The Enemy of My Enemy? Pt. 1/Chapter 1

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Kylan ran down the staircase to the old subway station just as the entrance exploded behind him. The concussion knocked him down the rest of the flight, but he was okay. His armor had protected him. Kylan Renson knew these tunnels well. He remembered when the trains still ran before The Great Mistake and he remembered when he used to skip his classes. Sometimes he would ride the trains and explore all day. Though that was almost six years ago, there was still power and water in some places so he was hardly trapped.

He had not taken this passage for some time but he could reach The Lounge from there. "Hmph. In the dark," he thought to himself as he made his way down the track. A moment later Kylan jumped into a crevice as he was rounding a curve.

Peering out he saw two uniformed female bodies at the far wall. A blonde womyn was sitting slumped against the wall and the other lady was lying on her back. After a few minutes he didn't see any movement so he went to investigate. They looked far too attractive to be in a harsh place like this. He also knew that androids didn't usually recharge in such awkward positions.

A kind of nervous excitement came over him as he approached them. So far they both looked completely intact, but for Kye, that was cause for suspicion. When he drew nearer he noticed that the blonde looked familiar, then he realized that her face was modelled after a famous actress. "Prob'ly was some rich bastard's custom job," he thought. Celebrities didn't always approve use of their images unless they just naturally wanted royalties.

For the first time Kylan looked down at the other android lying about four feet away. She was a very well proportioned brunette of deep auburn-tinted hair with vivid blue eyes set in one of the most beautiful faces he had ever seen... and he couldn't help but start laughing. The irony was just too perfect.

He recognized her as an M-67 or "Monique" (the M really stood for "maintenance"). She was an expensive chambermaid model that was popular in very fancy resorts and high-class hotel chains; the places that could afford a bulk deal on android servants. This was also the same type of model that killed the cause of The Great Mistake, Phillip Gaines.

Kylan couldn't help but lose himself gazing at her face. She looked so alive! Her eyes sparkled in the dim light; the corners of her lips were turned up, ever so slightly. It was a calm, inviting look -- a picture of serenity. Of course she was built that way and she could break his neck or even get hit by a bus without changing her expression. But such a placid expression was something he hadn't seen or felt in a long time. He longed for the peace and comfort it brought, even if it was just an illusion. Kye felt ashamed of his thoughts and reminded himself that she wasn't human. And tried to forget who she reminded him of.

There was still the matter of how these robots came to be there so he turned the Monique over to see if he could find any damage. Even after all these years he was surprised at how lifelike an android's limp body felt and tried hard to keep his mind on business. He immediately found the distraction he needed and a reason to worry.

The power-feed/port-connection that ran inside the back of her neck was ripped open by what appeared to be an animal, but with eerie precision. And what sort of animal could tear THAT skin? He examined the flesh around the wound, but could find no burn marks or powder residue. Kye still couldn't believe how incredibly soft and realistic the android's skin felt to the touch. It was made of an altered form of treated synthetic Golden Orb spider silk. This was the same basic material his hard armor was made from as well as several other things these days. In its raw state it is already five times stronger than Kevlar and was once hard to come by, that is, until someone figured out how to grow buckets of it using a bacterial culture.

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A sudden movement out of the corner of his eye startled him and he jumped to his feet. The other droid was still activated! He knew that he couldn't physically overtake her and he was ready to attempt to flee, even though they couldn't be outran either. Kye stopped almost as suddenly as he had reacted. She only made very slight, rigid movements so he ventured a closer look. Once again she was frozen and stared blankly forward.

The blonde wasn't limp like the M-67. When he lifted her lightly tan colored wrist she seemed very stiff and her arm held the position. He leaned her over to find the same type of clawed tear at her manual shutdown area with the same calculated accuracy. He looked around but could find no signs of a struggle. Whatever did this was also fast. Machines reacted quicker than humans and weren't hindered by fear or shock.

Just then she began to speak. "Error. Power failure in three point four eight hours. Initiating automatic shutdown in twenty minutes." Kylan was surprised to hear an electronic undertone in her voice since those were normally absent. It dawned on him that she was in pause mode. This was a slight power drain on an android because this kept all its muscles flexed simultaneously to counter any movement while allowing it to keep its balance and be posed.

This droid was tall and had a strongly athletic, yet, VERY feminine build. She was built like a shapely Valkyrie. Such an incredible body was noticeable even with the unflattering uniform. Her muscle structure explained why she felt so tense but this was probably more so because she was damaged. A cold chill came over him as he realized that she couldn't have been there for long and whatever attacked the two might still be in the area. "Did she say twenty minutes?" that was barely enough time to get back to The Lounge and that's without the weight of two full sized bodies.

He wasn't about to leave behind a find like this. The Valkyrie could easily carry the other droid, but he couldn't risk reactivating her. He dragged them both about halfway back on a makeshift stretcher before he decided to hide them in a recess. He was about to cover the opening when he heard a sound like twisting metal come from the tunnel he had just left. There was just enough room to fit in the recess with them and he quickly pulled the cover against the entrance.

His heart was racing although he was already exhausted. He could feel their bodies against his as he sat motionless looking out a crack in the cover. A moment later he saw a shadow against the darkness, then a blur as something shot silently past.

"Initiating shutdown." Kylan almost screamed when she spoke but then he felt the android's body go limp. He remained silent and hoped she didn't give away their position. He held his breath as he peered though the crack once again. Something was out there.

There didn't seem to be anything at first until he looked up. It was on the ceiling. He could only vaguely see a dark form crawling behind the weak, flickering light which only distorted the image even more. He still heard nothing but his heart pounding in his ears.

His lungs burning, he risked a breath as soon as it had past. Immediately it stopped and returned to the area just above them. For an instant a glint of light reflected off a sleek dark-greyish hide the size of a child, but all else he saw were abnormally long, multi-jointed limbs and he could swear it was wearing a backpack! It hung down just behind the light using the shadows to stalk its prey. Kylan never saw the strange being's face, yet he somehow knew it was staring straight at his hideaway. He was trapped. A small clang further down the track broke the horrible silence and the creature was already gone. Only seconds later he heard a rat shriek in pain... then all was quiet once again.

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