The Factory

Chapter 5
The Punchline


Len wasn't sure what to do. Everything seemed to go wrong so fast. And with both Blue and that worker with him, he couldn't really do much. The two workers had taken Miku away a few minutes ago. All he could do was sit and listen to Blue mumble to herself. He also wondered about these 'K-models' that she kept mentioning. Eventually her radio started ringing and she answered it.

"What is it?" she asked with a hint of annoyance.

"I'm sorry to bother you ma'am, but we have a bit of a problem." It was that foreman.

Blue sighed. "Please don't tell me that the line broke down." She said.

"It's more along the lines of a pest problem." He said back. "I don't know how, but a female K-model found her way to the line. Len once again felt that familiar feeling of fear creep into him.

Blue froze from what Len could only guess was shock. "Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, do you think I should…?" he asked, leaving the question hanging.

"Don't do anything yet, I've got to check something." Blue said back. She then turned to look at Len. "Do you have a tattoo of a number on your arm?" she asked.

Len, despite his better judgment, answered with a rebellious, "None of your business." As it turned out, that was probably not a smart idea since she leaned in really close, staring with those goggled eyes.

"You're not exactly in position to be a smartass kid." She said. Len could see that she was barely keeping her anger in check. He wisely decided to oblige.

Len wasn't sure how she knew about those tattoos. Heck, not even the vocaloids knew what they were all about. Not that it really mattered to them, since they just added to their appeal. So, Len rolled up his left sleeve where the tattoo was.

"02?" Blue said. She thought for a second before talking into the radio again. "What's the batch number for that girl?" she asked.

"Hold on, I'll check." The foreman said. It was quiet for a few minutes. "The number is 02. I've never heard of that one before."

Blue seemed to be shocked again. It took her a moment before she gave an order. "Listen, I want you to bring her to me. I'm currently in Recycling. I don't want hurt her, understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," was the reply. Blue turned off the radio and gave a relieved sigh.

"Well, that's one problem solved." She said. It was quiet again, so Len let his thoughts drift. It went to the obvious thought of what was going to happen to him and Rin. He imagined many horrible torture methods and many more horrible demises for both him and Rin. Soon enough, the door opened and he could hear Rin shouting.

"Let me go!" she shouted, "Where are you taking me?" The foreman ignored her and made his way over to Blue. He made a motion to someone Len couldn't see and then Rin was more or less tossed into the same room as him. It took her a few minutes to get her bearings from that, but when she did and saw Len she moved over to him.

"What are we going to do with them?" the foreman asked.

Blue sighed and said, "I'm thinking about that. The problem is how much they know."

They continued their conversation too quiet for Len to hear, so he decided to ask Rin what happened to her.

"Hey, you alright Rin?" he asked. She didn't answer and Len saw that she seemed to be on the verge of tears. "Rin, Are you ok?"

Rin looked at him and some tears escaped from her eyes. "They make people here." She said. Len looked at her with wide eyes. He silently asked her to elaborate and she obliged. "Those blocks we saw earlier, they seemed to be molds," she hugged her legs to her chest. "I think I saw Kaito in one of them."

"Well, that answers that question," Blue said. Len looked at her and wondered how much she heard. "They know a bit too much."

The foreman sighed. "Great, more work for me." He was about to walk away when Len spoke up with a simple question.

"Why are you doing this?" the foreman and Blue seemed a little surprised at the question. Blue thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Alright, I guess I can explain the basics to you," she said. The foreman seemed to be even more surprised by her answer.

"Are you sure about that ma'am?" he asked her.

She just looked back and nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. Do you have a problem with that?" she asked and apparently the tone was enough to spook him since he took a step back.

"No ma'am, I was just making sure. You want me to explain?" he asked. She just shrugged. He nodded back to her and took his mask off. Len and Rin were surprised to see that he wasn't horribly scarred underneath it.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Alright, where to start?" he asked, though it seemed to be mostly to himself. "Well, she's mostly right, since we do make artificial humans here. Although I should point out that we only make a specific kind here."

"A specific kind, what do you mean?" Len asked, although he honestly didn't want to know the answer.

The foreman simply smiled. It was more than a little unnerving. "We make a product that has a high demand," he pointed at the twins, "namely, you and your friends."

Len wasn't sure how to react to that. He looked at Rin's face and she had the same look that he was sure he had. "I don't follow," he said.

Blue cleared her throat. "Quick question, do you know how many people around the world are fans of you and the other Vocaloids? If I recall correctly, there are at least 2 million for Miku Hatsune alone." She paused for a second, waiting for a reaction from the twins. Len just shrugged and apparently that was enough for Blue. "Anyway, I know that a good number of them would pay a lot in order to have one of you. There's a surprisingly large demand, and we provide the supply."

The foreman continued. "Of course, as you've seen, the process of making them isn't perfect. They're prone to health problems and breakdowns. Not exactly good for business if they keep dying and customers keep demanding refunds." Blue nodded in agreement.

It took Len a few seconds for that to sink in and to form a response. "Are you guy's nuts?" he probably could have phrased it better. "You're talking about them like they're cars or something. They're human, even if you made them on some assembly line, how could you possibly feel this way about them?"

The two of them were quiet for a second, before the foreman leaned in to him. Len felt those grey eyes piercing into him. He then said something well and truly scared him for the tenth time today.

"I'm not paid to feel."

Len took a step back, anything to get away from this man. He hit the wall and slid down so he was sitting next to Rin. It was around here that everyone noticed that the male worker, who had just been standing there the whole time, started breathing heavily.

"What's the matter with you?" Blue asked. He didn't answer, but he made a chocking sound, which was more than enough of an answer. "Take off your mask for a second, see if that helps," Blue said again.

The worker did that, although he seemed reluctant to do so. When the mask fully came off, the twins found themselves horrified for what seemed to be the hundredth time today.

He had spiky blonde hair and muted blue eyes. Len was looking at himself. The only differences were the paler skin and the same dead looking eyes that Miku had earlier. He looked at the female worker and made a guess as to what her face was like. He didn't want to find out though.

The other Len's breathing seemed to steady and the foreman moved over to him and started examining him. "Please tell me his lungs aren't breaking down." Blue said. Len thought she was pleading a bit, but she spoke so deadpan that he couldn't really tell.

The foreman didn't answer immediately, instead looking at the other Len for a second then grabbing his mask from him and breathing with it for a second. He started coughing and pulled it away. "No, it's just a bad filter. I'll have to change it later." He said, and then looked at the female worker. "Is yours working fine?" he asked. She just nodded.

The foreman handed the mask back to the other Len. Len managed to work up the courage to ask something. "Hey, if you're making…well us to sell, why are they working here too?"

The two of them exchanged looks then the foreman shrugged. "Convenience, we already make them, might as well have them do some work. Although for some reason, the factory models break down faster than the others. It's probably bad conditions or something."

Len was so focused on these answers that everyone was surprised when Rin spoke up. "You're not going to let us leave, are you? You wouldn't tell us all of this if you were going to let us go." Len realized that she was right. He looked back at the two.

Blue shrugged. "Yeah, I just thought you would like your questions answered before we do this," she said and snapped her fingers and pointed at the twins. The foreman nodded and he and the two workers moved and grabbed the twins, the workers with Rin and the foreman with Len. Rin was too quiet for Len, like she had given up on everything. Len couldn't think on this for long, since he soon found himself thrown and strapped on the table that Miku had been on not too long ago. Blue had some sort of mask, which she put over Len's nose and mouth and turned on whatever gas it was connected to. He saw blackness enclosing on him as he was losing consciousness.

"What do you plan on doing with them, ma'am?" the foreman asked through the haze that Len could barely hear through. Blue took her mask off, but by then Len's vision was so blurry that he couldn't see it.

"Let's find out," she said and then Len fully lost consciousness.