Act 3: Spes

"No, I don't want to!" Screamed the girl with a high-pitched voice.
Silus turned his head left and right, not spotting anyone, he sighed out a column of smoke.
"If you don't want them to find us, you better lower your voice." He whispered into her ear, kneeling down at her height. Without a word she nodded.
"But I still don't want to go inside that box."
"Now listen, there is no way we can walk across the city without any machine recognizing you as a damn human. So you better enter this damn create and fast!" Silus pointed at a small-sized metal box, barely big enough for her to enter.
The sound of steps scraping over the concrete street interrupted their quarrel on the spot. It took just a quick exchange of eye contact for the girl to lower her head and crawl into the box with a defeated look printed on her face. Right after she entered it, the container began to float right above the ground with a self-propelling device.
"Identify yourself." Ordered one of the three enforcers who just came around the corner and stood now right in front of him. 
"199122119," Silus answered in a steady stream of words, just as they did without any highs and lows in his voice.
Silence prevailed between them, like a fragile layer of thin ice that could break with the tiniest impact. Calculating his chances to win a possible fight against the three of them, his head started emulating all the different scenarios in which he could find himself in. As there was still no confirmation for him to pass, his hand slowly walked up to the grip of his pistol, his eyes observing every inch of movement of his opponents.
"You can proceed with your work," one of them interrupted his emulations. It seemed to be the leader, having glowing blue stripes on his shoulders.
His eyes followed their steps carefully as they walked past him, down the street until they turned around the corner.
"And once again you were saved by me," the all too familiar voice spoke.
"I wouldn't call that saving," he mumbled. "In the end, you only want to safe yourself."
"Might be. But if I had not saved you the girl would be dead by now."
"Could it be that you've grown bolder in recent days?"
Silence was all that he received as an answer.
Black clouds hung over the city, making the grim night even darker. Only the blinding street lights illuminated the city in a bright colour pallet which reflected from the water puddles on the street. 
"Where are we going?" Asked the metallic voice echoing out of a small slit in the box's lid.
"I thought I said you should stay in there, didn't I?" 
"But it's so hot and dark in here, I can barely breathe." The head of the girl popped out of the lid, her long brown hair reaching down to the ground.
"It's not a long trip so just bear with it." He looked back at her as he stomped into a puddle of a deadly mixture of rainwater and trash. "Now listen to me and stay in there." Careful not to use too much force, he shoved her head back into the container and closed it.
Just as he had promised, it didn't take them long to arrive in front of what could only be called a rundown shack. The walls and roof were patched together by whatever could be found lying around. In some places thick and safe in others you could see through small holes between the different components of which the shack consisted. A deep metallic sound rang as he knocked against the door, which was nothing less than a bunch o mechanoid parts clogged together. 
"Who is it?" A voice from inside grumbled
"It's me, my old friend!" He answered.
Metallic rattling and clattering sounded from inside the hut as a response. The moment the door was kicked open a piece of scrap, as big as a toe, came flying towards him. Nonchalantly Silus tilted his head to the side, barely avoiding the projectile. 
"Ya better didn't destroy one of ya'r parts again or I'll personally recycle you!" A small robot which reached to his waist at best stood in the doorway and waved a strange tool in front of his nose as if it were a sword.
"Is that any way to greet an old friend, Zero?" Silus asked, observing all the moving mechanical components exposed wide open since he had no skin layer.
"Ya know that I bloody hate being called that, so say better stop. Now get in here before anyone sees ya." The robot signed Silus with its claw-like hands to enter.
"Your creator gave you that name, so I will continue to do so, even if you don't like it."
"Ha, you mean your wife? She-" Silus' face didn't change one bit but Zero understood very well that he was about to cross a rather fragile line. "Anyways," he said adjusting a cogwheel on one of his arms. "What brought you here if not for repairing one of your parts?" 
Without a word or turning his head, Silus pointed with his thumb over his shoulder.
"How did you know that I've already gotten out of the box?" The girl had already jumped out of the small container and stood hidden behind his big back. "Ne ne," she poked in his back, "do you have eyes in the back of your head?"
"Wait... is she-" Zero's implemented AI seemed to have some issues coping with what was happening as he stopped midsentence.
"That's what I want you to check for me," Silus answered cold. "Her blood is red but I still can't believe it myself."
"Is she your-?" Again the small mechanoid didn't finish his sentence.
"Don't be ridiculous, that's impossible I'm not even a human being I can't have children." 
He grabbed the girl which was hopping around him by the shoulders with a firm grip, lifted her from her shoes and placed her on a black couch. 
"Now, I will go and grab some things, my colleagues, from the old days left here for me. In the meantime, you stay put here. Zero will check your health so don't move, understood?" He looked her in the eyes until she nodded. "Good."
Silus was already at the other end of the hut when Zero's voice made him turn around again.
"Wait," the mechanoid clanked, "what is actually the gal's name?"
With a step already in another room, Silus paused staring at the two on the other end of the hut.
"Spes... her name is Spes."