To Where History Gets Rewritten

“You can’t be serious,” said Axel, gaping at the vacant seat. “Noah’s gone? Again? What the hell! I could’ve sworn I’d locked the car! Why didn’t the alarm go off?!”

Ignoring my earlier turmoil about my mechanical features, I activated my X-ray and scanned the area before inserting a wire through a hidden port near the car’s side mirror. “Someone hacked their way in and snatched Noah while we were away,” I said, narrowing my eyes.

“...It’s gotta be one of Dr. Flint's androids that can hack like you.” He cursed under his breath and paced around. “No wonder our distraction took too unusually long. He must’ve seen us through his cameras and realized we left Noah in my car!” 

"Guess that explains how he knew I'd read his entry log." I curled my fists. "He already knew we were looking for answers..."

Axel groaned and cupped his face. “From now on, I’m never allowing children on investigations whatsoever.”

“You're not supposed to bring them to begin with!”

“Ugh, I know! I thought I could explain the situation to Celia back at her place and bring her and Noah somewhere safer—but one thing led to another, and now we ended up here!” He swore again and gazed helplessly at the empty streets. “Kid, can you track him down?”

“Of course.” I opened up a radar. “Noah should still have that flash drive. I added a GPS tracker on it that should locate its whereabouts at all times.”

“Wait, really? Why’d you add one?”

“I was hoping he’d return it to you, and as long as you keep it, I can easily hunt you down and kill you,” I said bluntly. “That was before I got fired, of course.”

“Wow. Uh, I-I see.” He shuddered. “Appreciate the honesty.”

“Don't mention it.” I expanded my radar, watching Noah’s pinned location quickly distance from us. “How much fuel does the car have left?”

“Enough to drive to the nearest gas station. It’s way too low for it to fly.”

“Ugh, so now what? Go drag someone with us in a car chase?”

"Yep." Axel tapped on his watch. "And I know who to call."

Since Noah's kidnapping was an active crime in progress, Axel called the only relevant third party with the legal authority to exceed the speed limit: Sergeant Kirena of the Elite Force Division. With time running out, he quickly summarized the situation and practically begged her for a ride, and it only took a few minutes for her to arrive and pick us up. 

As expected, she had plenty of questions ready for us, so Axel briefly shared everything we had learned from our investigations. Once we brought her up to speed, she went through a long period of silence before scratching her head, stunned.

"Well, I'll be damned," she said. "You were serious when you said your case is deep.”

“What, you didn’t believe me?” asked Axel.

“Of course, I did. I just didn't expect it to be on a freaking global scale. Telling the whole world that Dr. Flint—the guy who started the era of advanced technology and made history—was actually unethical is one thing, but what about the other android manufacturing companies? If he shared his research with them, god only knows what they have done to make their androids.”

Axel crossed his arms and tapped his foot. “Well, I solve crimes, not conspiracy theories. Unless there's a report of suspicious activity, this is beyond our jurisdiction.”

Kirena tossed a knowing glance at him. "That's a very unusual way to say that you're totally going to investigate them."

Axel returned a devious smirk. "Damn right, I will."

"Right... How the hell do you still have your job?"

"By being good at it."

"Says the guy who almost got himself killed on countless occasions."

"...Honestly, even I'm surprised I'm still alive too."

"Hey, you're not going to credit me for saving your ass half the time?"

"Your officers saved me, Sergeant," he corrected. "Ordering them to help me doesn't count."

"Yes, it does."

"Nuh-uh."

"Uh-huh."

I squinted at them judgmentally before returning to my staring contest with my reflection in the car window, my mind drifting somewhere else.

It seemed like Axel and Kirena were well-acquainted due to their similar line of work, which explained their casual banter. Whether their relationship extended beyond being coworkers was something I couldn't really tell, but I had bigger priorities than prying into other people's affairs.

While they chatted, I used this time to finally recollect my thoughts—specifically, Dr. Flint's intentions and why he'd left all those clues out in the open.

During my time working for him, he only assigned me dirty work and observed me like a living camera, and that made sense if he only saw me as a test subject he could exploit.

Now, I wondered if he actually wanted to test the limits of my humanity by making me commit so much crime, and after finally disobeying him, he concluded his observations.

I could imagine while he wrote his final report about me, he finally noticed his reflection on his monitor screen and compared it to me. He probably realized his lost humanity by then and decided to test me for one last time in his usual, unconventional way. 

The real concern was, what exactly was he testing me on this time? He should already know I successfully preserved my humanity, so what else did he want from me by giving away answers this early? Not to mention, as my "creator," he had to know my true identity, so why hadn't he revealed it yet? Was I supposed to find out when I saw him?

Time flew by as I asked myself these questions, and before I knew it, we arrived at our destination.

A looming, twisted skeleton of rusted metal greeted us in the distance. Its antennas flickered erratically, sending ghostly signals through the air like soft ripples through a misty pond. I could’ve sworn I also heard whispers echoing from the radio tower, sending chills down my spine. Talk about creepy.

After we landed, we snuck toward a hidden entrance I detected through my scanners and strategized a pretty straightforward plan: rescue Noah and any other victims, collect evidence of Dr. Flint’s crimes, and make it out of here alive. Kirena agreed to join us inside and lend us her strength in case the doctor had prepared plenty of ambushes and traps. In the meantime, her reinforcements would patrol the premises in case Dr. Flint managed to slip past us.

Now with a settled plan, I cracked my knuckles and approached the door. Since Noah was obviously kidnapped here, there was no need for a search warrant. So, I took the honor of busting the door down and stepping inside first.

As expected, the security cameras flashed red, followed by an alarm blaring through the polished steel walls. Shadowy, geometric androids in various shapes instantly barreled out of the darkness, already greeting us with their guns.

Kirena raised her shield and deflected the shower of laser bullets. “Ugh, why are there so many of them?!”

“That doctor's been experimenting on people for a hundred years,” I said. “It's not that surprising he has an army by now."

“Talk about insane!” said Kirena, pulling out her neon sword. “Fine, I’ll deal with these things, so you two get moving! I'll catch up in a moment!”

“No need to say it twice! We owe you one!” said Axel, fist-bumping her while we rushed past her.

The detective followed closely behind me as I crashed through locked doors and navigated through the silvery-white halls, our footsteps clattering against the grated steel panels. Of course, it was only a matter of time before another incoming horde of robots and drones swarmed our path and circled us, forcing us to draw our weapons and press our backs together.

Axel and I traded a glance, nodded, and charged.