Discovery

X sat on the truck. The wheels rumbled on the rocky road. Finally, I'll be back together with K again. The warehouse was close, K was smart, hiding in a remote area so the police couldn't find him. He thought. The view outside was dusty, splattered with rugged sand dunes. The warehouse was in the distance, a mirage of sand and dust splattered across the windshield. The warehouse's roof was bent in, the metal support beams on the side were twisted and rusty. The bot said.

"We're here." X took a laser rifle from the trunk of the transport truck and gave one to the bot too. X grabbed a roll of tape and taped the bot's rifle in the stun position. He didn't want to take any chances.

The duo passed broken barbed wire and a scratched sign that said fifty-one toward the abandoned warehouse. The old metal gate creaked open when he pushed it. For a moment, it registered that the gate should have been locked. Instead, though, X considered it luck and walked inside with the bot.

He caught a glimmer of metal out of the corner of his eye. The bot beside him seemed to shake a bit, as if nervous, and X couldn't resist the impulse to try and soothe his companion. "What should I call you? Do you have a number or something?"

"My designation is B-zero-B one seven nine three." The bot's voice seemed to soften and grow calm.

"That's too long, I'll just call you B. B for Bob." X's chest lightened. He forgot what it was like to have a friend.

The pair walked through the dirty granite road to the decrepit warehouse ahead. X scanned the grounds.

"There's footsteps here, looks like K's size, he shouldn't be far ahead." X followed the footsteps, taking a turn to the left.

"Stop!" Bob shouted.

"Keep your voice down. Let's just get inside."

"No!" Bob's metal arm shot out.

X tried to slap it away. "What's wrong with you?"

Bob scanned the steps one more time. "It appears these footsteps were made by extraterre-"

"I know my brother better than you do, these are his footprints, I'm sure," X kicked at the metal pipes littering the path.

Bob's eyes shot up to the roof of a second building. "I believe we are being watched, sir."

"There's no one here. Let's move."

Suddenly, X caught a figure moving like a shadow, a whoosh, and the shadow was in the warehouse. X looked up as he heard a mechanical whirr. Two blurred shadows dropped down. Bob took a hit right in the mainframe and collapsed. The figure in slick black grabbed X by the neck. X spun and kicked to get away. He turned and a flash of light gave him a good look at his assailant. It was the same agent that killed his dad.

"You! You'll pay!" X shouted. The agent tightened the grip on X's windpipe. He wheezed. Is this how he would go down, X thought? Just like his father?

No, he told himself, I can't. Using his last ounce of strength, X reached toward a metal pipe on the ground. His fingers tightened around it and brought it down on the agent's visor. The black mask shattered into pieces. Shards fell to the ground. X looked at the agent's cold face.

He sputtered, "K?