The Injured Veteran

It’s been years. But they will always come back.

The park was not too full. Only a handful of citizens where walking about, enjoying the day. A middle aged man sat on a bench in the sun, overlooking the lake.

“Excuse me?”

A little girl, probably just out of first grade, had crept toward him. Her curly blond hair was tied up in pigtails, her chubby pink cheeks shaking. The girl’s dark brown eyes wandered over him, finally coming to rest on his right arm. The arm.

“ ‘Cuse me Sir, but.. uh, can I ask you something?”

“Well darlin’ you just did.” His voice was hoarse and deep, as if he hadn't spoken a word in a long time. The man also possessed a faint accent, but it had long faded.

“So um, what happened to your arm?”
The deep creases lining his weatherbeaten face softened, his intriguing misty green eyes becoming wistful.

“I was injured in a war long ago, an enemy…. an enemy soldier shot my arm. The bullet was filled with poison, so my hand ‘came infected and they… they had to remove it. Afterwards, an old friend built me this bionic arm as a replacement.”

“Bionic arm you say….” The girl stared fixated at the robotic arm, metallic gray eyes shining. Metallic gray.

Most people would have dismissed such things as a ‘trick of the light’ or ‘play of the imagination’ but the man had been trained to spot such mistakes. He chuckled driely and said;

“Ah, I was wondering when I would see another one of you again… I must say, your skills have grown rusty. As have your gears.”

The child’s face twisted into an unnatural grin.

“You're one to talk, took you awhile to realize who I am, huh?”

And the disguise dissolved, revealing the creature for what it really was, a child sized robot, iron and silver gears visible in its chest. A fist sized sapphire for a heart. No trace of the little girl remained except for the eyes, though even those did not look human anymore, for the white parts had disappeared along with the rest of the facade.

“Such a lovely arm, I must say, Fa’Zurē has really outdone herself! But I do wonder where she got the… inspiration from.” The creature gloated, raising its own robotic arm dramatically.

“You know what darlin’, I’m getting tired of this,” The man stood, dusted of his jacket, and closed his eyes “for the last time; I.  am. retired.”
Then he sighed deeply, opened his eyes, and pressed something on his mechanical arm. Immediately his fingertips, which had looked almost human (except, of course, that they were made of bronze) slid in, and in their stead, came sharp gold claws.

The man leapt, landing in front of the robot. Quick as lightning, he grabbed the robot with his good hand, and, from seemingly nowhere, he pulled out a length of coiled copper rope. He tied the machine up to a nearby tree. The robot fought, but the man was stronger than he looked. After it was secured, the man grabbed the robot’s head and turned it gently to the side. Then, carefully, using his index finger, he cut a small wire in the robot’s neck. The robot gave a few weak clicks and started collapsing in on itself until nothing of it was left but the sapphire heart, a few gears, and a couple cogs.

The man pressed a button on his arm, making the claws turn back into normal, round, fingertips. Afterwards, he pressed another button, this one a phone.
“Hey Fa’Zurē, ....Yeah I’m fine…. Just had another robot situation, there’s a few good sized gears here, you might want to come have a look…. Ok...Bye.”

And so, The Bionic Soldier sat back down on the bench and went back to staring out at the water.