The Nightmare (DiegoXOC)

5 - Sinnerman

"It wasn't Luther who found it. It was me. Play it." She gestured to him.

Luther pressed play and we all watched with interest as Grace brought tea into Mr. Hargreeves room. Mr. Hargreeves started to drink his tea before seeming to have some sort of seizure. What was weird was Grace didn't do anything. She just took his monocle and left the room. I stood up and took a step closer as Diego replayed the scene again.

"Do you really think mom would hurt dad?" Vanya asked as it was played again.

"You haven't been home in a long time Vanya. Maybe we don't know Grace anymore." Luther said. Grace, not mom.

The whole time Diego was silent as he kept rewatching the security footage, until Luther said that, "If he was poisoned, it would have shown up in the coroner's report." He said to Luther as if he was stupid.

Luther pointed to the screen, "I don't need a report to tell me what I can see with my own eyes."

"We don't even know what we're seeing Luther." I said, defending Grace.

"Maybe all that low gravity in space, messed with your vision." Diego stepped forward and rewound the tape again, "Look closer. Dad has his monocle, mom stands up, monocle gone." He turned his back to the TV and walked toward the tall table next to me, "She wasn't poisoning him. She was just taking it... to clean it." He leaned back against the table, fiddling with one of his knives.

"Where is it then? I searched the whole house, including all of her things. She doesn't have it." Luther explained.

Diego opened his mouth to speak but closed it before opening it again with a small shrug, "That's because I took it from her. After the funeral."

"You've had the monocle this whole time?" Allision accused.

I snapped my fingers, "That's what you were holding by the lake!"

"What the hell Diego!"

"Give it to me." Luther demanded.

"I threw it away."

"It's at the bottom of the lake now, isn't it?" I said more than asked. Diego tilted his head to the left to look at me before nodding.

"What?" Luther was angry but that seemed to amp Diego up too.

Diego pointed his knife at Luther, "I knew that if you found it on mom, you'd lose your shit. Just like you're doing right now."

"Diego." Luther stepped forward and Diego got into a fighting stance.

I grabbed onto Diego's bicep as Vanya said, "Calm down. I know dad wasn't exactly an open book." We all looked to her, "I know one thing though. He's dead. Mom was designed to be a care taker but also a protector."

"What does that mean?" Allision asked, confused.

I knew what it meant, it's why this whole situation was weird to me, "She was programmed to intervene if someone's life was in jeopardy."

"Exactly." Vanya said.

"Well, if her hardware is degrading then we need to turn her off."

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa wait." Diego said, pointing his knife again, "She's not just a vacuum cleaner you can just throw in a closet! She feels things! I've seen it!"

"She just stood there Diego, and watched our father die!"

"That doesn't mean we just turn her off!" I snapped, stepping up beside Diego, "If her hardware needs an upgrade, we give it to her! She's not scrap metal!"