"Well. That went well." Cecilia's voice synthesizer, as undisguisedly electronic as it was, had extensive processing units dedicated to emotive articulation, and the sarcasm her statement was dripping with was unmistakable.
Hawkins sighed. He was a very even-tempered man, but if there was one thing that really got to him, it was people who thought they could use money to put themselves above the law. Of course, the man did have legal guardianship of...Jeff, and thus far he hadn't done anything that would justify revoking it. It was the smug way he acted, like he derived more security from his legal retainers than from not doing anything wrong in the first place, that gave the agent more than a slight suspicion that he wasn't to be trusted. "Didn't it just," he muttered.
The robot-woman eyed him as they made their way back over to where the three clockwork girls had sat down. "So what is it that we're planning to do, Nate?" she asked. "Asking nicely didn't work, and I'm having a hard time seeing how we've got a case otherwise..."
"I know, I know," the masked man said. "Probably didn't help matters that we implied he had sinister designs for refusing...damnation. Now we've got a pissed-off man who knows that we suspect him of doing something malicious with something that we don't even know if he knew what it really was, and now he knows that it's somehow connected to his...daughter." He groaned. "If I didn't have a hunch that we were right not to trust him, I'd really be kicking myself. As is...we do what we said. We keep an eye on him, and if he ever starts abusing that key, or Jeff, period, we throw everything we've got at him."
"And see to what extent 'hundreds of lawyers' was just posturing," Cecilia said, nodding. Hawkins shrugged. "Yeah. Guy like that, I don't doubt that he'll fight tooth and nail if he feels like something of his is being threatened, but...well, I'm sure you looked him up. Not a small fry, by a long shot, but he's no Fortune 500 member. He wouldn't be the first guy to make it big in the tri-county area - or even the state - and then let that go to his head and start thinking he's bigger than he really is."
The gynoid nodded. "S'pose so. And then, we do have bureaucratic stubbornness and taxpayer funding on our side."
Hawkins nodded, and Cecilia got the impression that there was a smirk somewhere in that enigmatic mask of a face. "Yep. We may not have the full might of the United States government behind us, but I'll be damned if I don't use what we do have to help the people that need it."
Cecilia laughed. "That's very you, Nate."
Geoffrey Aurelius, Sr. ("Jeff" to his friends, or at least, to his associates) shut the door behind him. He grabbed the mysterious clockwork key, the thing that he'd just been told was part of...of his son, and carried it up to his study. It was too large to fit in the safe, but he stuck it in the closet. He'd have to get a lock for the study door. Of all the nerve, to imply that...that they were more qualified to handle his affairs than he was! And then to threaten him like that...well, they had another think coming if they thought he would just cave under simple bullying. He was prepared. He was prepared for anything.
...anything except...except this. He glanced out the window, at the giant doll-thing now sitting on the back lawn. That...that couldn't be Jeff, it just couldn't. This couldn't be real...couldn't be happening. After everything he'd invested in his son...in his heir...now this happened? Jeff was one of them now, one of the changed, one of the Others...Jeff, who he'd been grooming the boy's entire life to carry on his legacy, trying to inculcate his own mindset into the boy and teach him the skills that would allow him to make it in the cut-throat business world...and now Jeff was...was...that. A, a...literally, a big toy. How could this have happened, goddammit?
He groaned in irritation. He should've known...he'd wondered, at times he'd suspected, but he should've known...first the mermaid, then the doll-girl...Jeff had gone over to their side well before he'd actually changed. Had he planned to do this to himself, or had he just gotten careless because he didn't value his humanity? He should've been firmer with the boy, driven the point home, made him see why this was a dangerous interest to get into...
...damn it all to Hell! All those years, and now he had...what, exactly, to show for it? A giant doll...a doll-girl who looked to be not even a teenager...did that mean that Jeff was going to have...have lost all his later education, and have to relearn it? Or did he even have a properly educatable mind, now? Was his intended successor gone, replaced by the kind of mind that would match the body of a child's toy? Mr. Aurelius felt a little sick at the thought. How could this have happened? Why did this have to happen to his heir?
...to his son?
Jeff shook her head. "I'm...'m so confused," she murmured, marvelling at the sound of her voice. The fundamental tone was higher even than Belle's, but the resonance and reverb inside her body cavity were much lower than Ricky's...she sounded like a drill being run on a factory floor, only not in the least whining or unpleasant. Even the sounds of her mechanisms were heavier, though she maintained the same brisk internal clock speed that Belle and Ricky did despite the change in size.
And she was confused...she remembered being Jeff, or having been Jeff...she knew who she was, but specific memories were rather vague, and it still felt odd for her to think of herself as Jeff...but who else would she be? And she was still trying to sort out her feelings on the people below...the robot and the masked man she wasn't sure what to make of, but they seemed to want to help. The clockwork girl...Ricky, that was her name...Ricky she remembered not getting along with, having been mean to, having been...confused by, when she...oh, that was right, Ricky had used to be a boy, and then she was a clockwork girl - like...like Jeff... - and that had confused Jeff for some reason...and now Ricky seemed to want to be her friend? She couldn't figure it out. But Belle, the tiny little clockwork doll...Belle she knew that she liked...even if she felt like there was more to it than she could remember. It was so confusing...
Cecilia nodded. "It'll be alright, dear," she said, placing a hand on the girl's enormous leg. "Your brain has a lot to process right now, and it's still trying to figure everything out. You'll understand better when you've had a chance to get it all sorted out."
The giant clockwork girl looked down at the gynoid. "W-will...will I be like I was, then?" she asked.
Cecilia paused, considering her answer. It was an awkward question...that all depended on what point of view one looked at the question from, and anyway there was so much variety among transformees... "I...I'm not sure how it'll work out for you, exactly," she said. "But...you should be okay. Most people manage to adjust just fine, in time."
Jeff nodded thoughtfully. That...that was good to hear, she thought. But...she still wondered whether she really wanted to go back to how she was...she remembered being mean to people, even when they hadn't done anything to her...like the poor mermaid, whom she'd really wanted to get to know, but...but picked on anyway, and she couldn't even think of a reason why she'd done it...she knew she had been Jeff, but...did she want to be Jeff? But...but she couldn't just pretend to be somebody else...what would happen to Jeff, if she stopped being him? Her? Whoever? And who else would she be, if not Jeff? This was so confusing...she hoped it made more sense when she'd had a chance to process things, like the robot had said...
Hawkins came over to Cecilia. "We're going to have to arrange shelter for her," he said. "She'll never fit in that house, not even hunched down. How tall is she, anyway?"
"Around eighteen feet, standing fully upright," Cecilia said. "Give or take a foot; it's hard to triangulate on a target that's playing hopscotch. I'd guess that she could go up to twenty-five, in time, but I'm no expert on growth - if she even does grow."
Hawkins nodded. "I'm sure there's a number of large buildings we could get - though she's still going to have a time of it getting in and out, even through a garage door."
Cecilia nodded. "Better than leaving her out in the cold, in any case. Speaking of, we'll have to see about getting some clothes that fit her. An oversize shirt and no underwear is not appropriate dress for a young lady - especially one who stands three times the height of an adult."
Hawkins nodded. "There's a tailor in the area that was doing some experiments with some kind of new light, high-tensile fabric; we'll contact them and see if they can't help us out. Wonder if there's any chance of convincing Mr. Aurelius to pay for any of this..."
The gynoid shrugged. "Depends whether he's the sort that has his ego stroked more by paying for things, or by being given them, I bet..."
