Betrayal

Chapter Eight

Nero, command center, searching for Trickshot

The soldier was pointlessly scanning the screen again. He turned back to Oleta. "No sign of them, General."

They must have escaped by now." Kari Tar pointed out.

"Escape was never their intention. They're investigating, searching. Their appearance in the Alterations Lab proves this. But what are they searching for?"

~~

They went into the Training Wings, which was, thankfully, not guarded. They went into one of the rooms, and paused.

They saw rows upon rows of identical helmets, each tapping the screen in front of them, memorizing, training, learning. Neroi supervisors walked around, and termination droids hovered above all of them.

But what Trickshot could see first was the fear. He could see it in their postures, their nervous glances at each other. He remembered being one of them, ten years ago. He had seen one of his brothers answer a question wrong, then had been taken away. Trickshot never saw him again. After that, he tried extra hard to excel.

He shook himself out of his flashback, and pointed to the end of the room, at the opposite wall. "We need to get there. Try to act normal."

"Normal?"

Trickshot went ahead, not answering TY-9's question. He saluted the supervisors, walking past them.

TY-9, instead, began to sing. "La la la. Hello!" He waved cheerfully at the Neroi.

He winced internally. The supervisors shared a confused glance.

Trickshot walked to the other end of the room, trying not to break into a run. He ducked into the next hallway, the door shutting behind them.

"How was that? Was that normal?"

"Yeah. For you." He went down the passageway, not waiting for the droid.

They walked past a few more training rooms, thankfully undisturbed. Trickshot looked at each room, seeing himself in each of them, remembering how he was one of them while ago.

They made it to a room at the end. It was the biggest, the ceiling higher than the Alterations Lab. Glass vats lines the walls, each lit by a blue light.

There was something floating in each of the vats. Trickshot looked closer. Then he realized what it was.

There were bodies in there, children. He stopped, realizing what this room was. This was where their life had begun. TY-9 went ahead, unfazed the rooms' importance to him. He went over to one of the vats, and tapped the screen. It placed Trickshot's slide in the scanner. One of the vats came closer, and was scanned.

As it loaded, Trickshot looked around, reading the label beside the vat.

Stage One

K-4072, Squad 168

The screen beeped, coming up red. "Let me try a Stage Three," TY-9 tapped the screen again. They waited, but this time, the screen turned green. "There it is!"

"Try another." He urged.

TY-9 scanned another vat. It too also turned green. "Based in this data, and can calculate how many in this row is altered."

Just like it said, the whole row was blinking green. The green light spread the the row above, and the row below. It spread to the entire wall, and to the other Stage Three walls.

"I can't believe it." He took in the entire room. They all had one.

Before they could do anything else, the door hissed open. Kari Tar came in alone. Trickshot trained his gun on her, but she raised her hands in surrender. "Don't move!"

"Why are you doing this?" She walked toward them.

"I know what you have done."

"What is it that you are accusing me of?"

"This!" He shoved the scientist in front of the screen. He didn't care if she was of higher hierarchy.

"That is a structural nanobot, which is supposed to make you less wayward." She glared at him. "The Council instructed us to implant them during your growth cycle."

"Them?"

"It is not uncommon for nanobots to be placed in subjects like you."

"I have analyzed this one, and apparently, it has failed." TY-9 held up Six's nanobot.

"Up until this point, there has never been a problem." Kari Tar said firmly.

"Well, you have got a big problem now." He prodded her in the head with the muzzle of his gun. They were interrupted by another voice.

"Freeze!" Two dozen soldiers came in through the door, General Oleta coming in behind them.

He again shoved the Neroi in front of him, gun pressed against her back.

"Drop your weapon, soldier." Oleta commanded. The others also trained their guns on him, ready to fire if he did anything.

"General, I know what's going on. I have the evidence! The Council instructed that these nanobots were to be placed in us at a young age, but Six's malfunctioned. That's what made him lose control!"

The General didn't soften. "Where is the evidence?"

"I have it right here." TY-9 came over, holding up both slides. "As you can see, the one taken from Six is broken, indicating his malfunction."

"What caused it?"

"It doesn't matter. What matters is that his nanobot did malfunction, and it drove him insane. They have to be removed, or else the entire army could be compromised!"

"There is no proof of that." Kari Tar spoke up. "This is an isolated incident, and besides, when you removed K-3876's nanobot, he died."

"We'll, that's not going to happen to the rest of us." Trickshot hit the scientist on the head with his gun again.

"And how do you know that?"

"Because I removed mine."

TY-9 held up Trickshot's slide to prove his point. "Here is Soldier Trickshot's nanobot. There is not sign of damage in him or the nanobot."

"By removing your nanobot, you are a threat. General, we must terminate him." Her soothing voice was stone cold, the angriest Trickshot had ever seen in her kind.

"I am not a piece of hardware. I'm a living being!"

"You were altered in our laboratories. That makes you Neroi property."

"Correction," General Oleta interrupted them, holstering her blaster. "Technically, he is property of the Democratic Alliance, and therefore of the Council."

"That does not change the fact that he is a threat."

"I believe that is for me to decide." She left no room for protest. "Trickshot, I believe it is time that you told your story to the Prime Minister."

"General, I implore you to reconsider."

"The data was ordered to be sent to Polis. We are sending the nanaobots, and Trickshot with it."

"Then I am going with you."

"As you wish, Doctor." Oleta said reluctantly.

"Thank you, for believing in me, General."

She turned around. "It is not a matter of belief. It is simply the right thing to do."