Release Me From Heaven (Release Me From Hell Series)

Chapter 5: (System 107: Number 89/Vaeshi) Back To Basic Nature

          I drank away at the bar, though I could not feel the buzz of alcohol in my body. In fact, my gears were jittering at the disgusting, raw substance. Rodiel didn't seemed concerned by it, but I would be if I was a bartender. Then again, I wasn't. No. I wasn't certain I could be. As I drowned myself in disgust, the door slammed open and smacked against the wall as a grunt came.
              Rodiel lowered his eyes. "Your friend's here."
           Yes. Friend. I'm sure that's what you call a psychopathic machination that seems to come out of nowhere whenever the hell it wanted to, but then again no one really knew what Nomedd was. He sat on the barstool next to me, hollow eyes sort of squinted at my drink. He seemed to turn away from it as the smell hit his sensors.
            Rodiel realized quickly that his presence was a nuisance because Nomedd and I acted like we didn't know each other. We kept our heads the other way, and Rodiel walked down the bar to deal with someone else. Today, the Fluctuates took over the bar, though I knew none of them. Most of them didn't know each other either, but they were all packed together in groups. Rodiel just went down to a pair and pretended to care about whatever they were doing at the moment.
               "How's your week been?" Nomedd started. His voice was so monotone that it just sounded like he didn't care.
                I closed my eyes. "Do you know the source of the rumbling or not?"
               "Viania and Artomit made some- Excuse me. Two machines on the outside made some machines, and they were discarded because they were broken. They woke up, the poor things, and they're opening a gateway in the subway tunnels."
               The old subway tunnels. I went down there with a group of Fluctuates once, but it was a rusted train of dust and rats. That made sense. The Factory and the human government never touched the subway tunnels, and a lot of that was because of the history. Iskilla Madoeken. My hate for that woman was growing by the day.
              "Your master is checking it out right now, so the rumbling will stop soon," Nomedd told me.
              I gripped my glass. "What can I do?"
             "Continue to act. You can tell Askin you have-"
              "No." I glared at Nomedd. "Every time I see you, you say that. I'm not telling Askin anything."
               "Then continue to act."
                Nomedd was so plain. A broken record of the same sounds that seemed to be scratched on a record. I took a final drink and started to stand up before starting a wave.
                 "It's coming, you know."
                 I paused, turning back to Nomedd. "You keep saying that, but I don't know what that means."
                  "Well, it's coming."
                  I walked out of the door and headed home. I was tired of cryptic messages. I swore that's all Nomedd knew how to say, but I left it to him to do that. My feet trudged home with the metal skin of mine turning back to human color as I reached the threshold of Askin's home.
                   Something in the air chilled my metal.
                  I walked up to my front door, and realized that it had been broken open from the lock. The metal of the door was bent in all sorts of ways, and there was a chunk of it melted away. Before I could even consider calling Askin, I heard an unearthly scream from within, and I kicked the door open.
                 Inside was a string of live wires wrapped around every single piece of furniture as they sparkled and cried out in a sizzling manner. I was not horrified by the child's organs splayed out on the floor because humans and I were never found together in any situation, but I knew that Askin would cry. Not only would he cry about the loss of a human life, but this was Anav Ashen. Her eyes were gouged, and her chest plate was ripped right open to reveal the heart. The heart was missing.
                  There was a shrill cry for help, and I ran down the hall to track the voice. I saw a machine ripped open at the face, wires pouring out from each cheek as his metal teeth were inches away from Alieka Ashen. Alieka was shaking from all angles, her body still as if she knew she was going to die. This would be the time for my Elite powers to come to me, but I knew the chances of that happening to me.
                 "System 107, Number 89."
                 My metal chilled at my numbers being spoken. "You address me, stranger. I advise you to let the young human go."
                   It was a System 150, and I knew that if it was new that if it was new that it had no memory. Not a good one, anyway. It looked like its metal skin was still bronzed and not cooled, but maybe that was because it malfunctioned.
                 I glared. "As someone who also has emotions, you're only hurting our independence."
                 "This is not about the Factory," it chuckled "This is no act of defiance. I need a perfect human heart."
                  I put up my fists. "Well, I won't let you."
                 He slammed Alieka into a window, making her body crumple against the broken glass. The System 150 was abnormally large, and I was not so lucky in size, so I immediately dodged under his grabbing arms. I snatched a shard of shattered glass off of the ground and gripped it tightly as I rushed the System 150. The shard went right into his chest, ripping open the metal of his body to reveal a shining red core. I pushed him back, and I grabbed it out of his chest. Immediately, he did no movement as he realized his life was in my hands.
                 "You are making rash decisions," he said. The ground vibrated, shaking the foundation. "Would you not do the same for your human?"
                   I crossed my arms. "So, you're just killing others for a heart for someone else?"
                    "She needs it. My human is dying."
                 "You just killed mine!" I gripped my hair as if I was going crazy, and I tightened my hand around the core. "This Factory shutting down has everyone on their fucking toes, and you wanted to go and kill our family like they-"
                 He laughed. "You don't give a shit about any humans! This is not your concern. You are selfish, you are bigoted, and you are broken."
               "So are you."
                I pressed my hands together with the core in the middle, and all of its insides exploded on the walls. It burned like chemicals often did, but I brushed it away as I went to help Alieka. She had one large cut across her forehead, and I sealed it with my hand as I dragged her away to a safer part of the house. The basement.
               That System 150's comment dug under my face plates, but I tried to ignore it as I lied Alieka down on one of the chairs that adorned this large display screen. No one came down in the basement. Maybe when I was first built nearly eight hundred years ago, I would have seen some Elites down here watching some human-made entertainment, but the place had since then collected dust. Some things were just that simple.
               Maybe I should have been more afraid. Some ratty machine broke into the house- the well protected hollow house. Alieka simply groaned at the pain, and I was also groaning at the words. Maybe I didn't care about humans. Not really. This one cowering from all shades of light was more of a disgusting want than an actual need. This was Askin's human, not mine. Not ever.
My head began ringing as the display of a video call came up in my vision. I answered, though I was in no condition to be considered a member of the Fluctuates.
             "Vaeshi!" he cheered. His skin seemed freshly made, which led me to believe that he really did go through the risks of being re-made.
               "Rysh," I greeted with less enthusiasm. "You've... come back?"
                He laughed in a careless way. System 30s, if there were any left, were usually that carefree. "Almost. I was... indulged in an old conflict with a particular System 11. You might know him, eh?"
                "Iskil, right?" I felt Alieka shivering in my arms. "I didn't know you knew him."
                "As the leader of the Fluctuates, it didn't seem necessary until a few weeks ago when he and I crossed paths." Rysh looked back and forth as if he was searching for something. "He got hacked real bad. But... I know the hacker."
                  I kept thinking about the words that System 150 said. They angered me. I glowered, though it was just audio on my end.
                "Send me the address to this guy. His name, his everything," I spat. I heard a ding, a message in the corner from Rysh.
                    "I'll see you soon, yeah? We're in the need of a meeting soon."
                   Rysh disappeared completely from my UI, and I stared at the address and name that came with.
                  Gakanilr.
                  I closed my eyes. "Send a message to Askin." My UI lit up at the voice command. "There's something I need to tell you."
                   I knew he thought I was an Elite. I wasn't. I wasn't sure I could be.