in the underground laboratory*
the tapping of buttons and clicking of dials filled the room when cole's eyes opened to painfully bright lights and the Android 'Rachael the desk typing on a laptop until she heard him groan.
"good morning master, i was unaware you had awoken early." she said walking over to him putting a black robe on before climbing in bed with him. something he didn't like so he forced himself out of the bed, "just a dream; I'll be in the shower" he said to himself and ignored Rachael.
walking over to his dresser he grabbed a pair of boxers, socks, and a grey shirt. Turning to her he asked grabbing a loofah "you gonna be fine out here or..."
she looked up at him quizzically before she stood up walking over to him smiling seductively letting her cleavage show a generous amount and for extra measure swayed her hips and biting her lip. stopping a foot from him she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close to kiss him.
cole glared at her as he touched her back before a flash filled the room with an orange gold glow. Shaking his head exasperatedly he hoisted her up by her leg and put her in the bed's center and tossed the comforter on her the next thing she knew she was rebooting on the bed unable to move.
"m-master cole...uh i can't move my arms or legs" she called out but was met with silence.
looking down she saw why she couldn't move, she was wrapped in the bedsheets and tied around her comfy confinement were power cords and wires.
'i guess my experiment was successful, master sigma does not wish to use my body for stress relief and i paid for it' she thought to herself trying to free herself but found it ten minutes later cole came out of the bathroom wearing the same black and grey clothes as last time but these were cleaner and looked newer.
"master sig- uh, i mean cole, i apologize for my actions but i wanted to surmise for myself whether or not you were up for a stress relief session with me" she said sitting up in the bed with a smile.
"do any of that shit again and i promise you wont reboot a second time" he said using Agheu Glas to cut her out of the sam on of fabric. after he was done he walked over to his desk and grabbed the key card leaving the robot alone to its own devices.
"just one more day and I'll be out of here to finally be back with my Ruby" he muttered to himself absentmindedly walking into the hallway towards the elevator.
on his way memories of ezra came up and for once he let himself get lost in his own head. "what could be worse huh, a 22 year old orphan in love with a girl that reminds me of you" he said pulling out a picture of ezra and him sleeping in her living room.
"coleiknowyoudon'tliketvbutthisismyfavorite show,ipromiseyou'lllovethistoojustgiveita chance"ezrasaidpullingcoleunderherblanket lettinghimholdthebowlofpopcorn. "I'llgivethismovietenminutes"colesaidstuffing hismouthfullofpopcorn.
ezragiggledandhuggedhimrestingherheadon hissmiling.
colehadn'trealizehe'dfallenasleepinherarms untilhewokeupwithakinkinhisneckandbothof themundertheblanketcuddling.lookingbehind himhesawhersmilinginhersleepburyingher faceinhisshoulder,smilinghimselfherolledover andpulledherinhisarmswhispering"so...thisis what*longyawn*lovefeltlike"justbeforefalling asleepwithtearsrolldownhisfaceintoherhair.
letting the memory fade he stepped into the elevator and pushed the 18th floor button taking him straight to the training arena.
inside the training room stood the most aggravation inducing training droid he'd ever fought.
this particular droid knew his every move before he could make it and every day he came in to train the robot beat him into the ground until he scored a good sized scratch on its back and what was his reward? why, a giant gauntlet to the face knocking him into the center console. he shivered at the first time he'd scored a solid hit to the droid.
today he felt like just moving through the motions ezra had taught him. and what better way than to do that than to turn a smaller bot on and only have the mimic program active and move with the music he'd put on to help him better go through the motions.
starting off he went right for a left cross and faked a right hook to perform a side kick sending the droid flying with a shockwave of dark red lighting and in that moment cole went from calm to terrified as he looked down at his hands sparking vibrant gold and dark orange slowly turning red.
"th-this looks just like- no it's...i'm-" he whispered backing up too fast he tripped on his own feet and fell on his back before sitting up and on instinct his body flared his lightning around his body like a cloak and all around him red, gold, and orange swirled around him and grew brighter and brighter.
"make it stop, please make it stop!"
just as he saw it memories of Ruby bleeding out in his arms, her life staining his hands and trying to desperately help her, at first he thought her dead. After about a few minutes he felt her breathing against his neck while he hugged her crying...just not as much as he'd hoped.
"YOU ARE SUCH A FAILURE"
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU COLE?"
"im just relieved to see you two came back alive cole, just...please be more careful."
"YOU ALMOST KILLED MY SISTER YOU MONSTER"
images of ezra dying, his fight with all of his old friends, his running away, the news recording of Blake's death, and finding out he got his grimm hit him like a freight train and all he could do was crumble like a sand sculpture.
The droid was back up and hit him in the chest with a powerful punch. Last thing cole heard was a crunch and popping sound as he hit the floor with a loud thump and coughed harshly face on the floor.
Lying there unable to move or breathe his mind screamed while his body fought to move 'no this can't be happening to me, I'm not a monster!' he thought as he tried to stand up but his legs gave out halfway and fell on his knees, "make them stop, please stop; the voices are too loud" he took a deep breath and screamed "PLEASE STOP THE VOICES" as he gripped his head in his hands bawling his heart out and struggling to breath without choking on blood.
to his dismay the voices only got louder and louder the more weak and scared he felt, and much like a leaf in a storm he began shaking and shivering like he was being freezing over from the inside out, all the while trying to breathe more calmly, only problem was that it turned into a full blown anxiety attack. as the hyperventilating started, tears came heavy; streaming down his face and hit the floor like rain drops.
not long after, the training bot convulsed as it got closer to his field of lightning, the metal creaking and loudly groaning like it would break at any moment.
taking a few steps toward the arena the robot slowly reached down and grabbed him by the neck squeezing tight and picked him up holding him off the ground and got ready to punch him.
cole looked right at the fist and in a desperate attempt to escape he tried to let out a roar that came out as a strangled choking sound as an ionic repulse threw the droid to the ground head and shoulders first shorting it out, but he was far from done.
dropping to the ground cole clenched his fists tight trying to hold the pain in slowly got to his feet shaking and gasping for breath coughing a bit as he did.
looking down at the robot he aimed his hand at its face and the moment he saw his lightning come out as it did last time and sighed lowering it keeping his head down as he slowly walk/limped out of the room back to the bedroom he'd been staying in not bothering to clean anything up opting to let his mind just wander trying to find happier times in his life but it was hard when he was scared of his own powers- the color didn't make it feel any better either, but he hoped it would change back to his old color of gold and orange.
"i did all this to myself." cole said aloud feeling drained in more ways than one.
walking through the halls he took a glance at the grimm that still roamed the underground laboratories and noticed how they didn't even acknowledge him when a beringal walked past him pushing him aside with a gentle push...almost like it was instinctively showing him respect!
he reached out and gently pet it as it walked away purposely avoiding him.
"what is going on?" he asked as quiet and gentle as possible.
the leathery tar-like skin shining like polished obsidian despite feeling like it could take an explosion head on, cole took notice of how his grimm arm went from thin bone-like twigs to what resembled his other arm, just more musculature and got tougher bone armor that looked to have grown claw-like nails.
cole's legs turned to jelly seeing his arm change so drastically and spread up his bicep and stopped just under his armpit and shoulder. with his dread in the air the grimm rushed toward him snarling and clamoring over each other to get a piece of him. just as a good 5 or 6 of them got close the gorilla-like grimm rushed over to him and stood over him on all fours roaring and pounding the ground around him causing cole to curl up in the fetal position screaming in terror and mentally hoping to not die.
the gorilla-like grimm got the other grimm to back off from him, and in one final ground shaking bash of its fists they all fled from the two of them and smacked into each other running in different directions.
the beringal stopped growling and roaring to check on cole, whom shook and trembled under the ten foot grimm gorilla gasping and panting.
as it slowly moved away from him cole peeked up at the dark-skinned creature questioning why it was just protecting him from its own kind and let him live.
sitting up to look at the grimm cole watched it look down at his arm pointed to him, then to itself pointing to its heart touching where it was in its chest just before it backed away from him and turned around leaving him alone in the halls.
"i think its time i left...like right now" he said sprinting towards the bedroom door and slammed it shut with his foot after crashing through it.
"pyrrha we're leaving...also, im naming you mia from now on"
she looked down at him from the bed and asked, "where are we going...and why do you want to change my name" cole got up from the floor and grabbed a hiking backpack, his dagger, his pistols, and a smaller pack with a gallon size bag of water.
when he turned around he was greeted to his robot servant standing in front of him crossing her arms and visibly upset. "Dr.emire gave me the name and I'd like to know why your changing it master" took in and let out a deep breath to let himself calm himself down but his annoyance was only growing the longer she stood there.
"because i knew someone with your name and I'd rather not be angry if i have to use your name" he said walking over to the clothes in the closet and put five changes of the same outfit in a duffel bag consisting of black socks, grey shirts, black boxer briefs, black and silver camo pants, and a mask to hide his face when he wasn't wearing his helmet.
he looked up at her and put the bag on the bed next to her
"plus you look like more of a mia or maybe lily" he said handing her a bag. "go find food that is light but filling, and please be quick or ill leave you here" she nodded and left to get all the food the bag could carry, leaving cole to do some extra precautions around the facility using lighting dust crystals as bombs hooked up to detonate five minutes after the timer started.
A few hours later the entire facility had been littered with damn near seventy dust crystal bombs for all thirty-five floors and went toward the main entrance where mia stood wearing a duffel full of food she'd grabbed.
"you really sure about destroying the facility cole, there's no way back once you set down this path" she asked in a way that sounded like she'd given him a choice to stay and a bit longer.
"im positive mia, this place needs to go"
Stopping in his tracks he motioned for her to help him out of his armor….which almost took a full hour and another hour to pack it away inside a case large enough to store it. Cole realizing the trouble he bring, he put on the mask and continued inside the elevator "im ready now"
She nodded and pressed the top floor marked with an obvious 'one' and pulled out a box with a switch on it "this will start a five minute window for us to get far enough from here but we'll have to be fast"
Ignoring the warning he switched it to trigger the timer the moment he saw the doors open to a huge room with a single door on the other end.
"let's go mia" he said impatiently rushing out the bunker he'd been living in, "im not wasting this chance to erase that place for good"
She nodded following his lead out the door where both found a conveniently parked truck. Cole smirked mischievously walking towards the front seat door and with his grimm arm he smashed the window in and unlocked the doors and went straight for cleaning the seat of glass before turning the car on with his lightning. "mia, put our bags in the trunk and get in!" he exclaimed.
No sooner he'd said as much she closed the trunk and hopped in stripping out of her uniform and set to putting on a more casual outfit; a blue pair of jeans, white shoes and a black t-shirt over her orange lace bra giving cole quite a view. 'she's going to be the death of me' he thought angrily stomping on the gas. Not far from his exit cole felt the explosions shake the ground beneath the truck just before caving in on itself.
Cole shifted gears, stomped the gas and had to swerve between trees, wildlife and rocks, not noticing mia watching the ground fall in on itself.
"uhmm mas- cole? You might wanna speed up….right now!" mia said frantically trying to buckle her seat belt and locked it to herself as tight as it went.
"im driving as fast as this thing can go!" he yelled launching the truck in the air on a rock.
Weight gave way for a few seconds before hitting a tree from his side breaking some of his armor off his left arm spraying blood all over himself and the area he sat in.
The truck rolled to the right in the air and went end over end and smashed through a few trees, against rocks and crashed upside down in a ravine spaying water everywhere.
The ground continued to shake until before ceasing entirely but trees continued to fall all around them like dominos. the truck was smashed and crumpled, cole was near unconscious and bleeding from the crash and had a gash in his shoulder and back bled just as bad as deep as the cut was.
Mia was unharmed but unconscious but all around just fine. "damn, probably shouldn't have blown it so soon" he coughed out a chuckle spilling blood from his mouth and nose.
Dragging himself out of the truck he took in his surroundings to at least try and guess at where he was but all he could see were plants, animals fleeing from his direction and fallen trees that were swallowed by sink hole he'd created.
Cole sighed at the cold air against his skin letting a smile spread over his face relishing in the freedom he now had, but it was short lived when he realized mia and their stuff were in the truck….which was upside down and leaking gas in the ravine.
"FUCK" he exclaimed running over to the truck and went to work getting mia out first, he grabbed his dagger out of his boot and cut her seatbelt off and dragged her out and gently laid her down on the ground before going back to get their stuff.
All he was able to salvage from the wreckage was his weapons, clothes and armor but the food, tent, and other survival supplies were gone and night was quickly creeping towards them so, ignoring his agony in his wounds he put everything on his back and picked mia up and started walking into the forest hoping that they didn't get attacked.
"can't get any worse from here" he said climbing over a fallen tree. The pain that racked through his body was dismal compared to the feelings swirling around in his head, hope was never something he could grasp on when his whole life was a myriad of bad situations and bad luck wrapped up in a tight ball of suffering.
Several hours into his walk trough the woods cole had collapsed under the roots of an old tree panting and sweating like he'd been exercising for a whole day back when he was a beacon student.
Forcing himself to his feet he tossed his bags in the farthest spot and set mia against the bags before realizing she might be…well dead wouldn't be a good term but it was more….shut off for the moment, so not even thinking it over he shot her in the chest hoping it would turn her back on…except in doing so he blacked out falling to the soft soil near mia.
While cole slept the day away mia came back online to assess what happened and where they were and as she looked around and saw cole unconscious and wounded but they weren't healing and his grimm on his arm was spreading further up to his shoulder and neck.
"this is bad" she said looking him over to check for any other abnormalities or wounds but found none, she let out a sigh and slumped back against the bags in relief knowing cole was relatively okay…for now anyway.
"he must have been in so much pain carrying me and all of this stuff" she said pulling out a first aid kit from the backpack and got to work setting up her pseudo work station and slumped cole over the bags to clean, suture and cover up his wounds.
Mia poured some disinfectant on the wound, which made cole wake up screaming. She was prepared for that so she gave him a rubber tube to bite down on ' he's doing a lot more than just twitching" she quipped, and the moment the needle entered through his skin again and again, was the moment he grabbed her other hand almost braking one or two fingers from the girls hand, with every movement she made, cole started yelling and shaking, worst of all mia could barely manage to hold him down.
The android couldn't bear to keep looking, she didn't want to but, she had to, she kept watching him suffer while she worked the thread and needle through his flesh
The expression on his face told her everything he was feeling, he tried to be quiet with his own screams by clenching his teeth, which looked like they would shatter from the pressure at any moment if not for the tube he was biting through.
he kept his eyes open full with tears of pain, looking directly at her eyes as if trying to burn something in his memory he swore he saw ruby holding his gaze. then just like that, nearly all the muscles in his body went limp... head hit the bag and the rubber tube fell from his mouth rolling in the dirt.
She tried to calm down but seeing him like this was too much for her to bear, she dressed the sutures and wrapped them up with bandages to cover what she could and decided to leave him there on his chest.