"One man's trash is another man's treasure."

*

June 7, 2027

We live in an age where ideas are recycled. Buildings are reused. Redesigned. Sometimes, if it was a business, the senior employees tag along.

Five years after the mayhem that was Bionics, recycling was exactly what happened.

Pent Corporation rode in after the world had forgotten the destruction androids left behind. With a quick swipe of their power-hungry broom, they swept the damage under the rug. Before anyone knew it, the idea of android companions was theirs. The commercials with synthetic smiling faces took over TV screens, reminding people to call. They needed to. They would regret it if they didn't try.

And as if the trauma had never happened, people ordered their android friends. Again.

Personally, I wasn't bothered by the idea of androids returning to the streets. I was one. I identified as one. Without a human conscience to remind me of the terror and fear I experienced on Bionics' rooftop years ago, I rolled with the punches and lived. But I owed someone else the chance to experience life, too.

"Conversation received. Message sender—Rory. 'You can turn around. Don't risk your life for me.'"

The message's words passed over my line of sight like a persistent fly. Since leaving the house tonight, Rory messaged me once every five minutes. When I reached the old facility Pent Corp. rebranded for themselves, the messages were quicker. Back-to-back. Rory had to know my location and tried his hardest to get me to turn back.

I'd made a promise to him, even if he didn't want to hear it. His actions were forgiven. And as the world forgave machines and gave into the idea of letting them return to their homes, I knew Rory would have no issues re-acclimating to society. He just needed to take the chance.

Looking at the warehouse doors across the street, I told myself I had to bring the opportunity to him.

"Conversation received. Message sender—Rory. 'Javi, please, don't.'"

I rolled my fingers into a fist. The security cameras outside the building's back entrance circled the lot. Moving left, the white light illuminated the empty space. When it shifted to the right, brightening the door's window, I saw Mary's face inside.

She turned back as if eyeing her surroundings. I'd scanned the surroundings, the building's interior, and found she was alone; there was the exception of androids, but no humans in sight. When she turned to look out of the window, at me, she motioned for me to come inside.

Eyeing the cameras, I approached.

Mary swung the door open. She held onto the handle while I stepped inside. Glancing back into the facility's open room, she made sure no one was behind her. Her nervousness made me laugh. "What are you looking out for?" I asked.

Her dark eyes narrowed as she moved around me, pushing the warehouse latch down, securing the lock. As the camera light passed outside, she turned and pressed her back against the door. "Do you know how many security bots Pent booted up tonight?" She leaned her head close. "Fifty. Fifty!" Her voice dropped to a scared hiss.

I watched as she passed me, slowly stepping into the open space. "You didn't have to stay here, you know," I told her. "You could've given me your credentials. I would've let myself in."

Mary stopped center room. She turned her head, curls swaying from her ponytail. Red color crept up her brown cheeks, flustered. And despite the flushed cheeks being opposite of what I loved to see on her, I admired her still. Dipping my head to the right, I smiled.

Radiant. Passionate. Strong.

Data analyzed.

Her hands balled into fists.

I pushed my bottom lip out. "You wouldn't have let me do this by myself."

Mary sharply turned and faced me, and I saw every emotion on her face.

When Bionics went under, it took her life with it. Her parents protected themselves, giving away all of their valuables, and returned all information without a second glance. Mary was left to fend for herself in a world that viewed her as the devil leading the android apocalypse. So, when Pent Corp. arrived in time and offered her the position as senior developer, she accepted without hesitation.

And I called her to use it to my advantage.

Recreate Rory.

"You know I'm doing this because I love Rory." She stepped towards me, chin lifting as she looked up into my eyes. Her jaw clenched; her eyes darkened. My computers detected the heat fluctuations within her body.

I cocked a brow. "Not because you love me?"

Mary frowned. Her pursed lips held in her whine. "Javi," she whispered, "you know I do. I love you. But this? Doing this?" She pointed at the next set of double doors across the open space. "This is dangerous. Pent's androids are something else. And if there are fifty of them? I just, I, I—"

Frustration. Hesitation. Fear.

I cupped the side of her face. My thumb brushed across her cheek. "You're worried about me."

Her brow pushed together as she frowned. "Yes, I am." She grabbed the front of my shirt. "I worry about both of you."

"You know us," I said, sliding my hand down her shoulder.

Gently pushing her aside, I walked towards the opposite end of the room. The empty pods, once home to Bionics replica droids, buzzed with low electricity. I eyed them as my hand settled on the double doors leading into the facility.

"Yes, I do." Mary hurried to my side and stopped me from leaving. Her eyes peered at me, pleading. "And that's why I don't think this is a good idea—"

Lifting my brows, I stared at her and nudged the door open.

"—The parts here are for war androids, Javi. If we rebuild Rory, I'm all for it and completely understand why we should. But we can't use these parts. They're killers. They're monsters."

Pent Corp. changed a few things thing to the facility's hallways. Minimalistic with metal doors. Some of the office windows had bars like prison cells. I remembered the layout from the lowest levels of the warehouse, where the Bionics Replicas had been stored. To have the main floors set up the same way made it clear this area of the facility was not customer-facing.

"Javi." Mary's hand wrapped around my forearm.

Reluctant. Hesitant. Afraid.

I drew in a long, artificial breath. "I was made with the same parts, wasn't I?"

Her fingers slid away from me.

Biting the insides of my cheek, I focused on the long empty hallway. "I was built with a monster just like me, did you forget? And when you brought me back, again, what was left to use?"

The doors swung shut as Mary stepped out into the hall with me. She couldn't look at me. Her fingers linked, cupping in front of her out of nervousness. Guilt. Regret.

When she lifted her eyes, my computers registered the emotion.

Frowning, I touched her cheek. "I wasn't saying that to be taken in a bad way. I'm only speaking the truth." My fingers slid along her jaw until I cupped the back of her head. "You used everything you had to bring me back. I was never mad about that; I'm thankful and forgave you years ago. I just..."

Mary lifted her eyes. Our gazes locked. For a brief moment, electricity erupted under my skin. A blissful spark.

I miss her.

"You want to use everything you have to bring Rory back," she whispered.

I nodded.

"Okay," she whispered, closing her eyes. She traced the line of her security bracelet before spinning it once on her wrist. Glancing back down the hall, her eyes searched the space, temperature fluctuating.

As I dropped my hand to her shoulder, she bit her lip. "Can you do me a favor then?" she asked.

"Yeah, of course."

"Scan the area." She looked back at me, determination spreading over her face. "I don't know where the security droids are, but we need to get up to the third floor if we're going to do this."

Mary started down the hall to the right. The sound of her shoes echoed.

I looked at her before glancing at the security cameras on the ceilings. I counted ten of them. No signal.

Following Mary, I pointed at the white spheres without power. "What about security?"

Mary pressed her hand against the last door on the left. Without batting an eye, she pushed it open and said, "I took care of that already."

As she disappeared into the stairwell, I nodded, unable to hide my grin, and quickly followed after her. "Well then."

Data saved.

*

The change of electrical atmosphere rippled through me as we climbed the stairs. The second floor was tame like the beginning winds of a brewing storm. I ignored the pulses easily, pushing them away from my computers; just another everyday disruption. But when we neared the third floor, with the bright red 'exit' sign blaring down at us from ontop the door, I stopped.

"Disconnected from the main server. Unable to deliver error report. Retry?"

I can't deliver reports to Bionics, computer. They don't exist.

"Javi?" Mary looked down at me from the top. Her hand was on the door. With concern on her face, she frowned. "What do you see?"

I stayed on the third step, staring at the door. My hand gripped the railing at my side. The metal squeaked under my fingers.

"I, um—" I hadn't tried to scan. The air had become so thick, so dense, I was blinded. But as I looked at Mary, afraid she would turn back, I focused.

"Stabilizing computers—twenty-nine percent."

"Javi?" Mary walked towards me, one foot on the second step while the other hung on the first. Her hand stretched out to touch my face. "Are you okay?"

Looking at her, at her face, I watched as my computers flipped through my internal programs, clearing cache, deleting unused data. To Mary, I was just quiet, steady, motionless. But if she looked at me, really looked at me, she could see the change.

Ever since my second rebuild, my eyes were open windows; Wendy explained the sight to me after I rebooted in front of her. While my body appeared calm, my eyes were white, then black. Quick glimpses of video played over them, like the reels of a film rolling in fast-forward. Wendy had explained the images looked like old commercials, playing too fast, then too slow. But they weren't old ads; they were never played on TV. The quick video stream was me, and I wondered if Mary could see it.

"Stabilizing computers—fifty percent."

As Mary's expression softened, my memories played in the corners of my eyes. Faintly, I saw them. Watched them. The moments when I walked Wendy to school, assisted fellow androids at the store. It sped quickly over images of my parents, our house, and of the cat we recently adopted just months ago. But when Mary stepped directly in front of me, looking up at my face, the videos slowed.

I looked down at her, just as the memories paused on the moment she walked back into my life with her actual name. Mary Morales.

"Stabilizing computers—ninety-nine percent."

Both of Mary's hands touched my face. "Javi, are you—"

The memories faded away. A clear map of the facility came into view. I saw the empty floor behind us, drawn-out with digital lines crossing each other. The lower floors were calm, without movement, without androids. But when I glanced up at the floor we'd reached, the lines were disturbed, broken. Outlines of androids cut through them.

"There are ten androids in the next hall," I said, grabbing Mary's hand as I walked past her and pulled her with me. "Three just outside. If we go left, we—"

Mary tightened her grip around my fingers. I looked back at her as she frowned. "What happened?" she asked. "Right there, you like... froze."

I shrugged. "I gave myself a quick reset."

She blinked. "Reset? What? Why?"

Glancing at the door to the third floor, I focused on the security scan. An android was close. A part of me wondered if it could hear us. If its build is as good as Mary makes it seem, it better hear us. And I'll be ready.

"Javi?"

"It's like restarting a phone." I pressed my hand against the door's handle, ready to open it. "Up here, the interference is thick. I needed a reboot."

Mary's hand covered mine. The two of us gripped the handle. "Is that why..." she gulped, "I saw us in your eyes?"

I looked down at her. "You saw my memories?"

She nodded.

And I smiled. "I make sure they reboot every time, so I don't forget." I turned the pushed at the door handle "I'll never forget."

I saw the smile as it crept up on Mary's face. She tried to hide it. Bit her lip to keep a serious expression.

I couldn't let her hide that smile. Pushing the door open, I watched the light from the hall blanket her face. "Now let's make sure Rory isn't forgotten, either."

*

The smile on Mary's face faded as soon as we stepped into the hallway. We turned left, just as I said, but that didn't hide the androids we saw to the right.

They were there, right beside us. Their eyes faced forward, focused on white squares on the opposite wall. Human instinct told me to stretch my arm out, defend Mary from possible harm; my computers decided to react to the "P" branded on the side of their necks.

Syncing initialized.

My eyes widened. "Shit."

Mary stepped behind me. Her nails dug into my arm as she gripped my shirt. "What's happening? What did you do?"

"What did I do?" I glanced at Mary and hissed, "My computers are trying to pair with them."

"Well don't." Mary's eyes widened, frantically scanning the hall. "Stop doing that."

"That's not something I can do." I clenched my jaw as we took three steps away from the androids. While they didn't move, their eyes brightened. The sound of whirring gears quietly echoed in the large hallway. One of the droids at the end of the line turned its head.

I pushed Mary behind me as I took another step back. "When Pent picked up Bionics contracts, what exactly did they get?"

Mary whimpered before pulling at my arm. "Everything."

Another android at the end of the line turned its head. Taking two more slow steps, I glanced back at her. "Even android programming? Data and computer files?"

She nodded. "They needed a starting base. They just... improved on it."

Improved? "Shit, Mar..."

When I looked back at the androids, a third turned its head. Three glowing blue eyes focused on the space we were in, but they didn't move. Didn't advance.

"I told you these androids were different," Mary whispered. "They're killing machines. They're—"

The fourth android looked our way. And a fifth.

I eyed the remaining androids, focused on their steady streams of electricity. I could see the digital lines circulating through their bodies. The computers pulsed within their chests. Those who looked towards us were brighter than the others; the sparks of electrical energy pushed through their bodies like heavy rain.

"Let's hope you're wrong." Turning sharply, I grabbed her hand in mine and squeezed tight.

"I'm not wrong." She looked up into my eyes, fear rimming hers. "Every day I help build these machines. I program them. I—"

"You also said there were fifty." I looked back at the androids. The sixth turned its head. "I count ten."

Her eyes widened as she focused behind me.

"Since Pent isn't original, let's hope these droids think I'm one of them." Taking the chance to look back, I saw each of the androids looking towards us.

Their eyes were red.

"What if you're wrong about that?" Mary whimpered as she tugged at my arm.

"Then we gotta go!" I hopped back before pulling Mary into a run. The sound of our shoes squeaked as we skidded down the hall. Scanning the facility's security grid, I tried to find a safe place.

The doors at our sides were empty. But when I tugged at them, they were locked. I stumbled into the third door as the androids slowly advanced in our direction. The footsteps echoed.

Left. Right. Left. Right.

Clenching my jaw, I grabbed Mary's hand and pulled her into a run again. "Please tell me you've got keys!"

"Not to these doors!"

I couldn't be mad, even if the emotion rushed through me. I asked her to get me in. Asked her to help me bring back our old friend. Protecting me hadn't been a request. Neither was learning the ins and outs of the company that took over her family's past.

But as the androids broke out into a run, I wish she had. God, I wished she had.

"It's this room!" Mary pointed to a room on the right, just a few doors before the end of the hall. She hurried in front of me, sliding until she reached the keypad. Her fingers missed the first few buttons.

"Of course, this door doesn't have keys!" Gritting my teeth, I stopped. The keypad beeped behind me; an incorrect chirp followed. As I listened to Mary try again, I turned. I watched the androids skid to a halt. Then walked.

Right, left. Right, left.

Both of my hands closed into fists. "Mar," I called back to her, "tell me you're going to get it open!"

"I'm trying!" she cried, pressing buttons again. Another incorrect chirp followed. "I've only been inside this room once!"

"Once? You said you built these every day!" I wanted to scream. Not at her, at them.; the androids. As they slowly approached, my computers processed the chances of survival. I thought the probability would be slim. If these androids were monsters like Mary had said, then I wouldn't make it.

But as they came closer, just over a foot away, the chances spiked. There were only three of them. I could make it. I could fight three.

Another incorrect chirp. "I'm trying!" Mary shouted.

Taking a deep breath, I lifted both fists. "I know!"

The first android came towards me. A hand reached for my neck. Slamming an arm down on its shoulder, I locked it against me, pinned with my elbow. It opened its mouth; a static scream hit the air.

"Mar!" Wincing, I glanced back at her. "Come on!"

The second android advanced, and the third. Both attempted to take me at my sides, but my computers saw their movements. Before they could grab me and throw me against the floor, I dropped their friend; the heel of my foot crushed the side of its skull. With electrical sparks at my feet, I punched the second android before lunging at the third.

The sound of our metal crashed as we collided into the wall.

"Computers unstable. Recalibrating sensors."

"Javi!" More buttons were pressed. Another chime echoed in the air. A louder beep. No warning.

The sound was welcomed by the click of an unlocking door.

"I did it! Come on!"

Clenching my jaw, I changed my sight, focusing on the security grid instead of what was in front of me. The electrical current under my feet wavered; the android behind me rushed in my direction.

"Javi!"

I gripped the sides of the android's clothes. Sharply, I turned and pulled the android with me. Its counterpart crashed into it. The sound of colliding metal echoed in my ear as I shoved them both to the side, into the wall. The plaster over brick cracked under their weight. And before they could stand and compute what had happened, I rushed towards Mary, pushed her inside the room, and locked the door.

I pressed my back against it and slid to the floor. The linoleum tiles were cool under my fingertips.

"Mar..." Looking up at Mary as she crossed the room, I touched my face. "You said they were monsters."

"They are." She was panting, rubbing her arms while she looked around at giant cabinets. Each had glass windows, with a clear view of the contents inside. Yet, without light, we saw nothing.

I pushed myself up, standing, taking one glance out the door's small window. The androids in the hall looked at each other before retreating. Were they going back to their spots? Would the other androids join them? "You don't think they're going to come back?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. These bots, I guess, are just the regular ones." As Mary spoke, I looked back at her. She'd walked towards the other end of the room, eyeing the next set of cabinets. "I didn't build those. Maybe they're simple? But the ones they really build are..." She shuddered.

Regular bots? Did Mary think I was rebuilt yesterday?

"Look, I know it's been years, Mar," with my hands in the pockets of my jeans, I approached and stood next to her, "but I remember what Replicas were capable of. What Bionics was capable of." I pressed my hand to my chest. "If I were human, Mar, I'd have physical scars."

"Physical scars?" Shifting to the side of the cabinet, her hand moved around the back of the wall before finding the switch. When flipped up, the light in the room came to life.

Inside the cabinets were metal body parts—arms, legs, chest pieces, shoulder blades. In the first set of cabinets were the smaller parts—organs, fingers, eyes, ears. There was even a bucket of computer chips on a table to my left. Wires in a barrel.

I felt like I was stuck in a scene from an android horror movie.

Mary looked at me. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Licking my lip, I blinked. "It means what I said." Moving my hand from my chest to my head, I pressed a finger to my temple. "You brought back all of me. The memory of it all, the damage, falling, crashing." I shuddered this time. "It's always here and sometimes... I dream about it."

Mary frowned. My computers reacted. A sudden silhouette of sadness and regret framed her body. The edges of my vision blurred as she lowered her head. With a quiet whimper, she said, "I know and I'm sorry, I... I just—"

Without hesitation, I pulled her against me. A small gasp slipped past her lips as she looked up at me. Her brown eyes glistened with emotion before she tried to look away.

I didn't let her. I lifted her chin with my finger. "I didn't mean to say that in a bad way."

"Is that your go-to tonight?" Biting her lip, she sighed. "You're not saying anything bad, you know."

"Then why do you keep acting like I did?" I searched her eyes.

"Because it's the truth." She moved away from me and looked back at the cabinets. "I did everything the wrong way and we all paid for it." Sliding her hand down her arm, she shook her head. "It's why we're here; so, I can make this right."

"Is that why you're working here, too?" I reached into the open cabinet. My fingers wrapped around a metal arm. Without synthetic skin, it was cold to touch, but the blue of its steel was alluring to look at. Hypnotizing in a way. Turning it in my hands, I watched it shimmer in the light.

"What do you mean?" Mary asked.

"To help." I pulled my gaze from the arm to her frowning face. A smile tugged at my lips, and I hoped it'd help hers. "Get into the company to make sure we're all right?"

"Javi..." Mary took the hand from me and placed it on the table. Without looking at me, she searched the cabinet for another arm to match.

Sometimes I felt like it was easy to forget. And by forget, I meant pretend as if nothing ever happened. A part of me knew that was how Mary got around in life; it was easy to ignore the gossip and stares if you didn't acknowledge them. But I knew they were around. When she was with me, they intensified.

A human and an android, no couldn't be. Especially not the spitting image of a rogue who destroyed so much.

If only they knew the truth.

"Mar?" I touched her arm. "You can talk to me."

"We're going to rebuild Rory." When she looked at me, there were tears rimming her eyes. "And that's why I'm here now."

"But—"

"But before this?" She placed the second arm on the table before crossing the room to the other cabinet. "I... I took this job because I had no choice. And you know that?" She looked at me. "Don't try to make me out to be a good person. I'm not."

I knew the truth. But the human in me wanted to ignore it, just like she did.

"But you're doing good now." I reached into the cabinet she left open and grabbed a leg. Heavier than the other pieces, the sound of it hitting the table echoed within the room. "And that's what matters."

"Does it?"

What she said sat in the air, swaying left and right between us like a pendulum without sound. I let it sit there, clouding the space, allowing her emotions to fog my view. My computer couldn't pinpoint what she was feeling, but I knew. There wasn't a word to describe it all at once. Just a feeling.

Reaching out to grab her hand, I moved towards her. "It does." I linked our fingers together. "Being human means being about to forgive, learn, and move on."

"Can you tell that to the world we live in?" Mary pressed her head against my chest. "Because it's heavy."

"I could try." I shrugged. "But I don't know if they'll listen."

"Then what's the point of saying it?" She looked up at me. A tear slid down her cheek. "Is it supposed to make me feel better?"

"Yeah." Slowly nodding, I slid my hand along her shoulder, wrapping my arm around her. "Because I don't care about the world."

Lifting her head, she looked into my eyes.

"I care about you, and I need you to listen. If you believe it, then we're straight." I touched her cheek.

Mary leaned her head against my touch. "You've never changed, you know that?" she whispered. "No matter what, you're still Javier. The Mr. Brightside of the world."

I grinned. "Should I have been something else?" Pointing at the door, I cocked a brow. "You want me to be an android like them? I mean, I could." I touched my chest. "I technically got it in me."

"Shut up." Mary wiped at her face before reaching into the bucket with the computer chips. Lifting one in the air, she turned it in the light. "Wendy would kill me if I changed you."

"Yeah." I laughed as I leaned against the table. "She probably would."

"Not probably." Placing the chip on the table, she reached into the bucket for more parts. Wires. Miniature chips. "It would be a for sure thing. Just like this." From between the wires and chips, her fingers reached inside for a part that looked different from the others. A miniature motherboard, slender and thin like a piece of glass.

I admired it as she twirled it in her fingers. "Is that what we need for Rory?"

"Yeah, this, and," she scanned the room, "well, amongst other things."

As I took the part from her hand, the sound of footsteps echoed in the hall outside the door. They were slow, heavy, metal. I glanced at the door before looking back at Mary. "Let's take the parts we need and go, hm? How's that sound?"

She looked over my shoulder, bit her lip, and nodded. "Yeah... you're right. I just..." She looked at me. "How?"

"Conversation received. Message sender—Rory. 'Both of you are reckless. Give me a minute, I'll tap in and send a disruption.'"

A surprised grin took over my face.

Mary blinked. "What? What's so funny?"

I looked back at the door just as the androids were visible through the window. "Open communications. Message Rory. 'Are you sure you can do that?'"

Mary's arm reached out and grabbed me. "What? What's he doing?"

"Conversation received. Message sender—Rory. 'If they're really based on Bionics plan, then I'll be able to do anything.'"

The disruption Rory sent was instant. It was like I blinked, and the androids collapsed. The sound of banging metal hitting the floor echoed before the silence returned. When I looked at Mary, her eyes were wide, as if she'd seen a ghost. "Did Rory do that?"

"Conversation received. Message sender—Rory. 'Tell her I did. And I need you both to come home safely. Now. Pent will send alarms when these androids stop sending reports.'"

"Noted." I grabbed Mary's hand and pointed at the parts on the table. "Rory says we're good to go. Whatever we need, let's put it in a bag and go."

"Did Rory say we need to leave?" She quickly grabbed the pieces, hugging them against her chest. "How long do we have?"

"Not long." Rushing over towards the door, I peered out of the window. None of the androids had power. The interference they had given off before was gone. I gulped. "Minutes. Seconds."

When I turned back, Mary had already shoved android parts into a bag. After four pieces, it weighed her down and she grunted, struggling to keep the bag lifted. Without waiting, I walked over and took it from her.

"Then let's go." Mary wiped her hands against her clothes before reaching for the computer chip she needed most. Holding it in her hand, she smiled. "Let's go do something right."

The flicker of joy in her eyes made me smile. Hoisting the bag over my shoulder, I nodded. "Let's."