Champion of the Bots ✔️

Chapter 25 ~ RENA

Blearily, Rena pushed herself off from the wall before another attack came from Tob—no, not Tob. This was a Bot.

She saw the darkness seeping into him, erasing the person inside that she had come accustomed to; but she couldn't jump away before the Bot's hands slammed her against the walls. She could almost see the plea, the pain, in his eyes.

Now those eyes seemed to smirk at her, a glint of something inky in its irises.

"What have you been doing with my Bot?" The haunting voice asked, gesturing to himself, or itself.

"What have you done with Tob?" Rena fumed out, trying to match the flare in the machine's eyes with her own; but the Bot only tilted its head slightly and smiled.

"I haven't done anything. He has always been my servant, my eyes that oversee everything; I am simply talking through him." The Bot started walking to the girl, its heels bouncing lightly and treading like a cat.

"Stop it!" Rena yelled out. "Get out of his head!" Her feet nearly slipped as she involuntarily walked backwards, away from the machine monster.

"How interesting. I leave my Bot for a few days, and I see that he has made a new friend."

Friend? Was she his friend? She didn't know. She only knew that she hated this scratchy voice, this evil being inside Tob. She kept her eyes on the Bot, trying to find a default switch, a power button, a plug—anything to shut this monster down.

"And what do we have here?" The voice continued, the Bot's lips curved in a smile that didn't reach its inky eyes. "Hello, Aldrock."

Rena whirled her head to see the man on the wheelchair freeze. She almost forgot about him and the scraggy boy. The Bot made her feel so scared, so alone.

Aldrock didn't reply, only stared at the Bot with frenzied eyes that nearly reached his grey bushy eyebrows.

"My friend, my brother, how have you been?"

"I am neither your friend nor your brother," Aldrock spat back, chunks of saliva hitting the floor, "and I have been doing well until you came along."

The young man beside the wheelchair, Nat, finally unfroze. "I told you these two were up to no good! We should've chucked you two out to the sky!" One hand gestured to the Bot and to Rena: the other hand gripped the rubber of the wheelchair's thick arms, his fingers patches of red and white, as if he was practicing to squeeze the life out of the Bot's neck.

The Bot only smiled. Rena hadn't seen that smile since...since the Bot crashed the Savior onto an island. She shuddered as she looked at the malice and glee on the Bot's face like the coating of heavy makeup.

"Yes, maybe you should've," the Bot replied, swiveling its head to Rena. "I distinctly remember telling my Bot to bring you to me. Why didn't it do that?"

This voice was inside the Bot this whole time? Rena's mind whirled and shuddered inwardly at the thought of this being watching her through the Bot's eyes. She tried to process those moments she had with the Bot and wondered whether the voice was there.

"Answer me, girl!" The machine monster stepped closer.

How could she shut him—no, it—down? Rena squinted and tried to examine every bump, every crevice, every muscle of the robot man for any signs of weakness.