Like a madman, I jumped down into the darkened room. “Who just called me?!” I questioned.

“Is that any way to speak to your mother?” Diana Ugo scolded me. My body paused, my muscles barely functioning to keep me standing upright. But my mind went into overdrive.

Mom? Mom! Mom? My mind’s wishful thinking and perspective of reality began battling each other, in a vicious fight for dominance. Mom… Ugo. Diana Ugo. Mom is alive! But, she’s dead. She died. Her body. The funeral. Her will… It didn’t make sense. I saw my parents die. Yet, they didn’t? At that very moment it felt like my mind was shattering soundlessly, unable to truly understand what was in front of me. It was absurd. Is this real? My mind took a step back from everything and questioned the legitimacy of reality from the moment I stuck that pencil into Jonathan’s neck. The very fabric I based truth on was becoming unwoven, tangling into a conundrum of a mess that couldn’t be sewn back together.

Warm hands gently touched my cheeks, then my entire body was entombed in something I was despairing for – love. Whatever lies I told myself to try and get over her death were now gloating at their triumph over my pathetic attempt to pull the wool of moving on over my very own eyes. I didn’t move on at all. I was still grieving incessantly, hiding away my regrets of not being a better son and stockpiling all my misery into an inescapable monolithic creature that would eventually corner me if not for her simple hug. All the stains and residue that refused to vacate the delicate entrapment they were placed in were now all melting away by the second. Mom! The waves of relief washed down the banks of my cheeks. Mom! Quivering arms even more robotic than my inventions warped around her back. “Mom! Mom! I missed you!” That was it. That exact moment was the end of the thorny path I trekked. That exact moment was the destination. That was the oasis.

But alas, life’s hand was indifferent. Fate cared not. “Ban?! Ban! Our position’s been compromised!” Cryptic from LocalHost yelled into the microphone. “Someone managed to trace back to us!”

“Cryptic!” Xeno screamed. “Come on! Leave all this stuff here!”

“You guys go ahead! Someone has to destroy all the data! Leave!” she commanded and I could hear the sound of footsteps getting softer.

Mom sighed, “Looks like you got work to do, huh?”

“Yeah. Hey,” I finally let go of her, “what about dad?”

“Well,” his voice entered my ear, “I’d be the worst person imaginable if I interrupted that touching reunion. C’mere!” he grabbed me into a hug, leaving me only the awkward position of tapping his sides with the palm of my hands. I was amazed at how I hadn’t even noticed him. In fact, once I saw mom, my brain blacked out everything else.

Unfortunately, I had to cut my time short with them, something I rued even imagining. It felt like it would be okay to just give up on everything at that point. It would be fine if I let the army and TEO deal with Cennet. Everything would be fine. But, I knew, despite the absurdities of seeing my parents and Asher’s daughter alive, that there were still very real casualties because of Cennet’s actions. My fight wasn’t over.

I rang up Mr Andino and asked for assistance, making sure to state that there were people in poor health and heavily dehydrated. I sent my location to him and he told me he’d handle the rest. At that point I could only trust that he would forego the TEO in favour of my request. After all, he owed me one for saving his daughter Cindy, and bringing to light the existence of his son, Stan.

“Here,” I gave my phone to dad, telling him not to give it to anyone besides mom of course. I made my way over to another motel that LocalHost stayed at.

By the time I got there, police and paramedics had already swarmed the place. The only person of the group who remained was Backslash. I landed near him, and of course the police immediately pointed their guns at me. Backslash informed them I was a friend and they at least put away their guns. “Sorry, Ban,” he apologised, seated in the back of an ambulance being patched up. “I tried to stop him but, he’s, not human.”

“Cennet?” I asked, and he nodded in response, a forlorn look about his eyes. “Did anyone die?”

“Die? Well, no, but…” he sighed. “They’re all in critical condition. He didn’t go easy on them, unlike me…”

I balled my fists, truly getting fed up of his sick games. “Did he say anything?”

Backslash nodded, exhaling as he closed his eyes. “Indifference is a sin onto oneself, yet, the greatest blessing.”

“I’m sorry for putting you through this,” I placed a hand on his shoulder. “Go home and get some rest, okay?”

“Don’t be sorry,” he brushed my sentiment away. “Just make sure my mother’s okay. She’s probably covering the story at parliament right now.”

I smiled. Despite his timidity, he was strong. “Gotcha.” My eyes turned back to the direction of parliament. Without my phone, I wouldn’t be too accurate in retracing my flightpath back to the scene, but once I got to the city, I’d be fine.

The past couple days has been… I thought, not truly knowing what to think about the highs and lows of it. It was quite the whirlwind of surprises. My goggles began feeling tight around my head, having them on for this long. The headgear underneath it felt like it dug into my skull, but such a thing was but a mere inconvenience when weighed against the situation in the city. I sped through the overcast forests at Grav’s full speed.

Alas, I reached the city and used certain landmarks to navigate my way back to the scene of the parliament. It was still very much a stalemate of stares. But the TEO and military now properly surrounded the entire area. I landed near the first encirclement and questioned where the reporters were. “You the hero-kid? They’re around back, on Eastman,” a policeman pointed to another street.

Landing in the midst of them only made them surround me, the shutter of their cameras and questions absolutely drowning any hope I had of my voice making it through the storm of sound. Hovering above them, I eventually spotted Hana Koizumi in the melee. She was feisty, but in truth, her cameraman, Jack Mendez was truly the person to worry about. His jumping out of a moving helicopter just to get a good viewpoint painted his recklessness vividly.

I was stopped, of course, trying to go through the encirclement at the entrance of the hall, but Esther Serrette was there. She waved me through. “They’re having trouble with Willard,” she spoke softly, infuriation not too subtly intonated, “the fucking minute we’re about to start!” she kicked the steps. “Hey, you know about that kind of stuff right?”

“What kind of stuff?”

“Electrical engineering? Don’t know the name. Think you can have a look at it?”

My eyes squinted. She certainly felt like a different person when crunch time called for it. “Willard isn’t a person?”

“It’s an EMP,” she began walking to the back entrance where they put the device so others wouldn’t stop me. “Good luck,” she wished me. The device was no larger than a rugby ball. Just when I sat down with the other TEOs to try and figure out what was going on, an announcement was made from one of the TS’ robotic voices.

“Good morning, members of the parliament. I am David Cennet, a simple man who seeks change. I have with me a file that introduces a change in policies in concern to the safety of students and staff of all educational facilities. It is my wish that you read and implement these policies. If members of parliament refuse to review these regulations here today, I’m afraid the message sent would show nought but the incompetence of this country’s security and above all, the indifference of the leaders. For members of the public that wishes to know my intentions are just, you may see the documentation at ‘forjaredugo.com’. My best wishes.”

I wasn’t sure if to take that seriously or not, but of course, it had to be checked. Serrette pulled her phone out and went to that website, and sure enough, the policies that were presented to the members of parliament were online for all to see. “Fuck! He’s streaming this live! Looks like security cameras. How the hell…”

Every single camera in and around the building could be accessed by anyone. The ministers inside eventually came to a conclusion on the matter after a half hour or so reviewing the gist of the documents they were handed. They chose to remain unflappable and refuses to give Cennet – whom they viewed as nothing more than a terrorist – the time of day. On the feed that he streamed, one of the ministers spoke collectively for the group and said they’d never pass the bill of one such as Cennet. He went on to explain that being forced to do so in that manner was in itself showing the incompetence of their leadership and showed the public that no one could just force their radical ideals of change. A compelling argument, answered by a bullet to the head. One of the many armed TS in the great hall fatally shot him without so much as a comment to his answer. The bodyguards of other ministers retaliated and shot back at the TS around them – a grave mistake.

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Gunshots rang out as the TS began slaughtering the bodyguards or any other people who were armed. The TEO and military rushed in but were blown away by bombs planted all over the building. My TK and I rushed inside after it smashed open the backdoor. We entered, guns blazing. Midway through killing off the TS and having the TK protect as many people as it could, the sounds of rifles pilfered my attention from my current battle. Yet, I couldn’t satiate my curiosity. There were still around ten or so TS remaining inside the building.

Any enemies close enough to me would be dissected with my Z-21 after I flew into them. My shielders only came off when I had to attack and even then, I made sure not too many other TS had a clear shot at me. Finally, inside was secured, somewhat. There were still around seventeen or so casualties inside alone. When I ventured outside, the streets ran red with blood. The skies casted shadows of androids, many in number, discriminate in murder. The trained and combined forces of soldiers and tactical enforcement operatives looked like a joke compared to these flying death-bringers. Cennet was no longer joking. The heinous crimes he committed before all seemed like child’s play when compared to this. Are these, the TS from that warehouse? I should’ve destroyed them! I thought, my body stiff with apprehension watching as bullet after bullet collided with the flesh of the uninvolved.

This wasn’t me. All of this insanity. I was a thirteen-year-old in a warzone. The stench of death made me nauseous. I puked over the pavement, coughing out the last bits. All my receptors of fear felt like they were finally working the way they were supposed to. I was petrified. A searing sensation hit the top of my calf and made me slump in pain. That sharp pain sucked me back from my pitiful state and gave me a presence of mind once again. TK immediately flew next to me and activated its shielders. The retreating remnants of TEOs and soldiers painted a bleak outlook. After a few deep breaths, I held my bearings and flew off, commanding my TK through the headgear’s connection.

It stayed on the ground and covered me with its cannons, only moving to ensure the occasional tackle from the flying TS was dodged. I flew up, thrusting my boosters to the max for the best agility I could garner and began slicing apart my robotic foes one after the other, like an enraged psychotic. They began focusing on me and pointed their automatic rifles, emptying magazine after magazine futility against the azure shell of my shielders. Once enough of them stopped to reload, I bolted to my side and began shooting them out of the skies. The pistol being on level three in power output ensured a hole was blasted through even the most reinforced places on the TS. One of them tackled me, even with my shielders on. I busted through the side of a building, glass surrounding me and the robot clearly trying to disorient me. “Stand down!” I yelled, but there was no response. Truthfully, I wasn’t surprised that he removed my voice recognition data. The sun touched my skin again as we crashed through the other side of the building.

I switched the TK to level two artillery instead. It was a bit dangerous, but I noticed that a lot of the TS were now focused on me, probably sorting out the priority targets as those most threatening. I grabbed the TS’ gun arm and squeezed until it broke, then flung the android away from me, blasting a couple holes through its torso. My next objective would be to lead the bulk of the robots back to the parliament hall, as the place was already evacuated. They followed me like a swarm of bees, but thankfully, my Grav was much more powerful than their boosters. Sweeping down onto one of the dead TEOs, I stole his earpiece.

“Hello?! Can anyone hear me?!”

“You’re not Sampson…”

“He’s dead! I’m leading the TS towards the river! Get the injured out of here! You’ll have to deal with any robots that remain!”

“You’re Jared Ugo aren–” I slipped the earpiece out to focus on what I was doing. My TK eventually caught up with me, but didn’t shoot its cannons in that concrete jungle. Once we made it past a certain point, the fight began yet again. Seeing them packed together like that concreted there were around a hundred of those things out for my blood. I’d no idea when their number increased. We flew over the surface of the water, the mere resistance causing a ripple as we sped by. I flew sideways, making my pistol work double-time and trimming their numbers as much as I could whilst we made our way along the centre of the river and into the ocean. Finally, flying far out put me far away in position to begin what I truly had planned.

But as with everything in life, nothing went as expected. Choppers were inbound. I rolled my eyes, truly annoyed and sought to hurry up and end the battle before they were close enough to be included in the maelstrom. I made TK fly around the hovering TS. My shielders went up and I protected both my front and back, leaving only that small circle between vulnerable. The TK was closest to the city, facing out to the ocean at the TS that surrounded me and myself. Alright, buddy. Blow them away. The third and most powerful level of artillery from the TK’s cannons was engaged. The place was lighted blue. I made damn sure I kept my shielder up. Those blasts and explosions pushed me away pretty damn easily. Finally, I made the TK go back to level one artillery, eventually looking at the dregs of enemies left. “Four?” I questioned, but realised my eyes did not lie to me after glancing into the oceans below. It was a simple matter of shooting them out the skies. Cennet’s robots didn’t stand a chance, and neither would the city if I chose to use the third level of the TK’s cannons without first going to a safer place.

The first couple helicopters to get to me were military, then at least four news helicopters beating the sweet silence away. To no surprise, Hana was in one of them. I went over to it and boarded the bird. They all greeted me. It seemed to be the same crew, even down to the pilots. Jack, the cameraman, gave me a little thumbs up but didn’t say anything for he was much too busy recording. I borrowed Hana’s phone to call my own and mom answered. Once I ensured everything was alright, I called Backslash next, the topic of conversation being much the same. He told me the rest of LocalHost were in stable condition, a huge relief off my shoulders. The man who assaulted them still wasn’t found anywhere despite the huge mess he made.

I leaned back to take a breather. It’d been one hell of a day. After I closed my eyes and relaxed for a couple minutes, I realised we were flying over the parliament building again whilst they covered the story from a bird’s eye view. I suppose I should get going. My first stop was just below. The injured was already gone, so I flew to the TEO headquarters. To my surprise, Mr Andino’s son, Stan, was there. I didn’t bother to question it. Any new information to process felt like too much at this point. “Is Serrette alright?” I inquired of the same woman who’d asked me for a picture not long ago.

“Well, she’s not dead, thankfully. It looks like she got hit pretty bad though.”

“I see. That’s unfortunate.” I made a mental note to visit her. “Say, did you notice Sean Murray today?”

“Sean’s home sick. Picked one hell of a day,” she joked about it.

“I see. Thank you.” After I flew over to the neighbouring city where the people in the basement of that hangar were hospitalised.

My parents were a bit weak and had to stay the night for observation before they could be discharged. They sat in their hospital beds next to each other and chatted as I walked into the ward. “Well, you two seem friendly,” I commented, resting down some fruits and pillows from a last-minute stop before I came in.

“And you seem,” dad stared at me and rubbed his chin, “a little bloody. Is it just me or do you seem a little bloody right now?” His sarcasm level was so obvious I had no choice but to cringe a little inside. My clothes were pretty bloody after helping some of the injured bodyguards though.

“Jared,” mom said my name and I could almost hear her feet impatiently tapping the ground despite them being on the bed, “what did you do?”

I exchanged looks between them and truly smiled, happiness welling up within me. Not once did I imagine I’d be so happy to be questioned about my actions by my parents. “I spent so long thinking you guys were dead, so you know what? I’m not even going to talk about me right now. Besides, visiting hours will end before I have the chance to finish everything you missed. So, mom,” I switched the topic, “I’m just letting you know in advance that you have another mom to compete with. I’m not going to choose. You’ll both be my mothers.”

She looked appalled, but still wrung a giggle out. “Sir, yes, sir.”

“And dad,” I placed the pillow behind his back, “I can’t wait to hang out with you again. A vacation away from all this stuff in that small little neighbourhood is what I need right now. But uh,” I held the necklace he gave me.

“Hmm? ‘Uh’ what?”

“You’re technically dead, so, your stuff was moved out.”

“Aw shucks! Guess I’ll just live in the hospital then,” he shrugged, propped his pillow up and relaxed.

Mom and I made eye contact. “Well, it’s your house,” I pointed to her, “I’m not gonna say it.”

“Actually,” mom combated, “it’s your house now, remember? I placed it in your name in my will.”

I eyed her with derision, “That’s a sneaky way to avoid the subject. Well,” I threw a pear at dad, “guess you’re comin’ home with us after the hospital evicts you.”

We chatted, making more small talk than anything else in the limited time we had. When visiting hours were over, I got them a pair of disposable phones and took mine back. There were a lot of missed calls. Most from Anna and a few from Rosa. I phoned Anna first to put her mind at ease, and gave her the good news of my parents still miraculously being alive; that was a mystery I had yet to unravel, but I simply accepted it for now.

She literally screamed in my ear, then immediately took a sombre tone.

“Are you uh, on your period?” I questioned as politely as I could.

“Jared! That’s rude! Well yes, I am, but that’s not why I’m like this. Anyway, we’ll go visit them later this evening, alright? And my god! Could you not do something dangerous for one freaking day?!”

I chuckled. “I love you too.”

The sound of her palming her own face came through the line with a sigh following right after. “Yes, Jared. I love you. See you later, buddy.”