Don’t Forget Me, Okay?

The robot quickly leaped toward Noah, but before it could reach him, his mother snatched a broken metal bar and slammed it away.

Noah spun around, stumbled backward, and fell on his rear, gawking at his mother. “Huh? M-Mom?” he squeaked.

When the robot twitched again, I finished it off by crushing its head under my foot. Axel glanced at Celia and me, whistling. “Not bad, you two. Close call.”

Celia turned around and faced her son, tears streaming down her cheeks as she fell to her knees. “I… I’m so sorry,” she whimpered. “I still can’t remember you, but earlier ago, I saw a vision… a vision of you when you were just a baby…”

My fingers twitched.

Noah and Axel traded stunned looks. “How?” they asked.

Celia clutched her head. “I-I don’t know. It happened when… wh-when I thought I was going to die a minute ago.”

I glanced at her, wearing the same bewildered look as everyone else. So it happened when she saw death, huh? “I… see,” I mumbled, crestfallen. “So that’s how…”

Noah tugged on my sleeve. “Radio? What’s wrong?”

I looked down and met his innocent, ocean-blue eyes. The more I stared at him, the more pain gnawed at my chest. I didn’t want to snuff out that hopeful gleam in his eyes, but… I didn’t deserve to continue walking with everyone else. 

I knew it since the start. No matter what they all would tell me, my sins were far too great to allow myself a second chance at life. Not to mention, this was the only way for me to make up for my crimes and reclaim everything I’d lost. Before I made my decision though, I had to be sure of something.

“Axel, are the comms still out?” I asked.

“Unfortunately so.” He clicked his tongue and rested his hands on his hips. “I’m almost betting the radio tower’s crazy EMP waves are interfering with them.”

“What about your map?”

He opened a radar, but its markers weakly flickered, still showing our position rooms past. “It also has a poor connection,” he said.

I see. I’ve made up my mind now. “Alright, Axel, you should get these two out of here and regroup with that sergeant then.”

“What about you?”

I pulled up my radar, revealing our markers blinking without any issue. “My map still works. Maybe because my stuff originated here, I can bypass the interruption signals.”

“Then we can just use yours while you come with us.”

“No, we’ll waste too much time. At any moment, Dr. Flint could get away under our radars, and we’d be damning dozens of more people as our price.”

With nothing good to argue against it, he scowled. “So what? You’re going to keep going on your own? Are you crazy?”

“Always have been.” I expanded my map and hovered it toward the three. “Here, just take a picture and get out. I’ll find a way to restore our connections while you focus on evacuating these people. It’s your job to protect them, right?”

“That includes you!”

A low rumble interrupted us.

Noah anxiously tugged on my sleeve. “Big bro, you’ll be fine, right? You’ll come back to us… r-right?”

I took a deep breath and kneeled before him. “Don’t concern yourself with me anymore. You should worry more about making it out here with everyone else, okay?”

“Huh?”

I ruffled his hair. “Grow up big and strong. Make plenty of new, happy memories with your mom. Get good at Cosmic Arcania and beat my rank. Be careful of who you meet online. I’m sure you can handle all that without me.”

“What do you mean?”

Axel’s eyes narrowed in realization, connecting the dots like the genius detective he was, and gripped his fists. “So that’s your choice? Are you serious?”

I tossed a faint smile.

“...If I was still a rookie cop, I’d downright refuse and drag you outta here, but…” He heavily sighed and scratched his head. “I’m not naive anymore to ignore our situation. You’re the only one who can stop him, so I… can't disagree with your plan.”

“For once, I’m grateful to you,” I said. “Thank you, Axel.”

“Hmph, you’re just like your father. Stubborn until the end.” He lowered his head before turning around and hiding his torn expression. “Come on, you two.” He grabbed the kid’s wrist and pulled him away from me. “Let’s get outta here.”

“Huh? Wait, what about Radio?” asked the boy.

I waved him off. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be taking back what’s mine,” I said vaguely. “My real name’s Zain, by the way.”

Celia raised her brows in realization and nodded in respect for me before catching up to Noah and Axel.

“Huh? That’s your real name…? Wait, why does everyone look sad?” Noah asked. “Ra—Z-Zain, what do you mean by that? You’ll catch up with us, right?”

I lowered my head and turned around, walking away in the opposite direction.

“Zain…?” He reached an arm toward me, only for Axel to tug him back. “Zain?! Wait, what are you going to do?! You’re coming back, right?! Zain?!”

Tears welled in his eyes as he squirmed around and screamed my name. I fought a war not to turn around and instead picked up my pace, his cries reverberating through my mind.

Wiping the tears leaking from my eyes, I sprinted away, uttering a quiet apology.

⫿⫼⌾⫼⫿

The tower’s ghostly frequencies guided me like a fish lured by bait, leading me to the higher floors. I had to sneak most of the time to avoid detection from the stationary drones, but whenever I accidentally made too much noise for my liking, they barely reacted. It almost seemed like they expected me to arrive. Since these robots shared a portion of Dr. Flint’s will, I was almost convinced the doctor himself was waiting for me.

When I arrived at the highest floor, my hunch turned out to be true. I paused before a door, a low, crackling noise bleeding through the fissures. The music—or what sounded like it—sang a muffled, vintage lullaby, and static frequently interrupted the song as if it had been withered by time.

Chills crawled up my spine the more this haunting music played, prompting me to kick the door open. The static in the air grew thick and suffocating, swirling around me as I finally laid eyes on my “creator” properly for the first time and winced.

There he was, casually leaning back on a rocking chair by a small table with an old radio, sitting alone in a frigid, small living room decorated with antique, retro furniture. Under his lab coat, his silvery, veiny, and metallic skin reflected the yellow ceiling lights above. His gaze shifted toward me, and I shuddered as I met a pair of gray triangle eyes.

I almost thought I was staring at the Grim Reaper himself. Perhaps he was, considering how many lives he already claimed—or perhaps, he’d already sold his own soul, considering that dead look in his artificial eyes.

I somewhat expected to confront an invincible final boss, but this pathetic sight confirmed that his only strength lay in his lackeys, leaving a weak old man to control them all.

I drew my gun and promptly fired, the bullet ricocheting off his head. “Tsk. Should’ve known that wouldn’t be so easy.”

The doctor hoarsely coughed. “Barely five seconds into our first proper meeting, and you went for my head? How ruthless.”

“Speak for yourself.” My grip on my gun tightened. “You’ve ruined my life,” I growled, gritting my teeth. “You took everything from me. Did you think I’d sit down and hear whatever tragic backstory or excuse you have to sway me? I’d rather skip the meaningless conversation—it’s ‘none of my concern’ anyway.”

“...I knew you would say that.” With a quiet grunt, he stood up and faced me, hands behind his back. “But don't you have questions for me? Don't you want answers?"

"Yeah, but I can ask them when I see you again in hell!" I pulled out a handful of cubical devices from my jacket and smashed them against the floor, releasing a massive explosion filled with sparks and blowing up the room.

I soared out of the fireworks at the same time an army of robots emerged from the lower floors. I flew higher as they followed, staying inside a cage of thick, rusty metal struts intricately framing a spherical core at the top.

I stopped, turned around, and activated all my wires while the army raised their guns.

I took a deep breath of the cool air before balling my fists.

Time to finish this once and for all.