A Victim Through and Through

“Ah…” I clutched my head, my thoughts storming so much the room started to spin around me. I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know what to say. I should've seen this coming. I should've known better than to get my hopes up. Realizing the truth broke something inside me, unleashing a tempest of emotions that delivered visions of my parents' corpses on the floor—a scene I'd caused with my own hands. 

I hunched over and slammed my head against the floor, digging my fingers through my hair and breathing heavily. “Ahh…”

No wonder I felt something wrong on my first mission. No wonder I cried so much. No wonder I had this irrational anger against the world. It wasn’t because I was treated unfairly—it was because I had lost everything from the very beginning!

Dr. Flint, that bastard… That bastard made me kill my own parents! I killed them! I killed Mom and Dad with my own hands! Why didn’t I realize it sooner?! How could I be so stupid?!

“Aaahh… Aaaaahh!”

I screamed as loud as I could, hoping my voice could somehow wake me up from this nightmare.

Axel rushed over and patted my shoulder. “Kid? What’s with you? Did the truth hit you that hard—”

“I killed them!”

He flinched, eyes gaping.

Tears poured out as I kept screaming, burning my throat dry. “I killed my own parents! I killed Mom and Dad! Aaaahh!”

Still baffled, Axel continued to stare in disbelief.

“I killed them… My first mission—that bastard ordered me to kill them. My mom, my dad—I saw their faces but couldn't even recognize them! And I still can't remember them! Not a single thing! Why can't I remember anything?! Why?! I… I can’t—”

Axel pulled me up to face him and punched my jaw clean, hitting so hard tears flew off my flushing cheeks. The pain confirmed that this was all reality.

A mini hologram flickered beside Axel’s shoulder. “Hey, wha—oing on?” asked Kirena, the audio and camera glitching. “I—ear screa—ugh, what’s with this—itty connection now of all ti—” Her camera froze when a robot swooped into view.

Axel hung up the call and patted my back. “Radio—no, Zain, get a hold of yourself,” he said sternly. “You had no idea—”

I shoved him away. “Don’t even bother trying to comfort me!” I shrieked, my voice cracking. “You! You knew I was Zain?! This whole time?! Why did you keep everything from me?!”

“First of all, I only had guesses, but with barely any proof, I wasn't sure either! And second, like I said earlier, I…” He gritted his teeth and lowered his head in guilt. “I… truly didn’t want to believe it either. I desperately hoped I was wrong this whole time, but no, of course I wasn’t.”

He clasped my shoulder, making me wince. “Zain, it's clear you were manipulated into this, and your guilt and regret prove that you still have a human heart. You don't need to punish yourself. You can still make things right—hell, we might need your strength like, right now.” He anxiously glanced at the door, where a low rumbling grew louder. “I don’t think we have much free time left, actually. Zain, are you with me or not?”

“H-Hold on, goddamn it.” I took deep breaths and rubbed my forehead. “This is happening way too fast. My head hurts like hell.”

“And you’ll lose your head if you keep crying now of all places! We can do that later!”

We flinched when something aggressively pounded against the door.

“God, I wish we could've seen that footage at a later time,” I grumbled.

“Better sooner than never. You have no idea how many life-or-death situations I’ve been through trying to get answers, especially when people tried to stop me. How do you think I got so good at fighting?” He excessively cleared his throat and gave side-eye glances at me in full accusation like Kirena. Clearly, he still didn’t let our first meeting slide.

I took a deep breath and wiped my face. “Ugh, okay, fine.” I can’t even grieve properly, huh? I guess that’s my punishment. “Just… let me breathe for another minute.”

“Sure.” Axel pulled out his gun. “But I don’t think these guys will agree with that.”

The door began to crack, spindly claws wriggling through the fissures.

I heavily groaned before finally standing up and pulling out my wires, crimson sparks raging under my fingertips. “Fine with me,” I growled. “I need some stress relief anyway.”

Axel nodded before aiming his gun at the door. Within these spare moments, I gave myself a chance to breathe before the door burst open, giving us the cue to go berserk.

⫿⫼⌾⫼⫿

Noah grunted and squirmed around, kicking his captor’s solid legs in vain. If anything, his attempts convinced the android assistant to squeeze its grip.

“Ow! Ugh, let go of me!” he cried, still struggling as it dragged him through an expansive hall, one filled with dozens of prison cells. Fortunately, most only housed shadows and rust—physically, at least. God only knew how many souls still lingered within those cold walls.

One of those cells, however, ended up catching Noah’s eye.

“Mom!” he cried, leaning toward her as far as he could. “Momma, you’re here!”

Celia, curled in the corner of her cell, raised her head and widened her eyes. “Y-You… you’re that kid again,” she murmured.

“I’m not ‘that kid!’ I’m your son!” Noah sobbed, his arm stretching straight toward her. “You couldn’t remember anything because that doctor injected you with those Neuronite things!” Noah furiously kicked at the robot with everything he had, but it ended up throwing him against the floor.

Celia contorted her face in shock, horror, and confusion. Before she could think, she rushed to the bars and slammed her hands against them. “No, stop it!” she shouted.

The android reshaped its claw into a gun, aiming it straight at her head.

Celia flinched, paralyzed in her spot, her expression unreadable. She slid down to her knees, falling into a daze.

With the other subject silenced, the android resumed dragging Noah across the hall… only to be interrupted by a massive explosion behind them. All three jolted and turned to the cloud of dust fogging up the scene.

In the blink of an eye, my electrical wire shot out, coiling around the robot’s arm and delivering a painful shock. It flinched and released Noah, causing the kid to fall onto his rear and crawl away. It shifted its gun toward me next, returning a rain of bullets and hitting my force field.

With its full attention on me, Axel slid past me and snuck behind the robot before swiftly bashing it down with his baton. The android twitched for a few more seconds before it went silent.

“Phew, we made it in time,” said Axel. “You okay, buddy?”

Noah blinked up at him and at me, dumbfounded and still tensed up. “O-Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” he stammered, gradually relaxing his shoulders. “I’m fine. I’m… fine. I’m… I’m…” Tears of relief welled up in his eyes. “I-I’m… Bwaaaahh!”

Noah buried his face in the detective’s shirt and bawled, trembling all over. “I-I-I was so scared!”

Axel sighed and patted his back. “I’m sure it was. I’m sorry for not being careful.”

While he consoled the kid, I walked over to Celia’s cell and ripped off the door. She snapped out of her reverie and said, “Oh, thank you..." She blinked and rubbed her eyes before dropping her jaw. "W-Wait, aren’t you that assassin?!”

I blinked. “Oh, yeah. I am.”

“Eh?” She gawked at the detective and back at me. “Ehh? You’re working together now?!”

“Uh, it’s a long story. Don’t worry, he went through character growth,” said Axel, tossing a thumbs up. “He’s a good kid now.”

Noah sniffled and nodded.

I rolled my eyes, turned around, and scanned our surroundings, only to find no more survivors or androids around here. At the same time, Axel also stepped away to give the Rosalys some space. He tried calling Kirena again, but his attempts were met with silence.

While everyone took a moment to relax, the robot twitched and raised its head, its eyes glinting red.