"Is that smart polymer?"
In response to the hacker's question, Wattson nodded.
The substance in the clear plastic tube that the engineer was holding seemed to change its properties as Crypto looked at it. One second it was shimmering; the next it was dull. It appeared to be a viscous gel, and then she shifted her grip on the tube, and it moved freely like water. It was mesmerizing- he found it difficult to look away. Though he'd used smart polymer plenty of times in the Apex Games, it was always contained in opaque syringes- he'd never seen the material itself, before it took the form of whatever molecular structure it needed to copy.
Aside from being the universal product to patch up wounded soldiers - or Apex Games competitors - and get them back into combat as quickly as possible, it was handy in situations like this: when mechanical repair work needed to be done without access to shop tools. Wattson would have preferred to do the work manually- the more smart polymer was used, the more likely it was to result in structural weaknesses on a molecular level. She suspected that Revenant had already used plenty of it in the arena yesterday.
Then again… Even if she had access to a lathe and a TIG welder instead of being cooped up in a dingy motel room, she wasn't the best metalworker. She'd rather not end up causing more harm than good. This wasn't ideal; however, it was reliable.
"I'm almost done," she assured the assassin as she worked. He was uncharacteristically calm and cooperative, though he still kept a close eye on the engineer- ever vigilant in case she decided to turn on him. Crypto was cross-legged on the bed, leaning back against the headboard with his laptop in front of him as he hunted for a missing bracket in the code he'd been writing… It seemed that Wattson's signal disruptor, while it certainly made it easier for him to focus, did not prevent him from making mistakes.
"And… finished!"
Wattson grinned triumphantly as she set her supplies aside and snapped the panels back into place. She jumped to her feet and offered Revenant a hand up, which he ignored. As the engineer gathered all of her tools back into her backpack, he went through a short series of precise motions, testing the work she'd done. Watching him, it reminded Crypto vaguely of poomsae- techniques in martial arts, repeated in a sequential order to attain mastery over them. His movement was always surprisingly fluid and graceful… It seemed odd, out-of-place for a machine.
Once she'd finished stowing her equipment, Wattson looked up at him with a warm smile. She admired her handiwork- it still showed that he'd taken significant damage at some point, with the surface of his metal plating rough and dull in some places, but there were no more exposed wires or other internals.
"I don't blame you for not liking humans," she said, "but I hope you think I did good today. You can come to me if anything bad happens to you again. Next time, though, we're going to work on your manners. You should say 'please' and 'thank you,' and you shouldn't threaten to hurt people."
Revenant glared at her silently. Maybe… maybe he appreciated what she'd done, but he knew better than to trust her. He'd existed under the illusion of humanity for far too long- more than enough time to know how it worked, and that it wasn't the idealistic fantasy they made it out to be.
Humanity drove their kind to seek out acceptance like a drug; to cling to small communities, and harm anyone who committed the crime of not following that community's rules. They saw him as vicious, soulless for carrying out a directive - a purpose - to end human life by force, perhaps because they never knew their own purposes… but they turned around and sentenced their own kind to needless suffering and death by way of a signature on a piece of paper. It remained a constant- over two hundred eighty-eight years of human lives, it had never changed.
Even when he'd believed himself to be a carbon-based organism - one that looked like them - Revenant had never felt himself to be a part of the human condition… and he'd never wanted to be. They weren't something to aspire to any more than he was.
With a soft click, Wattson turned off the signal disruptor. She put it away with the rest of her supplies. The distortion faded- his senses returned to their usual sharp, deadly degree of precision. The feeling of that accursed human body came back in full force, too, with all of its disgusting flimsiness. He fought the urge to cut into his own chest with his claws, as if he could kill the thing that lived inside him… If only it were so simple.
Scraping outside, on the fire escape, drew his attention. He aimed the pistol- Crypto and Wattson, who hadn't heard the sound, turned to look at the assassin in alarm. The window opened, and a scrawny man with white-blond hair and thick glasses tumbled clumsily into the room.
"Mauser!"
Crypto promptly greeted his friend. "What are you doing here? Our meeting with Cade is not for another half-hour."
Seeing that the hacker knew this man, and he didn't appear to be a threat for the moment, Revenant reluctantly lowered the weapon. Mauser stood up straighter and adjusted his glasses.
"Heard you were working with a simulacrum," he said excitedly. "I thought it might be Revenant, and I was right! Huge fan of yours- love all that close-combat stuff you do in the Apex Games, the joint-breaking and everything! Here- any chance I can get you to sign this for me?"
The radio operator pulled a small, leather-bound notebook out of his pocket and held it out.
"Fuck off, skin-suit."
The assassin pushed Mauser's arm away.
"Revenant! That's not nice," scolded Wattson. He turned around to glare at her. Mauser quietly slid his notebook back into his pocket, looking down with a disappointed expression.
Crypto sighed. He liked Mauser, but didn't really want him here- not under the current circumstances. The man was too energetic, too easily excited, and not great at keeping a low profile.
"Did Cade tell you what's going on?"
Mauser nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Complete divergence between the human mind and the AI, huh? That electronics guy in the early twenty-sixth century, Daniel Milutin, theorized it would happen eventually if a simulacrum lasted long enough… I don't think there's ever been a documented case, though!"
"Oh- I remember that article! I love Milutin's work," Wattson chimed in. "He invented the capacitor that made ionic air propulsion practical. He built our transportation infrastructure, you know… His work on electrohydrodynamics really charged the technological development of our society!"
Mauser blinked, with a blank stare on his face. He understood the word capacitor, and not much else.
"Unless you have a plan to kill this human virus," Revenant growled, "shut up."
He'd had enough of organic creatures, and their rambling was testing his patience. Wattson side-eyed him.
"Manners! We talked about- wait a minute. You…?"
Realization struck her suddenly with the force of a freight train. She'd been so absorbed in her thoughts of technological devices - the intricate, fascinating details of them, and how those details connected into a beautiful system - that she hadn't bothered to put two and two together. They weren't just talking about an abstract theory of Daniel Milutin's that was unlikely to ever be proven- they were talking about Revenant.
The engineer had been around plenty of sentient robots that were mistrustful of humans. It wasn't uncommon in lawless Solace City, where there was a high concentration of desperate people abandoned by the government, and good money to be made in scrapping machines for parts. He was enough like them that she hadn't made the connection: being a simulacrum meant that he had a human component to his consciousness.
There were so many questions that she wanted to ask him. As far as Wattson was concerned, he could be the key to meaningful understanding between humans and sentient machines. What his programmed function and his directives meant to him, what he felt and how it differed from human sensations and emotions… She had so much to learn, but she knew better than to blurt out what she was thinking. In all probability, the assassin wouldn't take kindly to that.
A fist pounding on the door snapped her out of her thoughts.
"Management," an authoritative voice called from the hallway. "Your fee was for one person. If you're going to have a party in there, you owe me two hundred credits!"
Crypto let out a heavy sigh as he locked his laptop and closed the lid. He'd been in a flow, making steady progress on his code, and the distraction had shattered that- he was less than pleased.
"Oh- ne t'inquiète pas. I'll take care of it," said Wattson. She pulled her wallet out of her pocket as she walked over to the door. The pounding continued.
"Come on," the irate voice called from the hallway. "Open this door, or so help me-!"
"I'm coming," the engineer replied in a soft yet insistent voice. "You don't need to be rude."
She unlocked the bolt and chain, gripped the handle, and turned it. The door opened a quarter of an inch.
The next thing she knew, she was lying on her back on the ground and her ears were ringing. She pushed herself up into a sitting position. Warm, sticky liquid sprayed across the front of her body- a fraction of a second later, a body clad in military gear collapsed on the floor beside her with a heavy thud. Someone gasped loudly- the start of a scream, which was abruptly cut off by a sickening wet gurgling. Another body hit the ground in the hallway.
Crypto was first to react: he dropped low behind the bed, and pulled Mauser down beside him. A mixture of commanding and frenzied shouts came from the hallway:
"Found the targets-"
"Cover! Cover!"
"Send backup, north corridor, fifth floor!"
It was over in seconds. Revenant stood over the bodies- blood dripped from his metal frame and pooled on the floor. Wattson stared wide-eyed at the carnage in front of her, frozen in place where she sat on the floor, leaning back on her hands with her legs drawn up. Crypto shoved his laptop into his backpack as quickly as he could and rushed to her side. He took her arm and pulled her to her feet.
"Natalie- are you okay?"
"I- I think so. Thank you." She pulled the hacker into a quick hug, after which she turned away and looked at Revenant, head tilted in a curious demeanor. "Did you… save me?"
"No."
The assassin answered quickly without paying her any attention. He stepped around her and stalked toward Mauser at a slow, threatening pace. "You led them here."
"Whoa- No, man! No, I didn't," the radio operator insisted. "I know when I'm being followed, and I wasn't followed! What's the problem, anyway? You took care of them easily enough! It was freakin' badass, too- just like in the Games! Kim- I mean, Ryu, you need to learn some new moves from this guy, man!"
"We can't stay here."
Crypto had ignored the confrontation until this point- he took a handheld radio off the body of one of the soldiers, disconnected the battery, and slipped the radio and its battery into separate pockets. "No matter how it happened, this location has been compromised."
He pushed the window open and cautiously looked out at the fire escape.
"I… can go to the Syndicate," Wattson said quietly. "I'll ask them to clear your name."
At her words, Crypto stepped back from the window and turned to face her with a look of regret. "It won't work," he said quietly. "The longer they let me live, they risk losing control of their corporate empire. Now that they've seen you working with me, there's a target on your back, too. I'm so sorry, Natalie- I'm sorry I dragged you into all this."
"Aww. Touching," said Mauser. The radio operator had a big, goofy grin on his face. "We really should get moving before their backup gets here, though. Come on!"
He pushed past Crypto and leaped out the window, onto the fire escape.