could have been misunderstood.
RealizationAgreementHate. Oh, fuck, there's more to this story. I held Amelia as I ran through the logic. Lisa wasn't the only one who had intuition. "Of course I'd have been pissed at you, too. Amelia broke our link, you were adamant about it being a bad idea. You probably said something, and knowing me... knowing what bitch I was before I had Amelia's love to give me something worth living for. I'm guessing whatever I said was unnecessarily cruel."
Amelia spoke up. "You said your friendship was over, and that the only reason she was still on the team was because she was too useful to get rid of."
And suddenly I regret not finding out about this earlier. "Well. Fuck. Is that what this is about, Lisa? That version of me says we're not friends, that extends to me, too? Because if that's the card you want to play, it sounds like utter bullshit to me. Just because she decided to be a bitch, I and the whole rest of the team have to suffer your acting like this?"
"Oh, so now you're willing to call yourself a different person?" Lisa glared at me. "The moment the original does something you don't agree with. Come on, Taylor, if you're going to be a hypocrite, at least be consistent about it."
I looked down at Amelia, still with her face buried in her arms. "Okay, fine, consistent it is. You've convinced me. I'm a copy. Not even that, I'm a copy of a copy. A backup plan created to carry on the legacy of the original when she couldn't. Born to be a replacement."
ConcernNegationLoss. Amelia looked up at me, to protest, but I put my thumb over her mouth. "And on the balance? I'm pretty okay with that. So I'm only a few months old? Whatever. I have success and power and prestige that I didn't have to go through the trouble of earning, because my creator did it for me."
Or something like that, this situation's weird enough without us asking whether prior-Taylor counts as my parent, or Emma and Riley do. Don't know, don't care, don't matter. "I have control of two entire worlds and the single most powerful military force on a hundred and twenty different Earths all at my command, and the memories needed to know how to use them. And I even get to ignore all the guilt and regrets the original accumulated. After all, if I'm not her, then her sins aren't mine to regret. I'm an innocent."
I kneeled down in front of Amelia looking at her eyes. "And more than all of that, I have someone who loves me. I was literally born to love and be loved by you, Amelia, and I can't imagine anything that makes me happier. You were created at the same time, our histories are just memories that aren't even ours, so we don't have to regret them at all, and we're not held to their promises. The only thing that matters is our future, and I will spend mine with you."
LoveHopeSafeRedemptionAgreement. I kissed her cheek. "If you'll give me a minute."
LoveAgreementPatienceLonging. I stood and walked around the table over to Lisa.
She looked at me, more confused than anything. I couldn't help but feel a little smug amusement that I completely knocked her off her game. "Hi, I'm Taylor," I said, holding out my hand. Lisa looked at me like I was insane, then slowly reached out and accepted the handshake. "I'm sorry for your loss, and being so insensitive about it for so long. I never met her, but I'd like to think I know her pretty well. My apologies, but she was kind of a bitch."
Lisa's smile was forced, but at least it was a smile. "She had her moments, good and bad."
=================
A/N- Reporter: "Taylor, how did you not only defeat existential angst, but turn it into your bitch?"
Taylor: "Well, it's easy when you actively despise yourself. Past self. Sorry, I may have beaten angst, but I have yet to conquer the Elder God that is English tenses."
Also... this is a 2500 word chapter. Eeesh.
