Captive (Polybius x Reader)

Separation

(Polybius's pov)

Grrrrrr.

Polybius's internal mechanisms ground irritably, making a sound not unlike the growl of an angry, savage dog.

He was getting sick of this. Sick of every acne-riddled ankle biter that dared to put their grimy hands on his interface. By now, he had plenty of data. All of it necessary to show the higher-ups, but none of it what he was looking for.

Save for the lovely YN, of course.

Oh, sure, he had a few clones out there, collecting data from arcades in other districts. Perhaps they'd found others who were on par with her, but Polybius was certain she was the one. And was she ever gorgeous, to boot. Polybius felt his fans humming, spreading a gentle warmth through his circuitry. He still didn't know why it mattered to him what she looked like. Maybe these old human brain bits still had some preference left over from their past.

Or maybe Polybius himself had become more human. Who knew.

"ARGH!" The redheaded girl in front of the controls gave the cabinet a frustrated slap and moved away, fuming. "Oh, dear, what a shame. Better luck next time," Polybius drawled idly. If he had a mouth, he would've yawned. A second later, a tall blonde boy strode up to the machine and began to slide some quarters into the slot. As he felt the uncomfortable yet familiar sensation of them trickling down into his lungs, Polybius saw something that made his circuits spark.

YN.

The eye behind the screen could barely see the window from where its cabinet was located, but in the corner of its vision, there she was. Her EC gaze trained right on him from where she stood peering curiously into the room.

Finally, she's come back to play with me!, Polybius thought excitedly to himself. The game's FPS rose to an alarming rate, causing the boy to lose control for a moment. The machine didn't care. The thought that he would soon be inside her strong, labyrinthine head again, looking into her gleaming eyes, would make these other kids' junk all worth it.

She stood watching him a moment longer, something sad and unreadable in her gaze.

And then she was gone.

No problem, Polybius tried to reassure himself, she probably just went to the back of the line.

One minute turned to five. Five turned to ten. And YN was still nowhere in sight.

"She's not coming back, is she...?" Polybius muttered vehemently, his electronic voice low and savage.

That did it.

"Um, like, did you say something to me?" the girl now playing the game asked the boy behind her, flipping her long hair back churlishly.

BEEOOOMMM.

Polybius had shut himself down.