Wires

Homeless

I held the fallen woman up and glared at Nathan. 

"Your file said you didn't have any family ties." I growled. He looked away. 

"Yeah...t hat's where hacking comes in handy. I figured the government would come after me and I didn't want them to hurt my family. I hacked into their databases and made it look like I had no family." I shook my head. Why had he helped me? I wasn't worth anything to him. I gently laued his mother on the floor before turning to him. 

"Screw you. I'm glad your brother changed my programming. You know, you say that you gave me independent thought because you didn't want me to just be a meaningless robot, you wanted better for me. But, I'm still being controlled. Jeff Cowry came back and he will again. You know it. I'm better off as a husk. Before you, I didn't have to worry about anything. I didn't have the ability to worry! And now, I just feel like a caged animal!" Nathan looked down at his feet. We stood there for a long time. 

"Nathan, let me go." I whispered.

 "How many times do I-" he began but I cut him off. 

"Show me that you're not just using me for your own benefit. Let me go." He shook his head. His face was serious. 

"No. They'll come after you. You know it." I looked at him. How could I prove that I could take care of myself. Well, I had a knife in my finger, what else did I have? I did a full diagnostic. Laser eyes? Really? Talk about stereotypes. My left hand popped off for a gun!? I had to admit, Nathan was a genius. I popped my left hand off and the gun emerged. Then my right index finger to reveal my knife.

 "Trust me, they won't come near me." To prove my point, I pointed the knife at his throat. "Get my point!?" I joked. He backed up slightly. I was pissed. 

"OK! I get it!" He held his hands up innocently. 

 "Let me go!" I demanded again. 

"OK! OK, go!" He cowered. I backed away and withdrew my knife into my finger and picked the tip up off the gray carpet. I replaced it and grabbed my other hand, putting it over the gun. I saw Steven standing there, watching me. He backed away. 

"I just fixed your wiring! Please don't kill me!" He put his hands up in front of his face. 

"Oh no. Not one of these guys." I rolled my eyes. "Well, goodbye gentlemen." I half-said half-growled. It was a sarcastic remark. I made my way for the front door. I looked over my shoulder. "See you never." Then I opened the door and took off down the sidewalk.

 I didn't look where I was going, I just ran. I ran off down the sidewalk for maybe ten minutes then slowed to a walk. I wasn't huffing or tired but my systems were overheating. I looked around. I was among a bumh of houses. I turned on my GPS and headed to the nearest homeless shelter. I would lay low there until I could find a job. As I walked I looked up into the sky. It was late in the day and the sun was starting to sink below the horizon. I checked my date and time. It took them six months to fix me...why hadn't they given up?! I ripped my wiring and chip out because I didn't want him to have to be targeted because of me. Thanks to my memories I cared about him and was selfless. I didn't want him to have to deal with my programming and problems.

 His tech was much more useful for other purposes. He was a genius. Why was he wasting his time on me? He could have just destroyed me. Or made me simply work for him. But, instead, he gave me a choice. A choice. I realized that I had stopped walking. 

"Hey! Lady! You OK?" I heard a voice behind me. I turned to see a guy who was walking along. He had jet black hair (my sensors confirmed it was dyed), stunning blue eyes, and even I couldn't deny how gorgeous he was. He was tall and had lean. Probably had a six pack under that pure white tank top that showed off his muscular arms. He was in workout clothes. Coming from the gym maybe?