It and Mangle were on a ranch in Texas, and It was in heaven, riding a cow backwards around the field. Mangle walked with her, laughing, explaining to small groups exactly why just like the genetically modified cows were still cows, It was still a human child, who was very excitable, as it turned out. She was just flying from place to place when she saw something new, so excited that she got to see a ranch in person. The staff taught her how to milk a cow, showed her how cheese was made, and let her help feed the animals before the other activists even came to meet Mangle. It was having too much fun to speak to any of the people, but everyone certainly enjoyed her running around, excited. “She’s certainly an active one,” the owner of the ranch said as she ran down one of the hills, leading the cows forward.
“Yeah, I’m sorry about her,” Mangle laughed.
“Sorry? Why? She’s enjoying herself doing something she’s wanted to do for a long time, I’m happy for her! She’s amazing! Her excitement is unbelievable, and I love it. I wasn’t complaining!”
Mangle chuckled. “Just making sure. We don’t always get positive responses.”
The owner nodded. “Well, make sure she remembers this day for years to come, she’s certainly going to want to.”
Mangle nodded and smiled. “I will, certainly.”
Distantly, a voice could be heard. “Dad! You’ve gotta check out the chicks! They’re so cute!”
Mangle smiled at the owner and found it sitting in the middle of a pile of chicks from the henhouse. “They’ve accepted me as one of their own!” she exclaimed. “I’m so happy!”
Mangle chuckled, and the ranch owner full-out laughed. “Shoot, kid, if you like them that much, you should get your own ranch when you grow up!”
It grinned. “You know what? I might!” she exclaimed with a huge grin on her face.
It and Mangle posed in front of the Hollywood sign along with a few of their new friends. “So, you can really fly as long as 10 minutes now?” one of them asked.
It nodded, and when they were on the trail, she flew up and zig-zagged around a bit, and after 6 minutes touched ground again. “No sweat,” she said with a bow.
Everyone clapped. “That’s amazing It,” a girl her age said. “I wish I could fly.”
“Climb on my back?” It offered. The girl’s eyes widened and she climbed onto It. “Hold tight!” It yelled.
She took the girl up in the air and they both screamed, the girl from surprise and It because she nearly dropped out of the sky. She adjusted for the extra weight and did a once-over of the closest part of the trail. It landed and the girl climbed off. “That was amazing,” she said, hugging It. “Thank you!”
It hugged back. “You’re welcome.”
The girl grinned and pulled away. “I can’t wait to tell all my friends at school I got to fly!” she exclaimed.
It grinned. “I'm glad you enjoyed it, Taylor.”
She grinned. “I did, I did! It was amazing!”
It looked down at her feet bashfully. “Did you really enjoy it that much?”
Taylor smiled. “Of course! I loved it! Thanks again!”
It waved off her thanks. “It’s no big deal,” she shrugged. “It’s easy to do and I’m happy to do it.”
“Sometimes I wonder if she’s human just because of her sheer capacity of kindness,” Mangle teased.
It rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue, but smiled when her back was turned.
“It looks so pretty!” It exclaimed while hooked up to the Ocu. “Dad, this is so pretty!”
“Yeah?” Mangle asked.
“Yeah! I’ve gotten to walk through the entirety of central London! I can’t believe it! And I went on the London Eye, and even visited Baker Street!” she exclaimed.
“So I take it you’re ready for Paris?”
It nodded. “I love these virtual tours,” she murmured.
Mangle switched it to Paris, and It looked around with her goggles with a new sense of awe. “Amazing!” she exclaimed. “Is that the Louvre?!” she raced forward using the controls.
Mangle turned to Mx. Lotus, the designer of the new Ocu tours. “I’d count this as a success.”
“Is it safe to say It approves?” they asked.
It nodded. “Of course! I love it! I can see Paris in Seattle!”
Lotus grinned. “Glad to hear. Can I publicize your approval?”
It nodded. “Where’s the Eiffel Tower?” she asked, glancing around eagerly.
Mangle was standing in the center of Times Square with a headset, giving a speech on human’s rights. “You all know me very well, by now, I’m sure. But...I feel like I’m missing someone up here by my side tonight. It was tired, so I offered for her to take a nap while I spoke, but it still feels empty…”
It flew up from the center of the crowd and clung to Mangle in the piggyback position. “Better?” she asked.
Mangle laughed. “Much. Now, do you want to tell these lovely people about the petition for the new law, or shall I?”
It gestured for Mangle to proceed. “I’ll do it. All right. So basically, Humans for a Better Tomorrow are doing this thing, where they’re making petitions and sending them to Congress, to give human rights to people like It here, so even if we lose our big appeal, laws will be set soon so that it can’t happen again. Cheer if you’re in for signing the petition!”
Everyone cheered in the crowd. Mangle took a dramatic step back. “Woah! I didn’t hear one person silent! That’s what, at least 10,000 people ready and willing to back this law! Everyone, I urge you: go tell your senators and congresspeople to bring this law up and vote for it! We clearly have the numbers to make this happen! We need equal rights for everyone, no matter who they are, and this is our safety net! If you’re going to rally behind us, give a cheer!” Mangle tore off the headset and held it toward the crowd. Everyone screamed.
It put it on next. “Hey everyone! How are you all doing?!”
Everyone yelled their responses in a cacophony of generally good vibes.
“Well that’s good to hear! I’m glad you’re all doing well! Listen, I’ve got something important to say. You all see me as the poster child of this campaign, and you might think there are, what, 10 other kids like me? But the fact is, there are so much more. My dad did a search and found at least 100 in Fantasy Labs, and there are similar spaces all over the country! This is a serious issue, and if our rights are granted, we will have hundreds of scientists who can be charged for human experimentation!
“Now, I don’t want to deter you from rallying, but you have to realize, people in your own family could be working against these issues silently and could be charged. There are so many people who can be found guilty of these crimes, and so many more who are stuck because these charges aren’t pressed. I’m one of the lucky ones, my experiment went well and my wits are all intact. Others weren’t so lucky. They went insane from isolation, or got overly-aggressive, or the project itself didn’t work and these kids died for one reason or another because of it. This is a very serious issue, even if sometimes it doesn’t seem like such. Do you understand that?”
Everyone solemnly looked at one another and nodded.
It nodded approvingly. “Good. You always need to understand, things may seem one way, but be another. Don’t just take things at face-value, do your research! We’re born with so much information at our fingertips, use it to form your own opinions! If you decide you don’t want to advocate, I hope you’ll still at least support. If you don’t support, well, I don’t understand, but you have a right to your opinions. Especially if you were the one who formed them. I hope you all have a good time tonight, we have so many people coming up to talk to you, they are so excited, and I hope you enjoy!”
Everyone cheered as the next person came up. “Hey everyone…!”
Mangle and It had gone on a circuit around the entire United States, finishing in Washington DC where the trial was to take place. It flopped onto the bed in their hotel room and groaned. “I can’t believe I have to wear that pencil skirt tomorrow,” she groused.
Mangle laughed. “Want my suit?” they offered.
“Yes, it has pant legs.”
Mangle sighed. “It’s a few hours at most. The last trial, the prosecution did their part, and the defense hardly did anything.”
“And they still won,” It grumbled.
“Hey, 4 of the judges are Republicans,” Mangle pointed out. “2 are democrats, and 3 are moderate with no strong political leaning. They’ll bring justice.”
It nodded uncertainly. “I heard that the prosecution was trying to get Milbridge to testify.”
“He was certified with a sound mind last week,” Mangle said. “Outside shock and hatred, he was completely fine when he came into our house. He can and will testify, the prosecution will make sure of that.”
It looked concerned. “Aren't you concerned he’ll deny I’m human again?”
“No. I heard him say to himself that you’re a serious threat that has to be dealt with, and he only ever says that about humans. He’s dealt with enough experiments to know what to do there, but when it comes to humans, his only solution is fight, to the death if it’s necessary.”
“So...because he thinks I’m a human he’s trying to kill me? That’s fantastic,” she sighed.
Mangle organized their notes. “Get some sleep. Come tomorrow, you'll need it.”
It sat up on the bed. “Aren’t you going to sleep?”
“Eventually, but I want to go over my notes one last time.”
It sighed. “Come to bed, Dad. You’ll do fine. Staying up will do more harm than good for you.”
Mangle sighed. “Fine,” they crawled into bed after taking off their button-up shirt.
It nuzzled into their undershirt and sighed. “I like doing this, you're always so warm.”
Mangle chuckled. “And I can make sure that no one will take you in the night. It's a win-win.”
It stretched and blinked rapidly. “Tomorrow’s the end of this, isn’t it? One way or another. We might go on tours again, Congress might need to pass a law naming me and others like me as human, but the shooting...Milbridge...it’ll be over. The scientists will be charged with crimes against humanity or not, Milbridge will be either convicted of a double attempted murder or a single, I’ll be free tomorrow, or free in a month.”
Mangle nodded and kissed It’s head. “No matter what happens, I’ll support you,” they whispered in the silent room.
It turned off the light and wrapped her wings around herself. “Good night, Dad.”
“Good luck, It.”
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