Co:Mputer Cruelty

The team piled into the car. Kirria sat in the back seat, her hands clasped tightly, eyes sparkling with anticipation.

Tackle, seated up front, glanced back. “Shinku I thought you said Kirria’s only supposed to go to petty crime cases. Why are we bringing her to an active warrant? Isn’t this pretty dangerous for a teenager?”

Johe yawned. “She’ll be fineeeeee we can protect her. You’ve got your tights in a bunch for nothing.”

“This is perfect early experience,” Shinku replied.

Kirria perked up. “Thank you for letting me come!”

Tackle groaned, folding her arms. “Sure…”

The truck came to a stop in front of a run-down house. Its faded paint and shuttered windows gave it an eerie, abandoned look. Shinku killed the engine, and the group stepped out, the gravel crunching beneath their boots.

Tackle turned to Kirria as she hesitated near the car door. “Are you sure about this?”

Kirria nodded confidently, following the team toward the house, trying to suppress her nervous excitement.

Shinku knocked firmly on the front door. “Cybersecurity! Open up!”

For a moment, there was nothing but silence. Then, faint shuffling sounds came from inside. A man’s face appeared in the small window beside the door. His wild, bloodshot eyes darted from one person to the next.

“Everything’s fine,” he shouted. “You don’t need to be here.”

Before anyone could respond, he disappeared back into the house.

“That wasn’t suspicious at all,” Johe muttered sarcastically.

Shinku knocked again, harder this time. “Sir, we received a report about suspicious activity. Open the door, please.”

The man reappeared, his face twisted in anger. “I said everything’s fine! Get the hell off my property!”

Shinku glanced at Bontly and nodded.

“Got it,” Bontly said, stepping forward. His mechanical arm began to whir softly as it powered up. “Sir, I’m about to breach this door. I suggest you step back.”

The man stayed frozen behind the door, glaring defiantly.

“Your call,” Bontly muttered. He rammed his arm into the door, which shattered with a loud crack, sending scraps flying.

Inside, the man was sprawled on the floor, staring up at the team with a mixture of fury and fear. He was an obese man, in a white shirt and sandals.

“You just tried to kill me!” his voice trembling.

“We told you to move,” Johe replied.. “That’s on you, dumbass.”

The man scrambled to sit up. “I know what you people are really about. I’m not gonna be some damn statistic!” Breathing erratically.

Before anyone could respond, a faint noise echoed from deeper inside the house—a shuffle, barely audible.

The man froze, his lips tightening. “Goddamnit,” he muttered under his breath.

“What’s that?” Tackle asked, narrowing her eyes.

“It’s nothing,” the man barked, standing and brushing himself off. “J-Just get out of here. Now.”

Ignoring his protests, the team approached him.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” He stormed down the messy hallway.

“Follow him!” Tackle shouted, preparing her hydroarm.

“Don’t move I say!” They followed him to a small bedroom at the end of the hall. The man grabbed a bucket of water from the floor, holding it defensively. “Don’t move I say!”

“MRMPH! MRMPH!”

Hanging from a ceiling fan upside was a female-looking computer. Tied up, shuffling erratically to create noise. Its limbs were bound tightly but its head was exposed. The glow of her eyes casted shadows across the room as it created muffled sounds, a strip of tape over its mouth.

The team froze, taking in the bizarre sight.

Kirria stared in disbelief.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Johe shouted.

Bonly shouted. “Hey!”

The dim room was tense, he clutched his bucket of water like a lifeline. His wide, frantic eyes darted between them, sweat glistening on his forehead.

Shinku raised a hand, his voice steady and calm. “Hold on. Just put the water down. We can talk this out.”

“Talk this out?” the man barked, his voice cracking with a mix of fear and anger. “Shut the hell up! I know what you machine folk are planning!”

Johe raised an eyebrow, taking a cautious step forward. “Can’t we just shoot this—!”

Tackle interjected. “Johe.”

The man shouted. “I knew it! You’re trying to kill me!”

Bontly said. “We are not trying to kill you, sir.”

“Stop lying to me!” he shouted, his grip on the bucket tightening. “You think I don’t know? About you ‘human killers’?”

Kirria blinked, her voice hesitant. “Human… killers? What’s that?”

The man scoffed, his laugh tinged with hysteria. “Oh, playing dumb now, huh? Typical! You think I don’t see through your act?!”

“MRMPH!” The computer tried to wriggle out of its entrapment.

“What are you talking about?” Shinku asked.

“You already know!” The man motioned toward the bound computer. “It’s a group of computers—like this bastard here—that kill humans. All of you are involved, from the cops to the civilians!”

“The little girl in the back! I can tell from her breath that’s a human! You, listen!”

Shinku shouts. “How can you tell?!”

He replied. “I keep the air in my house cold. Human breath will be visible here! Don’t trust them, girl! Some of those cybersecurity people are human killers! When a computer turns a human into a victim they’ll let the computer off scot-free! They’re corrupt and want us dead!”

Shinku sighed, his tone measured. “Let us help you-”

“Like hell I’ll let a computer hurt me!” the man interrupted, his face contorting with fury. “That’s why I’m keeping this thing in check 24/7!”

The computer, bound and helpless, let out whimpers.

“Shut the hell up!” the man snarled, whipping around to glare at it.

Shinki held his hydroarm. “Keeping it in check? This is computer cruelty, plainly!”

“Cruelty?” The man’s voice rose another octave. “You don’t get it! This thing is trying to kill me! To replace me! I’m the victim here! Gemu said so!”

Tackle, her patience visibly thinning, stepped forward. “So tying it up and threatening it with water is your idea of protection? That’s not how this works.”

The man ignored her, his eyes locking onto Kirria. “You!” he said, his tone desperate. “From one human to another, you’ve got to listen to me. Get the hell away from these machines. Run!”

Kirria instinctively took a step back, her eyes wide with unease. “I…”

“Whatever bullshit they’re selling you, don’t buy it!” he continued, his voice cracking with raw emotion. “You want nothing to do with them!”

The computer emitted another fearful sound, and the man turned on it again. “I said shut up! Or I swear I’ll—”

“Hey!” Shinku interrupted, his voice sharp. “Don’t get any closer.”

The group tensed as the man advanced toward Kirria, his bucket shaking in his trembling hands. “Listen to me, girl…”

Shinku tried again, his tone softer. “All of us are human.”

“See how they think they’re us?!,” the man spat, his face twisted with disdain. “You think just because you look like us, you understand what it’s like to feel? To think? You’re not like us!”

The man turned back to Kirria, his voice dropping to an almost pleading tone. “We’re made of flesh and blood, not ones and zeroes. We can breathe. We can bleed. We can…” His voice broke before rising to a fever pitch. “We know what it’s like to struggle! To live!”

He staggered forward, his voice a hoarse scream. “And I sure as hell won’t let you machines take another human’s life!”

With that, he dashed toward the group, the bucket raised high, water threatening to spill over the rim. “I’ll kill you all! I’ll save the girl!”

Tackle at lightning-speed, stepped in, grabbed the man’s wrist, and twisted him away. The bucket clattered to the floor, water splashing across the room.

“Enough,” Tackle said, her voice firm but tinged with disappointment. She held the man in a secure grip, pulling a sleek pair of metallic cuffs from her side.

The man thrashed wildly, his eyes growing wide as he saw the cuffs. “No! Not those! Don’t you dare—”

“These are teleportation cuffs,” Tackle said coldly, snapping them onto his wrists. “They’ll transport you to the nearest prison facility.”

“No! You can’t do this!” the man screamed, his voice tinged with panic.

Before anyone could respond, the cuffs emitted a bright glow, and with a flash, the man disappeared.

Shinku knelt beside the trembling computer, gently examining it. “Hey, you okay?”

The computer passed out from exhaustion.

“Looks like it’s been through hell,” Johe muttered. “I’ll call emergency responders.

“We’ll get you out of here,” Bontly began untying the computer.

The group headed back to their cruiser as ambulances arrived, the weight of the encounter left silence.

Kirria sat silently in the vehicle, her eyes staring blankly outside. The events replayed in her mind—the man’s desperate pleas, his erratic behavior, and the helplessness of the bound computer.

“You alright?” Shinku asked, glancing at her through the rearview mirror.

Kirria gave a shaky nod, but her expression said otherwise.