jRobot, Prologue & Ch. 1, [NC-17], RPS, J2 AU

[sandymg]

Chad knew that stories didn’t end happily ever after. Not for everyone. No matter what sap writers put on paper.

Boy meets boy went as well for Jared as a best friend could hope for. Sure there were tears. But there were also laughs. And even if ‘after’ sometimes has an expiration point … well, it was one helluva ride.

Chad decided to write a book about it. His agent loved it. Thought it was fiction but that was okay. Names were changed and all that. Now he is looking over the words he wrote setting up the whole strange tale.

A man learned to love from a machine who couldn’t feel.

It’s a bit romanticized. Yeah, okay, it's a lot romanticized. Jared, if he weren’t in the story, would have laughed at Chad. But Chad thinks that won’t happen now. And Jensen? He’d call Chad a sap, before surreptitiously wiping away a tear. So it’ll never be happily ever after.

But it’s close enough.

Chad looked at his first chapter. He wasn’t there for the first act. Nope, Chad came in later. He missed the start … and the end. But at least he got to be there for the best part.

And the beginning? Wasn’t so impressive, truth be told. They met in a bar. How boring was that?



Jared walked into a bar.

Wasn’t his first bar that night. Not that he was drunk. Just restless. Itchy. His best friend Chad said Jared just needed to get laid. But that was pretty much Chad’s default solution for everything. Jared didn’t think that was it. Sure, he’d broken up with his librarian boyfriend about two weeks ago. And he missed him. Sort of. No, he didn’t. Hey, yeah, c’mon … a little, right? Okay, he barely thought about him. Which said what, exactly?

And now he was having an entire back and forth conversation with himself.

Inwardly sighing, he purposely took a seat next to another person because if he sat near someone he wouldn’t be alone and so could have an actual exchange and not be insane.

“Hello. I am Jensen.”

Jared turned. Stared. Holy-all-that-is-all-holy upon a blessed stick! The most beautiful human on the planet stared back at him.

“Hey. I’m Jared.”

“Hello. I am Jensen.”

Jared gaped a bit more. Green green green eyes. Incredible cheek bones. Strong chin. Porn star lips. “Um. Yeah. Hi, I’m Jared.”

“Hello. I am Jensen.”

Maybe he was deaf? Like white Persian cats with blue eyes were often deaf because of a genetic flaw that made them beautiful but disabled … So maybe someone having eyes the color of shimmering emeralds and lips so downright sinfully lush had the same DNA problem?

Jared desperately wished he knew ASL.

Figuring he had nothing to lose, he touched his own chest and said with exaggerated lip movement, “Ja-red.”

“You are Jared.”

Jared smiled. Success. Although that pretty much ended his foray into grade school sign language. He could try Pig Latin next but wasn’t sure that would work. “Really glad we got that straightened out. So, Jensen. Can I buy you a drink?”

“Intoxication.”

The pretty lips were making new words now. Jared liked that. “Oh. Would you prefer coffee or a soft drink?”

“Drunkenness. Inebriation.”

The bartender approached and Jared looked up at her bemused look. “I’ll have whatever you have on tap. Um … and a club soda for him.”

He turned back to the probably blitzed Abercrombie and Fitch model next to him. “Too much to drink, eh? No worries. Water and some Tylenol and you’ll be okay.”

“Can lead to exhilaration, excitement, or euphoria.”

Huh, that put a different spin on things. Jared had to stop and think: had he ever felt euphoric when drunk? No, he didn’t think so. Silly. Giddy, maybe.

Okay, there’d been that one time when he’d gone home with that amazing biker but the euphoric description really didn’t apply to the being drunk part of the experience …

“… Public displays of affection. Public indecency …”

“Wow, Jensen. Man, I bet you have some great stories.”

“Five.”

“Huh?”

“My facility had five stories. I can jump ten. Once twelve.”

Jared burst into laughter. “You are really funny, man.”

“I am male. Yes. I have all male parts.”

Jared winked. “I’ll bet.” He downed his beer. He was right. It was going to be an odd night. He always had a sixth sense about this. Of course, some would say all his days and nights were odd because really, peculiarity and Jared seemed to go hand-in-hand. Like the time he dated the trapeze artist. Wow. Talk about flexible. Though really, some things could get dangerous.

His friends worried about him. Said he had wanderlust. Said he overthought things. That he was perpetually looking. Yeah, sure, he dated. Like a lot. And maybe it never worked out. But they were nice guys (even if a little odd) and he’d always parted friends. He bit back the flipside traitorous thought of boring.

“Jared. You are pretty.”

“Thanks, coming from you that’s quite the compliment.”

“Flowers are pretty. I saw a butterfly today. Butterflies are pretty. She is pretty.”

The last was said with a nod at the bartender who had returned with their drinks. Well, okay, Jensen was correct in his assessment, but, “Jensen, you need a better pick-up line. And, um, you need to decide who you’re hitting on first.”

Jared never saw the fist coming. One minute he was sitting on his stool and the next he was on his ass on the wood floor and his jaw was pulsating with pain.

“What the--?” Jared brought his hand to his face, wiped away a fleck of blood. He must have bitten his lip.

“I decided to hit you first. Was that correct?” Green eyes glowed at him, the pitch black pupils opening wide and then shrinking again. “There is a ninety-nine percent probability that you are in pain … Oh. Bad. Error.”

Jared stood. The bartender handed him a napkin to wipe away the blood and turned angrily to Jensen. “You need to leave, buddy. Right now, before I call Fred.”

“I was bad. They will come. Supposed to stay under the radar. To lay low.”

Only the first part made any sense. Jensen’s complexion had paled and his breath was coming in quick little bursts.

“Who will come?”

“Error. I am defective. They will come. Take me away. No more Jensen.”

Any other guy would think Jensen was a freak. Would let the bouncer throw him out. Would finish their beer and call it one weird night.

Jared wasn’t that guy. Because inside those otherworldly jade eyes was something unmistakable. Fear.

A very large, very hairy man approached. Hello, Fred.

Jared put on his biggest smile. “Hey. Look, it’s okay. Really. No harm. Just a little misunderstanding.”

“But he just-“ the bartender interrupted.

“No, really. You know, we’re both taking off. Right, Jen? C’mon.”

Jensen tilted his head. “How many stories?”

Jared smiled. “Me? I got lots of ‘em. And I’ll tell you all of them. But right now, I think we gotta go, pretty boy.” Jared put his hand out and Jensen stared at it before tentatively taking it in his own. The other man’s grip was strangely cool, but then again Jared ran a few degrees warmer than anyone else most of the time.

They exited quickly. Jared grinned at Fred and left the pretty bartender an oversized tip.

Outside he looked around. Put a hand to his sore chin. “Well, Jensen. It was interesting meeting you. You’re gorgeous but certifiable. So, no hard feelings and, um, have a nice life.”

Jared walked away. He thought he should be proud of himself. His friends would think he was acting very maturely and rationally and this was good because if he got all mixed up with the crazy, excruciatingly beautiful stranger it would lead only to confusion and things were confused enough as is. His friends had read him the riot act after the animal trainer. All because he’d volunteered his apartment for the chimpanzee. But it was only a weekend and he hadn’t realized what the laws were in this state. Besides, the neighbors were busybodies. It was probably a good thing that the parents at the center hadn’t heard about it. The kids would have loved it, though.

And it’s not like anything went wrong with his last boyfriend. Well. It was a ridiculous and old-fashioned rule about having to be quiet in libraries.

But this time. Hell, he’d just walked away.

He never walked away.

Which might explain why Jensen was following him.

“Jared. Help.”

Oh shit.

“Look, dude, I, um, I don’t know you but I think you need more help than I can give you. You should just go home, okay?”

“Hide me. Or, I will be … terminated early.”

What?!

“What?”

And then the strangest thing happened. Jensen parted his lips to answer, had the start of Jared’s name out of his mouth, and he just … froze. Those pleading eyes that Jared was doing his damnedest to not look at suddenly went blank. Like someone’d flipped a switch.

Then that kissable pink mouth opened and closed like the mouth of a fish in an aquarium, Jensen’s head twitched, and, “Hello. I am Jensen.”

“Right. You’re Jensen. Got that. Let’s get back to the terminate part. You mean, as in fired, right?”

Jensen’s pupils did that odd dilate-and-shrink thing again. His eyes were huge now as they drifted slowly down Jared’s body in the most complete look-over Jared had ever received. And at six-feet-four plus he’d gotten his fair share of up and downs before. But this … it was like the dude was getting every measurement. And from the amount of time his eyes lingered there before looking up to meet his eyes … even that question seemed to be answered.

“You are Jared.”

Jared sighed. They were going backward. He glanced at his watch. Late. Clearly this night wasn’t going to end in any way that he’d anticipated.

He was surprised when Jensen spoke again. “I am sorry to confuse you. I had to reboot.”

“Yeah. I know how that is. I mentally hit alt-control-delete all the time. Tend to think ahead of myself, you know? So, if you’re feeling better now we should say goodnight. Okay?”

Jensen tilted his head. “I do not feel better.”

“Oh. Well, sorry to hear that. But we should still-“

“I do not feel. But I will be terminated. And I do not want that yet.”

The eyes meeting his might be talking about not feeling but they sure were tugging Jared’s heartstrings. Dammit. “I live pretty close to here. Want to come and hang out for a while? Maybe have some coffee and talk about it? Losing your job can be tough.”

“Job?”

“Yeah. You said you’re going to be fired.”

“No. I do not believe they will burn me.” His eyes grew bigger and his face a bit paler in the streetlight. “But I do not know for certain. It would seem like this body would be too valuable, but if it is broken beyond repair then maybe I will be incinerated.”

Jared stared at the man as a horrible realization dawned. A valuable body? A face like that? And worried like he clearly was … the poor guy was a prostitute.

With people shooting machine guns at him.

Jared was suddenly on the ground with Jensen layered over him. Rat-tat-tat split the sidewalk around them.

What the--?

“Jared?”

“Yeah?”

“Run.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. Jensen crouched up, grabbed Jared’s hand, and they took off up the street, serpentining to avoid the bullets that were ricocheting around, bouncing off buildings and breaking the sidewalk in dusty bursts. Jared’s breath hitched out of his body faster than he knew possible. Those. Were. Bullets. Flying at him!

Think, Padalecki. He was back in third-person mode. About to race through traffic against the red light. He stopped short of being hit by a taxi. The driver cussed at both of them.

But this was good.

“C’mon.” He pulled Jensen into the taxi.

The other passenger started yelling but Jared shouted over her. “Drive. Now!” Maybe the cabbie recognized the whiz that ended in a thud in the cab roof. Or he liked to follow orders. Whatever. He drove.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” The attractive woman in her mid-thirties whose lap Jared was practically in was spitting nails. Her bluster started to die, however, when she got a look at Jensen. Yeah. He kinda had that effect on people. The whole ‘like looking into the sun’ thing. Jared smirked.

“Hello. I am Jensen.”

The woman’s eyes widened. “Hi. I’m Liz.” Not that Jared was vain or anything but people usually noticed him at least a little. Yeesh.

“I’m Jared,” he volunteered. She finally moved her eyes over Jared. Well, it was about time.

“Where you going?” the driver asked.

“Take the lovely lady where she’s going first.” Jared smiled widely at her. Then he glanced at Jensen who was staring out his window, apparently mesmerized by the passing cityscape. Jared hesitated a moment and then gave the driver his address as the second stop.

Inside his apartment Jared grabbed a water out of the refrigerator and tossed one at Jensen who caught it one-handed and studied it as if he’d never seen a bottle of water before. Handsome. But batty as a fruitcake. Jared sighed. And then Jared noticed the hole in Jensen’s sleeve.

“Shit! Oh my god, Jensen. They shot you.”

He reached over to examine the other man’s arm. The hole went straight through the fabric. Only. There was no blood. Which made no sense. “I don’t … take off your shirt.”

Jensen blinked at him.

“Jensen. You were hurt. Take off your shirt so I can check it out.”

“Jared. It is fine. I have repaired myself. The damage was minimal. But I am still broken. I cannot identify the source of my error earlier. I have been noticed and I will be terminated.”

Jared ignored Jensen and pushed the sleeve carefully up his arm. Jensen did not react, even though it should have hurt.

A purplish thin liquid leaked out of the hole in his skin. It looked like watered down ink, just starting to dry, and felt slightly oily.

Jared worked with preschoolers. He knew what blood looked like. It never looked like that. He took a deep breath and willed himself to calm down. He opened the kitchen junk drawer and pulled out a pen light.

“Hold still.”

With shaking hands, he pointed the light into the wound on Jensen’s upper arm. A fleshy layer, more of the purplish substance - like a modified blood of sorts, and super thin fiber-like wires. He stared harder and the penlight reflected off something shiny.

Metal.

Jared dropped the penlight and took a leap back. “You … you’re … but … you’re not possible.”

“No. I am Jensen.”

Jared bit back an hysterical laugh. He was funny. The robot was flippin’ funny. Okay. Maybe this was a setup. A friend with some connections to a special effects shop. Pretty darn amazing movie-quality FX, but still. Made a helluva lot more sense than the Tin Man here.

“Was it Chad?”

Jensen tilted his head regarding him. His eyes did that funny little dilation. “There are 255,489 people in the United States named Chad. I will need more data to narrow down the probability of a specific Chad having anything to do with me.”

Jared laughed. He backed against the wall and slid down because he couldn’t stop and people with real bullets were just shooting at him and this … this … man … had a bullet hole in his arm and was leaking purple blood. Only. Not blood. Motor oil or something. And why, why not just once, couldn’t his attempt to pick up a good-looking guy go the normal way? Why couldn’t he just be drunk and fucking and waking up with rat’s breath and a clumsy embarrassed moment of shit, who are you?

“You are amused.”

Jared wiped the tears from his eyes and tried to catch his breath. Jensen continued again in his stilted speech. “I am not designed for humor.”

“Then you come to it naturally, pal.”

Jensen hitched his lips up in a sort of smile. It looked good on him. Jared swallowed some of his water and pointed to the living room. “C’mon, sit.”

On the couch, they sat side by side. Jared tucked a leg under himself and faced his very unusual guest. He knew his relationships routinely took weird dives. Like his life was one long search that always ended in disaster. That time he’d dated the pastry chef, for instance. But how was Jared to know that was a wedding cake? It wasn’t even white. Okay, it had like five tiers or something. But Jared had only taken a little piece from the top. Bridezilla didn’t need to be quite that upset. Henri had baked her another cake. Okay. Maybe it was after the wedding. But. Yeesh.

So Jared kept his voice calm as he asked his next question. “Jensen. Are you a machine?”

“I am Jensen.”

“Yes. I know that. Are you … biological?”

Jensen’s eyes got greener. Or bigger. Or both. “No. Not exactly. I have organic components.”

“Did the bullet hurt you?”

“I cannot feel pain. Not like you do. I am aware of injury. I self-repair when I can. That was not difficult. The other correction is harder.”

“What do you mean, ‘the other’?”

“I did not process the data correctly in the drinking establishment. That was a serious error and brought attention to me. If I go back, I will be terminated.”

“The men shooting. They want you back?”

“Yes.”

“Who are they?”

“They are from the facility.”

“The facility?”

“Cybernon.”

“Never heard of it.”

Jensen regarded him a moment. “Civilians do not know of it.”

Jared looked Jensen over. He hated the thought but couldn’t help himself. He had to be worth millions. Maybe more.

“Jensen, are you sure that they’d terminate you? You must be valuable to them. I mean, they bothered to … build you.”

“They will save all the parts. I will be recycled. You are right.”

Dammit if Jensen’s eyes didn’t look sad. “I thought you said you don’t feel emotion.”

“I cannot.”

Jared didn’t say anything. He was so tired. The adrenaline rush was long gone and he felt bone weary. “I’m gonna crash. Do you … rest? Sleep? Go on standby or something?”

How crazy was it that already it was all starting to sound normal to his ears? Jensen nodded. “I can go into sleep mode.” He looked hesitant. Which was impossible. Except he did. More than that. He looked scared.

Jared leaned in. “Jensen? What is it?”

“You can call them. They will not shoot you. They will be happy to have me back. I will not know until it is too late.”

Something warmed deep inside Jared. “I wouldn’t do that. Never. Okay?” He met Jensen’s eyes. They glowed at him. Jared was asking for trust. Which Jensen just said he couldn’t feel.

“Okay.”

Jared smiled.



Jared woke to the sound of the fire alarm. Which pretty much meant that he awoke screaming like a little girl, gasping for breath and almost peeing in his shorts. Fuck.

He ran out of the bedroom.

Jensen stood in the kitchen hovering over the flaming toaster. He seemed perplexed and stood motionless.

Jared yanked at a dish towel and smothered the small flame. He shoved open the window before waving madly at the fire alarm, which continued to blare horrifically.

Dammit. Even without a battery the thing kept going. Was hot wired to the ceiling.

“Can’t you talk to it or something?” he yelled at Jensen over the blare.

Jensen tilted his head and studied Jared as if he were a unique specimen in the zoo. Covering his ear with one hand Jared started swinging the dish cloth wildly around the smoke, hoping to disperse it.

“Given the cubic centimeters of this room you will need to achieve a speed of fifty strokes per second in order to dissipate enough of the heat to turn off the sensor.”

“What?”

“I do not believe you are waving quick enough.”

The doorbell rang. “Fire department!”

Oh crap. Could this morning get any worse?

Jared dropped the cloth and swung the door open. “It’s okay. It’s fine. No fire any more. Just the alarm won’t-“ The alarm stopped. The quiet was so sudden, Jared jerked slightly.

Two firemen entered, eyeing Jensen oddly. Jared followed their stares and that’s when he realized Jensen was naked.

Carefully avoiding the naked man now in his living room, the fireman entered the kitchen and unplugged the toaster. “Might want to get this serviced,” one of them said matter-of-factly.



Jared poured cereal into a bowl while looking at his blackened toaster sadly. It was one of those models with the extra-wide slots so he could toast bagels. He really loved toasted bagels in the morning. He poked his Rice Krispies until the little pops reached his ears. It made him smile despite the insane morning.

Across from him Jensen sat staring blankly, dressed in Jared’s old sweats and t-shirt. His clothes were soiled from some pre-fire kitchen adventures and that’s why he’d taken them off. Jared’s clothes were too big on him and made Jensen look even more like the over-grown child Jared decided he was, machine or not. A feeling of protectiveness swept over Jared. He was used to children. Worked with them all day running the day care center. In a way things were starting to make sense. He appreciated Jensen’s good looks, but he was very much like a strikingly beautiful child.

At least it was Saturday so he wouldn’t have to leave Jensen alone all day while he went to work. Given the apparent danger that surrounded Jensen, Jared couldn’t bring him near the center. But he really didn’t want to leave him alone either. This morning proved how bad an idea that would be. He sighed. What the hell was he supposed to do with the robot-child?

“I am sorry, Jared. I have damaged your bread-heating device.”

Jared looked over, putting down a soggy spoonful. “It’s okay.”

“I can try to repair the device, if you wish.”

“Sure. If you think you can safely. I don’t want any more fires though, okay?”

“Fire is dangerous.”

“Yes. It is. Did you get burned?” Jared asked suddenly. He hadn’t noticed any damage, but he also hadn’t thought to ask until now.

“It is repaired,” Jensen answered matter-of-factly.

Jared accepted this and decided to move on and find out more about Jensen. “Jensen? Are there other robots … like you?”

“I am Protocol One.”

“You were the first?”

“Yes. If testing goes well, there will be more.”

“How many more?”

“I do not know.”

“What kind of testing?”

“Motor skills, critical analysis, languages, combat skills-”

Jared cut Jensen off even though it looked like he was going to continue. “Were they creating soldiers? Mechanical - well, whatever your are - soldiers?!”

“I was to be deployed as necessary.”

“Deployed where?”

“I do not know.”

Jared took another spoonful of cereal. Jensen’s attention was suddenly drawn to Jared’s bowl.

“That sustenance makes noise.”

Jared swallowed and looked up suddenly, milk slightly dribbling on his lips. He couldn’t help but smile. “Yep. Snap. Crackle. Pop.” He pushed the bowl toward the man-child-machine in his kitchen. Jensen put his head closer and turned it sideways.

After a moment the same soft pop left the robot’s lips. Jared knew it wasn’t possible but he could swear Jensen’s eyes were twinkling more as he imitated the sound. The mimicry was perfect. Like Jensen was filled with cereal coming apart in tiny bursts in his tummy. Jared considered this ability to copy sounds, trying to imagine how useful this would be to the military.

A dark thought wiped away Jared’s smile.

“Jensen. Are you trained to kill?”

Jensen looked up. The popping stopped. “I was fully trained in all forms of combat.”

Jared didn’t want to feel afraid. And he didn’t. Mostly. Dammit, weren’t there supposed to be rules about this or something? “What about the rules of robotics? Aren’t you supposed to be forbidden from hurting a human?”

Jensen’s eyes did that weird sideways twitch again. “I do what is necessary to fulfill my mission.”

“And what is that?”

“I do not know. I have left the facility.”

Jared nodded his head in an understanding he didn’t feel. “Jensen. Can you promise me something? Agree to it now?” Jensen looked at him in what could only be called puzzled. “Don’t hurt anyone. I know you didn’t mean to hit me last night. That you misunderstood. So, no matter what, just assume that your mission now is to not hurt anyone. Can you do that?”

“Causing Jared pain was incorrect.”

“Jensen. This is important. Causing anyone pain is incorrect. Anything alive. You can’t hurt anything that is alive.”

Green eyes met his. “Even those who are trying to terminate me?”

Fuck. Should he order the robot - Jensen - to just surrender and let himself be essentially killed? But would they terminate him? Jared thought most likely they’d simply take him in and reprogram him to become the perfect killing machine Jared was now trying to prevent.

Maintaining eye contact Jared asked, “What do you think?”

“I will not hurt anyone.”

“Even if-“

“I do not wish to be terminated early. But Jared has helped me.” His head twitched, then steadied. It looked exactly like someone making a tough decision. “I will not hurt anyone.”

Jared let out the breath he’d been holding. He pushed the soggy cereal bowl away. “You know what? This isn’t going to do it. C’mon, let’s get us some real breakfast.”



The last thing Jared needed were his friends meeting Jensen. So, of course, it was the first thing to happen.

“Jay-man, I knew I’d find you in here!”

Chad. His best friend approached and took a seat next to Jared, eyes flying to Jensen questioningly. “New friend?” The look that Jared got made it clear Chad assumed this was a new boyfriend.

The diner was near Jared’s apartment. It was nowhere near Chad’s but that didn’t matter. His friend would work his way uptown and show up and never leave pretty much every weekend. Normally Jared didn’t mind.

“I’m Chad,” Chad said to Jensen when the silence grew a little too long. “Tell me you don’t own any exotic animals.”

“I do not own any exotic animals.”

Chad laughed. It came out slightly relieved. “Washing monkey feces off the ceiling? Not fun.”

“There are two hundred different types of monkeys.”

“Yeah? Huh. I didn’t know that.”

Jensen nodded. “They are divided into New World Monkeys and Old World Monkeys. New World Monkeys include the Spider Monkey, Red Howler Monkey, Squirrel Monkey, Saddle Back Tamarin, Lion Tamarin, Owl Monkey, Marmosets, Titi Monkey-“

“Jensen. Thanks. But you can stop now.” Jared turned to Chad’s open-mouthed stare. “He … gets excited about things.”

“Right. Jensen, eh? Unusual name.”

Jared fought back the urge to say you don’t know the half of it.

“A monkey was once tried and convicted for smoking a cigarette in South Bend, Indiana.”

Chad chuckled. “Well then, Jay-man, coulda been worse. Coulda burned your apartment down and not just crapped all over it.”

“I almost burned the apartment down. Jared put out the fire. I damaged Jared’s bread-heating device. But I will try to fix it.”

Chad’s hand landed on Jared’s shoulder. “Jay? Please. Not again.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Where’d you find him?” Chad asked as if Jensen wasn’t there. Jared knew that Jensen wouldn’t feel insulted but, dammit, Chad didn’t know that. What if this was a real someone he’d just met?

“Stop it. You’re being rude. Jensen and I met … recently. He’s a friend. It’s not. It’s not like that.”

Chad looked unconvinced. “Well, he’s the prettiest damn thing you ever brought home. I’ll give you that.”

“Chad!”

Chad put his hand out placating. “Hey, it’s cool. Knew this would be coming soon once the librarian kicked off.”

“Fuck, Chad, Stan didn’t ‘kick off’. You make it sound like I killed him or something.”

“That would be wrong,” Jensen said solemnly.

Both men looked at him. “Yes. It would be,” Jared reiterated.

“What do you do, Jensen?” Chad asked suddenly.

“I do not know. I am learning.”

Chad nodded. “Yeah. True for us all. Well, Jay here is good with existential crises.” He turned to Jared. “Didn’t the librarian join the circus or something?”

“No. That was the trapeze artist. And he just switched jobs, it was hardly a crisis. Look, um, Chad … I’m kinda busy today.” He cringed, knowing that Chad wouldn’t take this well.

His friend looked between Jared and Jensen and was about to speak when Jensen reached out and grabbed Jared’s wrist hard. “Jared. They are back.”

“Who?”

“The men from last night. I saw their vehicle pass by outside. It’s a 99.9999 percent certainty that it is the same one.”

But how? He didn’t realize he’d spoken aloud until Jensen replied. “I do not know. Insufficient data.”

Jared turned to Chad. “Did you drive here?”

“Yeah, I’m parked out back.”

Jared thought quickly and tossed money on the table. “Keep your head down but walk at a normal pace.”

“Jay - what the hell?”

“Go. Now.”

He led Jensen and Chad to the back parking lot but stopped just outside the restaurant doorway. “Jen, do you see them?”

Jensen scanned the area slowly. “No.”

“Okay. Chad, I … we … need your help.” Jared spun back to Jensen. “Get in Chad’s car and get down, make sure you are below the window.”

Chad pulled out of the lot and merged into Saturday morning traffic. After a couple blocks, he risked glancing at Jared who was scrunched down low in the passenger seat. “You wanna let me know what the fuck is going on?”

“Let’s go to your place. I’ll … explain later. Okay?”

Chad huffed but drove on.

Inside Chad’s apartment Jensen looked around slowly. It was a mess. Leftover take out containers and dirty clothes strewn about. Chad looked slightly chagrined. “Sorry. Didn’t expect to be entertaining.”

“Do you tap dance? That is a common form of entertainment.”

“For ten-year-old girls.” Chad stared at Jared meaningfully. “Is he on something?”

“No. It’s not like that.”

“Yeah. You’ve said that already. Try something new. What exactly is it like? What. The fuck is going on?!”

Ignoring his friend because he couldn’t think of a good answer, Jared sat on the sofa and spun Chad’s laptop toward him from its perch on the low coffee table. He started typing in the search pane. What was that name? Cyber-something. Cybernon.

He expected to find nothing.

Cybernon Comics came up as the first hit. It was the only exact match. And it was in town. Maybe it was a coincidence. But he didn’t have anywhere else to start. They needed information.

Chad was breathing down his neck with impatience as Jared cleared the screen. “Jared? You can’t just …”

“Give me a moment with Jensen, Chad. Please.”

Ignoring the just-ate-a-sour-lemon face Chad gave him, Jared pulled Jensen aside, told him what he’d found and said he was going to check it out.

“Don’t say anything about your mechanical side. Be … be human. Okay?”

“Infiltration is in my programming.”

Jared tried not to shudder at that.

“Chad? I need a favor A really big one.”

Chad was staring at him now like he was crazy. “Jay, what is going--?”

“I’ll explain. I promise. Jensen is … “ He approached Chad and lowered his voice. “He’s like a kid.”

Chad’s eyes opened wide. “You mean like mentally?”

Jared didn’t like this lie but it was the best he could come up with on the fly. “In a way. Just. Special needs. Anyway, I need you to keep an eye on him for a few hours. Don’t let him leave. Or talk to anyone. Or. Anything.”

“Jay. Even for you this is weird.”

“Look. He won’t shit on your ceiling. I promise. Just do this for me. I’ll be back.”

“Where are you--?”

“I have to take care of something for Jensen. Please, Chad.”

Jared approached Jensen once more. “Stay here with Chad. He won’t hurt you. And you remember your promise, right?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think they know who I am?”

“Possibly. But not likely. More likely they are circling the area surrounding the bar in a standard search pattern.”

Jared deliberately avoided looking at Chad.

“Okay. So you’ll be safe here. I’ll be back as fast as I can, Jensen. Maybe even with some answers.”



Cybernon Comics was an unassuming shop on a quiet commercial street. It was flanked by a Starbucks and a dilapidated antique store.

Upon entering, the dry odor of dust and paper immediately assaulted Jared. He eyed low rows of wooden tables, filled to the brim with comics arranged by genre and then alphabetically. He walked around randomly thumbing some issues until a nebbish man appeared out of a back room. He was considerably shorter than Jared, with unruly auburn hair and a scraggly beard. Lips twisting in an awkward smile he asked if he could help Jared find anything.

“Nope. Just browsing.”

“Well, I’m Rob. Anything you need, just ask.”

Frustration flushed through Jared. What did he really expect to find here? It was a comic book store, just as advertised. Not some top-secret government front for a robotics factory. Hell, the squat two-story building wasn’t anywhere near big enough. He was an idiot.

Jared was in the back of the shop staring at an ‘employee-only’ sign and debating if he should enter when the front door squeaked open again. He heard Rob say, “Coffee. Great. Thanks, man.”

Turning back toward the entrance, Jared’s heart stopped.

“Jensen. What are you--?” He dashed to the front counter and grabbed the robot’s arm. “I told you to stay with Chad!”

“What--?”

“It’s not safe. They might not know me but they sure as hell know you! Do you want to get terminated?”

“Letgoa’me!”

Rob started to intervene. “What are you--?”

Jared seized Jensen’s arm and manhandled him toward the door. The robot continued to fight, harder than Jared would have expected. Was he malfunctioning again? They were almost at the exit when a dark blur outside caught Jared’s attention. A black SUV was parking across the street. Fuck. Three men jumped out. Jensen’s eyes widened at the sight and sparkled greener than ever.

Reversing roles, Jensen gripped Jared’s arm and pulled him toward a rear door. Their eyes locked for a moment before Jensen ordered, “Run.”



To Chapter 2
To Master Post
To Art Post