Chapter 7: The Boy With Mouse Ears

The figure stood, its chest rising and falling rapidly as if heavily breathing. Its head moving as if it was talking, but no sound came out. SAMI2 suddenly became very rigid, poised behind Niko. A small light began to show near what would be the figure's mouth. Then, words formed.

"Wh.. Wh… Who… Who are…" the person panted. Not quite a child, the person still sounded quite young. SAMI2 reached for Niko's shoulder.

"We should just…" SAMI2 started. Niko brushed off the bot.

"Hi. I'm Niko, and this is SAMI2. Why are you so sad?" Niko asked.

"I… I… I… SAMI?" the dark figure cocked his head with familiarity. A white dot where his eye would have been began to brighten.

"Yes! This is, well, this isn't SAMI, but…" Niko began.

"No, yes, yes, SAMI. I… I couldn't remember…" the person began to relax. He began sliding down, seating himself on the ground. However, SAMI2 stepped forward and shielded Niko from the figure. The robot stepped closer to the huddled person.

"Who are you, and why are you here?" SAMI2 inquired. The mouse boy looked up at the bot, a single eye just barely beginning to show.

"I'm… it's been so long since someone's come… I…" the boy fumbled. Niko glanced past SAMI2, remembering the boy's remarkable ears.

"Do you know Row?" Niko began. The name, like a switch, brought life back into the mouse child. He jumped at the name, his left, brown eye now in full view, darting around the room. He quickly looked around to find Niko.

"Row?! You've seen Row?" the boy tried bounding foward towards Niko, but suddenly SAMI2 grabbed him. The robots arms snatching the figure like a bear claw.

"No. Identify yourself," SAMI2 demanded. The boy stopped, turning his gaze to the robot's red glare. He thought.

"It's… Colin. Wait, where did you see Row? Please, I must find her!" Colin pleaded. SAMI2, still holding Colin, turned to look at Niko.

"She was at Darktown. At the junkyard," Niko answered.

"You guys, you have to let me get to Darktown, please!" Colin requested. He began struggling, but SAMI2 did not give way. Colin attempted to pry away the robot's arms, but he could do little against the robot's clenched steel.

"No, who are you? Answer the question!" SAMI2 stated forcefully. The robots tone became extremely authoritative, much to Niko's surprise. SAMI2's change in tone and attitude was so sudden.

"Colin, why do you need to see Row?" Colin stopped struggling at the name, looking incredulously at the scarfed cat child. Then, Colin's eye widened and shut. He took several deep breaths before he finally relaxed once more. He turned to SAMI2.

"I'm… I'm sorry. I… Ok. I can't remember, but Row's a… friend? No… sister? I was…" As Colin continued to talk more light came around the eye. "I came from Darktown. I wanted to see the Abrupt Wastes, maybe the Rifts. But I got lost and… and you two found me. Can you let me go? I promise I won't run." Colin looked down, his eye gave a melancholy look. SAMI2 slowly released him. The boy rubbed where the robot held. "Sorry, I was so confused." Colin sat back down. Niko tried getting closer, but SAMI2 remained on guard.

"What happened to you, Colin?"

A few seconds went by while Colin tried remembering. The boy's mouse ears perked up. He looked at Niko wearing a frightful expression. He didn't panic though.

"I got lost, separated from… from… Serri, someone else walking with me. I tried walking around to find her before…" he shivered "that THING showed up." Niko looked at him, confused. The Tearer in the Night Forest?

"What thing?"

"That thing with long arms and two heads! The black thing, it just…" Colin began shaking. He started again, almost crying, "It just started ripping away at me! It felt terrible, horrible. It didn't hurt, but… I just… couldn't remember anymore. It's like my remembering was just… just. I didn't know what to do, who I was… I was just… here. Just..." Colin buried his head in his arms. Is that what the Tearer did? Were there other monsters? Niko began to think, before turning to SAMI2.

"What if we… brought him back to Darktown?" Niko asked. SAMI2 looked curiously at Niko. Colin slightly raised his head at the suggestion. "I mean, if he knows Row, wouldn't she be happy to see him?"

"Negative. You need to get to the Abrupt Wastes," SAMI2 interjected. Niko looked back hard at the robot.

"We're not going to leave him. SAMI would have brought him," Niko pressed back. SAMI2 flinched at the remark.

"Unit 276 would have… you can't compare what 276 would do to…" SAMI2 tried. Something was confusing it.

"Don't you help people? What happened? Why are you acting like this?"

SAMI2 stopped for a second, as if processing information. It's red light flickering. It stood rigid as information whirred inside. Once more, warm life breathed back into the bot.

"It's… I'm sorry. Security protocols. This place is not safe and… I'm sorry, I never even consolidated… asked your name." SAMI2 replied. Niko looked back at the robotic sympathetically.

"Don't worry. You're still learning. It's Niko."

"Sorry, Niko. I got conflicted… nervous, I reverted to security protocol… as a…a..."

"Reflex?" Niko asked.

"Yes. Reflex. Apologies Colin. My programming took over. I wanted to avoid any harm." SAMI2 reached down for Colin's hand. The boy looked apprehensively back, but slowly reached for the metal limb. With a smooth then jerky motion, SAMI2 propelled Colin to his feet.

"So, you wish to go back to Darktown, Niko?" SAMI2 asked?

"Yes!" Niko stated, but then doubts began to rise. "Um, well…" Niko remembered what was still in the Night Forest. The Tearer, the emanating noises. The cliff. SAMI.

"Wait, is there a way we can get back without going through the Night Forest?" Niko inquired.

"Getting to Darktown is easier than getting here, but there are many routes, ways we can get back," SAMI2 responded. Before they could act, a deep noise pervaded the air. It sounded like a low-pitched, continuous rumble, cadenced by noises similar to nails scratching ceramic. It came from the darkness towards the machine Colin sat under. SAMI2 looked in the sound's direction, alert as ever. Colin began to tremble. The brown smog began to thicken, tainting the colors of the rocky bluish floor and gray machinery.

"It's that… thing!" Colin yelped. SAMI2 hoisted Colin onto its back. At that moment, a loud crash could be heard. A long beam from the top of the machine came crashing down. SAMI2 jumped back evading the debris. Niko stumbled back in surprise. The beam slammed into the ground, the top crashing through a factory wall, separating the group. Near the top of the machine, a slender, oily black arm wrapped to the top.

"Don't let it touch us!" Colin cried. Niko, dazed, tried getting up while SAMI2 attempted to move the beam. Then, the oily monstrosity appeared on top the convoluted contraption. Two heads sprouted from its slender body One on the right was a twitching bulb with an antenna while the other was a blind, toothless maw, gnashing at its second head. The antenna felt around like that of an insect before turning its attention towards SAMI2. A black arm lunged for the duo. The robot dodged the strike. SAMI2 waved towards the creature and took off into a mechanical sprint. The black monster scurried after the machine and the mouse boy, a tail slithering after it.

The beam obscured Niko's view of the event. The only thing that was heard was SAMI2's metallic footfalls echoing in the distance trailed by the creature's constant growl. The sounds began to die away in the darkness. Niko's sensibilities returned.

"SAMI2? Colin? Are you there?" Niko's voice fell onto the indifferent darkness. No response. "Anyone?" The beam was as wide as SAMI2 was tall and Niko couldn't see an easy way around it. It was thin on the side it fell, but it was dense metal. Niko turned once more towards the darkness ahead. Only one way to go.

"No, no. No. No! Why? Not you, too," Niko anguished. "Why? Why is this happening? Why does this keep happening?" Niko looked up. "Why? Can anyone answer me? Are you still here? Are you still with me, whoever you are?" Only silence spoke. Niko sat down. "Are either of you still here?" Still, nothing. Nothing would speak to the lonely child. "Can anyone answer me?" Niko pleaded, somberly. The darkness lay still, the machines it held still dead to the world. Brown light shined through the cracks.

They hold us back.

Niko tried pushing against the beam, grunting with exertion. The maintenance drone couldn't budge it, and Niko found far less luck.

So I shed them. I tore them off. I ripped myself apart so I could speak with the stars.

So I could become Grand.

So I could become Omniscient.

So I could become Divine.

Finally, a noise broke the silence. A low-pitched rumble.

And yet, I am still trapped, confined to my self, my identity. Gregory.

Niko's eyes widened at the noise. Turning towards the beam, a terrifying sight came to view. A loose, oily arm began wrapping itself on top of the beam. Two heads began to creep up from behind. Niko started to back off until a gnashing, toothless maw apparated. Niko took off running, the monster scurrying into pursuit.

The creature moved in manner halfway between an insect and snake, slapping its loose limbs and slithering them along. It was off balance at all times, chasing itself as much as it chased Niko. The two heads bickered, ripping at one another. The darkness that enveloped its form was unnatural, like oil rather than shadow. As Niko ran, an odd trend seemed to occur. The once dilapidated contraptions began to take form and color. One machine gave off a blue light from a working screen. However, Niko took no notice given the circumstances. Despite the monster's self conflict, it made gains, reaching its opaque tendrils towards the cat child. Niko didn't even notice the mechanized yelling that came from above.

An automated mass slammed into the monster, screaming incoherent battle cries. The creature only let out clicking noises, its rumbling interrupted . The thud gave Niko cause to look back, first in fright, then confusion. The monster was no longer in pursuit while what looked like a set of patchwork olive rectangles wrestled it down. The oily tendrils waved and the monster tried righting itself as steel shapes smashed against it.

"This is government property and you do NOT have AUTHORIZATION!" a gruff, reverberating, metallic voice shouted. "Welcome to PAIN TOWN where I am MAYOR, SHERIFF, JUDGE, treasurer, secretary, public works, and the MAILMAN!" Each blow matching with each word. The creature tried retreating, but the robot pressed the assault, slamming a rectangular arm into the monster's side. "Delivering our finest export: Quality…" a punch echoing across the floor, "...s kickings!"

The creature broke free, rushing back towards the dark machinery. Niko looked in awe at the newcomer. It had a square form, mixes of different shades of olive green. Two thick, steel, rectangular blocks composed its arms. Some black patches dotted its body like dark rashes. A symbol lay on its back and front, scratched and tattered to the point where it was indecipherable. Two smaller, cylindrical legs helped to support the bot.

"Did I order you to retreat!? And who else do we have" the blocky machine bellowed, turning around. It was then the machine saw an awe-struck Niko.