Chapter 3 Rising Darkness

Yokai kicked his way through a wall of the Krei tech lab. He had something important that his master needed for their cause to complete the work on whatever it was Callaghan was working on. He careened out onto the streets and, using what microbots his master had made, lifted himself onto a nearby rooftop. His little "friends" gathered around him obediently as Yokai watched the San Fransokyo police arrive at the scene. After a few minutes of observing, he left, running from roof to roof with help from his enhanced prosthetic legs and the microbots.

He made it back to the warehouse in record time, having made sure not to leave any evidence whatsoever except a missing piece of tech and a man sized hole in the wall. His master seemed happy to see him when he returned.

"I take it that you got out scratch-free and without someone seeing you?"Callaghan asked, his hands in a steeple against his chin. The man was so much more different on the inside than his outward appearance showed. Yokai knew better after nearly a month of working with the man. As the plan progressed he saw that is master was getting less and less sleep and there were times when he seemed to have small bouts of insanity or outrage when he thought Yokai wasn't nearby and didn't see.

But Yokai saw everything. He watched everything that transpired around him with eyes as sharp as an eagle's in case Callaghan let slip something about his past.

"Of course, need you ask?" he asked, removing the white and red kabuki mask and setting it down on a metal cabinet. "I got the Iritithium calibrator you said you needed." Callaghan smiled even wider at that and extended his hand. Yokai stepped forward and deposited the small device in his master's hand.

"Excellent Yokai. The portal is nearly complete and we can soon bring that murderer to justice," Callaghan said, sinisterly gripping the small device. "I trust the microbots served you well?" he questioned. Yokai nodded.

"They make efficient deterrents to any problem I come across. Having more of them to command might make jumping from buildings easier," Yokai replied sarcastically. In all truth, it would be helpful to have a deterrent in case the problems he ever came across were human. Callaghan nodded.

"Very well, I will start the machine up again this evening and by tomorrow you shall have a full army of them at your disposal," he said, twisting his swivel chair around and facing the computer monitors that displayed various views such as the security cameras around the warehouse and others for websites about Krei Tech and one newspaper's website displaying a headline that Yokai didn't get a chance to read as Callaghan clicked the minimize button, sending the screen into the browser bar at the bottom of the page.

"You can go now Yokai," he said, his voice suddenly rough and almost venomous. Yokai bowed his head out of respect for his master and began to pad, or in his case clank, out of the room. "Oh and Yokai, how are your newest appendages working for you?" Callaghan asked from across the room. "They're working fine. I just haven't quite gotten used to the strength yet," he replied, turning his head slightly but remaining on course. He saw Callaghan's head tilt upward in acknowledgement, but he didn't say anything. Dismissed, Yokai continued out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

What was up with Callaghan? Yokai pulled the skin-tight hood off his head and shook his hair, running his metal fingers through it to loosen it up. It flipped down and hung around his forehead. It was time for some rest, not to mention a tune up on his legs. A few days ago, Callaghan had mentioned that something big was going to go down soon and Yokai didn't want to get stumbled because of his legs. They had to be in near-perfect condition already, but they weren't quite a smooth ride. He hoped that the upgrades he planned to make tonight would fix that.

He reached over to the metal cabinet at his bedside and opened up one of the drawers in the cabinet, pulling the entire thing out and setting it on the single-sheeted mattress. He grabbed a screwdriver to begin the process and got to work.

When he was finished with perhaps the 15th round of improvements, the leg functioned more like a human foot than before. Last time, he had discovered that the root cause of his trouble was the fact that Callaghan had used a simple metal rod to create the joint that replaced his knee cap. So, unhooking all the sensory wires again and setting up the placeholders, he removed the two prosthetics and began work on the new boots. They were a shiny mix between iron and steel; the product of searching for metal in a car's graveyard. Callaghan had apparently forged the outer shell and then returned to work on them the rest of the way to complete them.

Not bad considering they were made from scratch.

Suddenly, a sharp pain split across his forehead. He screwed his eyes shut and raised a hand to his head, rubbing the patch of unburned skin roughly with his metal hand and gentler with his burned one on the side it belonged to. When the pain subsided into a dull throbbing, he lessened the massaging movements he was making and sighed. Yet another episode.

He marked it with a small dash to serve as a tally mark on a small piece of paper in the bottom of the drawer. This was seventh time that had happened to him. Originally he had hoped that it had to do with getting his memory back, but when he asked his master about it, he had been told that it was left over from the concussion that he got while in the fire. Callaghan had told him to keep track of the number of times he got headaches. Yokai ran his fingers lightly over the heavily scarred skin surrounding his left eye and forehead. He only felt pressure on it, no pain, no tickling sensation, only the faint movement of his fingers on the skin.

He turned his eyes up to look at his reflection in the dirty glass window across from him.

Who was I?

What was I?

Was I always this?

Was I ever human?

…Could I be again?