Rehash

Fourteen

"I'm not happy about this. At all. But I accept your offer."

My words were met with zero facial response by Mr. Shea and Bionic Eye Man. I guess showing any sort of emotion wasn't okay for someone in the military. 

The only thing they did was glance at each other, before Bionic Eye nodded at a guard. Said guard stepped forward and opened my cell door. 

"Then, I suppose a formal introduction is in order," Bionic Eye told me. "I am Keyan Denn, special ops agent. I've been put in charge of capturing the escaped android." 

Agent Denn gave me a quick once-over. It was very subtle and quick, but I saw him wrinkle his nose in distaste for a split second. 

"We don't usually take civilian help, and I'll be frank with you: I was against this deal. However, we can't deny the... bond you've built with this android. We believe it will at least talk to you." 

"I suppose you have a plan," I replied offhandedly, giving the agent the same arrogant attitude he gave me. 

If agent Denn noticed my tone, he wasn't showing it. He gestured me to come along and I was now allowed to walk through the base without being cuffed and manhandled by guards. I did feel eyes burning in my back, however, and when I looked over my shoulder I realised I was still being watched very carefully. 

We kept walking until we rounded a corner, passed a pair of double doors with ribbed glass, and suddenly the entire look and feel of the environment did a one-eighty. The long, brightly lit hallway smelled faintly of lodoform - like a hospital. It looked like one, too.

"You're not going to inject some shit under my skin or something, are you?" I asked, immediately suspicious. 

The way Denn and Shea glanced at each other and the brief silence told me all I needed to know. 

I pulled a face. "Hell no." 

"We need to keep track of you," Mr. Shea said. "We never release someone with your record without a tracker. I'm sure you understand."

I breathed in deeply through my nose, and released it through my mouth. "Guess I don't get a choice in this either, huh?" 

The silence my question was met with, again, told me everything I needed to know.

I was determined to not let agent Denn, Mr. Shea, and random guard #1 know that I might have a slight, tiny fear of needles. I made them wait outside while the tracker machine did its thing and shot a chip under my skin. 

I sat there with my free arm covering my eyes so I couldn't see it happening, but that always ended up feeling like such an overreaction when seeing the tiny hole where the needle entered. 

That was the last moment of peace I got, before being plunged into a relentless hours long meeting with lots of difficult, legal words I had to ask an explanation about every two minutes. 

The gist of it was that my relatives, friends, anyone really, couldn't sue Arcport's staff or the government if I died. I'd strictly follow orders from agent Denn or risk more criminal charges piled up on the ones already against me. I wasn't allowed to talk to anyone about this, or risk more criminal charges. Basically, every toe out of line would be punished heavily. 

When I got out, I was to go home and attend university again. Resume normal life. If my brother or classmates asked where I'd been, I would tell them there had been a mix up at the police station about an unrelated crime and everything was sorted out now. If they asked more, I'd tell them I'd signed an NDA upon release. 

The whole process was nerve wrecking. It took so long, I was wondering if they were ever going to actually release me, but eventually the moment came.