Fan Fiction ❯ Human Alloy ❯ Truths Revealed ( Chapter 14 )

I felt weak. I wanted to just curl up into a ball into a hole in the wall and never come out. There was just so much to absorb…. Where were all these surprises coming from? I admit it made more sense with the mindlessness of the individuals these days, but knowing even the good guys were being controlled wasn't any better to think about.

 

“Please, take your time, but know also we have an excellent dessert awaiting us!” Alexander smiled pleasantly, both hands clapped together. His plate was clean. How could this guy talk about things like this, all this destruction and mayhem, and still be able to eat? I pushed my plate aside. His ideal for a perfect world was the only thing he shared in common with us, the rebels, but Root also knew there was something else in the air. Why else would he have given me the Key to Anywhere? I didn't think Alexander even knew what it did; he had said so himself, but I was just as clueless. Root had said it could do anything I set my heart to do….

 

“I still find it interesting,” Alexander mused, “that even though I've created robots, they have natural tendencies of wild animals. I know I programmed them myself, but it seems almost as if the half robots effect the real robots. Something like how radiation can effect even generations of people.”

 

I said nothing, but thinking about it, it seemed true. There was some connection with the Rebounds, the human robots, the Berserkers and New Generation, the HMS'… all of it was linked back to Alexander, this monster. He had created the human robots, who created the Berserkers and New Generation. He made them fall through with the Human Maid Services so that soon he could create an entire world of perfect, robotic people. He created the Rebounds to mislead the people and stir up trouble so that the artificial humans as well as the real humans would rebel against each other. Had he been planning a war? Was that only so he could test the Legends and see if they were still fit, after all these years, to serve him? Was I over-thinking things? Not likely… My host smiled.

 

“You're smart… for a human.” He took another sip of his wine. Dessert was then catered in, strawberry shortcake with whipped topping. Alexander immediately took to relishing it, complimenting the chef through the butler who only bowed and left us. There was silence as Alexander finished his dessert.

 

“Not hungry? Or do you not like sweet things?” he asked, pointing his fork at my untouched cake. I shook my head. I felt more like I was about to be sick.

 

“Why are you doing all this?” I asked another time, hugging myself and rubbing my arms. It wasn't cold in the room, but thinking of this demon's thoughts was chilling enough. Alexander sat back in his chair, swilling his wine, before setting the glass down gently with three fingers. He sighed contentedly.

 

“Why am I doing what? Why am I converting everyone to a robotic state? Why am I creating an endless supply of robotic pets that help control their masters, although their masters don't know it? Why am I allowing my robots to take side with the humans, making them think that nothing is wrong and that everyone is human and not something beyond their imagination? Or why am I so gracious as to serve you dinner and explain everything bluntly to you, feeding you the answers you could otherwise never comprehend?” He blinked lazily, my eyes wide with his answer, my pallor much like a ghost. I nodded, eliciting a laugh from him, a clear bell-like sound, chilling at the prospect of the answer.

 

“Well, if you really need a reason, since you obviously have no imagination, this whole robotic process I'm merely doing as a favor to the human race. Too many of them want to die, too many of them would rather take drugs or alcohol, too many would rather press religions and pray to a God that isn't there, too many try to be so different from others, it merely causes problems—and—too many seem to forget they are really human.” Alexander said this last part, his fingers walking towards his glass with each gleefully childish word, tapping the glass as his sentence ended and rubbing one finger around the rim, making the wine glass sing.

“So what, you just want to destroy the entire human race?” I asked bitterly, sardonically. He smirked.

 

“Well, not entirely. I have thought about keeping the several thousand that are still human, alive long enough to show them how pitifully weak and easily manipulated they are.” He paused; the crystal stopped singing. “I've despised the humans for so long. So petty…. I want them to see the power they helped create because of their simple minded nature: all they care about are their own needs, their own conveniences. In the past—even around the millennium, around the year 2000—could you believe that gas prices rose incredibly high; that healthy meals cost so much more than fatty foods; that fast food stores practically owned the country; that even though people tried to stop pollution from vehicles and deaths caused by alcohol, drugs and cigarettes, they still continued to create these things just because people bought them? Just because humans were consumers meant that it was okay to produce massive quantities of products that killed thousands of people…. And all the government worried about was the needs of the people. I have no pity for them! They are the ones that brought this upon themselves! And do you know how the government handled it? The government that the people themselves elected?!”

 

Alexander leaned across the table, clearly vexed and pounding the table with each word, every time pounding harder and harder.

 

“They only put labels and warnings! They make generic food! Artificially enhanced! They made pills to `help' it! And you know what happened?!” He was shouting now, eyes glaringly mad, face turning red from exertion, leaning across the table, adjacent to me, only a few inches between us. “Humans!” he roared, before calming down, his voice getting softer, “became immune to these things!” He laughed, an exasperated laugh, as if he didn't believe what he himself was saying. “Their bodies either fought off these alien substances or became immune to it! Our industry became so advanced in creating consumer products and health related products that our bodies began to naturally reject everything! How ironic is that?”

 

I was amazed that this was happening. It had been brought up in the past, years ago, but had been buried and forgotten, as if no one cared. I myself had been opposed to such standards; although I had been raised in a world like this, I always felt as if there was something unnaturally wrong with it. When I had found Root and Gin, I already starting to doubt myself, they had helped prove to me that what I thought about our world being wrong was right. I wasn't alone anymore, and so I had agreed to help them out. If the only way to get people's attention was to destroy the materialistic goods on which their lives relied, then maybe a few sacrificial lambs would be enough. I suddenly realized that, although Alexander was a cruel, wicked, twisted man, he was still trying to get the humans to realize this on their own, and maybe start things over so that he wouldn't have to slap them in the head. Our world was dying. Machines that produced almost as much pollution as they did oxygen weren't going to last forever. Without the trees and plants we depended on to keep the balance of nature, the human race, no—earth—was doomed! Alexander had eliminated the influential people and had let those who thought the same as him live. He had created some that would support those, and he had created some that opposed them, as a challenge to get them to realize their own morals and humanistic ways.

 

It was incredibly ingenious but frightening at the same time. He smiled pleasantly and nodded.

“I'm glad you figured it out for yourself. Maybe you do have a bit of an imagination.” I shivered. He was more right in assuming we were nearly the same than I had first taken him for. Incredible.

 

“Ah, I fear you're tired and you have much to ponder. Please, my guest, will you be escorted to your bed place tonight?” Alexander asked, watching me with his chin in his hand with bewitching eyes. I closed my eyes before standing, still hugging myself, wavering slightly, still pallid and chilled despite the warmth in the room. I allowed myself to be led by a Rebound back to my room where the door was closed gently behind me. It wasn't locked, which meant I was obviously welcomed, if not invited, to roam this castle around at night—if it truly was night. Relieved that I was out of that vile man's presence I was free to tear off the dress I was wearing, vowing to burn it as soon as I could, with the matches I had used to light the candle in the bathroom, but thought against it. I stood bare, searching for my old dirty clothes. I turned the room practically upside down, although there wasn't much to look through, to realize someone had removed them. Were they being washed, or had they been stolen? Would I be forced to wear whatever Alexander decided to present me with? I hoped not.

 

Annoyed and aggravated I turned out the lights and crawled into bed, completely naked. The sheets pressed against me, chill and damp as if a window had been opened. I wouldn't go roaming through the halls tonight. At least not as long as the only thing I had to wear was that wretched dress. Ugh! I lay in bed for a while, too awake to go to sleep, too much whirling in my mind to ignore it all. How could Alexander make half human robots? Was there a secretion in the skin that preserved their precious flesh? I knew, since being in close contact with his own human robots that, if it wasn't actual human skin, he had created a material so realistic that it was astonishingly passable for anything but fake. My best guess was that it was their sweat. The robots would have the liquid released through their sweat glands and keep their skin from deteriorating. It must have been one well preserving substance….and it was covered up because there were so many mechanical people that it was hard to decipher what was real human sweat or not.

 

I sighed, turning over once more, pulling the sheets up to my nose. They smelled dusty. Alexander…. He really was a damned genius. My thoughts wandered over to the others. How were they doing? What were they doing now? Was Mercy okay? Wouldn't she have gotten me by now? I didn't know. Really, I shouldn't have been as surprised as I had been about finding all this out. I knew that Kane and Jalene weren't entirely human. I had been reminding myself all along. But I refused to believe it. It was astounding now to know about everything else. It made sense in some cases, like why the government had suddenly seemed so lenient on allowing certain things within the nation. I wondered, if the government had been left alone, would they truly have fallen into something like this, whether at a slower rate or not, or would they have been able to realize what Alexander was forcing humans to see and fix it?

 

 

***************************************

 

 

Some time during the night I had fallen asleep. I had vague dreams but none that I remembered. I opened my eyes to find the room was rather well lit, as if trying to portray that it was morning since there was no sun to greet me. I yawned, swinging my feet over the bed. The room was cool and clothes were laid out for me on an end table by the door. They were yesterdays clothes, the ones I had taken off, except they had been cleaned. Good! Something old and familiar to return to. I pulled on my black jeans and white shirt, running my fingers through my hair before exiting the room. The hallway was still just as dim, yet, from what I could tell, no Rebounds or robots of any sort were roaming around. Taking the left wing, I crossed the wide corridor, housing elaborate paintings of people who seemed as if they held a secret. They smiled, but their eyes told a different story. I came shortly to a boxed room, the wallpaper a fade purple, more of a maroon, pinstriped with yellow. A large chandelier lit the entire room. It was completely empty save a rug depicting who-knows-what which led to another short hall opposite from where I stood. Cautiously, I crossed the room and snuck down the corridor. It was short, and at the end stood a steel door. I smelled earth and soil behind it. Listening intently, my breathing adhering to the silence, I heard nothing beyond the door.

 

Curious as to what lie behind it, I very carefully tried the handle, turning it and, in surprise, found it was unlocked. It swung outward easily on well greased hinges. Before me stood an incredible laboratory, filled with plants in pots, bins and tubs, working tables, utensils, gardening supplies, fertilizers, in-ground gardens, cabinets, heat lamps, water systems. Peeking hesitantly around the room, I found no one there, but daring not to nose around, I decided to take leave. Turning through the door, I ran smack-dab into a Rebound. Quickly searching for an excuse but knowing anything I came up with would easily be debunked, I flustered, attempting to gain my composure. The electronic cat bowed, its mechanical eyes glittering.

 

“Your presence is wish at the breakfast table. Master Alexander wishes you make haste. That is all.” The cat trotted off, paws clicking, the sound resonating off the walls. Would I not get an escort today, or was the breakfast room the same as the dinner room? Would I be expected to show up on my own? Hesitantly I followed the cat back the way we had come the previous night to the very same room in which I had confirmed a terrible truth.

 

The Rebound nodded at me to enter, and so I did, only to find Alexander chatting merrily to a rather pallid Cale.

 

“Cale?” I asked. He seemed relieved to see me. Decked in his own deer skin leather, his eyes widened at my entrance and he managed a small smile.

 

“Ah Yue! Good to see you! Did you sleep well? I was told you were looking at my experimental garden as well. But never mind, please—come eat!” Alexander greeted me from where he sat, arms open, a wine glass of water cradled in one hand. I sat in the same place as before, Cale sitting across from me. He flashed another nervous smile.

 

“It'll be a light breakfast this morning, my dears! There's something I'd like to show you once we finish.” Food was brought in and presented: scrambled eggs, toast with a bit of fresh fruit, and sausage. Milk, water, or juice was poured.

 

“Well now, I'm sure you're all curious as to what I might be showing you, but have no fear! You shall see soon enough. Also, I suppose you still have questions? Perhaps about my experimental gardens eh?” Alexander began his meal with gusto, punctuating it with drafts from his water glass.

 

“Er well, I suppose so?” I said, unsure of myself. Despite the appetite I didn't have, I was hungry and I knew I had to eat, so I picked at my food, glancing at Cale every now and then as our host talked.

 

“Ah well of course I'm studying the growth rate and relationships between plants. With humans safely off the planet, by my instruction of the faux president, I'm going to open the garden I created to the outside world with the aid of the rampaging robots above, and help re-grow everything. The excessive amounts of metal and concrete are a bit much though, but if we can trigger some volcanic activity, then that'll be a good basis with which to start.” Alexander paused to crunch his toast, licking his fingers. “Anyway, I'm developing plants that should grow much quicker and healthier in the soil I've produced. They should be very successful. I'll be able to release the animals soon too, once the robots have finished what they needed. In fact, they should be done quite soon. Then we'll release the volcanoes all over the place,” Alexander was waving his fork around nonchalantly, sausage still attached, “and introduce our pioneering species.” Cale picked nervously at his breakfast as I begrudgingly finished mine.

 

Restoring Earth huh? Giving things a new chance….It sounded like everything we rebels had wanted to accomplish, but was it really possible? Alexander sipped from his glass as he waited impatiently for us to finish our breakfast.

 

“Almost done? The sooner you finish, the sooner you'll be surprised!” the Creator taunted, wagging one finger. A moment later Cale pushed his plate aside.

 

“I'm done,” he mumbled. Poor dear. As we stood, I wrapped one arm around him reassuringly. He kept his head down, white hair swaying delicately. I hugged him as we trailed behind Alexander, following him past a large room, much like the one on the opposite end of the hall which led to the laboratory with the garden. We followed a very narrow hall which branched off in places, leading to other unknown destinations. Gradually, we sloped downhill and the walls changed with miniscule detail at a time, from what seemed to be wooden wallpapered walls to some sort of plant matter. It was rough textured, and I assume it was whatever the entire outer shell of the building was; that vine material. As we continue on from carpet to marble, still ever downhill with rooms on either side and empty hallways, we eventually reached steel and other metals.

 

We were somewhere in the lower regions. We turned once and were expelled into the room which we had been in the previous night, where Jalene had been reawaken. Jalene… he lay under the glass dome on the bed, half naked beneath a single sheet. He looked angelic, as if we were in slumber. Worried, I looked to Alexander, hugging Cale a little closer. Jean's twin slipped his arms around my waist, hugging me back tightly, his face buried against my shirt.

 

“Come now and see what I have for you!” Alexander beckoned gleefully, one side of the room cleared between a bookshelf and test tubes where a large monitor stood. We huddled closer, fearful of getting too near Alexander.

 

“Don't be shy now!” He tapped a button and the screen lit up. Some encrypted type crossed the screen and he accessed something. He took several minutes to locate a file. It was a movie clip of what was going on above ground. It was through the eyes or a robot, which I noticed Alexander controlled with a small hand clip and visor as we had seen when we first met him.

 

The robot was still, surveying the scene before it. Twisted heaps of metal, landslides of concrete, glass, broken billboards, smashed vehicles, and severed electrical cords reined the image. Everything was ruined, in rubble, destroyed, obliterated. Smoke and dust were settling still through the wreckage, robots still roaming around and looking for human civilization to destroy. As far as the eye could see was an ocean of crumbled buildings and collapsed houses. If there had been any life before the wreckage, even after the transport to Mars, it was now surely gone. Alexander smiled faintly.

 

“Soon I will be able to put everything into effect and even this chaos will be destroyed. Granted, quite a few of my own robots will be sacrificed, but that's quite all right,” he said, removing the hand held device and visor, letting the robot to itself again and turning off the screen. He walked around the dome, which covered Jalene. I still wondered if he was resting. For some odd reason, I didn't think so.

 

The Creator had stopped, his back us. He whipped around, black hair flying, his eyes wide.

 

“Soon,” he nearly whispered, “it will all begin!” He raised his arms, as if some hero proclaiming something to an almighty God in the heaven's above. What did he mean? Did he mean the tearing apart of his well-balanced Garden, his own little world? Did he mean the Rebounds and Mecha-Pets would help unleash the volcanoes on the surface first? I was scared and unsure.

 

“Yes,” he hissed, eyes wide, glowing a malevolent cerulean. I paled, stumbling backwards and pulling Cale closer, as if protecting him.

 

“I think he knows!” Alexander stated accusingly, pointing a finger at the trembling figure in my clutches, then smiled.

 

“Cale?” I whispered against his hair.

 

“I-I-I don't really know… I just feel as if I <I>do</I> know,” he quivered, his breath scarcely audible.

 

“What is it?”

 

“Like…..like… something tremendous is about to happen. Like I can feel the robots move.” Silence stole over the room and permeated the air like a thick perfume. After a moment, I felt more than heard, a distant rumble. Alexander grinned.

 

“It begins!”

 

“The eruptions,” Cale said, looking up at me wide eyed and trembling, just now realizing what was going on. In the meantime, there was nothing we could do except wait.

 

 

***************************************

 

 

How long had it been? I didn't know. I had lost all sense of time. It felt like weeks but it could have been days. Months would have seemed like years. We had been in this place, holed up the whole time. I was mostly restricted to me room, not because I was forced to, but because whenever I roamed about, Rebounds would watch me, and I knew Alexander was too, every time I say them. They were all connected by that mark… that weird gene or that computer chip that connected them like a network of computers. I hated just knowing they were watching me, or thinking I felt their glittering eyes on my back. I shuddered at the thought. I had seen Cale some, but nothing of Jalene or Kane since oh so long ago. They were Legends. They were out of my reach, and they would be used. Somehow, I knew sometime before I died, I'd witness them again, and it wouldn't be a pretty site. Often times Alexander held us in company at his dinner table and we complied, relieved to see that neither of us, Cale and I, had died.

 

Sometimes we ate by ourselves, and sometimes I even refused to eat, not joining the table and just wanting to be left to myself to ponder. How far did had these volcanic eruptions gone already? How had they been triggered again? I think I remember asking once and Alexander had something about a jumpstart planted in the Earth which had been done quite some time ago. He called it his escape key so that if something had gone wrong in his process for rebuilding the world, he could have just sent them all to some sort of twisted hell. One of those days, we were summoned into the room in which Jalene had been kept, the same room where we had witnessed the annihilation of the world above. Again, Alexander had something to show on the screen. As I entered the room, I noticed Jalene was no longer there. Crestfallen but nonetheless curiously suspicious, I wondered if perhaps he was elsewhere and that maybe I would see him in person again. It had been so long.

 

“Ta dah!” Alexander clapped, pointing at the screen excitedly. This is a recording of what was observed this morning from a Rebound I sent to the surface. Gorgeous isn't it?” Alexander sighed, two fingers to his temple, as if contemplating. “I never thought I would see something like this again! Granted I had found a way to live quite a long time myself,” he chuckled, “but I still never knew if something would go wrong or dysfunctional.” It truly was a spectacular sight to see. Volcanic activity had been thriving for as long as we had been staying here, melting everything, churning and boiling the magma eating at everything.

 

“This is the only place that will remain unaffected for a while. Even above us, despite how far below the surface we are, most of R.A.D.A.R. Corporation is completely gone.” The magma had cooled into a black glossy surface. Pools of it had heaped up and flowed; with nowhere else for the lava to go, its momentum had stopped.

 

“This is just above where we are,” Alexander explained as he paced. “Eruptions are only as far spread as several miles, depending on the size of the eruption. The magma has flowed and covered several thousand acres already, and is continuing farther along.”

 

Alexander seemed proud and he had a right to be. Green plants were already spreading.

 

“It's growing,” Cale said, amazed, though he also seemed disbelieving.

 

“Yes,” the Creator grinned happily, batting his eyes at Cale. “Pioneer species were sent out several days ago. It's only scrub grass now—shallow rooted lichens and whatnot, but it's still the best start we've been given!” I offered a small smile. “And sooner than you think we'll have a habitable planet! Oh and by the way,” Alexander turned to me, his mood fallen, grave, “I need to talk to you in private, Yue, if you don't mind.”

 

“Um, sure,” I said, wondering why he couldn't have pulled me aside.

 

“Should I leave?” Cale asked, still a little edgy to be near the Creator. Alexander nodded. Once we were the only ones in the room, he turned the monitor off and turned to me, taking me by the shoulders.

 

“I was thinking about it after I watched this earlier that you're not like anyone else here. You're the only remaining human alive on Earth. Please don't be depressed,” he said. I smiled a little, but it really was depressing, despite how much I had loathed the human race before. Misery loves company. “I'd like to make an offer to you though. Because it will still take many a year to accomplish this large task, even for a small area of land, chances are you will either be decrepit or dead by the time you'll be able to walk through a forest that isn't supported by this underground world.

 

“Eventually I will open up this small world to the outside and it will change rapidly… that's what I thought, but giving it further thought I decided to be wise. The creatures have a set habitat here. It can remain like a conservation area and gradually, once climates settle, we can reintroduce species. I would like to propose that you be the guardian of this place for me, both you and Cale. I talked to Cale last night and told him the circumstances,” Alexander smiled, “and I can say he was rather shocked himself. Anyway, how would you, Yue, like me to modify you?” I had to absorb what he was saying.

 

“Modify? Like make me robotic?” I asked, looking at him as if he was crazy.

 

“Not completely. However, enough to make your body be able to function past its given life span, something that will help you stay `young' so to speak.” I pondered, looking down, guilty that I might even consider it.

 

“But why would I?” I asked softly, brows furrowed.

 

Alexander slipped an arm around my shoulders.

 

“Well, you know the situation with Jalene and Kane. They're Legends, and even though I control them to some extent, you can still be with them. They're like me, only not so high in authority that they could overthrow me.”

 

“That's not a good enough reason…to stay and love someone, knowing they aren't human, that their life is so predetermined that way… I….I couldn't!” I was on the verge of tears. Sweet, sweet Jalene… and his brother… and Kane….

 

“You could live in the world you always dreamed for,” Alexander tempted me.

 

“I…I don't know.”

 

“Well then, give me an answer before you die, alright?” The Creator laughed and clapped my back. Later in my room, I pondered his words. The circumstance with Cale? Did he already ask Cale about it? Did Cale say yes?! I'd ask the next time I saw him. Although if memory served, it seemed as if Alexander did indeed have a looser grip on the Legends, letting them roam where they pleased, but still keeping tabs on them from time to time.

 

 

***************************************

 

 

Although it seemed tempting to accept Alexander's offer, I had to reject. He seemed disappointed when I told him, but he said he could understand. He was bitter afterwards though. That day as I wandered down a seemingly endless hall, I ran into someone coming from my right, very nearly smacking heads but quickly grabbing the person to keep me from colliding and falling down.

 

“Excuse me,” I muttered in apology, intending to move on, the incident already out of my mind when it struck me. Another human? Upon looking, my first thought was that I ran into Cale, but that couldn't be. Cale wouldn't dress in such casual wear unless he was forced to. He also had different colored eyes. Shocked, I only stood, mouth agape as I attempted to process my thoughts, which failed as my brain had locked.

 

“Jalene?” I very nearly shouted, flinging my arms around him, estatic and worried all at once. I was beginning to cry, more out of relief than anything. I held him in a death grip, pressed close for fear of having him dissolve from my arms like an illusion.

 

“If you squeeze any tighter, I won't be able to breathe,” Jalene grinned, hugging back. I refused to let go like a mother who was worried over her child that has been missing for months. One arm clasped around his waist, one on his head, I embraced him so forcefully that we stumbled against the wall. The youth in my arms laughed, patting my back before trying to escape from my grasp.

 

“Yue?” with extreme reluctance I pulled away, giving him only enough time to get a proper look and breathe. I caressed his cheek tenderly, my exploration of Alexander's domain forgotten in our joyous reunion. A tear slid down my cheek that seemed to confuse Jean, for he gave me an odd sort of look. With his face cradled in both my hands, I brought my soul-searching eyes closer until our noses were nearly touching.

 

“Er… Alexander explained how I got here,” Jalene said, unsure of what to say. “But it's a little confusing.” I missed him so much. My heart fluttered. How could I fall in love with the person I had intended to use selfishly, to destroy his own relations? My head kept telling me he wasn't fully human, that Alexander was still controlling him to some extent, but my heart wouldn't hear about it.

 

I pulled him in and kissed him deeply pressing my body close and taking my dear sweet time, hands roaming back down his body. I kissed him again, accompanied by light butterfly kisses, lips barely brushing the skin on his face. He smiled, eyes sparkling.

 

“Miss me that much? It hasn't been <I>that</I> long you know.” That long?! It had been at least two <I>months</I> since I'd last been in contact with him. He chuckled.

 

“you're giving me this look like I'm crazy!” he laughed, his hands on my shoulders.

 

“You are,” I replied softly, my forehead against his. There was silence as I stood in reverie, contentment hanging on me so heavily I felt as if I could fall asleep in his arms.

 

“I really have missed you so much….It has been months after all,” I said with a sigh.

 

“Months?” he asked blankly, blinking. I nodded slowly. Some part of the puzzle was missing and I was about to find it. I raised an eyebrow in questioning suspicion.

 

He shook his head, trying to figure out what exactly was missing.

 

“What was is it Alexander told you exactly?”

 

“Well… he told me that you guys brought me here.”

 

“Is that all?” I was skeptic that poor Jalene even knew the entire truth.

 

“Yeah, pretty much. He just said you guys carried me here. He didn't really go into any details.”

 

“What's the last thing you remember before this place?” I asked softly, brushing a strand of hair away from his face. He shook his head.

 

“I'm not entirely sure. I think I remember I was in a hallway, trying to escape. Then I remember being in a cell. And I think I remember being outside somewhere with Cale but, it seemed like a dream. It's so vague; I don't really remember.”

 

“Do you have any idea how long you've been out?” I asked, caressing his cheek tenderly.

“I don't know. I guessed a couple of days at most.”

 

“You were out for weeks sweetie; months.” Jalene looked astounded.

 

“Months?” he asked. He frowed.

 

“Alexander hasn't told you anything, has he?” He contemplated my words before shaking his head slowly. That's what I had feared.

 

“What do you know about yourself?” I inquired softly, one thumb running over his chin.

 

“What do you mean? Like my past? I know what Cale's told me when I first met him.” The boy was hesitant, confused—unsure.

 

“What did he tell you?” I was whispering, nearly in tears. He gave me an odd look, like he couldn't quite figure me out.

 

“That I was his clone. About how I was first brought up and how we were modified.” A silent tear stole down my cheek. For some reason it seemed so sad.

 

He didn't have any idea? I wanted to damn my empathy so I wouldn't look like such a fool. Hugging Jalene, I tried to find my voice of explanation, but an explosion somewhere in the building beat me to it, rocking the foundation. It was closer that it seemed. That lab with the dome and the bed Jean had slept on; the one with the monitors we had seen the recreation of the world. Grabbing the boy's hand, eyes wide and brows furrowed, I couldn't help but suspect something was up. Leading him back the way I had come, making a couple wrong turns along the way but getting there all the same, we arrived in time to see a stand off between Kane and Alexander. One of the computer terminals had exploded, exposing silicon and buzzing internal wires. Cale cowered off to the side, pale and frightened.

 

“What's going on?” I immediately asked. Alexander wiped the blood from a cut on his cheek, eyes never leaving his prey, Kane. The blonde sneered, his eyes doing the same, never averted from their target as he explained.

 

“As you know, we are Legends,” he began, voice eerily dangerous, fatigue and labor hinting. “I'm only half robotic, like Jalene.” I chanced a sidelong look at my friend beside me, still clutching his hand. He appeared utterly bewildered and confused. I squeezed his hand. Kane strained, bent over as if in pain, as if he was fighting some unknown thing inside him. He was.

 

“But I'm still human too,” he pain, squeezing the words from his mouth, like a snake constricting the life from its prey. He seemed to be fending the thing off, doubled over, clutching his stomach as if maybe it was an internal virus, but after a long pause of his struggle he stood up placidly, his brow collecting sweat from exertion. He blinked, trembled. Alexander stepped in.

 

“He managed to get around my word,” he said softly, smiling a tooth, wolfish smile, teasing, taunting Kane to try and disobey his orders again. Was that was this mad scientist feared? Disobedience?

 

Kane shuddered—fell to his knees.

 

“But as you can see,” Alexander said coolly, “he is starting to lose again.”

 

“I destroyed some of his data, but there's no doubt he has back up files,” Kane wheezed through grit teeth. He wanted to destroy Alexander's work. But there would still be the….. Lord knows how many robotic people still wandering around with programmed lives. Did they have some bug that lay dormant until Alexander called on them, like the Legends? Jalene pulled from my grasp. I had been unconsciously squeezing his hand tighter and tighter. He inched over to pull his brother away from the two who were staring each other down, Kane with a death glare, clearly in pain, and Alexander with a smug smile. The blond opened his mouth, tried to utter something but couldn't.

 

“Go…” was all he could weakly manage before stumbling to his feet. He supported himself against the box that operated the dome and table. A loud hiss-buzz was heard before one end of it too exploded. Kane was tapping into the computers with his network and tearing apart the internal organs of the machine, sending in bugs and overheating the equipment until it gave way and released the access energy through combustion.

 

Alexander frowned, eyes narrowed. I started to back away, pulling Jalene and Cale with me. This wasn't the best place to be. Cale seemed hesitant, protesting to help Kane, but I only pulled them along without a word, merely sparing a knowing look. I had no idea what was going on, but I knew we couldn't help the boy. We backed off down the hallway that led to the room we had just exited, walking quickly with a brisk pace.

 

“I think it's time we leave,” I said stolidly. “We've overstayed our welcome.” We followed the twisting halls, hearts beating, adrenaline pumping, not daring to say a word until we ran into a dead end with a heavy plank door, barred together with black steel plates. I had no clue where we were going, or how we'd escape. I wasn't the one to get us in here so I really had no idea how to get back out. I looked at the two twins, questioning with my eyes at what we should do. Jalene merely shrugged. Hesitantly I reached out for the knob-less door, another explosion rocked somewhere within the depths of the building. A faint shout and a roar of something monstrous echoed in my ears as I froze for a second, shoving my shoulder against the heavy door to open it.

 

We were now in a long, narrow spiraling hall that lead downward a ways, carpeted in a thick red floor and ending in the large room we had entered once long ago, with checkered marble floors and a technological throne high above us. I knew where we were now. Hurrying with the recognition of the scenery, another explosion, and a cry followed by a bellowing roar of rage close at our heels—only a few rooms away—we crossed the room from whence we had entered, making a bee-line for the entrance of the twisted, knotting roots we had entered. Could we still get out through the way we had come in? We ran to the wall, panting as I ran my hands over the surface, searching frantically for…..something.

“How do we open this thing?” I asked with trembling voice, starting to panic for some unknown reason. I felt an impending doom was hovering over my shoulder, ready to strike and steal my breath at any moment. Cale helped me look for a seam or something, replying with, “I don't know! Is there a door?” I seriously doubted this hell having a door but not all possibilities had been retired yet.

 

Jalene ran his hands over the wall, helping us searching for we didn't even know what, when the wall shifted, twisting and groaning as it moved out of the way, allowing us through. We clambered through the opening and into, cool, fresh air. We were out. It was relieving, but we still weren't safe. With instinct taking over—the fight or flight—and, having chosen flight, we pressed on, not stopped to catch our breath until we had put a good distance of several hundred yards between us and the structure. It was dark as we ran, I summoning a faint light so we could see, and finally we collapsed, huddled together and panting. The urge to drive us to safety still crept along the edge of my mind.

 

“We need… to keep going,” I breathed, trying to catch my breath, my heart still thumping wildly. The twins' eyes were wide with fear but they nodded.

 

“I can't run forever,” Jalene gasped, his features weary. I nodded.

 

“Then we'll walk. I'd feel safer with the more distance we put between us.”

 

“What about Kane?” Cale asked, his face yearned. I pained to see his expression but I wasn't sure there was anything we could do. I shook my head.

 

“We can't go back. I don't want to sound selfish, but I don't think there's anything we can do. Besides, he told us to go. I think he knows what he's doing.”

 

Cale nodded, wiping away a loose tear with the back of his deerskin sleeve, Jalene patting him in consolation. I stood, the orb of light quivering in my palm, and taking a deep breath to steady myself. I attempted to contact Kane's mind but I felt an extremely strong and violent block on his mind. It worried me, scared me. What was going on? I didn't want to leave Kane either, but what on Earth could we do for him? I felt so guilty for running away, despite the fact that that's exactly what he wanted me to do. Indecision…indecision…. I pressed onward, walking slowly and hating ever step I took. I tried to contact him several more times, but got the same thing every time: a wild, churning, violently angry blockade, seething like roiling mass of hatred and loathing, held against one thing—it's creator. Although I was slow to take long strides, we continued on in silence, pondering the most recent events as we headed for light.

 

Finally, the edges of sunlight reached us. Who knew how long we had been walking? Tired, all physically, mentally, and emotionally, we stopped. We had no supplies whatsoever, other than means to make a fire, which the wilderness so kindly supplied to us, and nothing to help us in any way on our trip back to….wherever. Alexander's modified plants were at work every second, renewing the destroyed world, sucking in the copious amounts of carbon dioxide, sulfur, nitrogen and other elements and turning it into something usable for the rest of the earth. Maybe we could get away to the cave Cale stayed at until we could venture out into the rest of the world. I stared into the dancing flames, the shadows falling duskily around me.

 

“Does it seem odd to anyone that there are no Rebounds around here?” Cale asked, perplexed.

 

“I don't know. Do you think they went to help Alexander maybe?” I complied, chewing over the matter in my mind. Silence reigned for several more minutes.

 

“I know this probably isn't a good time to ask but, does anyone care to explain that Legends thing? That I'm half robotic or something?” Jalene asked, sitting beside his brother and across from the fire, his gaze caught between Cale and me.

 

I looked pleadingly at Cale, not wanting to tell him but Cale only returned my gaze with bright eyes, distant and somewhere else. He averted his eyes, down to his feet. Jalene sighed, stretching out.

 

“Should we camp here?” he asked timidly, staring into a dark sky, lying on his back.

 

“I'd rather push on until we get to sunlight so we know when night will fall. I'd rather not sleep here and wake up, only to chase the sun somewhere else again. Jean nodded, sitting up. I stirred the fire. It was so cool out in this darkness, and a relief from using my energy for light. I grabbed a long stick, to better light out way. Stamping the small fire out, I scattered the ashes the best I could, with the aid of Cale, and we continued, weary from our journey. Eventually we reached nearly full daylight, somewhere along the wall in which we had passed through the mountain to get to the Black Halo.

 

I sighed, glad to feel the sun again, although still weak, and obliged to how far we had gotten in such a little time, even if we had walked for endlessly boring hours, fraught with doubt and worry. I felt safer at this distance, enough perhaps to even sleep, but I still had the urge to put the mountain and a little more distance between our party and the hellhole. Alas, I had no heart to push the twins any farther, so I instead gave in to find a peaceful place to rest against a warm granite stone, the mouth of the pass very close at hand and just up the mountain side a ways. If we had to flee, that's where we'd go. I pointed the opening out to Jalene, one arm hooked around his waist, the other wrapped around both him and his brother. I snuggled against him, so happy to be close to him again, to feel his silken hair against my cheek.

 

I kissed his shoulder tenderly, murmuring little pleased noises of happiness and approval as I began to doze. I was content with the sunshine against us—much warmer than the cold depths of hell that we had just left behind in the wasteland—and comfortable just the same with my love in my arms, despite how hard the rock beneath me was. I happily surrendered to slumber.