Chapter 4: The Dark Domain

Soon Nos and I came apon an opening to a sewer and flew right through it. I cringed at the smell and at how gross it looked at first as we flew through some pipes. Soon I started to see the drained metallic victims of his pass meals that made my heart sink with sadness. I could only imagine what sort of fear, torture, and pain each one of them went through. Once I had gotten a look at good few dozen of them, it made me realize that this bot truely was a murderous monster. A monster that I deep down felt needed to be destroyed so no other bots or droids would have to go through something like this. The sooner he was put offline, the better robotic life on Trade World and other worlds would be again. After traveling down a few pipes we flew out of them into a large looking sewage room with even more dead bots, a metal looking throne fit for a king, and a coffin in the middle of the room. He then carelessly dropped me onto the floor, causing my shoulder to slam into it first.

"Aaaah!" CLANK! "Ouch! You son of a jackassed trashbot! Can't you be a bit more gentle?!"I said as I got up and rubbed my aching arm.

"Why would I want to be gentle with my hostage? I hardly find that fun." He said with a malicious smirk.

I began to grow more frustrated by the second.

"Because you promised to not harm me until further notice remember?! And I won't allow you to treat me like a piece of shit! I may be a hostage, but I demand respect! Even if I have to fight a dented and banged up bastard like you to get it!" I said while shaking a fist at him.

He just laughed as he floated down to me.

"Now now my dear, there is no need for any violence." He said smoothly as he took my fisted hand and held it in his claw.

"I promise to be gentle as long as you behave like a proper lady and do not upset me."

He squeezed my hand hard, causing me to wince in pain and unclench it.

"Because if you don't I won't be such a gentleman!"

He soon released my hand and flew over to his throne to sit while I sat down and rubbed my hand.

"So that's it huh? I get respect if I play nice? Hmph. Fine then. I'll play along for now. But when XR and the others find me all deals are out the door."I said with every ounce of venom I could muster.

He just laughed as he opened hisself up to repair something.

"Well sadly my dear, that won't happen anytime soon. I do hope for your sake however that they are going to make the right decision and agree with my demands. Besides, I'm sure they wouldn't want one of their fellow Rangers to die such a horrible death now would they?" He said as he pulled out a strange device.

I then started to laughed which caused him to look at me suspiciously.

"And what, pray tell, are you laughing about my dear?" He asked in an somewhat irritated voice.

I managed to get control of myself and wiped away a tear from my eye.

"You know what Nos, I'm afraid that the eggyoke is on your face, because I, am no Ranger!"

He looked at me with a face full of shock and burning anger.

"WHAT?!" He shouted with redhot fiery. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE NOT A REAL RANGER?! HOW IN ALL OF THE GALATIC ALLIANCE CAN YOU NOT BE ONE?! YOU WERE WEARING ONE THEIR UNIFORMS FOR MERCURY'S SAKE!"

I could tell he was really ticked off at the new info I told him just by how loud and inhuman his vocals had become.

"Yeah well, I'm not a real Space Ranger alright?! I stole that suit in order to help my friend XR and pay off a debt I felt I needed to pay for how Star Command had helped me when I was hurt! But so far it went from a good idea to the worse one ever made cause look where I am now! So there ya have it Mr. OverBite! I'm a fucking fake! End of story!"

I then turned away with my arms crossed, disgusted with how everything was at that moment. He just stared at me in anger for a moment before calming down and realizing he still needed to fix something inside him.

"Well, not matter! You may be a fake, but you still seem like a decent enough hostage. The Little One did seem rather fond of you and would no doubt want to have you back. So you're stuck here rather you are a Ranger or not."

He calmly returned to his repairs as I got up and walked off to sit in a corner and think. I couldn't believe what I had gotten myself into. I wanted to cry from how scared and helpless I felt, but I knew that I couldn't. I had to be strong for XR and the other's sakes and not let this metallic asshole know that I was scared of him. As far as I was concerned I was going to be the only one who held the cards here. Soon I heard him close his chest and turned to see him get up from his throne. At first he wobbled a bit in the air but soon he had better control of his flight once he was airborne for a bit.

"Ah, much better." He said with satisfaction. "Good thing I found that traffic bot while I was out tonight. I was in desperate need of a new flight motor."

He soon flew up and did a few tricks in the air as I just watch.

"Oh yeah Nos, it was a good thing. And also pretty rotten of you as well." I said to him bitterly.

He stopped in midair and looked at me with an unamused look.

"Care to run that by me again miss...what do they call you?" I glared bitterly at him but still answered despite my annoyance. "Collins. Katherine Collins. But I perfer to be called Kate."

He looked at me with an interested look on his faceplate.

"Katherine Collins you say. I like it. It suits your lovely and strong personality."

I just deepened my glare further at his complement.

"Don't try to win me over with fake sweet talk Nos4A2. I still hate you for what you did to me and XR." He smirked and floated down to me so we could speak to eachother at an eye to eye lever.

"You can't blame me for trying can you? Besides, I'm only saying the honest truth, my dear Kate." He said in a charming way while making a gentlemen like bow before me.

I just rolled my eyes at the fake sweetness he was showing to me. He soon floated over to he coffin and sat down. "I may have tried to harm you and the Little One, but I was only doing it out of programmed instincts. He was a meal I needed and you were a threat to my survival. Or at least I thought you were until you told me that you were nothing but a fraud." He said with a malicious smirk in his tone.

I just continued to glare while he spoke, still not amused by his fake charm.

"But even if you are a fraud you're still mean something to him and the other Rangers. As soon as they decide to agree to my demands will you go free and unharmed. But if they decided not...well, let's just say it won't end well for you my dear."

I then made a frustrated groaned and turned away from him.

"And what exactly will you do if it comes to that? Poison me? Drown me? Set me on fire and watch me with a twisted smile as I scream and thrash around in bloody agony until I die from it? As if that will change anything. You'll still be a wanted criminal and still living an evil, dishonest life. You don't need to threaten them with an innocent soul just to get what you want in life."

He was quiet for a few moments before speaking.

"Then what, pray tell, would you suggest I should do my dear Kate?"

I thought for a moment about the question he asked me. Of course if I had to be honest it was really something he should be trying to figure out on his own. But still, I guess it wouldn't hurt to do it for him just this once. I heaved out a tired sigh and answered him.

"Well, if I were a robot like you, who had the same reputation with the law as you did, I think I'd try to work with my enemies and make peace between us instead of continuing the never ending war that I'm making with them. I mean sure I'm immortal and they would die off and get replaced eventually. But then what? Is that all I would do? Just be endlessly fighting off Ranger after Ranger with each passing decade and century for all eternity? I mean, what point is there in just always doing that?"

I turned to a stunned looking Nos4A2. I guess what I said seemed to have had an effect on him. But sadly the effect didn't last long as he soon started to glare at me.

"Well sadly Miss Kate, that wouldn't work for me the way you think it might. Even if I were to turn over a new leaf they still wouldn't truely trust me. After all, I was designed to destroy, not to make universal peace." I looked him in the eyes with a sad look in my own. "It doesn't have to be that way though. Besides, the behavior you have is only programmed into you. It's not what you choose on your own feel will. Instead of listening to your programming, why not choose to listen to something better?"

We both stared at eachother for a few moments before he got up off the coffin and opened it's lid. "As delightful it is to chat with you, I'm afraid we're going to have to continue it later my dear. Dawn is coming and I need my recharge. And from how tired you look you'll need to do so as well. Pleasant dreams to you Miss Kate." He said with an unamused attitude.

He then crawled in and shut the lid, leaving me alone with my sad, fearful, and hopeful thoughts.