…

    …..

    ………

    >system reboot; manual restart accepted

    "Zelo?"

    My systems came back online and I blinked my eyes open, registering Daehyun's worried face.

    "I can hear you," I told him, sitting up slowly. I ran a system diagnostic. My right leg had suffered considerable damage, at least two of the servos needed to be replaced. The cosmetic damage would be repaired by the nano machines.

    "I need servicing." I said, looking at my torn up pants and the , scratched metal under my skin.

    "I can see that," Daehyun replied, biting his lip to hide his smile. I saw it anyway in the way his eyes curved. I blinked at him. His smile disappeared a little and he moved away. I followed his movement with my eyes, taking in the same living room from last night. He moved to his work bench, the power core was still there, but it appeared to be completely fixed.

    My internal clock showed it was approximately 8:57 am, so I had been turned off for close to nine hours. It was a strange sensation.

    Daehyun came back with a few tools and his data pad, setting it on the coffee table and propping my right leg up on the worn wooden surface.

    "Now let's take a look." He smiled up at me and eased my shoe off, rolling up my pant leg and and touching the exposed metal. He found the seams and with a few deft touches, he opened up my leg to look at the mechanics. I had seen my insides before, it was nothing new to me, but Daehyun seemed impressed.

    "Wow. I'll have to break out my Mach 5 servos. Not a lot of models use over a Mach 3, but then again, you're not most models, huh?"

    I found myself shaking my head, even though it was a rhetorical question.

    Daehyun stood up again and went to one of the many cabinets in his workspace, tapping a drawer. It slid out with a soft pneumatic hiss and Daehyun hummed before choosing a part. He repeated this a few times with different drawers and finally came back to me, carrying tools and parts.

    As he disconnected my leg from my mainframe, he started to talk again. He talked a lot.

    "So what happened last night?" The soft whirr of a electric screwdriver filled the air, loud enough that Daehyun's words were muffled.

    "I tried to get into contact with my owners." I replied. There was no point in hiding that, it was the truth after all. 

    "And how did that go?" Daehyun's fingers were deft and nimble, and I watched as he took out the parts of my leg and replaced them with new ones. I scanned each one before he placed it in, making doubly sure that he was repairing me correctly. All of the parts were correct and I turned my attention back to his question.

    "They…were not pleased." I did not mention my entire conversation with Commander. "They wanted to retrieve me."

    "So they activated the kill code?" Daehyun frowned and re-attached my cables to the knee joint. "That seems a bit extreme. Couldn't they just come and get you? Or even give you directions home? Why'd they have to shut you off?"

    "I do not know." I looked down and realized my fingers were curled into my shirt, gripping it tightly. Odd.

    "Then what happened? Did they not show up?" My leg plate clicked into place and Daehyun sat back on his heels, a deep crease between his eyebrows.

    I shook my head and released my shirt, wiggling my toes experimentally as I ran a diagnostic. Everything was working perfectly, and in a few moments the nano machines in my skin would take care of the damage.

    "I…did not want to be shut down again. So I ran."

    "You ran here."

    I nodded.

    "Why?" Daehyun looked less upset and more confused now, as he stood up and sat on the coffee table, facing me.

    I did not have a definitive answer. In those few seconds that I made a decision, I decided to come here, where I had been treated as more than an experiment. Perhaps that was why I had run to Daehyun.

    "I am safe here." I finally said, rolling my pant leg down.

    Daehyun smiled, leaning back on his hands.

    "Oh really? You're so sure of that."

    I straightened the hem and looked at him.

    "This house sits in the middle of a dead zone, there is no communications network, you live in a relatively remote part of the city, and so far I have seen no other inhabitants of this place. The kill code cannot be activated without a connection to the network, and without anyone around, no one can report me to the Robotic Control Services for 'rogue behavior'."

    Daehyun raised his eyebrows.

    "You seem to think I won't report you."

    I blinked slowly and stood. Daehyun's eyes followed me, a look of slight amusement on his face.

    "If you intended to report me, you would have done so already. You would not have repaired me without asking for the circumstances of my accident, and you would not have restarted me at all."

    The soft "ding-dong" of a doorbell drifted from the front door and Daehyun stood, grinning.

    "Really now," was his only reply before he strolled to the front door. I heard the locks turning, heard two new voices joining Daehyun's, they were too indistinct for me to analyze beyond [Language=Korean; Male]. One was significantly deeper than the other.

    Before I could access my arsenal, two men walked into the room, followed by Daehyun. I immediately scanned them both and filed them under [potential threat], my sensors running wild trying to figure out who these men were and if they were affiliated with RCS.

    One was shorter than the other, with soft brown hair shaved close on the sides of his head but left long on top. He was well muscled and had a rather stern face that broke into a brilliant, soft smile when the other man nudged his sides.

    The other newcomer had black hair, short and styled, and was very beautiful. He did not have muscles like the other man, but his stature was confident and he carried himself well, I did not doubt he would prove a worthy opponent if it came to that.

    As he spotted me, the black-haired man paused and tilted his head, running his eyes over me with a calculating gaze.

    "Who's this?" His voice was quite deep, almost disarmingly so, at odds with his pretty face. The shorter man looked me over as well, face inscrutable.

    Daehyun put a hand on both of their backs and pushed, a bit roughly, to get them over to the work station.

    "Zelo, this is Himchan." The deep-voiced beautiful man. "And Jongup." The shorter one with muscles.

    I blinked.

    "Why are they here?" I asked, following them both with my eyes as they moved to the work area and sat down.

    "They have need of my services." Daehyun said, flashing me a smile as he pressed a new set of drawers and they hissed open. "And, not to be rude, but I think it would be best if you left."

    I felt the corners of my mouth turn very slightly down.

    "Why?" I folded my arms and looked at Himchan and Jongup. They needed his services? One of them was a robot then. But which one?

    Daehyun looked at me, face strangely blank.

    "Which one of them is a robot?" he asked quietly, one hand wrapped around a spanner. I blinked rapidly and scanned the two again. I couldn't tell, not even with all my instruments and equipment. Whoever built them made them as close to human as they possibly could. They both appeared to have a heartbeat, they both had a stable temperature of 37 degrees celsius, and although I was fitted with a metal detector, I doubted they would let me touch them to check.

    Jongup stared back at me, unblinking, his face set in hard lines. Himchan seemed completely unfazed by my presence, draping himself over Jongup and humming happily when Jongup wrapped his arms around the other male.

    "I don't know," I said honestly, although from Jongup's behavior it was likely that he was the android.

    "Good." Daehyun nodded and gestured to the door with his head. "They'd prefer to keep it that way."

    I was not certain I understood, but I turned and walked out of the room, finding myself in a long hallway. I heard the muffled noises of conversation behind me and moved down the hall, investigating the other rooms. There were four doors, the white frames striking against the dark green walls.

    One was a bathroom, pristinely clean, the bottles of shampoo and conditioner and hair gel and other toiletries in neat lines. Another was a storage room of sorts, full of spare parts and clothing and other things that Daehyun seemingly had no other place for. The third was locked, and I considered picking the lock, but with Daehyun in the other room it seemed like a rather inadvisable action.

    The last room was a bedroom, a queen bed taking up much of the floorspace, the white sheets rumpled and messy and several pillows strewn across the bed. A dresser was jammed against the opposite wall, with pictures and trinkets strewn over the top. Most of the pictures were of Dr. Yoo, in various locations and in many different outfits. Some of them had Daehyun in them, some did not. The closet door was ajar, and I could hear a strange sort of humming coming from inside.

    I approached the closet and touched the door, about to open it, when I heard Daehyun's voice calling for me. I did not respond immediately, wanting to further analyze the humming, but when Daehyun called again I turned and walked out of the bedroom.

    Himchan and Jongup were sitting on the couch when I reentered the living room. Jongup's arm was around Himchan and Himchan was lying against Jongup's chest, eyes closed and lips curved up in a faint smile. Jongup's sharp eyes fixed on me as soon as I walked in and his arm tightened, just slightly, around Himchan's shoulders.

    "Having fun?" Daehyun wiped his hands on a rag and smiled at me, raising an eyebrow. Perhaps he knew I had been searching his house. I blinked in response.

    Suddenly Himchan sat up and made a little noise of surprise. Jongup sat up with him, his hands dropping to Himchan's waist.

    "Oh! Daehyun, are you coming out with us today? You promised you would, the last time we were here."

    Daehyun suddenly seemed very nervous, biting his lip and twisting the rag in his hands.

    "I…I don't know if I can, I have…work." His eyes darted around the room as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. Was he scared of leaving his house? That couldn't be the case, he had been out when he restarted me. Something was making him uncomfortable, but I could not ascertain any probable cause.

    "But you always have work," Himchan whined, contorting himself so he was practically hanging over the back of the couch. "You promised, please…please please please."

    "You did promise, hyung," Jongup said. His voice was soft, higher than Himchan's, and he seemed almost shy when addressing Daehyun.

    Daehyun's eyes darted to me and then to Himchan and Jongup, finally releasing his abused lower lip with a sigh and letting his hands fall to his side.

    "I suppose I did…is it alright if Zelo comes too?"

    I blinked. That was unexpected. I did not want to leave the house, as I had explained earlier. This place was safe, and the center could not activate my kill code here. If I left the dead zone they would find me immediately.

    Jongup swung his head to stare at me, face hard, and Himchan's eyes fixed on me not long afterward.

    Himchan looked me up and down and then got up, walking towards me and around me in a slow circle, making little hums and noises as he took in my appearance.

    "He needs new clothes, he's coming." He said finally, nodding and crossing his arms.

    This was true. My pants were torn almost beyond recognition, and my shirt and jacket were covered with grime.

    "I will come along, then," I told him, and a smile stretched across Himchan's face.

    "Perfect! You'll look amazing if we get you dressed up right, you're handsome, that'll carry you far." He began to babble things about fabric and clothes and I blinked, honestly confused. I looked to Daehyun for some kind of guidance but he just chuckled into his hand and stretched.

    "I suppose I should get changed into something more decent."

    He brushed past me and Himchan, walking down the hall and into his bedroom. While he was gone, Himchan moved to sit in Jongup's lap, his babble shifting to his work (he was, apparently, some kind of salesperson) and Jongup listened attentively, a soft smile on his face as he looked at Himchan. When Himchan paused for breath, Jongup leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips, just a soft, quick kiss, but it still made Himchan blush and go quiet, leaning his head on Jongup's shoulder.

    For a few moments, it was possible to forget that one of them was not human. 

    Daehyun came back dressed in a white shirt, a leather jacket, and jeans. He smiled at the two on the couch and turned to me, holding out what looked like a face mask.

    "What is that?" I asked, blinking at the piece of fabric.

    "Something that should keep out that pesky kill code signal," he told me quietly, reaching up to fasten it around my face. I blinked again. A scrambler, then.

    "This is illegal tech," I said, though I made no move to take off the face mask. Daehyun smirked.

    "Make sure you don't get caught, then." He tapped my cheek with his knuckles, just lightly, and walked to the door, where Himchan and Jongup were already waiting. I raised my fingers to touch the material of the face mask and then let them drop, following the three out of the house.

    We ended up taking the mag-lev to the city center and Himchan immediately dragged us into a clothing store. Although considering most of it barely covered anything at all, I was not sure it counted as clothing. This did not faze Himchan in the slightest and he insisted on creating outfits for all three of us, dragging us through exactly 13.3 stores before he was satisfied.

    I somehow ended up with the most clothes. I blinked at Himchan as he added yet another bag to my arms.

    "I think I have enough."

    Daehyun laughed and Himchan stared at me as though I had suddenly sprouted another head.

    "You can never have enough clothes," he said, face completely serious.

    "I am not sure if I will have the occasion to wear all of these," I told him, and Daehyun broke in.

    "He doesn't get out much."

    Himchan sighed dramatically.

    "Well, at least I tried."

    Jongup chuckled and kissed his cheek.

    "He'll look amazing, I'm sure. You have perfect taste." The smile that came with the words was wide and bright. I could not tell if he was joking with Himchan or not.

    "So…who's hungry?" Daehyun smiled and led us to the food court. He purchased some rather greasy looking Chinese food and the other two seemed content with hamburgers and french fries. At first I refused food but after some argument on Himchan's part I bought a small fruit smoothie. It was something that I could pretend to drink and then discard. I "sipped" at it in precise intervals as the others dug into their food, pulling down my face mask for a few moments to wrap my lips around the straw.

    I was slightly surprised by the amount that Daehyun could pack away, and once his food was gone he kept trying to steal Jongup's french fries. Jongup ignored him for the most part, only occasionally slapping his hand away with a blank face. Himchan was preoccupied with feeding Jongup and he giggled every time Jongup accepted another morsel of food.

    Daehyun kept making gagging noises every time he noticed this display of affection. I merely watched and catalogued it, still trying to determine which of them was the android. Daehyun's question seemed like a challenge, as though I would not be able to figure it out on my own, and I had been programmed to solve any problem put to me. So far my results were inconclusive, but it was leaning in Jongup's favor.

    It was likely that he was a Companion, a robot designed to be as close to a human as possible, and like their name implied, Companions' sole purpose for existing was to provide humans with companionship. They often came with personality presets, but if you had the money or the technical know-how, you could program one with a specific personality.

    There were rumors on the internet that some robots had been programmed with the personalities of dead loved ones, taken from the brain scans of the deceased, but such things were highly illegal and, in the opinion of most humans, immoral. I was not sure I understood the point of programming a robot with a dead human's personality. No matter what the technology, no one could revive the dead.

    Himchan seemed a far less likely choice as the android. He was outgoing, cheerful, and very affectionate with Jongup. Admittedly these were all things you could program, but it was the little things that had me hesitate to label him a robot.

    The blush on his cheeks, his sincere and emotional reaction to things, the way he looked at Jongup with such love in his face, these were not things you could program.

    But then again there was also love in Jongup. I was not sure what to think.

    "So, Zelo, where did Daehyun find you?" Jongup's voice interrupted the whirr of my processors.

    I took a moment to think before answering.

    "On the street," I replied, blinking slowly.

    "Daehyun, you have to stop picking kids up from off the street. You never know where they come from."

    Daehyun shrugged with one shoulder, smiling easily.

    "But I always know that they need my help."

    I wondered how many before me had come to Daehyun's house, how many had sat on that couch and tried to call "home", how many were robots, how many were real kids. Instead of asking I pretended to sip my smoothie.

    The lights shut off with a sudden sharp snap. A few mall patrons cried out or screamed, perhaps from shock. I merely blinked to night vision and looked around at my companion's confused or shocked faces.

    It was then that I noticed the RCS task force making their way through the crowd, guns raised and scanners out. My eyes narrowed and I zoomed in on the leader, allowing my audio receptors to amplify the conversation.

    "-earching for a rogue, identification number Z310, incapacitate without harm if possible, if not, keep his head intact. Detain and question any human or robot in his company, lethal force is authorized if they resist."

    I spoke to Daehyun, not taking my eyes off of the RCS troops.

    "There are RCS shock troopers sweeping the crowd. They are looking for me. They will capture and detain you if you are seen with me. I will assume that you do not want this."

    Daehyun made a small noise of agreement, and I could see his hand clench out of the corner of my eye.

    "You will have to move quickly. Directly behind you is a fire escape. The alarm will sound the moment I open the door, which means all of their attention will be on me. If it goes as planned, you, Jongup and Himchan will be able to leave the food court without being seen or noticed. Once outside, you should split up, head back to a safe place by different routes. I will attempt to meet you at your house if I can lose my pursuers. If I cannot, and if I do not return before tomorrow morning, assume I have been captured. Do not come looking for me. You will be able to do nothing."

    Daehyun jerked a little, turning to whisper fiercely at me.

    "I am not going to let you sacrifice yourself." His voice was almost a hiss, and I turned my head to look at him. He was very close to me, our faces almost touching.

    "It is not a sacrifice. It is payment. You have repaired me and parts are not cheap. I should put them to good use and ensure that you will be able to repair others in the future."

    I could see him open his mouth again and I slid my hand over it, standing up silently.

    "Do not argue. You are wasting time. I can give you a few minutes at most. Get ready to move."

    Before he could say anything else, I was in motion, jumping across the table and throwing the fire door open in one fluid motion. Alarm bells flared to life and I heard the shout of a trooper behind me.

    "There it goes!"

    The light was too bright and I stumbled, quickly switching to my normal eyes as a heavily armored RCS officer skidded out of the mall and fired a shot wildly.

    It missed me by almost a meter but the impact set off a mild electromagnetic wave that made my sensors go fuzzy for a few moments. I engaged the servos in my legs and started running, turning on my rear proximity sensors to warn me of incoming projectiles. They'd never been tested on bullets, but there was a first time for everything.

    After the first bullet, my weapons arsenal had immediately brought itself up for selection, but I pushed it aside. At the moment, I was merely a rogue. They still wanted me, for lack of a better term, "alive and well", but the instant I killed a human (of my own volition) then I would never be safe. I would be hunted to my death.

    The moment I burst out of the narrow alley I nearly broke the arm of a passing woman. I slammed into a street vendor and didn't stop to hear his colorful curses, hopping over a parked car and starting to sprint again. I weaved through traffic, my proximity sensors going haywire from all of the possible collisions.

    I heard sirens behind me, and pulled up a GPS map of the area, my navigation system working as fast as it could to find a route that would get me as far away from the RCS as possible. As the sirens grew closer, that cold something seemed to seep through my insides again. I still was not sure what caused it.

    The car in front of me slammed on its brakes, and I saw, in that split second, five routes I could take, two to the left, one to the right, one underneath the car, and the fifth-

    I planted my hands on the car and launched myself over it, seeing, a nanosecond too late, the barricade of RCS troops and cars, sirens blaring and guns raised.

    If my face was programmed for it, I would have smiled. I might have laughed.

    Instead I activated my flight mode with my non-verbal command.

    The propulsion engines built into my legs clicked into place and then roared to life. I saw more than one officer lower his gun in shock. The engines were deafening as I shot into the sky, angling my body back towards Daehyun's house. There was no exhaust trail, which meant that they would not be able to track me that way.

    Not surprisingly, the RCS didn't follow me, but all the same, I landed a few miles away from Daehyun's home and stayed away for a few more hours, double-checking that I was alone. I did this barefoot, my shoes were completely ruined when I activated my flight mode. When I was sure that I was not being followed, I walked back to the brick and concrete house and knocked four times on the big strong door. It was made of steel, I noted. I hadn't truly examined the door before.

    After a few long minutes, I heard voices and stepped back as the sound of the locks being undone came from the other side of the door.

    The huge door opened a fraction and Daehyun's eye appeared in the space between the frame and the edge of the door. It widened and he opened it fully, pulling me inside and closing the door quickly behind me, almost frantically locking the door again.

    "Thank God…" he practically whispered, and reached out to touch my arms, shoulders, face, looking over every inch of me.

    "I do not require servicing," I told him quietly, though I let him continue with his examination. He finally appeared to be satisfied and, after a moment's pause, he wrapped his arms around my middle.

    "What are you doing?" I asked, blinking down at him.

    "I'm hugging you, shut up and hug me," he grumbled against my shoulder.

    I lifted my arms and hesitated, moving them jerkily back and forth before I put them around Daehyun's shoulders. We stood like that for one minute and 36 seconds before a cough interrupted us and Daehyun jumped back from me. My arms hung in the air for a moment before I let them fall back to my sides and looked down the hall.

    Himchan was watching us with a large smile on his face, eyes going from my face to Daehyun's and then back again.

    "It's good to see you, Zelo. We were all worried about you. Hey, when were you going to tell us you were a robot?"

    I blinked and Daehyun stiffened.

    "As soon as you told me which one of you was a robot." Since they did not plan on revealing it, I had not planned on it either.

    Himchan paused and frowned a little before shrugging.

    "Fair enough. Did you know you're on the news?"

    I blinked again and walked quickly to the living room. The vid screen was showing a clip that seemed to have been taken by a phone camera. The owner's thumb was covering the bottom of the screen but you could very clearly see me leaping over a car and then blasting off into the sky, my feet and lower legs glowing like a star.

    That chill was in my circuits again. No one was supposed to know of my existence, and now the whole country, maybe even the whole world knew about me. Commander would be furious.

    I sank onto the couch and stared at the screen. If I was lucky, they wouldn't scrap me immediately. I had not thought of the possibility that someone would record my flight, but I had no other choice, besides allowing myself to be recaptured.

    And I had already decided that I did not want that. I did not want to be shut off and reprogrammed or scrapped and rebuilt.

    The screen blinked off. I turned to look at Daehyun. He was staring at me, face blank and tense.

    "If I stay here," I began. "you will be in danger. They will hunt me down and take me back and they will kill you because you know what I am."

    "And just what are you?" The question came from Jongup but I did not take my eyes off of Daehyun.

    "I cannot tell you."

    Jongup made a noise and I looked at him.

    "My programming forbids it. What I can tell you is that I am the only one of my kind, as far as I am aware, and my owners want me back."

    Jongup's arms tightened around Himchan and Himchan frowned, staring at me before looking at Daehyun.

    "What are you going to do?" Himchan asked, biting his lip.

    I turned my attention to Daehyun as well, looking into his eyes.

    "If you do not want me to stay here I will leave." I did not want to leave. I was not sure why. 

    "And go where?" Daehyun snapped, the lines between his eyes and around his mouth cutting deep into his skin.

    I blinked. I had no answer. Daehyun held my gaze for a long, long time, and then dropped it, rubbing his temples with his fingers and muttering under his breath.

    "You're staying here," he finally said, flicking his eyes over me again. "Like you said…it's safe here."

    I supposed, if I was human, that I would be grateful. As it was, the words seemed hollow and insincere even as I spoke them.

    "Thank you."

    Daehyun waved his hand in dismissal and Jongup nudged Himchan. They shared a wordless glance and said goodbye to Daehyun. Himchan waved at me but Jongup ignored my existence, and they both left. Daehyun walked them out, locking the door behind them.

    When he finally returned, he barely acknowledged me, just glancing at me and walking down the hall. After a few moments he came back and handed me a towel and some of my new clothes. Apparently not all of the bags had been lost in the mall.

    "If you need to clean up you're free to use the shower. If not then you can just hang out here. I need to take a nap or something. Don't disturb me for a few hours, okay? I'm going to assume you can figure out how to use a vid screen."

    I nodded slowly and watched him walk away. He was upset. About what, I did not know. But I had a suspicion it was something to do with me.

    I the vid screen and flipped through the channels, settling on another drama. I put myself on a timer to go into sleep mode. My systems were close to overheating and they needed to cool down. It would pass faster if I was sleeping.

    After 45 minutes I slipped into sleep mode and let myself sit, content and peaceful, for at least a few moments. The illusion was nice, even though it would not last.

>Sleep Mode Engaged

....

......

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A/N: I'll probably find a problem with this in the morning but oh well /passes out/