Machine Heartless

K-111 remained silent for a few seconds.

His tired eyes were filled with sadness.

"No, that's not true…There can be no such thing."

"Instead, it really does.

I've heard rumors from reliable sources about those protesters.

Apparently a group of Citizens had found out what condition we Machine Men are in, and had decided to oppose the government with civil protests.

But downtown they aren't allowed to talk about us, and so through abstract symbols and vague words they began to spread the message among various… Are you all right?"

The boy's face had turned pale and under his breath he kept whispering the same word on a loop.

"Murderer, murderer, murderer, murderer, murderer, murderer, murderer."

"Hey, stop it! You're scaring me..."

K-111 fell silent.

A tear streaked his face, touching the scar on his lip.

"It's normal that you're scared of me.

It's so obvious, I'm just a ruthless and cruel killer after all.

A heartless machine capable of murdering a group of innocent people in cold blood.

I broke their love and ended all their intentions, even though they were fighting for the likes of me.

I was so angry with them that I felt only a sense of satisfaction when I saw their lifeless bodies on the ground.

When I saw the fear in their eyes I started to get excited, and it was great."

"What are you saying? Why were you angry with them?"

"Because they were making me suffer, it's their fault I'm like this.

No.

It isn't.

It's his fault.

It's his fault that I became like this."

"Whose fault? Explain yourself better"

"It's C.C.'s fault."

The girl opened her eyes wide and gritted her teeth upon hearing that name.

"Your boss...is it C.C.?

C.C. of the secret section?"

"He is my boss and master, and the one who made me this way."

"I've heard a variety of rumors about him, it is said that he's the most sadistic, bastard and perverted element in the entire Big Government.

A no-holds-barred psychopath who uses his power to torture those under him, only to gain personal pleasure from it.

No one would want to deal with that guy, I myself have seen crime bosses blanch just hearing that name.

He's the terror of the Machine Men."

"That man decided to take me under his wing, and drag me straight into the lowest circle of hell.

The first time he met me, he decided to play a little with the functionality of my Machine Heart, risking driving me crazy, just to let me know that he had total control over me."

Sophie had a completely appalled look on her face.

"But we are already born with this knowledge, our masters don't need to prove anything, because as long as they are alive we will always be loyal to them."

"This was only the beginning.

During my early training, despite my dexterity with the knife, my movements were still extremely slow, not meeting his standards at all, so to punish me and improve my agility, he had connected a long neutral cable inside my neck, then tried to hit me with an equally long phase cable, causing me a 120-volt shock each time, which heavily stimulated my nervous system.

When he taught me fighting techniques, I was forced to clash against him with my bare hands, and with every blow he delivered, some bone would break, or he would cause me injuries that would never heal, causing me pain to this day.

He also inflicted terrible psychological torture on me by making me care for small animals, to which I also gave names, which I would then have to brutally vivisect with my knife.

I had to watch hours and hours of brutal and bloody footage, I had to sleep for days inside morgues full of uncovered corpses.

Once he even forced me to eat a still-beating pig's heart, only to tell me that that would be the only real heart that would ever enter my body.

But the worst thing he did to me was probably this."

K-111 took off his shirt and turned his back.

Tiny, imprecise cuts of varying size and depth joined together to form two disturbing giant letters on his back.

CC

"He did this to me using my own knife.

My one and only precious toy, turned into a filthy people-killing weapon soaked in my own blood."

Sophie's tears fell copiously on the floor, producing a rain-like sound.

"Enough, I can't hear these things anymore...

You have endured all this, and yet you still remained kind."

"I'm not kind, I'm a killer."

"That's not true!

I saw you killing those bastards, I saw that you were angry with them because of their actions.

You are the only one who has been kind to me so far, the only one who has complimented me and also the only one who has ever helped me in my whole life."

The girl at that point, threw herself toward K-111, hugging him.

"It's time to return the favor."

"Wha-"

Sophie dug her nails into K-111's back, and with all the strength she had, scratched him, forming a big "X."

"Ouch! What are you doing?"

"Now you have my mark on you, and his, no longer has any meaning."

He had made C.C.'s signature unrecognizable, and although the blood was beginning to flow behind him and the situation had caught him off guard, K-111 looked at Sophie, hinting at a smile, and then hugged her tightly.

They stood still like that for a while , until she noticed something.

"Wait a second… Did you just badmouth your boss or am I wrong?"

"Well yes, however since it's you, I'm not worried about it."

"Don't you understand? Machine men cannot speak ill of their bosses or have rebellious thoughts, yet you did."

"Oh shit, that's true, but how is that possible?! I've hated C.C. all my life and yet... It's like I've never seriously thought about it."

"I can't explain it to you, however, I know someone who perhaps could..."

"Who is it about?"

"It's about the scientist, I was able to track him down."

"Where?"

"In the area of the former factories to the east."

"What do you say, shall we go Sophie?"

"Sure, Kei."