Reboot: A Hybrid's Odyssey

Chapter 3: Hidden in Plain Sight

Stephanie continued running through the forest, going deeper and deeper as metallic clanking came from her body. The sounds of the war from the bases became distant and muffled, a sign that the battle was far away from her, where she wouldn't be caught up in a fight.

Soon, she stopped, reached a trench, and leaned down on a rock, panting—although she was giving the physical façade that she was inhaling and exhaling. She continued panting and thought, huffing, Never again am I going to have to fight someone in a battle and get myself shot at!

Stephanie stood up from leaning against the rock to keep moving forward when she stopped in her tracks and inhaled through her mouth. She noted that she couldn't smell anything because she lacked a nose, but it smelled like blueberries. Okay, have I finally gone insane, or am I smelling blueberries? Stephanie paused when she glanced around, huffing as she threw her hands toward the sky. Of fucking course, I'm talking to myself again!

When Stephanie threw her hands in the sky, she paused and noticed a strange blue smoke swirling around her that had plus signs. Startled by the plus signs, Stephanie waved her hands to remove the flying plus signs around her, but her hands went through the smog.

Even the plus signs faded from each swing of her hand, and she stopped, seeing they weren't doing anything but hovering around her and fading away. She watched in amazement as the scratch she received on her right arm from skidding across the ground was being healed. She stared at the healing injury before noticing a health bar from the left corner of her vision, going from thirty to one hundred and eighty.

That's what is healing me? Stephanie thought, her eyes widening with amazement at what she was seeing with her own eyes. But she paused, remembering seeing one of the doctors wearing those backpack-like machines when she had her little 'tweaking' in front of the robot version of him.

He was wielding one of those nozzles connected to the backpack-like machine and using it for—Oh! Stephanie perked, looking at the smoke swirling around her. That's what it does! Then she paused. Wait, where is it from? Stephanie turned her head around and froze when she did a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree turn again and shuddered after her head returned to the front. I need to get used to doing that.

Instead of using her head, Stephanie turned her body by turning her heel. She heard something dragging across the dirty ground, which caused her to perk up and glance at the ground. She saw the nozzle on the ground and emitting smoke from its tip. Stephanie bent down and picked it up from the ground, curiously looking at it in her hands as it continued emitting smoke from its nozzle.

Her vision scanned the nozzle in her hands, causing Stephanie to flinch when she did so and perked up when she watched a text appear, reading, This is called the Medi-Gun for the Medi-Pack that allows the Medic of either team to heal their teammates or do Ubercharge. This Medi-Gun and Medi-Pack belong to the BLU Medic of the BLU team, short for Builders League United.

Stephanie stared at the Medi-Gun before grabbing the handle and turning off the healing effects, thinking, How did I get a Medi-Gun? She placed the gun on the ground and thought, According to my thoughts, I can't carry around a Medi-Gun or Medi-Pack because this body I am in is an Engineer-bot, not a Medic-bot. So, how did I get one?

Stephanie looked at the Medi-Gun and picked it up from the ground. Looking at the long cord, she grasped it in her hand, thinking, Maybe I had accidentally popped it out somewhere on my body? She ironically chuckled as she tugged the cord. Go, go, Gadget Medi-Pack!

Just as she yanked the cord, something moved from within her body that rubbed against something deep inside of her, causing her to emit a recorded grunt from her jaws before gasping and slamming a hand over her jaws, her eyes turning instantly red. Did that come from inside her body?