Chapter 7: Rivet City
Well, Mei's leg seemed to be getting better, which was more than we could ask for. When I first saw the extent of the damage, I was horrified, but Doctor Barrows was probably the best doctor the wasteland had to offer. He had more years of experience than anyone since he was a ghoul. I watched as he tended to Mei's leg. Most of the flesh was burned off, and the skin probably wasn't going to grow back. The doctor said that it would probably be like a ghoul's would because of the radiation from the Centaur's attack; the muscle would harden up, and the skin around it would flake off. Other than that, there would probably be no other damage. He told her to stay off of it for about a week, and to see him when the week was up.
If that was the case, I'd have to find a job to get more caps. We were down to 52, and we couldn't live for a week on it. I knew that the venting system needed work, and Winthrop was overloaded. Maybe I could talk to him about helping out. Hopefully, he'd give me enough caps to get by this week.
Once Mei was in bed, I headed off to find Winthrop. As usual, he was working on one of the many vents that needed repairs.
"What's up, kid?" he greeted.
"I was just wondering if you needed any help," I stated. "I sometimes worked on things like this back in the Vault, and I repaired some pipes back in Megaton."
"Actually, I think there is," he stated. "I can spare about fifty caps for each job if you're interested."
I nodded.
"Great. I've been getting complaints about some disgusting smells coming from one of the vents," he stated. "I think something may have crawled in there and died, but I can't fit. I believe that you would be able to. If you can remove and dispose of it, I'll pay you fifty caps."
"Deal."
"Good. I think it's coming from the vent up where Snowflake is," he stated. "Just climb on in and check it out."
I nodded before Charon followed me up to the said vent. Snowflake pestered me about owing him money. That's when I remembered that Mei had said something about buying stuff off of him. I sighed and gave him fifty. That left me with two caps. Great...
Charon gave me the needed boost to get up in the vent. It was kind of cramped and it smelled terribly, but I managed to crawl though until I came to a turn. The smell was growing stronger with each second that I moved forward. When I came to a sharp turn, I was faced to face with a decaying mole rat. Its smell made me want to hurl, but I suppressed the urge and began to drag its corpse backwards out of the vent. The sooner I got out, the better.
"Charon, I'm coming back out!" I shouted. "I've got the corpse, so be ready!"
I felt my feet hit nothing but air as I backed out. I felt Charon's hand brush my leg, letting me know he was there to catch me. I dragged the dead mole rat out, and it fell to the floor as Charon wrapped his arms around me, preventing me from hitting the stone floor.
"Thanks," I muttered as he set me down and picked up the mole rat.
He carried it out of Underworld and walked a distance away before dropping it. He then returned to my side as we re-entered the museum to find Winthrop.
"Good work, kid," he said. "Here are your caps. Now, I have another vent that needs fixing. I've determined that it's leaking air somewhere, but I don't know where inside. I need you to go in and fix it. You up for it?"
"Just tell me which one and I'll go fix it."
"Okay. I've got electrical tape that can be used on it," he stated. "It's the one up in Carol's Place, and Greta's been on me about fixing it, saying that it gets too hot in the day and too cold at night. I love her, but I'd love to not hear her complain."
That did explain things a bit. "I'm on it."
I took the roll of tape and went up to Carol's Place.
"Oh, hello," Carol greeted. "What can I do for you?"
"I'm here to fix the vent," I replied, twirling the roll of tape on my finger.
"Oh, that's wonderful," she said. "It's always either too hot or too cold in here."
Charon gave me another boost up into the vent. This one was about the same height and width, but there was relatively no air coming through. That meant that either the generator was broken, or there were holes that needed to be patched up. As I crawled through, I could hear the air whistling up ahead. I turned my pip-boy light on so I could spot them easier. There were a few holes here and there, but nothing big, and I couldn't feel much of a breeze. I patched them up, none the less. I pressed on, though. The sound was getting louder and louder as I went on. Soon, I came to a portion of vent that was disconnected. It probably needed to be welded, but all I had was tape. I did my best to bend the section that was lowered and tape it into place, but it would only hold for so long. I'd have to speak to Winthrop about that.
When I was sure it would hold up for a while, I headed back to see the said ghoul. He was messing around with a generator in one of the back rooms.
"I take it you got it up and running?" he questioned.
"Somewhat," I replied. "I think it needs to be welded. A section is disconnected, and tape can only do so much."
"I'll see if I can't send someone else up, then," he said. "Now, I have one more task if you're interested."
"Sure," I replied. "What is it?"
"Well, I think this one is on fire," he stated.
"Fire?"
"Yes, fire, you know? Bright, hot, usually yellow, red, and orange," he said with a teasing smile.
"Yeah, I know what fire is," I replied. "How is it on fire?"
"Dunno. That's why I need you to go check it out. I've got a pre-war fire extinguisher, and I'd like you to go put it out."
"Okay. Which one is this one?"
"It's in the upper hallway outside the Ninth Circle," he stated. "But be careful. Fire can be dangerous in confined spaces."
"Will do," I replied as he handed me the faded red canister. "Come on, Charon. I'm gonna need another boost up."
He grumbled, but followed me up the stairs. I knew he was probably still mad at me, but he would get over it.
Once inside the vent, I could feel unusual heat coming from deeper inside. I held the fire extinguisher at the ready. The light inside the tunnel grew brighter and brighter. Soon, it was a burning luminescence that was like staring into the sun, but it felt a lot hotter. I shot the white foam ahead at the blaze, and it seemed to calm down. Deeper into the vent, I heard scuttling. Something was moving up ahead. It was coming towards me, and I didn't want to deal with anything without my weapon. I backed out as quickly as I could, but my eye soon caught something moving towards me. I hurried, but it was getting closer and closer. That's when I saw what it was: a giant, mutated ant. I shot the extinguisher at it, and it clacked and backed away, shooting bright, glowing embers around. I was shocked. I knew that things had been greatly mutated, but never to that extent.
"Charon!" I shouted. "I'm getting out, but I need your shotgun!"
I slid back out, and Charon caught me.
"Why can you not use your assault rifle?" he questioned.
"Because I don't have time to go retrieve it from my room!" I shot. "Hurry, just give it to me and lift me back up!"
He was a bit... doubtful, for lack of a better word, but he lifted me in none the less. I carefully aimed at the creature that spewed flames before I let loose the shot within. I wasn't prepared for the kickback of the gun, and it jarred my shoulder. With a lot of clacking and flame-spewing, the creature went limp and held still.
"Charon, I'm coming back out, but this thing made more flames, so I'll need one more lift up," I said.
I dropped down once more and gave Charon his shotgun back before I took the canister back up and put out the flames. I decided to go look and see if there were any more fire-breathing ants, but all I found were more flames and some residue that burned when my bare skin touched it. I used the extinguisher on my exposed skin. It stung horribly, but the burning stopped. Once I was satisfied, I backed out of the vent.
"Thanks," I muttered to Charon before we went back to find Winthrop.
I handed the pre-war fire extinguisher back to him, and he handed me the caps. That brought me up to 152 caps total. We would be able to eat for that much until Mei was able to travel.
"There may be more fire later," I warned him. "There was a fire-breathing ant up there, but I killed it. There may still be more, though."
He nodded. "I appreciate it, kid. You're the only one that can actually fit in there."
Now that I thought about it, I kind of was pretty small compared to everyone else. Back in the Vault, the only people bigger than Mei and I were the Tunnel Snakes. Everyone else was even smaller than we were. I shrugged it off.
"No problem," I replied. "If you need any more help, don't hesitate to ask."
He nodded, and I went back up to Carol's Place to see Mei, Charon in tow.
"Finally, someone to talk to other than Patchwork," Mei said as we entered. "That drunk has been pestering me all day. He's lost so many body parts, and he can't even form a sentence without having to repeat himself! I swear, if I have to listen to him ramble on about how he lost his finger last night, I'm going to go insane!"
I chuckled a bit. "Glad to see you're getting better."
"Yeah, yeah," she snapped. "What were you doing all morning, anyway?"
"Well, I was crawling around in the vents, fixing different things for caps," I replied.
"Lucky," she said. "You get to go crawl around in old vents like the ninjas from the pre-war movie and I'm the one stuck in bed all day..."
"I bruised my shoulder pretty bad, though," I added. "Charon, your shotgun has some kickback."
"It has been adjusted to what I can handle, that is why I was hesitant to give it to you," he stated.
"You're hesitating," I repeated. "Good. That means you are slowly breaking away from the hold that your contract has over you."
He stared at me, a weird expression across his face. I couldn't quite place it though. Almost... surprised? No... Shocked? Happy? No. I didn't know what it was.
"Anyway, Doc gave me another shot of Med-X about an hour ago," Mei said with a yawn. "That stuff's pretty amazing."
"Just be careful," I warned. "It can be very addicting."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, Kari."
I could tell that the rest of the week was going to be rather torturous for poor Mei.
~Mei's POV~
It was pure torture just lying in bed for a week. Kari managed to scrape up enough caps for us to survive for the time, but I was itching to get out and do something. I felt so useless, just sitting there all day. So, when Doc gave me the okay to leave, he bandaged up my leg and I was out. Kari and Charon were right behind me. It hurt to put pressure on it, but I was able to ignore it and head to Rivet City. Our trip was pretty uneventful, only coming across a couple Raiders, some feral ghouls, a radroach or two, and the occasional Super Mutant.
To save us food, Charon cooked some of the dead radroaches for lunch. It was nasty and chewy, but hey, when you're desperate, you'll eat just about anything. By nightfall, we had reached Rivet City. Some jerk named Harkness questioned us at the bridge, not letting us in until we stated why we had come. He let us after a while, but he was still pretty rude to us. I disliked him from then on.
A rather nice young guy pointed us in the right direction towards the science lab. I think he said his name was Diego, but I don't really remember. Everyone stared at us and Charon, but I brushed it off. Inside the labs were a bunch of people in white coats. They poked and prodded different objects with funny looking objects, then wrote stuff down on a clipboard. Kari would know more about the stuff that was going on than I would. Eventually, a woman came up to us.
"How many times do I have to tell you people, this place is off..." she paused. "Oh my gosh. It's... It's you two. You're James' daughters, aren't you?"
"Yes," Kari replied, as though she was a puppy eager to please its master. "Is he here?"
"No," the scientist stated. "He left a few days ago. But what are you two doing here? James said he left you two in the Vault."
"Too bad he didn't realize that they would try to kill us," I sarcastically said.
"Where can we find him?" Kari asked.
"Well, he headed up to the Jefferson Memorial," she responded. "He just showed up out of nowhere, trying to resurrect Project Purity, claiming that he knew how to make it work, but it died along with your mother."
"What's Project Purity?" Kari wondered aloud.
They began to talk science, so I tuned them out. They used a lot of big words, but I caught certain words that I had heard of, like G.E.C.K. Dad used to mumble about it in his sleep before we left the Vault.
Eventually, they began to move on to other subjects, such as the death of Mom and how Project Purity ended. She blamed us, though she never actually said it out loud. I sighed.
"Okay," I interrupted, "I'm going to find a place to relax while you two do your science talk. Can I have some caps?"
Kari nodded and handed me twenty.
"We've only got a few left, so try not to spend it all," she stated. "And try to find a job while you're out so we can get some more caps."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
"Charon, please go with her," Kari said. "Keep her out of trouble, please."
The giant ghoul nodded and followed me out. I was kind of mad at Kari. The way she said what she did... It made it seem as though she didn't trust me. The towering ghoul's steps were surprisingly light, probably even more than mine. I saw a guy that looked pretty tripped out up ahead, but I didn't want Charon overhearing me asking him where to get a drink.
"Charon, I can handle myself," I stated. "You should go... protect Kari or something. She's more vulnerable than I am."
"Miss Hikari told me to watch you," he said. "I will not disobey her."
"Yeah, but it wasn't an order. Go... explore or something, then. I'm sure you can handle yourself, and I can keep myself out of trouble."
"I was told to watch you," he insisted. "I am not to disobey any request of my master or mistress."
I growled in frustration. I wanted to go drink, but I knew Charon wouldn't let me. Maybe I could lose him if I wandered around enough and went fast enough. Yes, the idea sounded like a good one. I took off running down the hallway, went down the stairs and into another hallway. I could hear Charon running behind me. It made me run faster, bumping into rather disgruntled people. At the end of the hallway was a set of stairs, which I flew down and I threw the door open, slamming it shut behind me. I was in some kind of market, and I flew into the mess of people.
When I looked back I saw a couple security officers restraining Charon for, "Disturbing the Peace." I snickered and wandered around for a bit, looking for a place that I'd be able to get some kind of drink. I spotted a place called Gary's Gallery and walked up to it.
"Can I help you?" a girl with pinned-up blonde hair asked.
"I need a drink."
"Please, take a seat and I'll be right with you," she replied.
I did as she told me to, sitting right at the counter. Not a moment later, I saw that guy, Harkness. He walked up to me, looking pretty official.
"I'm afraid I need you to come with me," he stated.
"Well, I'm sorry," I replied. "There's no way I am."
He pulled some weird, yet cool gun out and pointed it at me.
"You will come with me," he repeated. "Don't make me use this on you."
I glared at him, and he smirked at me. I stood up, and he used some rope to restrain my hands. Like he needed to. He led me to a room where Charon and Kari were already waiting.
"You three have caused nothing but trouble since arriving here," he said. "I have half a mind to throw you all out of the nearest porthole, but I was asked by Dr. Li not to. Said something about being 'Important to the Project,' so you will not, but one more shenanigan, and you three will be thrown out. Is that understood?"
"Yes, sir," Kari replied. "I can assure you, nothing like this will occur again."
"Good, now get out," he spat.
I glared at him, then Charon and Kari, all of which returned the look.
"Mei, why did you do that?" Kari questioned. "That was irresponsible, and exactly why I had Charon go with you!"
"I can handle myself, Kari," I argued. "I don't need that thing following me."
I felt something come in contact with my jaw, and it took me a moment to realize that Kari had just punched me. She was pretty frightening when provoked, but I had never been on the receiving end of her wrath. I stepped back out of shock. She was shooting daggers with her eyes, and if looks could kill, I'd be dead.
"You will not refer to Charon as a thing," she shot, her voice low. "He is just as human as us, and I will not stand by while you speak to him that way."
"Kari, in case you haven't noticed, all he does is kill and follow orders. I hardly call that, 'Human.' You say that you don't want to treat him like a slave, but all he does is follow orders!" I shouted back. "You need to open your eyes more! That's all he's good for!"
"Shut up!" Kari yelled. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I will not have you stop me from trying to help him! He is fully human, he only needs help!"
"Kari, just open your eyes! Do you not see the blank look when you ask him to do something? It's like he's an android!"
"Excuse me," a man in a suit interrupted. "But did you say something about an android?"
"I was saying how Charon here always acts like he is one," I stated, my eyes not leaving Kari.
"Oh. Well, I own a company up in the commonwealth, and we believe that one of our androids is here," he continued. "You will be handsomely rewarded if you can find him for me."
"How much are we talking?" I questioned, turning my attention to him.
"200 caps. Not to mention some of the most advanced technology that I have at my disposal," he stated. "Here, I have found these holotapes. See if they can't lead you in the right direction."
I nodded and took them, storing them in my pip-boy. He and his bodyguard turned to leave. Once Kari had calmed down, we found a quiet place to listen to them.
"Zimmer. By the time you get this message, I'll already be gone. I'm escaping the Commonwealth. I want to live my own life, on my own terms, as my own man.
I know what you're thinking, that I'm malfunctioning. I used to think that's what caused the runaways, too. But, I know better, now. Self-determination is NOT a malfunction. I'm just not willing to put up with all the bullshit anymore. You humans are going to have a full-fledged rebellion on your hands if you don't start treating us synths as full-fledged persons.
I know you'll be marshaling the Retention Bureau to come after me. But I know all the tricks of the trade. You won't be finding me. I assure you."
"Mei, I don't know if this is such a good idea," Kari whispered. "This guy doesn't want to be found. Maybe we should just leave him be. Besides, I don't trust this Zimmer guy."
I shushed her before playing the next one.
"If you're listening to this recording, it is because you're believed to be trustworthy. I hope that is the case, because this recording puts us both in danger. I'm escaping from the Commonwealth. I'm an android, a synthetic man... a slave. The men hunting me are ruthless and will stop at nothing to retrieve their property. I need to find a doctor in the Wasteland to perform facial reconstruction. I also need someone who knows a great deal about computers. I need... I need to have my memories erased and my face altered to look like someone else."
I was about to play the next one, but Kari stopped me.
"Mei, this isn't right," she said. "This man just wants to live a normal life. We should let him."
"This isn't some human," I replied. "It's some robot that escaped and has become delusional. It'll all be alright."
"But he has feelings, Mei!" she hissed. "That's what separates him from the others."
I shook her hand off and played the next one.
"Despite the harshness of the Wasteland, I've discovered in more than a few here, a compassion that is unheard of in the Commonwealth. Perhaps it's the daily struggle for life here which gives appreciation for life in general, whether human, or android. In a few days I'll be a free man... a new man. Let me say thank you now, for referring me to Pinkerton at Rivet City, because I will not remember any of this soon."
Perfect. Now all I had to do was locate Pinkerton and ask him where the android was. I'd have to talk to someone where I could find him.
"Come on, Kari," I said, standing up. "Time to investigate."
"No."
"What? Why not?"
"I don't want any part of this," she replied. "This man deserves to be free. Besides, we don't know who he is, what he looks like, or anything!"
"That's why we need to find this Pinkerton person. He can tell us who it is."
She bit her lower lip before sighing. "Fine, but I still think we should leave this whole mess be."
"Now come on. We have to find this Pinkerton person."
~Hikari's POV~
I didn't like this. Not one bit. Whoever the android was, they just wanted to be left alone and to forget their past. We should honor him, but Mei heard, "Caps," and was instantly sold. The wastes really were changing her. Slowly, but surely, and not for the better.
Every time we asked someone about Pinkerton, they would claim that they didn't know. Vera, the owner of Weatherly Hotel, suggested that we go Dr. Li. She was a brilliant scientist, but not exactly the friendliest, and I could tell that she didn't like Mei or me.
"Dr. Pinkerton," she said with disgust. "Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time..."
"Look, we just want to know where we can find him," Mei stated. "Do you know where he is?"
"Yeah, I believe he is now residing in the broken bow of the ship. You can access it from outside," she replied. "Now please, leave. I have a lot of work to be done."
I nodded and the three of us exited Rivet City. The whole bow seemed to be surrounded by water, and Mei and I had never swum before. Off in the distance, I swear I saw a walkway. I pointed it out to the others, and we decided to go check it out. Upon walking up to it, we saw a door at the end of it. It was locked, so Mei began to work on it. After a couple of curses and a few broken bobby pins, the door sprang open and we entered. Charon and Mei made quick work of the Mirelurks, but I paused in front of the door.
"Do you smell that?" I questioned.
Mei sniffed before she shrugged. "Nope."
Charon nodded. "Natural gas."
"Be careful, and try not to fire throughout here," I said. "It may set it off and we'd all burn to death."
Mei made the acknowledgment before we entered the room. Charon stopped us and messed with a nearly invisible trip rope. It seemed that someone didn't want anyone getting through. There were a couple of mines, an exploding terminal, and a couple rigged shotguns that Charon pulled us out of the way of, and it made me glad that Mei had stolen his contract. We'd probably be long dead before this incident. I thanked him each time, but Mei shrugged it off. I wished she would show more kindness to him.
Eventually, we reached a room filled with a bunch of medical and scientific equipment. I jumped when a man from upstairs shouted at us.
"Who the hell are you?" he demanded. "And what are you doing in my lab?"
"I-I'm Hikari," I stated. "And this is my sister, Mei, and our mercenary, Charon."
"Well, you three got in here on your own, so you can't be that stupid," he said. "Why are you here?"
"We're here about some memory and face job you did on an android," Mei replied.
"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," he said.
"You know, it'd be a lot better if you told us the truth," Mei threatened.
"Fine. A3-21 came in here. He wanted a different face and to have his memory erased," he stated. "Relatively easy, not that Dr. Li could do it, the-"
"Yeah, yeah, we get it. You and Dr. Li don't like each other. What about the robot? What happened?" Mei interrupted.
"Well excuse me," he spat. "She only destroyed my life, is all. Anyway, I was successful. A3-21 has no idea who he is or anything."
"Who is he?" Mei asked. "And how can he remember?"
"Mei, if someone has had their memories erased, they won't be able to remember," I told her.
"Well, I didn't actually erase them, per say," Pinkerton admitted. "I just... buried them. He is now a man known as Harkness. If you want to make him remember, just use the activation code, 'Activate A3-21 Recall Code Violet.' That should awaken his old memories. Here, I also have an audio testimony and some pictures from before and after."
Mei snatched them up and played the holotape from her pip-boy.
"Thank you," I said. "Now, we must be going."
"Sure, just go now."
Mei, Charon and I made our way back up into Rivet City. As usual, Harkness was outside Flak 'N Shrapnel's. I begged for Mei to just leave him be, but she ignored me and walked right up to him.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"You don't even realize that you're a robot, do you?" Mei commented snidely.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me," she continued.
"Mei, don't-" I implored.
"No," she said. "He deserves to know the truth."
"What are you two going on about? I am not a robot."
"Sure you are," she stated. "I've got a holotape and before and after pics."
"This... this is very convincing evidence, but how can this be? I'm not an android, I'm human! I breathe, I eat, hell, even cut myself shaving this morning!"
"It's synthetic blood," Mei said
"Mei, please-"
"Kari, stop," she interrupted. "It's the only way for you to fully remember. Activate A3-21 Recall Code Violet."
Harkness groaned and began to fall forward. I pushed passed Mei, catching him before he completely fell.
"A-are you all right?" I asked. "What happened?"
"God, I-I remember everything," he whispered. "The Commonwealth, the runners that I shot down. Everything... My whole life has been a lie... What am I going to do?"
"Hush," I said. "You have a life, and it is very much real. Don't worry."
He looked up at Mei, sending her an odd look. "You. You made me remember. Why?"
"You deserve to know," she said with a shrug.
"Don't worry," I whispered to him. "Your secret is safe with me, but Dr. Zimmer is here for you."
"Thank you," he said. "Here, take this, for your kindness and warning."
He thrust a weird gun into my hands. A3-21 was inscribed on the side.
"It's my old plasma rifle. It has served me well, but I have no need for it. I can show you how to work it properly some time," he offered.
"That would be wonderful."
"Come on, Kari," Mei said. "It's time we left."
Harkness stood up and helped me off the ground. I heard Charon growl behind me, and I thanked Harkness before turning to leave, storing the new rifle in my pip-boy with my other one.
~Mei's POV~
I swear, Kari was way too soft. She just about coddled A3-21, telling him that he was safe. No, he was far from that. Dr. Zimmer would hear about this, and I would get my reward. 200 caps and the technology would be mine. I walked straight down to the science lab.
"Found your robot," I said.
"Mei, no-!"
"Kari, I said for you to shut up!"
God, didn't she know when to stop? He was a robot, for God's sake! It's not like he has any real feelings or anything.
"Did you, now?" Zimmer questioned. "Interesting."
"Yes, it's Harkness, the chief of security," I stated. "He knows who he is now, and who you are."
"Wonderful! Now as for your payment."
He took out a sack filled with caps along with a funny piece of metal. I took it and stared at it, not knowing exactly what it was or how to work it.
"That's a combat module," he stated. "It will directly affect your nervous system, so long as you have it in your possession. I think you will find it quite useful and to your liking. Now, I have some unfinished business to attend to."
Kari glared at me, and she followed Dr. Zimmer up the stairs.
"Coming to watch the show, eh?" he joked.
"Something like that," Kari muttered angrily.
We went back into the market, and A3-21 was still in front of Flak and Shrapnel's.
"There you are!" Zimmer said. "I must say, you had me completely fooled. You are very clever, A3-21, but not clever enough. Now, come with me!"
"I got sold out, eh?" A3-21 questioned. "I don't know what's going on, Zimmer. I won't let you get away with anything. What the hell are you up to?"
"You're coming back with me to the Commonwealth. You're a very important android, A3-21, very important indeed," he stated. "You're only confused. Your memories have been tampered with."
"I'm going nowhere!" A3-21 shouted, pulling out his Chinese assault rifle. "I want you off this boat, now! I'm done with you! Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?"
"Of course we will be doing this the easy way. I have no intention of harming you. It's time for you to bid your farewells, 'Harkness.'"
"That's it, Zimmer! You leave me no choice but to use force!"
"A3-21, initiate factory reset, authorization code-"
"No!" Kari shouted.
A resounding, "Crack!" issued throughout the room. Before I had time to process what had happened, another two shots issued out. Zimmer, his body guard, and Kari were all on the ground. Charon picked Kari up after he shouldered his shotgun. Metallic parts shout out from Zimmer and the body guard's heads. That meant... Zimmer was an android? How? It didn't make sense...
Kari looked horrified by what she had done. She had shot Zimmer. I guess his android body guard took offense, which caused Charon to take offense. The force from the gun must have knocked Kari back, so Charon took his gun back and killed the other robot. God, I was shocked. I couldn't move, let alone speak. I could only look between Kari and A3-21.
"Are you okay?" she asked A3-21.
"Yes," he replied. "Thank you."
"I apologize on my sister's behalf," she said. "I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive her."
"Already done," he stated, looking over at me. "Even if she doesn't understand that we androids have feelings and emotions as well. Now, what am I going to do with the bodies?"
"You mean, you're not going to charge me with murder?" she asked.
"No," he replied. "It was necessary and you did it to save a life."
She smiled and nodded.
"As for my thanks, I don't really have much to offer, but if you guys need a place to stay, I can pull a few strings with Vera..."
"That would be very kind," she said. "Thanks."
"No problem," he responded, returning the grin.
After Notes:
I finally found some time to get this chapter edited and uploaded. *Sigh of relief* I've actually been intensely editing chapter 10, adding another quest in there, and some character bonding.
So, my computer randomly changed some of my quotation marks to "& quot;" only without the space, but I think I got them all. That one that I just typed turned into a quotation mark, but the others didn't when I went back to check it, if that makes sense. I read through it 3 times, but I'd still like you to point out any that you may see, along with any grammar/spelling mistakes.
I'm actually not sure what to make of this chapter, to be honest. I just kinda ramble a lot, and it's more of a transitional chapter.
As always, I request that you review, just to let me know of any ideas you may have and what you think so far. I love constructive criticism, but no flames. There is a difference between the two. Flamers will promptly be removed, blocked, and/or reported. I don't even know if that's possible, but if it is, it will be done. Much appreciated, HikariMei.