[ The Glitched Road ]

Chapter 5

The house was in shambles. Not much was recovered, except for a large black case. The one that Avery had brought to her class often. It was saved for later and was to be examined before returned to the college for research.

Avery's body now laid in a cot. Her body wasn't pleasing to look at and was covered in a sheet.

Jan was the first one close to Avery to show up. After getting out of the car she drove to get there, she faced the house and stood in shock. She looked over to the left a little and there was the ambulance. She knew Avery was on the cot, covered from prying eyes.
She fell to her knees and started to weep. It broke out into powerful sobs not too soon after.

Some of the authorities came over and started to comfort her and get her to calm down. It worked a little bit, and they assumed she knew Avery (which she did) and asked her some questions later about Avery's location and actions.

Her funeral was held about a week later. Her family came as soon as possible and started scrambling quickly to honor Avery. Her head and left arm were covered in bandages. Almost like a mummy. It was to spare her family of the gruesome details and to help preserve her.

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The college could not believe what happened, and neither could the government. They had struck a deal for Avery's work to be used for future purposes. They knew of Avery's work and fascination with prosthetics and robots.

After the funeral when everyone was gone. Avery's body was secretly dug up from her grave and brought to a secret government facility.

The case that Avery had was given to other scientists quickly. It was taken away from the police station. They weren't sure exactly why it had to be taken, but they had it listed for "storage".

Only Avery could bring back her own technology. Only she knew the formulas for her biological fuel. In order to retrieve this info, she had to be alive.

This is the mission to bring her back.

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Inside the case were various blueprints. They found a humanoid structure with many components to it. A separate document described a robotic brain structure, complete with sketches and other info. The case also contained the very arm that Avery was working with. Tubing and wires complete with it.

One team of scientists worked on the fuel, while the other, the arm, and another group, the brain. They were certain this was going to work, and if they didn't they would just have to keep trying.

Testing happened for weeks, soon months. They were getting closer to bringing her back, but they weren't getting any movement. So much brain activity, but nothing seemed to be connecting fully.

They would need to keep working at it, connecting and severing nerves. They didn't have much time though, they can't just keep the body frozen for ages to come.