It was about a month after the death of Rotti Largo. Shilo had vanished, Amber had taken over GeneCo, Pavi had won his sister's face in an auction with the "help" of his brother Luigi, and overall, things were about the same as they had been before. Amber hadn't gotten around to hiring a new Repo-man for Sanatarium Island, but the people were patiently waiting for it, and no one even thought to question whether or not it would happen.

No one ever thought to question anything anymore…

~X~

"Mr. Largo!"

Luigi turned at the call, and was surprised to see the two henchgirls of GeneCo - whose job it was to protect and follow the head of the company - walking towards him without being led by Amber.

"What do you want?" he snapped at them.

The two female robo-guards hesitated, looking at each other.

"Where's Amber?" Luigi demanded.

"In her office," replied one.

"Something's wrong," said the other.

Luigi blinked. "What do you mean, something's wrong?" he asked, not too kindly.

"She ordered us to leave," began one,

"But there's something that isn't right," continued the other.

"Our job is to look after the head of GeneCo," the first henchgirl told Luigi,

"But this is something we aren't familiar with," finished the second.

Luigi stared at them.

"We were hoping that perhaps you could look into it," one of the henchgirls finally said.

"Let me see if I've got this straight," said Luigi; "Something's wrong with my sister - something you can't help her with - and you two had brains enough to think to ask someone else for help?"

"Sir, we're just doing our job," said the other henchgirl.

Luigi rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll see what's up," he growled, and he headed to his sister's office.

"Sir?"

Luigi turned back to the two henchgirls. "What?" he snapped.

"What should we do?" asked one of them.

"I don't know!" Luigi snarled contemptuously. "What the fuck do you freaks do in your spare time?"

"We don't have spare time, Sir," replied the other one.

Luigi rolled his eyes again. "Just stay here while I figure out what the problem is," he told them.

"Yes, Sir!" they both said at the same time.

Luigi sighed as he walked away - he knew that neither of the two henchgirls would take a single step from where they were standing until he came back.

Fucking robots…

What the fuck could be so exceptionally wrong with Amber that they'd come to me, anyway?

~X~

Luigi hadn't even taken a single step into his sister's office before he heard her speak; and right away, he could tell that something was, indeed, wrong.

"Thought I ssssaid go 'way," she said; it sounded like she was having trouble speaking.

Luigi stepped out of the elevator, unable to respond. What could be so wrong with her that she couldn't talk? Had she become the first person in history to OD on Zydrate, or…?

He saw her stand up from where she had been laying on the little couch she had always liked to lie on back when their father had been in charge. She didn't look okay. She looked…half-asleep. She was still beautiful - freakishly beautiful, as always - but something was definitely wrong.

She blinked her half-lidded eyes woozily as she walked unsteadily towards him; it seemed like she couldn't see or move very well, either.

"Oh," she said, stopping about halfway across the room and sounding as though forming words was laborious; "'s you. Whadaya want?"

"Sister…?" Luigi said hesitantly, walking towards her. "Wh…Are you okay?"

For some reason, she laughed.

"'m I okay?" she repeated. "No, 'course 'm not okay. Nothin's 'kay. Y're not okay, either." She laughed again.

Luigi shook his head. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" he asked, bewildered.

She laughed again. "Everythin'," she slurred. "'m 's fucked up 's hell, same 's everybody else." More laughter.

She turned back around, apparently headed to lie back down. When she stumbled, Luigi leapt forward without even thinking and grabbed her to keep her from falling. He was too worried about her to register the strange smell that hung around her.

She looked at him, her eyes still half-lidded, with a strange, distant smile on her face. "Thanks," she slurred. "Leggo."

Luigi let go of his sister and watched her teeter back around and sit down heavily on the little couch-thing.

He shook his head, walking over to her. "This isn't Zydrate," he said.

Amber laughed again. "Oh, Z," she said, almost fondly. "The miracle drug. Cures what ails ya. No more pain." More laughter. "'f only it meant 'no more thinking', too." She grinned weirdly, grabbed one of the many bottles that Luigi hadn't noticed on the floor in front of her, and thrust the bottle into the air. "Here's to Z," she said; "the un-craziest shit 'n this fucked-up world!"

Luigi watched as she brought the bottle to her lips and gulped the contents sloppily. Some of the liquid sloshed out of the side of her mouth, dripping down her neck and staining the gown she always wore when she was home, but she didn't even seem to notice.

That was when he noticed the smell. He looked at all the bottles on the floor. About half of them were open, some were tipped over, and they numbered at least two dozen. "What the fuck is that stuff?" he asked her.

She stopped drinking and turned her woozy gaze to him, no longer smiling. "'s called 'alcohol', genius," she replied. "Ever heard 'f it?" She burped loudly.

Luigi wrinkled his nose in disgust. "How much have you had?" he snarled.

"Hell 'f a lot more 'n anybody has 'n a long time," she replied. "People don' get high on this shit 'nymore. Everybody does Z now'days." She chuckled. "'m drunk," she told her brother. "Nobody's been drunk 'n this world 'n a long fuckin' time. Not s'prised you didn' think 'f it." She hiccuped, then sighed. "Not drunk 'nough," she muttered, and she brought the bottle to her lips again and continued drinking.

Luigi stared at her for a moment.

"Stop it!" he finally shouted, and he grabbed the bottle out of her hand and threw it against the wall, where it shattered, sending wine and glass spraying everywhere.

Amber stared at the spot where the bottle had broken for a minute, then slowly turned back to Luigi. "Do you've any idea how rare that crap is?" she asked him woozily. "Had to go through 'bout twen'y diff'rent ex-countries to find all this."

"Sister…" Luigi shook his head. "Why are you doing this?" he asked, completely bewildered. "What's going on?"

"'s'not about what's goin' on," Amber slurred. "'s about what was goin' on, with dad in charge." She belched. "Y'know what he did?" she asked her brother.

"He saved the world," Luigi replied, surprised that she would even ask.

She chuckled. "Yeah, tha's 'bout the only good thing he did," she muttered, "'n' maybe it wasn' so good, after all. Almos' would've been better 'f he'd let mankind die out. Least then humans would've left behind a good legacy."

"What are you talking about?" Luigi asked, getting more and more confused by the second.

"Dad saved mankind, all right," Amber went on, almost as though she hadn't heard her brother. She picked up another bottle, stared at it for a minute, then opened it. "Rotti Largo, the big savior," she muttered. She drank heavily, hiccuped, then went on, "W's a deal w'the devil, though. Dad took 'way everythin' that mattered 'n the world. No more freedom. No more free will. No more thinkin' f'r y'rself. Surgery 's a…fuckin' fashion statement, happiness 's a warm scalpel." She laughed. "Y'know the sayin', 'It's what's inside that counts'?" she asked her brother. "Once 'pon a time, that sayin' had nothin' to do w'th organs. W's talkin' 'bout the soul." She smiled mirthlessly. "Nobody knows what 'soul' means 'nymore," she said. "Nobody cares. Everythin's 'bout genetics, now. Jus' a century 'go, people didn't know th'first damn thing 'bout genetics." She chuckled. "Course, people don't know th'first damn thing 'bout genetics now, either. Everyone thinks genetics 's all that matters, that it's destiny. 's'not. 'n' 'sides, changin' organs 's got nothin' t'do with genetics. Not that I knew that," she added before taking another long drink from the bottle she was holding.

Luigi was shocked. "Sister…stop it!" he exclaimed again, pulling the bottle out of her hand and smashing that against the wall, too.

"You stop it," she said. "I need that."

"Why the fuck do you need-?" Luigi began.

"Don' wanna think," Amber answered. She hiccuped. "Thing 'bout Z, doesn't make it harder t'think. This stuff…makes everythin' harder." She giggled drunkenly.

Luigi didn't know what to say.

She smiled tipsily at him. "D'd you know, couple hun'red years 'go, this stuff was the only anesthetic known to man?" she asked him. Her tipsy smile widened, and she picked up another bottle, this one half-empty, and looked at it. "Tastes like shit," she muttered. "'pparently, has a ton 'f nasty side effects, too. 's poisonous - too much'll kill ya."

"So stop drinking it!" Luigi shouted, grabbing the bottle in her hand before she had a chance to drink from it and smashing it, too.

She gave him a woozy attempt at a glare. "Stop it," she said.

"No!" Luigi shouted furiously. "You stop it! Why are you doing this, sister?"

"'cause I don' wanna know what I jus' found out," Amber slurred, stern despite her impaired speech.

"And what did you find out?" Luigi demanded.

"That dad fucked the world up b'yond repair," Amber replied. "You know he 'nvented GENterns?" She laughed. "Sex 'n' surgery," she muttered. "'s'all the world knows. 's all I knew." She looked up at her brother. "You know, surg'ry used t'be a big deal?" she said. "Used to take months 'f prep 'n' recov'ry. People didn' do it 'nless they really needed to." She hiccuped.

"Sister…it's not like you didn't already know that," Luigi said. "Yeah, I knew GeneCo started the idea of surgery being a fashion statement, and that there were no GENterns before GeneCo. We all knew that."

"Dad want'd money 'n' power," Amber went on, ignoring Luigi, "'n' he got it, all right. Took over the whole fuckin' world, then fucked it up." She smiled at Luigi again. "Y'know, murder used t'be illegal," she said. "Punish'ble by death."

"It still is," Luigi said.

"Oh, really?" she asked sarcastically. "Th'n tell me, o brother 'f mine: how come you're still breathin'?"

Luigi blinked. He had no idea how to answer.

"You're a murd'rer," Amber slurred. "So's Pavi." She laughed. "Pav the perv," she muttered. She hiccuped, then sighed heavily. "But nobody gives a shit," she went on. "We're Largos - nobody stands up to us. We can do whatever the" - she hiccuped - "fuck we want, 'n' nobody'll stop us. 's'not right."

"Murder is still illegal," Luigi finally managed. He had never thought about things that way…

"Still think so?" Amber asked. "Th'n tell me this, brother dear: what the fuck's organ rep'ssession?"

Luigi blinked again.

"'s'murder," Amber said. "'s'brutal murder. No quick death, no humanity. People're chased, terr'rized, 'n' repo-ed while they're still breathin'. Hearts're ripped outta chests while they're still beatin'. 's'terrible. 's'not right." She shook her head and reached for another bottle.

Luigi pulled out one of the many knives he always had on his person. "Sister, I swear, if you touch one more bottle of that stuff, I will cut your fucking hand off!" he snarled at her.

She blinked woozily at him. "'f'you did that, I'd bleed t'death 'n five seconds," she said.

Luigi blinked; he hadn't thought of that. "Well, okay, maybe I won't cut it off, but I will cut you!" he snapped after a moment.

"Alright," she said, throwing up her hands in a gesture of surrender. She laid back down and smiled again, this time distantly.

"Spent so much time here, thinkin' 'bout gettin' my next surg'ry, 'r my next fix, 'r my next fuck," she said, more to herself than to Luigi. "Didn' know there was anythin' wrong with it. Didn' know I was fucked up." She laughed. "Speakin' 'f fucked…I've prob'ly fucked more'n three-fourths o' th' men 'n this town," she said, and she shrugged. "'n' I thought that was fine. Didn' know bein' a slut was somethin' t'be 'shamed of." She laughed again. "Well, least I never hurt 'nybody. I'm the only one 'n the family who doesn' have blood on their hands." She chuckled. "'n dad called me disgustin'…" She turned her smile to Luigi again. "Y'know, when he said I wasn' his daughter…it hurt," she told him. "Really hurt. Now…" She chuckled again. "Well, now I know what I know 'bout him, 's'not so bad. 's'almost a compliment."

"So what did you just learn?" Luigi demanded. "You already knew about the Repo-man, and everything else! What's new?"

"Wh's new is, I didn' know that people didn' used to put up with this shit," Amber slurred in reply. "Y'know, everybody's waitin' for me to hire a new Repo-man? Nobody thinks 's wrong. Nobody thinks, period. Didn' used to be that way. And…" She chuckled again. "Didn' know dad w's a murd'rer. Didn' know…"

"What?" Luigi exclaimed. "Dad?"

"Yup," Amber said.

"Who'd Pop kill?" Luigi asked, shocked.

"You r'member Marni?" Amber asked him. "She used t'date dad. I w's seven back then, don' r'member much, but you were, what, twen'y?"

"Yeah, I remember her," Luigi said, wondering where this was going.

"Mm-hmm," Amber said, nodding. "Yup, she was murdered, all right. Jus' not by Shilo's dad." She laughed. "It was our dad."

"WHAT?" Luigi cried.

"Hm-hmm," Amber said again. "People say she broke dad's heart, but…" She sighed. "Don' think he ever had a heart f'r her to break. He killed her."

"But…but Nathan-!"

"Nath'n tried t'save her," Amber told Luigi, cutting him off. "She w's sick. Nath'n was a doctor. He tried t'd'velop a cure." She shrugged. "'n' maybe he did. Nobody'll ever know, 'cause dad tampered w'th it. Had a GENtern sneak some poison into Nath'n's lab 'n' switch it out with some 'f the med'cine he was usin' to try'n save Marn."

"How…Where did you hear this?" asked Luigi.

"Read it," Amber replied, gesturing to the desk that had once been their father's, which Luigi now noticed was covered in stacks of papers. "Been readin' dad's records. He w's proud 'f it. Never cared 'bout her, 'r anybody else. Didn' like that she didn' want his money, 'r his power. Didn' like that she wanted the only thing he couldn' give her - love." Amber laughed again. "What's 'love' mean to you, brother?" she asked Luigi. "Doesn' mean a damn thing t'me, 'r 'nybody else I know, 'cept Nath'n, Shilo, Marni, 'n' Mag. Dad never loved any 'f us. Never loved anybody, period…'n' that's why we're 's fucked up 's everybody else." She sighed, and her eyes turned to the ceiling, unfocused, as though she were staring off into space. "The old world was so much better," she mumbled. "Wish I'd been alive to see it. Wish I could know what the world was like, 'fore dad fucked it up…"

"Sister…" Luigi was speechless.

"Oh, 'n' one more thing," Amber said to Luigi: "Dad killed Mag, too. I saw him cut the cord that w's holdin' her up."

"The bitch got what was coming to her!" Luigi snapped.

Amber chuckled. "Yeah, tha's what we thought, right?" she slurred. "We thought she w's a traitor, 'n' that she wasn' doin' the right thing. She was, brother. She was doin' the right thing - the noble thing. She'd've rather died than kept spons'ring dad 'n' GeneCo, 'cause she knew what dad was doin' to the world, 'n' she didn' wanna be part 'f it 'nymore. Actually…" She hiccuped. "I think she never wanted t'be part 'f it, period. She jus' put up w'th it 'cause she was a big deal…took her a while t'overcome the t'mptation 'f all the fame 'n' fortune that came w'th bein' the Voice 'f GeneCo." Amber spread her arms. "'n' look at us, brother," she went on. "We've all the money, power, 'n' freedom we could ask for." She chuckled again. "Thing is, all the money, power, 'n' freedom 'n th'world isn' worth shit when you're hurt 'n' alone…'n' we've been alone since the days we were born."

Luigi blinked, frozen; he had no idea what to say to all of this. Finally, he stepped over to her, took her by the arms, and started pulling her up. "Come on, sister," he said; "you need to sleep this off."

She chuckled. "Guess it's time for me t'be the first t'have a hangover 'n decades, too, huh?" she said, but she stood up, if unsteadily.

Luigi helped her to the elevator, and then to her room. Despite his temper and thirst for blood, he really did care for his sister, and he was worried about her.

"You're not alone, sister," he said when she was safely in bed in her ridiculously gaudy bedroom.

"Thanks, brother," she said.

He nodded and turned to leave.

"Hey, Luigi?" she said as he reached the door.

He turned back to her.

"Thank you," she said, smiling at him. "You're a fucked-up, bloodthirsty lunatic, but 'm glad t'have you f'r a brother."

"Thanks…I think," Luigi said, unsure if he should take that as a compliment or an insult.

"G'night, brother," she said.

"Good night, sister," Luigi said hesitantly. He didn't have any idea how to deal with someone who was drunk, so he left a bit reluctantly.

Oh well, he thought. Not my problem.

He went back to find Amber's henchgirls. Sure enough, they hadn't moved an inch from where they'd been when he'd last seen them.

"She's in her room," he told them. "Go do whatever it is you do when she's sleeping."

"Yes, Sir," they said simultaneously, and they marched in the direction from which he had come.

Luigi watched them go.

This is gonna be a media shitstorm tomorrow, he thought…