Chapter 8

An utter feeling of dread fell upon XJ9, and as her brain tried to figure out exactly what that new feeling was, all it did was set in more. She stared straight ahead at the target and the burnt mark from her blast that had barely missed the center. She heard the speaker turn on, and she knew that the tiny man was talking, but she wasn't taking it in at all. All she could do was stare at it, the shot that had missed, and with it ruined everything. A few other voices started to mix in with his, but she paid them no mind.

She had missed, she had missed. All she had to do was hit the target, that was it, and yet she screwed it up. She did everything right; she had made the gun and done the math and double-checked everything. How did it all go wrong at the very last second? She started to drown in her thoughts as her eyes zoomed in more and more on the burnt spot. The voices were slower, getting louder and closer as time ticked slowly by. Suddenly a hand was placed on her shoulder, and she snapped out of her daze.

The hand was not of comfort or concern like that of the woman's, but rather forceful in its simple touch. She slowly turned her head to look at the hand's owner. The man she had seen guarding the door earlier nervously looked back at her. She barely moved her arm when he shot back, taking his hand off her, and immediately seemed to prepare himself for a fight. She tilted her head in confusion at him, not understanding why he so upset. She was the one who should be upset and maybe the angry little man. She didn't think about it too much, as the sound of someone clearing their throat caught her attention. Wakeman smiled at her, but it wasn't one that the woman usually gave her. It was off, and that unsettled XJ9 even more.

"XJ9 lower your weapon and turn safety mode back on for it."

She looked away from Wakeman's smile and over at the nervous guard that seemed to be giving it all he had not to draw his own gun before she did what was asked of her. The weapon slowly shifted back into her arm, and she could feel the stiffness set in all over again.

"Good, now I need you to stay here while the General and I have a little chat. Do you understand?"

She nodded, and with her answer, the lady turned around. She walked to the door and shot XJ9 last quick, fake smile before leaving. She turned her head to watch the little man and his men leave the viewing room one by one. She didn't like this, and when she didn't like something, she usually would cry, but not now. She had the feeling that crying wouldn't bring back the kind lady this time and only upset the antsy guard even more. So, she fought back her tears and snuffles, feeling the guard tense even more up at just those little actions. She didn't like this, no, not one bit.

"Oh, What's the matter missing your ma already?"

XJ9 had to keep herself from jumping back at the sudden appearance of the woman. It seemed that sometime between guarding the door with the man, and now the lady had been able to comb down her hat hair. Still, a defiant black curl stuck out of her head that flew around when the woman moved her head in the slightest. XJ9 looked between the both of them in confusion. Both of them donned the same guard uniform; both of them had guarded the same door, and now her she supposed, yet they were already so very different. The woman happily stood a foot away from her, while the nervous man looked like he was about to have a heart attack watching her stand that close. He snapped at the woman under his breath.

"Crikey Lilan, What the heck do you think you're doing?"

"Making sure the bot's okay."

"Okay, okay, making sure the robot's okay! You know what's not gonna be okay if you set that thing off, and when they come back, your guts are splattered all over the floor."

"Fair point, but it also won't be good if they came back to bot crying."

The man opened his mouth to say something but closed it when nothing came out.

"Look, I know you're worried, but I got a good feeling about this one."

The man just crossed his arms and mumbled, "That's what he said before his ribs were flung to the other side of the room." The lady, Lilan, it seemed, shuddered at the man's words, and XJ9 just found herself once more, turning her head in confusion at them. What were they talking about? Lilian turned away from the man, making her little curl sway, and looked back at her.

"Your name is JX9, right?"

It took her a second for the question to sink in, and suddenly she found herself feeling shy for the first time. She timidly shook her head no and watched the lady's brows furrow.

"I swear that was it."

"You were close; just switch the letters around."

She shot the man a smile, before looking back at the timid bot.

"So, it's XJ9, then?"

She found her hands suddenly very interesting, and she fiddled around with her fingers while nodding yes.

"Aw, you're so cute."

Her face suddenly felt much hotter as her brain identified the meaning of the word, and she heard the lady laugh. The man let a chuckle, and her face was practically burning at the moment. She stopped looking at her hands as she quickly used them to cover her blushed cheeks. She debated running a system check, like Wakeman usually made her do, to see if something was wrong, but her attention was drawn to a low buzzing sound. Lilian reached in her pocket and pulled out a device.

She started talking into it, perhaps XJ9 should've been paying more attention to what Lilian was saying, but she wasn't. All of her attention was immediately drawn to what was attached to the device. Her brain raced to identify the creature on the end of the little chain like it had done before with her duck. She wished she had her duck right now, but the little blue plushie on the end of the chain was still good. The small...bear was adorable, and she wanted to reach out and squeeze it to see if it squeaked as well. She already really liked the little bear, and Lilian too, she guessed. She'd like her more if she let her squeeze the bear, though.

Author's Note- Thank you all for being patient and putting up with this crazy update schedule. To celebrate the Holidays and New Year, the next update will be on Dec 25th. Thank you all for reading, and please leave a review. See you on the 25th!