Heart Like a Machine

Chapter 84

"Aloy, I'll hold out for as long as I can."

Spinning around, I felt as if someone was there. Refocusing, I turned and faced Lis as we were following Seyka. 

"Something the matter?" Lis asked.

"I just miss your mother. I hope she's ok."

"Oh, I never did ask," Seyka turned and faced us. "Why do you two look so similar?"

"Are you going to tell her now?" Lis asked. 

"I don't think telling her right now if the best thing."

"You better tell her or I might tell her."

"We're related, in a way. It's a long story."

"Oh, so you know her mother then?"

"Y-Yeah. Also a long story."

Seyka turned back around to lead the way.

"Why aren't you telling her?"

"How do you think she'd react to hearing that two women were able to produce a child from a machine? She'd think we're crazy and lost it."

"Ok that's fair."

"Besides, I don't know if I can trust her with the truth just yet."

"The tower is just up ahead. Once we take it out, we're able to fly freely," Seyka said.

We started to climb up a large building that had the device at the top of the tower.

"Is something bothering you, Lis?" I asked her.

"I'm just worried about mom."

"I know you are," I said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'm worried about her, too. But if I know anything about your mother, she is strong and she can and will do her best to get the hell out of where she is."

"I shouldn't have brought her out here without you," Lis said.

"Hey," I stopped in front of her. "You saw a problem out here and you took the best course of action. If you would have waited for me, the problem could have gotten worse. I am glad you took your mother out here to help you. And while she did get hurt and taken, there is nothing that won't stop a mother's love from getting back to her family."

Lis smiled and hugged me tightly, "Thanks."

I hugged her back and let out a sigh, "You're welcome, Lis."

"Hate to break up the tender moment, but there is a killing machine at the top of this tower," Seyka said.

"We're coming, Seyka," I said and pulled away, pointing my head in her direction.

"I'll follow you."

Lis walked ahead and I followed behind her, trying to clear my head of the situation at hand. While I was worried about Y/N going missing while Meridian was being attacked and everything, this was a different kind of worry. I knew I could take down Helis and Hades, but taking down Walter? It might be harder than anything I've faced yet. Well, I'm not alone in this. I have Lis and Seyka. I just hope that nothing bad happens to both of them along with Y/N. That'll be the last thing I need is to have Y/N die on me again and have Lis die on me. I'd be left alone again.

"Hey, what are you thinking in that red head of yours?" Seyka asked as Lis grabbed the back of the armor I was wearing.

Looking down, I had almost walked off the side of the tower and have fallen to my death. 

"J-Just worried about Lis' mother."

"She means that much to you?"

"She means everything to me. She's," I stopped to think about this. "She's like a mother I never had."

"So how related are you two?" Seyka asked as Lis pulled me back to safety.

"Call it half-siblings I guess," Lis said, going along with this. 

"Oh, I see. How big is the age difference?"

"About ten years or so," I guessed.

"Different mother I take it?" Seyka asked, walking off.

"Something like that," I said. 

When we reached the top of the tower, there was this device that was glowing in the air.

"That can't be good," I said, tapping my Focus. "Looks like we can't hit it directly."

"There's something on the back of it," Lis said. "If you hit it, I think it will disable it a bit."

"There's three of them, actually," Seyka said.

"Do you think you two can distract its fire?"

"We'll try," they both said as I got to climbing. 

Reaching its height, as the mechanism started to open and fire, I hit the piece that was in the back. 

"There's one in the center," Seyka called out.

I ran around some rubble, as it was trying to shoot me now. Hiding behind a wall, it shot at it, sending debris flying. As it was about to shoot at me once more, I loaded my bow and shot at the center component I needed to hit.

"One more, Aloy!" Seyka called.

Seeing the component glow yellowish, I waited until it was about to aim at Lis and Seyka. Once it was exposed, I released my arrow, hitting the component. Sparks started to fly before it fell into the ground, creating a small crater. Jumping down from where I was, I inspected the machine.

"There's coordinates that were sent just recently. It leads to Heaven cent's headquarters not too far from here," I said.

"What are we waiting for? Let's get a move on," Lis said.

"I should report this back to the Admiral. I'll meet you guys back at Fleet's End," Seyka said.

"See you there," I said.

Once Seyka was out of hearing range, Lis walked over to me.

"I will only play this game as long as you can keep this up," she said. 

"I'm not trying to lie to her, Lis. I am trying to see if I can trust her. She has proven to be helpful, but that doesn't mean I can trust her. Not fully."

Lis let out a sigh, "It'll save a lot of beating around the bush."

"Lis, from what I see, Seyka is impressed by me."

"Meaning?"

"Your mother was the same way with me. She was impressed by what I could do and therefore, it lead to something. I see a lot of Y/N's attributes in Seyka, making me miss your mother even more."

"I'm sorry to put all this pressure on you to reveal the truth."

"In due time, it will come, Lis. That I promise. I just need to find the right time and place."

"That will never happen," she sighed.

"Hey, before you go," I tossed her the shieldwing.

"The shieldwing?"

"Have a go at it. Your mother loved it. Not after the first time of course."

"What happened the first time?"

"Let's just say, a surprise jump from a Sunwing and to the beach below shouldn't have been the first time to experience the shieldwing."

Lis chuckled as she jumped from the ledge, the shieldwing opening up.

"Holy shit! This is awesome!"

"Told you," I chuckled as I started to climb back down the tower.