H.A.I.U.

~10~

Haiu's senses sharpened as soon as Risa was off of him. His gaze fell to where she was now, and warnings blazed through his eyes about high heart rate and levels of adrenaline raising. Before he could react, though, something launched through the garage door and onto Risa. It took him a moment to realize it was one of the twins, because they were moving so fast. And because they were missing an eye.

Haiu crawled over to Monica, who was laying on the floor. He detected fear, lots of fear. She was panting, and very pale. He offered her a hand, and she ignored it. Instead, she passed out. Haiu made a face, and looked to where Risa and Thorne--one of the twins--were fighting. He could hear sirens, so he picked up Monica and carried her from the garage before anyone could arrive to prevent anything from happening. Like getting arrested.

He climbed out the window and went into the shed in Monica's backyard, where he lay her down and stood at the door, watching. Waiting.

"Any updates?" Zion asked his lead engineer, who shook his head. "I still have to use the same method, and I don't think the public will be happy when we finally answer their questions."

Zion frowned. This wasn't good. Not only was his son missing, but he needed his son to find out how to make robots sentiment a lot easier than the way they were. "You need to hurry up and figure out a way, or we will be in the run for a lot of complaints very soon."

"Understood, sir. But, I still have a question."

"What is it?"

"Why did you do that to your son?"

Zion was silent. Why had he changed his son into the deadliest thing in the solar system? He looked to his engineer. "Because now nothing can hurt him. Because now he is safe, and he can protect others. Something I could never give him before."

"But now he carries classified information, and is the only person who knows how...how."

"I know that. I wasn't expecting him to be taken." Zion said, looking away. He worried his son would hurt others, become like the...others. The others like him.

He shook his head. "Keep looking. When you find him, tell me. Anything new on the...attacks?"

"Yes. Just a few minutes ago we got a call in about an attack. Only one dead this time, and I have sent some bots out to diffuse the situation."

"Who was killed?"

"It was a young man, sixteen. He has a twin brother whom was also hurt, but he only lost an eye."

"Who was the attacker? I must get everything."

"It was their friend, a girl named Risa Barne. She only has a father, who is...abusive."

"I see. Collect her and send her to the Lab, and do what you must. See what she broke into to set off the alarms."

Zion almost left, but suddenly Mark--the lead engineer--rushed up to him. "It's her house, sir. The girl you're looking for. Look in the security feed."

Zion became alert, and watched intently at the feed. The girl lay on the floor, and his son picked her up and left as one white-haired boy kept Risa at bay. "This is live, sir." Mark added. The bots came in and took the boy off, and gave Risa some anesthesia.

"Can you switch cameras in the house?"

"Uh, yes, sir."

"I changed my mind. Keep an eye on them from now on, and update me frequently."

"May I ask what changed your mind?"

Zion considered his words and said then carefully. "My son has chosen to protect this girl, so I think that he ran away. He knows that we will get him if he stayed, so he left. He won't speak to anyone, and she wouldn't tell anyone she has him, so monitor them for now. If I feel we must intervene, then I will say so."

"I...Uh...okay, sir."

"You will watch them twenty-four seven. I'll give you a raise, too."

"I...um...thanks?"

Monica began to cry out. Scream. Haiu whipped around, worried something happened, but she was asleep. He held his breath, waiting to see if she would stop. She didn't. He scanned her biorhythms; her heart was fast, pulse quick, and brain activity through the roof.

He knelt beside her and shook her hesitantly. Instead, she screamed and curled into a ball, and began crying. He lay down next to her to meet her eye and shook her gently. "Monica." he whispered, though he didn't know why.

Monica abruptly threw her limbs out and thrashed around the floor. Seconds later, Haiu found himself stuck in a hug. Monica's grip was suffocating, and the fact she was screaming in his ear was not helpful.

He decided to return the hug, though it did nothing. As the minutes passed, she began to calm down. Around noon, she stopped crying out and went to just weeping into his shoulder. Not for the first time, he wondered what she was dreaming about. And also again for the first time, he wondered why he was hugging a stranger while they slept. He slowly unwrapped her arms from him, but she began to cry out again. "Okay, okay..." he muttered, and let her stay.

Mark watched intently. This is like those crappy romance shows, he thought. And then he realized this was real and he was being a creep. He almost wanted to look away, but instead he just continued to nibble on his popcorn. He could hardly wait for when Monica wakes up.