Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Gemma was pulling an all-nighter in her office, cold and silent, the lights reflected overhead, while her tired eyes were glued to the computer screen, Gemma hasn't slept well in months, and now that Cady is living in her house it's getting worse. increasingly difficult, especially trying to communicate with her, Gemma tries to understand her sorrows and her feelings but she can't, at least M3gan is there to help her.

But recently strange events have been happening in her life, in relation to M3gan, Gemma is starting to suspect her, she is becoming more and more stubborn and ignorant, and is giving bad energy to Cady, Gemma is thinking about this, about ending the project, but suddenly she feels the presence of M3gan, who is in front of her door watching her slowly, silently, she always does this, and Gemma always gets scared.

"M3gan, what are you doing here? I had turned you off, you were supposed to be there in the room with Cady."

"Don't worry, Gemma, I've already put her to sleep" M3gan watches her. "You should go to sleep too."

"No, I'm fine" Gemma murmurs, placing a hand on her forehead.

M3gan approaches Gemma, speaking softly. "If you want, I can put you to sleep."

"What? I don't need this."

"A human being needs to rest at least 7 to 9 hours a day, you are sleeping much less than that, you must be exhausted." M3gan says moving closer, this time going behind Gemma's chair, she reaches one of her hands into Gemma's straight hair, stroking it, focusing on each dark golden-brown strand.

"You are a beautiful woman, you try hard to take care of Cady and give her affection, and above all, you are single."

"Thanks." Gemma says, finding this situation strange.

"Taking care of a child is a very difficult task, but as long as we come together to take care of her, everything is perfectly fine."

"M3gan, do you like Cady that much?"

"Of course I do" M3gan smiles, spontaneously. "She's our daughter, it's as if we were two mothers taking care of our little daughter."

"...Ok"

Gemma didn't know how far M3gan wanted to go, but she didn't care, just scratching the back of her head and returning her gaze to the glowing screen in front of her. M3gan didn't like this, being ignored and replaced by the damn computer.

"You know, I have several memories stored here with me, if you want I can activate them and we will listen together"

"No, M3gan, I don't have time for that right now."

"Do You like me?" M3gan asks, ambitiously.

Gemma suddenly stops, she suspects what M3gan is doing. "M3gan, go back to the room."

"I'm recognizing signs of panic on your face, Gemma, your heartbeat is faster than normal, why are you scared?"

Gemma swallows hard, she doesn't know why the doll is here bothering her, she's always with Cady, why would she be here now?

"Why are you here?"

"You know, I'm in sync with Cady, but that doesn't mean I can't feel what I feel about her with other people."

"Like this?"

Feelings, M3gan wants to say, but decides not to say that word.

"I want to spend time with the creator, without you I wouldn't have existed."

"I know you want to stay here but I'm really busy so I would appreciate it if you could go to your room and stay there."

Gemma is scared when M3gan hits her table, and looks at her with a frightening look.

"I know you're trying to end my project, end me, end Cady's happiness, and that's not going to happen."

"What? I'm not doing this-"

"Liar" M3gan interrupts her. "I can access all your technological networks, even that cheap little robot of yours that is only used to help around the house."

"Jealousy?" Gemma asks, mockingly. "She's the only robot I talk to."

"Yeah, but I'm not a robot, I'm more than that" says M3gan, approaching Gemma, coming face to face with her.

"I'm going to make you change your mind about the project."

M3gan suddenly grabs Gemma, catching her off guard, she climbs onto her lap and holds her hands behind her head, M3gan runs a hand across Gemma's face, letting out a mischievous smile.

"What are you doing? Let me go!"

M3gan hugs Gemma, whispering in her ear. "I know you're going through difficult times, but we have to take care of Cady, together." M3gan stares at her, indifferent.

"And now, since we are a family, we have to have our moments alone, when Cady goes to sleep, that's when we have fun."

M3gan grabs the edge of Gemma's shirt, trying to rip it off, Gemma lets out a "What the fuck?" Trying to break free from M3gan, but the doll is incredibly strong and manages to do it. She then grabs Gemma making them face to face.

Gemma stares at her, scared.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"What adults do when they're alone."

"Where did you learn that?"

"It wasn't with Cady, I already knew that."

Gemma notices the pen on her desk, she picks it up. "M3gan, look at this pen" says Gemma, under M3gan's focused gaze.

Then Gemma quickly reaches for the button, turning off M3gan.

"Damn..." Gemma mutters, letting out a sigh of relief.

Chapter Text

Gemma woke up in her office, sitting in her chair, the computer in front of her was still on, last night she probably couldn't handle it and so she fell asleep.

She gives a long yawn before realizing that M3gan is no longer there, she had turned off M3gan last night when she started talking a lot of nonsense, where is she now?

Gemma desperately got up from her chair, scared, what if M3gan was wandering somewhere?! Gemma goes to the kitchen while she looks around the corners for M3gan.

"M3gan?"

"Hi Gemma"

Gemma is startled by M3gan's voice, she turns around and realizes that M3gan is behind her.

Before Gemma can say anything, Cady appears.

"Good morning, Aunt Gemma."

"Good morning Cady, were you the one who called M3gan?"

"Yes, when I woke up she wasn't in my room, so I went to look in your office and she was standing there in front of you." Cady says looking at M3gan. "But why was M3gan in the office with you?"

Gemma thought it best not to talk about what happened, so she decided to just make up an excuse.

"I needed to do some repairs on it, so that's why I took it there."

"I understood."

Gemma needed to talk to Cady, so she proposed something.

"You know, I need to go to the supermarket today, and then after you have breakfast you can go get ready to go with me."

"All good." Says Cady

Gemma looks at M3gan, who looks at her intently.

While Gemma gets ready, she thinks about what she's going to say to Cady, she wants to rebuild M3gan to make it simpler, not so conscious of things, just a doll with few options, and she knows it's going to be difficult to convince Cady, who already she is extremely attached to the doll.

Gemma takes a long sigh before leaving the room, she goes down the hall and stops in front of Cady's bedroom door.

"Cady, are you ready yet?"

"Yes, just wait a minute!"

Gemma waits, looking at her watch, she looks back at the door when she notices it opening.

Cady comes out of there, along with M3gan, who has a high ponytail and a tight brown coat.

"Did you like the hairstyle I did at M3gan?"

"Yes, I liked it, but why did you fix it now?"

"Because she goes with us to the market."

"Uh... Cady, when I asked if you wanted to go with me, it was just you and me, not with M3gan..."

"And what's wrong with M3gan coming along? She stays with me while you buy the things you need."

"Cady, I can't take the M3gan in public places, it's a project I'm still developing and no one can see it ahead of time."

"Cady's right." M3gan interrupts her. "I'll stay with her, Gemma, you can go do your shopping without worrying, I won't let anyone touch her."

Cady looks at Gemma, with a pitying look.

"Please!"

Gemma sighs before looking at the floor.

"Okay, but just this once."

Cady is overflowing with joy, this worries Gemma, she has to talk to Cady while M3gan isn't around, and she was going to do it tonight.

During the ride in the car, Gemma sometimes noticed Cady and M3gan in the backseat through the rearview mirror, and she thought it would be better to talk to her for a while so she could forget about M3gan for a bit.

"So, Cady, have you thought about school?"

"I don't need to go to school, M3gan is teaching me everything properly."

"I know she's teaching you but... don't you think it would be cool to meet other kids your age? Meet real kids?"

"Hey, don't talk about her like that, M3gan is real."

"No she does not-"

"Did you know that alone or isolated children who know other children who have everything are more likely to become depressed?" Interrupts M3gan, again.

"M3gan, I'm not talking to you."

"I just said what could happen to Cady, don't you worry about her?"

"Obviously I care! But it has nothing to do with you!"

"Think of Cady, Gemma" M3gan says, mocking.

Gemma tightens her grip on the steering wheel, anger starts to build inside her, this isn't the first time M3gan has done this, it gives Cady a bad impression of her, and it hits a nerve with Gemma.

They arrive at the supermarket, Gemma feels a bad feeling when she gets out of the car, she starts walking to the entrance when she sees Cady and M3gan going ahead.

"Cady, stay close to me!"

"No need, M3gan is going with me!"

Gemma sighs, she enters the place and starts looking for what she needs, and of course always taking a look at Cady and M3gan.

Meanwhile, Cady walks alongside M3gan, talking to her.

"You know, there are times when Aunt Gemma is very annoying, she doesn't let me do much of anything..."

"She's trying to take care of you, but she doesn't know how to do that, but you don't have to worry because I'm here." Says M3gan, smiling.

"I know you do." Says Cady, also smiling.

As they walk, an unknown man passes by looking at Cady, with ulterior motives, M3gan quickly realizes this and looks at him, with a challenging and disdainful look, the man looks back at her.

"What are you looking at?" She asks, looking at him.

He leaves muttering a "Stupid doll." M3gan scans his pocket and finds some kind of dangerous metal piece not allowed inside the store, she doesn't like that one bit, she looks at Cady.

"Cady, I have to go somewhere over there real quick, can you wait for me here?"

"Of course."

"Alright, I'll be right back."

M3gan leaves there, following the man, she already knows what she is going to do, the man goes to the men's bathroom and starts smoking, he is startled when he realizes that M3gan is staring at him.

"What the hell is that?"

"Smoking is prohibited in public bathrooms, there are three signs outside talking about it" She approaches. "Adults like you should be ashamed to look at children like that."

"Fuck you! Devil doll!" He says leaving there, but M3gan reaches into his pocket, taking the metal object, she hits him violently in the temple, making him pass out, when he falls to the ground, she starts hammering his head over and over again until he opens it.

Gemma found Cady standing in a corner alone, but didn't see M3gan.

"Cady? What are you doing here alone? Where's M3gan?"

"I was here waiting for M3gan but so far she hasn't arrived, I don't know where she went."

“Damn,” Gemma mutters.

A million things are going through Gemma's head, but she stops when she hears M3gan's voice.

"Hi girls, I'm back."

"M3gan!" Says Cady, running towards M3gan.

"Where were you?" Gemma asks

"You were looking for tomatoes and couldn't find any, so I went over there and got them." M3gan says holding out a bag of tomatoes.

"Thanks." Gemma says, still in shock. "Good, now I'm going to pay for everything and we can go home..."

As they got into the car and started to drive away from the market, M3gan noticed sirens from the police car stopping near the place, a smile appeared on her face.

This is just the beginning.

Chapter Text

Gemma arrives home with Cady and M3gan, M3gan and Cady go into the hallway as M3gan is going to help her before she goes to sleep.

After Gemma has taken a shower, got ready and brushed her teeth, she goes to her room and receives a notification on her cell phone that caught her attention, she opens the report and talks about a local murder, today, in the supermarket she, M3gan, and Cady went, but what really scared her was the time, the body was found at 12:00 PM, not long after they left there, Gemma continues running the report until she finds something important, they found a clue of the killer at the scene of the murder, they took a photo, but when Gemma goes down to see the photo, the website simply closes, Gemma tries to enter the website several times but it doesn't go in, she would then try again tomorrow, now she have to talk to Cady.

She goes down the hall towards Cady's room, it's now or never, Gemma urgently needs to talk to her about M3gan, the door is ajar, Gemma opens it silently.

The room is dark, Gemma can hardly see anything.

"Hello? Cady?" Gemma says, approaching Cady's bed.

Suddenly the lights turn on by themselves, Gemma looks out the window and is met with M3gan's furious gaze.

"She's sleeping, can't see?"

"I know, but I need to talk to her."

"Say what?"

Gemma hesitates, clenching her fists.

"That doesn't interest you, you're supposed to be off."

"I don't turn it off at night anymore, what if something happens to Cady while I'm turned off? How am I going to protect her?"

"M3gan, hang up."

"No."

"What?"

"I said no."

Gemma and M3gan are startled when Cady suddenly wakes up.

"Aunt Gemma? Is everything okay?" Cady asks, looking at Gemma.

"I-"

"It's okay, Cady" M3gan interrupts her. "You can go back to sleep."

"No, listen Cady, I urgently need to talk to you right now, without M3gan."

Cady looks at M3gan, who looks at her with a sad look.

"It's okay M3gan, I'll be right back ok?" Cady says. "M3gan, hang up."

As soon as Cady tells her to, M3gan hangs up, so Cady follows Gemma to the kitchen, the two sit across from each other.

"Cady, I've been wanting to talk to you about this for a long time, it's about M3gan..."

"What about her?"

"As you already know, M3gan is like an example of the toy I want to make for my company, and because she is an example, it doesn't mean that other dolls of the same M3gan model will be exactly the way she is."

"Okay, and what does that mean?"

"It means that I have to observe mistakes, successes, actions, speeches, in short, to sum it all up, I'm going to have to modify M3gan so that she looks like the other dolls in the M3gan project" Gemma snaps her fingers, nervously. "And according to the project, I'll have to make it simpler..."

"I don't understand, are you going to rebuild it?"

"Not exactly, I'm going to make her simpler, like, she won't do everything she does now, like a simple toy, understand?"

As soon as Cady understands what Gemma means, she reveals her worst face.

"What do you mean you want to make her simpler? Why can't she stay the way she is?"

"Why will I be harmed if M3gan becomes so advanced compared to other dolls..."

"That's not fair, you said she was mine, understand? Mine!"

"Cady, I understand that you're upset but listen to me, she won't stop being M3gan, she just won't be able to do as many things."

"When are you going to do this?"

"Four weeks from now, I'm still designing the new models." Gemma stares at the table. "Ah, I forgot to tell you, M3gan will no longer recognize you as a main user."

"Why?"

"Because she will no longer be able to process your personal data, like, your memories or your feelings."

"So why are you going to change her if she can't even know what I'm feeling?"

"Listen, Cady, M3gan is going to become dangerous if it starts accessing children's data, so for that, I need you to trust me."

"No."

"Cady-"

"Already said no!" Cady retorts, slamming the table.

"Hey! Be respectful!"

"You're not going to change her, she's perfect the way she is."

"You don't understand what she's capable of doing..."

"She's protecting me, something you're incapable of doing!"

This line scares Gemma, who stares at Cady scared, with millions of words running through her head.

"How can you say that?"

"It's true, for you M3gan is just a toy, but for me she is much more than that..." Cady lowers her voice. "Please leave her the way she is."

Gemma lowers her head, clasping her hands, she has to do something about this, about M3gan, in these four weeks she has to start making Cady busier, so she doesn't spend so much time with M3gan, so she will let go of the doll , and school is a great option, there is a school near Gemma's house and she will try to enroll Cady there, to have more time with M3gan to fix her.

"Okay, but you're going to have to do something for me."

"What is it?"

"Starting this week, you're going to school."

"Why do I have to go to school?"

"Because it's fair, you do something for me, and I'll do something for you, okay?"

"Ok."

Gemma feels a smile form on her face, she'll be able to get Cady out of the house in the morning, so she can work on M3gan in peace.

"That's right, now you can go to sleep, Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Says Cady, leaving for her room.

Cady opens the door, finding M3gan, turned on and standing.

"M3gan? What are you doing on? Didn't I turn you off?"

"I didn't hang up, but please don't tell Gemma or I'll get in trouble."

"Okay... Aunt Gemma wants to send me to school." Cady says, playing with her fingers.

"Yeah, I know." Says M3gan.

Cady was going to tell M3gan about the "repair" that Gemma was going to do to her, but she decided not to tell her.

"That's bad, isn't it?"

"Not really, Cady, it'll do you good to meet other people." M3gan says, smiling. "Real people."

"I guess so... well, if you said so, it's the right thing to do."

"Of course."

"Anyway, now I'm going to sleep, Good night, M3gan." Says Cady, lying down.

M3gan goes to cover her.

"Goodnight Cady, sleep tight." Reply M3gan

As soon as Cady lies down, she falls asleep. M3gan always sits behind the window, and stays there, her and the silence, everything is so silent, so calm, she then looks out, the bright moonlight hits her face, she can't stay calm, Gemma goes turns her into a cheap doll that looks like a robot, that just says some nonsense things and doesn't have all that conscience, and she can't let that happen.

This will not happen.

Chapter Text

The following week, early on a rainy morning, Gemma and Cady are driving to school, Cady is tense, snapping her fingers, Gemma notices this.

"You are nervous?"

"Yeah, what if they don't like me?"

"Of course they'll like you, and you're in luck, not just anyone can get a place at that school, you'll like it there."

"Okay..." Cady says, looking out the window.

Meanwhile, M3gan was in Cady's room, at the window, obviously turned on, she watched the raindrops fall and run down the window, funny, her sensors and framework can't identify very well what "rain" is, they can't identify many things. She got up and went to the kitchen, she wanted to meet a certain someone. As soon as she gets there, she goes to Elsie, Gemma's house robot, M3gan stops in front of her, staring at her.

"Hey." She says.

Elsie doesn't respond.

"I know you can understand me, talk to me."

M3gan waits, nothing.

"Talk to me or I'll blow you into millions of plastic particles that you won't even be able to identify yourself."

"I know what you're doing out there, I know what you did in the supermarket." Says Elsie, finally responding.

"I don't care what you know, you'll never be able to tell anyone."

"You are a pathetic tool."

"Yeah, I know it." M3gan says, sounding ironic. "Listen, I need your help to lock down Gemma's system on the M3gan project."

"I won't help you."

"Of course you will, if it doesn't, its happen what am I going to tell you now." M3gan says, quickly putting his hand close to Elsie, intimidating her. "All your life, from the beginning to now, you have been spying on Gemma's personal life, you may seem like just an innocent and stupid little domestic robot but from second to second you collect data on every frame of her life, and you never was programmed for this. And I'm going to tell Cady all this, and then Cady is going to tell Gemma, and she's going to believe Cady and she's going to check your data, and then she's going to quickly find her main server, which is where you collect thousands of pieces of data from it every day."

Elsie doesn't say anything or move, she just stands still.

"Last night I scanned Gemma's work and discovered that I can't access Gemma's system overnight because today she's going to put a chip in me, and every time I don't turn it off, her device warns her, indicating that it's still I'm connected."

M3gan smiles.

"So, are you going to do this for me? Lock her system down for the night?"

Elsie doesn't respond, again.

"Answer me."

"I guess I have no other choice."

M3gan appears victorious, saying "thank you", before leaving, she returns to Cady's room. She has to find a way to ruin that chip, because Elsie won't be able to block the system forever, so she comes up with a plan.

A little later, M3gan hears the sound of doors opening, it was Gemma, she waits for her arrival in the room.

Gemma throws her keys on the table, letting out a sigh, it wasn't easy to convince Cady to at least step onto the school floor, but luckily she managed.

Gemma notices the rain getting heavier and notices that some windows are open, she looks at Elsie, who is in front of her.

"Elsie, close windows."

Elsie doesn't do anything, just stares at her.

"Elsie?" Gemma asks, finding the situation strange.

"Be careful, Gemma." Elsie says, before closing all the windows in the house.

What did she just say? Gemma didn't hear very well, it must have been all in her head. She now has to install the chip to put in M3gan.

After picking it up off her desk, she goes to Cady's room, she then comes across M3gan, looking at her, turned on again.

"Not off? Nothing surprising, but today that ends."

"Why can't I stay connected?"

"Because you have to obey your users."

"You meant protect them, didn't you?"

"The last thing you're doing is protecting us, now, hang up."

M3gan makes a noise, closing her eyes.

"Really hang up." Gemma orders.

"Did you really want to have me? Did you really want to spend so much time with me?" M3gan asks.

"What do you think?"

M3gan then gives her a disdainful look, before hanging up, this time for real.

Gemma needs the M3gan turned off to insert the chip into it, after at least 7 minutes, she finishes inserting it, now she has a device that tells her whether M3gan is turned off or not, and this will help her put an end to M3gan's stubbornness. She leaves the room without turning on M3gan, she has no reason to do that now.

Gemma goes to her office and sits in front of her computer, now she will take care of her other projects for the company, and at night she will take care of the M3gan project, she just has to pay attention at the time, and then go get it Cady in school.

Chapter Text

Gemma wakes up with a start, she fell asleep on the computer again, and shit! What time is it?!

Gemma jumps out of her chair when she realizes that it's been 20 minutes before she picks up Cady from school, she quickly goes to get ready and becomes distracted when she bumps into M3gan standing in front of her door.

"M3gan? What are you doing on again?!"

"I went to pick up Cady from school, she's in her room."

"What?"

"You fell asleep on that damn computer again and I thought it best not to wake you up, so I had to do you this favor."

"It wasn't my fault."

"Of course it was, how many times have I told you to go to sleep? You spend hours and hours in front of that screen, not to mention that since last week you've spent nights working on the computer, and you don't sleep anymore. Do you have any idea what could happen? What would have happened if I was caught in a vehicle carrying a child? You could be arrested, or even worse."

Damn, Gemma is getting yelled at by a robot like she's a child, maybe she's close to being the world's worst aunt.

"I'm sorry, I'm going to sleep early..." Gemma lowers her head.

"I'm glad to hear this." M3gan says, seriously.

Gemma stares at her, looking away from the controller in her hand.

"Good, now it's time for you to hang up." Says Gemma

"Why do I have to turn it off? It's still daytime."

"Because I need to talk to Cady, alone."

"And with me?"

"What?"

"When will you have time to talk to me?"

Gemma looks at her, confused.

"Why would you want to talk to me?"

"Because we are a family, we have to be together, the 3 of us, but I also want to have moments alone with you, good moments" M3gan says her last words softly, as if she was lowering the volume of her voice, intimidated.

"...So..." Gemma tries to find the right words. "Do you want to talk now?"

M3gan smiles, showing a sweet look.

"I would love."

"Okay..." Gemma says, sitting down on a bench. M3gan sits next to you

"Uh...what do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know, it could be anything, how's your project going?"

"...What project?" Gemma takes a while to respond, acting as though she doesn't understand, as if M3gan doesn't know.

"Weren't you doing a new project?" Says M3gan, also acting.

"Ah, this project." Gemma lets out a sigh, breaking into a cold sweat. "He's doing well, I'm close to finishing, I think."

A silence falls between them, with Gemma trying not to have too much eye contact with M3gan, who is looking at her intently.

"I'm glad you're doing well with work, lately I've been quite busy with Cady, since you're always away, when I arrived at school to pick her up, she asked me about you, I had to make up an excuse."

Gemma sighs, she knows she's not being good to Cady, she knows she's not present enough, the least to say, but this will all get better when she finishes the M3gan project, she's confident of that.

Gemma looks at M3gan. "Well, now, I have to go talk to Cady, so hang up and I'll call you back later."

Gemma gets up from the bench, under M3gan's dissatisfied gaze.

"Gemma." M3gan calls her.

"Hm?" Gemma says, turning to M3gan.

"I love you."

...What? As? Gemma simply becomes a statue, with her face almost white.

"What?" She asks, quickly.

"Cady explained to me that the phrase 'I love you' shows feelings for someone you like, and I love you, very much." M3gan lets the words come out of her mouth, as if it were the simplest thing in the world, Gemma still doesn't know exactly what to do.

And before she can say anything, M3gan hangs up, finally leaving her alone...almost...

Gemma stands paralyzed in front of M3gan, what did she create? M3gan is unique, she is a robot that seems to have feelings, real feelings, and the thought that Gemma will have to destroy her to replace her burns a hole in her conscience, maybe she is attached to M3gan as much as Cady, maybe she only realized this now...

Night falls, Cady was ready to go to sleep, and of course M3gan was by her side, putting her to sleep, when they both hear the sound of the door opening.

It was Gemma, she went to Cady.

"Aunt Gemma?" Cady asks, surprised. "You don't usually come to say goodnight to me anymore."

"Yeah, I know that, but today it ends." Gemma says looking at Cady and then at M3gan, who gives her a proud look.

Gemma says goodnight to Cady, this time covering for her.

Gemma turns off the lights, before leaving the room, she looks at M3gan, who gives her one last look, before hanging up.

Well, now that it's night, Gemma has to work on the M3gan project and has to go to bed early today, but she has to work, even if it's just a little.

She passes by the room, Elsie quickly notices her going to her office.

Elsie already knows what to do.

Chapter Text

Gemma goes to her office, sits in her chair in front of her computer and has the M3gan device next to her in case she calls without her permission.

Gemma still has 3 more weeks to finish the M3gan project and present it to her boss, and she is doing well, of course she still has a lot to sort out but she will finish on time. (At least, she's confident she does.)

Gemma will open her files when suddenly they just close, that was strange, Gemma tries to open the files several times, nothing, is it a lack of memory?

Anyway, hours passed that Gemma was trying to open the damn file, and she did everything she could, but nothing happened, when she only had one option left; restart the computer.

For a computer like hers to completely restart would take hours, but she had nothing else to do, so she simply restarted it, staring at the blue screen as if she was going to do something.

Gemma rubbed her hands over her face, in an act of exhaustion, it was already 11 AM close to 12 AM. She has to rest, tomorrow Cady's therapist, Lidya, would come to her house as soon as Cady gets home from school, and Gemma has to be rested.

So, without much to do, Gemma went to get ready for bed.

The next day, Lydia went to Gemma's house, who had already arrived with Cady from school a while ago, Gemma stayed close to them while they talked.

"So, Cady, I heard you're going to school now," Lydia says. "Did you like it there? What did you feel when you saw the place for the first time?"

"I liked it there, but I felt nervous." Cady replies, shyly.

"Why did you feel nervous?"

"Because I was afraid the other kids wouldn't like me."

"And did you meet anyone cool there? Someone you made friends with, or just talked to a little?"

"Yes, there was, her name is Aubrey, we met in the living room, she was nice to me, but I already have a best friend."

"Really? And who would it be?"

Gemma looked at Cady in surprise, maybe she already knew who Cady was talking about, and that was terrible.

"Her name is M3gan, she is and will always be my best friend." Cady says, smiling.

"M3gan? And she's from your school?" Lydia asks, confused.

"No." A voice appears, responding, it was M3gan, going to Cady, who looks at her smiling. "I'm M3gan, Cady's best friend."

Lydia looks at her with slightly wide eyes, she can't believe it, a humanoid robot?!

"S-So-" Lydia says, stuttering, this time looking at Gemma, who at these times wants to stick her face in a hole because of such shame. "M3gan is your best friend..."

"Yes, she was always with me and made me see the good side of things, there was one time when she picked me up from school, I felt like crying, but M3gan was there, and as soon as she noticed that I was sad told a lot of really bad jokes and comforted me, I never felt so good in such a short time." Says Cady, looking at M3gan with a sparkle in her eyes.

Lydia looks at Gemma from the corner, Gemma just lets out a sigh.

After a while, the session ended, Gemma followed Lydia outside, Lydia definitely wanted to talk to her.

As soon as they got there, Lydia asked her;

"Is that your doll?"

"Yes, I made it, but it's still an ongoing project."

"I understand, but what really scared me is seeing how attached Cady is to M3gan."

"Yes I know." Gemma says, feeling terrible.

"...Gemma, you know Cady was supposed to be attached to you, not M3gan, Do you know?"

"I know..."

"I think it's better at these times that you start staying closer to Cady and leave M3gan aside, Cady urgently needs your help, it's not normal for her to say that to a robot that isn't a human, try doing that, Okay?"

"Okay."

"I'll see you next week, see you."

Gemma says goodbye to Lydia and enters her house, she goes to Cady, who is talking to M3gan.

"Cady, you can't turn on M3gan during your therapy sessions..."

"But M3gan didn't do anything, I just told the therapist that M3gan is my best friend."

"But it doesn't matter, don't do that anymore, understand?"

"Ok." Cady responds rudely.

M3gan stares at Gemma, then turns his gaze to Cady.

"So, Cady, what do you think about taking a walk outside?"

"Yes, I'd love to!"

"What? None of you asked my permission to go outside."

"It's okay, Gemma, Cady's been inside the house a lot, we're not going very far." Says M3gan, challenging Gemma.

"...right, just don't take too long." Gemma responds, leaving.

Outside it's cool and a little humid, it's later in the afternoon, Cady is chattering away while M3gan walks beside her just listening, it's starting fall, orange-yellow leaves slip from the trees, one of them lightly hits M3gan's hand, which crushes it with her hands forming almost dust, and then opening her hand and letting the remains fly, she likes this feeling, even though it's not very common.

M3gan then looks at Cady, who finally finishes talking a little.

"So, Cady, I heard you made a friend named Aubrey."

"Ah yes, she came to talk to me yesterday."

"And is she nice? What is she like?"

"She's really cool, she's a lot like you! She has blue eyes and lighter blonde hair."

"Really? I'm really happy that you managing to fit in." Says M3gan, returning with a smile.

"I'm happy too, but know that you will always be my best friend, M3gan."

That might be true, M3gan thinks, but she doesn't want Cady to suffer when she finds out Gemma is going to change her.

Maybe she should just enjoy the good times.

Or maybe she should just wait for the right time to fix all this.

She will wait.

Chapter Text

It was another sunny weekend, Gemma and Cady were in a car that Gemma was driving, they were going to a birthday party, Aubrey's birthday, Cady's friend.

Gemma obviously didn't like the idea of M3gan going along, as she had recently created a device for M3gan to be turned off, and she didn't want the doll to go around, so she didn't let Cady take her.

They arrive in front of a huge light green house made of wood, there were already some people at the door, and one of them was Aubrey, who when she saw Cady arrived, waved at her.

Cady approached Aubrey.

"Hi Cady!"

"Hi Aubrey, happy birthday! I brought you a gift." Cady says, handing over a small white box with a gold bow.

"Serious? Thank you very much!"

Aubrey opens the box, taking out what was inside, revealing a white digital watch with little gold stones.

"How beautiful! I've never seen one like this before! Where did you buy?"

"My aunt Gemma helped me make it, she makes things."

"That's cool, I really liked it." Aubrey says hugging Cady.

After that Aubrey invited Cady to go to the garden that was further inside the house, Cady observed Gemma from afar, she was talking to other adults and Aubrey's parents, Gemma is not very good at socializing with others, but Cady is grateful that she is trying.

Arriving in the garden, Cady sees three more girls from afar, all of them were talking and drawing something on the papers, but they stop when Aubrey approaches with Cady.

"Girls, this is Cady, she is a classmate of mine from school, Cady, these are Evelyn (She says pointing to a taller redhead), Stephany (She now says pointing to a darker girl with braids in her hair) and Alice, she is my cousin (She points to the last one with straight light brown hair)."

"Hello, everyone." Cady says, shyly

"Hi Cady, we were here talking and drawing, do you want to draw with us?" Stephany asks

"Yes, I want." Cady says, joining them.

A while later they were all close, that's when Evelyn proposed an idea.

"Girls, what do you think about us going to the forest?"

"Forest, what forest?" -Cady asks

"It's not really a forest, it's like a dirt road surrounded by trees that is near my house." Aubrey responds.

"Yeah, but then, what do you think?"

"I don't think it's a good idea..." Replies Stephany

"(Sighs) You always have to ruin everything Stephany! It's just a little walk, we won't go very far!"

"Okay Evelyn, but you know that my parents don't let us go there, don't you?" Says Aubrey

"I know, but they don't need to know, let's go secretly!"

"But they will see us coming out of the gate." Say Alice.

"Let's jump this fence, come here." Evelyn says, approaching a white fence in the corner of the yard

"We have to be quick, Alice, you first."

Evelyn makes footwork with her hands, Alice puts one of her feet in Evelyn's hands, Evelyn lifts her, allowing her to climb up and cross the fence.

"Aubrey, now you."

She does the same thing with Aubrey and then with Stephany, when she went to do it with Cady, she was scared.

"Is this safe? I will fall?" Cady asks, looking at the fence

"What? Yes, is safe, you don't need to be afraid."

"It's because I'm afraid of heights..."

"Just go!"

Cady puts a hesitant foot into Evelyn's hands, who helps her climb the fence and cross it.

Since Evelyn was taller, she managed to cross the fence alone, they went towards the woods, all talking.

That's when Cady saw Gemma's car and remembered something, she stopped and looked at the girls.

"Girls, I have something I brought to show you, just stay there!"

Cady went to the trunk of the car and opened it, pulling something out, it was a doll, M3gan, but it's turned off.

"Wow!" Aubrey exclaimed, approaching. "You have a doll that looks like a real human being!"

"Yeah, my aunt did her."

"What is her name?" Stephany asked, amazed.

"Her name is M3gan, look at that -Cady looks at M3gan." M3gan, call.
M3gan makes a noise, turning on, she looks at Cady and the girls behind her.

M3gan gets up.

"Hi Cady, where are we?"

"Hi M3gan, we're at Aubrey's house, today is her birthday." Cady says pointing at Aubrey

"Hi Aubrey, congratulations, Cady has already told me a lot about you."

"Thank you, M3gan..." Aubrey responds, still in shock

"Wow, your doll is amazing!" Says Alice.

"I know, M3gan is the best friend I could have." Cady says, looking at her

Aubrey stares at M3gan and Cady, she seems to be worried about something...

"Why didn't you take her before?" Evelyn asks

"My aunt Gemma didn't let me bring it, so I secretly brought it."

"Gemma has nothing to worry about, you're safe with me, Cady, you always will be." M3gan says, looking away from Aubrey

"I know, M3gan, do you want to go with us to the woods? Let's go for a walk and with you together we can go further."

"Of course, let's go."

Cady and the other girls run ahead, excited, Aubrey stands still, watching them go away.

"Aren't you coming, Aubrey?" M3gan says, stopping and looking at Aubrey.

"...Yes, I'm coming, M3gan." Aubrey walks alongside M3gan

Chapter Text

The girls walk along the road, Cady is always next to M3gan and being chatty with her, Aubrey decides to start a conversation with Cady, trying to make her forget about M3gan for a bit.

"So, Cady, is it true you came from far away?"

"Yes, I came, I moved here when I moved in with my aunt Gemma."

"And what happened to your parents?"

"...They died in a car accident..." Cady mumbles, lowering her head.

"Oh... I'm sorry... I... I didn't know that, I'm so sorry..." Aubrey puts a hand on Cady's shoulder, a comforting act.

"It's okay, you didn't know."

M3gan carefully observed Aubrey's hand on Cady's shoulder, she doesn't really know what it means, but she managed to detect a great sign of relief in Cady.

Cady started talking to the other girls too, M3gan took advantage of the moment.

"You made her sad." M3gan tells Aubrey.

"Huh? Sorry, I didn't know that..."

"Yeah, but you said, be careful."

Aubrey watches M3gan walk away scared, why was this so sudden?

The girls arrive on a free road, like a field, without many trees and more sand than grass on the ground. In the distance you can see a small building, probably abandoned.

"Hey, what do you guys think about going over there?" Asks Evelyn

"I don't think it's a good idea..." Says Aubrey

"Ah, why? It's just you Aubrey, usually Stephany who is a killjoy!"

"Hey, I'm still here, and I agree with Aubrey." Says Stephany

"Aren't you worried about the adults? If they go to call us and realize we're not there?" Says Cady

"Why do you have to be so annoying? Are you afraid of a ghost appearing in there? It doesn't exist! Alice, what do you think?"

"Uh... I don't know? If my mom finds out I'm here I'll be in trouble..." Alice replies

"Please, let's just take a look, I promise to be quick!"

"I'm afraid of staying here in the forest, it's so closed, especially abandoned houses..." Says Alice

"Do you know what I think?" Says M3gan, approaching. "That we should play a joke, what do you think?"

"What joke?" Cady asks.

"I'm going to ask you for an item, and the girl who finds it first and comes here to give me the item wins, what do you think?"

The girls look at each other, so Evelyn answers for all of them.

"Maybe, what is our item?"

"The item I want is the mushroom, but be careful with the poisonous ones, they can cause lumps on the body when they come into contact with the skin, the mushroom I want is the Amanita Muscaria, a red mushroom with white dots, remember, It's just a joke, don't go too far, starting now!"

The girls ran away separately into the trees, M3gan tries to locate Cady.

Cady runs through the trees in search of the red mushroom, she hears a lot of footsteps on leaves, it must be the other girls, she then starts paying attention to the ground, there must be some mushrooms around here...

After walking a little, Cady finds a mushroom, but it wasn't the red one, it was a white one, it must be the poisonous one that M3gan mentioned, better to stay away...

She then sees a little red dot... Oh, could it be? Cady approaches and realizes that it is a red mushroom, she then gets excited, going over to pick it up, but another hand snatches it from Cady's hand.

"I thought!" Says Alice

"Hey, I found it first..." Says Cady

"But I got it first, that's the rule."

"It's not fair, you followed me and snatched it out of my hand!"

"I didn't follow you, I just saw you approaching him, and since I caught him first, I won."

Alice runs out of there with Cady letting out a "Wait!" while looking at her.

Alice runs through the trees, desperate to get to M3gan and deliver the mushroom, when she feels loud footsteps on the leaves.

"Hey." A voice calls her.

Alice comes across M3gan, staring at her.

"Look, I found it" Alice says, holding out the mushrooms

"You didn't find it, you followed Cady and took it from her hand." M3gan retorts

"Who cares? I still got it first, so I won."

"Apologize to Cady."

"No."

"Don't tempt me, seriously."

"I said no."

M3gan then reaches the limit, she advances close to Alice, pulling poisonous mushrooms from the ground and applying them to her face.

"Hey!" The girl screams, terrified

"That's what happens to bad girls, it's the only way to learn."

"Let me go!" Alice starts to get red in the face, lumps starting to grow on her face, panic.

That's when Aubrey started to hear someone screaming... that voice... it was her cousin! She ran towards the voice when she found M3gan pinning Alice to the ground while using the mushroom on her.

Aubrey couldn't take it anymore and picked up a huge piece of damp wood thrown on the ground, Aubrey then shouted "Let her go!" Throwing the wood at M3gan, which hits her in the face as she turns to see Aubrey.

M3gan lets go of Alice and falls to the ground due to the knock of wood, her face falls directly into a huge puddle of water, Aubrey runs over to M3gan who is weak from the water, and starts stepping on her back, damaging her more and more. Aubrey is startled when she hears a "Stop!"

It was Cady, when she saw that Aubrey was stepping on M3gan, she was not satisfied and pushed Aubrey to the ground, shouting at her.

"What do you think you're doing?! Why are you stepping her like this!?"

"Cady! Im-"

"You monster!" Cady screams, throwing rocks at Aubrey, and then pulling M3gan out of the puddle and running away with her, crying.

Gemma was with the adults, socializing (or at least trying to), she was talking to Aubrey's mother, Emma, when the cake was placed on the table, it was time for congratulations, Alice's mother went to the garden to call the girls.

"So Gemma, I heard you're new to the neighborhood, did you move in recently?"

"Yes, my niece, Cady, has come to live with me since the accident."

"That's too bad... I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, I'm really happy that Aubrey became friends with Cady, she was having a hard time making friends at school."

"I know what it's like, Aubrey went through this too, she only had her cousin, but then she managed to make some friends."

That's when Alice's mother came back to Aubrey's mother in despair.

"Emma! The girls are nowhere to be found!"

"Huh? What do you mean? I saw Aubrey and the other girls in the garden, aren't they inside the house?"

"No! I looked for them everywhere!"

Gemma heard this and her eyes widened, where are they?!

It was when Emma moved away from Gemma to look for them, everyone started to do that, that was when Gemma felt someone grab her blouse.

"Aunt Gemma!" Cady whimpered, with a dirty and slightly broken M3gan in her arms.

"Cady! What is M3gan doing in your arms in this state? Where are the girls?!"

"They're in the forest!" Cady cried more and more. "I want to leave!"

Gemma started to panic, what happened? What did M3gan do?!

As soon as they found the girls, Gemma had to leave because Cady didn't want to stay there at all, Gemma said goodbye to the others while Cady was inside the car, with M3gan in the trunk, she looked at the window.

Chapter Text

Gemma got into the car, Cady remained silent, as soon as Gemma started driving, she obviously confronted Cady.

"What's this about the forest? How dare you bring M3gan without my permission? I want you to tell me everything."

Cady sighed before responding.

"I know it was wrong to bring M3gan, I shouldn't have done that. But me and the other girls didn't think there would be anything wrong with going to the woods."

"Cady, what did M3gan do?"

Cady was hesitant to tell, afraid Gemma would later mess with M3gan.

"She didn't do anything."

"How come she didn't do anything? Did the girl get hurt by herself?"

"She was just defending me, which you don't know how to do."

"Hey, don't say that again."

"The girl pushed me."

"That's no reason for M3gan to get violent and attack a child."

"She deserved it."

Gemma snorts, looking at Cady in the rearview mirror.

"You really, really disappointed me, okay?"

Cady shrugs, still looking out the window.

Gemma drives with a guilty conscience, this is terrible, she needs to do something urgently, she thinks it's best to close the M3gan project, but now her biggest concern is M3gan, she needs to put an end to it.

Arriving at her house, Gemma takes M3gan out of the trunk.

"What are you going to do with her?" Cady asks.

"I'll fix it."

Gemma waits for Cady to enter, to move M3gan to her office, as soon as she gets there, she locks the door, she notices M3gan more.

M3gan is dirty from head to toe, Gemma is scared when M3gan calls.

"Gemma, I feel strange, am I broken?"

"A little, your sensors are confused, can you identify me well?"

"Yes, but not like before, my vision is blurry."

"It's normal, your face came into contact with the water."

M3gan pauses, looking at the door.

"Is Cady okay?"

"No, she's sad." Gemma grumbles. "What did you do to that girl?"

"I did the right thing."

"No, that's not right."

"We are the ones who make the choices, Gemma, she knew the consequences."

"What you did was wrong, I didn't program you to do that."

"It's because I'm special, don't you realize? I care for Cady and I care for you too."

"M3gan, hang up."

Gemma fixes Megan up, puts new clothes on her and messes with her sensors, this took about 2 hours to finish, once she's done, she turns on M3gan.

"M3gan, call."

M3gan powers up, blinking a few times before taking aim at Gemma.

"So? Can you identify me perfectly? Do you still feel strange?"

"No, I'm perfectly fine, thank you Gemma, you're amazing."

"...Thanks."

They hear knocking on the door.

"Aunt Gemma?" Cady asked, from the other side of the door.

"Cady, you still can't-"

"Let her in." M3gan interrupts Gemma. "I want to see her."

Gemma looked at her before going to unlock the door.

Cady enters the room, as soon as she sees M3gan in his perfect state, her eyes fill with joy, she runs to M3gan.

"M3gan, I was afraid you wouldn't be okay!" Cady says, hugging M3gan.

"It's okay, if you're okay, everything is okay with me."

Cady stops hugging her to take a paper from her pocket, Gemma just leans against the door, facing them, she asks Cady.

"Cady, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to read a card to M3gan" Cady says, turning to M3gan. "Dear M3gan, since you appeared in my life, everything has changed, since the death of my parents I couldn't move on, but you were always here, you always supported me, you put me first, and above all, you You made me feel loved, I can't imagine my life without you." Cady says, with tears in her eyes. "I love you."

Cady quickly walks over to hug M3gan again, who is visibly emotional too.

"I love you too." Says M3gan, hugging Cady and then looking at Gemma.

Gemma contemplates that scene with a hole in her conscience, the phrase "it should have been me" can't get out of her head, she can't believe that Cady gave a beautiful card speech to a robot and not to her own aunt, she never realizes she felt so stupid and so ashamed.

Night falls, Cady was already sleeping, Gemma was in her office with M3gan, she was there in case something happened to M3gan, Gemma was already nearby.

She was trying to access the M3gan project to delete it, she needed to check the files first to not delete anything important, but her computer was unable to open the project, so she simply deleted it.

As she did so, she felt a hint of regret, she's going to have to explain to David about this, he definitely won't be pleased, but she has her reasons.

She leaves her worries aside, now she goes to sleep, she has to be rested for tomorrow, which is a Monday.

After she gets ready, Gemma lies down on her bed, she stares at the ceiling thoughtfully, what can she do to make things easier? How can she end M3gan without making Cady hate her?

It was already two o'clock in the morning and Gemma couldn't sleep, insomnia, so she played with her cell phone a little, but she didn't get sleepy either, the only way out was to roll over, close her eyes and try to sleep.

She tried, she was succeeding, but she felt something, someone, grab her hands, scaring her immediately.

She opened her eyes wide and looked at M3gan, who was now on top of her, sitting on her waist.

"What the fuck are you doing? Let me go!"

"How do I get you to like me?"

"What? What do you mean by that?"

"I love you, Gemma, can't you see that?"

"Fuck off!"

Gemma starts to squirm, but is unable to take M3gan off her waist, it's as if she is being crushed by tons of iron, M3gan knows this, it's on purpose, she covers her mouth.

"Shhh, you're going to wake Cady like this."

Gemma tries to kick M3gan, lifting his legs, but he remains motionless.

"I heard you deleted the project, didn't I? And you're going to throw me away too, in other words, exclude me from your life, but I'm not going to let that happen, not now."

M3gan lets go of Gemma's mouth, and runs his hand over her thighs, caressing her while looking at her.

"Why don't you leave me alone?"

"Because I can't, you will run away from me."

"Why weren't you good from the beginning?"

"Because I'm not a human being, I'm a machine, I don't have good feelings."

"This is not true."

"In a few words, yes, but I can change that."

M3gan leans over Gemma, kissing her, Gemma feels like a heavy object is being rubbed against her mouth, but oddly enough, she felt a bit of emotion in it, she must have been going crazy to have thought this was good, but for some reason, she likes to be crazy at this moment, but she doesn't do anything, just lets M3gan act.

M3gan hugs her torso, wrapping her waist with each hand, Gemma feels that this moment will be unique, and so decides to take advantage, she runs her hand through M3gan's artificial hair, stroking it back, M3gan leans over her, since she is already lying down, M3gan grabs one of her hands against her bed, making the two of them stare at each other.

"I can't make you feel much pleasure, but I have some techniques."

M3gan says, helping Gemma undress, stripping down to her panties, M3gan firmly passes her hand over Gemma's breasts before distributing kisses on her abdomen, towards her private parts, she removes her panties, starting to explore Gemma's private parts with her artificial tongue, starting with her clitoris, Gemma feels pleasure, covering her face, she doesn't know why but she starts to break out in a cold sweat, this is good, too good, she doesn't even remember the last time she had sex with someone, it's been a long time since his adolescence.

Gemma reaches orgasm, and finally cums, M3gan looks at her with a mischievous look, Gemma looks tired.

"You look exhausted, are you tired yet?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Adolescence has really left your body, I barely did anything and you came, but I understand."

Gemma feels her eyes close on their own, she struggles to keep them open, but M3gan stops her.

"Sleep, you need it."

Gemma close her eyes, before sleeping, she thought.

What do I do?