Artificial War

[Randomly Gone Insane]

"Thank God," Kim sighed to herself in relief. She had been lying to Azm about getting the nicer treatment. She couldn't accurately tell, as pain and torture had ways with working with the mind, but Kim had felt like her thrashing was longer and harder than what the others got. So many times she wanted to collapse like the others, but after hearing the first faller get put down she was scared into forcing herself awake and moving, even if it ate away at her energy. Though part of her doubted the androids would have killed her, now knowing they were targeting her father through her, she wasn't sure they wouldn't have just put her down as well. It was too hard to say.

Being sore and exhausted wasn't bad enough though. No, she had to be taunted and informed they knew who she was and who she was connected to. It wasn't surprising to hear they knew of her, but now they knew WHO she was. This was going to make everything complicated. Hopefully, she and the survivors were the only one who knew the android's secret. Kim was sure if her father got word of this, he'd pull her out of the military immediately.  

[cptflint]

Azm finished with the last person and came back over to Kim. "Do you know why they attacked like they did? Why they broke their pattern?" he asked as he worked on her broken wrist.  

[Randomly Gone Insane]

Kim felt her gut fall like a stone at Azm's question. She had a pretty good idea what the reasoning was. They practically boasted about it to her just before he showed up.

"Something to do with us." She only half lied with a sigh. "Guess they didn't care for the sudden protection, and decided to punch right through us. One of them just went on and on how pathetic we were as a race."  

[cptflint]

Azm nodded, setting the wrist and quickly wrapping it. Once he was done he started looking through what was left of the androids, trying to find an intact memory unit.  

[Randomly Gone Insane]

Kim winced as her wrist was set back into place. It seemed it was going to sting, no matter how many times it was broken and reset, She just hoped it wouldn't come back to haunt her in later years, being worked on so much in such a short amount of time.

When Azm left and began searching the androids, Kim couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. His question about their motives bothered her. Would he tell her father if he knew the truth? Or would he keep quiet and let her be? Did he know she was lying..? She put the thoughts aside. Kim couldn't have them on her mind with him around, in case he saw her distracted attention and started pressing into the matter.

"What are you doing?" She asked, trying to draw him away as he searched through the broken pieces.  

[cptflint]

"Trying to see if you were right," he replied. "It's not like the to just attack out of the blue when security is upgraded." He started dismantling the darker droid that had been badgering Kim. "Any information we can find will be useful."  

[Randomly Gone Insane]

"But I heard them." Kim pressed, slowly getting up on her feet and moving to Azm, going slower than usual as she had to limp to her step.

"They got pissed off because we showed up. Didn't like us suddenly coming into the picture so they decided to finish off what they were doing."  

[cptflint]

Azm removed the memory unit, staring at her now. "But I have my own hunch," he replied. "What they said and what they know are two very different things," he added.  

[Randomly Gone Insane]

"And what's your hunch?" Kim asked, staring the memory unit intensely. PLEASE let it be broken... She prayed to herself.  

[cptflint]

Azm looked up at her. "that they came for you," he replied quietly, so the others wouldn't hear.  

[Randomly Gone Insane]

Kim visibly paled at Azm's theory. Damn her luck. He probably over heard the b*****d taunting her, or someone else plotting. She didn't know how he knew, but it didn't matter now. If that memory chip was working everything would be spilled out. She could deny him, but denial only did so much.

"I don't think they know who I am," she argued coolly, trying to remain calm and save face.  

[cptflint]

Azm plugged a small wire he'd pulled from his neck into the memory unit. After a few seconds of silence he looked back at her, giving her a serious look. "We can't tell your father," he whispered. "And no more bitching about me being over bearing."  

[Randomly Gone Insane]

Kim locked her jaw and expression once Azm plugged into the memory unit. So much for getting away... She thought with a defeated sigh.

Kim expected the worse out of Azm we he finally looked at her. Yelling, overbearing protectiveness and annoyance. Though she tried to hide her emotions from him since he started asking questions, she couldn't hide her surprise to hear him actually saying they had to keep the information from her father.

She didn't know what to even say. She was dumbfounded and stared at him like a deer caught in headlights.  

[cptflint]

Azm stepped closer to her. "Surprised?" he asked. "My terms are simple. I don't leave your side, ever. You get to stay in the army. We both get to kill our enemies. Everyone wins. I know how much being in the military means to you. I'm not about to ruin that because of your status."  

[Randomly Gone Insane]

"I... I..." Kim was speechless. Azm should have been berating her for lying about her safety, dragging her off to D.C. And informing her father she was no longer safe as the androids knew her face and would stop at nothing to get her and use her.

Yet he wasn't.

"...Why?" It was all she could get out, all she could think of.