His Synthetic Pulse

Chapter Eight

The sound of the gunshot made the coding in my ears and head that allowed me to hear go haywire for minutes. A low, electronic buzz rocked my head and I could barely hear Vriska scream or the sound of footsteps running down the hallway.

My eyesight was fine, though. Fine enough to see a streak of red yank me to the wall, completely avoiding the bullet which buried itself into the wall nearly millimeters away from the chip in my ear. The ringing continued, but I registered 412 standing before me, snarling like a predator at it's prey. He had changed a lot from when he was a mindless robot back in the Dorm. From behind, I watching his thin, wiry muscles clench, covered in his own blood. His entire front chest was ripped open, along with his cotton t-shirt, which no longer even showed a hint of it's once blue color. 412's skin was a similar shade to mine, nearly as black as night, although plastic nonetheless. I'd seen his eyes before, a deadly shade of a black abyss. Now, they cast an eerie red glow on the dark floor in front of him. His eyes had always been benign and placid, not a beast contained in the metal cage of a robot.

My hearing slowly came back as my internal wiring fixed itself. The scientist, still gripping his gun was talking.

"What do you think you're doing, Experiment 412?" He barked, though the pistol was now shaking in his uneven grasp. I laughed internally. I'd be on the ground if I were in his shoes. 412 was small, shorter than me, but watching him from behind I noticed the literal razors on his fingernails. 412 was a death machine.

"I coded you! You function for me." The scientist nearly explained. "I created you! I can end you as I wish!" 412 showed no sighs of stopping, the razors on his hands digging into his palms. He was breathing strangely lively, ragged and heaving.

"You are not aware like these failures! You are a machine coded to kill, not some perfect human pansy." The scientist motioned a pale, calloused hand to me and then Vriska, who stood, back to the wall opposite to me, Equius's large hand holding her back. Her wide, cerulean eyes were watery and scared. "Attack them, Experiment Cancer! Kill them and then we can go on and take the world!"

412 lunged forward. Not to me, not to Vriska. To the scientist. I watched the single eye outside of his eye patch widen and his mouth open, but the slash of 412's razors blasted through the room and an additional spray of now blackened blood was added to the bloodied room.

"Stop telling me what to do!"

I hadn't realized my eyes had been closed until I opened them to see a severed arm laying dead on the floor. I looked up, horrified to 412 standing over the scientist- with one arm. He was grimacing in pain, shuffling backwards. 412 heaved above him. The words had come from his mouth.

And then suddenly, a fist came down once again to meet the metal of the robot. 412 was sent flying backwards into the wall, no more blood able to leave a mark. Equius came over to me, helping me to my feet.

"My apologies, Experiment Four Hundred and Thirteen for not coming sooner, but Vriska's well-being comes before yours."

I blinked at the straightforward quality of Equius' words, but thanked him anyway. He smiled weirdly and awkwardly, displaying a wide range of broken teeth.

Then there was a bang.

Within seconds, Equius fell to the ground, his blood added to the puddles. Vriska screamed.

The scientist, smirking evilly held his gun in his only hand, smoke rising out of the gun and towards the ceiling. I couldn't move once again, standing completely terrified in one place. 412 lunged one more time at the scientist, but he evaded it and he was out of the hallway before I could blink again.