Independent Puppets

Episode 5: Dicing with Death [Part 2]

As he stood there for a few eerily silent moments, one of his hands pointed out in the direction of Connor and Jenna, Daniel was milliseconds away from slicing them both to pieces. They thought their days were numbered - this realisation crashed down onto the pair like the world's biggest tidal wave, but this was more the case with the female. The average human lifespan, as we all know, is somewhere around 90 ish years, and she was a little bit over halfway through her teen years, so the only word which could be used to adequately describe what the years she'd already fulfilled felt like when they were compared to all the other decades she still had ahead of her, which were about to be snatched away: meagre. So much potential about to be thrown away. 

Daniel had his eyes set on his 2 targets, his mind also holding on tightly to the objective he was going to carry out, and he felt certain about what he was supposed to, and about to, do; a few more seconds came and went with nothing happening, though, making Jen and Connor's current emotions of fear and tension start gradually eroding away. The blonde-haired android himself was stood there with his hand still pointed out in addition, but unlike a minute ago, he didn't execute his plan of action straight away. He was simply standing stock-still, the only movements that could be externally seen being that of his irises, quickly flicking between the pair, and his hand that was held out, trembling ever so slightly. 

What was he waiting for? 

Whilst Jenna briefly stared out of confusion at this, Connor leapt at the opportune moment to restrain the adversary, quickly moving towards him and pulling Daniel's outstretched arm behind his back along with the other one as well as pulling him down onto the ground. To the pair's surprise, he didn't even try to resist at all. 

Somewhere in the relatively near vicinity, a rifle's scope clicked into action, proceeding to scan the area in front of it for any sight of its target. Its handler was making sure to keep his eye peering through the scope peeled, along with also keeping his wits about him - he didn't have any specific target in mind, just any escaped android he came across, so he had no idea what power they'd have, meaning anything was potentially possible. 

"If you're somehow expecting me to beg you on my knees for mercy or anything along those lines, expect a long wait, Connor. A long, long wait." Daniel snarled, partly under his breath, at the darker-haired male next to him by a few feet. The former was sat on the ground, his hands by his sides on the grass with his head lowered a little bit in the direction of this grass beneath him, and his eyes were currently exhibiting a sharp coldness. 

Neither of the 2 answered this remark, instead remaining focused on not taking their own eyes off of him for even a split second, because of there being a possibility that he might try to kill them with his ability if they dropped their guard. Hell, he might try it while they were looking, too, which was why there was a tense atmosphere right now as they kept themselves alert and made sure to think about absolutely nothing else except for this matter at hand. 

"Why didn't you do it, just now?" Jenna asked him cautiously, fearing that her voice might begin to waver in the next few seconds from the growing tension and worry that resided deep down inside her mind and the pit of her stomach. "You could've killed us both, but you didn't; you were just standing there like you weren't sure what to do." 

"I don't need to justify myself to a human." The paler-haired man hissed bitterly through his gritted teeth. He raised his head up and made direct eye contact with her as he spoke this sentence. 

"She does have a valid point." Said Connor in agreement with her. "A few moments ago you had the perfect opportunity to accomplish the task CyberLife had given you, to execute any escaped androids you find as well as any human outsiders who are involved, and you didn't go ahead with that task. You hesitated."