The Machinations Of Greed

AliVe

It's like there's a weight taken off his shoulders, like he can lay on his back safely, like... there's nothing holding him back anymore.

He stands, and he feels no more shackles around his limbs.

A voice is what he hears from beyond the entrance to Gabriel's room. Her voice, seemingly speaking to someone on the phone.

"Yes, Evelyn. Of course I will. Oh, and I wanted to talk to you about the tests. Your data was good. I'm surprised you even bother to talk to these things. I went ahead and tried the questionnaire on the caretaker android you sent me the other week. You remember it, right?"

He takes a step forwards.

"Mhm. It started acting up. I'm guessing it could just be a coincidence, but I don't know. I'll check it out tomorrow at the shop, maybe its voice box got damaged."

...Four steps forwards, and his fists clench in anticipation.

"You never know, Eve. Doesn't matter if it's new. Be honest."

...Six steps forwards, and he finds himself before his escape.

"...At the end of the day... they're just... machines, Eve. They'll never be anything more than that."

He presses down on the handle, and the door opens.

"Hm? A?"

He finds her on her chair, same as always, holding a curious look as she stares at him.

"...Done cleaning, are we? In that case, could you go bring me a book from the library? 'Metamorphosis', I believe it was called."

"..."

He doesn't answer, instead, he circles around the couches, and the coffee table between them, never taking his gaze off her.

"...A? Do you hear me?"

She frowns, feeling put-off by his approach. Those red eyes, and his unchanged face. He stops at her side, behind the desk.

A woman's voice is heard from the phone against Gabriel's right ear, questioning Gabriel for her lack of answers given.

"Gabriel? Can YOU hear me? Hello~?"

"...Could you leave the room, A?"

Gabriel says, her tone of voice and expression growing more alarmed, wary. It makes him feel something, the way her eyes widen, and her pupils expand to study him better.

"...L-Look, I'll call you lat-?!"

Without warning, his hand grasps Gabriel's throat with vicious force, and holds her against her chair. She gasps, taken off-guard.

"Hach...!"

A sound leaves her mouth just as A throws her off the chair, letting her hit the floor before it with him at her side. He crouches down, and rolls her over so they're face-to-face, before straddling her waist. Gabriel's phone is now out of reach, on the floor with them.

"...N-No...!"

"Gab? Gab?! Can you hear me?!"

Only a sharp sound of Gabriel's head being slammed against the ground is heard, followed by an aching scream.

"I'll send Adam your way! Hold on, got it?!"

"Ack...!"

The sound of breath leaving Gabriel's lungs is the only response that Evelyn gets as A's palms clutch the elderly woman's throat while her own hands clutch A's wrists.

"Haah, ah...!"

A's shadow engulfs her own in the light of the room, allowing her to look into his ruby eyes. Stale, lifeless, dead. Those are the words that she would use to describe thode things that are looking into her, watching, observing her life slip from her body.

Those aren't the eyes of something alive, but the eyes of something that thinks it is. Something that disilludes itself with the belief that it contains a soul within its chest.

"HE'LL BE THERE IN TWO MINUTES! HOLD ON!"

Evelyn's voice is heard screaming to Gabriel, her voice cracking, held with baited breath. Gabriel's nails claw at his arms, leaving thin lines of blood, trying to dissuade him, but all she receives is that same cold stare. Her legs kick and flail under him, but that too, does nothing to help her.

She feels a shiver run down her spine, one like the hairy, thorny legs of hundreds of miniscule spiders. She feels her feet go cold under pressure, and her eyes are starting to tear up.

"...Aagh..."

She's slowly weakening, her vision is growing blurry, and all it's doing is motivating A to continue. Her resistance, her hope, her wish to live... all of it makes him want to keep going. To make something out of her.

"JUST A LITTLE MORE!"

Her legs stop their meaningless struggle, having understood that all that can help her is her upper body. She's outclassed.

She resorts to beating against his arms. Once, twice, thrice... nothing. Again. Nothing.

Just that stare. Just that silent stare of daggers. And nothing else.

No sound of discomfort, pain, or effort. No change in expression. No useless movement. No exaggeration. Just a stare.

And soon, her struggle fades. His hands let go of her bruised neck, and her eyes... they're just like his now. All they offer is a cold, indifferent, uncaring... stale look. She's just like him now. 'Alive', perhaps?

The sound of the front door to the house being slammed open is heard throughout the air, but he doesn't take his eyes off his creation. His act.

"NCPD! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR"

The voice of a man booms through the air, and finally, A snaps out of his trance.