“Jesus Christ!” I exclaimed. Venari looked slightly confused with what I said, but didn’t question it. “How are you even alive?”

She frowned at my question. “I didn’t come out unscathed,” she said, pulling up her dress to reveal five jagged white scars down the length of her right leg. I winced in sympathy. “But I digress. Your method appears to be sound, sir.”

“Evan.”

“Hmm?”

“That’s my name. Evan Vonlichten. I think it’s high time you know it.”

“Well then Evan Vonlichten,” she smiled, holding out her hand. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

I took her hand in a firm handshake, noting the remarkable strength of her grip. “Just promise me that you won’t go shooting any more holes through me, ok?” I quipped, to which she chuckled sheepishly.

“[Reminder: The drug should be wearing off now.]”

As soon as I heard that message, Hayek jumped up, managing to tear through his restraints with a strength born of desperation. He sprinted for the door, only to be clotheslined by one of the Enforcers. I heard the air get knocked out of his lungs, and cords of water quickly wrap around him once again. I calmly stood up and walked over to his groaning form, leaning over him.

“Hey there buddy,” I said with a smile that contained no warmth. “You might already know this, but we have some questions for you…”

“Alright, here’s what's going to happen,” I said in a tone that brokered no argument. “I’m going to ask you a series of questions. Don’t try lying, ‘cause I’ll know if you do. I’m hoping you’re smart enough to make this easier, otherwise this dude here,” I gestured towards the butler, “is going to have to rip the knowledge straight from that head of yours, and I think you already know how much that hurts.”

Hayek, who had already been tied to the chair again, nodded frantically. “Yes, yes, of course.”

“Ok then, first question: The poison you used were the roots of royal helms, correct?”

“You are indeed correct, sir! You must be quite knowledgeable,” he smiled nervously.

“Who did you get them from?”

“Erm…I picked them up from a different spot in the Merchant Ring each week…”

“Hayek, Hayek,” I pinched the bridge of my nose, “I think you know what I mean. Let me put it this way: who ordered you to poison your target?”

His eyes glanced around the room nervously, avoiding making eye contact. “Um…er…that would be…” his voice drifted off.

I raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

“I…uh…forgot?”

Venari sighed and stood up from her chair and calmly walked over. Suddenly, she punched Hayek across the jaw, causing blood to spray from his mouth.

“That jog your memory?” She asked angrily. He flinched as she raised her hand to punch him again.

“Drusis! Lord Drusis Stratis!” He exclaimed fearfully.

Stunned silence filled the room. Surprisingly, Venari maintained her calm exterior, but I noted her hand shaking slightly.

“Why?” she demanded to know.

“I don’t know, I swear! He just told me to poison one person, he didn’t tell me why!”

After a half hour of interrogation, I knew everything that Hayek knew. Apparently, Hayek was approached by Drusis a few months ago, and offered a large sum of money to help him. And considering that he would have been killed if he refused, he didn’t really have a choice. He confessed that he hadn’t talked to Drusis personally since then, and he only received instructions and more of the poisonous roots through a dead drop.

“The last time I collected the royal helm roots was supposed to be the last, as the target wasn’t meant to survive much longer.”

I nodded slowly. Looking at Venari, I asked, “Anything else you want to know?”

Venari shook her head slowly. “Gaius, take him to the cellar and tie him up. Instruct the servants that the area is off limits for now.”

“As you wish, my lady,” he said with a bow. Grabbing Hayek by the scruff, he started dragging him out of the room.

“Wait, you won’t kill me, right? Right?” Hayek asked anxiously. Venari looked at him from the corner of her eye, but didn’t care to answer. When the door slammed shut, silence returned from the room. We sat together for several minutes, with only the electric hum of my robots in the background.

“Well. Shit.” I finally said.

Venari chuckled slightly, her face returning to its usual stoic expression within moments. “Your help is appreciated. However, I think this is the end of our partnership. You have gone above and beyond your duty, and that will be reflected in your reward.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Now, hold on a second,” I stopped her. “I think we can still help each other. I just so happen to have a bone to pick with your brother.”

“What do you mean?”

I proceeded to explain how he had sent his soldiers to take the elves from me on my way back to my base, and how they were supposed to kill any witnesses.

“Not just that,” I clenched my fist in anger, “they wanted to take advantage of my friend Aurea while they were at it.”

Venari sighed. “Yes. That does sound like something he would do. And those employed by him do not have a good reputation either. Knowing him, he’s not finished with you yet. Once something is in his sights, he does not let it go easily.”

“Which is why I’d like to nip this problem in the bud,” I said, spreading my arms and bringing her attention to the robots surrounding me, “and I got the tools for it.”

“[I thought you wanted to keep a low profile and not offend any powerful individuals. Participating in an attack against the ruler of the city contradicts that plan.]”

“He lost that privilege when he threatened my friends.”

Venari stared at me for several moments before breaking out into laughter. “You are definitely an odd one,” she chuckled, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. “Not many would dare to go against my brother.”

“So? What’s the plan?”

“Hayek said that Nicodemus was supposed to die soon. I am sure my brother has an extensive intelligence network, so he’ll likely know that the traitor has been found out. That means we have to move fast.”

“How fast?”

“Tonight,” she said, standing up. “That’ll give me just enough time to assemble my forces. I suggest you do the same. Meet me back here at midnight.”

“Got it. Oh, by the way, would you mind if I took some food from your kitchen, like dried meats or fruit or something?”

“By all means. I’ll have my servants give it to your golems.”

“Thank you. I guess I’ll go make my own preparations.”

“Eve?”

“[Yes?]”

“Put in a rush order at the fabricator, and have some drones fly them over. I want the following items made,” I ordered, listing off several things.

“[Understood. Estimated delivery time: 8 hours, 56 minutes.]”

“Good. Have every unit in the city regroup at Blood-Hungry. We’ll run some diagnostic tests and any last minute repairs.”

“[Understood. Routing all units to the Commoner Ring.]”

Collecting the food before I left, I made my way back to the slums of the Commoner Ring. Although my sense of direction wasn’t the best, with Eve’s help, I eventually made it to the run down store. By the time I arrived, there was already a sizable crowd of robots huddled inside the store. But before taking care of my robots, I had the ones holding the food follow me down into the secret basement.

“Well well, look who’s finally back,” Onyx said sarcastically.

I raised an eyebrow. “I see someone’s feeling better.”

“And that someone is feeling hungry too,” he grumbled before catching the piece of dried meat I tossed him. The three gangster’s gazes followed the food enviously, so I had the Enforcers feed them each a few pieces as well.

“How’s his condition looking?” I asked the M.A.D.

“Surprisingly good. His symptoms have decreased dramatically, although there is still a sense of dizziness and sensitivity to light from the concussion.”

A loud snore startled me slightly until I realized it was just Onyx. It seemed that after eating his fill, he just fell asleep.

“I have something else to repor-” the M.A.D. said before I cut her off with a wave of my hand.

“If it’s not urgent, don’t worry about it right now,” I ordered. “I have more important things to take care of right now.”

Heading back up, I had the robots make a line inside the store. I had the first approach and I unlocked the panel on the back of its head. Taking a peek inside, I verified that all the internal components were undamaged. Then, with Eve’s help, I began running some diagnostics and connectivity tests. After everything was checked and double checked, I moved onto the next one. Testing all of them took several hours, but I wanted to make sure there would be no issues during the upcoming operation. I also made sure to recharge the robots that were closest to running out of power by taking the energy from the robots that had fuller batteries. I only found errors in a few of the robots, most of them being Enforcers due to the fact that they were one of the earliest models.

“I’m really going to have to recycle them into more advanced robots soon.”

“[Agreed. After the next generation of robots are constructed, they will become obsolete.]”

Right after examining the last robot, I heard a loud buzzing from outside. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

“Has it been that long already?” I asked Eve as I looked at the sky outside. Unbeknownst to me, the sun had already set, and the only light outside came from the dim moon. Running outside, I spotted a drone hovering a few feet above the ground. Detaching the package that hung from underneath, I opened it and giggled excitedly.

Reflecting the moonlight was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen: the Whiplash-44 assault rifle. Developed in 2044, it was a beast of a gun, and had gotten its name from the fact that the first few individuals who tested it got severe whiplash from the intense recoil. It was later adjusted to have better recoil absorption, but the name stuck around. Although weapons that utilized crystalized energy instead of chemical propellants were created only a few years later, the Whiplash was a cheap and effective option for militaries, militias, and armed forces around the world. It was for these reasons I was trained extensively on its use.

Grabbing the individual parts, I started piecing the gun together with the speed of long practice. I clicked the stock into place and screwed the barrel on, double checking each section to make sure there were no loose parts. Racking the bolt on the side, I nodded in satisfaction upon hearing the soft click of the internal mechanisms falling into place. From there, I slid the scope onto the top, pressing a few buttons on the side to configure the range. Fortunately for me, my mechanical eyes made its night vision function obsolete. The final adjustment was in the firing mode, of which the Whiplash had three: semi-auto, a three round burst, and fully automatic. I chose the three round burst, as it was a good balance between the two other options.

Opening the second case, I laid my eyes on several 40 round magazines, along with a protective vest that had several pouches for the magazines. Underneath lay large belts of ammunition that would be given to the Dianmu Gunner robots. The final item in the crate were two earpieces that would help me communicate with Venari.