Broken Bond

"It was only a decade before machines were found in factories and dangerous jobs replacing the need for humans to put their lives in danger. Then in another decade highly advanced computer systems, the sibling to the machines, replaced the transportation centers with thinking vehicles. Time went quickly and machines replaced all of the undesired and menial jobs.

"In the wake of the machine's rise unemployment and disgruntled unions fought to keep their jobs as employers continued to replace them. Governments soon were forced to create new programs to support laid-off workers due to machines. It was becoming an epidemic, but it always lay under the surface hidden by the success.”

Herbert Stein, Machine Historian

The crowd was well behind them now and the blocks had flown by quickly. After a quick train ride, which unfortunately didn’t connect with the line that ran into the building, they were nearing the Qintech building. Satoru continued to maintain the lead with Kiyoshi shortly behind him wondering how Satoru managed to find the stamina to keep going. He knew where it was coming from, but it still amazed him what love managed to do.

Satoru ran through the crosswalk of an intersection not even waiting for the lights to change and the tune to sound off from the machine. His reckless behavior made him narrowly miss a car turning behind him. The car honked and the driver yelled at him, but Satoru was in another world. He looked towards the skyline of the city looking for the building knowing that it had to be close. "We're almost there."

Kiyoshi pushed himself to catch up to Satoru after waiting at the intersection to allow him through, seeing that the cars seemed to be purposely making it impossible for him to pass. His sore legs finally caught him up to Satoru at the next block, putting them only a short distance from their destination. In the distance the Qintech building stood awaiting their arrival. "I can see the building," he said looking over to Satoru while trying to keep up the speed.

"Doesn't look like she is there yet." He only said that because the building was still standing. Though he knew that until he actually saw her, that it wouldn’t be a confirmation. For all he could know she was inside and going to kill herself and take the building with her in ten seconds from now. The thought made him push himself harder, feeling the burning sting in his muscles through his legs. They protested, but knew better than to give out.

"We won't know until we get inside," Kiyoshi said, knowing that he came off sounding pessimistic. However, the words didn’t seem to bother Satoru or maybe he didn’t hear them. Either case, Kiyoshi pushed on with him not dwelling on the matter. "Be careful, Satoru. This is not like the last time. You've been extremely lucky. If you can't convince her to stop-"

Satoru stopped in his tracks grabbing Kiyoshi by the collar looking at him directly. He wasn’t going to listen to Kiyoshi being negative. This was going to work and there was nothing else to think about it. His thoughts were flowing so straight that he had never felt so clear before. "I know! I'm going to stop her. I will…"

"That's all I need to know," Kiyoshi said, giving him a little knowing smile. "Let's go." It took a moment, but Satoru let go of Kiyoshi and the two resumed their running.

Satoru could finally see the entrance to the building ahead of him. It was just across the street and he would finally be in reach of Asami. The looming tower made him a little cautious as he stepped into the street. This was the first time in nearly a month that he was walking through the halls of the company. He pushed the feeling aside quickly, seeing Asami in his mind. Nothing could stand in his way of preventing her from going through with this terrible plan.

They burst through the rotating doors of the ground floor of the Qintech building. The sudden noisy entrance they made alerted those in the lobby to them. Most were staring at them strangely trying to figure out what was wrong with them running like crazed lunatics into a private lobby. Satoru could have cared less about what people were thinking about him as he ran around looking everywhere for Asami. 'Asami…where are you? Please, you can't do this.'

Kiyoshi looked around with Satoru tagging along at his side. He appeared like he was searching for her, but he had no idea what she looked like. So all he amounted to was encouragement and support while Satoru did everything. "Do you see her, Satoru?"

"I don't know, there are so many people." Satoru spun his head around nearly looking in every conceivable location in the lobby. However, there were too many people present today. It made it difficult for him to make out one person from the next, especially those that were behind the front lines. 'Are you here? Asami…' His fatigued legs briskly carried him from corner to corner pushing through the crowds. Sweat was beginning to drop down his face as he felt the time slipping away from him. Each moment that he wasted looking for her was another chance for him to be too late. He tried to remove the negative thoughts, but worry was building up in him the longer the search was drawn out.

"We're running out of time if she is." His pushing him wasn’t helping Satoru. Kiyoshi knew this already, but he tried to keep Satoru alert and focused. There were signs of him drifting or lingering too long.

"I know!" Satoru shouted to Kiyoshi not needing the further pressure placed on him. It made his feet increase to double time furthering the area he was covering. This caused him to bump into a number of people blindly, but it was a small price to pay at this point. 'Where…' If he made someone mad at him or injured them it weighed so little against the possible fate of everyone in the building. He forced his way through two people talking, knocking them to the ground to find her."Asami!" She was standing amongst three others not talking to them, but blending in well enough to not look out of place in the lobby. "Asami! It's me, Satoru!" He waved his arm around trying to get her attention hoping to pull her away from her goal.

Kiyoshi stepped back from Satoru, giving him some room. "Good work, Satoru." Once he could take in the room he raised his hand up to his ear activating a communication device. "Target is confirmed. Take it down!" At his word men in armor and fully loaded out with assault rifles, shotguns and other weapons came marching out from several doors.

"Asami!" Satoru shouted to her again until he heard the pounding of boots throughout the lobby echoing around him. Soldiers were lining up on the second floor walkways that overlooked the lobby as well as the first floor of the lobby. "What's going on?" He looked around trying to figure out what had just happened. Only a moment earlier he had been disrupting the lobby running through and now it was filled with soldiers blocking all of the exits. The last few soldiers rallied by Kiyoshi speaking out of range of Satoru. "What are you doing, Kiyoshi?"

"My job," Kiyoshi said with a narrowed face staring at Asami. He threw his hand out giving them the signal to take aim. The soldiers on the bridge had already set up a sniper rifle with piercing rounds meant to take down a fully armored machine combat unit. The other soldiers drew their weapons making the civilians in the lobby panic not certain where to run.

"No, don't! Stop!" Satoru said, running towards Kiyoshi and soldiers trying to get in their way. However, he quickly noticed the sniper on the bridge with a clear shot on her. It made him turn around quickly in the frightened crowd back towards Asami. "Run, Asami! Get out of here!" He tried to wave to her, but she was oblivious to her surroundings and his voice. 'NO! Got to do something! Something…come on think…'

Satoru racked his brain trying to find a way out of the situation that he found himself in. There had to be a way to save her and everyone. The sniper was quickly taking aim with his weapon powering up, narrowing Satoru's time. Pressure squeezed around his head heating his body until he was pouring sweat. She was going to die in a second if he did nothing. He couldn’t let that happen. An image of her head exploding from a sniper round ripped through his brain terrifying him. It replayed for him repeatedly. Then an idea came to him suddenly and he shouted loud enough for his voice to carry through all of the floors of the lobby."It's a machine! They're going to blow up the building!"

The intimidation of the soldier's weapons, possibly killing them, was immediately overridden by the certainty of their imminent death at the hands of a machine. They knew too well that the machines would kill them because they were human. It sent everyone into a mass panic running everywhere. The soldiers were blocked, trampled or pushed aside by the stampeding mob of people. They were coming out of everywhere as word traveled too quickly for the soldiers to recover. "We can't get a clear shot, sir!" The entire bridge was suddenly packed with employees or visitors trying to get out, but bottlenecked by the soldiers' setup.

Kiyoshi looked around seeing the chaos that had ensued by Satoru's clever diversion. However, he wouldn’t be stopped by civilians. He signaled the company leader next to him. "Damn! Scrub that plan. Initiate plan B."

"Yes, sir!" the company leader said before turning to bark out orders to his men. The sniper team was still being held up unable to make a move forcing the others to move in. They pushed through the fleeing mobs trying to get to Asami.

Satoru rushed to Asami's side taking a hold of her by the arms. He looked into her eyes hoping to find some life or awareness present. All there was anymore was her last programming that emptied her of everything that made her unique. "Asami! Can you hear me? Do you recognize me?" Satoru got no response for her even after attempting to shake her, but finding that she was too rigid or heavy to shake.

"Terminate…" Asami said suddenly in a dull empty voice. She moved from her spot, coming alive for the first time since Satoru had seen her. Her eyes had picked up the approaching soldiers, deciding them a threat to her mission. The men began putting a perimeter together around Asami training their weapons on her as the last of the mob cleared out leaving only Satoru and Asami to face down the soldiers.

Asami effortlessly walked out of Satoru's grasp towards the soldiers. She leapt through the air landing behind the men spinning her leg low sweeping several men grouped together. Satoru ran to shouting distance while keeping out of the line of violence that was being laid down. "Asami! Listen to me! You don't have to do this!" His words fell on deaf ears as she continued to take out soldiers leaving the entire perimeter in disarray.

The company leader saw that they weren’t going to be able to capture her by cornering her. Asami's strength was too much for them to control and he was losing his men quickly. "Get her! Prepare the EMP net," he said signaling the back up team to begin preparations.

"Yes, sir!" the EMP operator said. He turned on the device letting it charge up the necessary power. "50 seconds to charge." The EMP needed time to build up to full strength or the machine would easily buffer the pulse with its dampers.

"Hear that? Keep her busy for 50 seconds." The company leader pulled up his men off the floor that were out of current fighting. He tried to give them encouragement to get them back into the fight. The woman was taking them all hand-to-hand without missing a beat. The few that tried to get off rounds from their weapons only became the next targets.

Satoru couldn’t stand by on the sidelines anymore and took an opening when Asami was paused surveying the remaining men. He charged in grabbing Asami by the waist futilely trying to hold her back from doing any more harm. "Terminate…" she said, still closed to Satoru's words.

The soldiers were standing up for another round against the machine. Asami threw Satoru aside to free herself charging toward the soldiers willing to fight again. Satoru slid across the marble floor slamming into the wall painfully. He tried to stand up, reaching for Asami still. "Asami!" The wall that had broken his slide had also knocked the wind out of him leaving his back sore. His fatigued legs finally caught up to him bringing him down to the floor once more. "Agh…Asami…"

The company leader worked to get his men back into the fight as the few remaining tried to delay her the best that they could. "Get up! You can't let a machine beat you that easily!" They only needed a little more time, but they had nothing left. His men were unable to continue and she was finishing with the last ones. They were out of time.

"I have a clear shot!" the sniper said suddenly in his earpiece. The bridge had finally been cleared out and in the fighting they were able to set back up without being noticed. The weapon was gleaming in the light aimed at Asami as she was landing on the ground unable to avoid the shot.

The sniper held his finger over the trigger a hair's breath from firing once given the word. Kiyoshi didn’t waste the time knowing that there wouldn’t be another chance like this to come for them. "Take it!"

Satoru saw the sniper team aiming at Asami and Kiyoshi shouting for them to shoot her. He scrambled up to his feet sprinting towards her as fast as he could hoping to reach her before they had the chance to shoot. "Asami, no!"

It echoed through the lobby pausing time, the bullet flew out of the rifle speeding towards its target. Satoru was still running trying to reach Asami before she was killed, but it was too late now. Time hastened its pace bringing the bullet to Asami. The sound of the bullet impacting her, bounced around bringing her to a stop, but the angle made it difficult to see what happened. "Did we get her?" the company leader said, waiting for the team to confirm the kill.

Asami remained unmoved appearing as though the bullet had hit its target. Satoru nearly stopped as his heart sank with the fear that she was dead now. "Negative, she deflected the bullet," the sniper said, trying to prepare for another shot. Asami didn’t give them a second chance as she leapt into action quickly reaching the bridge. She disarmed the men in a single motion and took out the sniper.

The company leader stared at the brief scene on the bridge knowing that they only had one chance left. He didn’t know how much longer they could keep her distracted. "Damnit! How long on that net?"

"Ten seconds left!"

She returned to the ground finishing off the soldiers that had begun to stand again renewed by the thought of being so close. Their wills, as determined as they were, were no match for the brute strength that Asami possessed. They were all laid out in an instant. "Terminate…"

Through the sea of unconscious and perhaps dead Satoru plowed forward, finally making it to Asami. He crashed into her body feeling like he was going to knock her over, but merely made her slightly wobble. Satoru put his face in front of her so that she could not avoid him. "Asami, listen to my voice!" He stared into her eyes hoping to ignite a spark, but continued to only feel the cold gaze back.

Asami didn’t move or attempt to toss him away. She just stood there staring back at him emotionless. The air around them hung tightly to their body, pausing the world for a brief moment. Her cold stares suddenly changed with a blink of her eyes. A light from behind her pupils seemed to be fighting to return as she attempted to speak. "Sa…Sa…"

"That's right, it's me! Satoru. Please, come back to me!" Satoru's heart was racing at the warmth that was returning to Asami. He could grasp the hope that he felt was beginning to slip through his fingers. She was returning to him. She was struggling and fighting to return.

The EMP operator looked up signaling Kiyoshi and the company leader. "It's charged!"

"Activate the EMP net!" Kiyoshi said without hesitation. This would bring Asami down and end the fighting.

"Yes, sir!" the company leader said, giving word to the operator. He had lost all of his men almost to the single machine. It was difficult to see how many of them were still alive. There were a few quietly moaning in pain trying to pull them together, but all around him was a sea of bodies.

"EMP net active!" Since Satoru was holding on to Asami and had immobilized her by breaking through the programming she was an easy target. The wire and charged energy net sprang to life swiftly engulfing Asami before she had the time to react. The EMP activated in a bursting bubble around her overloading everything within.

Satoru clung to Asami as her body collapsed to the ground. "No! Asami!" He ignored the net on him holding her hand as he could see the life being sapped away. The pulse was penetrating quickly through every circuit in her body.

"Sa…Sato…" Asami said before her mouth hung open, unable to move anymore as the last bits of power were cut off. Her eyes went dark. Her body became heavy, lacking the power to keep the weight from being too much. Satoru struggled to keep her in his arms, not sure if she would ever wake up again. For the first time he felt such sorrow for another person that he could have shed tears. However, his time was interrupted by the remaining couple of soldiers coming to collect Asami.

"Take her now!" Kiyoshi yelled to the few soldiers. There was a sudden urgency in his voice revealing an unseen pressure that was weighing against him.

The men pulled Satoru out from the net separating him from Asami. "Let go of me right now!" He struggled and kicked against the two men that had his arms pinned back. The remaining soldiers worked to pick up Asami slowly beginning to drag her off.

"You're coming with us, Satoru Korumura," the company leader said, knowing exactly who he was as though they were planning for him. Satoru glared at him, straining at the two men that held him wanting to punch the man that stood before him. However, Kiyoshi walked over to Satoru to become the new target of his anger. The mischievous smirk that curled across Kiyoshi's face made Satoru's stomach churn.

He stared at his best friend wanting to punch him until he bled out on the floor. Satoru didn’t know what to think anymore. Nothing was making any sense. His best friend that he had known forever betrayed him. There had to be a reason, but Satoru didn’t know if he even wanted to know the reason. "What do you want with me? Kiyoshi, what's going on here?"

In spite of Satoru's piercing glare Kiyoshi smiled back at him, almost playfully shrugging it off as though there was nothing wrong. He leaned over towards Satoru, grabbing his collar. "We've been running a little short-handed due to recent circumstances. So you'll be helping us complete it. And thanks to the machine we will be able to make the final modifications to the weapon."