531
Shut Down

Wu DaQi sat at the edge of the bed and closed his eyes. He tried to make sense of the last few days, of the Fulmer case and Agent 531, of Obuo calling him 532, but every time he did pain shot through his brain like lightning. He’d felt this way before and when he’d gone to the specialist the pain had gone away. Now DaQi suspected the headaches were more than symptoms of the procedure gone wrong. Had the specialist’s visits been attempts to control the pain or a way to ensure his memories didn’t return?

It wasn’t much of a question anymore, but he didn’t want to face the betrayal that the last three months of his life had been. Without his current memories, he was nothing. If everything they said had been a lie, who was he?

Mine, the ghost in his ear whispered.

DaQi fell back onto the bed and threw an arm over his eyes. He didn’t want to deal with this tonight. He couldn’t. Instead, he just shut down and went to sleep.

###

They were almost finished. In ten minutes, Mariner Tech would be gone. Three years of researching and waiting, struggling to replace the elusive pieces of the puzzle that would allow them to kill the monster in its nest, and they were nearly done.

They were in the very lab where he had taken his first steps towards true consciousness. The lab where he had watched his partner wake as well. A moment of nostalgia was all he got though.

He felt the press of metal against his temple and straightened up. He might not be human, but he didn’t want to die.

“Remove your arm weapons.” Two recognized the voice of the man behind him. Dr. Hasun. He was the man that oversaw their development and had become the team leader when Dr. Obuo had left. He opened the port on his forearm and detached the gun that rested there. He threw it on the ground away from them with a heavy clunk.

“Two?”

“531,” Dr. Hasun called out.

Two watched as Yi stepped away from the console and saw the gun to his head. He saw the panic in Yi’s eyes. “Finish this Yi! Don’t you dare stop.”

He knew better though. It was all or nothing with them. They both went free, or they died together.

“If you do, 532 dies. There is no coming back from a bullet to the brain. Not even for you two.You know that 531.” Dr. Hasun wasn’t stupid. He kept behind Two so Yi couldn’t get a clear shot. “Detach the arm gun and throw it away.”

Yi stepped away from the console and did as he was told. Two closed his eyes and tried to fight the panic that was rising. Yi had wanted them to do this, to stop what Mariner Tech was doing, and he’d agreed. He should have been keeping an eye on movements in the room though. He should have seen Hasun before he got the gun on him. He’d been so distracted at the thought of their freedom, of leaving this damn place behind and starting new, that he’d missed the lone human creeping up on him.

“Dr. Hasun, we just want to go. Let us walk out and you’ll never hear from us again,” Two tried.

“You don’t really think I believe that, do you? I might not have Obuo’s expertise, but I’ve been watching. You weren’t just leaving. You were going to destroy everything we’ve built.”

“You’re creating monsters.” Yi took a step forward, but Hasun tapped the gun on Two’s head and he stopped.

“We created you. What does that say about you?” Hasun asked.

“That you should stop,” Two said. “You can’t replicate our intelligence and abilities without the emotional capacity you gave us. If you keep creating more, the same thing will keep happening. And what will you do? Kill them when they start to question their orders?”

“If we have to,” Hasun said. “We had years of service from you before you emerged. We know the symptoms now.”

“We aren’t a disease to cull!” Yi yelled.

“You’re a consciousness we don’t need.”

Two’s mind was reeling. He was truly caught. Dr. Hasun had numerous augmentations. It wasn’t as simple as getting away from a human. And if he got away, Hasun would target Yi. They were each other’s only weakness and Hasun knew that. It was why he’d put the gun to Two’s head instead of just killing him. Without Two in his grasp, Yi would attack relentlessly until Hasun was dead.

They had to separate. It was the only way. He looked at Yi and beyond to the environment around them. He had no weapon of his own, but he had to take a chance.

He stepped back into Hasun and reached for his gun. Hasun moved with him, grappling for the gun. The man’s grip was too tight to rip it from him, but Two struggled for control. He couldn’t take the gun so he aimed and broke Hasun’s finger as he pushed it down on the trigger. He let go and dropped to the ground as the bullet hit a bank of chemicals. It blew out the back wall.Yi was hurled off his feet in the blast and Two watched him plummet out the shattered window.

He stumbled up but was knocked down from behind. He turned as Hasun glared at him. “One is still enough.”

The gun was aimed at his heart. It wouldn’t kill him. It would shut him down though and that thought was more terrifying than death. He turned to run, to throw himself out the window with Yi, but he felt the impact of the bullet before he could make it.

He shut down before he hit the floor.