Shadows of the past (OPEN)

Listening carefully was getting tiring. After all it was one in the morning. Eain tried though, keeping with each word. "Wait... ALMOST non-existent errors?" He questioned. The mumble escaped his focus. "I don't know about you lady...I feel like you'll end up killing me someday. Exploding isn't really the way I wanna go, you know?" He continued.

A sip of coffee later allowed his mind to work. "Maybe I can give you a chance. I have another job coming up in a few days. Right here in Moscow. Would you be interested in letting me try out some of these things for free?" He smiled. He wasn't sure what the job was exactly yet. He had only a text that read something like, "Offer: American Emissary. 3days. Usual spot. ~Umber Ki" Details would be reviled at the drop.

He watched as the pretty Russian lady brought his food over. Wasting no time at all he grabbed the hot sauce and a fork  then started to shovel it into his mouth. Hash browns, three eggs, wheat toast, bacon, all cooked to the normal standard. It was heaven in his mouth. Drinking did that.

Zodiac had been focused on these people, and yet the would-be motorcycle thief was becoming a pest. Even with the alarm going off, he persisted to try and lift the heavy bike off of it’s kickstand. Relenting Zodiac just moved himself, allowing the kickstand to be kicked. The man was unfortunately unaware of Zodiac, or his unique capabilities. Otherwise he probably would have chosen a motorcycle that wasn’t a renowned assassin. Zodiac’s focus changed as he felt the man straddle a leg over him. Zodiac turned on his headlight and with a rumble he began to move upon his own. The man held on tightly, shouting and yelling, uncertain as to what he was doing to make the machine to move.

The motorcycle turned itself, regardless of the way the man struggled for control as it went form 2 miles per hour to 45 in about two seconds, crashing through the glass door of the diner, and breaking abruptly. The ne’re-do-well flipped ass end over tea kettle and landed on the floor several feet away, the wind knocked form them and the possibility of structural damage. Bones were almost inefficient as far as Zodiac was concerned. As the man lay groaning, fighting to move, the motorcycle began to break apart. The handlebars ripped apart to either side of it, the Headlight split in half revealing a facial design. The halves of headlight pressed back and traveled down as the motorcycle seamlessly transformed into a whole new figure, the entire thing condensing into one humanoid structure. Handlebars became forearm reinforcements, tires seemed to break apart and become fabrics. The humanoid figure was notorious enough, though publically it was not known that it was an advanced machine, anyone who mentioned “Guilty Spark” believed that it was just an exosuited hitman.

“I need help….” Zodiac said, his voice oddly human and weak as he looked to the two he had gathered data on. The young woman whom was going to help him seemed to have passed out from the sudden display of a man flying through a window? Perhaps there were other extenuating circumstances. “Anyone who helps gets to live. Everyone else dies.” He said as he looked around. With a groan he repeated himself, in Russian.

“Те, кто помогает. Уцелеть. Тем, кто не помогает. Мой враг. Мой враг умирает.” It stated as clearly as it could, hand coming up to it’s arm and pressing as it looked.

The window suddenly shattered and before Eain could think his hand's reacted, darting to the pockets that held his gun's. He pulled them out with a quick shift and fell to the ground. The aim was shaky, Boy did I pick the wrong night... He thought.

His focus was on the thing before him. A motorcycle, it's parts moved around and before he knew it a humanoid was standing in front of him. The voice was asking for help. People around the diner either started to run away or passed out from surprise.

Eain dropped his gun's and stood up. Tucking them away he noticed the lady he was talking to passed out as well, her head down on the plate of food.

Three minutes. That is how long it would take police to arrive, and you could bet your left... a nickle that they where on the way.

"Follow me man!." Eain ran to the human looking machine and tried to tug him out the door way. "I think I know just the right guy that can patch you up."

The sideways glances and threatening looks from the small group around them was old news to Eain. People where going to judge you, that was life. But the chance to make a new friend, that doesn't come very often...

If he wasn’t careful all of these people would talk to the cops. He needed to be certain that his secret was safe. No one could know that he was what he was. It actually sickened him to think that one of these flesh sacks would even expose him for the mechanical being he was. His creator would be at risk, The Progenitor would be at risk. His failure would be exposed to The Black King. There were too many things that could go wrong. He felt the sparks charge on him once more ass he disappeared in a blur, and arrived back in the span of seconds, following behind the human that claimed to know someone who could fix him up.

The diner was left a mess. Bodies lying wherever they dropped, not a single person who witnessed the transformation was alive. Save for this man. Guilty Spark was a creation of their word, they would allow this man to live. His word was not a deceptive one either, his creator would shun him were that so. Guilty Spark attempted to multi-task it’s “mind” and upload a section of it’s consciousness to any security footage within the diner. It would need to be scrubbed. Leave no trace.

“If that is the case, then I will...what is it you fleshbags say? Owe you one?” He stated. He didn’t mean to sound offensive, he just didn’t care to be politically correct. The term was insulting, this was true but he was speaking more generalized than directly to the man. Not that they’d know that….“I have approximately 10 minutes remaining. Can we get there by foot, or would you like some help?”

Flesh bag? Eain took the guy by his arm, throwing it over his shoulders he helped him out of the diner. "Lets get you fixed up first. We can talk price later." Eain said reaching for his pocket.

Pulling out an old looking cell phone he dialed five numbers and waited for the tone. After the "could not connect" message someone picked up.

"Oli Change, Whats your location?" A scratchy voice answered.
"Stevie, It's me." Eain spoke.
"What's up man! Didn't know you where in Russia, hows it hang'in?"
"Sorry, don't have time for small talk. Can you meet me at..." He looked around. The street corners where too far off to see. The next inn sign was titled, "... Угол львов", The Lions Corner.
"I'll send a truck out now."
"No, you come... and alone."
"Whats goin on Eain?"
"Just come alone, make sure your not followed, this is... sensitive." Eain finished and hung up the phone.

They hobbled down the street. It being a cool evening in Russia helped the matter. The only people they saw where in vehicles passing by. They would assume its just two people, a man and his drunk buddy, getting home. At least that's what Eain told himself. The night was starting to get really weird.

They got to the ally between The Lion and another place. Eain pushed his foot through one of the windows and helped the raciest machine inside. A push, shove, something of the like. Afterward, Eain looked around. The streets just as empty as before. Then, climbed in himself.

It was an empty inn room. Old grandpa smell and cigarettes characterized the smell of the place. The walls where dressed in old style wall paper, the bed was king sized, and an old tube TV sat on a dresser only three feet away from it. All in all it was a small apartment, maybe one hundred foot squared.

Guilty Spark...Zodiac had never truly appreciated the tenacity of these people. He hated to admit it, but his distaste for them was born from two very separate sources. The first being what happened all those years ago. A faulty calculation against a sociopathic person trained to get past his recognitions leading to the death of the person who he truly believed brought him to sentience. That man’s selfishness was the representation of everything he despised about these fallible creatures. Yet the second source of his resentment was oddly conflicting with that of the first. He despised these creatures because despite their faulty conception, they could still push and persevere. Truthfully he desired to be one of them, and to a degree it caused a level of distaste. But just as one sociopath was the representation of everything he hated, he now found a single being that was a perfect representation of everything he admired of the race.

“Humanity...” he said, his internal processors had slipped and he had spoken the name aloud. An apt name for a human that could stand his own. A world renowned terrorist to some, a symbol of perseverance to others. He was known as “The Villian” but the people began to call him by the name he used now. Zodiac grimaced as he was pushed into the window. He was running out of time, and yet there was one of these flesh bags helping him. Why? To conserve projected life expectancy, Guilty Spark shut part of himself down, a sleeping mode of sorts as he awaited the to arrive. When it had, made it through the window, he began to stagger with assistance into the old Inn like room.

“Two minutes until shutdown. Not much longer and there will be a total core exhumation. I am aware looks are deceiving but of my assessment, I am not assured that this is a place to help me....” Guilty Spark stated stoically as his head shifted. His arm slumped as power was cut from it. He had already disengaged any non-vital programs, though his issue was the lack of fluid in him. It was essentially glorified blood loss on a machine.

“regardless the outcome, I truly appreciate your assistance...Eain? Zwei drei vier-” The machine began to ramble before it’s vocals shut down. Crashing and recalibrating. “That was not intentional...”

"Just hang in there man." Eain said as he laid the machine on the bed. He took note of what he was saying, but hoped it wouldn't be it's last words. "I hope you don't mean an explosion, I would have taken you somewhere else." Eain continued as he grabbed towels from the bathroom and shoved them onto the man chest.

The creatures arms began to go limp. Story of my life... he thought as the machine began to ramble. Everything in his life went to hell, even so far away from what he called home, it all seemed to crumble away. Everything he touched. He began to envy himself an hour ago, if only he could taste that whisky one last time.

His pressure on the man's wound let up. Maybe death wouldn't be so bad. An explosion isn't the worse way to go, one second your here, another your not. Like hitting a switch. The sounds of squealing tires could be heard from down the street. Eain resumed his pressure till a flashlight beamed at the window.

Eain ran over and stuck his head out. "Steevie." he said in a low tone.
"Yeah." The voice in the street answered. "I'm just grabbing my bag." The van's side doors closed and Steevie climbed through the Inn window.
"No time to catch up. Can you fix him?" Eain asked quickly as his friend's feet hit the ground.
"Let me take a look."

The man ran over to the machine. He pulled at the wound to look inside. "I need more light. Hit that switch... and grab my light out of my bag." Steevie commanded.

Grabbing at the first thing, Eain ran to his bag and pulled out a headlamp, then flipped the switch to the room. Light gave way to the light browns of the bed's blanket and the bright pinks and reds of the walls.

"Much better." Steevie said. "Umm."
"Whats up?"
"There we go." His hands darted to his bag and back to the wound. Tools moved quickly. "Hold your finger here."
"uh.."
"Right here." Steevie grabbed Eain's hand and plunged it into the wound.

Eain could feel it, placing a thick clamp on one of the machine's tubes, Steevie stopped the fluid loss. When he returned, a patch was placed onto the tube to block it completely.

"Alright." Steevie said satisfied.

Eain pulled his hand's out. Steevie was able to close the wound relatively quick with thin wire.

"I don't know how long it'll hold, but I think your friend should live." Steevie said. "Not sure how much fluid he lost, and I don't have any to give him. I don't think normal oil will do."
Eain laughed. "Yeah, I don't think so... I appreciate the help man." The two of them looked at each other for a moment. "I guess there wont be a big boom then." Too bad.

“Exhumantion. Verb. The process or act of digging up or unearthing something buried. Particularly corpses. Citation Google. Intended meaning Core dissolvement and rapid unraveling of the Twelve’s collective consciousness. No explosions.” Zodiac attempted to hold himself together as he attempted to resort to any basic task a normal computer could do. Such as calculate. 2+2 is 4 and so forth. Definitions were nice too.

Guilty Spark was resting with the towels in his chest as there was another that came to the room. Hopefully this man would be able to assist him. Guilty Spark began to power himself down, hoping this last littler of his lifespan could be preserved. It was darkness, and that was all he knew.

It was like the blink of an eye for him. Just as soon as his eyes closed, figuratively as he had no eyelids, he opened them again. It was a pleasant surprise for him to be alive. Apparently there had been quite an extensive patchwork repair done to him. He wondered if this would be compatible with his speeds. His head began to rotate. He needed to replenish his biofuel. Right now he was relying on his processors and assimilation system to bring in atmospheric elements. It was not working well.

His eyes fell to the two men. He titled his head to the side.

”You have my appreciation. Now I would like to express my appreciation. I believe you use currency, is this method correct?0001001001010100100001010001001010-” The machine began before a loud gridning noise and the shorting out of his speakers began to shut down. It shook its head and began to punch itself where a human would equate to its own throat. ”Hello? Communications restored. I need Monohydrogen-Dioxide, Red meat and a highly radioactive substance you likely cannot obtain legally. I will compensate for these resources if available...I require this to create a makeshift biofluid.”

   “I also desire to know your price for your services, Eain.” The machine said, wasting no time now that it was back to what seemed to be a slightly operable capability.
]

"My services? Nah man, don't worry about it." He slapped the machine on the back. "How about that list Steevie, think we can help the guy out?" Eain looked toward his old friend.
"Well, I do have a leftover McDonalds burger in the van, but other than that we'd have to run to the store." He answered.
"Would a burger help man?" He asked the machine.

Eain looked around the room. On the nightstand next to the bed was a list of stores nearby. Eain grabbed it and took a look, the closest store was about a half mile down the road, but it being late he doubted it would be open.

"Can you wait a couple hours?" He asked the machine, wondering what he would say if the answer was no. "How did you get hurt like this?" Eain asked.

"Affirmative. My condition is objectively stable. Thank you." Zodiac responded when he heard Eain ask if he could wait for a few hours. IT was not idea, however he had to understand that humans worked on a far more limited spectrum than he did. Though utilizing his powers now could be costly to his overall system and the physical integrity of this platform. "I could make due with a hamburger, however something more...raw would be prefered." He said as he generated a noise, as if he were clearing his throat. He started to look around for anything connected to the internet, anything to extract data from. Rather, something for data to download to. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard Eain ask about how he managed to be wounded.

"The Vigilante known as Humanity. The one who defeated the matter manipulating Elena Vexus and the Rise head Gravitas." Zodiac said with a slight sigh. Humanity was a renowned name but no one truly knew anything about him save for that he was a rogue in nature. He first appeared as he hunted down and defeated villain after viallian, proving that he was unmatched, but just as he was a scourge to villains he hunted down heroes just as mercilessly. Exposing identities to the public, standing off with the likes of Atlas and coming out on top. To some he was terrifying, to some he was inspirational. He was a human being trained to take on metahumans of the fastest, strongest and toughest kind. But this time he was against a different threat. He was truly worthy of his station in Thrones.

"Despite my speed he was quite preemptive. I can see why he is undefeated. I was sent here by an employer, a man that goes by the name "The Black King". I was to defend one of his "Rooks" from the vigilante Humanity, and gather information on individual that is rallying behind him...despite his hatred of them. I failed." Zodiac said as he added the part of him failing at the end, a nervous twitch programming it's eay in as it folded it's arms and made the same audible noise of clearing it's throat.

"This is why I would like to hire your services. To assist me in completeing my objective of gathering information and possibly getting rid of this follower." Zodiac stated as he began to search around for something to upload himself into, groaning as he looked to the old TV. all he could think of was projecting himself onto the device like that HAL character. He despised that movie, the stupid humans were always getting in the way.

At the mention of the burger Steevie disappeared to the van. Eain stood there to listen to the machine speak. The glitches in the his tone worried Eain, but what did he know? This could be the normal way he made noise. At the mention of Humanity Eain twitched a little. He had only heard stories, there was no way he'd like to take on that kind of job. Then he was asked.

"Do you have an idea where this person can be found?" he said, more so to push conversation than followup on the lead. Though if he wanted to die this might be his chance. He looked off into the direction the machine was staring. The blank TV that sat on the dresser. Eain wondered if he could see something normal people couldn't. "What do I call you anyway?" He asked.

Steevie returned from the van and handed the day old burger to the man. He was huffing a little, getting in and out of the window was starting to show some wear-and-tare.

"Anyway, your in no condition to take on someone like that. And me, I'm not someone you want around, everything I touch goes to shit." He looked down. Clearing his throat he finished, "I mean, are you sure I'm the right guy?"

Zodiac listened to the man as he spoke of how he was in no condition to take on this follower of Humanity. Zodiac attempted to process such things and began to feel as if his capacity was being questioned. Despite this, he resigned and deemed the skepticism of Eain to be warranted. He just found that a time-barrier breaching speedster lost to a human. That gives one pause….

“I understand your caution. However I assure you that my effectiveness is still to be considered. My name is Guilty Spark, and this was my first failed attempt since my creation.” The machine stated, the faint traces of disgust in its voice. This was as if it had finally realized in its entirety what it was to fail. It looked away from the television and looked to the man. It was capable of identifying with the concept of having the right person, or mischaracterization of who the right person was.

“Did anyone else have the nerve to help a robotic individual that moves at Mach 30? I should think not, otherwise most of them wouldn’t have had to die. You are a human, and the man who defeated me was a human. Obviously I’ve misjudged you soft, squishy fleshbags in the past, so now I am taking further measure to ensure that doesn’t happen again. I need….perspective...and experience. Of all these things, you have both. I would like to reach an accord...” The robot explain, rather he ranted. Honestly it was just convincing itself. This was a new concept. It had utilized underlings in the past, an entire gang at his disposal. Now he needed to try something else. Something had just leveled the playing field for him, and now he was looking to jump sky high and gain the advantage yet again.

“Oh, thank you.” The robotic said as it took the old hamburger, it’s chest violently ripping itself open before exposing what appeared to be a Icosahedron with several rings pivoting around it at intense speeds. As Guilty Spark lifted it’s hand, the Icosahedron shifted and a small black dot in the center of the glowing figure. The shape seemed to “explode” a small bit, the faces of the three dimensional shape pushing outwards with a small pupil like darkness revealed in the center once it was opened. A loud noise was revealed as it seemed to slam the meat into the center of the shape, allowing it to assimilate. His chest closed rather quickly and it let out a small rumbling noise. Without a second thought it resumed talking. “I know I have the right guy. So name your price.”