Eight hours ago, Patch went missing. The day started like any other. Patch and I sat around the table, enjoying our breakfast of bacon, eggs, and coffee.
Patch scanned the apartment. "Hey, where's your brother? I haven't seen him in a while."
"I don't know. He left with Chase to go meet a friend yesterday, but I haven't heard from him since."
Patch raised an eyebrow, "Who's Chase?"
"Umm, the guy who was in your workshop for a month and has been living with us ever since."
He gave a recollecting nod. "Oh, that guy. I knew it seemed quieter around here this morning!"
I fidgeted in my chair. "Atlas has been ignoring all my messages and calls. I'm getting worried."
Patch took a long, slow sip of coffee. "I'm sure he's fine. It's good for him to get out and have some fun for once. He's so serious all the time."
I clenched my fists. "Something's wrong, I can sense it, and my intuition is always right!"
He let out an exasperated sigh. "Atlas is tough, I know he can handle himself."
"He's my baby brother. It's my job to look after him."
Patch pulled me into a tight hug. "No, it's my job to look after both of you."
I returned his embrace and gave a reluctant nod.
"I need to go run a few errands around town. Do you want to come with me?"
I took a step back and shook my head vigorously. No way. Just thinking about it, made my stomach sick. "I can't!"
Patch couldn't hide his disappointed expression. "Alright, I should be home in a few hours."
"I'm sorry," I muttered, sensing I'd let him down.
"It's alright, kiddo. I want to help you get better, okay? I don't know the first thing about treating anxiety, but I want to support you however I can. Alright?" For the first time in his life, Patch's tone wasn't laced with sarcasm. He'd meant every word.
I gave a faint smile. "Maybe next time?" I suggested.
Patch smiled back. "I'd like that." He gathered his things and left the apartment, leaving me all alone.
I was used to being home alone. My agoraphobia makes it almost impossible for me to leave the house. Simple things, such as being in crowded areas, being more than five minutes away from home, or being in large open spaces, can trigger full-on panic. It didn't start this extreme. It started with a panic attack here and there when I was in overwhelming situations. Now.I can barely go outside at all. I have no right to be this way. Atlas's time with Bionic Corp was so much worse than mine, and he's still able to function. He was an assassin on the front lines. I just worked in the tech department, but some of the things I witnessed while I was there irrevocably scarred me.
I grabbed my Holopad off the kitchen table and climbed onto my bunk bed. I cocooned myself in my blankets, pretending they could shield me from the traumatic experiences of my past.
I still remember everything perfectly, no matter how hard I try. After Atlas was drafted into the cyborg army, I was devastated. I'd already lost my parents, and I couldn't bear the thought of losing my brother too. As soon as I was old enough, I enlisted as a Cyber Operations Specialist, which is a fancy term for a hacker who works for the military. I've always been a computer prodigy. My teachers always said I had a bright future. Maybe in another life that might have been true, but I chose to be with my family instead.
Because I wasn't going into combat, I wasn't forced to become a cyborg, but I did have to go through the same training as everyone else. After I completed basic training, I requested to be sent to where Atlas was. I knew it was a battlefield, but I don't think anything could've prepared me for the horrors of war. The sound of gunshots and explosions rang right outside our base, day in and day out. The outside of the base was surrounded by mountains of dead bodies and broken cybernetic parts. The blood of fallen cyborgs dyed the ground crimson. Every day I'd wonder if that would be the day Atlas would become one of the countless bodies littering the ground.
The final nail in the coffin was when I had to step out onto the battlefield to save my brother as he was being ripped to shreds by one of his fellow soldiers. Atlas sent me a distress signal as he was being attacked, but I didn't get there fast enough to prevent any of the damage. I had to run 20 miles while carrying my dying brother to reach Ikigai II. I took everything in me to get to Patch's workshop. When I finally collapsed on his couch, I thought I was going to die.
That's why I can't leave the apartment, because the world is cruel and dangerous. I can't step outside without envisioning the piles of corpses, anymore. Sometimes I think I can still smell the stench of decomposing flesh.
The lifeless faces of the dead cyborgs I saw on that battlefield still haunt me to this day. Sometimes I stay up at night thinking about all the cyborgs who were slaughtered on that battlefield. Did they have someone out there who loved them? Is there anyone who still remembers them? I try to remember the names of as many as I can, so they won't be forgotten.
Venus nudged me with her paw and let out a soft mew. I was so lost in my thoughts, I hadn't even noticed she'd climbed up here to join me. I gently stroked her head and she purred. She curled up on my lap and snuggled with me. It was almost like she sensed my anguish and wanted to comfort me. "Good girl," I whispered.
We were both startled by the loud sound of my Holopad ringing. I checked to see who was calling me. The person calling me chose to hide their number, along with their caller ID. I refused to answer anonymous calls. So, I denied the call.
Less than ten seconds after denying the first call, I received another anonymous call. My stomach churned with anxiety as I pressed the deny button a second time.
Sure enough, immediately after denying the second call, a third one popped up. I hit deny again and switched my Holopad onto silent mode.
A silent notification appeared on my screen, notifying me of another anonymous call. I considered denying the call for the fourth time, but then I started thinking, maybe Atlas was finally trying to contact me! I hesitantly pressed the accept button.
A burly man in a skull mask appeared on my screen. "Hello, Marisa." He said in an amused tone. "How nice of you to finally answer my call."
I tried to keep the fear out of my voice. "Do I know you?"
He stroked his chin in thought. "I think we've been acquainted, I knew your brother very well."
"Why are you calling me?" I demanded an answer with an authoritative tone, but inside I was quaking.
"I've called to warn you of an impending threat to your family."
"Why should I believe you? He doesn't even know who you are!"
He sighed. "Believe it or not, I want to protect people."
I crossed my arms. "I don't believe you."
"Please hear me out, your uncle's life is at risk!" He said, with an urgent tone.
"Take your mask off," I demanded.
"And then you'll listen?" He asked.
I nodded.
He removed his mask, revealing a boy a couple of years older than me, with ghostly pale skin, thick brown hair, a wide jaw, and startling green eyes. I recognized him right away. I could no longer keep up my calm facade. "You're the one who ripped Atlas apart!"
He nodded solemnly. "So you do recognize me?"
"I watched you try to kill my brother! You're pretty hard to forget. You're a monster!"
He clenched his jaw. "Do not make me out to be a villain." He spat.
"You sure looked like one from where I was standing!" I retorted.
"You think I wanted to hurt Curseword?" He looked offended.
"Yes! You mercilessly ripped him apart and left him for dead!"
He frowned. "I loved Curseword like a little brother, ever since we first met at the foster home. He looked up to me. Do you remember how close we were?"
I couldn't remember meeting him at the foster home, but I studied his face to see if I could awaken some old recollections. I had a vague memory of an older boy with the same jade-colored eyes, but the man on the other end of the screen looked so tattered and worn down. I refused to believe they could be the same person.
"After we were drafted together, I tried to protect him, but I failed. After his first kill, he developed a taste for murder."
"You're wrong about him."
He shook his head. "I wish I was wrong, but you didn't know him like I did. I had to take him down before he killed any more cyborgs."
I said, now on the brink of tears, "I'm his sister, I know him better than anyone."
"He's kept things from you. He knows you'll never look at him the same way if you know what he's done."
I refused to make eye contact with him. "Why are you calling me?" I squeezed my hands into tight fists, as I spoke.
"There's been a masked assassin killing cyborgs all over Ikigai II. They've been going by the call sign, Oblivion. At first, I thought Atlas was working with them, but I'm beginning to have doubts."
"Why did you think Atlas was involved?"
"They've been using the Annihilation Code."
"That's not possible!" I protested. "Atlas is the only person who knows the code."
"It seems things have changed. It looks like Bionic Corp built themselves a new cybernetic assassin."
Chills ran up my spine, and I took deep breaths in an attempt to calm myself. "What does any of this have to do with me?"
"About one month ago, I broke into a Bionic Corp warehouse and stole some important information from them. It was a risky venture, and I almost got caught and lost everything. Luckily, I found a way to take the suspicion off myse, and keep most of my loot. One of the items I stole was Bionic Corp's hit list." He pulled up the list on his Holowatch and scrolled down until he reached a specific person. Cyborg 16541815.
I stared up at the photo. "Patch?"
"Bionic Corp doesn't like deserters, and they certainly don't like people who've evaded them for years. They want to make an example of him. I tried to warn, your uncle of the incoming attempt on his life, but he didn't answer my calls. It's up to you to warn him."
"I don't know where he is," I said honestly.
"You don't?"
"No. He said he was going out, but he didn't say where."
His facial expression was unreadable.
"Why do you care if Patch dies or not? Don't you hate our family?"
He shook his head. "I will never forgive your brother for killing our fellow cyborgs, but Patch doesn't deserve to die for Atlas's transgressions." He slipped his mask back on. "I've enjoyed our chat, but I have business I need to attend to. Farewell, Marisa."
"Wait, I still have more questions!" I shouted, but he'd already ended our video call. A growing sense of panic took hold of me. He didn't even say when the murder attempt was supposed to take place! This month? This week? Today? I have to warn Patch! My fingers shook, and my heart pounded, as I called Patch on my Holopad.
"Congratulations, you've reached Patch Contreras. Either I can't come to the phone right now or I'm ignoring you, so leave a message or don't. I don't care." He sent me straight to voicemail. Dammit! My head started spinning, and my lungs gasped for air. Now, what was I supposed to do? I tried calling him again, but the results were the same. I buried my head in my hands. Maybe if I'd agreed to run errands with him when he asked me to, he'd be safe right now, I scolded myself. I shook my head. Who was I kidding? I couldn't have protected him, I'm not even brave enough to step inside a shopping mall. If Atlas were here, he could protect us.
I typed up a message on my Holopad and sent it to Atlas. Where are you?
He didn't respond.
Fine! If he wasn't going to answer any of my messages, I would hack into his Holowatch and find his location. I furiously typed away on my keyboard, until I finally managed to track him. He was at our safe house uptown. Why was he there? Is he in danger?
I climbed down from my bunk bed and paced back and forth. I took deep breaths in a fruitless attempt to calm myself down.
Someone loudly slammed the front door of our apartment. Venus scurried under the bed. I tiptoed towards the sound. "Patch? Is that you?" A loud crash sounded from the kitchen. I inched towards the kitchen. A brief flash of something darted towards me. Before I had time to react, a cyborg wearing all black grabbed me by the throat and rammed me against the wall.
I gasped for air and tried to claw my way free from their grasp.
The cyborg gripped me tighter. "Where is he?"