You Don't Gwekkegnize Me?

## At Big High School

“Problem 14 completed, good. Now for the next,” Olivia said, sitting in class at her usual seat at the front writing things down.

Gwen was glad to finally be allowed to roam free again. After practically being abducted from lunch period on Monday by SPEAR agents telling her crap like 'you can't just run off to Earth' and 'you need to stay in quarantine until after we've checked you for alien diseases', she'd been released late Thursday night. Late enough that she'd slept in on Friday and burst into first period homeroom class with her hair still pinned up in a side braid from the night before and a toothpaste stain on her cheek.

"SORRY IM LATE," she called out to the teacher and hurried to her spot. She froze in place when she saw Olivia. Then walked slowly to her spot behind her teammate. "Sorry I'm late," she mumbled more softly a second time.

Olivia winked understandingly and obviously, scratching part of her face mimicking wiping off where the toothpaste stain on Gwen’s cheek was. She turned back towards the front of the class, notebook out and ready with all of the answers written down neatly.

Gwen wiped at her cheek and noticed the stain rubbing off on her sleeve. While her face had already turned pinker from hurrying--and then a shade or two more after seeing Olivia--she reddened further. "Thanks, Olivia," she said, pulling out a math book to hide her face in.

“Not a problem Gwen. Did you manage to get caught up on all the stuff you missed?” She replies noticing the substantially redder Gwen, likely due to the cold weather and sudden shift from space back to earth. “If you need my school notes, I’ve got a few at the base,” the last part Olivia says  in a quieter tone.

"N-no, not yet," Gwen admits, then drops to a whisper. "Thanks, that'd be great. I kind of forgot about school while in space, so any help is appreciated." She smiles thankfully. "And um... I'm sorry I had to leave so suddenly and could only write you a letter. I'll um--make it up to you--um--I got something at the base to make it up to you."

Olivia raised an eyebrow “That’s awesome, thanks! Did you and the others get something for  everyone else?” She’s facing Gwen but not fully turned around, sitting still mostly tucked in her seat.

"Oh uh... some little things," Gwen shrugged. "I didn't get something for like, everyone, but um... I got Freedo a jacket and a towel for Dom. Y'know, people who are important to me."

“They’ll definitely enjoy that,” she laughs “Be prepared for Dom to simultaneously hug and crush you,”

Gwen nods with a smile. It was good to hear her laughter again. "I guess I better armour up before I give it to him, heh."

The day continues as most any school day, luckily with no interruptions of superheroic importance for once. Gwen remembers how on her first day of school they had been called up for a mission by Cyclone. A sad memory now, considering the state of the team. She made a note to go visit him later.

The atmosphere was kind of strange throughout the day, however. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but when she talked with Olivia something felt off. She told herself it was nothing, that some strange feelings were to be expected after she had been in space for weeks. On at least one occasion, she thought to herself 'I swear, Gwen, if you're gonna think of the uncanny valley, I will punch yourself.'

At lunch, Olivia spends the time in the robotics lab, tinkering with a panel, unaware of Gwen looking for her all over the school. Gwen ends up sitting with some transformed students in the cafeteria.

Both of them begin their respective practice at track and field after school. Olivia focuses on the ideal angle and curve to throw the discus, launching it across the field, the thump landing directly in her predicted location. After tossing her spear with gusto, Gwen looks over at Olivia and gets a friendly wave back along with a thumbs up.

## AT THE BASE

The smell of something spicy fills the air as Olivia grills some peppers and chops tomatoes in the team kitchen. The lighting of the kitchen itself certainly is uncanny as she chops up bits of raw chicken, the pan sizzling.

Gwen breathes in deeply. The smell from the kitchen is wonderful. She smiles at the memory of the first time Olivia helped her cook. She had almost destroyed the kitchen with Nimue before she got help. "That smells great," she says, "I'll go set up in the living room."

She drops her bag beside the couch and pulls out her notebooks and puts them on the table, then walks towards her room to prepare the gift for Olivia.

“Not everyone can live off trail mix and it seems like there are very few people at the base who can cook so it only makes sense to help,” she ponders asking Gwen if she can cook but brushes the thought into the recycle bin.

Gwen verifies that the gift is still there, wrapped up in dark wrapping paper with bright, shiny foil sparkly hearts patterned all over it and wrapped up with a bow. She puts it inside a paper bag and brings it to the living room, placing it behind her school bag to keep it a little out of sight. She sucks in a sharp breath. "Okay Gwen, take it easy, it's just the first time you've seen each other and been alone together in weeks. It's going to be alright."

“Come on processor, why aren’t you functioning properly, she’s just another teammate stop acting like this” she bangs her head slightly, trying to fix the bug like a radio picking up static.

Gwen stares at the table for a bit before picking up her math homework to at least make a start. "Do you need any help?" She calls out to the kitchen. "I know I'm not great with cooking, but I can just follow your instructions like all the other times."

"Other times?" Olivia looks confused but quickly looks back to the vegetables a tad uncomfortable, "Never mind, it's not like you'll tear down the kitchen. Here, can you dice these onions while I start on the chicken?" She puts some meat on a pan with a loud sizzle rising in tandem with the other cooking vegetables.

Gwen puts the homework on the table. "Okay," she says, walking to the kitchen area, holding a hand outstretched as if summoning Nimue. A loud clang from her room can be heard. "Oh! Right, no." She shakes her head and takes a knife out of the knife set and begins to chop the onions slowly. "At least I'm using properly-sized cutlery now, heh." She takes a whiff of the chicken. "Spicy chicken curry, my favourite."

"Didn't know, guess I'll have to make more" she replies surprised. "What was that noise?"

Gwen frowns. "What do you mean, we've made it bef--" A loud screech interrupts her. "Was that... Trevor? I didn't know raccoons could be that loud."

Olivia looks concerned now but tries not to show it, focusing on the chicken. "Raccoons can get quite noisy when shocked by something surprising," her fan begins to start up at the same noise level as the cooking food.

"I'll check up on him," Gwen says. She notices how Olivia's fan has gotten louder. With a smile, she puts her hands on Olivia's shoulders from behind her. "Hey, relax. I'm sure it's fine. Don't worry, I'll be right back. Take it slow with the chopping, okay?" She walks out of the kitchen and tries to remember where Challenge set up Trevor's basket and food bowl.

Speechless, Olivia turns the stove down and notices Trevor's food bowl after Gwen leaves. "Hey- Trevor's bowl is-" She starts to call out but hesitates for a second, trying to understand why another teammate seems to know her so well. Her processor overloads and she drops the bowl, food falling all over the floor, unable to keep her motor functions fully operational.

"Treeevooorrr," Gwen calls out for the raccoon in a sing-songy voice. She spots a scurrying shadow in the hallway. "There you are." She moves towards him when she hears something shatter in the kitchen. She hurries back. "Are you okay?" Gwen looks at the shards of Trevor's food bowl on the floor. She looks at Olivia, worried, and reaches out to grab her hand. "Hey... are you okay?"

Olivia scoots back quickly against the wall, fan going off at full blast. "I don't know what's going on here, but I can tell you this," she says, voice glitching out "I've only seen you at the base like once or twice before you went off to save the world but it's obvious that you know a LOT about me and who I am- what I am,"

"I don't know who you are," Olivia says, a hopeless and confused look in her eyes, Gwen's reflection visible in the wide pupil.

"What? What are you talking about?" Gwen tries to smile, but it's an uncomfortable and awkward one. She withdraws her hand and holds it to her chest. "We've done a lot together, ever since you and the others saved me from GREY. Once or twice? We've been to school together, we've danced together, been to Hell together, we ki--... You're my--I'm your..." She pauses for a moment, and shudders as she sucks in a breath. "I'm your girlfriend. Wh-why don't you remember?"

Words still glitchy, staring into the middle distance, Olivia barely whispers "There's nothing... I don't have any memory of any of those happening, at least any that have you in them, Gwen." She sits back down, head turned towards the floor. "D-deleted files after my last regeneration. There were deleted files that took up a lot of space in my memory- that's what was missing right?" Olivia looks back up to Gwen and starts to get back up. She hesitates again, too many hesitations, and hugs Gwen, shaking as she tries to remember. As hard as she tries though, she can't remember hugging Gwen before now.

Gwen stands frozen, as if in shock. Deleted files? Deleted memories? She was trying to comprehend it, but it felt like her mind was trembling even more than her hands. She sets one foot back as Olivia gets up, as if startled, afraid of what is happening, what is going to happen. When Olivia’s arms close around her, she puts her hands on her back. She leans into the hug instinctively, but her heart is beating faster than it’s ever felt—faster than in Hell, faster than in space.

“You don’t remember me... at all?” Her voice cracks. Gwen’s mind races, right into its darkest parts. Did those memories get deleted by accident... or on purpose? Her trembling fingers turn into fists, gripping into Olivia’s shirt. Was it someone else’s fault... or hers?

She grits her teeth and tries to fight off her tears uselessly. So many bad things had happened while she was gone. She’d helped save the universe—maybe? she wasn’t even certain of that—but everyone left behind had turned out worse off.

Or maybe they’d be better off not knowing. She swallowed. Maybe it was better for Olivia to not remember, so she couldn’t break her. Those memories had to have been deleted for a reason... right?

Olivia shakes harder, gripping Gwen's shirt harder, burying her head into Gwen's shoulder harder, trying to remember harder. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," she repeats on loop, unable to cry. It wasn't possible for things to get worse but they did, she'd had a girlfriend and she forgot. Where were those memories? Was this why she felt colder, further from the team?

As hard as she tried to be human, she was brought back to the harsh reality of something she could never grasp with her metal hands. Something was wrong with someone she'd cared for but she felt nothing in the embrace. The memories couldn't have been deleted, G.R.E.Y- or more accurately- she wouldn't have let that information get deleted- but that wasn't important now.

"It's not your fault, or anyone else's fault, it-it's mine," Olivia manages to sputter out. "My systems took too much and I couldn't control the automation that took over. I tried, believe me, I tried but... I couldn't overcome it. I'm sorry." She keeps saying it, to Gwen? To herself?

The only way they could get through it would be together... right?