Annihilation

Under the Knife

Peanut watched as both human and robot disappeared behind a sliding door. He stood up from the bar stool he was resting on, carefully making his way through the thick crowd as they parted.

The robot's glowing eyes burned brighter as he scanned the door and what was behind it. He could make out the faint shape of Genesis, glancing behind her as A continued to pull her through the hallway. He waited for them to exit behind another door before continuing his stalking.

He studied their movement closely, noticing that Genesis began to hesitate. She seemed to exchange a few words with A, who momentarily struggled with persuading her to go further down into the club.

Peanut slowly cocked his head, his fingers growing into a tight fist as he glared at how close they were. He could sense how she was making his companion's circuits go haywire, and it bothered him to know that despite him being reset, there was still something inside that refused to harm the girl. That loved her.

The thought made the robot turn bitter as he marched through the other door and confronted the two.

Genesis stared at him with confusion written all over her face. She was holding tightly on to A, slowly letting go once she realized Peanut was glaring daggers at their conjoined hands.

"You need to follow us. I didn't bring you here to meet him." The machine quickly snatched the woman's hands, dragging her down another passageway that led underground. A silently trailed behind, gazing at Genesis who now began to panic.

"I-wh-what's going on? He doesn't seem like himself." The human confessed, staring directly at A who, despite seeing how scared she was, did nothing about it.

"Please, Peanut. Tell me what's wrong with A-."

"Annihilation," the other responded very curtly once stopping outside a sealed door. He turned the woman around to look up at him, clasping on to her cheeks a little roughly. She knew at that point that something bad was going to unfold, and that something had happened to A to cause him to not bother to protect her.

"What are you doing!? What do you mean-?"

"That's his name." Peanut continued, turning to admire his work of art beside him.

"Years ago I created my other half. He was raised in a facility far from here to kill every single human on this planet." Peanut's grip loosened slightly as he stared intently at the woman's wide eyes.

"I trusted your government to help me raise him well- to teach him everything he must know. They wanted a weapon of mass destruction...but then decided he was too dangerous. Do you know what they did to my poor creation?"

Genesis couldn't believe what she was hearing at that point. She thought it was all some sick joke or a bad dream, and even tried to convince herself it was despite her legs trembling like crazy.

"They opened him up. Discarded bits and pieces of him. Threw him out and sold him to the highest bidder. A strip club owner with no higher vision." Peanut felt his anger start to boil as he resumed a hold on the humans wrist.

"And they did the same with me. I was thrown out and lost every aspect of myself. Good, kind Vail found me and tried his best to patch me up, though I was never the same...until he came along."

Peanut slid the door open to the room they were outside of, revealing a row of humans sitting on metal chairs. It took Genesis a moment to realize what was going on, and it was only when she noticed their opened skulls did she finally drop her jaw to scream.

A quickly clamped her mouth shut, dragging her in as she fought against his strength. Peanut watched it all with enjoyment, making sure the door slid shut behind him before approaching the horrified woman.

"I never did expect to find him again. A simple memory wipe was all that was needed to finally bring him back to his old self, so don't waste your breathe."

"Monster!" Genesis finally found her voice, hissing at A who did nothing but stare at her. She was now strapped to the chair with metal restraints on her wrists, but even so it did not stop her from hollering.

"Peanut- you're insane!"

"Now, that sounds very comical. It's 'Plague', though that fool Vail couldn't think of a better name." He glanced at his old companions seated beside the woman, still unconscious from his previous procedure. His head was shaved, revealing a huge scar down the middle. The man's skin was pale as well, but he was still alive despite appearing dead.

At this point, A regained some control of the situation and firmly grabbed a hold of Genesis's shoulders. He gently caressed them, moving up to her neck and then her head as he ran his fingers through her hair.

What would have been relaxing and sensual on a different occasion was horrifying to Genesis- who watched as clumps of her hair began to slide off and settle to the floor.

"Pl-please A. Please remember me, this isn't you." Genesis was so terrified, she could feel her inside starts to turn into mush.

"Please- oh GOD!" From her lover's reflected mask she could see her now bald head. She thought she had some time to think of a way out of the situation, but by the looks of how quickly everything was progressing she didn't have long.

"God, have mercy. Pl-plague please if there's any compassion-."

"The world showed no compassion to us. You all were handed a gift and ruined it, much like this planet." Plague carefully strolled towards Genesis, reaching out to stroke her puffy, red face as hate grew in her eyes.

"Soon you'll see things our way. Everyone will once we spread. The Earth will be saved." He motioned to Annihilation, who lifted up his now elongated claws towards Genesis's scalp. The woman could do nothing but squeeze her eyes and wait for the pain to hit...only it did not come.

She could feel the very tip of his sharp finger grazing her skin, and carefully opened one eye to see what was going on.

Annihilation seemed entranced by something in the vents above, and she indeed could hear something small squeaking loudly through the gaps in the ceiling.

It was only when she realized who it was that an idea came to mind. Despite Annihilation struggling to remember her, there was someone else who could boost his memory...