“Alright,” you announced, moving towards him slowly. “I'm making my choice.” You approached N, throwing a quick sad glance back at Leo before proceeding. Gently, you took N's hand in yours, still limp but now properly place, and laid it in your palm. It appeared unharmed. If you hadn't seen the man nearly rip it off you wouldn't have believed it. Satisfied as much as you could be, you lowered it down to his side.

“I want N. Now wake him up.”

The man chuckled, amused it would seem. “Good choice. However I can't wake him up until we have a little chat and finish the deal. For instance, his memories might prove to be problematic; are we erasing them? These things need to be discussed. Why don't we--”

“He keeps all of his memories. All of them. I won't do anything else until that happens.”

You were completely certain of yourself, and for the first time he looked just a little unsure; it made you feel powerful. He looked for a moment as though he would debate with you, however the effort seemed too great for him and he abandoned the idea. Nodding, he went behind N and held a small metal remote against the back of his neck, clicking a few buttons.

“There,” he said gruffly, “He will return to himself within the hour. Now if you'll come with me, I'll have workers come and deal with these two.” He started to walk off, an eyebrow raised in your direction as he waited for you to follow. You nodded, mouth to dry to say anything as your confidence waned, and headed after him, leaving the room behind in favor of the darkened doorway he lead you to. He help open the door, motioning for you to enter, and with one final glance to Leo and N's still form disappeared into it.

The door closed behind you with a dead finality. It was up to Leo now.

The man chattered about pricing options and discounts but you were solely focused on an escape route. You couldn't go back the way you came; Leo would be there with N and you couldn't risk alerting anyone to Leo's current state. It would be bad enough if someone went down there on their own. You wouldn't help with that. You wanted them both out, even if it made things more difficult for you.

When he headed towards the bleakly lit stairwell you suppressed a groan. As if it wasn't hard enough as it was, now you had to contend with the ground being multiple flights down. There were no windows-- anywhere, that you had seen-- which was both exceedingly exasperating and annoying. If there were some on the upper floor, you would be pissed. These hallways were desolate, a closed and clearly locked door here or there, but nothing that could be used as a weapon. You cursed quietly.

“What was that?” He turned back to look at you over his shoulder, a familiar face in a foreign place. You looked away.

“Nothing.”

He coughed but continued walking; thoughtlessly you followed, almost walking past a perfect opportunity. The hallway split into two, and there at the end of it blinked a small red sign; “exit”.

You stopped walking, frozen to the spot. Unconsciously you held your breath, waiting to see if he would notice the change and turn around.

He didn't.

You moved slowly at first, going down the hallway at a crawl until you could no longer hear his murmuring voice departing. When it was silent, you your heels and ran like there was no tomorrow. Your shoes slapped onto the cold tile in a constant thrum as your attention turned to escape and finding Leo and N. You couldn't do anything for them if you were stuck in that place. You turned corner after corner in an attempted to find the exit. Ahead the passage split; you opted to go right.

“You broke our deal.”

A voice snarled from behind you and you froze, blood draining from your face as you panted from running. No way. In the maze of the hallway you had met him again, except this time he was angry. You looked over your shoulder. And this time he had friends.

They stood at either side and horror filtered through your blood. These were not men and they were not cyborgs; they were machines, a pile of metal and wire that was concocted into the shape of a man. You knew right away that there was no humanity in them; it wasn't the lack of face, or the appearance of wires, but in the way they stood. Something about them caused a deep seated fear.

“I'm-- I—”

You didn't have a second to move; they slammed into you faster than you could see, pushing you against the wall hard enough that your head ricocheted back and you saw stars. Each machine grabbed an arm, pinning you there.

“I believe you signed a contract when you first purchased 037, though you seem to forget what entailed. Or perhaps you never read it. Either way, all contracts with me are final, and if you do not comply then there is other ways to receive compensation.”

You grit your teeth and struggled to pull yourself forward. “I didn't agree to anything. Let me go already.”

He was furious, brows knit together and a sheen of sweat across his forehead. His grubby hands looked like they would rip you apart. “If you have no intention to pay then compensation is the only option.”

“And what exactly does compensation entail?” You tried to hide the waver in your voice; if you kept him talking, Leo would come. Leo always came. And this time he would have N with him. As much as you disliked N, there was no one you would trust more with him right now.

“Whatever I feel like.”

Panic rose in your throat; that was not an answer you liked. You pulled your arms again, twisting uselessly until you had rashes from the metal grips. Your boss continued on, walking past you without a second glance and the two machines holding you broke away from the wall to follow. They walked quickly, not pausing to let you get to your feet; despite the stumble they continued on, letting your feet drag just a little.