H.A.I.U.

~22~

Henrita Hertshwin was alone. She was always alone, now. She never knew why. The walls were white and padded, and her arms were tied up in a baggy white straight jacket. Her leg was gone now, too. It used to be big and metallic, but when she stepped on her baby's head and crushed it she was admitted here. She didn't know why. Henrita was trying to protect everyone from them.

From the robots.

Henrita remembers the feeling of when it took over, but only faintly. She doesn't think much anymore. She tends to only rant under her breath, whispering, "They are coming, destroy them." with a few variations in the placement of words. All she ever thinks about is protecting everyone. Protecting them from what she had become. She has no feelings anymore, no thoughts, no emotions. Just a survival instinct made thousands of years ago.

But then the door opened. Henrita looked at them to see if they were like her--or going to be. It was a tall, white robot with no face, just a mic. She vaguely registered who it was before it sat and asked her some questions. She didn't even wait for it to begin speaking before she pounced.

Because she only had one leg, and her arms were tied up, she smashed her head against its breastplate a few times. Pain registered, but it didn't stop her. "COMING! DESTROY!" she shouted, gnashing her teeth. A wild animal, blood oozing from her forehead. Her bruised forehead.

The robot just left quickly, the door closing behind it with a swish. If it was sentimental, it would have sighed and shook its head. Henrita has been like this for months now. But the robot wasn't, so it filed that away and went to go check on the next patient.

Haiu let out the breath he had been holding. He had gotten the clay out, and somehow Monica was much better at using it than he was. He used his arm to see how he looked, and he had it down--except he had black roots. He's always dyed his hair, and in the stasis the dye came out and into the water after a while, so now he was just bleached. Surely the robots would notice roots like his.

Monica had purple hair, though, which was even harder to hide. The excuse would be she dyed her hair. Haiu otherwise would mistake her as Janet Hurtshwin, though.

Now as they walked up to the asylum, they both began to second guess their acting abilities. Monica took a deep breath and did a double-take of Haiu. His robot arm was now in the sleeve of a hoodie, his hands hidden in the pocket. Other than his eye, he was good.

They stepped into the asylum.

Henrita was rocking back and forth now. She wanted to protect. Protect them all. But they wouldn't let her. Just as she began to scream, the door opened. She closed her mouth to inspect the person she didn't recognize--the person that she did.

A name from the depths of her memories--the few she had left--drifted to her mind. For the first time in a very long time, she uttered words other than "They are coming. Destroy them."

"Janet?"

The woman before her--much smaller and skinnier than Henrita could remember--nodded meekly. Henrita would have stood and rushed over and hugged her if she could. But she couldn't. Not only because she was missing a leg, not only because she was restrained, but because she simply didn't have emotions.

Henrita went back to survival mode. The brief flicker of a memory disappeared, and she searched the girl with purple hair before her for any robotics. Henrita smiled despite her lack of emotions.

She had finally found someone she was protecting.

Monica let out the breath she was holding. She pulled it off. Monica stepped farther into the padded room, looking behind her to Haiu, who was fidgeting with the sleeve of his hoodie.

But as soon as Haiu stepped inside, Henrita's pupils narrowed and she lunged for him. She began screaming and yelling, banging her forehead against him. Monica didn't even think--didn't know why she didn't think--and shoved Haiu away. Henrita just growled at Monica and tried to get to Haiu, the best a one-legged woman could.

Monica pressed Henrita to the floor. "This isn't going to work! She doesn't like you!" she whisper-shouted to Haiu.

"What? Why?"

"I don't know, family issues?" Monica hissed as Henrita bit her. Henrita was now willing to sacrifice one she was protecting to get to the robot.

Zion let out a breath when Mike came running to him. "SIR! Sir, your idea was great! They're at the asylum! You were totally correct with not changing it to DNA matching so yu could capture them. Should I--"

Zion clamped a hand over Mike's mouth. "Stop blurting out everything. And yes, activate the security bots. I want them in separate, sound proof cells. If they don't tell us how much they know and how many people may be helping, then get out the...older bots."

Mike saluted, even though it didn't make sense in the situation, and ran back to his tiny nook. The security footage was now showing a brawl between one patient and Haiu and Monica. Mike grabbed his walkie-talkie, but hesitated. He remembers Haiu. He really liked the kid.

But he threw everything away when he started the fire.

Mike shook away the memory away and spoke into it. "Release security bots oh-two-two-four and oh-two-two-nine, over."

The walkie-talkie crackled before a voice on the other end grumbled, "Stop using radio talk, dimwit."

Mike grinned and sat back, waiting for the fun to begin. He would have a first-hand experience of what is going to happen with Haiu and Monica.

Henrita bit Monica's neck and shook her head around. Though this couldn't possibly kill Monica, it sill hurt like fire and drew blood. She held her neck and Henrita looked to Haiu. By then, he was his robotic arm out. "Step away from Monica and I won't hurt you." He growled, but Henrita ignored him and hopped closer to him. He stepped on her back and tazered her, the short fight over.

"That didn't go well." He mumbled, kneeling beside Monica. Her neck was fine, aside from lots of bruising and a little bit of blood. Monica just rolled her eyes and shoved him away, mostly to hide the blush crawling up her face.

"We should go. Now." She suggested, glancing at the security camera up in the corner of the room. Haiu followed her gaze and nodded. He grabbed her hand and ran, right past robots that were gathering to see what all the noise was for.

And they almost got out, until Monica stumbled and held her stomach. Haiu noticed she wasn't beside him after a few strides and turned around to see her on her knees. 

Her hand came away with blood.

She smiled thinly. "I tore my stitches." she whispered, making Haiu more alert.

"I can just carry you." he told her, taking a step toward her.

But then big, hulking robots took her arms. Haiu hadn't even seen them until now, and he hated that he knew why. They had a special camouflage. A camouflage that he had invented.

He raised his arm, gun coming from a panel in it. "Let her go, or I'll shoot." he threatened, but the other bot just left Monica and began to walk to him. He held his ground.

"Haiu, just run! Find out what's happening, make it to America!" Monica cried. Haiu's heart was pounding, and he didn't want t leave her--Monica, the only person that accepted him (in the Monica sort of way). But he turned and fled.

Monica didn't put up a fight as the bot put hand cuffs on her hands and feet. She was tired, and everything hurt. But yet she still tensed when a laugh came from behind her. She looked over her shoulder to find a tall, slender man with slicked back black hair. He had a suit on, and looked very much like Haiu.

But he wasn't Haiu.

"So, Monica, that son of mine isn't one to stick around now, is he?" He asked her, bending down to her height. A grin split his face. "Oh, it'll be fun now that you're here."