A Touch of Blue - 14. Cody's Bluebird Surprise

Zafiro

Lights end up blinding me as soon as I jump in through the window. I actually have to take off my goggles since they were not at all helping me.

The window slams shut behind me and when I check, a metal slab has taken its place.

Narrowing my eyes, I check out my surroundings.

What kind of building is this? There are white shiny walls and floors. Just a white mass of space. It looks like an empty room, but there is a white wall that seems to cut the building in half.

The light shines even brighter when I look up so I have to cover my eyes with my hand.

“Well, well, well,” A voice calls. Cody.

“Hey there my little Bluebird,” He says.

The light dies down and then I can finally see him. He is standing on top of the ‘white wall’. It is actually the a ledge that has a glass wall.

Pulling my pistols out, I aim up at him and unleash a barrage of bullets.

They do nothing to the glass wall.

Cody laughs and looks at the people at his sides. There is the front desk bitch, a few other random thugs in green ties and suits, and then there is Soul.

He is standing with his hands behind his back. He does not look down at me like the others. He stares ahead of himself at the wall above me.

“You know,” Cody grins, “It is very rude of you to randomly start shooting at your host. I would say it is also quite rude to grab a wine bottle and bash it on someone’s head.”

He spits out the last bit of his words.

I glare at him.

“It is a shame nobody ever taught you to keep it in your pants then, you dumb fuck,” I say.

He chuckles along with the people next to him.

Soul still does not move. His arms fidget behind him but he keeps his gaze away from me.

“You should have taken my offer,” Cody sighs. “Honestly, we would have been a great power couple, my little Bluebird. Two beings of the night who would use Sector 4 as their playground. We could’ve had some amazing times together.”

I shake my head.

“Are you that mad I said no that you decided to send an army of robots after me?” I ask with a roll of my eyes. “I mean really? Are you that obsessed? Do not tell me your dick was that interested.”

One of Cody’s henchmen snort at that and Cody turns to glare at him before turning to me.

“Make fun of me all you want,” Cody says, “but just know that you brought this onto yourself. All you had to do was agree to my terms. You had the chance for my help and you practically spit in my face.”

“Oh please,” I wave him off. “You were about to force yourself on me. How the hell is that going to tell me that ‘I had a chance’? You can take your help and shove up your dickhole!”

Cody smirks. “Such beautiful words from the Bluebird before their wings are about to get clipped.”

I narrow my eyes before leaning on one leg and placing a hand on my hip.

“Is there a reason you are trying to bore me again,” I say, “or are you just going to hide behind the glass all night?”

Cody laughs but his eyes burn into me. “Oh those are some perfect use of those words. Trust me, you will not be bored soon enough.”

Frowning, I stare up at all these people and try to figure out what is going on in this weird as fuck building.

None of them have weapons in their hands. That does not say they do not have any weapons, they could be hidden in their jackets and such, but why are they up there behind glass? What is the purpose of this white room and what are they planning?

“You know,” Cody smiles, “I guess it was pure luck that you decided to investigate the train wreck. I was not entirely sure how we were going to get you here all the way from the Rich Side.”

Tilting my head, I ask, “How do you know I was even there? I made sure no one saw me. I know I have not seen anyone who could have possibly been in your stupid gang.”

“Reach behind your right shoulder on your suit and then pinch,” Cody says.

I give a confused look before following his directions. I reach over and then I feel something that is way too smooth to be a part of my suit.

I pinch and a strange clear circle of some gel-like substance sticks to my finger. It is so small that is can sit on the top of my thumb easily.

Upon a closer inspection, I see tiny lines of some kind of alien technology inside the gel.

“That, my little Bluebird, would be a tracker made by the great civilization called Syrens,” Cody says. “I believe the great Remelia herself created such a trinket! I slipped it onto your suit when you brought it in the folder that I know you read.”

I toss the stupid tracker to the side and cross my arms. “So now you are stalking me because I was curious about a folder full of ideas on how to grab some augments? That is a bit much, don’t you think?”

Cody chuckles. “Not in this line of work, darling. Not at all.”

Glancing at Soul, I honestly wish he would at least look at me. I want to try and use my eyes to tell him to help me get out of this mess.

“As I am sure you have already put together,” Cody interrupts my plan. “You have been brought here on purpose. I made this beautiful little trap just for you!”

Narrowing my eyes, I notice a buzzing sound has begun behind the white wall they are standing on.

“What do you want?” I ask. “If it means you’ll leave me alone, I will do anything. I will even suck your stupid dick if I have to.”

Cody and his goons laugh.

The wall begins to sink down into the ground. The ledge they are standing on however does not. It is not connected to the wall I guess.

“Oh it is a bit too late for that,” Cody says. “Now I have to really get it into that pretty head of yours that I am the law, and you will never cross me again.”

The wall stops about six feet off the ground. As soon as it stops, a bunch of glowing blue lines can be seen lighting up behind the wall. A metal hand then reaches up and grabs onto the wall. A robot pulls itself up and rolls over to my side, collapsing on the ground. Its body parts end up scattering all over the ground.

Raising an eyebrow, I look up at Cody.

“Some trap this is,” I laugh. “You can’t even keep this scrap of metal from breaking itself.”

Cody’s sinister grin does not disappear however. If anything, it actually grows.

The robot makes a groaning sound before the body parts start to shake and slide together. Like magic, they all begin to link up as a line of electricity brings them back together.

Is that a magnet doing that?

Raising my gun, I aim for the head and the robot collapses again. This time it doesn’t rise back from the dead.

Another pair of robots climb over. Then another. Then another.

I keep shooting. More and more pieces of scrap begin to pile near their little wall. They never come back after a headshot to the head so that is a blessing.

As time passes, I have to reload a few times and eventually I get to my last round of bullets for each gun.

How are these things still coming? I have killed about fifty but they never seem to end!

As soon as my pistols click after the last bullets, I gulp in fear as more of the robots crawl out of their hole.

How am I supposed to do this?

~~~
~~~

Piggie - Zafiro’s Fence

“It has been way too long!” Vero bites at her nails behind the bar. “Where the hell could he be?”

I just shrug. “Probably went to visit that Officer again.”

“Former Officer,” Vero glares.

I nod along. “Right, right. 'Former Officer.' Still, he was an Officer.”

She sighs and drums her nails along the side of a glass.

“Have you tried calling him again?” She asks.

“Yes, Vero.” I sigh, ”I have called him six times now. I have a feeling the seventh would be just the same.”

Biting her lip, Vero reaches under the bar and pulls out a rifle.

I raise an eyebrow at her and she just shrugs.

“You never know,” She says. “Tonight has me feeling all kinds of weird already. First the train, now Zafiro has gone missing without even a call? That is not at all like him and that means trouble. Something is wrong and we are just sitting here like idiots.”

I circle around to stand next to her. I wrap an arm around her waist but she pushes me off.

Grunting, I pull out my phone and type in Zafiro’s number once again. I do not press call however. Narrowing my eyes and pursing my lips, I decide to do something I will most likely regret.

“You know what it probably is?” I say. “I bet he is busy with the Officer’s dick in his mouth. He probably lied about being on his way and got carried away with Officer Kyung.”

Vero sighs and turns to make herself a drink.

“That better be the case,” She grumbles. “I seriously think Cody got to him or maybe even Arturo. This just doesn’t feel right, Piggie.”

“Well,” I type in a number. “How about I call the Officer in question? Maybe he will push Zafiro off and answer the call.”

She rolls her eyes. “You are disgusting with this imagery, but go ahead and call.”

I press the call button and I wait for an answer.

Surprisingly, they answer fairly quickly.

“Hello?” A deep voice answers. Yeah definitely not Zafiro.

“Hi there Officer,” I say. “Would a certain blue-eyed freak be in your house by chance?” Vero rolls her eyes again at my wordage. “He said he was on his way and two hours later, he still isn’t here.”

Officer Kyung answers slowly, obviously confused. “No, he is not. Who is this?”

Vero immediately begins to freak out.

“Oh god!” She pulls on her face. Then she glares at me and hits my arm. “I told you! They got him! We need to get to him now, Piggie!”

Just then, a bomb erupts at the front doors and then people begin to pile in.

Dropping the phone, Vero and I quickly fall back behind the bar and grab our rifles.

I grab the one sitting on the counter so that Vero can grab the safer one.

The people running in were wearing green so these are obviously Cody’s men. Does that mean that Arturo has Zafiro?

The men shout orders to one another, they are moving in on us.

One nod to Vero and we both stand and start shooting at the assholes breaking into our home.

Instantly they all scatter like roaches. They search for cover and start throwing shit around to make their makeshift barriers.

Strange how this exact thing happened early today. So much for cleaning this shit up earlier.

It is a game of back and forth.

From what I could tell, it is eight against two. It does not seem particularly fair but I feel that we should be fine.

I guess I spoke too soon.

More men and women run in through the front door.

What was once two against eight, has turned into two against fourteen.

Vero and I manage to take out a few of them, but they soon get replaced by more people running inside.

I crouch down to reload and when I glance up at Vero, she falls backwards as three bullets pierce her chest.

“No!” I shout in rage.

I reach out to her but she is already gone. Her eyes are still open but she does not see because she is not here.

I gently brush her eyelids down and clench my fist over her chest.

They will pay.

Angry tears begin to build up in the back of my eyes and I clench my jaw before grabbing her gun as well.

I hold both guns in a way to be able to shoot with both at the same time.

If I am going to go out, I am going to go out with a bang.

Standing up, I pull both the triggers and start walking away from the bar.

The bullets rain down on all the gangsters. I manage to get a few but I cannot keep count. I don’t care to.

A stinging pain erupts on my shoulder and then another spike goes off in my thigh.

I fall onto one knee and toss one gun away to shoot with the other.

Just as I raise the gun to aim, a man holds up his pistol and takes his aim.

This is it.

~~~
~~~

Zafiro

I pant and clutch at my eye to stop the blood from spilling into my eye.

A robot slowly stumbles his way towards me and I raise my metal baton with both hands to strike the side of its head. The head flies off towards the opposite side of the room and the robot falls over.

More robots were behind the first so there is no use in trying to catch a break.

Wiping the blood away once again, I swing and hit the head off another.

I snarl with each swing and stumble back.

My throat feels like it is on fire. It is getting harder to breathe and my arms and legs are starting to feel like jelly.

What is the point of this? I knock their heads off then ten seconds later, their head is brought back to their bodies as if nothing happened.

Running out of bullets has really made this entirely in their favor.

Now I am being backed up by six robots and their numbers slowly continue to grow.

They are slow so fighting off one alone is fine, but when they group together they make it become too much.

Their fists are hard and have strange edges made of metal that cut with each punch. They have gotten a few hits on me. One of course being my left eye.

They did not cut it thankfully, but I can feel where the scars run from my eyebrow to my cheekbone.

These robots remind me of zombies. They stumble over their steps as if they have never walked a day in their life. I guess their technology was mostly focused on their ability to bring their limbs back together.

Four of them manage to get close and they swing their arms at me.

I roll away and cry out as I rolled on top of some random metal arm. It cuts along my side as I roll over it.

Pushing myself to stand again, I keep an arm over the long cut and use the other hand holding my baton to wipe at the blood pooling over my eye again.

Hot tears trail down my cheeks as more of those stupid robots make their way towards me.

One gets close to me but before I can manage to swing, a random hand grabs at my leg and pulls me down.

Arms wrap around me and I growl in frustration when I can’t manage to get out of the stupid robot’s grip.

Three other robots stand before me and then they begin to rear their feet back to kick at me.

Each one lands on my stomach, and legs. My eyes feel like they are burning and I just can’t find it in me to fight back anymore.

I am so tired. My body does not feel like it can move again. Everything hurts when I try and each kick I receive just adds to it.

I grunt as metal strikes against me. I can only gasp for air but none seems to want to come into my lungs.

The edges of my vision start to get darker and darker until a voice calls out.

“That’s enough!” Cody calls from up top.

Instantly the robots back away. They begin to pick up the ones I had shot and they throw their remains over the wall. When they finish cleaning, they climb over as well. The wall rises and then I am alone on the floor.

Cody and them move out through a door behind them but I just stare ahead of me. It hurts to even move my head.

I can see my blood splattered in different parts of the white floor. There is a lot around me at the moment too.

Deciding that a short nap would be nice, I close my eyes.

~~~
~~~

Soul - The Android

Two humans in suits pick Zafiro up by placing his arms on their shoulders. I follow behind them as they drag him out of the building used as a trap.

A thin trail of blood is left from the toe of his boot.

They carry him to a black van parked just behind the building.

Ducking down, I get into the trunk and when I turn back, they hold Zafiro out for me to pull inside.

I can feel Cody’s gaze on the back of my neck so I follow the rules I have been given diligently.

Zafiro does not move but his chest slowly rises and falls.

When the van starts to move, I turn my gaze to stare straight ahead of me.

I do not know why, but this entire situation is causing strange things inside of me. Nothing in me is able to process what is happening. I do recall the last time I had spoken with Zafiro, but I still am not sure how to combine those two moments together to make sense.

The ride is fast for me because I chose to blank out.

We arrive in Cody’s headquarters and once again, the two humans in suits open the trunk to take Zafiro inside.

Since I am to be present at all moments of this, I follow them.

Cody had said this will be a efficient learning exercise for future instances should they occur.

We move to the elevator and we all squeeze in.

Due to my large stature, I am ordered to use the stairs.

In hopes of keeping Cody satisfied, I rush down the stairs. Nobody sees me so nobody will know of my rush.

I beat the elevator and as soon as it opens, Cody simply walks past me, not at all acknowledging my presence again.

Everyone does the same, everyone but Zafiro.

He has awoken but is still quite out of it.

He lifts his head and meets my eyes.

Zafiro has one eye shut as a scar has sliced through the skin. There are bruises and cuts all over his body. The suit he constantly wears is full of cuts and holes. I hope it may be repairable.

One of his boots has disappeared. The one that was leaving a trail of blood.

His foot has a scar that leads up into the pant leg of his suit. It still bleeds but slowly.

The worse damage was the thick cut that sliced through his side and a little into his back. Thankfully Cody allowed a bandage to be put there.

In all honesty, I feel that Zafiro should have bled out by now. How has he not?

Zafiro is pulled to a platform with two metal railings sticking out of the ground. Chains hang from the both of them.

They chain his wrists to both railings and then the humans in suits step back. Cody takes their place. In his hands is a glowing blue chip.

An Augment.

At the sight of it, Zafiro begins to struggle. He regrets that immediately and whimpers at the pain of his wounds.

“Shh, my little Bluebird,” Cody smiles and cups Zafiro’s cheek. “You asked for this remember? This is all just a small price to pay for doing me wrong.”

Zafiro’s bottom lip trembles and his eyes begin to let out silent tears.

One human in a suit brings a small open briefcase and Cody retrieves its contents.

A syringe needle to somewhat numb Zafiro’s pain. Not exactly for the augment.

Zafiro only flinches as Cody harshly shoves the syringe into his neck.

Cody sticks the augment to Zafiro’s forehead then backs away.

The augment melts into his skin and immediately begins to move into action.

Zafiro’s face contorts in pain. He grips onto the chains wrapped around his wrists and he clenches his teeth, trying to keep down any sounds.

He arches his back and then I see two strange humps beginning to grow at the top of his back. They push against the suit and I am not sure what to think of that.

Zafiro lets out the breath he was holding and then he begins to scream. It is a scream of agony and it does things to me. Things that I...feel like I might understand but...I’m scared.

Sweat drips off of Zafiro’s brow as he screams in absolute agony.

A ripping sound can be heard and then an eruption of blood flies out of Zafiro’s back.

Dark blue wings extend from Zafiro. There are strings of blood dripping off of them but even then, the blue color seems to reflect the light.

At the moment, Zafiro is hunched over and taking deep breaths. He continues to cry and sweat. He seems to have lost control of his legs and now only hangs from his arms.

The wings are made of feathers like a bird. That immediately makes me think of Cody’s nickname for Zafiro.

Cody breaks the silence with slow claps.

“Here we are gentlemen,” He grins while staring at Zafiro’s wings. “Our new product to sell!” He moves behind Zafiro and runs his hand between all the feathers.

Zafiro shivers at the touch but keeps his head down.

“Feathers?” One of the suits ask.

Cody nods. “Yes! However, these are not just any feathers.” He grabs a fistful of blue feathers and pulls them out of Zafiro’s wings.

Zafiro screams at that and balls his hands into fists, digging his fingernails into his palms.

“Please. Please let me go,” I hear him says through clenched teeth.

Everyone ignores him.

“When you ground these up and cook them,” Cody steps up to them with the feathers between his fingers, “They give a whole new kind of drug. The Augment gives some kind of extra kick to them.”

One of the suits raises his eyebrow. “Are we just going to tell people we are selling blue feathers we forced off of people’s bodies?”

Cody laughs. “I must say, this is the only time I have seen them be blue, but no of course not! We simply say it is a powder that only the Emerald Snakes have managed to nab. All we are going to do is mix it with our existing drugs and boom, new easy products!”

The suit reaches to hold one of the feathers. “And...we just keep hoping that thief will sprout more feathers?”

Cody shrugs. “Unfortunately, they do not grow back. We will have to grab a new test subject everytime.”

“Can’t we just give him another augment to sprout another set of wings?”

“Again, no,” Cody says. “Each person can only form one set of wings or they just die. I have tested this quite a few times already.”

The Suit purses his lips but nods slowly.

Cody grins and hooks his arm into the other’s. “To my office then shall we?”

Before they leave through the elevator, he calls back to the others standing around here.

“Cut the wings off. We want those feathers,” Then he turns to face them. “Do. Not. Kill him.”

Everyone nods and then Cody is gone.

Instantly three guys get to work on Zafiro. Tonya, the frontdesk lady, walks up the stairs. There are a few other people who are watching alongside me as well.

Zafiro sees the men coming with a wire saw in their hands. He tries to hug himself with his new wings. Blood ends up smearing around him.

Two men grab ahold of one of the wings and the other preps the wire saw.

I quickly turn away to keep what is about to happen out of my vision.

Not even that was enough.

Zafiro tries to reason with them and even offers to gift them jewels that would pay for a lifetime of money. That quickly gets cut off as he begins to scream.

The syringe will not do enough to numb his pain.

His screams seem to echo inside of my head and I close my eyes. It gets to the point that I opt to temporarily shut off my audio input devices.

Even then, I swear I can still hear his screams. They roll around and grab onto me. They call for me and I just know I should do something.

Zafiro is the one person who tries to treat me as if I were a living person. As much as I disagree with him, he continues to keep speaking to me in such a manner.

He...he is my friend. Maybe we could have been more? Is that a thing that could have become a reality? Can an Android have a friend? Can we have more than just that?

Keeping my sound off and opening my eyes again, I turn to Zafiro. The great wings he had before are already gone. His suit has been cut off to his hips. He is still changed and he is crying and hunched over in pain.

The three men are on the ground with the wings. They are ripping feathers off like wild animals in front of him.

Shaking my head, I run up to the platform and crouch down to look into Zafiro’s eyes. They shine bright with tears and he has to blink to try and look up at me clearly.

A hand all of a sudden grabs onto my shoulder. That causes something in me to snap. They are hurting my best friend, I will hurt them back.

I grab the hand on my shoulder and toss them over me. They go flying into a wall. The two others who were pulling the blue feathers also try to grab me but they too get throw out.

Reaching for the chains that bind Zafiro, I snap them off and quickly catch him before he falls.

I turn my sound back on and then shouting erupts around me.

I break one of the metal railing next to Zafiro and swing at the approaching men who are coming up behind me.

Two go down from that blow alone and the others standing around back up away from me. They know I am stronger and that they must stay away.

Carefully, I slip my arms under Zafiro’s legs and back. I am not entirely sure how to do this without hurting him.

Zafiro whimpers as my arm touches the slits that have been created by the cutoff wings.

He looks up at me with a dazed look.

“Soul?” He rasps out.

I do not like how awful he looks right now. Not at all the cheery, bright person I knew from before.

“Hey, Good Looking,” I say as I begin to jog for the exit. “I am going to get you out of here.”

Zafiro gives a soft smile and closes his eyes.

Before I even make it to the stairs, a gunshot goes off behind me and then my vision turns black.