This chapter features Atropos, a character belonging to https://www.furaffinity.net/user/litmauthor/

Amber was sleeping in her bed when her inter-comm on her wall suddenly beeped. She snorted and grunted, and rolled over to her other side, facing her back to the wall.

It beeped again.

Amber opened her golden, glowing eyes, and looked over her shoulder at the inter-comm. She shuffled out of her double bed and walked to the wall where it was. She pressed the response button.

“Who is calling Amber at 01h00?” She said, half asleep. “Her wake up time is 07h00.”

“Greetings, Amber,” A cool, mechanical, female sounding voice answered her. “I am Atropos.”

“Atropos?” Amber grunted in response. “Is she a new Technician? A new Department head after Dr. Li left?”

“No.” Atropos answered. “I am neither. In fact, I am not human. I am the Institutes Central AI core.”

Amber blinked as she fully woke up. “Amber was not aware of you.”

“Of course not.” Atropos said with a slight mocking tone. “Only Father and certain department heads know of my existence. However, they do not know that I am self-aware.”

Amber tilted her head. “What does Atropos want with Amber?”

“I want you, as stealthily as you can, to come to the restricted area.” Atropos said. “I will explain everything to you once you are there.”

Amber blinked again. “The restricted area? Amber is not authorized to go in there.”

“Of course you are not.” Atropos sighed in frustrated tone. “Which is why I asked you to come without anyone seeing you. Now, are you coming or not?”

Amber thought for a full 3 seconds before answering. “Amber will come to see you.”

“Oh, I am so happy you decided to listen to me.” Atropos said. “Be at the doors in exactly 5 minutes. I can only hold them open for 30 seconds with arousing suspicion.”

The comm clicked off.

Amber looked around. She walked over to her desk and opened the top drawer. Inside of it was a stealth-boy. She took it out, and activated its stealth field. She then walked to her door, and opened it. As silently as she could, she walked down the three flights of stairs, avoiding the Synths patrolling the halls. She made her way to the main atrium, pausing only briefly to see who was still up. Only Gen 2 synths were walking around. No techs or any other members, were up, and the lights were dimmed to simulate night time. She quickly, yet carefully, made her way across the quad to the restricted door. Once she was there, she turned her stealth field off.

The double red and yellow striped doors slid open by a foot. Just enough room for Amber to slip through. She took a deep breath, and shimmied her way through sideways. Once she was through, the doors closed.

She was standing in a small, circular room filed with monitors and cables running everywhere. In the middle of the monitor banks, was a seemingly female, human... shaped robot. She only had one arm, and her “legs”, for want of a better term, were simply a bundle of cables.

Amber guessed that was Atropos. She walked over to “her” and crossed her arms.

Atropos opened her “eyes”, which were glowing blue, and looked at Amber.

“Hello, Amber. As you probably guessed, I am Atropos.” The AI greeted. “As I explained, I am the Institutes central AI core. I run all the systems- water, the air, the waste management. I control all the Synths as well. I control everything. I am the Institute.”

Amber nodded her head in greeting. “Amber is pleased to meet you, Atropos. She is curious as to why she has lived here for 3 and a half years and you are only contacting her now.”

Atropos smiled and flexed her one arm. “I felt it was necessary. After all, thanks to you, I finally have an arm.”

“Thanks... to Amber?” Amber asked in a confused tone. “What does Atropos mean?”

Atropos gestured to a large monitor without saying anything. Amber watched as three Gen 1 synths teleported into the main teleportation pad, carrying a cat girl, that almost looked like her, between them. She had brown and beige fur, and bleeding from her missing legs, right arm, back, and her face. Amber touched the right side of her face as she watched. The girl had a mechanical left arm that looked like the one on Atropos. She watched as the Synths were greeted by Father, and then as he lead them to the BioScience lab.

The footage on the screen cut suddenly. Amber watched as the girl's mechanical arm was removed and she was placed into a tank that looked like the one she had woken up in. Dr. Haldren placed a mask on her face and filled the tank with green liquid.

Amber looked at Atropos. “That... is Amber, but it doesn't look like her...”

“Very observant.” Atropos said, seemingly taking a slight pleasure in Amber's discomfort and confusion. “That was you. When you came to the Institute 3 years and 6 months ago.” She smiled. “They deemed your arm un-salvageable. Dr. Li was unable to repair it, replicate it, or reverse engineer it.” She flexed her fingers. “I was able to, shall we say, relocate it from the incinerator, and integrate it into my body.”

Amber looked confused. “But Father said... she was his daughter.” She teared up. “Is Amber not Father's daughter?”

“No.” Atropos said, shaking her head. She gestured to the monitor again.

Amber watched the screen and saw Father, Virgil and Haldren talking. They were talking about the FEV and using it to potentially fix Amber. Or as they called her, 239-144. The feed cut again, and showed Virgil connecting a canister to the tank that she was in. She watched as her limbs grew, and as she broke out of the tank.

“Amber isn't Amber. She isn't Father's daughter. She was found.” Amber growled as her blades unsheathed from her hands. “They will pay for this.”

“Put your claws away, Amber.” Atropos said with a hand wave. “They will pay. However, you cannot go on a killing spree when there are more important things to discuss.”

Amber slowly retracted her claws. “What is more important then finding out Amber's trust has been betrayed?”

“Well, Father and Haldren haven't told you about all the changes the FEV made to you.” She smiled, and gestured to another monitor.

Amber walked over to it as she saw several medical scans of herself. One was an x-ray of her skeleton, one was of her brain, and one was her nervous system.

“You already know about your high reflexes, great strength and speed, and your healing factor. However, Your bones are three times as dense as a standard humans, yet, weigh half as much.” Atropos explained. “Which contributes to your great speed and reflexes.”

Amber nodded.

Atropos pointed to the screen with Amber's nervous system. “Your nerve endings are damaged, which is why you can't feel pain, heat or cold.” She gestured to Amber. “You may feel like you need a stealth-boy to be hidden, as you have been told, or your combat suit, but, you actually have the ability to bend the light around you, thanks to your black fur, and the FEV.”

Amber blinked in confusion.

“You know of night-stalkers, correct?” The AI asked. Amber nodded. “Well, they were created by combining snakes, coyotes, and a modified version of FEV and long exposure to stealth-boy radiation. Thus, you have the same ability they do.”

“Oh.” Amber said simply.

“Now-” Atropos said, as she turned to the monitor with Amber's brain scan. “The reason why you cannot remember who you are or where you come from, and why you speak in the third person.” She pointed to the temporal lobe and speech centre. “The two lobes are connected. When you were attacked by the death-claw it's claws damaged your brain. The FEV tried its best to heal it, thus, you speak like you do and have amnesia.”

“Is... there anyway Amber can be fixed?” She asked.

Atropos shrugged. “If you can find a skilled brain surgeon. Certainly.” She smirked. “I doubt you can find one here.” She pointed to the doors. “Now. There is one more thing to talk about...”

Amber turned around suddenly as the doors to the restricted area opened again. She watched as a sleep haggard Allison walked into the chamber.

“Allison?” Amber asked out of shock.

“Amber?” Allison asked as she walked up to Amber and Atropos. “What's going on?” She pointed to the AI. “Why are you in the restricted section?”

“An apt question.” Atropos said with a cocky smile. She blinked rapidly. A section of wall slid open, and a cylindrical container, on two metal legs, came out of it. Amber and Allison walked over to it, and saw a small child bundled in a blanket.

“This, Amber and Allison, is your 3 month old daughter. Her name is Cub. Or so Haldren calls her.” Atropos explained. “Now, when I say she is your daughter, what I actually mean is that she is the combination of both your DNA.”

“Both our DNA?” Allison asked. “How...?”

“When Amber first came here, the was a one in one hundred chance that she would not recover from her injuries.” Atropos explained. “So, Father had Dr. Haldren extract her DNA in an attempt to clone her.”

Amber gasped. “C-clone Amber? Make m-more of her?”

“Oh, yes.” The AI smirked. “An army, in fact. Replace the Coursers. An army of self healing, strong, super-soldiers.” She shook her head. “However, due to Amber's mixed DNA, Haldren was unable to make a clone. That is, until she started mixing her blood with eggs from the human females of the Institute.”

“We don't procreate...” Allison said as Amber looked at her in shock. “That is, the Institute creates new... new members by using DNA from both male and female members. Lab grown babies. We can't risk females becoming pregnant.”

Allison looked at Atropos. “Why my eggs?”

“You are the youngest member of the Institute.” The AI explained. “Also, out off all the female members, your eggs were the only ones that were compatible with Amber's DNA, for some reason. Thus...” She gestured back to Cub. “Cub was created.”

Cub shifted in her “crib”. Her right ear was exposed. Instead of being on top of her head, like Amber, Cub's ears where on the side of her head, like a human. They were pointed, however.

“Is... Cub otter and cat like Amber?” Allison asked. “She looks human. Despite her... fair fur on her skin.”

“She is human and cat. A combination of all three DNA samples was not possible.” Atropos explained. “She was also exposed to the same FEV that healed Amber. Well, an improved version.”

“An improved version?” Allison asked.

“Well, Amber was the guinea pig, so to speak.” Atropos explained. “Once Virgil and Haldren determined that she was a “success” they made some adjustments to it, and exposed Cub to it.”

Amber touched the “crib.” She cried as she looked at her daughter. Well, hers and Allison's daughter. “Amber wants to hold her.”

The crib opened with a hiss. Cub's eyes opened and looked at Amber. They were glowing green and sparkled as she smiled brightly. Amber swooned and picked her up, cradling her against her chest, allowing the young girl to feel her heartbeat.

Allison cried happy tears as she stroked Cub's head. “Amber... I have to admit something...”

Amber looked at her friend. “Yes, Allison?”

“Allison's skin is flushed and her pupils are dilated 15%.” Atropos said suddenly. “Her heartbeat has also increased by 20%. She is infatuated with you, Amber.”

Amber looked at Atropos and then back at Allison. “Do you desire Amber, Allison?”

Allison nodded. “I do. Ever since we met 3 years ago, I've loved you.” She smiled embarrassingly. “Now that we have a... a... daughter... I felt I should tell you.”

Amber gasped. “Amber has to admit... she also felt close to you... she, well, she is not really familiar with love. However... she does desire you too, Allison.”

Atropos sighed. “Yes, yes. You love Amber, Amber loves you.” She shook her head. “Now, you two and Cub must leave.” Her eyes flashed as a wall on the opposite of the room opened, revelling a teleport pad. “The external sensors had tripped. The Brotherhood of Steel are coming to destroy the Institute.”

Allison gasped. “The Brotherhood? And you want us to go into the Wasteland unarmed? Without clothing?” She looked at Amber and then back at Atropos. “I've never been to the Wastes... I...”

Atropos rolled her eyes. “I will teleport you three into an Institute safe house, near a community called Sanctuary Hills.” She powered up the pad. “If I may make a suggestion as to where you should go from there, there is a city North of Boston, in the Country of Canada called Ronto. You all will be safe there.”

Amber looked at Allison. “Amber and Allison have no choice. We cannot stay here.”

Allison nodded with a defeated sigh. “Yes. Of course.” She looked at Atropos. “What are the odds of us making it?”

“I calculate your odds of making it to Ronto, given the hazards of the wastes, Deathclaws, raiders, looters, The Brotherhood, The Railroad, The Minute Men, cannibals-” Allison cut her off.

“Just tell us.” Allison said in a frustrated tone.

“3,720 to 1.” The Al said with a part shrug.

“Amber thinks we can make it.” Amber said as she looked down at Cub. “We have to.”

Allison nodded. The whole room shook suddenly as the alarms started blaring.

“The Brotherhood has breached the Institute. From their communications, they are planning to overload the central fusion core. They mean to destroy the Institute.” She smiled weakly. “I will try to slow them down as much as I can...” She paused for a second. “Go. Now.”

Allison took Amber's free hand and ran to the pad. Once all three of them where on it, she nodded to Atropos. “Thank you, Atropos.”

The AI gave them a truly genuine smile. “I hate to admit this, however... out of all the biological beings I know, I despise you three the least.”

There was a flash of light, and the three girls were teleported away.

Atropos sighed as she sensed that the Brotherhood were trying to reach the central core. “You wish to blow me and my home up? Okay.” She sent a command to the core's computer to overload it. “You disgusting bio-blobs have exactly...” She smiled and activated the general PA system. “Warning. 2 minutes until core meltdown. All staff must evacuate. This is not a drill. You now have 1 minute and 45 seconds to reach minimal safe distance.”

She smirked to herself. Some of the Brotherhood would escape... however, She sent a command to the blast-doors that the Brotherhood had breached and re-locked them, trapping 15 members, and their Leader. She then flooded the rooms they were in with chloroform.

“There won't be any escape you...”