Chapter 36. That got weird, huh?

Sherlock was lying motionless on the floor in front of me as I rushed over to check on him. The bullet had hit him in the left side of his chest close to his shoulder, and he was currently leaking metallic silver-colored blood. I rolled him over so he would be on his side. I didn’t know much about medicine, but my fear was that the bullet had punctured a lung, and I was trying to ensure he didn’t choke to death on his own blood.

“Sherlock! Sherlock! Are you there, buddy? Can you hear me? Talk to me, buddy?” I knelt close to him, trying to see or feel signs of life. It occurred to me at that moment that Sherlock was an AI. It was very possible that he would be unharmed by the bullet, but the scene played out before me told me something very different.

“The bloody bastard shot me. Can you believe that? Quite a lucky shot if I say so myself,” Sherlock coughed, and silver viscous blood spattered the floor around him. “I do believe I will have to sit the rest of this one out, Captain.”

“What can I do? I can’t let you die here. Is there anything I can do?” I asked as panic began to set in.

It had been months now that I had been playing this game. I was pulled from my life and forced to fight a war I didn’t even know existed. I had lost parts of myself, figuratively and literally. I had lost people, people that trusted me to keep them safe. Claire was a good person and was now lying lifeless in a stasis pod on the Blood Hound. I hadn’t even found time to bury her. I was tired of losing people, tired of losing parts of myself to this hellish new reality. I would not lose Sherlock.

“Calm yourself, Captain. While the bullets are not made of steel, they still injure and kill. These bullets are made of viral code and are meant to break down our own digital matrixes. I am injured but should be able to make a full recovery, assuming you can open that vault and eliminate the malicious code infecting the armor. Unfortunately, I am too injured to help you. With that being said, the hard part is done. We have successfully eliminated the security countermeasures that were in place, and now you have to eliminate the controller AI and access the source code repository.”

I looked up to see the bank manager standing in front of the vault with his hands up in surrender. The tellers had disappeared, seemingly all part of the illusion my mind had created.

“The bank teller?” I asked.

“Yes, the bank teller. Once he is eliminated, the repository should open. I am not sure what will happen after that, but I assume we will have access to the records and data that were quarantined. Do it fast, Captain. While I am confident this wound isn’t fatal, I would rather not test the longevity of that statement.” Sherlock said, grunting and leaning his back against the wall.

I stood, looking directly at the teller who began to back up as I approached the teller station surrounded by safety glass.

“Now, j-just hold on, fella. There is no need for things to get outta control here. I’m sure we can come to an agreement that is beneficial for the both of us, right?” the bank manager stammered as he backed into the round vault door.

I punched the safety glass with my right hand and watched as it shattered into a thousand pieces, peppering the walls and ceiling. I slowly stepped over the desk and made my way to the manager.

“Look, I was just doin my job. Yous guys have no idea what kind of shit storm waits for you behind that door.” The manager held up his hands and shrugged, sucking in the air and making a hissing noise. “I gotta tell you, pal, it would be in your best interest to just walk away and forget this ever happened. I will even let you guys walk outta here. How’s that sound?”

I wasn’t sure why, but I pitied this program. I didn’t know how sentient it was. I didn’t know if it felt emotion or pain, but it was in a situation similar to my own. It had been forced into a role, and now its life was being threatened. I pondered the similarities for a brief few seconds as the manager continued to plead for its life. Words continued to fall out of its mouth, and I just stood there motionless, expressionless, realizing that death was my path now. I could embrace that reality or try to hide from it; either way, death would be part of my path. The only choice I could make would be to bring death to others or let it come to me. Today, I would choose others.

The bank manager's eyes went wide with shock. He had been detailing how he would allow me to leave and was even willing to cover up that Sherlock and I had been here. I stopped listening a while back, but the words kept coming. Finally, I decided to stop the words.

My right hand flashed up to his throat. I squeezed tightly and felt my fingers tear into his flesh. He screamed and grasped at my hand, but I was too strong. I lifted him off the ground, and as his feet thrashed around, I thought about how easy this was. Taking a life shouldn’t be this easy, but for me, it was. I looked back at Sherlock, who was now unconscious, and realized that this terrible power I had would be the only thing standing between my friends and certain death. I took solace in that thought as I squeezed my fist closed.

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The bank manager fell to the floor, silver blood spraying from the wound left when I ripped out his throat. As I looked down, I heard a click, and the vault door cracked slightly.

“Weird place to put a doorknob,” I said, looking at the chuck of flesh in my hands before tossing it aside.

Before I could take a step toward the vault I saw a blinding flash of light and regained consciousness in the physical world. Kaj was leaning over me, trying to administer first aid. I coughed and rolled up onto my elbows before waving him off.

“Ugh, It’s all good, Kaj. I’m okay. Sherlock and I had to make a little trip to take care of some pesky security measures inside the armor. It’s all good now. How long was I out?” I asked, rubbing the back of my neck.

Kaj looked at me curiously, “About 40 seconds, Captain. What exactly did you and Sherlock do?”

A few minutes later Sherlock appeared beside the table. I was now fully recovered and sat on the side of the table trying to take stock of everything that had just happened. Sherlock leaned quietly against the table next to me as Kaj approached with a beverage for each of us.

“Where did you find beer?” I asked.

“It was in the fridge, near the back.” Kaj replied, leaning against the table as well.

I looked over at Sherlock, who was still staring blankly into space, “That got weird, huh?”

“Yes, Captain. That got weird.” Sherlock replied.

I chuckled, “You were boxing a guy like some dude from 1850.”

“Yes, I have extensive self-defense programming, but I tend to fancy the more traditional styles. Pugilism is a lost art,” Sherlock said. “Did you rip that manager's throat out?”

“Yeah, I know Kaj has been hammering these new polished fighting techniques into me, but sometimes the old habits still shine through,” I replied, taking a swig of my beer.

“What is the silver blood about?” I asked.

“You tell me. That was your weird fantasy in there, not mine.” Sherlock said.

“Fair enough. I think I got it from the Terminator movies.” I said.

“And you got the throat thing from Roadhouse, right?” Kaj asked, taking a drink of his beer, “That movie is badass. Patrick Swayze is amazing.”

Sherlock and I both shot surprised looks in Kaj’s direction. “How do you know about Roadhouse?”

“I have a lot of downtime at night. I get bored in my quarters, and there is a database of Earth movies. It gives me something to do when we aren’t training.” Kaj said, shrugging.

We all sat there a few minutes longer without speaking.

“So, I guess I should start prepping to take that boss down. Sherlock, were you able to gather anything from the data repository? I asked as I got up and tossed my beer bottle into the trash can.

“Not yet. It will take some time to parse the data. I should start getting information In the next 6-8 hours. We can discuss it after you finish with the boss.” Sherlock said.

“That works. Im gonna head out. You guys ready?” I asked.

We all set out from the safe room together. The hike would take us about an hour so we weren’t in a giant rush. My drones had managed to gather data that pinpointed the location of the boss, but that is all. There was some sort of interference keeping them from getting a good look at the thing. I decided that we would try and get close enough to get a look at the thing and then make a plan of attack.

Finally, after a little more than an hour, I crested a large rocky cliff close to the location my drones had marked and slid on my belly to scan the small rocky valley below. My helmet was shifting between different modes to pinpoint the creature's location. It would cycle between regular and thermal vision, discarding anything that wasn’t identified as powerful enough to be the boss. It wasn’t long until I found it.

“There it is,” I said, nodding my head toward the creature.

“I don’t see anything. Are you sure it is out there?” Kaj asked, now in the ethereal, non-physical form he was forced to take outside of the safe room.

The wind and snow had created a less-than-ideal scenario in terms of visibility. On top of that, the creature seemed to have some sort of active camouflage that made it almost impossible to see it with the naked eye, but with the help of my suit's thermal imaging, I could make it out as clear as day.

“It’s big, and it's humanoid. It’s not human but not any beast I am familiar with either. It also knows we are here so we might as well go introduce ourselves.

We made our way down toward the creature, which stood in the valley, unmoving as wind and snow blew furiously around it, whipping its grey weathered cloak back and forth. After a few minutes, we were standing before the creature, and I got my first good look at it.

The creature stared at me through a smoke-grey visor attached to a helmet. I couldn’t make out many details as the cloak was wrapped around its body, and a hood covered the helmet. Even standing taller than the average human I had to look up at the creature to meet what I guessed were its eyes behind the visor. I was wary; I knew I was meant to fight this creature, but surprisingly, I didn’t feel any malice or intent to do me harm. The creature was sizing me up and I was doing the same in return.

“I was beginning to think I was in here alone. Nice to see someone else sharing my discomfort.” I said, trying to see if I could get a response.

“Your discomfort?” a female voice answered in response, tilting her head.

“Ugh, yeah. You know, monsters trying to kill me, being lost most of the time, numb toes. That sort of thing.” I responded.

“You have no idea what genuine discomfort is human. You merely play. You have been given a gift, a chance to prove yourself worthy and you pout like a spoiled child. I have been given a choice, or rather the ability to make a choice regarding you. Against my better judgment, I will allow you to help me with that choice.” The woman said.

She reached up and pulled back her hood before unlatching the sides of her helmet. When she pulled it off, I was amazed to see dark brown hair fall loosely around her shoulders. As she shook her hair, I noticed pointed ears underneath the hair and then the piercing purple almond-shaped eyes. She had an ornate tattoo running from the underside of her chin down into her armor that resembled the trail of a comet. The sparkling colors of the tattoo were a stark contrast to her pale white skin.

She bowed slightly before speaking,“I am Komaetes and today I will decide whether you proceed…. Or die.”