A•N•D•R•O•P•H•O•B•I•A

Trust • Part Two

 "Hmm?" I looked up to the window and noticed that it was starting to get bright outside. I rubbed my eyes, well, eye, since the other one was concealed beneath an eyepatch. I groaned as I managed to sit up, despite the heavy furniture that was covering half of my body. After my struggle of decisioning last night, I went back to my house in the end. When I did, the house was quiet. Almost as if, no one was there at all. I didn't went back to the pantry, and instead went to my own room, and barricaded it, just as Clancy had told me to do. Then, I used the remaining furniture I had in my room to cover myself with, so that I wouldn't be seen. And it was there, that I fell in a somewhat restless sleep. I pushed the furniture off of me with effort, making a lot more noise than I had intended. I looked back to the window and wondered what the time was. I remembered I had a clock at my bedside table. I stood up and quickly took a look at it. It was 9:12 am.

 "It must be over now." I said to myself. Reluctantly, I went to my door, after successfully removing the furniture that I had used to block it with. I made my way downstairs and got to the pantry in less than 30 seconds. For a moment I hesitated. What if they're still malfunctioning? I shook my head violently, as I grasped the handle of the basement door. With one last moment of hesitation, I opened it, and went down. "Clancy.." I called, as I slolwly made my way down the stairs. It was still dark in the basement, the only light, being that of the device that Clancy had implanted on the floor. But since it was morning now, it let in some daylight which enabled me to see them clearly. However, what I saw gripped my heart, for reasons I couldn't explain. They all looked worn-out. Their eyes were closed, but you could see the veins at the corners, indicating that they must've kept them wide shut. Their hair was wild, with some strands matted to their faces with sweat. It was as if, they had gone through such a painful struggle. "Oh my God." I exclaimed worriedly, as I made my way to them.

 I went to Clancy first. I quickly put my hands out to undo his bonds, not caring if it was safe or not. I was halfway through, when a weak voice said: "You came back after all." I looked up and was relieved to see that Clancy was finally awake. My mind processed what he said, before I could ask him if he was alright. "Y-you knew that I left?" I asked. "Of course." I glanced over my shoulder to Vee, who was also waking like the others. "We all knew that you would try to leave." Dir added. I looked back at Clancy. I had expected that he would be mad at me for tricking them, but he was looking at me with such a kind expression. "We're hybrids, Miss Amber. We maybe half-human, but we are still half-robot. And it's not so difficult for a robot to read through a human." He said, with a slight mocking tone in his voice. "I'm gonna get you all out of this in a sec." I said, continuing to remove Clancy's bonds. After I had done his, I proceeded with the others, until they were all free. Now as I stood in the middle of the room, with all of them around me, I felt so horribly ashamed. However, not one of them was wearing an angered face.

 "Come now, Miss Amber." Clancy ushered. I few minutes later, after they had all re-packed their load, and had themselves checked by Clancy, we were now all gathered in the living room. I was so self-conscious. I was mentally preparing myself for whatever kind of chastisement they were going to give me. Finally after a while, Clancy spoke up. "Miss Amber." I looked up to him, with an expression a child would wear if they knew they'd done something wrong. "There are no documents are there?" He asked. I nodded my head. "Yes. And my parents never worked for Olympus. I'm sorry I lied." I said, bowing my head. "It is of no consequence." Clancy said patiently. "The question is now, what do we do?" Vee asked. I looked to her. "Well, we have proved that Halo's words are true. We are dangerous machines." Clancy began. "What we must do now is to scour the previous Areas we had gone through, to see if there are any clues from our time there." Clancy said firmly. "But, what about Amber?" Vee asked. "Take me with you!" I said quickly.

 All eyes fell on me, and suddenly made me nervous. Feeling they didn't heard what I said, I repeated: "Please, take me with you." Clancy's face became serious as he looked at me. "I know I'll just be a hindrance, and dead weight to you all, but... I want to help." I said. I know that saying that seems like a lie to them now. Especially after what I did. But now, I truly wanted to help them. I'm going to be out of their lives anyway. I should at least do what I can for them until then. I thought they were going to refuse, but then Clancy said: "Of course you can." I looked up to him, my face lighting up a bit. "Besides, we can't just leave you here. As robots, your safety is still our priority. And  until we reach Area 9, we have no choice but to bring you with us." He said carefully. I counted in my mind. We were in Area 16. That means we have at least 7 Areas to go through, until Area 9. "I'm fine with it." I said to them. "I know I'm not capable much, because I'm just a human, but I'll do anything I can to help." I added. Clancy nodded wistfully. "Actually, Miss Amber, before we leave, I must appoint to you a very important task." Clancy said, making me quirk a brow at him.

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 It's been about 11 minutes now, and within that time, Clancy had all but explained to me what I must do during our journey to cross Areas. Clancy has appointed me the task, of caging him and his group like I did last night. "Once our systems begin malfunctioning, it will be difficult if not impossible for us to bind ourselves. That is why, I am putting you in charge of this, Miss Amber." Clancy said. He then took out, something that looked like a bracelet. He held it out to me. "Wear this." He said. I reluctantly took it, and held it in my palm. "What's it for?" I asked. "It is something that you may call, a protective charm." Clancy said, as I slipped the bracelet on my wrist. "It has a time reader, to enable you to tell time. I've installed it to alarm ever hour, so you may be able monitor how much time we have left until we malfunction." I looked at the bracelet, and indeed there was time reader. "I've also had Vee install a magnetic field generator that you can operate, by pushing this button here.." Clancy pointed to the left end of the bracelet. "And I've also had Einz install a homing beacon in it, that you can turn on here.." He then pointed to the right end of the bracelet.

 "I've had them installed those, just in case you may ever be seperated from us." He said. The thought itself, was enough to make me shudder. "Now, if ever, you do get seperated from us, I want you to turn on the homing beacon, and wait for us to get to you. If you ever find yourself in danger, use Vee's field generator. But use it wisely. Every use, only lasts for about 30 minutes, and you will have to wait for another 30 until you can use it again." He explained, not leaving a single detail out. "Do you understand, Miss Amber?" He asked. I nodded, but then I asked: "How do you know I won't trick you again?" Clancy gave me thoughtful look. "Miss Amber, the fact that you came back after running away, just proves that you are trustworthy." He said, before walking past me, leaving me a bit confused. "Were you complimenting or insulting me?" I asked as I went after him. "Clancy wa~aaaghh!" I exclaimed as I felt cold hands lift me by the waist.

 I looked down and was almost, almost surprised to see Pyxl. He lifted me up and placed me inside the metal cage at his back. "I can climb in here on my own, thank you." I said to him. Dir and Einz began laughing. "He's trying to be a gentleman, Miss Amber." Einz implied, just making himself and Dir burst into another fit of laughter. It didn't took long for Clancy to join in their merriment. And surprisingly, Vee came in the picture, too. I blushed a bit at their laughter, just making them laugh even harder. I suddenly found that the cage I was in was shaking. I looked down to Pyxl and found him giggling. I gave him a soft smack on the shoulder. "If you're going to be the one to carry me all the time, then we better had set some rules here, pal!" I shot at him. But Pyxl just kept giggling. "Let's go already." Clancy said, the laughter, still in his voice. We were walking now, well they were, since I was being carried. As I looked around them, I felt my heart warm up a bit. And I was a bit shocked, when at that moment, I realized, my fear of them had somehow lessened.

TO BE CONTINUED