The City Of Steel

All for Progress (14)

I ran back to Y/N's house. The place has been ransacked.

Where the hell are they? Dolly's outta be in danger! I swear, if that prick-faced rich guy dragged her outta the hospital and hurt her I'd kill him!

I swear, it had to he Valentine! That troublemaker just cares about getting Y/N to work for him. He don't care about Y/N at all.

With Y/N's keycard to neighborhoods in hand, I went to an elevator.

"Take me to Valentine!" I demanded of the robot.

The robotic servant didn't move a budge. I kicked it.

"Valentine! Go! Bring me to! This key card belongs to Y/N. Bring me there ya damn bot!"

The bot let out a high-pitched squeal. I stepped off the elevator and snapped the key card in half. Useless!

How the hell do I find my dolly in this big ass city? There's no way I'll find them alone!

I went back to Y/N's house, running through their stuff again.

Something. Anything. Something has gotta help me get to them! Anything! Anything at all.

They wouldn't just abandon their home and shop.

So they were kidnapped, weren't they? Was it that big business bastard? If it was, what defense to I have?

Dolly would be safe with him. But then I could never see them.

Some things have outta be worse than death.

(With Y/N)

The brown, murky clouds above continue to move with the winds. I stand on the balcony, taking in some shaky breaths.

The door opens wide, revealing that asshole vampire look-alike. I groan as I turn towards him.

"Rude welcome for someone bringing good news. You can wear what you want and have a full workshop with whatever you need in it," he stated. I could see the remote in his pale hand.

"Oh. Great. And I go home after?" He looked away from me, clearly nervous to answer. "Then I won't do it."

He scowled. For someone so vampire like, it's strange he could get wrinkles. Vampires don't age. Then again, he isn't actually a vampire. He just looks like one.

He held up his remote and shocked me. "No, Y/N, I don't think you understand. You're building us that machine. We need it. The world needs it. My boss and I don't care what happens to you as long as it gets built."

I grabbed onto the railing of the balcony, losing my footing. Dammit, I didn't expect that shock. "What? So once I build it, what do you need me for? You just needed the damn thing-"

"No," he interrupted. "We'll get to what comes next when we get there. But right now, oh, you should get to work."

I huffed. That insolent jerk! He can't just-

Zap!

He waved the remote at me as he stood in the doorway, back turned to me. "Follow. Now."

I gulped as I walked towards him. The helplessness of my own situation sunk in. Not by much, but just enough. Just enough to feel useless to stop it.

And I knew I was.

He led me down the corridor. It was cramped and dark, a stark contrast to the comfortable room I was just in.

He paused at a door and opened it. "This is where you'll work. There's cameras between this door and your room. If you try to go beyond that, you'll be shocked until you're unconscious. So you'd best stay in your lane."

I glared at him as I gathered myself.

The workshop was spacious. A large computer setup sat in a corner of the room, with soldering equipment surrounding it. Bundles of wire on the wall, all waiting to be cut and tinned.

Tools upon tools upon tools. Metal sheets leaned against a back wall, awaiting to be cut by the large CNC machine. Toolboxes and hooks displayed a variety of brand new, unused, un-rusted equipment.

My old workshop was the old soldering kit my dad left when he died and a basic tool kit I bought at the store. With all of this sitting around, building another Collum could take only a week.

"All of my files on how to construct Collum are in my house, on my computer," I mumbled.

The man heard me. "I know. I downloaded it all for you." He threw a hard drive at me.

I picked up the small blue USB stick. This tiny little piece holds the design of a robot. A robot so sought after that I was kidnapped multiple times by multiple people who want it.

"Get to work," he barked as he left.

I clutched the USB in my fist. With everything in here, I could make Collum even better. I wonder if I could add a better radio receiver so the multiple Collums can communicate?

I sat down at the computer and downloaded everything off the USB stick. Every file.

I could see my full render of Collum on the screen. He was just as beautiful of a machine as I remembered.

A new found determination and excitement washed over me as I began to work.

Collum 2.0, if you will. He was finally underway.