Evolve

Eleven

My face was still healing from the shot, but I had already left the hospital and was blocks away from any doctors, police, or crime families. The sounds of sirens filled the air and crowds of people ran around in the chaos. I could feel my unstable molecules straining to reconnect with themselves and my systems slowly repairing. This was taking much longer than usual and at the worst possible time. I used my hood to hide the less attractive side of my face and kept running. My mind was having trouble processing everything that happened and this concerned me. I made my way towards a relatively empty parking lot and had what could most closely be described as a panic attack.

My breathing quickened and I began to feel paranoid. There was another one like me, one who knew my name and what I could do. How was this even possible? I clenched my hand into a fist and punched a hole into a nearby lamppost. It dented in, but didn't fall over. How had I not noticed Evelyn was like me that whole time? Maybe my sensors weren't working correctly again or perhaps I just wasn't looking hard enough. One thing that I knew for sure was that I should have stayed and made sure Evelyn had died from my gunshots. My emotions had made me careless, I wasn't even sure why I had these feelings in the first place. I took a slow breath and regained my composure. Whoever this other android was, I would not let her have control over me. I needed answers but had no idea where to start.

Fortunately, fate was kind and sent me a message, or more accurately Delilah Ramos sent me one. I received the incoming signal from my command key telling me to return to her home immediately for a mission update. I was not looking forward to this as technically I had failed her mission. I was no closer to eliminating Yokozuna than I had been, but now there was another rival who killed one of my two potential informants. Perhaps my mission would change once I discussed Evelyn with her. Suddenly, my mind began racing again and I connected mental dots that I had not seen before.

I had not been able to see through or detect things from Evelyn, presumably because of the material she was created with or her energy interference. However, this was not the only time something like this happened to me. I realized I got the same reaction when I tried to look through the second floor of Delilah's home. I could see there was an upstairs section, but the rooms were invisible to me. I began to realize the sensations were nearly identical in both situations. Perhaps returning to Delilah's home would give me some of the answers I needed.

Of course, before I could leave, another unexpected thing happened. My private cell phone lit up and I saw I had missed a call from an unknown number. Well, the phone said it was unknown but I knew it by heart. It belonged to Max, but unfortunately I could not talk or go see him at the moment. I just had to hope he was safe and talk to him when I was less distracted.

I wasn't running at my full capacity, my energy was still drained from fighting and healing and my systems were not at 100 percent. I decided to make my way back to Delilah's in a more ordinary mode of transportation. I rode a city bus. This was not a good idea as I was already quite aggravated and on edge, but I did not feel like walking back and forth again. This concerned me as well, I was beginning to choose preferences over logic much more often recently.

There were several times on the bus ride that I wanted to break my rule about not hurting innocents, but I restrained myself. These humans were loud, rude, and kept bumping into me almost as if they were trying to annoy me on purpose. However, I didn't feel they needed to be harmed for that, and besides that I still needed the bus to get home. After a twenty minute ride that felt like three hours, I saw the block Delilah lived on. I pushed my way through the crowd and quickly made my way to the house and waited.

"You can just walk in, Eve," Delilah said as she opened the door and gestured for me to come inside,

"My orders were to return and debrief me, not stand in my front yard."