“You bitch!” Reina screamed, grabbing Sera by the hair. Her phone fell out of her hand, shattering on the floor, and Sera screamed, trying to shove Reina away.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“I’ll kill you with my own hands!” Reina roared. “You’ll pay for everything you’ve done, you bitch!”
Sera pushed her away and turned to me. Her hair was disheveled, eyes frantic.
“My arms and legs are bolted,” I explained. “Look out!”
Reina must have remembered she had four lethal servants in the room. One of them reached for Sera’s neck. My girl dodged at the last moment, and another cyborg grabbed her arms, twisting them behind her back. Something crunched, and she screamed from pain. Reina came closer, panting through an insane grin.
“Fine. Everything’s fine,” she said, her eyes gleaming. I tore through the system files, looking for that cyborg control module. I couldn’t find it.
“Choke her until she’s dead.”
A cyborg stopped in front of Sera. She fought against the one gripping her, writhing as she bit back moans of pain, but her hands were wrung back in a tight grip.
I turned off my cameras and split myself into sixteen modules, each racing down a different path through the enormous labyrinth of code. I couldn’t see or hear what happened, focusing all my resources on the task. Time slowed to a crawl, my consciousness expanding until it encompassed the entire system.
Yes!
I hacked the right module and put all cyborgs on standby. Rapidly building shields around that module so the system AI couldn’t get in, I rushed back into myself, looking at the scene. Sera panted from terror, still held by one cyborg, the other’s hand almost on her throat. It was frozen. I got it at the last moment.
“What’s wrong?” Reina asked. “System, status report!”
I took over the cyborgs. The one holding Sera was instructed to let go and grab Reina instead. The one that was about to choke my girl—to get itself electrocuted and fried in the most efficient way it found. I tasked the other two with unbolting me from the chair.
Reina fought the cyborg, calling on the system until I instructed her guard to cover her mouth, and Sera rushed over to me, her right arm hanging limp by her side. She grimaced, grabbing her shoulder while the two cyborgs used the tools built in their palms to undo the bolts holding my arms. I hacked my chair, which was laughably easy now that I wasn’t suppressed, and activated its charging station. Energy filled my batteries fast.
“Charlie, I’m in deep shit. Need help,”I sent out, dialing Asan’s contact number.
I sent Charlie the details of our current situation. Right now, firefighters tried to enter after my idiotic fire alarm. I was a rogue robot, and once the authorities got here, I’d be in danger again. Building cameras showed me all exits were covered. We couldn’t run away.
“Are you all right?” Sera asked, her voice trembling with suppressed pain.
“Never better. Asan? I’m guessing Charlie told you about me. Sorry for waking you.”
A grumpy, hissing shehru voice replied. “You didn’t wake me. What do you need? Is it urgent? Because I’m inside my wife right now and would rather not stop.”
I heard a muffled female gasp in the background, followed by a giggle.
“Well,I’minside the Zenkyoza building with my girl, and we’re facing arrest and deletion. If you could spare a moment, I would be grateful.”
He hissed angrily, and I heard some rustling and a wet, sliding sound. “Fine. How much time do you have?”
“Until the authorities get here. I’m holding the door closed for now, but they received a fire alarm and should force their way in at any time.”
“Hold tight.”
I disconnected. Sera stared at me with wide eyes. She’d heard my side of the conversation, since I spoke out loud. I itched with the need to touch her and make sure she was all right, but I had to wait three more seconds until the final bolt slid out of my body. I jumped out of the chair, keeping only the wire connecting me with the system in place.
“You called the fire department?” Sera asked, shaking her head. “But Dean, you know that once they come in, you’ll be detained!”
That was how it worked. Zenkyoza was a corporation, and normally, the authorities weren’t supposed to mess with their business or even enter the premises unless there was clear evidence of a crime—or the corporation summoned their help themselves.
Right now, firefighters worked on the doors downstairs, and I was confident they would come in within a few minutes. The police wouldn’t be far behind. An official call for help from inside a corporation was a big deal.
“That was plan B,” I admitted, palpating her shoulder. “It turned out we don’t need it, but it’s kind of too late. Your shoulder is dislocated. Close your eyes and don’t bite your tongue while I’ll set it. One… Two…”
