INSTITUTE OF ALLERIS COMBAT CAMPUS

17:14

“Jackson!” Elkie pleaded out of breath as soon as she saw her brother.

“What’s wrong?” Jackson asked, worriedly.

“Yuqi… she—“ Elkie tried to catch her breath. “Hurry up! She might be in danger” she cried in desperation as she pointed towards Yuqi’s direction.

A loud thud echoed from the empty building in front of them. Before the commander could react, a figure of a tall man swiftly passed by the siblings that ran towards the said building. “Lieutenant Wong!” Jackson yelled in both surprise and worry.

Yuqi had barely avoided the attack that might have damaged her ribs. The punch was strong enough to put a hole in a reinforced concrete floor. Once the robot retracted its hand, the protective layering was completely destroyed as the arm was now barely attached— wires loosely hung.

Upon Yuqi’s observance, it seems as though the virus had given the robot its own consciousness. The opponent detector for the robot had followed and analyzed Yuqi’s steps, and she knows there isn’t much time she can buy before she gets injured really badly. Yuqi had a chance to shut the robot down manually but it reacted quickly, giving Yuqi a scratch. The robot now identified her as a threat and not a student.

The robots sent by the Corvo clan had two settings: practice combat for trainees ‘defense’ and as a layer of protection for war ‘offense’. The virus had switched the robot into offensive mode alongside activating its internal weapons. The only way to stop this robot was to dismember its head.

Thank goodness I only activated one.  I’d be good as dead if I activated all.

Yuqi had to think thoroughly. The only escape she had was through the door. However, there will be a greater risk as the robot had a high chance to identify any individual as a threat and go on killing spree. Luckily, she managed to get Elkie out of the way.

The robot had been advancing towards her direction, and she’s barely managing. She could taste the bitterness of blood from the cut on her lip. Without any warning, the robot had flung its dysfunctional arm towards Yuqi. As she defended herself, the robot grabbed the opportunity to wrap itself around Yuqi. She was being strangled by the loose wires.

It’s either do or die, she thought.

With great resistance, she had managed to free her right arm. Yuqi quickly reached for the spare knife from her belt and forcefully cut the wires that entangled her neck. The robot was now one arm down and Yuqi was close to suffocating, ligature marks started getting visible.

With one knife in hand, Yuqi wondered how long she can last. If she escapes, the robot can attack other students in the compound.

Yuqi’s eyes are now starting to haze from oxygen deficiency but she tried to keep her balance. Her lids are weighing down and the last thing she could comprehend was the robot’s heavy footsteps.

“Wake up!”

A loud thud snapped Yuqi out of trance. The robot was tackled before her and Yuqi does not understand if she was being saved or still hallucinating.

“How do you shut this down?” Lucas exclaimed and Yuqi finally realized the situation she was in.

“You... can’t” Yuqi said softly, still aching “dismember… head”

Without giving any second thought, Lucas grabbed the robot’s neck with brute force until it finally snapped. “What the hell happened?” he managed to say between breaths.

“Yuqi” Elkie hurriedly went to her friend’s aid “you’re hurt!”

“Are you two okay?” Jackson asked as soon as he entered “What—“

“What’s going on here?” a voice intervened.

It was the technical supervisor. She had heard the commotion from the grounds and had witnessed the arrival of Jackson and Lucas.

“The robots needed to be returned immediately. I have to report to the headquarters” Yuqi answered.

“I asked a question” the supervisor said sternly.

“The robots have been bugged with a virus during manufacturing. The patch I installed gave the robot a negative reaction”

With a smug face, the supervisor said “Then will your lab take responsibility for this casualty, Cadet Song? These robots are expensive”

“The lab is not in charge of manufacturing, ma’am. It is clearly stated in the republic act that the lab will hold no power over the independent manufacturers. However, aren’t the technical engineers in charge of countermeasures for the combat robots?” Yuqi countered.

The supervisor cleared “How are you so sure it’s in the manufacturing and not your lab?”

“Because the lab always has serial keys imprinted and taped into the motherboards before production to make sure that it’s sealed properly” Yuqi handed her supervisor a piece of motherboard she extracted from the robot’s core “as they say, ‘do not use if the seal is broken’”

“What about your patch, then?” it is evident in the supervisor’s tone that her temper is slowly rising “Maybe there was no ‘virus’ and it was your patch that did this”

“The patch may not be perfect but it still is effective. We would have ticking time bombs around us and my patch slowed the countdown. If I didn’t install the patches, the institute might have blown up by now once these robots are activated. If you are still unsure, then your engineers can do a countercheck.” Yuqi said unwavering “If you’ll excuse us”.

MILITARY COMPOUND EXIT GATE

18:35

“Oh my God, did you see madam’s face?” Elkie could not contain her laughter as soon as they walked out of the compound. Yuqi was the first one to bid goodbye while Lucas tagged along with the siblings.

“Does she…” Lucas started “always talks like that to her superiors?”

“Yuqi?” Elkie confirmed “Oh, no. She’s always the sweetest. I don’t really know why, but it’s been known that the Tech supervisor doesn’t really like Yuqi. I mean, who wouldn’t like her?” Elkie said in frustration. “But you would be lying if you didn’t enjoy that” she pried “last time I saw you, you had two eyes”

“Hello to you too” Lucas replied to Elkie’s joke. “You have such an eccentric friend”.

“Hmm” Elkie pursed her lips in a thin smile.

“I’ve never really seen a cadet talk like that, though” Lucas continued.

“I guess it’s because of her current status. She’s both majoring in business as well as in the military so I guess a mix of that became her uniqueness” Elkie proudly commented. “I think you’ll really like her if you two actually interact”

“Lucas is not interested in anything other than weaponry.” Jackson intervened “We became friends because I used to ship the weapons and Lucas would be the first one to welcome them”

“Did you forget weaponry is Yuqi’s expertise?” Elkie countered “I bet they’ll get along”

“Oh yeah, I heard during their conversation about a lab or something” Lucas said.

“It’s because her family is—“

“I think it’s better if we don’t associate ourselves with them” Jackson spoke sternly “it’s bad enough that Elkie sticks so close with her. If our parents hear of what happened today, I doubt you’ll still be allowed to see her”

“Jackson” Elkie’s tone grew darker “I don’t get why you would judge a person based on their family background when you haven’t even known Yuqi at all. Did you also forget she just saved our asses if she hadn’t installed the patches?”

“She activated a killer robot” Jackson countered.

“And who saved her from getting killed and prevented the robot from killing everyone? Certainly not you!” completely furious, Elkie walked away from the two men.

“I’m sorry you had to see that” Jackson apologized

Lucas shook his head “I know how siblings fight. But…”

“What?”

“I think your sister has a point” Lucas gave his opinion. “I’m not saying Elkie’s completely right but she— er, Yuqi, seems like a very rational person. She had multiple opportunities to escape but she didn’t. She knew anybody could be targeted and if she escaped, there’d be more casualties. Even if we weren’t present, the technician would still have noticed the commotion and help her.”

“I admit it was wrong of me to judge her as a person” Jackson paused “I just didn’t want Elkie to be the one to suffer if worse comes to worse.”

“Is it because of her family?” Lucas had been curious. He had seen three people who treated this girl, Yuqi, differently. He wanted to know which side is right.

“Although I am not up to the idea of Elkie being friends with her, I don’t want to discriminate her because of her family. Just don’t let your guard down especially with her.”

“Why would that be?” It confused Lucas that such a girl, whom he saw as so small and harmless, would he need to be weary of.

Jackson finally looked into Lucas’ eye “Because she’s from the Corvo family.”

Author's Note: English isn't my frst language so apologies for grammatical errors