Iron Will

Project Iron Will

A secret lab untouched by the police who had investigated his grandfather's death stood before him. This was were all his research must be hidden. Marcus walked into the room and the door shut behind him making him jump out of his skin. Theses place gave him a bad feeling. Suddenly a hologram of Marcus's grandfather stood in the middle of the room with that safe warm and welcoming smile he always had on. As Marcus got closer the hologram seemed to notice him. It's smile widened as he saw the young man approach.

"Hello," It said. "You must be Marcus."

"Wait," Marcus said stunned by the holograms speech. "You don't act like a prerecorded message."

"That's because I'm not my dear boy." The Hologram began. "I'm an AI created by your grandfather in his very image to help guide you call me Tic if you please."

"Tic?" Marcus asked. "Alright Tic, can you tell me why no one was able to find this place? We surely have the technology to find a secret room in this day and age."

"This room is made with Warship metal." Tic said. "So the only way to open it up forcefully would be to blow a hole in the wall risking the research in here, so no one in the right mind would do that."

"Hack your way in pass the scanner?" Marcus asked.

"I'm patched into the house's security system so I'm able to stop any hacking attempts." Tic said.

"Were...were you in the security the day my grandfather died?" Marcus asked.

"Yes but the man didn't force his way in. Your grandfather let him in." Tic said. "I tried to watch the holo recording I made of the murder, but your grandfather in his last moments pressed a button on his desk coding all of his recordings and research."

"Can't you decode it?" Marcus asked.

"Yes but it takes sometime." Tic said. "I decoded some of his notes and recordings but nothing related to his death other then the reason."

"What was the reason?" Marcus asked finally getting close to the truth.

"Me," Tic said. "Not only am I an AI created to aid you, but I'm also an advance weapon. My physical body is over there on your grandfather's work bench."

Marcus looked at the bench to see some black, metallic, and round object. Looking closer he saw it had four small legs and pincers. It looked like a tic, that would explain the name.

"For a weapon your not to big." Marcus said. "How does it work."

"Looks like I'll have to show you." Tic said. "We have hostile forces moving on the house."

"What?" Marcus asked.

Two large screens turned on to show different camera angles. In them were mean in full battle gear moving through each room. Black armor troops with no identifications. So the rumors were true, the Superiors were real. The Superiors are said to be the confederacies' task force who did the government's dirty and illegal work, but they were said to not be real.

"The man who killed your grandfather also had two guards dress like that." Tic said.

"I was hiding so I never saw them." Marcus said. "If what your saying is true that means a general killed my Grandfather. Hell all the generals could have been in on it!"

"What do you want to do?" Tic asked.

"I need to get to the bottom of this." Marcus said.

Suddenly the physical body of Tic came to life. It ran at Marcus and crawled up his leg. Before Marcus could grab it the machine crawled into his shirt. Out of no where a sharp pain ran through Marcus's back. He tore of his shirt and tried to look at his back. The name Tic really worked well for this stupid thing sense it just dug into Marcus's back.