Children of Jambheria: The Procestian War

Chapter 5: Ascension

It took Ferrius and Valtron a couple of hours to get back to the Elder's mansion and the two androids made their way down a long marble hallway in silence until Ferrius broke it with a question for his younger brother. "What is of Raina, my brother? I did not see her at her station today. Is she being repaired?" There was a hint of worry in Ferrius' voice.

"I saw her earlier, on the way here. She was cleaning a bathroom on this side of the mansion," Valtron replied, and he suddenly realized that she had missed their meeting.

They turned a corner at the end of the hallway and entered a small corridor, supposedly the one where Raina was cleaning. Suddenly they heard her voice. It came from the far end, and she sounded like she was in distress. "Please my lord, I beg of you...Do not do this..." Raina moaned.

Ferrius and Valtron made their way towards Raina's voice, and when they arrived they saw her pressed against the wall, desperation on her face. A Jambherian official held her and he grinned at her impotence. She was scum to him, a low life. He had badly beaten her, dents were all over her body and some of her sensors had been knocked out of place. He had kicked Raina's cleaning equipment over as he was leaving the mansion after a meeting with the Elder, when Raina reacted to the mess, he beat her for abandoning her current task. Even though it was not her fault, he continued to beat her and knew that the anti-abuse laws would desecrate his military career if he was ever caught.

But he also knew that this female android would never report him, and if she did, she would be punished for doing so. The official looked up and down the corridor and checked to see if anyone was around, but Valtron and Ferrius quickly hid themselves behind a marble pillar. When they again looked from behind the pillar the Jambherian official continued his assault. The muffled thumps of his fists hitting Raina echoed down the corridor and mixed with her sobs.

The young official smiled as he clenched his bloody fists and struck against the soft yet cold silicone skin of his victim. "Are you...crying? Strange, I always thought that you puppets weren't capable of emotions," he confessed, surprised by Raina's sobbing.

"'I beg of you, do not do this," Raina muttered between sobs.

The official grabbed Raina by her neck with one hand and tightened his grip. Her voice box was slowly being crushed and she let out a tinny cough.

"You know, I'm glad you can feel some emotion, puppet, because I'm about to make you realize what pain is." the official said then he jabbed her in her chest. Raina screamed but found herself unable to move, and she didn't understand why, until the official explained.

"Don't think you can get out of this that easily. I've deactivated your movement processors with a guided AEMP in my pen."

Raina now realized what that constant jabbing was in her chest; she moaned in pain as the malicious Jambherian paralyzed her mechanical body as he beat her.

Minutes passed before the official extracted the pen from Raina's back and slipped it into his pocket.

He wore a satisfied grin on his face and digitally constructed a healing gel and scrubbed it on his bloodied knuckles, the satisfaction of the beating made him let out a sadistic laugh, which rang throughout the corridor. Raina slumped to the floor and sobbed even harder. She felt a new emotion that she never had experienced. Fear overwhelmed her as her trembling mangled hands covered her dented body. She hung her head low and a transparent gel trickled down her cheeks.

"I've enjoyed our brief, yet pleasant time together, slave," the official mocked, and turned to leave.

In that instant Ferrius stepped from behind the pillar and Valtron followed behind him. The Jambherian official saw them from the corner of his eye and turned back around to confront them. "So you were there the whole time? That's a bit sick, even for you puppets," he mocked, still proud of his actions. However, this was the last straw for Ferrius, who had spent years preparing to exact his revenge on his corrupt masters.