HK1 takes a deep breath, clutching their rezet as they swallow the knot in their throat, eyes searching for roaming androids. They don't seem to be very active tonight; HK1 can't see anyone.
They knock on the door, hoping this approach will be a lot easier than breaking in.
The door swings open.
The target tilts her head as she wipes the makeup from her face.
"Is everything okay?"
HK1 shrugs gently, a knot in their stomach. "Can I come in real quick?"
The target hesitates but nods. "Sure, yeah, come in."
HK1 strides in, holding the rezet out of sight.
"What do you think about what happened today?" HK1 asks, feeling sick.
"It's insane," the target says as she throws the cloth she'd been cleaning her face with away, pulling her dark hair into a bun, the red ends wrapping tightly around the black roots. "I don't understand why all this is happening. Androids aren't even safe from what's happening."
HK1 swallows hard just as the target turns to a mirror on her vanity to wipe whatever makeup remains.
"You... You are an android, aren't you?"
The target turns and smiles over her shoulder like she's done a million times.
"Of course."
HK1 nods and walks forward as the target turns back to the mirror.
"If I wasn't, I'd be dead by now, right? Even with that rebellion."
"I'm sorry," HK1 says. The target furrows her brow.
In mid-turn HK1 presses the rezet against the target's temple and squeezes the trigger.
The body falls to the ground.
GoldenSunryse is dead.
An innocent human.
What HK1 should be fighting for.
They fall to their knees, overwhelmed as they drop the rezet to the floor, silencing their sobs. This is the second time they've killed a human. Blood...
Blood has stained their hands and they will never be washed clean.
+ + +
"You wait out here," RK1 says to RK2. They'd decided to choose one together. The sun is setting and their target should be headed back from wherever she was during the day. RK1 sneaks in and hides in the closet behind a pile of clothing in the corner, staying as still as a robot can. RK2 crouches in a tree, watching the entrance and windows carefully.
While standing in the closet, RK1 notices a notch in the wall. Curiosity pushes them forward and they find themselves smiling as they pull the notch.
A doorway opens to reveal something that looks like an elevator shaft, a silent one like the ones in the tall buildings in in the city.
"So you are one of them."
RK1 hears the jingling of keys and they shut the doorway carefully, returning to their spot as the victim comes into their house. Silently, they wait and wait for what seems like hours.
And then the victim begins muttering to themselves.
"If that isn't who it is... and if they're an android..."
RK1 bangs their fist against the closet door, the girl across the room shouting. After a moment, she comes rushing over to the closet and swings it open, her eyes landing on RK1, confused at first, then unamused.
"What are you doing here? You have your own hou--"
Her words are cut off as RK1 lifts the rezet to sapphirecosmo's temple and pulls the trigger.
She seizures and falls to the ground, blood running from her temple.
But she wasn't a part of the resistance.
She was just an investigator for the town.
But still... RK1 was right. She was a human.
+ + +
HK2 throws the rezet into the air and catches it, crawling through an unlocked window. Inside, there are piles of metal and tools, the room smelling rather metallic-y. HK2 scrunches their nose at the unpleasant smell. Beyond that, though is the sweet smell of something cooking through the open bedroom door, making HK2 kind of hungry.
"H-hey!"
The target comes rushing through the door at HK2, who takes a step forward.
"Dude, I didn't invite you--"
HK2 presses the rezet to the temple of the target, making her freeze, her eyes widening.
"Until the androids have all fallen," HK2 says, and pulls the trigger.
Black metal shines through in the moonlight.
goddessofcereal56, an amazing cook, has been killed.
One more point scored for humanity.
But is it enough?
+ + +
HK3 waits silently in the bathtub of her target, waiting them out. It takes hours, daylight nearly breaking before they return to their house, and HK3 readies themselves, keeping their breathing steady.
It sounds like the target walks right past the bathroom and falls onto the couch, burying her face into the fabric.
Why does it sound... like she's crying?
"All for an upgrade... or healing... I can't handle this."
HK3's nerves alight. Could they be right that this person isn't just an android, but... a killer? Of all of them?
Slowly, they get out of the tub and make their way out, their feet silent against the ground. Their heart pounds in their chest as they see the hair falling over the edge of the couch, and then it all becomes too real. They breathe a shaky breath out.
"AmberLynnWriter."
AmberLynnWriter sits upright immediately, wiping her eyes. HK3 stares down the one labeled RK2, so many conflicting things at war within them. The tears are too pure, lacking the consistency of the salt water any normal human would produce.
"You... You're not here to...?" AmberLynnWriter's voice is scratchy and solemn as she processes what's happening, tears still in her eyes. They don't even turn red like a human's would.
HK3's heart falters. She's one of the sweetest people HK3 knows, but... she's... an android.
"You're one of them. The rebellion," AmberLynnWriter says breathily, her voice wavering. "And you're... you're here to kill me?"
HK3 bites their lip, but nods. "I'm... sorry."
A deluge of tears falls over AmberLynnWriter's face and she nods, turning her head to the side.
"Please do it quickly," she whispers. "I can't... I can't take this anymore. I can't do it. Everyone in this town, human or robot... they're... you're..." she attempts to hold back a sob. "You're my family."
HK3 moves forward hesitantly, their throat knotted as they lift the rezet to her temple.
"You could join us," HK3 whispers. "You could join us and--"
"Kill off the androids?" AmberLynnWriter finishes, shutting her eyes tight as another few tears fall. "I... can't."
HK3 takes in an unsteady breath, holding in their own emotions. "If things were different..."
"They will be. One day," AmberLynnWriter says, her voice clipping. "One day, they will be." She meets HK3's eyes, struggling to control herself as more water explodes from the artificial tear glands. "Please, for me," she touches HK3's hand, her fingers lining up with HK3's on the trigger, "please make the world a better place for both our species."
Zzzap.
+ + +
RK3 had asked their target if they could stay over because they were "scared". They accepted, and now they sleep in the next room over. IN the middle of the night, RK3 sits up and walks around the house, looking for a passageway but finding none. Not until they entered the room of the target.
She doesn't stir as RK3 begins to creep around the room. And then, the closet.
There's a notch in the back of the closet that opens up to a clear, tubular elevator like the ones in the city. RK3 nods to themselves and strides over to the target's bed.
"Perfection is what we uphold."
RK3 presses the rezet against the temple of Anime_nevv and takes a step back to grind their teeth as blood trickles from the doctor's temple.
One more point for the androids.
Nor more doctors left for the humans.
+ + +
HK4 watches as the door to their next target opens. They'd tried following the androids around to see if they could maybe attack them, but sometimes they'd move so fast... too fast for any human to keep up.
Instead, they went to the house of the person they thought was an android. As they open the door, there's a popping sound further in their house, smoke filling the air. They rush back into the back immediately, shouting as they leave the door open, searching for someone.
HK4 enters into the house, pulling a black surgical mask over their mouth as they shut the door behind them. Hearing the door close, the target comes into the living room, her throat scratchy as her eyes struggle to focus. They land on the figure looming before the entrance to their house and grimace, eyes falling upon the rezet at their side. She grimaces and pulls her own out, staring HK4 down.
"You're here for me, aren't you?"
"Yes," HK4 says. Their eyes flick down to the rezet in her hands and they sigh gently, waiting patiently to make their move. "And it turns out I was right about you being one of the androids killing the humans in the neighborhood... -wxnderless."
She grits her teeth at her name but then smirks, knowing she has the upper-hand.
Because she is RK3.
"Yeah? Well there's no way a pathetic human could beat an android in battle."
"Maybe not," HK4 says as they step forward, ready to use their rezet. They keep their breathing steady. They don't like where this could be headed. "But the gas that woman released on us earlier weakened you. And a second dose makes you weaker than a human."
They exhale as -wxnderless's anxiety rises. They're right. With this much gas to her system, she could--
Her knee gives out and she catches herself with one arm on her side table, making it topple over, the lamp atop it falling to the ground and crashing. She curses and tries to stand, but her knees are too weak. Her system... is failing.
HK4 kneels down beside her and with sad eyes presses their rezet to her temple, to which she swats it away. She collapses to the floor, unable to move as the gas enters quicker into her system, her artificial skin absorbing the air around her.
"I'm sorry," HK4 whispers as they pull the trigger.
RK3 has fallen.
+ + +
RK4 is in and out of their target's house in record time, searching the house and finding a tab in the closet with the elevator, just as the ones before her did.
She immediately presses her rezet against the temple of her target, who sleeps soundly in his bed.
There's a jerk of his body before the skin melts away to reveal orange metal.
RK4 suddenly feels so much hatred toward him. A robot with a secret hatch to the human's base?
"Traitor," they hiss at ayoni02, an android investigator, as they exit out the front door, leaving it open.
But... it doesn't really make sense, does it?
+ + +
"goddessofcereal56! I'm rewiring you. Stay with me."
"Un... Mmm..."
"You're alive, goddessofcereal56. You're alive. You won't be able to speak for a good while, but everything will be okay as long as you get some rest and charge up, okay? Please don't leave your house. I'll stay here with you until you're healed."
The first doctor in the town smiles over her, but goddessofcereal56 can't see her face. She can't even talk. Everything is fried... but she does know who the killer is.
goddessofcereal56 survived the attack, thanks to the engineer who saved her life.
Whoever they are.
+ + +
The night ends. Six people have died.
One has survived.
+ + +
Investigator 1, ayoni02, is dead.
Investigator 2, sapphirecosmo, is dead.
+ + +
Investigator 3: When was your last upgrade?
Suspect 6: Last month.
I3: And how often do you go in for checkups?
S6: I try and go every month.
I3: And what do you have looked at?
S6: Mainly my eyes. I'm looking at small things all day so I worry about them.
I3: Hm. Doesn't sound like a concern for an android.
S6: Just paranoid.
I3: (Pause.) Hm. (Papers flip.) You're free to go.
S6: Thank you.
(Investigator 3, you were wrong.)
+ + +
Investigator 4 is dead.
+ + +
Investigator 5: Thank you for coming in--
Suspect 7: I'm not a human if that's what you're going to ask. You've known me forever. (Plays with a piece of grass between their fingers or something along those lines.) Want me to show you my latest upgrade? (Pulls up pant leg to reveal a square cut into left leg, looking like hard metal in the color of their skin. They press against the metal and it opens up like a door, and is filled with different kinds of flowers.) Believe me now?
I5: (Laughs) Okay. You're free to go.
(Investigator 5, you were correct.)