Chương 145: B3. 5.1 - Visit From A Robot

Reo Hinode (Oberon)"What is it, Myra?" Reo Hinode asked, answering his phone.

"Do you know what time it is?" It was almost midnight on Wednesday, going into Thursday. Same shitty Wednesday as past Wednesdays. Thursday wouldn't be an improvement. Reo was at the parking lot of Phoenix Wings, taking a smoke break next to his motorcycle. The cool night breeze made his long hair flutter—he had freed it from hours bundled in a hair net. Maybe it was wrong to count this as a break because their shift was almost over.

He was avoiding the cleaning part because everyone would talk to everybody else since there were no more customers. He didn't want to be there. They were all friends. Kind of. He wasn't included in their circle. They tried to make friends with him, but he couldn't stop himself from being an ass to them. It was difficult to make connections with normal humans, given that he was no longer one. It pissed him off. Did he even have people he considered friends at this point? Only Everett, probably. What about Myra?

There was no way Myra thought of him as a friend.

"Where are you right now?" Myra asked.

"I've got another lead on Kelsey. I need your help." Reo held back a groan. This lead would definitely be another bust, just like the dozen or so nonsense leads before. He was more certain than a bucket of wings that Myra was being delusional. Again. It sure was a challenge to find someone who didn't want to be found. Two possible options for what really happened to Kelsey. One, Kelsey had transformed into too much of a monster and decided to go on a self-imposed exile.

Maybe she didn't want to burden Myra with hiding her. Or Kelsey didn't want to risk getting targeted by their group—she was an Adumbrae, and most of the group, including Reo, hated Adumbrae. Reo wouldn't attack her, if that mattered. Kelsey might also be ashamed of her looks. Lots of possible reasons. The point was, Kelsey willingly left. The second possibility was that the Adumbrae won in Kelsey's head and decided to dip. Explore the world and do Adumbrae things out there.

Actually, Reo suspected that the Adumbrae had been in control of Kelsey's body for a while and had been pretending the entire time for the kicks of it. Tricking dumb and sentimental humans into believing there was still a Kelsey that they could save. Possibility two-point-five, an offshoot—Adumbrae Kelsey chose to hang around the city and started attacking the PCM. Given the rumors and the way that the police acted, it appeared that they were suppressing news of another Adumbrae attack.

The 2Ms were gone, so who was this going after the PCM? Maybe… Kelsey. But Reo didn't speak out with his thoughts. He didn't want to be a downer. Myra was desperate to find her sister, and the least he could do was not be a dick about it. He was surprised to find a sliver of empathy in his dark soul. If Myra wanted to cling to some hope, he'd let her be. He didn't want her to be like him, who didn't even know what to hope for.

"Uh, cool," Reo said, grimacing.

"Why did you call me? I'm not saying I'm not gonna help you. Just that, you know, it's in the middle of the night. Have you tried Johann?"

"You're the only one I'm sure who's still up at this time," Myra said.

"Your shift's about done, right? I, uh, I'll call Johann after this. But he's probably asleep already. Long day at work, and I don't want to disturb him."

"Wow, I'm so touched that you called me first," Reo sarcastically said. He had some empathy, but that didn't mean that he'd be all nice to Myra. The past few days had been really stressful. Part of him expected the BID to barge into his home or the restaurant and arrest him.

"And you wanted to disturb me. Not him."

"Reo, I worded it wrong. Chill out, okay? Are you free? I was snooping around Marsh Row, questioning the gangsters there, and got a tip about an Adumbrae lurking—""Shhhh! You're going to blurt that out in a call? You don't know who might be listening. Can't this wait until tomorrow? I also want to sleep because I've had a long day too. Johann's not the only one allowed to rest, is he? My body may be… always fine. But my mind needs to shut down."

"You can rest." Myra's voice softened, the excitement gone.

"I was just… I'll continue investigating on my own, and I'll tell you about it tomorrow. Or I'll just get Johann to go with me." Now, I feel bad.

"Myra, I didn't mean it like that," Reo said.

"I'll help you with that lead tomorrow, okay? You put it off for next day, and we'll all accompany you. Let's get Deen and Erind, too. We'll make it look like we're a group of friends. Not going to look suspicious while passing through the damn checkpoints."

"Ah, yeah… Thanks. Tomorrow. You're going home now?" Reo checked his watch.

"In about ten minutes. I could go now, but I don't want to be written up. Eh, maybe I'll leave already. I feel like they're going to fire me soon anyway."

"Don't be like that, Reo," Myra said.

"I know you're having a hard time with… things." Reo exhaled rolling smoke.

"Things, huh?"

"If you think they're going to let you go, don't leave first. You're going to waive some benefits. Kelsey could've guided us if she were still around… Ah, we can ask Deen and Erind about labor laws so you won't get screwed. And start finding another job. Maybe a day shift would be better for you. You're not sleeping right, are you?"

"Not at all. Say, Myra. I gotta get back inside. They're calling for me. Let's talk tomorrow about that lead of yours." After the call ended, Reo closed his eyes and shook his head. Myra called to ask for help, and she ended up giving him advice instead. They may butt heads at times, but he could tell that she cared about his well-being. He felt more of an asshole now. Reo didn't go back inside. None of the other employees came to call for him as the minutes ticked to midnight.

He continued to smoke while staring up at the starless sky, wondering if he should disappear like Kelsey. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Leave the fight against the Adumbrae. Avoid getting arrested by the police. Forget about the artificial Core experiments. He wanted to go far, far away. Wear a new identity.

"Just get away from all of this…" He blew out smoke and watched it fade into the night. Cigarettes weren't doing it for him. His regeneration took care of the negative effects of nicotine, the addiction, and the lung damage. That meant that the positives were also gone. But he wasn't smoking for the dopamine pokes of nicotine. It had become his routine from way before he melded with the artificial Core. Comfort. Time flowed while he shut off his brain while smoking.

A sort of escape while he couldn't escape for real. But he missed when cigarettes used to ruin his health. He also wanted to bring back the times when alcohol could knock him out. Unfortunately, he couldn't return the artificial Core stuck to his chest and get his normal human body back.

"Maybe… I shouldn't have joined Dario," Reo said, sighing.

"Too late to change my decision now." He wasn't a coward—he could say that to himself without shame. There was a huge difference between being a coward and not wanting to die. That was practically his motto at this point. He wasn't rushing to exit this mortal plane of painful existence, even if it was shitty. Those raring to jump into a fight against Adumbrae were the crazy ones, like Myra, who always wanted to be at the front and center of every battle. Her bullshit wasn't bravery. It was stupidity.

"What if I had an Adumbrae sister I wanted to save…?" Reo stood up, flicking away the smoldering remains of his cig.

"Maybe I'll go crazy, too." He looked back at Phoenix Wings. Most of the lights were turned off. Forms moved inside the store, and his co-workers finished their tasks. He had told Myra he was returning inside the restaurant, but he didn't want to see any other face. He'd leave his leather jacket inside. He was done for tonight. Sleep. Wake up. Face another miserable day tomorrow.

"I'm supposed to be a superhero." A superhero who might be arrested by the police. He had thought of going after Sgt. Hall, but that wasn't what a superhero would do. He'd let Dario do what needed to be done and pretend his hands were clean. Reo started his motorcycle, feeling it vibrating under him. There was a sexual joke here somewhere, but he was too drained to think. He didn't bother wearing his helmet, letting his long hair trail behind him as he sped off the parking lot.

Let his co-workers think what they wanted about him.

"Where did my brave self go?" Reo asked the empty street.

"I'm still around… That counts as bravery, I guess." He blanked his mind as he drove to his cabinet-sized studio apartment. He parked his motorcycle and stomped up the metal steps of the stairs stuck to the side of the building.

"Keys, keys… Did I leave—? Ah, here they are." Reo sighed in relief. It would've been a disaster if he had left his keys inside his jacket back at Phoenix Wings. The lock clicked open. Reo opened the door to his dark room. The musty smell of his unwashed clothes mixed with the garbage that he hadn't thrown out hit him, but he had gotten used to this by now. He probably had a couple of rat roommates. Cockroaches, too. He flicked the lights on. Everything was the same inside his room as he left it this afternoon.

The garbage bags on the floor. The unwashed dishes. His dirty laundry on his chair.

"The fuck…?" Reo froze. His clothes were on his bed because there was something else on his chair. A metallic female mannequin? A weird-looking one. The symbols painted in red paint on it gave him the creeps. Reo looked left and right, expecting someone to ambush him. Was this supposed to be a prank? Who put this metal dummy here? He turned around, about to exit the room and check the hallway, when a thought popped into his head. (Close the door.) Wha-what? His right arm complied and pushed the door closed.

(Don't scream.) I'm being controlled! Reo spun around. The mannequin on his chair had stood up, right arm raised, its finger pointing at him. A lone eye opened on its forehead. An Adumbrae? It didn't look organic at all. A robot? Was this a BID creation?

"Calm down," said the robot.

"I'm not with the BID." Did the robot read his mind, or was that a lucky guess?"

"What the fuck is going on here?" Reo demanded, retreating. His hand felt for the doorknob behind him; he had control of his right arm again. But he didn't open the door. This robot knew where he lived. It probably also knew that he wasn't a regular human and should be prepared to confront him. He'd bet his balls this robot had allies who had surrounded the building. Should he try fighting his way out or gamble on his mouth to save himself? The robot didn't immediately attack—killing him wasn't its mission.

He should find out what was up with it.

"I mean you no harm," said the robot.

"I'm not an enemy unless you want me to be."

"Who are you?" Reo asked. Blood pounded in his ears while adrenaline choked his veins. He tried to calm his breathing as he faced the robot. Be confident. He shouldn't be fazed by a creepy-ass robot showing up in his room in the middle of the night.

"I'm Pino, and I'm here to talk," the robot replied.

"Just talk. There's no need to fight."

"If there'll be a fight, I can handle myself, thank you very much. You know that I'm not a human, right? And I have abilities that—""You can't use," the robot cut in.

"Well, you're free to kneel on the floor and summon your fairies. But I can incapacitate you in the meantime." Reo gulped. The robot knew that much? Dario had suspected they had a snitch among them.

"And I won't even allow you to do it," Pino continued.

"I can control your body if I want to." Reo clenched his fist that had moved on its own moments earlier.

"Are you an Adumbrae? Or some kind of robot?"

"Perhaps, both. I'm an Adumbrae that has combined with machine and metal. More machine than biological. I barely have any organic parts other than my eye."

"An Adumbrae… Who sent you? Big Marcy? Freaking Santa Claus? Talk."

"It'd be way easier for me to talk if you just listened. Have a seat." Pino returned to the chair as she pointed at the bed.

"It's going to be a slightly long story. But the short of it is we need help from your group. You, Myra Fletcher, Amber Deen Leska, and so on. Yes, I know all of you."

"But I know nothing about you," Reo said, standing beside his bed, folding his arms across his chest. The robot Adumbrae was right that his lousy power was lousy as fuck. But he still had superstrength. If he could get close enough to pounce before Pino could control him…

"I… am a subordinate of Red Hood."

"Red Hood?" Memories flashed in Reo's mind.

"The Adumbrae at the docks! The one who became this building-sized werewolf!" They sort of had a truce, didn't they? Didn't Deen call that Adumbrae Blanchette? Blanchette and Red Hood were the same.

"Yes. That same Red Hood. We come to your group for help. It's related to the PCM. We have to fight the BID and police to get to their underground base first."