Fallen Hero

“I was a hero once.”

I watch my lips move in the mirror as I say the words. Making sure that every word was enunciated perfectly, my lips pouted just the right amount as I rolled the words with my tongue.

“I was a hero once,” I say again, letting my face fall, and my lips go numb. “But then—”

A rap at the door halts my words and I rearrange my face back into one of wanting beauty.

“Come in Fret.”

I turn back to the mirror pretending I’m not watching her as she enters the door. Her metallic skin shines in the bright lights of my room. ‘Metallics on trend,’ she would tell me nearly every day, but no matter what she says I stay with the synthetic peach-colored flesh so like what my skin used to look like. The company that produced it was one of my sponsors though they didn’t pay as much as Fret liked.

“They’re ready for you BubbelPop.”

She looks me over with her dead shiny metallic eyes, as her lips twitched downwards in disapproval at my still human appearance. How likely was it I wondered, did she actually care or was she just practicing her movements; probably both. I pushed myself up from the table, casting one last glance at the mirror before leaving it behind.

Fret’s hand shot out as I walked by, halting me in my tracks.

“The Knot wants you to change your skin before the next interview. Something more akin to…” She let her words draw out as her eyes bore into me, her grip tight enough to snap a human arm, but not mine. “They think it would be better if you showed you truly embraced the change.”

I yanked my arm out of her grip glad to see that she hadn’t marred the synthetic flesh before I went on cam. I breathed in a deep breath I no longer needed, relishing her look of annoyance before quickly popping on a smile.

“Whatever the Knot wants the Knot shall receive.” I flashed her a quick curtsy before leaving the room.

I beardly registered the host as he rambled on about me and my sacrifice, and about how I had saved humanity. How I was a genius for using my social media clout as an uber influencer; his words not mine. To convince the masses just how deadly the B45T virus just really was, and just how important it was to go through the change before one’s twenty-fifth birthday.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Instead, I smiled, and nodded as I scanned the crowd, my eyes falling on the one person I had hoped would be there. They didn’t smile or cheer like the rest of the crowd, they only watched and waited. Their eyes met mine, before quickly darting to the left and right, drawing my attention to the others that dotted the crowd.

“BubbelPop, you had a lot of pushback from those… well let’s just call them ill-informed at the time. After all, I was one of them, but you Bubbel, I can call you Bubbel can’t I?”

I looked at him and smiled.

“All my friends call me Bubbel, so of course, you Mr. Retek, can call me anything you want.” The crowd roared in laughter as I made kissy faces at them.

Mr. Retek pulled at his collar pretending to be embarrassed before quickly shushing the crowd. He placed his elbow on his desk with a loud clunk and cradled his shiny head in his hands.

But seriously though, Bubbel do you have anything you would like to say to those that still fight against what every other person on earth knows? That the Knot only wants to help us, to make amends for accidentally bringing the B45T virus to earth. It was a simple mistake, right folks? The crowd roared once again in agreement.

I looked over the crowd and smiled as I waited for them to calm down. It had always been easy to disguise my emotions but since becoming a machine it had become effortless, in fact, I had to remember at times to even show them. The crowd hushed and I stood ready to say my final words to them.

“I think that we should do our best to remember who we are and just how hard we, as a species, fight. Even if sometimes we are wrong about what we are fighting for. That we should be able to admit when we are wrong, like me, though I’m almost never wrong.”

The crowd laughed, and Mr. Retek clapped and stood.

“Ah, words of wisdom BubbelPop, and now as we speak one of our very own audience members is being selected to do a live interview with the lovely.” He turned and waved graciously toward me, “BubbelPop.”

Back in the room, a nervous girl sat across from me, her phone shaking in her hand as she live streamed the two of us. I sat as I always did in front of the mirror, its mirrored surface behind me to catch the reflection of the interviewing fan; people love knowing just who the lucky person was. Fret, as usual, stood nearby just out of the camera, but this time I was going to change things up.

“So—” I stop the girl with a wave and a smile.

“Real quick before we start, I would like to introduce Fret.” I stood quickly and wrapped one arm around her as she glared at me; she was definitely getting better with practice. “Fret is… my manager, my handler, you know the person that makes sure I don’t get out of line.” The girl smiled a weak smile, no doubt confused as to what was going on. “Fret is also part of the Knot.”

Fret turned to me, so surprised. She hadn’t had time to register a reaction, and I wasn’t going to give her any. With a click, the wrist of my arm so casually draped around her, flicked back revealing a long blade hidden in my forearm. It extended in a flash, and I cut through her neck. Her head tumbled along the floor and the young fan shrieked in terror.

“Keep filming!” I yield at her not wanting this moment wasted.

She pointed the camera back at the head and gasped as she saw the tiny yellow legs dangling out of a tiny hatch built into the spine of the head. With a little flop, Fret fell out and staggered for a moment on the cold surface of the linoleum floor, her large amphibian eyes wide in surprise before I stepped on her.

“There, Matt, I think you have all you need to start the rebellion,” I said to the man who had silently entered the room, the same man who had been in the audience.