The Glitched!Miko AU is a series of Alternate Universe Glitch Techs fanfics by Scrabbleauthor that explore the popular fan theory that Miko is actually an advanced glitch/AI. The series consists of the following entries:
- Miko's Reboot
: An increase in some strange dreams, combined with a mysterious assailant attacking Glitch Tech HQ has Miko suspect that she might not be human. - Rainbow Star: While on break from work, Miko and Five decide to experiment with Miko's newfound Glitch nature by seeing how she interacts with video game power-ups.
- Double Date: After an accidental blurt, Miko and Five end up on their first date. A date that has them being stalked by who appears to be... another Miko?
- Pirates and Ninjas: While Zahra and Five go on a routine glitch hunt, a still-benched Miko decides to hunt down her mysterious body-double and get answers about her past.
- Twin Peaks: Miko doubles-down on trying to befriend M-2, while Phil goes out-of-town to find out what corporate thinks about their new Glitch employee.
- Sisterly Instinct: Miko discovers more and more of her abilities as a human weapon while her bond deepens with M-2 and shadowy forces target them both.
This fanfic contains examples of the following:
- Artificial Intelligence: While all Glitches are A.I.s in one way or another, Miko is unique in that she was deliberately created in a lab rather than as a side effect of a malfunctioning gaming system. She doesn't suffer any of the Artificial Stupidity that normal Glitches do due to still acting like they're in their games since she was designed to be able to grow and change like a human being rather than follow set commands.
- Berserk Button: M-2 does not like to be reminded that she is nothing but a copy. Especially since it was stated she was less advanced than Miko and thus designed to be her inferior.
- Better as Friends: Downplayed. Hector and Miko agree that there might be something more between them, but it's way too soon in their "relationship" to be sure of that and they both agree that for the moment at least it's best if they stick to being friends.
- Bloodless Carnage: When Miko is stabbed in the stomach, instead of bleeding the area starts to go blocky and low res like poorly rendering graphics. When Meico gets a head wound, the same effect happens.
- Broken Tears: A younger M-2 when Miko/M-1 breaks her arm in a sparring match.
- Cain and Abel: Miko and M-2 are siblings with this relationship. However, the latter's murderous hate for her elder sister quickly simmers down to mere annoyance and a The Only One Allowed to Defeat You mindset, and she instead finds joy in merely shattering Miko's optimistic world view whenever she can.
- Clone Army: M-3s are mass-produced copies of Miko that look like her if she soaked in bleach and behaves like robots instead of people. Making up for capability with sheer numbers.
- Cut Lex Luthor a Check: The group that created Miko and M-2 have repurposed Hinobi's tech to undo Glitch damage to commit corporate espionage by copying sensitive data.
- Escort Mission: Miko and Five were tasked to bring Inspector 0 with them on their patrols. Miko was initially against it but Five was ecstatic.
- Exotic Eye Designs: When a M-3's eyes are seen sans goggles, her irises look like spinning gears.
- Flashback: Miko has flashbacks to her time in the lab where she was created every time she is knocked out. M-2 also has similar flashbacks in her perspective which annoys her.
- Grew Beyond Their Programming: Inverted. It's stated that Miko was designed to grow and develop, unlike normal Glitches which still adhere to their programming as much as possible despite being in the real world.
- Happily Adopted: Miko, though in contrast to what earlier fics suggest, her parents have no idea who Miko's original "mother" was, much less what Miko actually is; she just showed up on their doorstep one night as an amnesic young girl clutching a stuffed toy.
- Healing Factor: At one point, Miko breaks her arm due to a being hit by a spring Glitch. The arm fixes itself immediately after she wakes up.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: M-2 has a pair of "incognito glasses" which keeps her from being noticed. The illusion breaks once she talks or gets involved.
- Homeschooled Kids: Miko, unlike the rest of her siblings, is homeschooled.
- Human Weapon: M-2 implies this to be the case with Miko. This horrifies her.
- Identity Amnesia: Miko has no memories of being a Glitch, or anything prior to being with her family. The realization that this is the case causes M-2 to break out in frustrated laughter, since it makes her goal of proving her superiority unfulfilling if Miko doesn't even remember why M-2 views them as a rival.
- It Is Dehumanising: The shadowy organization involved with Miko's creation refused to speak about her as though she were anything but a mindless puppet.
- Identical Stranger:
- The professor who created Miko looks almost exactly like Miko's mother, Mayumi. It's heavily implied that they're actually sisters, which would technically make Mayumi her aunt.
- Miko's would-be assassin M-2 could be her identical twin. Which makes sense as M-2 is a product of the same program that created Miko (i.e. M-1).
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Miko gets stabbed through the chest by an unknown assailant. However since she's a Glitch she survives, and rather than a gore stained mess the area around the wound starts to de-res like poorly rendering graphics.
- Nano Machines: M-2 can use "Plixel nanites" to shape her environment. It strains her, however.
- Never Given a Name: M-2 has only ever had a designation rather than a real name. Miko decides to call her Meico similar to her own name. Which she does since M-2 is her exact double.
- Nervous Tics: Miko has playing with her hair, which apparently happens infrequently enough given her usual overconfident attitude that her parents become incredibly worried the instant she starts doing this.
- Oh, Crap!: Miko's parents both make this expression when she asks them the three little words they never wanted to hear."Am I adopted?"
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Downplayed. Hector is only known by his nickname ("Five") to Miko, who was unaware that it was even a nickname until talking to her father about him. While all their friends and coworkers call Five by said nickname, they're fully aware that it isn't his actual name, and he introduces himself as Hector at least one occasion.
- Outside-Context Problem: Somewhat. Miko is still a Glitch, made of living data with all the general abilities of one. What makes her different however is the fact that she's not a video game character. She doesn't have any goals, behaviors or glowing weaknesses programmed into her that Glitch techs normally take advantage of to fight them. She's also so much more complex than a normal glitch that the normal, non-intensive security measures they use for detecting glitches don't identify her as being anything but human.
- It's suspected that while she was made with the same pixel tech that Hinobi uses, she was created by a company that specializes in A.I. instead of games.
- Papa Wolf: When Miko's dad hears she has a date he goes from mild-mannered father to threatening to castrate the boy who she's seeing. Until he hears it was Hector and calms down since he knows that the boy is trustworthy.
- Parental Favouritism: M-2 believes that Professor Misaki liked M-1 better.
- Power-Up: Glitches can gain powers by eating video-game power-ups, and Miko is no exception. Though they're only temporary as a time bar appears over her head telling everyone how long the power-up lasts.
- Secret War: Implied to be the case between competing companies, all of which using the same Plixel technology.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Miko is forced to get ready for her date by her sister, and while her outfit and the makeup she was made to wear aren't all that extreme, the effect still causes Hector to be momentarily stunned.
- Shout-Out: One plant Glitch, Spirit of Nature, is from the game "Ghost Boy", and the description makes it pretty clear that it's Undergrowth.
-
So Bad, It's Good: The movie Miko and Hector go see on their date. It's cheesy, poorly made, and poorly acted, but it's so bad that the two end up actually enjoying it. - Super Prototype: Miko, as noted by her co-worker Zahra, is far more complex than any Glitch (i.e., living computer program) ever seen, with attention to detail so fine she's even coded to have individual blood cells. As a result, she can fully pass for human and Miko herself never suspected anything until she began regaining her memories and capabilities as a side effect of exposure to Glitch Tech equipment. The only one of her successors that comes close is M-2/Meico, who was made by other scientists in the lab attempting to recreate Professor Masaki's work, but whom the professor was tasked to finish the actual work on. Meanwhile, the M-3 units are far, far less complex than both girls; explicitly to allow for timely, larger-scale production, and implicitly because they're unable to figure out how Masaki managed to get the girls to grow beyond their programming. It's also implied that Miko and M-2 have an older sister that neither of them know of that may be the true super prototype.M-2: The mass-produced models are chumps. Dumb as a bag of rocks, those things are. We’re basically Terminators compared to them.
- Sweet Tooth: Miko and M-2 both like sweet foods. Inspector 0 also has a similar taste.
- The Bait: Stated outright to be the case with M-2, though she herself doesn't realize it.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: M-2 saves Miko from being eaten because of this.
- The Resenter: M-2 resents Miko for having a normal human life, while she ended up living her life as a weapon, and again for being a literal inferior copy of her.
- Tomato in the Mirror: Miko, a Glitch tech who as her job hunts down and captures Glitches is herself a glitch.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Oddly averted for the most part. Aside from the evil organization involved in her creation, nobody else who's aware of her status as a Glitch treats her as if she's anything but human.
- Played straighter'er' later on after her secret has been blown throughout the company and she starts getting called a 'human glitch', putting more emphasis on the not human part. Though nobody really treats her differently.
