« Mr. Borg, you are here quite late. »
« Open the door. »
« Yes Mr. Borg. Welcome back to the lab. »
Once the door automatically opened, Cyrus rolled into the large lab. He rolled over to his section of the lab. There, he surprisingly rolled in to see his partner, Dr. Henry Julien, scavenging through all the papers and blueprints on Cyrus's desk and taking some blueprints.
« Um... Julien? » Dr. Julien dropped everything he had in his pale hands and froze. Slowly turning his head to see it was, a terrified look filled his face. Once he saw it was only Borg, he calmed himself down. « Hey Cyrus, how's it going? » Borg remained quiet, looking at Julien suspiciously.
« What were you doing here? » He asked quietly. Julien shrugged, bending down to pick up the pile of papers he dropped.
« Oh nothing... just picking up some notes from our project. I forgot I left them here during work hours. « Borg nodded slowly, starting to roll over to his desk. « What are you doing here? » Julien added, setting the pile on the desk. « Just wanted to perfect one of the android models before manufacture. Cyberlife needs to always make the next model better than the last. »
« Huh, cool. Never heard of that, but makes sense. Anyhoo, see you tomorrow, I gotta head home. Goodnight Cyrus. » Julien ran out of the room in a rush as Cyrus said goodnight as well. Looking back at the desk, Cyrus noticed some blueprints were gone.
'Probably going to work on the blueprints.' He thought to himself as he began working. What he didn't know was that was going to be the last time he has physically seen his partner for the next 10 years.
« Father, it's time to get up. Echo has been impatiently waiting for you.
Julien opened his eyes to see his android's icy blue eyes staring into his blue ones. Groaning, the elder man sat up, watching his android son open up the curtains to allow sunlight to seep into the room. As he turned around, his blonde android began to speak.
« Good morning Father. The date is November 7th, 2038. It's now 10:18 am. Today's weather consists of 40 degrees Fahrenheit with a 20% chance of snow at 5 pm. »
« Thank you Zane. » Julien smiled, getting out of bed. Zane smiled, leaving Julien to get ready for the day. Walking down the stairs, he met his younger android brother waiting at the bottom, complaining about he's bored. Zane noted how Echo's LED was glowing yellow. He never got an great understanding of the LED light, or external feedback biocomponent, his father put on each of the androids he created. All he understood changed according to an android's mental processes or overall condition. However, this wasn't something he had to deal with. When Zane first got built 9 years ago and decided to help his father with errands in the city, he had the LED removed so he could blend in more easily and no one questioned how he felt human emotions.
« Other androids aren't built like how I built you and Echo. They are more machine and you're more human... but most people don't really like anything different... » Zane could remember his father telling him last hear after he asked him about why he had his LED removed. This stuck with him throughout his 9 years of life, but he didn't let it bother it much. He just had to be careful.
« Brother, are you okay? » Echo snapped Zane out of his train of thought. « Yeah... I'm just thinking. » Echo raised an eyebrow, something he picked up from Zane, and nodded to show he understood. « Well, Father is already in the dining room eating. » Zane nodded and walked to the large dining room, leaving the child android. Nicely decorated and clean, the dining room was fit for the wealthy. Yet, it was this way all because of when Julien worked at Cyberlife. He helped manufacture androids with the great Cyrus Borg. That all ended when Julien quit and worked at home, building his own similar androids and selling them for cheaper prices than how much Cyberlife sold their androids for. Zane and Echo both agreed that it seemed wrong, but neither questioned Julien's actions. They realized if Julien didn't go down the road that he did, neither would've been built the way they are now, or not built at all.
« So Zane, what do you and Echo want to do? » Julien asked Zane in between bites. With a shrug, Zane answered « I do not know. I believe Echo wants to... » He stopped himself from finishing. He knew what the answer was already.
« Echo wants to... what? » With a sigh, Zane finished his statement.
« He wants to go out and play. Go out and hang out with people. Go and have fun. » Julien began to shake his head.
« You know we can't do that. It's too dangerous for him. » Zane sighed again. It could be possible to do so if Echo did the same as him and got rid of the LED light. Instead, Echo thought it was cool and refused to ever get rid of it.
As Zane stood silent, knowing there is no way of convincing, Julien said« But... we can go out to the back and play something. Soccer maybe? » With a slight smile, Zane agree. Once done with breakfast, Julien took the two androids out into the backyard. There, they spent most of the day playing different sports and doing different outdoor activities, ending in them laying in the grass to stare at the darkening sky and the snow start to slowly fall. After spending a couple minutes outside during the snowfall, Julien immediately wanted to head inside before he became an icicle.
Walking through the back door, the group heard a crash in the living room and quiet swearing.
« Call the cops... » Immediately, Zane called the cops, going to go investigate the scene with his father. Echo, on the other hand, was sent up to go get something for Julien to use as self defense if something were to happen. He caught up with them as Julien and Zane looked into the living room from the kitchen. In the living room was a man in a Cyberlife uniform.
« Dr. Henry Julien, come on out. I know you're there. » Echo's LED was red as he stood there with a gun in hand and watched Julien walk out of the kitchen to the living room with Zane on his heels. Fear had Echo paralyzed, so he stayed back and only wat watched.
« Alright alright, I'm here. What can I help you with? » the Cyberlife worker looked at Julien then at Zane, then back at Julien.
« Cyberlife is on your trail Doctor. They know about what you did. »
« And they now found out it was me after 10 years. Damn, took them long enough. »
« Yeah, we just needed to make sure it was you. Now, return the stolen blueprints and end all this. Or else... » The man pulled out a pistol, aiming it right at Julien. At that moment, without thinking, Zane went in front of his father. An angry expression appeared on the man's face as he shouted « Get out of the fucking way! » Zane shook his head and slowly approached the man. After his first few steps, he felt a bullet hit his right shoulder. He watched as his blue blood leaked onto the wood floor and the man's anger was replaced with surprise.
« An android? I'm guessing it was one you created with those blueprints, which you can give up now. »
« I'll give them up if you leave now and don't lay a finger on my son... » the man chuckled, lowering the gun. « Your... your son? This is great. » he chuckled, slowly walking closer to Zane and Julien. « Don't do anything Zane... » Julien whispered as the man stopped in front of him.
« I'll tell you again, get out of my fucking way and you won't be harmed. » Zane took a deep breath, clenching his fists. This was a man who represented humanity horribly, and he wasn't going do a single thing he commanded him to do.
« You can easily walk around me... » The man's thin lips formed a scowl as he grabbed Zane by his white shirt's collar.
« Defective... Julien you are ruining androids. » Julien stood there silently, unable to respond. He watched as the man looked back at Zane, still with a scowl.
« Don't worry, you will be able to be repaired... » he whispered, aiming the gun at his pump regulator. At that point, Zane felt he was in danger. He had to disobey his father. He could either die or fight. Fighting seemed like the only answer. Swiftly, Zane hit the gun out of the man's hand and swept him off his feet. The man got up and went in for a punch, only landing the last one. With Zane dazed, the man grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into the wall, squeezing his metal neck tightly. Zane lifted his left to kick, but heard his father.
« Zane no! » Julien went to interfere, but a bang caught everyone off guard. Right before his eyes, Zane watched a bullet from the direction of the back door shoot through the side of his father's head. Blood trickled down Julien's pale cheek as he fell to his knees and, with a thump, flopped onto the floor. A scream from the kitchen made Zane realize he needed to get out of the situation. Without anything holding him back, he kicked the man with full force. The man grunted as he fell into the coffee table. While the man held his side in pain, Echo ran out the kitchen. He had to help somehow before Zane got himself killed too. With artificial tears pouring down his cheeks and making his vision blurry, he pulled back and called to his older brother.
« ZANE! SHOOT HIM! » He shouted as he threw the gun before running to the back door to search for the murderer of his father. Fortunately, Zane caught it and aimed it at the wounded man. Through his heavy breathing, he said « You wouldn't dare... » without hesitation, Zane pulled the trigger. With a bang, the man dropped dead. Dropping to his knees, Zane couldn't believe what he has done. A gun in his hand. Two humans dead on the floor. The perfect timing for the police to burst through the door. Zane stood up and dropped the gun, holding his hands over his head. He wanted to run, he wanted to fight, he wanted drop again and take in what happened. None of it happened as he gave into the police. One hand cuffed him and took him outside to his police car. Before exiting the house, Zane took one long look at the scene, especially at his father. Artificial tears formed in his eyes, and could only flow down his cold cheeks since there was no way to wipe them away.
A hour had passed since the catastrophe at home. Zane was now sitting in a metal chair at a wooden table, waited to be interrogated. Looking to his left, he only could stare back at himself. Despite looking almost the same as usual, with exception of the wounded shoulder and the blood on his clothes, he felt like a different person. Just a hour or so ago, he was just an innocent human like android enjoying life with his family. Now, his father is dead, he murdered someone, he was afraid, and realized he hasn't seen Echo since he threw the gun. Was he okay? Where did he go? Possible scenarios ran in Zane's head of what Echo was up to, most ending badly. Dead, hurt, captured, alone... all the possiblies.
Fortunately, the sound of the door opening and sounds of voices distracted him from his thoughts. He tuned into the conversation in order to hear what was happening. Only catching the end of the conversation, all he heard was a masculine sounding voice say « Make sure he doesn't kill himself or get yourself shot in the head like Connor did » then a feminine voice responding with « Of course sir ». The conversation ended when a feminine android entered the room and the door automatically. Her green eyes looked like they glowed against her pale skin, her silver hair pulled back in a short ponytail. When walking over to the seat across from the android she had to question, her eyes were locked onto the pictures and notes within the folder given to her after a well known Lieutenant with his android partner investigated the home of Dr. Henry Julien. Taking a seat in the metal chair, she closed the folder and observed the suspect. Wounded shoulder, blood from both him and a former Cyberlife employee who was fired earlier today by the name of Jackson Avery, no external feedback biocomponent, and normal human clothes. A definite deviant.
« Hello, my name is P.I.X.A.L. You are Zane Julien, correct? » Zane slowly nodded, staring into P.I.X.A.L.'s green eyes. They were nice to look at, which Zane realized he was calming down, the fear was temporarily gone.
« Okay. Now, I wish for your cooperation, or else I may probe your memory if you are unable to cooperate. » Zane's fear returned as she finished that statement. He has heard of this way of gaining information, but figured the process was quite stressful and may result in self-destruction. With a gulp, Zane nodded to show he understood.
« Alright, has there been any form of abuse from your owner? » Zane quickly shook his head. « Never. My father has never done anything inhumaine to me or any of his inventions. » P.I.X.A.L.'s LED turned yellow as she stared strangely at him when he called Julien his 'father'. Not letting that distract her, she continued with the questions.
« In your perspective, what happened tonight? » Zane looked down at his hands, wishing he didn't have to answer. He wanted to forget about it, but that wasn't happening anytime soon. With a sigh, he began his tale.
« At 5:20 pm, my father, my android brother, and I went through the back door since it was getting cold outside. Once inside, we heard a crash and swearing... After calling the cops, my father and I investigate from the kitchen, watching a man in the living room wanting my father to come out. Following my father, we approached the man, who wanted android blueprints that my father had in his possession... » P.I.X.A.L. knew a lot about those blueprints Zane spoke of. Was stolen from her owner's desk ten years ago.
« The man pulled out a gun, I got in the way and I got shot in the shoulder... » He looked over to where he was shot and sighed. « My father said he would give him the blueprints if he didn't hurt me again. I ended up pissing him off and he aimed his gun at my pump regulator, resulting in me defending myself. Next thing I know is I'm against the wall, being held by the neck, and watching my father suddenly die from a bullet to the head... then I push the man back, my brother threw me a gun and...» Zane paused, not wanting to say it. The whole story sounded like something out of a fictional story, but this was all real. Right in his father's large home in Detroit, his father was murdered and Zane had to kill someone without any experience of doing such a thing. He would never hurt a fly... but did hurt a living and breathing human... more than hurt the human.
« Matches up with the evidence... » P.I.X.A.L. muttered, knowing that the story was over. « So, you only killed the man, not your father... who did kill your father? » Zane shrugged, saying he did not know.
« We have gathered enough answers for now... » She stood and swiftly picked the folder up. She shot a little nod to the large mirror and turned toward the door.
« Will they kill me? » P.I.X.A.L. stopped in her tracks. She debated on whether if she should be honest or not. The deviant stress levels were quite low, and she didn't want to raise it. With her LED going from yellow from flashing red for a slight second, she told him « No, they won't... » His stress levels began to rise.
« I know you're lying... » Zane whispered, looking down at the table top. P.I.X.A.L. looked back, seeing the defeated look on his face. Her LED stayed yellow as she stared at him.
« I won't allow them to.»
« Promise? »
« I promise. » She whispered before the door opened and an officer came in to transfer the deviant to his cell. Zane's stress levels dropped by a little after she said that. P.I.X.A.L. watched as he was taken out of the room, her LED remaining yellow. She instantly regreted saying them, knowing she may let him down. This remained as her main thought as she left the police station and headed home on the bus, standing in the 'Android Only' compartment. Without anything to really distract her, she kept on going back to things she observed during the interrogation. The way his stress levels lowered when he saw her, the way he wasn't something dangerous like how deviants were protrayed in media...
Seeing her stop, P.I.X.A.L. got off the bus and walked in the cold snowy night until she reached the front door of Borg's mansion.
« Welcome home P.I.X.A.L.. Borg is in the living room. »
P.I.X.A.L. walked straight to the living room, finding her owner watching tv, looking like he was just napping in his wheelchair but woke up from P.I.X.A.L. entering the house.
« Ah P.I.X.A.L.! How was the interrogation? » Borg rolled his wheelchair over to his creation, grabbing her hand and leading her to the couch. Taking a seat, P.I.X.A.L. told him about it.
« It was... interesting. Not as bad as I thought it was going to be. The deviant cooperated and it answered the few questions I had with ease. But... »
« But? »
« There was some strange things. It called it's owner it's 'father' and... it seemed comfortable around me. When walking into the room, it's stress levels lowered when it saw me... »
« Hm, interesting... you don't need to be so worried about it. What is the deviant's name? »
« Zane Julien. Model unknown. Built by Dr. Henry Julien. » P.I.X.A.L. recited in a robotic tone. Borg smiled a bit, remembering his coworker from years ago.
« I haven't heard his name in so long... »
« Unfortunately, I think it may be the last time. Dr. Julien is dead. » The smile was quickly replaced with a frown. With asigh, Borg slowly shook his head in disbelief.
« Also, Borg... there was something else I didn't mention... » Borg looked at P.I.X.A.L., motioning for her to continue. She remained silent. She was debating on what should she do about this promise. She could be lectured about what she did was stupid. She knew she would know Borg would tell her that it could cost her life if she did go through with this promise she made with a deviant she just met. Her LED went from blue to yellow as she said « Nevermind » and told Borg that he should head to sleep. Borg nodded in agreement, letting what P.I.X.A.L. was going to say go, and P.I.X.A.L. helped him up to his room. After getting Borg into bed, the two exchanged their goodnights and P.I.X.A.L. spent the night trying to do things in order to get her mind off the promise. All ideas failed. She paced around the living room, debating over what to do. Shall she fulfill the promise and leave the deviant to eventually destroy itself? She went back to his story. Zane was only trying to protect his father... he said he was defending himself...
She had reached her decision. Going upstairs and sneaking into Borg's room and into his closet, she took two casual outfits that she knew Borg wouldn't miss. One was a grey oversized coat, black baggy pants, and a grey beanie that P.I.X.A.L. would change into later into, and the other was a black turtle neck sweater, a grey coat, and an old pair of jeans for Zane to change into. Shoving the clothing into a duffle bag in the closet, P.I.X.A.L. was ready to go.
Not wasting any time, P.I.X.A.L. walked in the freezing cold to the Detroit police station instead of waiting for the bus. Reaching the police station, she received permission from the android receptionist and entered. Quickly, she speed walked over to the cells and looked into the one Zane was in. His eyes were closed and he was still, as if he was either asleep or... another option P.I.X.A.L. didn't want to think about. She lightly tapped the glass until he opened his eyes, revealing his icy blue eyes that P.I.X.A.L. thought was pretty to look at. He turned his head over to the window with no emotion. As soon he saw it was her, he shyly smiled and watched her open the door and enter, motioning for him to follow. He jumped to his feet and snuck out of the cell with P.I.X.A.L. and followed her to the bathrooms. Zane was handed the set of clothes for him to change into as both walked into the men's bathroom to remain together and claimed two stalls to change. Once one heard the other finish getting changed, they exited their stalls and Zane put his old clothes in the duffel bag. After that, they quickly escaped the police station without making a scene. Outside, they made a run for it. Running to where they felt like running, it didn't matter. P.I.X.A.L. had a feeling Zane didn't give a crap about where they went, as long as it was away from the station. Everything about this felt wrong to her, but felt nice. The cold air blowing against her face as she ran through Detroit without worrying about a destination. She almost felt alive.
When they felt they were far enough, P.I.X.A.L. pulled Zane into an alley to sit down and let all this sink in. As she dropped to the concrete, she just completely realized what she has done. She just released a deviant and helped it escape just because she promised that she wouldn't let it die. Everything that has been against her overall mission.
"I... I can't believe I just did that." She told herself, not knowing how react. She wasn't completely angry or disappointed in herself, but not completely happy about what she has done.
"Well... I must thank you..." Zane smiled, sitting down right next to P.I.X.A.L. She shrugged and sighed, not wanting to think about what she did. Now they just need to figure out what to do next.
"We better find somewhere to rest up..." P.I.X.A.L. told Zane, scanning their surroundings for anything. Unfortunately, nothing helpful could be found. With a shrug, P.I.X.A.L. gave up and suggested they stay in this alley until morning, then figure out what they should do. Zane nodded in agreement. Even though neither needed sleep, both closed their eyes. Before entering a sleep mode, P.I.X.A.L. laid her head on Zane's shoulder.
The sound of people walking and chatting and cars driving brought P.I.X.A.L. out of her sleep mode. Opening her eyes, she let out a sigh of relief to see she was in still in the same alley, the only difference being that there was more snow building up. Before she was going to get up, she felt an arm around her. She slightly turned her head to notice Zane, still asleep. His arm around her and she was leaning right against him. Feeling a little uncomfortable and her hidden LED turning yellow, she carefully moved his arm and stood up. Once on her feet, she walked toward the street and scanned the area. She noted that there were a couple police officers here and there, so they would have to be careful. Looking back at the sleeping android, P.I.X.A.L. knew he would be easily recognized.
'Should've brought another hat...' she thought to herself. Fortunately, she could change her hair color to any color and hide her LED behind her bangs, or even pretend to be Zane's android. Taking off the beanie, her silver hair changed into a dirty blonde color with a silver streak. Walking back to Zane, she fitted the beanie on his head in order to hide his messy blone hair and shook him awake. Opening his eyes, his thin lips formed a smile as P.I.X.A.L. helped him onto his feet.
"We should go look for some help or some other place to stay. We need to be careful because there are police officers patrolling the streets." With a nod, Zane followed P.I.X.A.L. out to the sidewalk and walked along her side. While walking, silence lingered between the two until Zane said something.
"By the way, I like your hair. You look pretty... um, cool. Pretty cool." If she were human, surely that comment would make her blush and feel flattered. However, she reminded herself she was a machine, so all she could do was say "Thank you" with a smile. After that, silence returned. Not a single word for sometime until something had caught their eye. Passing by a shop that sold televisions, which was on Channel 16, abrubtly had a commercial break change to an image of an android without any skin. Stopping P.I.X.A.L., Zane lead her over to the window full of televisions to see what was going on. The android with snow white skin began speaking. It demanded equal rights, justice and the end of slavery. Also it demanded territory for androids. Through the speech, it spoke with a determined tone and ended determinely.
"We ask that you recognize our dignity, our hopes and our rights. Together, we can live in peace and build a better future, for humans and androids. This message is a hope of a people. You gave us live, and now the time has come for you to give us freedom." Then, it was cut off. The group that had gathered to watch broke into a quiet conversation. Some stood there not knowing how to react. At that moment, Zane and P.I.X.A.L. broke off from the group and walked down the snow covered sidewalk. The two continued to walk in silence, thinking about what they just witnessed. Both expressed different view points on the topic, mostly determined on how they have been "raised". Zane was quite glad some were doing something for androids just like him. However, P.I.X.A.L. knew many would go against this. She knew too many who wanted to continue the lifestyle of have androids inferior to them. Also, the fear of deactivation has kept her away from joining the deviant's side of the fight.
They were stuck in their thoughts until a child ran straight into P.I.X.A.L.. His face was hidden by a oversized dark red hat and matching scarf, but his voice sparked something in Zane's memory.
"I'm so so sorry miss. I didn't see you there. Since I have you attention have you seen my brother? Blonde hair? Fair skin? Icy bl-" the boy looked over to the masculine figure next to P.I.X.A.L., staring right into his eyes.
"Zane?" Zane nodded as Echo ran to him and wrapped his arms around his waist. Underneath the hat, his LED glowed blue as he smiled, happy to be held in his brother's cold arms. "So glad you're okay Echo..." Zane whispered, smiling as well.
"Well... more or less..." Echo shrugged, pulling away and pulled down his scarf. His chin and sides of his usual tanish face was replaced with rusted bronze parts, suggesting he was damaged and repaired. With a worried tone, Zane asked him what happened.
"Oh, I chased after our father's murderer who was escaping from our backyard and tried to take him. But he was big man and I'm a small android so that didn't go well... chin and neck got screwed up... but when wondering into the city, this nice guy found me and took me into the suburbs and repaired me at his house... that reminds me... I'll take you to him..." Echo quickly told his older brother, grabbing his hand and started to drag him in the direction of a bus station.
"Um okay... let's go P.I.X.A.L.." With a nod, P.I.X.A.L. followed along. On the bus ride, Echo started asking questions like "Who are you?" to P.I.X.A.L. and "What happened?" to both of them. Zane and P.I.X.A.L. quietly went over the story for bus ride to the mysterious man's house. With good timing, the two androids finished their tale when their stop came up. Echo led them off the bus and led them to an one story run down house in a poor neighborhood. The garage door was half open, rock music and sounds of metal hitting the ground could be heard. It was hard to see anything else through the snow storm occuring. Echo make his way to the garage, nearly skipping through the growing snow.
"Oh Ronin! I'm back!" Echo shouted over the rock music. Out came an average sized man in a light coat, clearly shivering. He was saying something to Echo, but P.I.X.A.L. and Zane couldn't pick it up. It was probably something like "Let's go inside" because the man led Echo, who led Zane and P.I.X.A.L., inside the home. It was quite warmer than it was outside, mostly due to the space heaters placed around the small house.
"Welcome. I see we have an extra guest, but doesn't matter. Make yourself at home." The man told them as he removed his winter clothing, his tone seeming to be quite warm and welcoming. This allowed the group to see clearly what he looked like. He had shoulder length, greasy ginger hair, his right eye was hidden behind a leather eyepatch, but his left brown eye was still visible. Meanwhile, P.I.X.A.L. scanned him. His named was Ronin Bounty, born in 1989, a pawn shop owner, and had quite the criminal record. Mostly theft. This made P.I.X.A.L.'s trust lower by a lot. Taking off the coats and hats, P.I.X.A.L. was left in her uniform shirt that showed she was a RK800 model and the black baggy pants, Zane was left in the black turtle neck and the jeans, and Echo had an oversized red and black plaid shirt and old child sized pajama pants with characters from the Super Mario series. The three went over to the couch. Sitting down, a cloud of dust exploded from the couch, which didn't necessarily bother the three androids. Ronin took a seat in a chair located next to the couch.
"So, if you guys haven't scanned me or whatever, I'm Ronin. I'm guessing the tall guy is Zane and..."
"My name is P.I.X.A.L."
"Alright. Cool... anything I can help with?" Ronin asked before Echo butted in. "My brother's shoulder was shot..." Zane nodded to show this was in fact true. "Okay, I'll go get that fixed." Both Ronin and Zane stood and left the living room. When they did, P.I.X.A.L.'s LED turned red. She was really unsure about this man, but Echo seemed fine with him. Instead of doddling on if any of this was safe or not, P.I.X.A.L. turned on the TV to get her mind off everything else.
Meanwhile, Zane followed Ronin to his garage. Going in, the first thing Ronin did was close the garage door and get this set up.
"Sit down over there and remove your shirt or sweater or whatever." Ronin said, his welcoming tone turning into a more stern and cold tone. Obeying his instructions, Zane removed the turtle neck sweater P.I.X.A.L. gave him and sat on the stool that Ronin had motion toward. He sat there, feeling really uncomfortable with nothing on his upper body. Coming over with tools and some cleaning supplies, Ronin began the operation. He cleaned off any dried blood that was left and began to repair Zane's shoulder.
"So, what's your story? Murdered your owner? Abuse? Just want to be free and ran away?" Zane shook his head. "Someone broke into my father's house... my father got murdered by an unknown person and I murdered the intruder..." everytime he said the word 'murdered', Zane noticed Ronin became more and more unsettled, noticing a bit of fear.
"Hm, interesting. How about your little girlfriend?" Zane chuckled and shook his head. He wished the term was correct. "She is not my girlfriend... she worked for the police station I believe and she helped me escape." Zane continued to notice Ronin seemed even more unsettled, but he didn't show it on his face. Instead, Ronin remained silent for the rest of the repair process until he was done. During the repair, Zane heard Ronin say things under his breath relating to some of the parts that his father had used to build Zane. As the repair neared it's end, Ronin finished it with sticking a foreign piece to Zane's shoulder, which didn't seem harmful. When done, Ronin told Zane that he could put the sweater back on and return to the living room. Zane did just that.
Walking into the hallway, he observed his surroundings. There were 4 doors that were locked, only one unlocked. That room was the bathroom. From the one Zane first pasted when entering the hallway, he could hear quiet robotic sounds. None of it was distinguishable. He let it slide as he walked into the living room to see that the news was on. It was ending it's report about the anonymous android that gave a speech on Channel 16. The last thing he heard the new reporter say was this could be a declaration of war. Once that was done, the TV channel was changed by Echo to something more entertaining to him. Taking this time, Zane explored the living room. The thing that caught his attention was the items above the fire place. There were many picture frames with photos with a happy family and a younger Ronin. Wedding pictures, baby shower, an army photo, and a couple others. What intrigued Zane was that he had a wife and apparently three children. Scanning the photos, it said that the wife, Luna, and the daughter, Jasmine, were deceased. He let this fact stay in the back of his mind, just in case he might need this information. In front of the frames were a couple glass deer. There were two deers, one being a buck and the other being a doe. There were two fawns, but a third was found on the wood floor broken. After picking it up and setting it with the other fawns, he further inspected the figures. The doe had it's head broken off. The buck seemed to broken plenty of times but fixed, only with it's right eye missing. One of the fawns seemed to have been broken before, but has been fixed with only a small piece of it's chest gone. The other fawn seemed to have a crack in it's right shoulder. Leaving the fireplace, Zane continued to explore. He found other things like unopened mail from the bank and others. One that caught his attention was letters from he was guessing was the two sons that appeared in the photos. Some were writtened when the two were young and talked about foster care and adoption. The later letters talked about illnesses, surgeries, etc. Putting the letters back in their places, Zane went over to the couch before Ronin came into the living room.
"Ronin... not to bother you, but is there anyway you could help us somewhere safe for us?" P.I.X.A.L. asked him as he entered.
"Um... well... I heard the place to go is Canada. Although it may be a little dangerous to go outside as deviants today..." He answered. "...but, you guys can stay here until then. Stay here as long as you need." Ronin added before grabbing something from the kitchen and disappearing into the garage. With that in mind, the three of them decided to stay for tonight and hopefully head out tomorrow. Until nightfall, the three of them hung around in the living room and did whatever to keep them distracted. When night came around, Ronin allowed them to use his room since he was going to up basically all night working. All three got under the covers and laid there in the darkness. Echo immediately fell into his sleep mode, but P.I.X.A.L. and Zane had a harder time.
"Hey Zane?"
"Yeah?"
"Am I the only one having a bad feeling about this?" Zane shrugged.
"I don't know. I have mixed feelings. He seems nice, especially when Echo is around. He seems afraid most of the time... also there's something in the locked room near the garage... something robotic... " this information sparked some curiosity in P.I.X.A.L.. Getting up, P.I.X.A.L. headed toward the door and quietly opened it.
"Wait, let me come with you." Zane whispered, getting out of bed. Once at the door, Zane followed P.I.X.A.L. into the hallway. In the hallway, they could hear Ronin in the living room on the phone. Quickly, they snuck to the locked door and P.I.X.A.L. used some tools that Borg included when designing and building her. Meanwhile, Zane listened in on Ronin's phone call.
"You want a what... RK800 parts? You're crazy. There's onl- yes... I know... wait... I actually have what you want. I got a couple deviants. Two of them. One has the parts you want and the other is quite unique... Oh hell no, that's not enough. 2,000 at least... now you're talking... sounds like a deal Mr. Chen..." Zane looked over at P.I.X.A.L., who's LED was blinking red as she finished picking the lock and quickly and quietly opened the door and allowed the two of them to enter.
"I suspected something wasn't right..." P.I.X.A.L. whispered to herself when closing the door. Turning around to see the inside of the room, see nearly gasped. Parts of androids, dead or barely still alive, laid around the room either piled in the corners or on the wood work tables. Many P.I.X.A.L. could recognize as deviants in past cases she studied. The barely living ones were either chanting "No where is safe" or "rA9 please save us all". The mention of rA9 made Zane point out the walls. All the wall space was covered with writings of "rA9" and "I am alive" in Cyberlife Sans. What then caught both android's attention was the shelve of guns, which Zane guessed was related to the fact that Ronin was part of the army. Also, they focused their attention on little new clippings pinned to the wall.
'Fire in suburban home, killing Luna (Hord) Bounty'
'Surgery by machine gone wrong, killing young Jasmine Bounty at 9'
'Edward and Aaron work to help fight in third world countries, resulting in falling ill and serious injuries' were some lines that were cut out of older newpaper articles. P.I.X.A.L.'s LED switched between flashing yellow and red. Finding this out about this man's family would "pull at her heartstrings" if she were human, but it did spark a feeling in her. A feeling of pity.
But that wasn't the only thing causing her LED to switch colors. The sound of footsteps approaching the door could be heard, but it was too late to do anything. Before that androids acknowledged the sound, the door creaked open. Both P.I.X.A.L. and Zane could sense the rapid heartbeat of middle aged man as he saw that they had gotten into this forbidden area of the house. Before P.I.X.A.L. and Zane could do anything, Ronin grabbed out a little remote like device and pressed a button. P.I.X.A.L. as Zane froze, not moving at all. His icy blue eyes were replaced with a grey color and he seemed like he died standing up.
"A little two piece device. Nothing you've seen Cyberlife done yet." Ronin chuckled as he approached the gun shelf, his brown eyes staring right in P.I.X.A.L.'s green ones. "Now... follow me and you and your totally-not-boyfriend will not get hurt." He told her in a calm voice, his hand nearly an invh away from grabbing a pistol. With her LED glowing red, P.I.X.A.L. knew what he wanted. She heard the call to this Mr. Chen guy. She was the model he wanted, and she was guessing the second android being sold to this Chen guy was either Zane or Echo. She had to do something to prevent all this from happening.
"Never..." she muttered before lunging at Ronin, punching him in the chest. He let out a grunt as he was punched back into the wall. Unfortunately, he had grabbed the gun during her attack. Using this to his advantage, he quickly aimed the gun around the area of her pump regulator. He pulled the trigger and, with a bang, he ended the fight right there and then. P.I.X.A.L. fell to the ground, only having a minute and a half before shutting down.
"You damn androids... or deviants... need to learn how to listen." Ronin grumbled as he lifted her up and carried her to the garage. Knowing that Zane was shut down, he didn't had to worry about him. Connecting wires to P.I.X.A.L., he started the process of resetting her. When Ronin was connecting one of the final wires to her neck, P.I.X.A.L. swung her feet back to kick him with all her might. She twisted around to try to release her self from the wires, soon resorting to pulling the wires from the device they were connected to before Ronin was up to fight. With out the gun in his hand, P.I.X.A.L. firgured she had the upper hand. With her limited time, she attacked him first. Unfortunately, after taking a few punches to the face and chest, Ronin learned to dodge and, unexpected on P.I.X.A.L.'s part, jumped and kicked her in the face with quite a lot of strength for his age. Wincing on the landing, Ronin pushed to continue striking the android until she was in a corner. On the way there, he had picked up a large wrench and, once she was backed into a corner with no escape, striked her with it until she automatically shut down from her damaged pump regulator and the external damage she received from the fight. With all this damage done, Ronin had to instead break her into parts and scraps instead of the full working android his boss asked for. With a sigh, he got Zane and hooked him up to the machine to reset him and, meanwhile, he worked on scraping P.I.X.A.L.
When half way through both processes, Ronin took a break in the living room, drinking his worries away. Already up from the noise from the garage, Echo met up with him in the room and sat next to Ronin as he drank his bottle of beer.
"Ronin?"
"Yeah kiddo?"
"What was all that noise earlier? From the garage?" Echo sensed Ronin's stress levels rise after he asked. "Um... well... just having trouble with something I'm inventing... was testing it out in the garage..." Echo noticed Ronin's heart beat rate began to increase, making him think he was lying.
"Can I see this invention?" Ronin chuckled and ruffled Echo's bronze colored hair, shaking his head. "Not today kid. Maybe another day, you should head back to bed." Echo slowly nodded, raising one eyebrow.
"Alright... good night Ronin."
"Good night Echo." Echo slide off the couch and walked back to the main bedroom, glancing at the door leading to the garage. What also caught his attention was the slightly open door to an unknown room located in front the garage. On the floor between the two doors, there were traces of blue blood. Walking to the door to the unknown room, he looked in. His LED glowed red as his trust was broken. He ran into the room, going toward the gun shelf. This felt like the previous night all over again. He jumped up and grabbed the first gun his hand could wrap around and grab. Once that task was accomplished, he snuck quickly into the garage to meet the only trustworthy people in Echo's world. It was too late to save the half scrapped android woman Echo met only today, but he had little time to save his brother. Running over to the computer the wires connected to, the monitor showed that Zane's reset was at 80%. Echo's only idea was to shoot the computer to end this before it was too late. Aiming at the computer, Echo forced himself to pull the trigger multiple times. After that, unsure if he had stopped the process, he tugged at the wires until he heard the body hit the ground.
"Brother! Wake up!" Echo said, shaking his brother to wake him up, unsuccessfully. "Zane please..." Echo pleaded, smacking his face lightly. It was no use. What Echo didn't get was what shut him down completely. He still had all his working parts unharmed. An idea sparked in Echo's head. He went through his memory to some of the things he heard about Ronin's devices, including one that can forcibly control androids. With that in mind, Echo scanned his brother, scanning a little something on his shoulder. He slipped his hand through the collar of the sweater and felt around the once wounded shoulder until he pulled something off. It looked like a bug, but Echo knew exactly what it did. With that pulled out, Zane's grey eyes transitioned back into his icy blue ones. However, this wasn't the time to mourn, because with the slam of the door and a shot of another gun, Echo pulled Zane toward the closed garage door and pressed the button on the wall to open the door. As it slowly opened, Echo slipped under the door and Zane did the same once it opened a bit more for him to fit. A bullet nearly hit Zane's hand as he slipped under the door and reunited with his younger android brother. Ronin followed them, going under the door and running through the snow to them. A bullet flew through Zane's shoulder, wounding it again. Turning back around, Zane shot back, shooting Ronin's left leg. He let out a yelp as he allowed himself to fall his knees. Zane stopped completely and aimed right for Ronin's head as Ronin aimed for Zane's abdomen. This was Zane's chance to take him out. He would no longer be a threat, just like the man that broke into Julien's home. It could be over in only a pull of a trigger.
"Stop it!" Echo shouted, running in the middle of the two, blocking any shot that could be made. "Echo, kiddo, get out of the way..." Ronin said in between his quick breaths, motioning for Echo to move out of the way. "Brother please, I do not want you to get hurt..."
"No!" Echo shouted again. "I do not follow your orders unless I feel like it's right. I am protecting both of you. Just turn away and stop this!" Ronin shook his head.
"I have a job to do kid, and I do not want to suffer another tragedy. Just move out of the way Echo so I can kill it." Echo bit his lip and turned away from Ronin, looking to Zane to hear his response, hoping he would listen.
"Please Echo... you're my only family left... and this man is a terrible man..." Echo frowned, and shook his head. "He's not terrible, he's misunderstood. We have all misunderstood each other..." When hearing this, Echo noticed Ronin's very high stress levels begin to lower as he lowered his gun. Unfortunately and unexpectedly, Zane shook his head and pushed Echo to the side to get him out of the way of his target. With this happening, Ronin raised his gun again out of instinct and pulled the trigger. With his eye closed, Ronin expected a bullet to go into his head, but he heard a thump of a body falling onto the snow covered ground. He opened he eye and gasped, seeing it wasn't Zane who dropped.
"Echo!" Both android and human cried out as they tried to reach the small android child. Zane ran to him and Ronin dragged himself over. Echo laid there, still and looking like he died. Holding his last family and friend close, Zane felt his world falling apart. He watched Echo jumped in front of him, allowing the bullet to shoot into his abdomen. "Echo... no..." Zane whispered, basically hugging Echo's slowly dying body. Ronin, on the otherhand, sat there. Sad, disappointed and angry in himself, wished Zane had shot first. He had barely known Echo, but he was the child he never had the chance to raise.
"I-I'm..." the words couldn't come out of Ronin's mouth. He was deeply sorry for what he has done, but knew a sorry wouldn't save this situation. Instead, Ronin grabbed Zane hand, handed him his gun, and positioned Zane's hand to where Ronin would get shot in the head.
« It's hard to lose family... I lost everything. My wife to a fire... my daughter to a machine... my sons to child protective services... this was my chance to redeem myself and I fucked it up... I thought he couldn't die because he's just a machine... but he's alive just like me... my family... you... your family... like everyone » he sighed. « I deserve the title of a terrible man... » Ronin held back any tears that started forming, and took a deep breath. « Fire away. »
Zane's finger was ready to pull the trigger, but something was holding him back. He wanted revenge. Both P.I.X.A.L. and Echo were dead because of him, and many others like him were dead because of him. He was another threat to deviants. Despite this, he just couldn't do it. He's alive, just like Julien. Just like the intruder. Just like Echo. Just like everyone.
Ronin once again expected the bullet to his head, but heard the gun drop into the snow next to him. He looked up at Zane like a helpless and confused puppy, « Why didn't you do it? » He asked. With a shrug, Zane didn't say anything. Instead, he asked for Ronin to try to repair him the best he can. Ronin, still confused, agreed to try and carried Echo inside the garage. During this time, Zane kept on looking back at the scrapped android.
« Is there any chance you can fix her? » Ronin looked up from Echo's lifeless body and shook his head.
« Nope. It- I mean she's gone. Even I fix her, she won't be the same. Besides, I gotta pay my rent. » Zane let out a long sigh, looking longingly at P.I.X.A.L.. Noticing this, Ronin came up with an idea.
« Well... there is something left of her though. » He stood up and went to the desk behind the scrapped body. He grabbed a small chip and held it up. « A little Borg extra. I can insert this in your head and she's be in your program. She'll be in your head and you'll look crazy as it will look like you talk to youself, but it's better than nothing." Zane stared at him, not knowing if he trust him, although it didn't seem like he was lying.
"Trust me, I'm not tricking you and it won't shut you down again." Zane then agreed, allowing Ronin to insert this in his head. After a minute or so, a confused P.I.X.A.L. appeared in Zane's vision.
"Where am I? What's going on?"
"P.I.X.A.L., it's me Zane. You're in my head." At this statement, P.I.X.A.L. seemed to be more confused, but let the subject slide. Until Echo was repaired, Zane and P.I.X.A.L. chatted and Ronin remained quiet and out of Zane's field of vision most of the time so he didn't cause Zane and P.I.X.A.L. start talking about him.
"Alright, I should be done..." Ronin said as Echo powered on. With a groan, Echo satup and looked around. "Huh, neither of you have killed the other. Mission successful." Ronin rolled his eyes as he chuckled a little.
"Yeah... now you and your brother better be on your way... I heard the place to go is Canada." Echo nodded and stood up, turning to Zane and hugging him. Hugging him back, Zane whispered "So glad that you're alive..." Echo nodded and pulled away, turning to Ronin.
"Thanks for helping..." Echo told him before running up to him, grabbing him into a hug. Hesitant at first, Ronin hugged back. A real smile appeared on his face for the first time in a long time. Smiling back, Echo let go of him and waved goodbye as him and Zane walked out of the garage, walking to the nearest bus stop. Walking up to the garage door to watch them depart, Ronin waved goodbye.
"See you soon... son."