"Being a part of the world is easier said than done. Doesn't mean I should stop trying."

*

"I'm coming with you, Peter!" Wendy's voice still echoed in my head as Will and I snuck down away from the computer room. She'd been screaming to come with us, fighting Mary because she couldn't just leave. But I knew getting to Rory and Axe wouldn't be easy.

There were androids in the way.

And I needed Will as my right-hand man.

With our backs pressed against the walls, we hid with the shadows, away from the window's moonlight. We were just yards away from the emergency stairs.

"I don't think I can do this," Will whispered as he curved his neck around the corridor to look down the next hall. Three androids paced there, between each other, around each other. Their red eyes lit the space.

Are they Rory's distractions?

"You can," I whispered back, eyes still glued to the ceiling. "Remember what I said we before we left..."

"Yeah..." Will looked back at me. I'd told him I needed him to fight with me, but that was a lie, and he knew it. He was my safeguard, my emergency. When I thought of my plan, my computers processed two alternate endings for my meeting with Rory. The first ensured my victory and the safety of every civilian within a fifty-mile radius, possibly further than that. The second...

Will rubbed his face. "What if they attack me?" he asked.

The second plan, though it began the same, ended with my core failure. Yes, the androids and Rory would fail with me, but if I was alone, no one would go down and tell Mary and Wendy of my fate. No one would let them know I had died. Again.

Will would be my voice. And when I told him that, he had agreed.

I slid my tongue over my teeth as I moved in front of him. I kept hidden but moved just enough to see them. With their broken sensors, none knew I was close by.

"They won't." I looked back at Will. "They'll try, but they look disoriented. Push them."

Will's brows shot up high as his mouth dropped. "Push them? Are you fucking serious?"

Nodding, I pointed at the Bionics symbol on my neck. "Hit them right here-hard. It's our weak point. Just put force and-"

An android heard our voices. Its head shot up as it looked in our direction. Immediately, I pulled Will away from the hallway's edge and pressed him against the wall. He bit his lip so hard he hurt himself. My computers picked up on his fluctuating emotions.

But I didn't look at him. I listened out.

"Javi, I-"

"Shh." I shot Will a hard glare before I pushed off of him and moved towards the corridor. The android's heavy feet echoed as it moved towards us. "Just do as I said," I hissed, looking back at Will. "Push them."

"Push them..." Will repeated as he sucked in a breath. And that sound was cue enough.

The android jumped out into our space. It's outstretched arms reached for my neck, but I caught him. I held him back. With one hand pressed against his chin, forcing his head back, I looked back at Will and shouted, "Go!"

Will reacted. He jumped over my stretched, opened legs and turned into the connecting hall. I could hear the static hit the air when the other androids noticed him. And he screamed in response. "Fuck!"

"Shit!" I ground my teeth and clenched my jaw, forcing the android I held back. But it pushed, too. Its red eyes dug a hole in my soul as its mouth opened wide. It's dark, wavy hair stuck to the sides of his face. Blue liquid dripped out from its ears.

It's beyond help.

I pushed again, hard, and it stumbled.

They all are.

Lifting my leg, I slammed my foot into the side of its abdomen and rushed over to Will's side. He'd already fallen back, crawling on his hands and knees. There were tears of fear on his face as the androids rushed towards him, clawing at his legs.

"Come here!" I reached down and pulled Will across the floor, away from the androids who wanted to get him. The one crawling in his direction, I grabbed it by its hair. One of its eyes was red, the other black and hollow. I frowned as it swiped at my face, hissing like an animal.

Will pulled at my sleeve. "Javi!"

The last android behind it stumbled in our direction. And instinct took hold.

With both hands, I gripped the android by its neck and squeezed. When the single red light died, I threw its body at the other rushing towards us. They crashed, hit the wall, and sparks erupted from the back of one's head. Will clung to me as I took a step back, glancing at the first android I'd pushed away.

It remained in the same spot on the floor. Sputtering. Blue liquid puddled around its head.

"I don't think you need me," Will whispered, finally letting go.

"No." I didn't look at him as I made my way towards the emergency stairs. The door called to me. Begged for me to end this all. "I do need you."

"But you just..." Will followed close. "You just killed these things like fucking dolls, man!"

Before I reached the end of the hall, I turned and looked at him. "These bots were already broken, can't you tell?" I pointed at the liquid that stained my shirt. "But Rory? Axe? We can't ambush them, can't sneak up on them, either. I give off an active signal and unlike these guys, I'm sure they see it, feel it."

Will gulped, brows pulling tight together. "So we're sitting ducks either way?" he whispered.

"Not really." I tapped his arm before I pointed ahead at a door that read Emergency Exit. "We're moving ducks. Harder to catch, difficult to shoot."

His mouth opened, then closed.

I tugged at his sweater as I moved towards the door, pushing it open. The stairs seemed to emit the same energy Rory had given off from within the other room. I felt the sparks of electricity hit my feet. "He'll know I'm coming. He's got to know that these androids wouldn't stop me. But I'm what he wants..." Opening the door all the way, I glanced up the two flights of stairs that led to the rooftop. "And I'm ready to deliver."

|||

There was one thing I hadn't told Mary, Wendy, or Will. I didn't have it in me. Maybe because it was hard to explain in words, but as Will and I stared at the rooftop door, it became clear to me.

I had synced with Axe when Rory stole my data. I felt his ache, his loneliness. My nightmares filled with dark rooms, flashing numbers, and moving shadows weren't "dreams" at all... they were his memories. I never told anyone because it was just random information to me. But now? After today? No...

It'd hit me during that transfer of information that he and I had always been one; one mind, one core, one machine. His fluid behaviors, his voice, his thought process, was all mine.

Just... without... human consciousness.

As I pushed opened the door and stepped out into the pouring rain, I knew exactly what Rory wanted from me, from Axe. It wasn't a replacement, a lover, it was his best friend. His brother.

He literally wanted me. Because I had been the only one to really see him, treat him as a human would another. And Rory... sacrificed it all to get me on top of the Bionics building.

The door shut behind me as Will stepped close to my side. He pulled his hood over his head to block the rain. I simply stood straight and let the water fall down my face. My eyes were focused on what was ahead of us.

Dead center of the roof was Axe. Face tilted up towards the sky, just like the androids on the front lawn. In front of him was Rory. His face looked frantic, his eyes glowed brightly. He kept pulling and tugging at Axe's sleeves, but nothing happened.

"We can see the water!" Rory shouted, hands gripping the sides of Axe's collar. "We can see the lake! The ocean! Whatever you want! Just fucking look at me!"

The sound of his voice made Will move back. His shoes thumped against the closed metal door. I could hear his trembling breaths as I focused on Rory. I'd never seen an Android give off human emotions before. Then again, he wasn't like any other droid, right? Did I do the same thing?

"We can go sight-seeing and star-watching. We can do it all, Javi!"

Javi. He called him, Javi.

"Just please!" Rory's head pressed into the crook of Axe's neck as he openly sobbed. Still, Axe didn't move. I thought for a second I could feel him, too, but different. Broken, like dead radio signals. "Please, just wake up for me."

As I stepped forward, I remembered that's exactly what Rory had told me when I'd been recreated. It was days after I'd first woken up, but I refused to see or talk to anyone. I was in denial of the body I'd been placed in. I wanted to be alive, not a machine.

It was Rory who pulled me out of bed. It was his hand that turned my head. And he'd said the exact same words, but with care and love, not need.

"Please, just wake up for me."

Just a foot away from them, I blew water out from between my lips and clenched my fists at my sides. I locked onto Rory's signal before I spoke. "Look at me."

Slowly, Rory lifted his head up from Axe's shoulder. His eyes shifted from blue to red. But he didn't speak.

"I'm here. This is what you wanted, right?"

His hands gripped Axe's collar so tight, I heard the material tear at the seams.

I shook my head and looked around. "This isn't the way to do it, Rory. We could've talked about this. Like men."

"Men?" His voice was small. Quiet. "Or machines?"

"No." I looked back at him as he moved away from the droid he'd give it all up for. I took a step towards him, one hand up through my hair. "Men. Brothers. Because it's all you wanted, right? To be valued? Loved?"

"You're so..." Rory groaned as he covered his face. When his fingers slid down his skin and over his lips, he shouted, "OBLIVIOUS!"

I wasn't oblivious. I knew what it all meant to him. The jealousy, the pain. The loneliness, the desire. He'd said it; I felt the same way. But not to the degree that rang through him. In my eyes, he'd gone insane. "You were alone, Ror, I get it," I told him as I stepped even closer. "But... taking Wendy and hurting everyone wasn't the way to go about it."

He dropped his head, water slipping off the strands of his blond hair. "Oh?" he chuckled. "But people noticed, right?"

In his chest, I could see his pulsating core. I focused on it, watching it beat. Rings of light came off of him as my sensors pinpointed the energy. "You sound like the criminals who do all the wrong things to make their point."

He lifted his head and licked his lips.

"Were they right in their decisions?" I took another step closer. And another. "Hurting hundreds, thousands of people?"

"I killed droids." Rory's top lip lifted in irritation. "Not humans."

"Your rogue droids killed anything in their path," I said, standing directly in front of him. "Because... I didn't hug you enough?"

Rory flinched and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Because Mary found a new toy?"

His hands shot up into his hair.

"Like I told you earlier, Ror, this is one big fucking tantrum. And it needs to stop. Tonight."

I watched his mouth open unnaturally wide. A quiet buzz left him at first, and a part of me thought he'd just scream into the storm.

I didn't expect him to charge at me, hands at my neck.

Red flashed across my eyes.