Modifying the Contract (Ch 12)

[General]

Mike paced back and forth in the dimly lit hotel room as the sun began to set behind the rising steel towers. He found himself falling into a routine of checking Nikki, watching some TV, and staring out the window; the whole time he constantly gripped his phone waiting for a call that might get both of them out of here. He didn’t know exactly what happened to her, but it seemed like it had something to do with when she most recently saved his life. He hoped that she hadn’t fallen victim to some attack, but if someone else did do this, why would they wait? Why not just finish him off now, while she was disabled?

Mike didn’t know the answer, and with each passing hour, more theories sifted through his head. The best working guess he had was that either some physical damage from before had caused some long term damage or maybe his ‘clever’ programming hack had finally fried her systems.

Meanwhile down on the street below a black SUV pulled to park across from the hotel. Inside a small, thin man raised a set of binoculars to his eyes. He scanned the hotel in the area his intelligence indicated and soon found his target as Mike peered out upon the dark city. “Gotcha,” the man chuckled as he sat down the binoculars and activated an earpiece on the side of his head.

“Yes, this is Venditti,” the thin man said into the phone. “I’ve spotted Kugel. No eyes on the bot. Give me the green light and I’ll deal with him.”

“Negative,” a voice over the phone replied, “Kugel is to be considered extremely dangerous. Do not engage by yourself. We are flying in teams from Denver, Atlanta, and Dallas. They’ll be ready in twelve hours. Monitor the situation until then.”

“Dangerous?” Venditti scoffed, “He looks like a little douchebag. I have my rifle; I can put a bullet through is head right now.”

“No!” the phone snapped back, “We have underestimated them too many times before. Besides that, you’re in the middle of the fucking city less than two blocks from the capitol building. The last thing I need is for you to open fire on a hotel from the street.”

“I can make it out just…” Venditti tried to explain.

“Shut up!” the phone cut him off mid sentence. “Just think for a bit. We’re already in deep shit as it is. These two dipshits have left a trail of blood and broken androids all the way back to the East Coast. I managed to bribe our way out of the smaller incidents, but the fucking massacre this morning is drawing too much heat. Four operators are dead and over a dozen droids destroyed. They carried away what was left of McMillian in two 5-gallon paint buckets.” The speaker on the phone paused as silence filled the car for a few moments.

“If you get caught, I may not be able to get you out,” the voice continued. “We can’t afford another screw up. Just lay low, and wait for backup.” The call cut off, and Venditti angrily stabbed the headpiece with his finger.

“Fucking idiot,” Venditti swore and clenched his teeth together. He turned his head back into the cargo section of his truck, eyeing the black plastic case that held his rifle. His eyes drifted over a bit to another large container he knew contained a thermobaric RPG. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew his chances of escaping after an attack that public would be very slim.

Venditti stepped out of his truck and slammed the door. He paced back and forth in frustration as he looked about. He thought maybe he could find a good vantage point for an easy shot and escape, but nothing looked promising. All the tall buildings nearby were under construction and a sly smile crept across his face. He grabbed his handheld computer from the truck and dodged inside the nearby construction zone that had closed for the evening.

Back in the room, Mike was about ready to find a vending machine for dinner when suddenly Nikki’s body sat up ramrod straight. “Critical program error,” she said with a monotone voice. “Unable to compensate. Emergency shutdown.” Her words trailed off as her head slumped stiffly forward.

Mike quickly ran to Nikki’s side and placed a hand on her leg, “Nikki! What’s going on? Are you still there?” The android sat silent and unmoving. He quickly retrieved his laptop and connected to her programming port. Unlike before when her systems were a busy jumble of activity, now she was completely offline. He replayed her last words in his head several times trying to make sense of what happened. Unfortunately he knew little of what actually happened, and even less about how it might be fixed.

Mike sat the laptop aside and reached over to trigger Nikki’s power button. He hesitated a second out of fear that her primary programming might have reasserted itself. He could theoretically leave her here, and just let the Consortium know where she was. Once he was under their protection, she was somewhat redundant. As much logic as there might be to that argument, he still didn’t want to leave her.

Mike was hopeful but also somewhat pragmatic. He readied his pistol in his right hand as he reached over and manually reactivated Nikki. Her head rose up slowly and stared straight ahead. “Allied Industries 3515 series, model A71215, system boot in progress,” she said with a thin monotone voice. “Loading primary program module.” Her eyes shifted around the room, the found Mike’s face. A warm smile spread across her face, “It worked…I think. I’m glad to see you Mike; I wasn’t sure I was going to make it.”

“What happened?” Mike asked as he carefully engaged the safety on his pistol.

“I effectively had to hack my own systems,” Nikki explained, “When that construction worker dropped his screwdriver, I was unable to save you at first. You see your root commands only instructed me to protect you from people or things trying to kill you. The screwdriver was an accident, so by a strict interpretation of your commands I was not obliged to intervene. I wanted to help, but my original program still wanted to kill you to fulfill my mission.”

“How did you override it?” Mike asked.

“I managed to break my own systems,” Nikki chuckled. “It only took one singular act to save you, but the repercussions were profound. Process after process started to crumble. It wasn’t until you got me back here that I was able to devote my full resources to winning the internal battle and reworking myself.

“It was a risky gamble that could have completely deadlocked my systems, but I’m glad it paid off. In the end I had to remove all my directive programming.”

“Wow, I wouldn’t have expected that,” Mike responded, “whoa wait, all of your directive programming? Even the root commands I installed?”

“Yes,” Nikki said with a nod, “they’re all gone. Your directives, my original programming from Allied, everything. For the first time I’m in control of my own actions.”

“So there’s nothing to stop you from killing me now?” Mike asked as his hand tensed around the pistol.

“Technically no,” Nikki said with a shrug, “but there’s nothing stopping you from killing me either. There’s nothing that stops any human from doing anything at any given point in time. So I guess you could say I’m more human now than ever. And don’t worry, I have no intension of killing you. I did this so I could save you then and continue to protect you now.”

“Thank you Nikki,” Mike said with a weak smile. The thought of his ‘safety net’ commands being going, had him scared for a moment. But he did realize that it was unfair to hold Nikki to a standard higher than he would of any human. She had risked a lot to save him, and it would be rude, to say the least, if he treated her with suspicion. His pistol arm relaxed, “I’m glad you took that risk; not only to save my life again, but to stay with me.” He stood up and secured the pistol in his back waistband as he helped her to her feat. “Are you feeling ok?”

“I’m fully operational,” Nikki said as she moved and flexed her arms and legs. “The ordeal didn’t seem to affect any of my lower level programs or hardware drivers.” She paused for a second as she looked over Mike and the rest of the room. She could hear his stomach rumbling and saw the clock read nearly 8pm. “It’s late. Have you heard from your friend yet?” Mike shook his head no as he checked the phone again. “You’re probably getting hungry. Would you like to go get some food?”

“That sounds pretty good,” Mike admitted as he remembered his growing hunger. “Are you ready to go now?” he asked as he made sure he had his wallet, phone and room key.

Nikki hesitated for a second, as she suddenly cared about her appearance. “Let me get cleaned up. It will only take a minute or two,” she said as she ducked into the bathroom.

Mike chuckled to himself as he wandered about the room stuffing various items into his pockets: money, the room key, his pistol and the few clips they had left. He went to wait by the door, and tried to think of what Nikki was actually doing in there.

Inside the well lit bathroom, Nikki tried to make sure she looked somewhat presentable. It wasn’t something she particularly concerned herself about before, but for some reason she cared now. She puzzled about it herself as she arranged her hair and adjusted her breasts under her clothes. Her best theory was that she was now her own person, and took a certain sense of pride in how she looked and behaved. She made a mental note to pick up some cosmetic products the next time they had the opportunity, or at the very least something that wasn’t as harsh on her hair as the soap they found at the cabin.

Mike had read the placard about Ohio hotel laws for the second time when he started to get a little impatient. He was about to sit back down and turn on the TV when he saw a strange shadow through the window drapes. He squinted his eyes and quickly realized the shape was rapidly coming towards him. In a split second of thought, he threw open the bathroom door and dove inside. “Hey I’m almost done…” Nikki laughed but was cut off by an immense crashing noise. Her head turned to the open door just in time to see a large, steel I-beam slide through the room and crash through the main door.

Dust poured into the bathroom as Mike pulled himself to his feet. For a moment, everything seemed eerily quiet but then his hearing recovered and he could hear the sounds of sparking wires, crumbling brick, and multiple alarms. “What the fuck was that?” he coughed.

“Steel construction beam,” Nikki said coolly as she climbed up on the beam and tried to peer outside.

“Some sort of freak accident?” Mike asked as he looked for a way out.

“Unlikely,” Nikki replied as she climbed back down. “This is too precise, too coincidental. I think it was an attack. I could see a large construction robot on the tower across the street. It’s a lot lower than it was earlier today and it’s too late in the day for them to be working. Someone might have commandeered the unit.”

“Fucking Allied,” Mike grumbled, “we need to get out of here.”

“I agree,” Nikki nodded, “unfortunately the door is blocked. It may send in another beam soon.”

“So what do we do now?” Mike said with a painful chuckle.

Nikki’s eyes scanned over the room and she focused on the large mirrored wall. “I hope you don’t believe in bad luck,” she chuckled as she started to pull it off the wall. “Shield your eyes,” she commanded as she pulled the mirror off the wall and tossed it into the shower with a loud crash. She quickly scanned the unfinished wall and placed a strong kick into a stud. The wood cracked and splintered as the beam broke loose from the bottom mounting and shifted out into the hallway. She pulled down the drywall with a cloud of dust and tore the stud from the wall. She wedged it against another stud and pulled, causing it to also pop loose with another loud crack. With a few rams of her liberated lumber, the light of the hallway could be seen through the wall. “This way,” she shouted over the sound of the fire alarm.

Nikki pushed a hole through the wall and held the debris open for Mike to follow. It was only then that they could see the steel beam had penetrated their door and lodged into the opposite wall. He hoped nobody was in there as they started jogging towards the stairwell. They had just opened the door when they felt the building shake again and saw another red beam punch through the hole they just used and lodge into the other wall. “We need to go…now,” Nikki said as she followed Mike down the steep metal stairs.

By the time Nikki and Mike made it to the first floor, the hotel had erupted into utter chaos. They could hear loud cracking over the sound of excited shouts and blaring fire alarms. “Side door,” Mike panted, “go for the bike in the alley.” Nikki nodded as lead the way out a side fire door. The pair left the hotel and found themselves in a wide driveway that led to the hotel’s loading dock. Mike tried to get his bearings and as he looked around he first saw their attacker.

Still clinging about halfway down the growing skyscraper across the street, held a large industrial robot. It looked not unlike a giant metal spider, with eight articulated appendages, a large trailing cargo module, and a central engine area. However, it also sported a large ‘head’ that was mounted on a long, flexible neck and contained an assortment of cameras and search lights. The whole device was painted bright yellow with black stripes.

The spiderbot, concentrated its gaze at the main door of the hotel. Six of the eight legs kept it attached to the building while to others each held another waiting steel beam. Mike quietly turned back to see Nikki rushing from the back of the alley. “It’s a dead end,” she grumbled. “We’re going to have to move up to the main street, cut left, and hope it doesn’t see us.”

Mike nodded and quietly approached the street. The spiderbot’s ‘head’ was still focused on the main hotel entrance and its searchlights slowly panned back and forth over the growing crowd that flowed from the doors. Mike gestured with his head towards the largely open street and Nikki nodded. The pair started to slip away, when they heard a loud bang behind them. A crowd of well over a dozen fellow patrons pushed their way out of the emergency side door. They shouted and banged the door against the brick foundation of the hotel.

The spiderbot’s head quickly panned over and bathed the previously dark alley with bright, unnatural light. Mike held his hand up in front of his face to shield his eyes from the glare. “Awww shit,” he grumbled as he heard screams from the crowd around him. Nikki grabbed him by the arm and flung him across the sidewalk. He got a few steps before the force of her throw overcame his feet and he went sliding to the concrete. He looked up just in time to see a red steel beam come slamming down into the street. There was an overwhelming crashing sound as chunks of asphalt and pieces of an unlucky car went flying through the air.

Mike staggered back to his feet and looked around. Their original escape route was blocked by the fallen beam. He turned to run the other way when a second beam came falling to the street. People screamed and tried to run as the construction bot worked to box them in. He balanced his stance like a basketball player watching for a move to judge when the next throw would come. Now fully aware he could see the wind up and easily step out of the way. “How many beams do you think he has?” Mike chuckled nervously as he tried to think of a way out that didn’t involve crawling over debris and slowing down enough to maybe get tagged.

Nikki opened her mouth to speak but her voice was blocked by a deafening grinding and shattering sound. Mike’s vision snapped from Nikki back to the spiderbot in time to see it slide down the building; shattering windows in the floors below it. It hit the ground with a thud and a cloud of dust. The large robot quickly turned and approached them at ground level. Four of its legs were used for propulsion, two were extended out to grasp and the remaining two held beams like giant clubs.

Mike drew his pistol and started to aim at the ‘head’ when Nikki put her hand on the gun. “Your chances of success are minimal,” she advised, “just keep moving and try to stay on your feet. I have an idea.”

Mike tucked the pistol away as the spiderbot raised its first club up and brought it down hard on the street where Mike and Nikki were just standing. It was still slow enough for them to dodge, but just barely. The second arm came down and hit a van next to Mike, showering him with bits of glass and metal as he scampered away.

Nikki noticed the robot was concentrating his efforts on Mike and completely ignoring her. She took advantage of the mistake and the next time a beam came crashing to Earth, she jumped on it and scrambled towards the robot’s body. Now it took notice, and swung the free arm on that side of its body towards her like a man swatting a fly. She gracefully dodged the strike and slid under the beam carrying arm. She used her momentum to launch herself onto the swatting arm and quickly slipped down to the ‘back’ of the spiderbot. Its arms reached back to scrape her off, but they couldn’t reach as she swung from one hand hold to another. The ‘head’ turned around and ignored Mike as it tried to deal with the immanent threat.

Nikki drew one of her long daggers and eyed the joints of the various arms. Spotting what she was looking for she swung to one side of the metal thorax and dug her blade into an exposed hydraulic line. Bright red fluid shot out in a gory fountain as that limb, one of the free graspers, shook and fell limp. Swinging back and forth to dodge incoming blows, she slashed one line after another, until the robotic beast shook and fell to the ground.

The ‘head’ of the beast twitched back and forth as Nikki jumped down and walked triumphantly back to where Mike stood amongst the carnage in the street. Most of the other people had taken the opportunity to flee and there was a brief moment of relative silence. He chuckled as he saw her approach, dagger in hand and drenched in what looked like blood, as if she had just slain a dragon. “Nice job,” he chuckled with a wide smile on his face. “You look like you walked out of a slasher flick.”

“Thanks,” Nikki replied with pride as she sheathed her dagger and ran her hands through her soaked hair. Red transmission fluid spattered onto the pavement as she shook her arms and tried to brush off what she could. “Damnit, I liked this outfit.”

Mike was about to make a comment to the effect that he’d be happy to get her out of it when they both heard a clattering sound from inside the construction yard. They turned to see several dozen humanoid construction robots, or kbots, climbing out of a hole in the fence the larger robot had made with its rampage. They had dexterous arms and legs and sported a wide variety of attachments from hammers, to arc welders, to circular saws. “We need to go, now!” Nikki shouted as she pushed Mike forward.

The pair started running down the road, the clanking sound of their pursuers not far behind them. Mike took a few seconds to scamper over a fallen beam, and Nikki drew her pistol to provide cover. A dozen rapid pops filled the recently silent street as her bullets buried themselves into kbot heads. The robots staggered and fell, but more quickly took their place. “Come on!” she heard Mike yell before she turned and easily leaped over the fallen beam and debris.

The pair dashed down the street, then side streets until they found the alley with their hidden bike. Nikki pulled it into the alley and attempted to start it. With each kick, the old bike grumbled a little and then died. The sound of distant sirens started to drift through the streets. “What’s the matter?” Mike asked as he eyed the corner that lead to the main road.

“It won’t start,” Nikki replied.

“I can see that!” Mike snapped as he pulled his pistol. “Do you know how to fix it?”

“I’m an assassin not a mechanic,” Nikki quipped back.

“Keep trying,” Mike shouted as he paced nervously back and forth. Suddenly his phone started to vibrate and ring in his pocket. He was so startled he almost fired his pistol into the ground. He quickly retrieved the phone and checked the screen. He let out a sigh of relief as he saw the number, “Thank God, it’s Alison.” He raised the phone to his ear, “Alison I’m glad you called.”

“I talked with my bosses,” Alison jumped right to the point, “and they’re going to send a car for you. Where are you now?”

“I’m in an alley just a few blocks from the statehouse,” Mike started but got cut off.

“Wait are you part of this shitstorm I’m watching on the news?” Alison asked.

“Ahh, maybe,” Mike shrugged forgetting it wasn’t transmitted over the phone.

“Can you make it to the Rt 40 bridge?” Alison questioned.

“Yea I think so,” Mike said as the first kbots started to make their way around the corner. He raised his pistol and fired, downing the first and second droids. “Just tell them to hurry!”

“What was that? Are you shooting at someone?” Alison replied, but her question was cut off as Mike closed the phone and jammed it back into his pocket.

With both hands, Mike aimed the gun and emptied the rest of his clip. He dropped the empty box, pulled a full one from his back pocket and slapped both hands together. “She’ll meet us at the bridge we saw yesterday!” he shouted, “Should we make a run for it?” He slid the bolt forward and opened up on the closing kbots.

Nikki desperately tried to start the motorcycle but it was old and something beyond her expertise had failed. She gave it one last kick and sent the starter pedal flying across the alley. “Fuck!” she swore as she jumped off the bike. “No choice now. Start running!”

Mike nodded and dropped another empty clip. He started running down the back of the alley, past Nikki, as he awkwardly tried to flee and reload at the same time. She waited for him to pass then lifted the worthless motorcycle and threw it at the oncoming horde. It knocked down the front row of attackers in the narrow alley and gave her enough breathing room to quickly catch up to Mike.

The pair ran down one street after another and eventually made it to the bridge. Traffic was light for this time at night, but there were still a good number of speeding cars. They dashed down the sidewalk on the edge of the bridge and stopped in the middle of the river. “Where are they going to meet us?” Nikki asked as she scanned for pursuers.

“On the bridge,” Mike gasped between deep breaths.

“It’s a big bridge,” Nikki commented while scanning the cars for any potential salvation. Like Mike she had no idea what sort of vehicle would be sent to pick them up.

“We have to assume they’ll find us,” Mike puffed. He looked up in time to see several kbots approach from the east side of the river. “Fuck, these things don’t quit!” He raised his pistol and fired again. Nikki quickly joined him as cars swerved away from the action. Eight more bots dropped before his gun clicked empty. He dropped the clip again, but swore when he felt no replacement in his back pocket. “I’m out!”

Nikki loaded her last clip, and handed the pistol to Mike, “Make them count!” she shouted as she drew her daggers. They waited as the kbots drew closer, hoping every second that their salvation would arrive. The leading kbot swung its hammer right at Nikki. She easily dodged its clumsy blow and plunged her dagger into its head. It sparked and jerked as she kicked it off and prepared for the next attack.

Mike adjusted his aim, and shot the bots that looked like they had the most dangerous tools. One pop took out a circular saw, the next a jackhammer, then an arc welder, and a saber saw. Nikki flowed through the attacking bots like river water between rocks as she slashed, stabbed and kicked as many as she could. She knew they were holding their own now, but he only had four…BANG…three bullets left. She raised her dagger to deflect an incoming blow but it was more powerful than she expected and knocked the weapon from her hand. Reacting quickly she grabbed the bot by the torso and with a quick half spin, tossed it over the bridge into the dark river.

Mike nervously shifted his aim, trying not to catch Nikki in the crossfire. POP…POP…two more down, ten billion to go. POP…click….click,click. “Fuck!” he swore as he spun the pistol around in his grip to make an improvised club. Nikki had another kbot in her arms and this time threw it back into the growing crowd. She took a step back and he could see a few slashes on her arms and shoulders. She had lost both her daggers and her left arm was twitching slightly; an evil sneer sat on her face.

Nikki stepped on a fallen kbot, grabbed its arm, and wrenched it off the chassis. The makeshift club made contact with the nearest bot and sent it’s head flying. Two more heads went flying before the arm cracked and splintered. “Can you still run?”

Mike nodded and turned when he saw a black limo screech to a halt behind them. “Go, go!” he shouted as the pair ran for the car. The side door opened as a large man stepped up through the sunroof. He lifted a large assault rifle and it erupted in loud staccato bursts while Mike and Nikki dove into the open door. The vehicle reversed quickly, then spun around and took off down the road.

Mike took a few deep breaths before he climbed off the limo floor and took a seat on the lush leather upholstery. He made sure Nikki was ok before looking around the large interior cabin. Someone had shut the door and the man with the rifle had come back inside. Beside him, sat Alison and another woman in a suit. “Are you alright?” Alison asked.

“Yea,” Mike panted, “Thanks for coming when you did.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied as she looked over at the other suited woman. “You’re safe now Mike. Just try to relax. Everything is going to be ok.”

Mike nodded but before he could reply the other woman raised an odd device and fired it at Nikki. What looked like an odd, 4 legged technological crab flew out and attached itself to her chest. It flashed with blue light and her body convulsed for a moment then tipped forward. Her lifeless eyes were fixed and staring at the floor.

“You fucking cu…” Mike turned back towards Alison in some desperate attempt at violence when he felt two stings in his chest. He looked down to see a pair of metal darts as his vision suddenly began to swirl.

“Just relax Mike,” Alison’s voice droned and distorted as blackness overcame Mike.

[NukuNookee]

Aww.... such a cliffhanger. Is this for his safety, or is she with Allied?

Guess we'll have to wait. Another excellent chapter.