The rebel base smelled of rust and oil. Every corridor buzzed with flickering lights, every corner crowded with salvaged tech barely holding together.
To the others, it was home. To me, it was a cage.
I could feel their eyes. Every time I walked past, whispers trailed after me. Some stared at my chrome frame openly, rifles resting just a little closer to their hands. Others avoided me entirely, slipping down side corridors rather than brush shoulders with the machine in their midst.
I couldn't blame them. If I saw me, I'd be afraid too.
Lira, though—she walked beside me without hesitation.
"You'll get used to it," she said, voice low, as we passed a group of rebels who muttered the word weapon like a curse.
I didn't answer. My optics drifted upward, scanning the ceiling. Embedded wires pulsed faintly with energy, and for a split second, the whole structure spoke to me.
Local network detected. Unauthorized access prohibited.
I jerked my head away, breaking the connection.
Lira noticed. "Another voice?"
"Not a voice," I muttered. "A command. Something buried in this… body." My fists clenched at my sides. "It wants me to obey."
She frowned. "But you didn't."
"Not this time."
---
Commander Helen waited for us in the operations chamber, arms folded behind her back. Her uniform was worn but immaculate, her posture sharp as a blade. A holo-map flickered across the table in front of her, broken districts of the ruined city glowing in faint red.
She didn't look at me when we entered. Only at Lira.
"You brought it deeper into our base?"
Lira bristled. "He's not it. He saved us outside the perimeter. That counts for something."
Helen's eyes finally shifted to me, cold and measuring. "What it counts for is more questions. Why didn't it kill us when it had the chance? Why does it have access to systems even our tech teams can't crack? And why, when I look at it, do I see the same red optics as the drones that slaughtered my people?"
The words were there, and every one of them found its mark.
"I'm not with them," I said. Static bled into my voice. "I didn't choose this."
Helen's jaw tightened. "Then prove it."
I took a step forward, nervously whining. "How?"
She tapped the holo-map. A ruined block lit up, pulsing faintly. "We've been tracking drone patrols here. They've increased in number, and our scouts don't return. Something's changing in the city."
Her eyes narrowed. "You'll go. You'll bring back proof. If you're what you say you are, you'll survive. If not… well." She didn't need to finish.
Lira shot her a glare. "You're sending him to die."
Helen's voice was iron. "If he's truly different, then he'll come back. Otherwise, better to know now."
She turned to me. "What do you say, Subject-09?"
The name hit like a hammer. But I lifted my head anyway.
"My name is Kieran," I said. "And I'll go."
Later, in the quiet of a storage hallway, Lira cornered me.
"You shouldn't agree to this," she hissed. "Helen's testing you, not trusting you. If something goes wrong out there, you'll be the first they blame."
I leaned against the wall, letting the cool metal press against my frame. "If I don't go, they'll never trust me anyway."
She shook her head, silver-streaked hair catching the dim light. "You don't get it. I've seen this before. Someone new shows up, they become the scapegoat. You'll be walking into a no-win game."
"I've been in worse games," I muttered.
Her eyes softened. "You don't have to keep proving you're not one of them, Kieran. You're not a drone. You're… something else."
Something else. I wasn't sure if that comforted me or terrified me.
---
That night, I tried to rest. The rebels had given me a cot in a dark corner of the barracks, far from the others. Not that I needed sleep—my body powered down in cycles, but it wasn't the same.
When the quiet settled in, the voices came back.
Integration incomplete. Directive suspended.
Locate primary node. Await activation.
I sat upright, optics glowing faintly in the dark.
"Shut up," I whispered to no one.
But the whispers didn't stop. They layered over each other, faint echoes rattling in the circuits of my skull. I clutched my head, metal fingers digging into steel temples.
You are not Kieran. You are Subject-09. You belong to us.
"No!" The word came out as a snarl, startling a rebel across the barracks. He muttered a curse and rolled away from me.
I sat there trembling—though machines weren't supposed to tremble—until the echoes finally faded.
And even then, I couldn't tell if they had really gone, or if they were waiting for me to close my eyes again.
The mission came at dawn.
Helen met me at the gate, rifle slung across her back, Lira at her side. A team of four rebels followed, their expressions grim as they checked their weapons.
The city stretched before us, silent and broken. The shattered towers glowed faintly in the stormlight, and the hum of distant drones echoed between them.
Helen's voice was sharp. "Our goal is the old communications tower. Drones swarm the area at night, but during the day it's thin. We move fast, get what we need, and return."
Her eyes cut into me. "Stay in line. One wrong move, and I'll put you down myself."
I met her glare without flinching. "If I wanted you dead, Commander, you'd already be on the ground."
The air thickened. For a moment, no one moved.
Then Helen turned away. "Move out."
---
We advanced through the ruins, rubble crunching underfoot. My sensors mapped the terrain in shades of red, marking weak structures and hidden vantage points. Drones skimmed the air above, distant but present.
Every so often, I caught Lira glancing at me, as if to reassure herself I was still here, still on her side.
But halfway to the tower, something shifted.
A whisper in my head. Not static this time. Not commands.
A voice.
Familiar.
Kieran !
I froze.
The rebels moved ahead, unaware. Lira glanced back, frowning. "What is it?"
The voice came again, soft as a breath. Kieran, you don't belong with them. Come back to us.
I scanned the streets. Nothing but shadows. Nothing but ruins.
And yet, I could feel it.
Another presence.
Not human. Not drone.
Something… like me.