The Runaways: K.A.O.

VII

"I'm listening?" He then instead leaned back into the creaking wood of the port. 

I sighed, he wouldn't stop until I told him my secrets. Why did he even want to know something like this? I squinted and held the bridge of my nose trying to remember everything. I won't tell him about my family, but I will tell him the things I know. 

Mostly. 

"When this all started, I met a group a kids. Carol, Michael, then Terry, Jordan, and Kaylah." The name rolled off my tongue. "We decided to move forward since it wasn't smart to stay behind, and there we met Erin, Peter, and Marina." 

I stopped, and my chest tightened. What was going on? 

"Nessie?" Thompson grabbed my attention again. 

"Ha." I chuckled. ""I'm sorry." My head began pounding. 

"If it's this hard, don't force yourself." He said and I calmed down.

Like my brain told me to tell him.

"No, no. It's okay." I took in a deep breath and exhaled. "I fell back in an explosion after that, Marina didn't make it."

Should I tell him about Gino? 

"Do you want to hear my story first?" 

He broke my silence of stammering over the same word fillers. I looked over at him, he crouched down on the ground. I sat down with him, and he looked down, pain striking his eyes again. He clenched his hand into a fist, and then let it go. 

"I was a rebellious kid, and I didn't really entertain my parent's skin ship. When I try to remember, it's painful to think of how awful I'd acted towards them." Thompson started. 

"You mean?" I met his eyes. 

"Yeah." He averted them. "During my school's break, we visited my grandmother in England. I've never had many encounters with KAO's but on the trip back, I could tell there was something wrong. Something bad. That night, as we flew back, I woke up with my parents dead, the passengers gone, and mysteriously at the airport in a perfect stop." He scrunched his nose with a frown. 

"C-cow?" I questioned. 

"Those bloody robots!" His face was in a tight scowl. 

  I wanted to laugh at the name, why would they name themselves, and entire race of intelligent beings, Cows? The thumping in my chest didn't make it as easy. My eyes widened thinking further about the name.

"K-KAO." I whispered remembering the name of their earliest prototypes. We named them the Kind And Obliging research bodies, KAO for short and easy pronunciation. KAO...KAO droids.

The name made my head surge with pain. 

"Nessie." Thompson stopped the waves coming through to my head. "Are you alright?" He asked. 

"Y-yeah." I couldn't lie to him, I have to tell him everything. "Actually, in that explosion I met someone named Gino. He was possibly one of the earlier KAO prototypes." It felt a bit ridiculous now to call them "Others."

"Really?" His expression changed constantly, depending on the words I said, as I shared what happened in the mall and family home. 

"Wait, Nessie, your father is Vincent Kariano?" Thompson asked. 

"Yes." I answered, the shock on their faces were the same. 

"How good are you in engineering?" He asked. 

"Uh," I've never paid attention to engineering. "Not very good? But! I am confident in my legs." I patted my left thigh. 

"Even with an injury like that?" Thompson pointed at my right calf. 

"Hey, I can move." I smirked. 

"If you say so." 

  In an instant, a sharp jolt went through my chest. It suddenly got hard to breathe, and Thompson easily got whipped away from my sight. It felt dark, and cold. I shivered and closed my eyes tightly, this wasn't the port. 

"Vanessa." A voice called out to me, it wasn't Thompson's accent. 

"W-who's there?" I refused to open my eyes. 

"Who do you think?" It said. 

"Huh?" I looked at the out of frustration. "Gino!" Even if I were dreaming, I ran up to the figure as quickly as I could and hugged him. 

How could we touch if this wasn't real?

"I've always known how to get you mad." He chuckled, his face hazed away a bit. 

"That's not a good thing." I could cry from relief, but my eyes remained dry. 

"Vanessa listen." He turned serious. "Those pains that you receive aren't your own. Don't ignore those pains but don't let them affect you." He said. 

"What?" The words didn't make sense. 

"I'm always here, remember?" His face started to peel away, revealing the metal under his skin once more. 

"Gino!" I tried to grab onto him, but his body seemed to move away. Farther and farther until...

BANG!

  The pieces from his face flew into my hands as my tear ducts broke. I shook as I relived the pain of losing Gino, it brought back the sight of all the blood. Much more, the blood lust the KAO's had. 

I am going to destroy them.

"Bloody hell Nessie! Are you trying to die?" With a snap, the scenery around me began to flood back in. 

  A tight arm choked back on my neck, and I shivered. I coughed and looked down, realizing I was in the port's lake. I couldn't focus on Thompson's vulgar shouting, I just remained still. We floated at the top until he finally dragged me out onto the steps. 

"What were you thinking? Jumping in there!" He screamed at me, anger baring in his teeth. 

I could only think about Gino. 

Pain..?

"No!" I shoved Thompson away and began running back towards the airport, the wet clothes dragging me down.