A few months ago:

Three identical girls stood side by side, looking up at a hologram before them.

They were in a circular room, with various machines strewn through in a utilitarian, space-saving fashion. Small, spider-like creatures scuttered about the machines, operating them with their own volition.

In the middle, a massive, cylindrical computer was built and had circuitry and pipes jutting from it. Both hung on the ceiling and ran along the ground in a messy array that might easily be tripped on.

While much of the room was lit by dim, old lights, vials and tubes filled with a glowing, green substance were being handled in the machines, giving the room an eerie, green palette.

A woman in a white coat, which was stained green and brown, and who wore her black hair in a tie with a needlessly advanced piece of blue, glowing technology held her hand on a large computer monitor, which scanned her hand for authentication just a moment ago. She took a step out of the girls’ way once a hologram appeared above the monitor, giving the three girls a chance to see it.

The three girls each had char-grey skin and reddish hair and wore stark-white shirts with sewn-in badges labeled 1, 2, and 3, which were many sizes too big for them. Their age, by appearances, was around sixteen or so each. And although they quite obviously had the same genetics, they were each quite distinct in their own ways.

The girl labeled ‘1’ had a bright smile, and her attention seemed to waver every few seconds, typically to gape at something she found curious, like a bewildered child.

The girl labeled ‘2’ had a neutral expression, but her eyes made all the difference. There was a level of contempt that leaked into her every movement as if anything she gazed upon was an aggravating distraction. Not only that, but her hair seemed to be turning into a whiteish color, unlike her two ‘sibilings’.

The girl labeled ‘3’ had a neutral expression and seemed to stare at nothingness half the time as if she was not paying attention to the world around her. Her aloof expression never wavered, her eyes rarely moved from others’ eyes, her posture was unnervingly taut, and her movement was as calculated for efficiency and politeness as could be as if she were a robot.

The three watched with differing expressions when the hologram popped up, revealing the image of what appeared to be a mechanical man, the image of which glitched a little before stabilizing. The being’s face was devoid of any features besides what looked like a jaw, and three small holes in its side, which may have been eyes. His mechanical figure was lanky, though his chest area was fitted to look like there was some bulky armor atop it. He appeared to be sitting in a chair with various screens and holographic monitors established in it, which surrounded him in such a fashion that he needed to merely turn his head to glance at them.

When his hologram appeared, the woman who had activated it remained silent. After a few seconds, the machine’s holographic monitors disappeared, and the screens flipped away, folding themselves into his chair. The man silently nodded.

“Draedon,” the woman began, “I have called you, as planned. What is it you wished to speak about with me and the clones?”

“I will be arriving shortly, Doctor Alsbane.” the machine said. Its voice was clearly that of a man, his voice echoing on his own metal body. “I have finished overseeing my other project, and I shall soon personally oversee the one you have been working on.”

Dr.Alsbane looked stunned and somewhat afraid as she began to studder uncontrollably. “Y-y-y-you’re what?!”

“Perhaps you did not hear me. No matter, I’ve already sent you a report on your status pad, so I have no need to repeat.”

“W-well I-I-I...I-it’s not that! Uhh...I...I just didn’t expect you to come on such short not-”

“So you’re the shitbag that made us, huh?”

All eyes and eyeholes turned to face Clone 2, the doctor especially terrified.

“Hmm...” Draedon put one of his hands to his ‘mouth’, then rattled its three thick ‘fingers’ against his jaw, clinking them together on the metal. “Did I design you to know profanity?”

“I don’t know. Are you the fucking lunatic who fucking placed me in this shitty life?”

The mechanical being moved his hand out, and a holographic monitor quickly appeared, giving him the time to type something on the screen. “Hmm...no, it seems I did not.” He typed on it for a few more seconds, dismissing the clone’s question.

“Fucking listen to me you fucking retard!” she said, not holding back with the crude language.

While the doctor had long since froze, Draedon was far more attentive than he often acted. His head slowly swiveled to stare the clone in the eye. After a few silent seconds in which the doctor swore she was going to be killed for being the indirect cause of the children’s profanity, Draedon began typing once more. “Hmm...Reminder: next time, code the variables with an enhanced ability to insult others and use profanity in a more fitting and creative manner. Reason: profanity is often...repetitive. The variable called me ‘retarded’. Addendum: could insults be used as a psychological weapon? Hmm...A test for later...”

Clone 2’s cheeks burned from the embarrassment from his indirect insult, but she retained her aggressive stance, leaning forward with a silent scowl.

He finally looked back at her. “Yes, I would be that ‘shitbag’ you mentioned. Doctor, did you teach these children profanity?”

She stared at Draedon with a pained expression, droning on with just one vowel. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...”

“D-doctor?” Draedon began. “Are you sick?”

“Y-yes,” she suddenly said.

The machine slammed his fist into his chair’s armrest, the sound of metal on metal echoing imperiously through the room. “Then what are you doing?! I did not permiss you in any way to test the immunity systems of the variables, Mrs.Alsbane!”

“O-oh no! No, I didn’t mean that, sir! I mean that I was the one who taught them those words. Sorry, sir! I am very much sterile.”

“Well, why did you not say so?”

...She said nothing, assuming it was a rhetorical question.

“Doctor? Are you having a second lapse of attention?”

“Oh, no sir, not at all! W-we humans act strangely sometimes.”

“I see. Perhaps I will study such lapses in the future. However, Doctor Alsbane, I must request that you do not muddy important experiments in the future with variables of your own, at least not without my permission.”

“Dependent values?” she asked, confused. “W-which one?”

“The profanity,” Draedon said.

She looked at him with a mystified expression. “W-what about it?”

“While I admire your initiative as their caretaker and doctor, I must request that, in future experiments, you contact me before you consider adding new variables to any experiment. While I am skeptical that the knowledge of profanity can truly hinder or change the growth of human children, I also know that some ‘forbidden’ knowledge has, from time to time, caused irreparable damage to creatures’ minds, so I will not overlook the implementation of such variables. If you want, I can allow you to run a more dedicated experiment in the future, but until then, I will not accept extraneous variables to be implemented. Do you understand?”

The doctor cleared her throat, not sure if she should clear up the misunderstanding. After some debate with herself, she said, “Of course, sir. I will ask you directly before doing that again.”

“Now, assuming you have no further addendums, I will move o-”

“Shitbag!” Clone 2 said, addressing Draedon.

“My name is Draedon, Clone...2. I would prefer if you referred to me as such instead of-”

“Shitbag, why the fuck do I need to be alive?”

“For experimentation. Are you unsatisfied with your experience of life?”

They crossed their arms. “I am. Why don’t I get to be happy?”

“That would be because you are the independent value of pure negative emotions in a study on Dark Magic.”

“Will you give me back my happiness?”

“I don’t think that would be easy, unfortunately. Additionally, I would only do so after your purpose has been served.”

Clone 2 glared. “So I don’t get to be happy because you say so, is what you’re saying?”

“That is a valid conclusion, yes.”

Her mood quickly shifted, and they looked down, their crossed arms tightening in sadness.

“To finish our discussion, I will arrive when I said I would. I will personally judge the value of this experiment, as it has cost me the goodwill of...our genetic donor.”

The researcher shook her head with fear. “Y-you don’t mean that the witch wants the project...?”

“Shut down, perhaps. It may continue, but if I do not find interesting results, I will terminate Project: Emotion and either dispose of or utilize the subjects. For now, I suggest you de-clutter your workspace. i find my Earth laboratories tend to be...quite inaccessible for floating armchairs.”

Dr.Alsbane bowed her head. “I-I understand, sir. I will prepare the midtest experiments for your observation.”

The machine man nodded, then disappeared, not bothering to get in the last word.

She looked relieved for him to finally leave and turned back to the three twins. The only one who looked perturbed by the possibility of being ‘disposed of’ was, ironically, Clone 2, who had been adamant in claiming that she didn’t want to be born in the first place.

“Well, you three girls heard him. You better impress, or else!”

“Yes, maam,” the other two clones said, turning toward the exiting hallway while Clone 2 lingered, looking at where Draedon had been projected.

“Hey, Three, what should we have for dinner today?”

“A healthy meal?” Clone 3 said, walking into the distance.

“You two are such...k-killjoys? Killjoys, that word. You two hate doing fun things.”

“I’m sorry to inform you that I don’t know what fun is. Two doesn’t, either.”

“Fine, I’ll have the meal on my own...”

The two trailed off as they walked away, and Alsbane began working on the interface, panicked.

Clone 2 slowly turned, determination in her eyes as she walked away.

I won’t let him get away with this.