《Over & Over》 Over & Over: The Beginning of the End Awake. Again. His alarm clock buzzed like a pillow was on top of it and it had been thrown across the room. A quiet purr was all it made. He sat up, and slapped, quieting the small noise. 8:07 A.M. Instantly, the same thoughts as usual came to his head. The daily agenda. Today, they differed a bit though. He walked to his kitchen, just a doorway away, and sat down to a bowl of dry cereal. The milk had gone bad so he was forced to make due with what he had. Finally, he looked at his phone and saw that there were twenty new messages. He scrolled through them relatively fast. Thirteen were from his workplace¡­ five from his landlord¡­. One from an unknown caller and¡­ one from his old girlfriend. It wasn¡¯t as if she was worried about him, she probably forgot something at his apartment before she left. He just sighed and shut his phone, putting on his old coat and stepping out into the day. It was cloudy. Good. He stepped onto the stairs and heard their familiar creak, signaling to everyone in the building that someone was leaving. Pat Tano stuck her head out of one of the windows and looked at him leaving. She wasn¡¯t sure of exactly what to say, and just studied him as he left. She was worried about him. He moved into a darker side of town, somewhere he had always been prone to visiting at times like this, when he was at the end of his rope (metaphorically speaking) when he just needed to go somewhere and think. Think about life, about everyone and everything that was on his mind. His special place was somewhat hard to find, marking it as a place that only he really knew about. Other people stayed away because of the large amount of graffiti on the walls, but he knew that the alley he was taking led to a nice place to just sit and think. Crawling through a hole in the concrete wall led to an overlook which saw almost the entire city. Those living in the outer layers knew nothing of the wealth within the city, it was almost as if they were two towns separated by a forcefield. You were rich, or you were poor. Those two things didn¡¯t mix. He sat down at the picnic table which had just a little bit too much rust on it and put his hand to his chin. Now that he had arrived could he do what he had set out to? He wasn¡¯t sure. So he thought. He thought and he thought as he always did when he was here. He thought about Suzy leaving him because he wasn¡¯t making enough money, cutting off their relationship that seemed based around money instead of love. He thought about his parents, living out in the country, who kicked him to the city because they thought he could be more successful than them, yet didn¡¯t care what happened to him afterwards. He thought about his job at the steel production factory. Steel was ever needed to make the skyscrapers in the middle of the city, and yet the workers there were paid barely enough to buy bread on. But this was his world. No complaints, or you would be cast to the curb, just like him. He got up to go look over the railing at the city below. It was bright, it looked like a future, a tangible good in the world. In reality, that brightness was simply a dark truth covered in bright tin foil, the city was actually a beast which would eat you up and spit you out without a second thought. Then move on to the next victim. He looked down at the area directly below as well, beneath him was a large concrete opening, which lay behind a small store. There were dumpsters back there as well, full to the brim. If he was lucky he would just hit right between the two dumpsters where nobody would ever even find him. He stood up on the railing, and said the prayer that his mother had told him so many years ago. It was right after his uncle had died. He remembered it like it was yesterday. He had fallen off the top of a grain silo and broken his neck. At least it was swift. Perhaps he had meant to die from a fall just like his uncle, subconsciously. His hands were sweaty, and it was hard to hold onto the railing backwards. He would not be the kind of man to look back right at the end. There was no guardian angel there to save him. There never was. One last time. He looked down. Closed his eyes. Then he jumped. He felt concrete, but there was no pain. The smell of garbage was not there. He scrambled to get up, but hit his head on the picnic table. Was he really back on the overlook? He was sure he had jumped. He was sure. He looked at the edge, but it looked no different than it usually did. That was when he heard a voice. It was soft. ¡°Did you really just try to kill yourself?¡± He looked back. She was younger than him, it seemed, with big brown eyes and short brown hair. She was a little lacking in the chest department, but her large ass made up for it. But wait¡­ why was he thinking about that now? What happened? ¡°But¡­ I jumped.¡± ¡°Yeah. You did. I had to go into overdrive to save your dumb ass.¡± ¡°My what?¡± ¡°You.. I¡­ Ugh, just be glad I got there in time will you? Are you ok?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t jump to end up being ¡°OK¡± you know.¡± ¡°Well that¡¯s good at least, what is your name?¡± ¡°My name? Luke..uhh¡­ T-Thoma-¡± He was a little thrown off by being asked his name after not only trying to kill himself, and being saved, but also having such a¡­ weird conversation with someone after said incident. ¡°Luka Ta¡¯Tama hmm? A strange name, but it fits you nicely.¡± ¡°Wait that isn¡¯t my-¡± ¡°Is there any particular reason you tried to do what you just did?¡± ¡°Well yeah there¡¯s loads of reasons but my name-¡± ¡°A reason to kill yourself would have to be pretty big don¡¯t you think Luka?¡± ¡°How about nobody caring if you live or die? Getting thrown to the curb countless times? Not everyone has the easy road.¡± She looked at the ground sadly. Perhaps he touched a nerve? She seemed like she had the easy life just by looking at her, nice clothes and well kept hair were very telling of a person¡¯s societal status. ¡°Eh¡­ You have no idea¡­ Anyways! I¡¯m taking you with me.¡± ¡°What?!¡± ¡°Yep, we¡¯re going to see Z-mo to fix you up.¡± ¡°What, do I have a problem?¡± ¡°Obviously, you¡¯re one of those gross pessimists.¡± ¡°Gross? Well yeah maybe¡­ wait who is Z-mo?¡± ¡°You¡¯ll find out!¡± Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.She then grabbed his sleeve and proceeded to drag him along with her, away from his probable grave. He thought that this was just momentarily stopping the inevitable, but all his courage was gone for the next few days anyways. This would be a good reminder of why trying to change his mind wouldn¡¯t work. They exited the alley into a throng of people that barely even took the time to look at them, weird uncommon things to the rich would be normal to their class of folk. She dragged him on and on, his pants getting thinner by the second, before he finally yelled at her that he would follow her if she stopped dragging him. ¡°You won¡¯t run?¡± ¡°If you stop dragging me I¡¯ll do anything¡­¡± ¡°Maybe perk up a bit?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t push it.¡± She let him up and he followed, a little annoyed. She was talking about something equally so when he decided to lose her, ducking into a small group of miners sipping coffee. She just kept walking until he could no longer see her. He had lost sight of her for a millisecond and she was gone? He looked around ducking down further to avoid being seen. He was annoyed, however, to feel an elbow leaning on his head. ¡°Finished yet?¡± ¡°Ugh.... You could at least tell me where we¡¯re going.¡± ¡°Z-mo¡¯s. I told you already.¡± ¡°That tells me nothing! Who the hell is Z-mo?¡± ¡°He¡¯s a professor! Well, kind of. He was? He¡¯s a scientist. Yeah let''s go with that.¡± That comment did not stop his feelings anxiety as they moved ever closer and to their destination. ¡°It¡¯s the first place on the left.¡± She had a grave look on her face at this point, and he was prepared to be pummeled by some gang overlord named Z-mo or something. They turned the corner, coming face to face with the most normal roadside soup shop he¡¯d ever laid eyes on. Looked like they sold ramen. He got all worked up about that? ¡°C¡¯mon, let¡¯s go in!¡± They ducked under the short curtain and sat down at the counter waiting to be served. At the end of the table were two men, talking to a large robot who laughed along with them after some sort of joke was made. He wore an apron and had some sort of lab coat underneath. Was some glitched out robot the ¡°scientist professor thing¡± she had talked about? ¡°Lexa! Hello! Welcome back, how long has it been?¡± ¡°Been a month if it¡¯s been anything Z-mo! How¡¯s the shop?¡± ¡°Running beautifully! Though finding the perfect ramen recipe through science is proving harder than I had previously thought¡­¡± ¡°Finding what?¡± At this point, Z-mo noticed that the shady looking guy in his shop was with Lexa. She pushed him forward. ¡°This is Luka Ta¡¯Tama.¡± ¡°My name is not-¡± ¡°Luka! How are you?¡± ¡°What? I¡¯ve never seen you in my life.¡± ¡°Yet I have seen you! Walking to that abysmal job every day for the past four years! Is it not tiring?¡± ¡°You saw me?¡± ¡°Of course! Out of all the men from that factory that walk by here every day you are the only one that has never given me the pleasure of having you in my shop.¡± He looked at Z-mo like he was some sort of madman, and a short tense air came around them. This was quickly broken by Lexa however. ¡°I actually need to get down in the lab! Your new model is done yeah?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been up to a lot, it would not surprise me if I finished it!¡± ¡°You aren¡¯t sure if one of your own projects is finis-¡± Luke was cut off as Lexa and Z-mo continued to talk, walking through the doorframe and into a small cottage. The only strange part was that there was no workshop. No tools. If this thing was an inventor, where were the gadgets? ¡°Where is everything?¡± At this Z-mo turned around, cogs spinning. ¡°Why sometimes you just have to slow down my boy!¡± Lexa laughed at the awful pun as the robot pulled his arm off, inserted it into a small hole, and pulled with the other. A tatami mat moved aside, and revealed a small staircase. ¡°Come now, let us go see ¡°everything¡±.¡± Z-mo led the way into a small cramped tunnel, which led to a metal door. Along the way he explained that this was an abandoned military facility. For some reason they had wanted one out in the boonies years ago, but as the city grew they were forced to move it further out of town, leaving this one behind in its entirety. Underground and forgotten. Once again taking his arm off, which appeared to be the master key, an old door was opened, leading into a large metal room. It was actually quite bright down here, and there were many things covered with sheets lying about. Metal legs, and even different parts of androids were strewn in the mix of throw aways. ¡°Alright Lexa, what were you looking for exactly?¡± Searching through the newer gadgets, she was able to find what she had been looking for. ¡°Metal bracelets?¡± Z-mo¡¯s fans whirled into something like a laugh, and took them from Lexa. ¡°So he¡¯s like that, is he? Ha. HA!¡± He took the metal rings and walked towards Luke. ¡°Alright Mr. Ta¡¯Tama, these are quite comfortable, just try them on!¡± ¡°I would much rather know what they are first.¡± ¡°Erm¡­ They open your senses to the world around you, make you truly feel what this world is, with all six senses!¡± ¡°Six?¡± But it was too late. Small robotic arms came out of the robot and clamped the rings on his arms, legs, even neck and torso. He was right about one thing though, they werw slightly comfortable. ¡°Keep these on for¡­ well until I want them back I suppose, or until Lexa wants me to take them off. Not that you can take them off yourself haha!¡± ¡°Hilarious.¡± Tugging at the rings he looked to Lexa, who had seemed to want this the whole time. Why had he agreed to follow her¡­ ¡°I think they look dashing to be honest.¡± ¡°What!? Metal bracelets?!¡± ¡°Rings Luka. They will help you, promise.¡± ¡°Well¡­ it isn¡¯t as if I can take them off anyways¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s the spirit!¡± More groaning wouldn¡¯t get him anywhere so he allowed her to lead him out of the facility. Z-mo followed close at hand, and soon they were back in the living quarters section of the roadside ramen shop. ¡°I have some customers to attend to, but it was a pleasure seeing you Lexa, stop by again soon!¡± ¡°Course!¡± She waved at the rust bucket and they were soon back on the bustling road. ¡°Can I go home then¡­¡± Luke was still annoyed, her complete optimism and childlike love of everything was annoying him. He just wanted to go home and listen to the angry voicemails he had received. ¡°Where do you live?¡± ¡°Wha what¡­¡± ¡°Where. Do you. Live?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to tell you that... ¡° ¡°Guess I¡¯ll just follow you till you get tired and go then.¡± ¡°God help me.¡± ¡°Sorry, you already threw him away.¡± Gone was the air of a child that he felt from Lexa up until now. Her eyes stared at the ground with a foreign intensity, and her voice was void of all emotion, save regret. This version of her might have actually been hot to him had he not just been backhanded by that comment. ¡°Not going to lose you, am I.¡± ¡°Never.¡± He was continually surprised by her comments, but felt as if he had lost their little argument, and started walking back towards his apartment. She followed a few steps behind, still looking a little serious. At times, he snuck a look back at her, but she still wasn¡¯t changing. Finally, hands in pockets, he reached his rusting apartment building. Pat had already gone to bed, and he quietly walked up the stairs, careful to not annoy his neighbors. One last look back made him realize that she was coming in with him. He hadn¡¯t had a guest since Suzy left, much less a girl, and was a little embarrassed at how dirty it was. He mumbled an apology and swept his hand out as if to say ¡°make yourself at home¡±. She simply took off her coat and sat down. ¡°Nice place.¡± ¡°Really anything is good enough for me.¡± ¡°Quality isn¡¯t very high up on the list is it?¡± ¡°No, but manners are. It isn¡¯t as if I can afford a better place¡­ especially after I quit¡­¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯ll help you clean it up tomorrow.¡± ¡°You¡¯re joking.¡± ¡°What? I¡¯m just helping you out.¡± ¡°Not that, you¡¯re staying here?¡± ¡°I said I wasn¡¯t going to leave you didn¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Well.. I¡­¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m just going to be a lazy bum all day Luka.¡± ¡°For the last time my name isn-¡± ¡°So I¡¯ll help you clean at least!¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ Fine¡­¡± Defeated, he retreated into his room. Hopefully she would realize there was only one bed in the place and leave if he fell asleep quickly. If she was trying to help him she wouldn¡¯t wake him up now would she? He jumped into bed and tried to act like he was asleep as soon as possible. A few minutes later he heard the toilet flush, and the door to his room opened. A few footsteps later, he felt her sit down beside him. She stretched out, back towards him, and let out a long sigh, getting comfortable. Thoughts raced through his head. She was just going to sleep with him? What the hell?! Even though he was surprised, it had still been a long day and he fell asleep quickly. Over & Over: Receive Luke arose peacefully to a heavy weight on his chest. For once it didn¡¯t seem to be the burden of society, but it was equally heavy.Cardboard boxes? Well there wasn¡¯t that much room around his apartment, cans littered the floor along with the plastic bags from the few times he did go out to buy groceries. Most of the neighbors called him a shut in, at least ever since he¡¯d become unemployed, and he didn¡¯t really have any way of denying that. Wait, where did the boxes come from¡­ ¡°Oh you¡¯re finally up!¡± The memories of yesterday finally came back. His attempted suicide, the girl that saved him, and¡­ the bracelets from that weird automaton guy. Looking down at his wrists, he realized they were still there¡­ of course. That proves it wasn¡¯t a dream at least. But wait¡­ why was she still there? Well, whatever. He got up and sat down at his small wooden table with a glass of potentially dangerous water and turned on his small TV. Nothing different. Just gameshows. The girl was gone, however. Wasn¡¯t she just here? He simply shrugged as many different thoughts swirled through his mind. She¡¯d even brought the mail in for him. Damn there were bills and now that he didn¡¯t have a job it was going to become increasingly difficult to pay them. He opened up the envelope to see how bad it was this time. Hmm, they hadn¡¯t gone up for once. Maybe the tenants were finally getting a break from the pay hikes as of late. He looked at the door. There was no way he was going to be able to gather his courage and even leave the apartment anytime soon, let alone finish himself off. He sighed. A failure, even in offing himself. He opened up his phone, navigating to the online bank feature. If the rates didn¡¯t go up, he could probably stay here for another two months. So long as he spent responsibly. Maybe he could find a better job by then too. But of course first was the hardest test of all, being able to get out of that door again, to mingle with all the people of the outside world. That was already difficult, and getting a job made it seem impossible. Oh well, he had some time. He just leaned back on his chair and put his feet up. As he was about to nod off he heard the door slam open and footsteps. Jerking his head to look at the door it was¡­ the girl again. He¡¯d finally started to believe that he had simply gone crazy and yesterday was some big dream of his. If not for the bracelets he might have thought he was completely insane. ¡°Ahh! Finally time to clean this pigpen!¡± ¡°Pigpen?¡± He looked around. Yeah there was bags everywhere, empty beer cans littered the floor, and the stench was just about unbearable, but it was better to him than a large empty room. He¡¯d always hated those. A bigger surprise was why she had come back, and why she wanted to clean the so-called ¡°pigpen¡±. He did remember her saying something like that last night though. Well, whatever. As long as she didn¡¯t find the mold in the- ¡°WHAT THE HELL?!¡± Yep, there it was. The landlord said not to let the authorities know or the building would be torn down. Probably a good idea, as almost anyone was accepted as long as you had enough money for the very low monthly rate. Nobody wanted to get kicked out of this haven and sent to the streets as many would be. So they lived with just a touch of mold. Barely caring about her loud voice coming from the other room, he flicked through TV channels with a battered remote. ¡°Luka there¡¯s mold in here!¡± ¡°Yeah, just don¡¯t mess with it.¡± He appeared to be taking the fact that a girl was intruding on his home, cleaning, and threatening to live with him very well. After trying to off himself, not much really ruffled him. Lexa continued to clean around the apartment, bustling to pick up his empty beer cans whenever he finished one. Usually he just let them stack up, but this was fine too. There was never anything on TV, but perhaps if he ignored her she would finally leave him alone. He didn¡¯t exactly want to fraternize with the person who prevented him from, uh, ending it all. Once she was finally satisfied with the cleaning job she had done, Lexa sat down in the other chair at his table, coincidentally the only other chair in his apartment. It isn¡¯t like he could afford one. He¡¯d picked these two up from the dump for god''s sake. Fully expecting it to be six P.M. already, he took at a look at the clock on the TV. It was only two. Lexa had finished cleaning quite a lot faster than he¡¯d expected. He was kind of expecting her to say something but she had her head down on the table, sleeping. Well, at least she wasn¡¯t bugging him. Though he was going to have to thank her for cleaning eventually¡­ Just then he remembered the boxes that she had set on his chest this morning. In his daze of the regular I-just-woke-up-go-away syndrome, he had shoved them off without looking at the contents. He rose from the chair, but not even this seemed to bug Lexa as she continued to rest there. He went into the bedroom to take a look at the contents. There was wood boards, and some metal bars. Was it a build it yourself coat rack? Eh, whatever, he¡¯d ask her eventually. Maybe she was some sort of missionary that helped the poor. Luke went back to his bed and laid down, pretty exhausted from a full day of doing nothing. Of course, it wasn¡¯t a full day as it was still about three, but he¡¯d take a nap at least. A few hours later, he woke up to a soft knocking noise. ¡°Must just be someone about the bills.¡± He muttered to himself as he sat up in bed. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and looked over to see that Lexa was hammering boards together with large nails. He looked at the thing she was building¡­ what was it. ¡°Whats..¡± ¡°Oh this? I don¡¯t exactly know you all that well yet, so if you think I¡¯m going to sleep in that cruddy bed with you at night I¡¯ll have to disappoint.¡± ¡°You- A bed frame?¡± ¡°That is what I meant if you didn¡¯t get it.¡± Lexa was a bit more serious about the whole ¡°I¡¯m living with you¡± thing than he had previously realized. Perhaps the sleep or the beers had numbed him to the situation, but he was slowly growing restless, realizing that a girl was legitly living with him for no reason. None! The worst part was, due to his morals, even if he was trying to off himself, she had saved his life, and cleaning his apartment and building a bed frame made it so he wouldn''t be able to say he couldn¡¯t allow it. Maybe he could convince her not to live here¡­ But what was he going to say¡­ Scratching his head he felt something fuzzy. It was earmuffs. Looks like that was the reason the hammering hadn¡¯t awoken him sooner. At least she cared enough not to try to wake him up. Even at work Luke had been a nobody. On the production line, most people barely talked in the first place, but a combination of his job and never leaving the apartment besides work had somehow limited both his ability to make friends and boosted his social anxiety to ten. So he started the conversation as every man should in this circumstance. ¡°I-I have bedbugs.¡± ¡°No you don¡¯t. I already checked. ¡° What? Checked? How? ¡°The mold¡­¡± ¡°Can be lived with, I understand.¡± ¡°But. I¡­¡± ¡°You were at least decent with conversation yesterday, what¡¯s your problem today? Drunk?¡±A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. He couldn¡¯t exactly deny that he was a little buzzed. But it isn¡¯t like that was an uncommon occurrence. It usually happened more than a few times a week at least. However, he wasn¡¯t stupid enough to drink in too much excess, just a buzz here and there. ¡°Whatever, if you don¡¯t want to talk that¡¯s fine too. Just go back to sleep.¡± ¡°Hey, I¡¯m just a little surprised¡­ you¡¯re building a bed frame as if this is permanent.¡± ¡°About as permanent as cancer.¡± ¡°But cancer can be removed.¡± ¡°With way too much painful radiation.¡± ¡°Why do you need to live with me¡­¡± At this she turned around and looked him in the eye. ¡°I¡¯m just here to help.¡± ¡°Help what?¡± ¡°Help you.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Do you need to ask so many questions?¡± ¡°If you were in my shoes would you not ask about the cancer, or would you just live with it.¡± ¡°Fair enough. Z-mo, the droid we got the bracelets from, was friends with my father. After my parents¡­ left me, he took me in. I still stay there from time to time. He isn¡¯t rich by any means, but staying with him is better than the streets. Z-mo saw you pass by every day, and you always got sadder. Or at least, that¡¯s what his emotional capacitor said. Something like taking images of you every day and seeing the gradual downhill slide you took is what he said. I haven¡¯t exactly been a shining star when it comes to meeting new people and having conversations either, but I¡¯m better than you, and so Z-mo suggested I help you out.¡± It was all because of that droid? ¡°Help me out? Does that ever imply living with me?¡± ¡°According to my judgement, it does.¡± Luke scratched the back of his head in bewilderment. He wasn¡¯t sure what the hell was going through that girl¡¯s mind, but it seemed to be set on staying there. He didn¡¯t really care anyways. She¡¯d cleaned at least. With any luck she¡¯d just give up anyways. According to what she¡¯d said she didn¡¯t care that much about him, and having to do something based solely off requirement only lasted so long. He walked out into the kitchen area to get something to eat. By now it was about four and he still hadn¡¯t eaten anything. He was going to have to get used to eating one meal a day until he procured another job. That was about when he realized that he was out of food¡­ Oh yeah, that was one of the other reasons for yesterday¡¯s event. He sighed and put on his coat and shoes, ready to harsh the dangerous outside world. It wasn¡¯t that he was particularly scared of going out and mingling, he just prefered to be in the apartment. Alright, he wasn¡¯t going to tell her that he was leaving. He was just going to act like she wasn¡¯t even there. Descending the steps, he acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary, nothing had changed. Pat saw him leaving again, and motioned for him to walk over to where she was at the front of the apartment complex. ¡°You can take these when you get back, but I got some mold forays. They attack the mold or something? Just put the sheets over it and hopefully that will end the problem. Uh, you can pick them up when you get back too, but you¡¯re leaving?¡± ¡°Yeah. Out of food.¡± ¡°Where did you go yesterday?¡± She was a particularly nosy neighbor, but he wasn¡¯t going to outright tell her that he had gone to¡­ do that. ¡°I¡­ I went to see a friend.¡± At this her mood lightened a little bit. ¡°Oh you have a friend?¡± ¡°Hey¡­¡± ¡°Kidding kidding, just good to see you leaving the apartment is all. Ever since the factory fired you you barely even leave the house for essentials.¡± ¡°If I had money for essentials maybe.¡± ¡°Well these essential mold killers are free, there¡¯s something right?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll pick some up when I get back, thanks Pat.¡± ¡°You know you could invite me to beers some time instead of just thanking me.¡± ¡°Uh.. Well I-¡± ¡°Nevermind, the sheets¡¯ll be here when you get back.¡± He decided not to thank her again, seemed like that would be the wrong thing to do. He walked on to the street corner. Around the poorer parts of town like this were street vendors everywhere. They sold doodads and whizpops, anything you might need and everything you don¡¯t. The vendors looked sadder than they¡¯d used to. Luke could remember going to them with his mother as a child. Their wide smiling faces drew you into buying the kite or top they were selling. But now they simply sat and twiddled their thumbs. Kind of like him he supposed. At the end of the street was the convenience store he always used. He¡¯d come to know the old man well enough, and returning customers were always treated better than new ones in his experience. He walked inside and found some of the instant food he could afford. As he was picking something out, the owner of the shop, Mr. Setsuna, approached him. ¡°Luke! Good ta see ya! I was just looking fa someone ta take these awf my hands!¡± He gestured to a couple boxes in the corner. Inside was some instant food, and even a few bags of dried food, which you could add water to for a full meal. All too expensive for him. ¡°I¡¯m.. sorry, there¡¯s no way I can afford all that.¡± ¡°Oh no, I was gonna have ta throw all this out, so¡¯s I was looking for someone ta take it, care ta bite?¡± ¡°Its free?¡± ¡°If you can carry it, it¡¯s yours!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t¡­ take all this¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m burnin¡¯ it if ya don¡¯t Luke. Ya gonna take it or it goes ta waste. Im serious, I ain¡¯t givin¡¯ it ta anyone else, don¡¯t want the homeless thinkin I¡¯m givin¡¯ handouts. If ya walk out with all of it they¡¯ll think ya bought it.¡± ¡°Well I¡­ Thanks Mr. Setsuna.¡± The older man put a hand on Luke¡¯s shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s no problem Luke, here I¡¯ll string it together for ya. That¡¯ll cost ya a fiver though haha!¡± Luke put a five on the table, it was the least he could give for all the stuff. Mr. Setsuna stringed the boxes together, and sent Luke out, thanking him for taking the excess inventory. ¡°Now don¡¯t go suin¡¯ me if you¡¯s get food poisonin¡¯¡¯ from that hah!¡± ¡°You know I wouldn¡¯t sir, thanks again!¡± Luke strode back toward the apartment complex, unable to see in front of him thanks to the towering sustenance in his hands. Before taking the corner to get back on the road to his place, he felt a soft bump on the front of the boxes. ¡°Oh.. sorry¡­¡± A head popped out from the side to enter his vision. It was Lexa. ¡°That man gave you all that food, your neighbor is an extremely nice woman who wants to be your friend and you get a means of removing the mold in your room. Seems like quite a few people want you alive huh?¡± She stuck out one of the plastic mold sheets and waved it in his face. He ignored her and kept walking. ¡°C¡¯mon, all these people think you¡¯re great! Luka?¡± He stopped for a second and grabbed the sheet out of Lexa¡¯s hand. ¡°That sounds like my problem. Maybe I could solve it if there wasn¡¯t so much outside interference.¡± ¡°Hey I¡¯m just here to help you.¡± ¡°I never asked you to help me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why you need it. Isn¡¯t it?¡± He just kept walking, reaching the bottom of the apartments. He walked up the stairs past Pat, grabbed a couple more of the sheets in one hand, and walked inside, Lexa trailing behind him. Once he got inside, he cut the boxes apart with a dull knife and opened them. There really was quite a feast in there. He was glad he took the stuff¡­ He thought about all that had happened in the past few days. How did he go from someone with a decent life, to almost offing himself, to living with a woman and receiving a crapload of free food. It was like some sort of book. But he wasn¡¯t going to shove away people who were helping him. Nor did it seem like he could shove off Lexa, but she¡¯d get bored eventually. They usually did at least. He sorted the food out into perishables and non-perishables, and put them in the fridge. Some of the cucumbers were fairly fresh at least. There was some beer in the other box as well. Maybe he¡¯d offer Pat a drink like she¡¯d mentioned. Well, if the mold thing worked. Lexa was sitting in the other chair, the only other chair, watching him. But as long as he didn¡¯t respond or prod her on, she wouldn¡¯t spout nonsense. That was just how he liked her. She was best when not saying his name wrong and telling him to appreciate things that could be taken away so easily. But maybe he¡¯d deserved an annoying person like her for a while. Whatever. It wasn¡¯t as if it really mattered all that much. After his life took a small downward spiral, he really believed the world could easily go on without him, not even a moment of dissidence. Was that a bad thing? That the world could move on? No. No it wasn¡¯t bad at all. After being all philosophical while looking into his coffee cup, his gaze came back up to Lexa who was staring at him strangely. Probably had made some faces while he was sitting there. But then she piped up. ¡°You really need to get out and do something, you know that right.¡± ¡°What should I do then.¡± ¡°Anything? You could find some friends, go to a bar, get smashed, come back at two A.M. doesn¡¯t that sound fun?¡± He didn¡¯t even feel as if he really needed to say no to that, so he took a sip of coffee. ¡°Ooorrrr you could always go to the fireworks.¡± He stopped sipping for a second. The fireworks? Been awhile since he¡¯d gone to that. It wouldn¡¯t be awful if he just showed up for a while would it? Lexa saw that little bit of interest in his eyes, and quickly jumped on it. ¡°So that¡¯s a yes then?¡± ¡°What? I never said-¡± ¡°What should I wear? I kind of only have a couple things you know.¡± She walked into her room and came out wearing a slightly cleaner pair of clothes, took his hand, and dragged him outside. ¡°Hey wait why are we going?¡± ¡°I¡¯m getting you out of the house idiot.¡± ¡°We still barely know each other and you¡¯re treating me like a husband!¡± ¡°You really think I could get you out here if I didn¡¯t?¡± ¡°Fair point¡­¡± He decided to just go with it. For now. He hadn¡¯t been to a firework show since¡­ it¡¯s been a while. Over & Over: Battery Once he saw the stalls selling cheap carnival toys and games, he was in his element. He could at least safely say that he was a master of carnival games. Soon he was in the lead, pulling Lexa along going from stall to stall, winning menial prizes and cotton candy, truly great feats. Lexa was soon just as into it as he was, playing and eating everything in sight. It was all so cheap here that it was a crime not to partake, and he¡¯d gotten all the food in those boxes for free, so he could spend a little bit of money on something like this. About thirty minutes before the fireworks started, Lexa led him to a small eastern style shrine. It had a small bell behind a donation box which had pieces of paper that were supposed to tell you your luck amount. Bogus obviously, but still integral to a fireworks showing. Lexa took a paper, so he did the same. Small luck for him. Well, he¡¯d probably already spent that on the food but, at least it wasn¡¯t bad. He looked up for Lexa¡¯s great luck, only to find that she looked horrified. ¡°Haven¡¯t seen bad luck for a long time heh.¡± ¡°Hey Mr. Small Luck, you¡¯ll probably use all that up finding a penny on the street!¡± ¡°Of course, but at least I¡¯ll have the penny!¡± He waved the paper in her face and walked away. She laughed and jumped on his back, almost causing his shut-in knees to tumble to the ground. ¡°Hey!¡± ¡°Logic says that I just need to wait the bad luck out. If I¡¯m on your back then nothing bad can happen to me right?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure that it works like that¡­¡± ¡°Regardless, you¡¯ll have to carry me to the fireworks. Unless you¡¯d rather do it princess style?¡± Obviously she was trying to tease him, but the emotionally dull Luke turned that on it¡¯s head. ¡°That would be easier for me yes.¡± ¡°Hey I was kidding!¡± He tried to shift her around, but ended up losing his balance, and tumbled down a grassy hill. Amazingly, Lexa was still holding onto him, and wasn¡¯t hurt. Once she¡¯d realized that they had stopped falling, she started to pull away, but was too close to the side of the hill to pull away without hitting it. He suddenly wondered what her purpose really was for living with him. Was it really just because the old bot had told her to? He stared forward intensely for some sort of clue as to why, but found nothing there. Though he wasn¡¯t¡­ really seeing anything... Meanwhile, Lexa was totally freaking out as Luke drew closer. She couldn¡¯t say she was totally opposed to this outcome, but she didn¡¯t expect it to come so fast¡­ She put her arms around him and got ready, it was pretty romantic already, right? It was kind of like a book, kissing under the fireworks at night? She was nervous, but she closed her eyes and went for it.... And hit his head. She opened her eyes and looked at him, face down on her lap. Her hands went to the back of his head, which found a lump the size of a fist. She visibly sighed, and heard a large boom. The first of the fireworks were going off as she hauled him onto her back and started the trek back to his apartment. As she was trudging towards it, a paper dropped out of Luke¡¯s hand. The luck papers. Looked like her¡¯s was right after all. He couldn¡¯t really remember what had happened last night but¡­ he¡¯d went to the fireworks? Well, as long as he didn¡¯t spend too much. He sat up in bed, or he would have, if he wasn¡¯t tied down! He looked around for an answer, but all he saw was Lexa¡¯s cleanly made bed. Not only the rope around his chest and legs, but his head hurt too. Just then, she walked in, apron around her waist. ¡°What did you do to me!¡± He made sure to yell at her as soon as she walked in, as this was most obviously her doing. ¡°Preventing you from doing any more damage to yourself numbskull.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°That bump on your head, it¡¯s pretty big, you should probably lay there for a while or you might hurt yourself.¡± ¡°So you tie me up.¡± ¡°Yep, seems you understand already. Have no fear, I¡¯m going to do everything for you! Clean, cook, hate myself.¡± ¡°Hey.¡± ¡°All you need to do is lay there and look pretty. Trust me! After all, you got hurt protecting me from that fall. It¡¯s the least I can do.¡± That was when he remembered them falling down the hill together. It was her fault for jumping on his weak back anyways¡­ But if she would untie him, maybe it wouldn¡¯t be awful to be waited on for a while. ¡°Fine, if you untie me.¡± ¡°But-¡± ¡°No buts, I¡¯ll let you take care of me only if you untie me.¡± ¡°Well¡­ just don¡¯t run off then.¡± She walked over to him and started to untie the strangely very well tied knots, her hands moving quickly and expertly. The thought of her being into some sort of bondage lover crossed his mind, but he quickly dispelled it. After being untied, he bunched up his sheets near him, and rolled over. ¡°Just have lunch ready soon.¡± ¡°No problem¡­ master.¡± She chuckled and bounced into the next room before he could get another word in. Master? She was insane after all¡­ master¡­ He dozed off for another hour or two before he was awoken again. He was pretty hungry though, and he was sure that Lexa had finished lunch by now. ¡°Hey, is lunch done yet?¡± There was no response. Maybe she¡¯d went out? Oh well, it wouldn¡¯t hurt if he just went into the kitchen for some food. As long as she didn¡¯t know anyways. He walked into the kitchen, where it was pretty dark. Then he heard a noise. Alert, he took a wooden spatula in hand and moved over to the light switch. He switched it on and immediately saw black, again. Waking up a few minutes later, he found himself in a similar position. Tied up, again. Though not as comfortable as Lexa¡¯s was. As he shook his head to clear his head, he saw something get up from the chair near his bed. It was a robot. An android? It was relatively tall, an antenna sticking out of its head, which was humanlike, but had a visor instead of eyes. There were ¡°eyes¡± in the visor, but it stuck out from his head a little. He had no mouth to speak of, and the head stuck to a humanlike body with rounded feet at the end, and it was holding a gun. Of course, he would get mugged. In his own house¡­ ¡°I been waiting for you to wake up for hours! Where the hell is your money!¡± ¡°My money?¡± ¡°Yeah! M-o-n-e-y, money!¡± ¡°If you wanted that why would you rob the poorest apartments in town¡­¡± ¡°Poorest?¡± ¡°Look around!¡± The robot¡¯s visor moved around, scanning the area, and sat back down. ¡°Not even a family heirloom¡­¡±The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Yep, I¡¯ve got just about nothing.¡± ¡°Just about?¡± ¡°Well I have a little bit of food at least.¡± ¡°Food?! I can¡¯t use that!¡± ¡°Nope.¡± The robot frantically searched around for anything to take that might be worth a few dollars, but came up empty handed. ¡°You really got nothing don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°If I did I probably would be a bit more scared about a robber in the room. Why did you rob me anyways?¡± ¡°Haven¡¯t you ever felt the allure of money and power friend? Well that¡¯s why!¡± ¡°So basically you just wanted to rob me.¡± ¡°Yeah pretty much.¡± Luke sighed and envisioned himself putting his chin to his fist. This was going to require some effort. ¡°Well what is your name then.¡± ¡°My name?¡± ¡°Yeah, or production number or whatever you go by.¡± ¡°Oh my production code! It¡¯s CR-@111649437063721459-SH.¡± ¡°So¡­ Crash then.¡± ¡°What¡¯s crash?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to call you CR-@six one five¡­ whatever. That name¡¯s too long.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ well. You don¡¯t need to call me anything you filthy hobo!¡± With that the robot waved his fist in the air and ran out of the apartment. ¡°WAIT YOU DIDN¡¯T untie me¡­.¡± The door was probably too large for the doorframe¡­ and if he scratched the walls he would get a healthy earful from Pat. Looks like he was about to depend on Lexa¡­ Which definitely meant he would be there for a while. He looked at the walls. It wasn¡¯t like there was anything on them anyways. Hours passed. Still more. He heard a light beep from his bedside. His shitty alarm clock did that twice a day. Eight A.M. and Eight P.M. so either he had fallen asleep or he had been sitting there in the lonely room for about four hours. He looked at the walls again. Had they gotten closer? No.. that had to have just been his imagination. He looked again. His bed had disappeared. The walls were definitely getting closer. He stood up, chair still attached to him, and ran to the door. But it was already gone as well. All that remained was one small corner, and he ran to it as the walls molded around his body and fit him into the corner like a cardboard box. Thoughts raced through his mind. Had the robot done this? Why? He- he was trying to- to kill him!? But he had nothing! He couldn¡¯t even hear ambient noise as the walls rushed towards him, his mind was too loud to even hear splintering wood. Lexa walked along the road, a couple bags in her hand. She had wanted to buy a few things for the apartment, it looked like shit to be honest. Not that she expected a lot from him, but some decor would have been nice. She wasn¡¯t one to complain however, and could fix the problem just by buying a couple little things here and there. She was even having a couple actual chairs delivered later in the afternoon, the rotting wooden chairs were much more than uncomfortable. While she was walking along the road, someone bumped into her and caused her to drop a bag. ¡°Hey!¡± It was a robot, and he just kept running. But he did yell something back. ¡°I¡¯d demand an apology but I¡¯m inna hurry!¡± With that he turned a corner and was gone. Folks in this neighborhood were real pieces of work¡­ She sighed as she turned the corner to Luka¡¯s home and from the road she could see that the door to his place was open. Was he airing it out? No¡­ he didn¡¯t care enough to air it out. As she got closer she saw that the door was hanging at a strange angle and started to piece together what she was seeing. Someone had broken in. She ran to the splintered door, dropped her bags and kicked what was left of it in. ¡°Luka? Luke are you here?¡± She frantically looked around and dashed into the bedroom. He was there, in the corner, crying. His hands and legs were tied to one of the two chairs in the house, which was now broken. He looked like a tub of play-doh that had smashed itself into the shape of a cube, as close to the wall as he could get. Lexa knelt down in shock and untied his hands and legs. After he realized he was free he whimpered and moved the chair so he could kneel down facing the wall again. She¡¯d known of his problems but¡­ did the robber do all this? Or was this from¡­ No, she never wanted to believe he¡¯d broken. She just knelt down with him, and put her arms around his torso. He was shivering. Cold. She wrapped herself as closely as she could around him, and he slowly came back to reality. A few moments later he finally came back to reality to find Lexa as close to him as she could get. ¡°Wh-what? When did you get back Lexa?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you dare think you can get around talking about what just happened.¡± ¡°No, of course not. I¡¯m just¡­ If I¡¯m alone like this and something just happened like the robber droid I¡­ I go into a weird trance. It feels like the walls are closing in, I try to smash myself into the nearest corner. Heh, it¡¯s been awhile since that happened, and-¡± WHAP! Lexa slapped him, looking angry. ¡°Hey why-¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been here alone all this time when this shit happens to you?! How do you think that makes me feel? You sit here suffering, smashing yourself into a corner for who knows how long, and you just laugh at yourself for it?¡± ¡°If I can¡¯t find things to laugh at I might as well just off that overlook again.¡± ¡°How can you say that?¡± ¡°You find that there¡¯s less to laugh at when you¡¯re alone. When this sort of thing happens.¡± ¡°You aren¡¯t alone. You¡¯ll never be alone again.¡± Luke looked deep into her eyes, searching for the lie that wasn¡¯t there. Suzy had told him so many times that she would never leave him. That was, of course, before he lost his job. That was when he learned what she truly thought. Lexa was so different, he¡¯d only known her a few days but she felt so intense. When she wasn¡¯t messing around with him at least. When she got serious it was¡­ honestly kind of hot. Maybe he¡¯d go crazy more often. That was about when he realized how close she was to him, and he shrugged her off, also noticing the chair he¡¯d broken. ¡°It¡¯s alright, we can glue the leg back on. We can salvage it.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Supper was quiet that night, and they fixed the door in silence together silently as well. He even helped her pick everything up that had been thrown on the floor as the weird bot went through the house. Thankfully he really didn¡¯t take the food. After that he helped Lexa finish the bedframe up, and they were a pretty good team together. It didn¡¯t take that long either. Having someone else around that actually wanted to get things done wasn¡¯t so bad. Once they¡¯d finished, Lexa looked over at him with a smile. ¡°So how about that drink with Pat?¡± ¡°Pat? Oh¡­ yeah sure.¡± He walked down the creaky stairs and instantly her head was sticking out of her window. ¡°Hey! Pat, you want to come show me how to use those mold things?¡± ¡°Well yeah sure, if you¡¯ve got a beer that is.¡± ¡°You know I do.¡± ¡°Haha, I¡¯ll be right up Luke.¡± Back in his apartment his heart was beating quickly. It had been a long time since he had someone else in his house. Wait how did he see Lexa then? No that didn¡¯t matter right now¡­ A moment later he heard a knock on the door and instantly let his landlord in. She was quite surprised to see someone else in his house, and let him know it. ¡°Did you really find another girlfriend? Luke I¡¯m surprised! She really things you¡¯re good looking?¡± ¡°Of course I do! We fell in love at a soup shop!¡± ¡°W-what?! No she¡¯s just¡­ I¡­¡± He couldn¡¯t well tell his landlord that he had been saved from killing himself by Lexa, nor that she¡¯d given him these weird bracelets. ¡°Yeah. She¡¯s my¡­ my girlfriend.¡± ¡°That¡¯s really too bad about Suzy, I¡¯d always thought she was a decent catch for someone like you. Turns out she was nothing but a mooch! Lucky you got rid of her in my opinion. I¡¯m just glad you found someone cute like this!¡± ¡°Oh you don¡¯t need to be so nice!¡± Pat unfolded the chair she had brought up with her. Most of the residents only had one chair, so if she¡¯d been asked over she always brought one. It helped to avoid the awkward sitting conversation as well. ¡°Anyways, about the mold, let me show you how to apply them.¡± She took a few of the sheets and went to the back closet. ¡°She¡¯s livin¡¯ here with you huh?¡± Seeing his horrified face hers softened. ¡°Relax, I¡¯m here as your friend, not your landlord.¡± She squashed the sheets on the small part of wall that was covered in a green moss, and took off a peelable tape off the sides. She then applied it and the sheet stuck. ¡°There, leave that a few days and we should be rid of the mold! Now if I can get all of you to do it we might get rid of all of it¡­ Now about that beer!¡± ¡°Of course Ms. Landlord. Here is thy beverage.¡± ¡°I told you, I¡¯m not here as your landlord. So, what¡¯s your girlfriend¡¯s name?¡± ¡°Lexa Thickton, nice to meet you!¡± ¡°Pat Tano, you as well. You said you met in a soup shop?¡± As Lexa fabricated some not entirely false lie, Luke thought about what she¡¯d just said. He didn¡¯t even know her last name up till now. Thickton¡­ he felt like that was a name he knew. Or had known at least. A long time ago. ¡°Luke? You there?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± Pat was nudging his shoulder after he had ignored her question. ¡°I said, why¡¯d you decide you wanted to go out with her?¡± He looked at Lexa, and she winked at him. ¡°I¡­ well she saved my life.¡± ¡°Really? How so?¡± ¡°The soup shop got robbed and she saved me from a droids bullet. That was when I decided.¡± ¡°Really, how romantic! Maybe you¡¯re better than I thought Luke!¡± She laughed, joined in by Lexa and a shaky Luke. Fabricating half lies was one of his strong suits, but it doesn¡¯t mean he felt great about it. Over & Over: Death A few more days passed without a hitch, and they were extremely regular. Lexa lived with him, Pat was his friend now strangely enough, and they even went to see Z-mo a couple times. That was when Luke saw the robber droid again. He was walking back to the store owned by Mr. Setsuna. The bot was sifting through trash, seemingly looking for something. ¡°Damn thing!¡± He didn¡¯t want to walk over, but honestly he didn¡¯t believe the droid was all that dangerous in the first place. While he¡¯d had a gun the other day he never felt threatened, and when he¡¯d learned there was no valuables left without a second thought. Maybe he was just stupid, but it didn¡¯t seem like he meant intentional harm. ¡°Hey there Crash.¡± ¡°Wah! Hey what the hell! You again? Was hoping you¡¯d die tied up in your room there!¡± ¡°If I¡¯d really wanted to leave I could have just broke the chair and got out through the door you know.¡± ¡°Meh whatever! What the hell do you want then?¡± ¡°I was actually wondering what you were looking for believe it or not.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been sifting through this shit for days looking for my circuit regulator! Those are valuable you know, any old homeless bastard coulda walked through here and picked it up! You humans know a lot more about droids than you let on.¡± In fact he did know what a circuit regulator looked like, and they went for quite a bit if you knew who to sell it to. ¡°Wait¡­ you¡¯ve been looking for it for days? Is that why you robbed me!¡± ¡°Well yeah, I thought you might have my regulator.¡± ¡°How many people did you rob!¡± ¡°Like twenty. Or thirty? Maybe, I dunno.¡± Out in the boonies if someone was robbed it would be a lot more trouble to call the police than it was worth if the robber only stole a couple menial things like the bot would have. People around here cared less for their cheap knick knacks than those with crystal chandeliers as they had near the citadel. ¡°Thirty!? Ugh, let¡¯s try to find it then.¡± ¡°What? You wanna help me find that thing?¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what I said. Let¡¯s get to it.¡± The robot made a slightly mechanical scoff, but allowed Luke to help him for a while. Once about an hour had passed Crash gave up for the day. ¡°Well, it¡¯s lookin¡¯ like I¡¯m not gonna find it today. Maybe I¡¯ll have to just steal a new one haha! Anyways, thanks for the help meatbag, sorry about the whole almost killing you thing.¡± ¡°No problem?¡± ¡°Ha! Maybe I¡¯ll be seein you again human.¡± The robot walked away, his loud metallic feet crunching on the pavement. He looked left, then sauntered off in that direction. He didn¡¯t seem to have a care in the world. Luke just sighed and began his walk to Mr. Setsuna¡¯s. As he walked he looked around. The city was the greatest hodgepodge of people in the world. There was very little racism in the city because of one simple thing, there was no majority. People from all cultures lived here. There were those from the east, the west, the north, and the south. Every region was almost equally represented. If he had to give the city council one thing, it was that. Otherwise they were all corporate giants who didn¡¯t care about the miners and steelworkers like those in the outer rim. Like him. He stepped up to the door of the supermarket, just picking up some drinks. Pat could really lay into those beers, and never even seemed to get buzzed. It looked like there was nobody in the shop when he walked up to the counter, but when he walked up to it he saw Mr. Setsuna staring at a picture. He didn¡¯t want to snoop in on the old man¡¯s personal life, but in the picture was himself, a woman, and a small boy. Could they be his family? Setsuna heard Luke lean against the counter, and was brought back to reality. ¡°Wha- Luke! How are ya? Them foods good enough?¡± ¡°They were great! I¡¯m sorry if this seems insensitive, but Mr. Setsuna, what is that picture?¡± ¡°Oh this old thing.¡± He placed it on the counter and slid it towards Luke, a sad expression on his face. ¡°They¡¯re my family. Well, guess they were at this point.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°A¡¯ll just say they died. All that matters at this point. So whatcha come in for? Not just to reminisce I¡¯d guess.¡± ¡°Oh just looking for a twelve pack.¡± ¡°The regular?¡± ¡°Sure thing.¡± The old man knelt over and picked a box from under the counter. The cheapest stuff Setsuna had, but it always seemed like he kept a few extra boxes under the counter just for Luke. He must have enjoyed selling it to him. ¡°So how are things m¡¯boy?¡± ¡°Things? Like what?¡± ¡°Ya seem¡¯ta have a spring in yer step ever time you walk in here. Somethin¡¯ change?¡± ¡°Well I¡¯ve got a roommate now¡­¡± ¡°A girl?!¡± ¡°How did you know!¡± ¡°Been a new girl comin¡¯ in recently, seems ta know a lot about ya! So you two gettin¡¯ busy I take it?¡± ¡°No! She¡¯s just a weirdo that keeps saying she¡¯ll help me.¡± ¡°Well son, ya been lookin¡¯ as if you needed help for a pretty damn long time. Why not let her in, huh? What¡¯s the worst that could happen.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± For once Luke didn¡¯t have a retort. This old man, who¡¯d been more of a father to him than his real one since moving to the city, had a point. He wanted to kill himself. End it all. It was death or giving something a short chance. Even if it was meaningless, he didn¡¯t hate Lexa. ¡°Maybe you¡¯re right¡­¡± ¡°Course I am! Now, ya gonna go bang ¡®er?¡± ¡°Now I¡¯m having second thoughts!¡± They laughed for a few moments and Setsuna¡¯s hand landed back on the picture of his family. He smiled a sad smile and gestured for Luke to go. ¡°Well, don¡¯t let an ol¡¯ man keep you from ya sweetie. I might just be an old stupid man to ya Luke, but I do care. If ya ever need anything, y¡¯can come to me, course you know that.¡± Luke was touched. The old man had never been so nice to him, disregarding all the food he had given to Luke for free over the years. He really was ten times more of a father to him than that stupid man out on the farm¡­ ¡°Thanks Setsuna. I will.¡± Twelve pack in hand, Luke set out to his apartment once again. Their talk had taken some time, and it had gotten dark outside. The few remaining street lamps with working lights in them buzzed a harsh light onto the cement as he walked back. It was chilly, summer had just ended. Only chilly enough for a coat, but chilly all the same. Give Lexa a chance? If Setsuna told him to¡­ maybe he could. He had no idea what he could accomplish, but the other direction left him with nothing. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. But just one chance. Luckily Pat hadn¡¯t noticed the scratches on the door. Maybe she really was drunk the other night. Lawrence walked back into his apartment, where Lexa was cooking something that smelled delicious. For once, he felt happy. ¡°Hey, I thought you said be right back!¡± ¡°I ran into a couple of friends.¡± ¡°Friends yeah right, you don¡¯t have anything like that. If you did you wouldn¡¯t have tried to off yourself!¡± ¡°Ok ok you caught me, they¡¯re new friends. I just made them recently.¡± ¡°How recently?¡± ¡°Today actually.¡± ¡°Oh, so you admit I¡¯m actually helping you then?¡± ¡°I do admit things seem to be better since I met you. Although I still don¡¯t have a job.¡± ¡°You want to work for Z-mo? He could use a hand at the soup shop.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yeah, and I guarantee it pays better than the steel mill. One hundred percent.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll just have to go and check it out tomorrow then right? Maybe you can finally tell me what these bracelets are for too.¡± ¡°They¡¯re devices, and I¡¯d love to know what they did as well. Z-mo just said we¡¯d find out when the time is right.¡± ¡°Wait, you don¡¯t know what they do either?!¡± ¡°I think the more interesting thing right now is how you just said yes to one of my proposals without even one complaint.¡± ¡°Hmm, perhaps you¡¯re right.¡± ¡°We can save that for later though, food¡¯s ready!¡± Lexa brought over a large pot of soup from the creaky stove, and served him up a beef and broccoli combination that was absolutely delicious. They ate and talked the night away, laughing and eating until almost one in the morning. Finally they decided to call it a night, as Lexa wanted to get to Z-mo¡¯s soup shop before it opened around nine. Luke fell asleep for the first time in a long time with a feeling of purpose. Maybe, just maybe, the old shopkeeper was right. He would give Lexa that chance. Hell, maybe he¡¯d even love her. Waking up at seven thirty was pretty ingrained in his mind and he¡¯d been waking up a lot earlier than that for the past seven years, due to the steel mill. Lexa was also dressed and ready, to the surprise of Luke. There really seemed to be no downsides to this girl. Lexa opened the door for him and allowed him outside with a brandish of her arm. ¡°Isn¡¯t this supposed to be the guy¡¯s job?¡± ¡°Normally, yes. But you agreed with one of my stupid ideas, so today you¡¯re royalty!¡± ¡°You agree they¡¯re stupid then?¡± ¡°Only the vague and strange ideas.¡± He laughed again, something he¡¯d grown more accustomed to in the last few days. It had been a long time since he could actually remember laughing daily. Arriving at the soup shop Lexa lifted up the short curtain and brandished once again. He just smiled down at her slightly condescendingly. ¡°You know this isn¡¯t necessary right?¡± ¡°Of course m¡¯lord!¡± ¡°Ugh, hey Z-mo, can you get this girl to stop acting like a servant?¡± A robotic head popped out from the kitchen, a wheezing whir of gears was heard. ¡°You two are getting along better than I¡¯d ever expected! What¡¯s up then?¡± ¡°My master here is looking for employment. He wishes to be placed in your care.¡± ¡°You looking for a job here?¡± The bot scratched his head and grabbed a tablet from across the room. Doing some numbers, he looked back up. ¡°Yeah I could pay you a bit, always have been looking for some help around here. When can you start?¡± ¡°Really? Well, anytime is fine.¡± ¡°Tomorrow then?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°We can discuss salaries and hourly rates then, but for now try my latest concoction! I guarantee this will be the perfect ramen!¡± Lexa did not look impressed. ¡°You said that about the last hundred concoctions Z-mo, but as I¡¯ve said before, how the hell would we know if it was the perfect ramen!¡± He wheezed again. ¡°Because if it was perfect, the customers would pay a lot more!¡± Lexa laughed and took a bunch of the ramen in a fork. While she ate, Luke thought of the question he¡¯d wanted to ask earlier. ¡°Oh one more thing, what do these bracelets really do? Do they make me happier?¡± At that moment the bot stopped wheezing and looked over at Luke. The feeling in the room dropped to sub-zero temperatures, and Z-mo¡¯s reply was equally as chilly. ¡°You¡¯ll find out when it is time. I won¡¯t tell you more on it.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ well I think it¡¯s a well grounded question at least.¡± Lexa looked up from her meal, worried about the atmosphere that had been created in the room. ¡°T-this ramen is probably the second best I¡¯ve had from you Z-mo!¡± With that the feeling improved and Z-mo started wheezing again. The chilliness from a moment ago was gone, and he talked with Lexa normally as if nothing had happened. Luke didn¡¯t want to ask that ever again¡­ But he would find out eventually. The bot at least told him that. He looked down at the ramen and slurped it up. It was definitely good! The warmth of the meal got his mind off of what had just happened and he went back to normal. But he did have one more question. ¡°So Z-mo, why do you live in an eastern style soup shop?¡± ¡°Funny story actually, the government built this place to hide the lab and put me in it! Now I get a bit of payment to sell ramen and watch over the lab. It¡¯s a peaceful life.¡± Lexa thanked him for the meal, and the pair walked out of the shop. But their walk wasn¡¯t finished yet. Luke started walking back towards his apartment, but was quickly stopped by Lexa, who pulled on his sleeve. ¡°Nope, we aren¡¯t finished yet! I said today you¡¯d get treated a bit better didn¡¯t I? Z-mo¡¯s was just stop one!¡± She dragged him along many stops, where they looked at toys and other trinkets, the type of thing that kids would look at. It was fun actually. After they¡¯d shopped lightly around for a while Lexa led him up to a small hill that overlooked the citadel. ¡°You know, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever looked around this part of town.¡± He sat down on a bench, and Lexa sat beside him, digging through a bag of little things. ¡°It¡¯s great! They sell little things like this so cheap, so I buy a few things when I pass by. It was nice to finally come with someone else though!¡± She took out a top and they watched it whiz around on the bench. Lexa chuckled, and looked up at Luke. ¡°Z-mo was pretty peeved after I asked him about the bracelets, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°Yeah that kind of happened when I asked him too¡­¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you warn me!?¡± ¡°I just wanted to see what he would do to you I guess.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± He laughed and brushed Lexa¡¯s hand. Immediately, she stopped and looked up at him. This close, he could see flecks of dark brown in her eyes. He didn¡¯t care that she was getting closer, and she didn¡¯t care that he was either. Luke felt her lips brush his, and they kissed. He really didn¡¯t want to admit having dreamt about this, but he definitely had. She put her arms around him and drew him closer, and his nose was fully filled with her scent. A scent that had permeated his walls and even the mold in his closet. Once their lips finally unlocked, they put their foreheads together, both of them smiling. At once they both said the same thing. ¡°I love you.¡± ¡°I love you.¡± At that moment the top stopped whirling and fell to the ground. Lexa laughed softly and picked it up, placing it in the bag. ¡°So, still wish you killed yourself?¡± ¡°I think I¡¯m beginning to see that it was a bad idea, alright? I admit it, you were right.¡± She laughed and jumped onto his lap. ¡°See, wasn¡¯t that easy to say?¡± ¡°Only after confessing I think.¡± ¡°Well that won¡¯t be the last time you tell me that I hope.¡± ¡°No no, I¡¯m not handsome enough for one night stands.¡± ¡°Ha! That¡¯s true!¡± ¡°Hey don¡¯t take a shot at my already suffering self esteem.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll try, but it¡¯s hard not to!¡± They walked back down the hill laughing, Lexa holding onto his arm. Across the street a vendor was selling what looked to be chicken wings, and she rushed over to the stand. In the background noise he could hear a mining truck, but barely even thought about it. His mind was on her, and only her. He got two helpings and began to walk back towards him, holding them up. Halfway across the road he heard a scream. A mining car was going straight for her. Rushing out as best he could, the truck was faster than him, and he heard a loud smash. Horrified, he looked back up from the dusty road he had landed in and saw her. She was lying on the ground, face up. Covered in blood. It seemed as if the mining car was driven by a load of drunk men, and it sped off quickly. He ran to her, seeing that one of her legs was at an odd angle. There was blood on her face, and he propped her up onto his lap, barely able to say anything. ¡°Lexa! Please!¡± ¡°I¡­¡± One of her hands twitched and he brought his to it, where she lightly gripped on one of his fingers. Something like a smile came across her broken face one more time, and her grip loosened on his. She had died. Everything¡­ Everything! It was all back to ground zero! Why! He¡¯d finally, finally given life another chance, and it fucking slapped him down! ¡°WHY!!!¡± He screamed to the heavens, but as usual, no-one answered. On his hands was her blood. The blood of the person he had saved his life. The blood of the person who promised to make that life better. The person that he loved. Dead. Suddenly, the bracelets on his body moved. They clicked, and made a whizzing noise. On them, a small LED light turned green, and he started floating in midair. He didn¡¯t want this piece of shit to make him fly now, he wanted to fucking die! Why her. Why not him. Over & Over: Again Two. Awake. Again. His alarm clock buzzed like a pillow was on top of it and it had been thrown across the room. A quiet purr was all it made. He sat up, and slapped, quieting the small noise. 8:07 A.M. Suddenly, thoughts came to his head that made him want to scream. Lexa¡­ she¡¯d saved his life. He loved her. She died? He was friends with Pat, and a droid that had tried to rob him. Some bot that protected a laboratory, and Mr. Setsuna had acted like his father. It was¡­ it wasn¡¯t a dream, was it? No. No, it had to be. He was unlucky, but he would never be that unlucky. Well, today was the day. He looked on his phone where there were quite a few voicemails. Some from work¡­ some others¡­ not that it mattered. He shut his phone and sat down to a milkless cereal. The milk had gone back, and he was forced to throw it out. After having a menial breakfast he shouldered his coat and set out. It was looking to be a regular day, besides his plans of course. Ducking into an alley, he traversed back to his secret place. A place nobody would find him. A place nobody cared to look. He sat at the rusting picnic table and thought. He thought about Suzy leaving him, his job being lost in seconds, his life slowly slipping from his already buttery grip. It didn¡¯t matter now. He was going to fix it all. Looking over the edge of the overlook, he saw a concrete dumpster area behind a restaurant. If he was lucky, he¡¯d land right between them and nobody would find him for ages. If he wasn¡¯t, he might land in one and survive with a lot of broken bones. But that was a risk he was willing to take. He climbed on the railing and muttered about how insignificant his life had been all along. And he jumped. But he did not smell garbage, did not feel concrete on his face. He opened his eyes and Luke saw something strange. A girl was standing over him after she had laid him out on the picnic table. It¡­ it was the girl from his dream! She existed?! ¡°Did you really just try to kill yourse-!¡± Before she could even finish he was up, and felt her face. She was real. He¡¯d thought that perhaps he was just delirious, or maybe even that he was already dead but no. She was real. ¡°Y-you¡¯re real. Which means¡­¡± He remembered back to these strange memories, he had loved her, and they had just confessed when she was hit by¡­ by a mining truck. So maybe he just needed to stay away from the roads? It was all happening so fast in his mind that he couldn¡¯t process it. Meanwhile, Lexa was trying to get his attention. ¡°Hello? Are you ok? Damn I hope I didn¡¯t lose him¡­ Well, as long as I get him to Z-mo it should be fine. What¡¯s your name?¡± This he remembered specifically from the dream. ¡°Luke¡­ uh¡­ Th-thoma-¡± ¡°Luka Ta¡¯tama? Weird name, but it suits you. C¡¯mon, let¡¯s go see a friend of mine. He¡¯ll fix you up!¡± She took his arm, and her touch felt so familiar. How did he know what would happen next? When they got to the soup shop the same things he expected to happen did. The nice old bot led them down into a laboratory and fitted strange bracelets on him. That¡¯s right¡­ those bracelets had made him levitate right before he woke up. Were they some weird time device? It sounded insane. Almost as insane as knowing exactly what was going to happen next in your life. Still in a daze, he attempted to retrace his steps wherever he went, and say what he thought had been said in his memory. Soon, Lexa was building a bed frame for herself when he slipped up for the first time. ¡°Do you think time travel is possible?¡± ¡°Time travel? Did you hit your head when I pulled you back up from your demise Luka?¡± ¡°Well, nevermind, it¡¯s nothing.¡± Everything passed exactly as he expected it to. He told her he had bedbugs, and she gave the response that was expected. He went to Mr. Setsuna, and the nice old man gave him a few boxes of food. Pat Tano gave him some sheets to get rid of the mold, and Lexa chastised him for trying to throw his life away when so many cared for him. He thought that the only thing to change would be the ending, so he kept going exactly as it should have been. He was robbed by Crash, Pat Tano came over for a drink and applied the mold sheets, and Mr. Setsuna told him a few things about life. The end was quickly approaching, and it was the day of her death. He awoke around seven thirty, as expected, and dressed. She stood there ready as well, which didn¡¯t surprise him in the slightest. Lexa opened the door like a servant, and he laughed along with her. On their way though, he couldn¡¯t stop from looking down the street, scared. When they arrived, Lexa pushed the curtain up to allow Luke free passage. ¡°You know this isn¡¯t necessary right?¡± ¡°Of course m¡¯lord!¡± ¡°Ugh, hey Z-mo, can you get this girl to stop acting like a servant?¡± It was the same. Z-mo¡¯s head popped out and the whirring of his gears was heard. ¡°You two are getting along better than I¡¯d ever expected! What¡¯s up then?¡± ¡°My master here is looking for employment. He wishes to be placed in your care.¡± ¡°You want a job hm?¡± Once again the robot walked over to a small tablet on a table and crunched some numbers, offering him a decently paying job, and a free meal. ¡°This time it¡¯ll be perfect!¡± But it was only second perfect, according to Lexa. That was only after he asked the question that made Z-mo become stoic though. They thanked the old bot and walked outside. Luke¡¯s heart was racing. If they turned left, she would die, he¡¯d convinced himself of that over the past week. He couldn¡¯t¡­ no, he wouldn¡¯t see that again. So, taking her arm, he turned right. ¡°Hey, I kind of wanted to go this way, do you really want to be cooped up in your apartment again?¡± ¡°Actually I was hoping to take you somewhere, if you don¡¯t mind.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°Oh¡­ well lead away your majesty.¡± He led her through twists and turns all the way back to the overlook. There, they sat together on the picnic table. He felt safe now. Here, no harm could befall her. She would be safe. So he let himself flow into the conversation. ¡°Z-mo was pretty scary back there, wasn¡¯t he?¡± ¡°Yeah, he actually did the same thing when I asked about them.¡± ¡°Wait, you don¡¯t know what they do either?¡± ¡°Well no¡­ but I would trust that rust bucket with my life. I¡¯m sure they¡¯re meant to help you in some way.¡± ¡°Alright, well that¡¯s comforting.¡± ¡°Oh please, he¡¯s rooting for you too.¡± Her head knocked against his shoulder lightly and he put his arm around her. He could see the dark flecks of brown in her dark eyes, and she smelled wonderful so near to him. Their lips met, and they held onto each other for a while. When they finally stopped kissing, she leaned her forehead on his and they both said those fateful words again. ¡°I love you.¡± ¡°I love you.¡± She chuckled, and her head fell into his lap. As it hit his legs, he heard something snap and give way, as one of the picnic table¡¯s rusted legs gave out. They fell together, and when he readjusted himself looked around for her. That was when he heard it. A crash. Color draining from his face, he looked over the railing. Somehow, she¡¯d slid off the overhang, and he could see a bloody mass from above. ¡°No¡­ I did everything right this time! I fucking changed the ending, so why is the outcome the same!!! Why!!!¡± He didn¡¯t know what to scream. He¡¯d rolled with the punches all the way, and yet nothing changed. Only the matter in which she died. As he sat there crying, the bracelets forced him up, and his feet left the ground. The last thought he had was of his hopeless situation. Three. Awake. Again. This time he shot up in bed, completely awake. His alarm clock buzzed the familiar buzz, and he got up quickly. He knew now that it was no dream, yet how could how change it? Nobody would believe him if he walked up to them and said, ¡°Yes hello, I¡¯m a time traveler. Could I have a moment of your time?¡±, that was insane! So what could he do? Run? Decide not to kill himself today? No¡­ he just had to roll with it again. He could do it. He could save her. He was an idiot for taking her to the overlook, that was just as dangerous as the streets! But where? He could take her to the deep market. Nothing all that dangerous was there. Just some robot parts, and some nice vendors. In fact, he knew a few of them. So he went with it again. Pat, Mold, Mr. Setsuna, bed frame, Lexa, Crash, Z-mo. Though he said them in this order in his head, they were sort of switched around. There would be a way to bring Lexa to a safe place, and he could tell her about his feelings another day. Last time he¡¯d just gotten so into it¡­ her life mattered more than a kiss for god¡¯s sake. Plus if he saved her there would be a lot more of that. Knowing his stupidity, he was actually more upbeat this time. It was obvious what he had to do. So he went with the daily motions. After having a drink with Pat, he went straight to Crash digging through the dumpsters. ¡°Ah! The human I robbed!¡± ¡°Relax, I¡¯m gonna help you find your circuit regulator.¡± ¡°How the hell you know that¡¯s what I¡¯m looking for meatbag!¡± ¡°I thought you might be, you kind of act off impulse.¡± ¡°Oh, I thought you took it¡­ Whatever, just look over there.¡± Together they spent the better part of an hour trying to find the thing to no avail, just like usual. He¡¯d been so weirdly arrogant that he¡¯d said a few wrong things, but it was alright. He did that last time too, and everything turned out the same. Little things like this didn¡¯t change anything. He visited Mr. Setsuna, and nothing changed there either. He came to appreciate that the old man specially kept some of Luke¡¯s brand of beer under the counter, and thanked him heartily for it. The old man just smiled and gave him his advice. ¡°Well son, ya been lookin¡¯ as if you needed help for a pretty damn long time. Why not let her in, huh? What¡¯s the worst that could happen.¡± ¡°Maybe you¡¯re right. Maybe I can let her in.¡± The old man put a hand on his shoulder from across the thin counter and gave him a smile. Luke waved a goodbye and walked back to his apartment. Things even seemed like they were happening better. His upbeat attitude had drastically changed everything. So he went with it again, going to the soup shop and getting the job, yet once again turning right. But this time, he was going to be smart. He ducked down an alleyway, and tended to keep to the sides whenever an old truck passed. They were mostly mining cars, so he made extra sure to keep her safe. At the entrance of the deep market, he took a breath. This would work. They had fun just like they had the last few times, looking at trinkets, odds, and ends in the large space. Many other people were there as well, some for fun, and others genuinely dealing in robot parts. Normally they had a large trunk being pulled behind them, and would stop for hours looking for the last part in their collection. ¡°This place is enormous! You never told me about it!¡± ¡°Well it isn¡¯t the best place to spend an afternoon, don¡¯t you think it¡¯s a bit loud?¡± ¡°So what! It¡¯s cool as hell!¡± Yeah, he thought it was pretty neat himself. Lexa stopped in many of the stalls to look at things, picking up something small here and there. He felt like he had succeeded, it was past either of the times that anything had happened in the last two times, but he still kept checking over his shoulder. Finally, she was tired out, and they sat down at one of the many benches in the middle of the walkway. ¡°Man, I wish I¡¯d known about this place sooner, it¡¯s way better than the one I was going to show you!¡± ¡°Really? It sort of like this one?¡± ¡°Yeah, oh but this one has way more cool stuff! I¡¯m glad you thought to bring me here.¡± ¡°Of course! Today was going to be a fun one, and I got that job after all. Soon I¡¯ll be able to make enough money to really live again!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t think that¡¯ll convince me to get out!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want you to get out Lexa.¡± ¡°You want me to stay?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t think I did at first, but I do. I really do.¡± She smiled and brought herself closer to him. She smelled amazing every time this happened, and he couldn¡¯t get enough of her scent. Again, they kissed, and he felt as if he¡¯d done it. He¡¯d saved her! And yet again, they said those fateful words. ¡°I love you.¡± She smiled, and looked down in her bag. ¡°And hey, should you ever want to buy something for me, I¡¯ve got some quick cash right here!¡± She pulled out something familiar to him. ¡°Is that a circuit regulator?¡± ¡°Yeah, and the guy over there was selling it really cheap! He must have had no idea what it was!¡± ¡°Amazing! That¡¯s a really nice find! You must have an eye for this trading business.¡± ¡°You think-¡± ¡°HEY! THAT¡¯S MINE!¡± Luke barely had time to even react to the voice he¡¯d just heard, but he knew it belonged to Crash. The droid couldn¡¯t control his actions. He knew it. That was when he heard the gunshot which caught Lexa straight in the head. He¡¯d failed. Why. Why did he fail again. God dammit why! As she bled out on the ground, Crash picked up the sticky circuit regulator. ¡°Finally! I been lookin¡¯ forever! Thanks buddy!¡± The light had already left her eyes, and he was on the ground again, sobbing. Luke had tried so hard. This was supposed to be the safest place he could possibly find, it had to be, right? Right?! He took the insane bot by the shoulders and shook him. ¡°I¡¯d finally done it! You fucking dumbass! Why!¡± ¡°Huh? She stole my circuit regulator, and you helped me find it!¡± ¡°No. You bastard!¡± He shook the bot, but he seemed confused. Not as much as when Luke started to levitate again though. He didn¡¯t want to go back. He didn¡¯t want to do this all again. He just wanted to be with her!! Over & Over: Escape Four. Awake. Again. The soft buzzing of his alarm clock was something that he¡¯d almost become numb to. Of course, there were a lot of things you could become numb to, given enough time. But he wouldn¡¯t give up. Not like this. He could formulate another plan, try again, save her life. There was some way to do it, there had to be. He would try until he saved her. Luke Thomas would save her. So he began again, deciding to take it the same, but to try and take her out of town. Everything happened in the same order, though he felt like he was becoming numb to the shock of getting robbed by Crash. Hell, he could even remember some of the symbols in his product number. One one one six? Yeah CR-@1116. He wrote it out just in case he forgot and stuck the paper in his shirt. Maybe it would help him at some point. He didn¡¯t want to be late to his appointment. Which was of course, killing himself. He jumped without a second thought, knowing he would be saved by Lexa. He then allowed himself to get outfitted with the bracelets, all the while spouting off exactly what he knew to say. During this time, the only thing he could think about was what he would do differently this time though, and when he got to Mr. Setsuna, he engaged his plan. After the pleasantries about his family and the advice, he asked Mr. Setsuna for his favor. ¡°Hey, you wouldn¡¯t happen to know a good way out of town, would you?¡± ¡°Outta town? Where ya goin¡¯? ¡°I want to take Lexa somewhere. She tells me she¡¯s never seen wide open grassy fields before, so I thought that would be a great place!¡± ¡°Playin¡¯ the romantic, huh? Alright alright, I can drive ya myself!¡± ¡°You have a vehicle?¡± ¡°Yeah! It¡¯s a bit of a junker, but it should get us out to the sides uh town fairly easy. You in?¡± ¡°Sure! Let¡¯s go say¡­ tomorrow at noon?¡± ¡°Tomorrow at noon, sounds great kid.¡± Thus, the next day at noon, Mr. Setsuna fired up his old vehicle. Luke had never seen it before, and for good reason, since it was below a large pile of junk and crates. The wheels were large, and the front had a grill wide enough to lay on, but there it was. ¡°Now let¡¯s see if¡¯n the old girl¡¯ll start up¡­¡± He put an old key in the ignition, and sure enough, it clunked to life. It didn¡¯t sound like something he would have wanted to drive all that badly, but if it got them out of the city he couldn¡¯t be more grateful. Lexa stood there, somewhat surprised that Luke had wanted to go on an excursion outside the city. She¡¯d said something about how it was weird that he wanted to do something new for once, which only angered him a little bit. He was on a mission, her teases wouldn¡¯t stop him. It was relatively quiet inside the car, and after twenty minutes they passed the highway stop. Usually the guards were skeptical if you were walking outside, but if you had a car they gave you a ticket with a bored expression. It wasn¡¯t as if you couldn¡¯t leave the city without a car, but it was sure as hell easier. Luke looked in the backseat at Lexa, who waved at him a little ponderously. She wasn¡¯t sure what was going on, and that was just fine with him. After a few more minutes, Mr. Setsuna started a conversation. ¡°Y¡¯know, this is the car that I came to town with.¡± ¡°Oh, really?¡± ¡°Yep, old bird hasn¡¯t failed me yet. Bit surprised it started up n¡¯ all though.¡± ¡°Was that after¡­¡± ¡°Right after it actually, but what ¡®bout you two? Skippin¡¯ town?¡± ¡°No! Just following up on something.¡± ¡°Ahh, well will here work then?¡± They had turned onto a dirt road and after going a few miles, Setsuna stopped. It wasn¡¯t the prettiest place, but it was safe. There was almost nothing for miles but grass. Any trees had been cut down by the inhabitants of the city long ago, and if anything popped up you could be sure that someone would be there to cut it down as well. Setsuna tipped his hat and leaned down back into his car. ¡°Don¡¯t get inta trouble you two. Call me if ya need a right back Luke.¡± ¡°Sounds good, and thanks Mr. Setsuna.¡± ¡°The things I do fur my customers!¡± He smiled and closed the door, the ancient car clinking away in the dust. Lexa sat down on a rock and looked up at him. ¡°So, you still don¡¯t feel inclined to tell me why we¡¯re here?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you trust me yet?¡±Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. He didn¡¯t want to tell her. He didn¡¯t want to put her through that. But it was something he hadn¡¯t tried yet. If he told her what was happening¡­ maybe, just maybe, he could prevent her death. ¡°Lexa. I-¡± His voice caught in his throat and he put his hand out toward her. Noticing his tension, she stood up and walked over to him. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± He would tell her. ¡°Y-you died.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve watched you die three times now. You were hit by a mining car, you fell where I should have killed myself, and you were shot by Crash.¡± ¡°Crash?¡± ¡°The bot that robbed me, it doesn¡¯t matter. What matters is that these bracelets are sending me back in time. I think. That, or this is all just one big dream after I actually succeeded in killing myself.¡± ¡°What? Slow down! You¡¯ve seen me die?¡± ¡°Yes. I¡¯m trying to save you. I-I need you.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I love you alright! I honestly don¡¯t know how I can live without you anymore, sound surprising?!¡± He threw his hands up in the air. It wasn¡¯t that he was getting angry with her, but when she asked him for a reason that he was trying to save her it seemed almost too obvious. Even if he didn¡¯t feel that way he would try to save a friend from a¡­ from many terrible deaths. ¡°Let me get this straight. You dragged me outside the city to tell me you¡¯ve seen me die a few times, then you tell me you love me practically in the same breath? Luke¡­ how am I supposed to take that?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ well? If you don¡¯t you might die!¡± ¡°You¡¯re saying that the stupid bracelets a broken robot like Z-mo gave you actually harbor the power to go back in time?¡± ¡°Right to the moment that I wake up on the day I try to kill myself.¡± She put her hand to her face and breathed heavily into it. ¡°Let¡¯s get one thing straight. Did I confess or did you?¡± He wasn¡¯t all that sure why it mattered, but if she got angry and stormed off that may as well be a death sentence. ¡°We both did. So far I took you on a date twice, and you took me on one once. The first time. You went to the markets up in town and bought some things. Then we went up a little hill and sat at a picnic table and¡­¡± Her eyebrow shot up. ¡°We kissed and confessed to each other. Then we came down the hill and you¡­ you got hit by the mining car.¡± ¡°That was the first time?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± She sighed heavily. ¡°You know about a place that I haven¡¯t brought you to yet, so honestly I can only think that you¡¯re telling the truth. I wanted to take you there after offering you a job at Z-mo¡¯s actually.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why we go!¡± ¡°Oh really. Well. That kind of ruins it, doesn¡¯t it? So if we¡¯re careful we should be alright then, right?¡± Luke¡¯s eyes widened and he took hold of her arm. ¡°We can¡¯t go back to town.¡± ¡°What?! How do you expect to survive! Sleep on the ground, eat worms?¡± ¡°If we have to, yes.¡± ¡°That¡¯s insane. You can¡¯t just hide from your problems.¡± With that she began to storm back towards the city. He was losing her, and if she made it back to the city there was no telling what would happen to her. Death was at the top of the list, but what else could happen before that? Broken neck due to some freak accident, then death after terrible amounts of pain in an old understaffed hospital? The only way he could protect her was by keeping her here. ¡°You can¡¯t go! I can¡¯t see you die again! I¡¯ll break!¡± She wrenched her hand free of his grip and took both his shoulders, looking deep into his eyes. ¡°You¡¯re the one that loves me. Right?¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Well?¡± ¡°Yes, I love you.¡± ¡°Then save me. If you can¡¯t live without me, then save me. Telling me to stay out here forever is as bad a suicide as staying in the city, we¡¯ll simply starve out here in days. If we don¡¯t go back I have a zero percent chance of staying alive, if we do maybe that goes up to one percent. If that not better than having no chance at saving me?¡± She took his phone from his pocket and put it in both his hands, cupping hers behind them. ¡°Call Mr. Setsuna. You can save me, and your sanity.¡± She winked, and he began to dial. After a while Mr. Setsuna was back in the clunker, it turns out he simply drove back to the main road and read a book while he waited. Setsuna full expected them to come back didn¡¯t he¡­ ¡°Not skippin town t¡¯day huh? That¡¯s fine, maybe next time!¡± He drove back with a smile, and Lexa massaged a mute Luke¡¯s sore shoulders from the back seat. Seeing this, Setsuna decided to pitch in a comment. ¡°You two do it in public out there then?¡± This was enough to bring both of them back to sanity. ¡°What!? No!¡± ¡°Public sex is gross you old man!¡± ¡°Hahaha! Well yous was zonin¡¯ out! Had to getcha back some way!¡± He flashed his ticket to the guard, but it was denied. The burly man stood up and took his ticket in both hands. Next, he hit a button and a red light started flashing. Surprised, Mr. Setsuna turned his car off. ¡°You three! Get out of the car!¡± They followed the man¡¯s instructions and he approached them with a scanbot. For some reason the color drained from Setsuna¡¯s face, but he still followed the orders. Pinned against the car, they were scanned one by one by the droid until it stopped on the old man. An X flashed across its face and the burly man walked up once again. ¡°Myon Sayuri! You are under arrest for creation and disbursement of chemical weapons!¡± The old man looked down, saddened. Luke looked at him then back up to the burly man, whose face was raging. Setsuna, or Sayori as the man called him, then walked up to the burly guard, who attempted to put cuffs on him. At that moment, Setsuna smashed both of his hands into a fist and brought it down upon the guard¡¯s head. He yelled at them to run away, it seemed he was trying to give them a chance to escape, but it was already too late. The guard shot Setsuna, who was not finished yet. Bleeding, the old man body slammed the guard, smashing his head against the concrete. The guard stopped moving, and the guard bots began to open fire. This was Luke¡¯s worst nightmare incarnate. He was barely able to open the door to the car before Lexa was hit twice. Shoving her inside, he cursed his bad luck at not being hit by any as the bullets continued to rain upon the junker car. There was a hole on one of her thighs and one in her stomach. Luke held them to stop the bleeding, but it seemed there was nothing he could do. It was his fate to always fail. He would never save her. He would never save her. He would never- ¡°Luke. D-don¡¯t give up. Y-you¡¯ll save me! I love you! I really do¡­ ever since the- the first time I saw you trying to kill yourself. You¡¯ll do it! I trust you, no matter how many times you do it over and over and over. Y-you¡¯ll save me, because I¡¯m oh so important, aren¡¯t I?¡± She attempted to chuckle, but coughed up blood instead. Luke was stunned into silence. He couldn¡¯t¡­ but no. He could and he would. One last squeeze to his hand a smile reminded him of her first death, but he stayed strong. His body slowly lifted to the ceiling of the car, and in moments it was done. ¡°She trusts me!¡± Over & Over: Endless Five. Awake. Again. He lay in bed for a few extra minutes this time. How could he do it? He followed the motions again. Every time it seemed to get more ingrained into his head. He could remember even more of Crash¡¯s name now. It seemed that every time he remembered just a little bit more. He¡¯d wanted to ask Mr. Setsuna about Myon Sayuri, but felt that it may change the timeline too much. This time he would be sticking to the plan, and simply staying with Lexa on the hill longer. He could see the mining car, and as it went by a large weight was lifted from his chest. That wasn¡¯t so bad, now if he just got her back home everything would be ok. It seemed to work like that in his head. If she was able to avoid death and make it back to the apartment she would be saved. It seemed like some sort of game, but it was all that he had to work with at the moment. He was almost back when the mining car made it¡¯s return run. He wanted to scream for having been so ignorant. The bracelets lifted him up again. Seven. Awake. Again. He¡¯d tried and failed the same method twice in a row now, but this time it would work. Instead of going out on a date, he would just stay at Z-mo¡¯s! That would be the date! Thus after his job acceptance he convinced the old bot and Lexa to have a nice quaint little party right there in the shop. A few beers and a few cans of oil for Z-mo and it was nice. A couple of the miners from outside even came in and talked. Of course, that was when it happened. For god¡¯s sake, how can you foresee something like Lexa choking to death? On noodles! You can¡¯t avoid that! Again, as he fell to the floor on his knees he was lifted up by the stupid bracelets. Thirteen. Awake. Again. Nothing was changing¡­ why couldn¡¯t he avoid her death?! It was stupid! How! He followed the motions again, but this time decided to avoid the shop in the deep markets. This way, she would never find Crash¡¯s missing part, and they could just have a nice date. She looked at things for a nice long while and he began to relax. It seems like he avoided the death in this one. But something had to happen. He didn¡¯t even know what had caused it this time, but there she was. Dead on the concrete. Twenty-Two. Awake. Again. It was as if he just couldn¡¯t do it. He couldn¡¯t succeed. No matter what he did, no matter how drastic of a change, that week dragged itself along like a dead deer on your windshield. It was never ending. Cause of death? Getting pushed in front of a train. Thirty-Nine. Awake. Again. The days were running ragged. He had begun to try different things simply for results, calculating exactly what would change, down to the second. Responses, times, different physical reactions as well. He tried to learn as much as he could. Cause of death? Gun to the head. Sixty-One. Awake. Again. Lexa died from a fucking terrible decapitation last time, he wasn¡¯t going to try that again. But at least from number fifty-nine he had gotten a pretty good death time. He wrote down a few extra details before going out to jump off the overlook once again. Cause of death? Run over by the mining car. Again. Ninety-four. Awake. Again. He yawned. He had exactly twelve minutes and thirty three seconds before he was supposed to jump off the overlook, and if he got ready in a couple minutes he would still be there with one minute twenty seconds to spare, roughly. He decided to keep in bed for a few extra minutes. Cause of death? Multiple stabbings. One Hundred Seventy-Six. Awake. Again. Why the fuck wasn¡¯t anything working!!! Everything calculated¡­ He had everything down to a fucking T. Why! Why the fuck wasn¡¯t it working! Cause. Stray bullet. Three Hundred Twenty-One. Awake. Again. He looked down at his hands.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°And again¡­ and awake¡­ and again¡­ and awake¡­¡± He shook his head to clear his thoughts. ¡°T-twelve m-minutes.¡± Cause. Metro twelve minutes late, shot in back. Ironic. Five Hundred Forty-Four. Awake. Again. Why was she always interrupting him? On the very first fucking day when he got the bracelets, he realized something that he¡¯d overlooked for a long time. Lexa was always fucking interrupting him! ¡°It¡¯s Luke Thomas. My name, is Luke Thomas!¡± ¡°Oh. Nice to meet you...¡± He smiled, that would at least get to to call him by the right name. She wouldn¡¯t interrupt him when he was trying to save her, that was just stupid! Cause. Sudden cardiac arrest. Seven Hundred¡­ Something. Awake. Again. His bone was going to creak right¡­ there. Right when he turned thirty two degrees to the right. Oh, but Lexa would be waiting. ¡°After I got her measurements, I wonder if some new clothes could help save her? Hahaha!!!! Clothes?!¡± Cause. Stabbed. ??? Awake. Again. Luke sat up in bed and ran his fingers along the intricate lines of his face. He felt unwell. Last time, number¡­ he couldn¡¯t even remember at this point, but Lexa had been crushed. He had seen some pretty terrible things. He lay back down, taking a moment, and stared up at the ceiling once again. ¡°How many times¡­¡± He¡¯d lost count around seven hundred, but it was probably at least a hundred and thirty more than that. So eight hundred ish? Maybe. Luke swung his legs off the side of the bed and found a notepad and pencil, writing down the different times things would happen. It was at least important for that to be remembered. He still had a little more than ten minutes left to get to the overlook when he put on his coat and ventured outside. It was fifty-five degrees outside, or thereabouts. Not all that cold. As he turned the corner he took a slightly different path, and tripped on the cobblestone. ¡°You alright?¡± When he turned around to look at the familiar voice he saw none other than Z-mo, and the large bot extended a claw towards him. Luke took it and stood up. This had never happened before. ¡°Oh! You¡¯re Luke Thomas, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I-I am.¡± ¡°Come with me then, I have something to give you!¡± If this was a normal day a bot telling him to follow would have been a telltale sign of robbery, but this was not the case. He didn¡¯t care what happened at this point, as long as it was different. As long as he had a chance. After a few minutes of walking the bot dragged him into the soup shop he¡¯d seen hundreds of times and down into the lab. ¡°You seem a lot worse than usual Mr. Thomas, something wrong?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t seem to save someone.¡± ¡°Ahh, Lexa giving you trouble?¡± Luke¡¯s head shot up and he looked at the bot with wide eyes. ¡°Y-you know?!¡± ¡°Hm? Shit! I was¡­ I was supposed to let you do it on your own!¡± ¡°You better fucking tell me you bag of bolts!¡± Z-mo calmed him down and sat back down at the counter. ¡°I am quite an idiot¡­ well let me say first off, I do not know the extent of what you have seen, but I do know what is happening. Lexa is dying.¡± ¡°How do you know that? Do you have these bracelets inside of you too?¡± ¡°Ah, the bracelets were actually created by Lexa¡¯s father, shortly before his death. He was the main researcher in this laboratory, yep. Right here he worked day in and day out. One day, a colleague of his saw something that they could not explain, it was a time loop in the near future!¡± ¡°A time loop?¡± The bot nodded. ¡°And it was connected to Dr. Thickton¡¯s daughter. Her death is a time loop for us all. The only reason you¡¯re different is because you retain your memories after she dies!¡± ¡°How? The bracelets?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got it! The brain sends electrical signals, which are stored in these bracelets. Every time she dies they take in a lot of outside energy and prepare to send themselves back in time. Honestly it isn¡¯t you the things are sending back, it¡¯s your memories. Otherwise she would die and we would all be sent back in the loop without knowing.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you use the bracelets?!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not the same as a brain!¡± ¡°So?!¡± ¡°It¡¯s different Luke. Anyways, what we need to focus on is keeping Lexa alive, now that I¡¯ve accidentally outed myself.¡± ¡°Do you have any idea how many times I¡¯ve been fucked by this time loop?¡± ¡°Emotions are one of the weaker sides of my wiring.¡± ¡°You little¡­ fine, do you know what to do?¡± ¡°Well¡­ kind of.¡± ¡°Kind of. How so.¡± ¡°Lexa actually isn¡¯t the only one tied to these happenings. There¡¯s a few of them. You¡¯ll need to fix these things before you even get a chance to save Lexa!¡± ¡°What?! What are these other things?¡± ¡°The first is a woman named Pat Tano. She¡¯s a-¡± ¡°I know who that is, she¡¯s my landlord.¡± ¡°Oh really? Then you¡¯ll have no problem solving her problem.¡± ¡°Problem?¡± ¡°Each of the folks tied to the disturbance in time has a major problem that acts as a barrier to time. If not all of their problems are remedied, it will simply keep happening, and Lexa will keep dying, sending us all back once again.¡± ¡°No joke¡­¡± ¡°Thus, you need to solve the problems of these entities. Pat Tano. Myon Sayuri. CR-@111649437063721459-SH. Z-mo. Luke Thomas. Lexa Thickton.¡± All people and bots who¡¯d become mixed up with him, some just in the past week this loop was stuck in. Fate had strange ways of working¡­ ¡°So I have to solve each person and bot¡¯s problem. You¡¯re on there, can we just fix yours right now?¡± ¡°Whoah there youngun I think you¡¯ll want to wait for mine. It¡¯s wise to do them in that order, though perhaps you can switch up the first three as you like.¡± ¡°So it really doesn¡¯t matter what order they¡¯re in.¡± The bot shrugged, placing the bracelets on him once again. He at least needed that failsafe. ¡°How do I know what each one¡¯s problem is then? Ask them?¡± ¡°I have no idea, this is really all I know.¡± ¡°Great. Well this makes the last eight hundred weeks basically worthless.¡± ¡°Eight hundred?! Are you alright?!¡± ¡°I am absolutely not alright. But now that I have an idea of what to do, that doesn¡¯t matter. I want to scream, I want to hit something, I want to shoot some tires out, and I want to throw some things. But this is not the time for that. Now¡­ where is Lexa?¡± ¡°She went out just a bit ago, she should be back soo-¡± ¡°Z-mo?¡± They heard a voice from above and the old bot started back up the stairs, signalling for him to follow. They soon learned that it was Lexa herself, coming back from her morning stalk. She¡¯d been told by Z-mo that he would exit out of his apartment later but when she got there he was gone. Since he¡¯d broken the cycle that time it was easy to see how if he¡¯d gone to the overlook even a minute earlier he¡¯d have died a long time ago¡­ That was about when she noticed him. ¡°Hold on, isn¡¯t that him?¡± ¡°Oh, yeah it is. So he¡¯s fine and all, I just need you to go out and get some things.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need my help with this guy?¡± ¡°Not at all! He¡¯s a lot better off than I¡¯d thought¡­ err¡­ go to the market and see if you can find me some ginger! None of that off brand stuff either! Thanks Lexa!¡± After she¡¯d left Luke looked at the old bot with a smirk. ¡°Are you trying to keep her away from me now?¡± ¡°She¡¯s already spent years with you. Besides, you need to get to work.¡± That was something that he couldn¡¯t really say a word against. ¡°If I may give a word of advice, I know a bit about Myon Sayuri. He was a chemicals expert that worked for the government. I think he¡¯d even had a few dealings with Lexa¡¯s father, but the government ordered him to make something. A dark project. He did so, but only to see it used on his own neighborhood. Thus, he went into hiding¡­¡± ¡°Wow¡­ so that¡¯s who Myon Sayuri is¡­ Thanks Z-mo, this definitely helped me out. I¡¯ll start with him.¡± ¡°Try to hurry¡­ you kind of need to get this done before the week is up.¡± ¡°Oh I know exactly how much time I have left. In seconds.¡± With that he walked out of the small restaurant, Z-mo speechless, and began the trek to Mr. Setsuna¡¯s shop. The man that he¡¯d thought was his friend might be a villain or he might be an innocent. It was time to find out, and he was damned interested if not to just break this terrible cycle of deaths. Mediocre Update I didn''t really want to waste everyone''s time with updates on this book, but this is needed. I''ve been VERY busy as of late and have barely gotten anything written pertaining to this book, so you''ll need to bear with me for at worst 3 more days before I can get a release out that I am satisfied with. Really sorry, but college swept up my life in the first week, and by next week I should have a writing routine planned out.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Thanks so much for understanding, General Over & Over: Myon Sayuri Pt. 1 Mr. Setsuna was sweeping out the front of his shop as Luke walked up the man, waving as he did so. He waved Luke inside and they sat down at a small table in his house, which was connected to the supermarket that the old man ran. It was a small little home, but Setsuna usually called the entire supermarket his mansion. He served Luke some tea as they began to talk. ¡°So what brings ya here Luke?¡± ¡°Oh, about that, I was wondering if you¡¯d be opposed to telling me a little bit more about your family.¡± Suddenly the man¡¯s face grew a little greyer, his smile turning around. ¡°My family. How do you know anything about them?¡± Shit, he hadn¡¯t gotten to that point yet. Setsuna didn¡¯t show him the photo. ¡°Oh well¡­ I saw that picture of you with a woman and little girl a few days ago and it¡¯s been bugging me ever since.¡± ¡°Ah. I see. Well Luke, I spose ya can deal with a bit of a sad story. Maybe it¡¯ll get ya off yours.¡± ¡°You¡¯re just going to tell me everything?¡± ¡°What d¡¯you mean?¡± Luke was still counting the seconds in his head, and this was going to be too slow if he couldn¡¯t find a way to hurry things up. He decided to bring out his trump card. ¡°Myon Sayuri. That is your real name, isn¡¯t it?¡± At that moment the old man¡¯s eyes opened wide and he looked around, visibly shivering. ¡°How do you know that name Luke?¡± ¡°That isn¡¯t important. What is important is you telling me everything. I¡¯m not going to turn you in or anything. In fact, I want to help you. I need to help you.¡± ¡°Help me? How do you plan on doing that?¡± ¡°What is it that you want the most Myon.¡± ¡°To see my family again¡­¡± ¡°Well¡­ what do you want second most.¡± ¡°To escape the prying eyes of the government.¡± ¡°Then I may know of a way to help you.¡± ¡°What, how?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got an¡­ acquaintance that works at the identity distribution center. I can you a new identity, and you can escape this. Now, tell me everything.¡± Luke smiled in spite of himself and looked across the small table at the old man. He¡¯d thought up this plan long ago, back when he¡¯d tried to get Lexa out of the city. There wasn¡¯t much else to do, and thinking of ways to help Mr. Setsuna came naturally after seeing all that had happened. The man had been his friend after all. ¡°Everything¡­ Then where to start¡­¡± It also appeared that his accent was fake as well as he slipped back into his natural voice. It sounded like a normal voice instead of a Kingsley accent like he¡¯d had before. The gruff voice was replaced by a soft and tender one that he¡¯d hidden for months, perhaps years. The old man sat down in front of him and stretched his neck, interlacing his fingers in a way that reminded Luke of his past. A scientist, and a damned good one at that. The things he was about to hear wouldn¡¯t be good for him nor Luke. ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­ Ah, I suppose it is only logical to start at the beginning of my career. Back in the day I was a navy man, the government used my expertise in a wide range of study, including missile travel and¡­ bombs. I was married with children living in upper Kingsley, one of the best times of my life. Oddly, I was one day expelled from the navy and men in black suits approached me. The next I knew they had me in the back of a car and had brought me to a smelly noodle shop in the middle of one of the poorest parts of the city. I was greeted by a tall white haired man and a pristine bot named Z-mo, and showed to a laboratory, which was underneath the shop oddly enough. There, we conducted many experiments. Dr. Thickton, the advisor, was oddly involved in the study of time itself, while I and another of my colleagues were focused on the military department. We created chemical bombs to be used against the enemy, which worked very well. This bliss did not last very long however. One day, Thickton found something. A hole in time he called it, many of us laughed, though through my knowledge I saw the anomaly. Before we could research it any further though, me and the other scientists were taken back to the city center and thrown in a laboratory that was supervised around the clock by the army. I was angry about the sudden move obviously, and attempted to slow down production of my newest weapon, called the T-125. But they were angry¡­ it seemed that Thickton¡¯s research had been a thorn in the side of the government for a long time, but they couldn¡¯t get rid of him. When we-¡±The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Suddenly Setsuna heard a noise from outside and stood up quickly, scanning the room with intelligent and intuitive eyes. A few seconds later a meow could be heard and a small cat ran across the front of the shop, causing his shoulders to slump once again. ¡°Ah, I¡¯m sorry¡­ was I going too fast?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s alright. That was a great speed.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ let me get you some tea. I¡¯ll need it as well to keep going.¡± The older man walked into the other room, leaving Luke to peer around for a few minutes. The room was certainly old, but it had a very Mr. Setsuna feel to it. It felt like a home. On the walls were pictures of old friends and family, though as far as Luke could see there were no pictures of his wife and child besides the one from before. It was like an old memory he couldn¡¯t stop. There was also nothing around that made Luke believe that Setsuna was some sort of scientist. Perhaps a collector of seashells instead. Once Luke heard the whistling sound of a kettle Luke¡¯s head whipped around back to the entrance. A few seconds later, Setsuna walked through it with a bit of a sad smile on his face and poured their drinks. ¡°Ah, get it while it¡¯s hot, you know?¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± The old man sat back on the ground and took a long swig of the tea, readying himself. ¡°Alright¡­ now where were we¡­ Ah, right Thickton had been a government annoyance for some time. When we were expelled from the lab he went off on his own and conducted the research himself, attempting to share the data with me. Unsurprisingly the government got ahold of the files and Thickton was taken¡­ God knows where¡­ Meanwhile, I was punished. Through a weapons test. One of the planes I had designed dropped a bomb I had designed onto my neighborhood¡­ an accident they said. Everyone died¡­ terribly¡­ it was one of the worst scenes I had ever seen. After this, I fled, coming back to the only place any bum in the city can blend in. One of my old colleagues gathered a fake identity for me, and here we are.¡± ¡°Do you¡­ do you blame Thickton?¡± Setsuna reeled back a bit as if it was the strangest question in the world. ¡°Do I blame a good concerned man for the government¡¯s lack of veracity? No, no I do not. I blame myself for getting wound up with weapons research. I created the very weapons that killed my family. It was all my fault, and I accept the blame. Though now I simply am trying to live out the rest of my life. It is quite peaceful here after all.¡± Luke thought to himself. What was the old man¡¯s problem? If he simply wanted to live out his days in peace, what could it be? ¡°Don¡¯t you have any regrets besides that? Unfinished business?¡± ¡°Not especially¡­ though there is one thing I had always wished.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I was never able to see the contents of Thickton¡¯s file. I had desperately wished to see what information he had sent me about the rip in time.¡± ¡°Do you have any ideas of where it could be?¡± ¡°Well, a few but that is utter nonsense¡­¡± ¡°Of course it isn¡¯t.¡± Luke looked into the old man¡¯s eyes with vigor, renewed by his talk with Z-mo. At this, Setsuna chuckled, and put a hand on his shoulder. When Luke didn¡¯t budge, his eyes drew from Luke¡¯s vigor and he leaned in closer. ¡°There had to be a file at his house, and nobody has been there for years. After Thickton was taken it was pronounced government probably and nobody is allowed on the property.¡± Luke smiled. ¡°Well then old man, are you ready to go on one last adventure?¡± Setsuna put his fingers to the corners of his eyes, but smiled all the same. ¡°Heh, son I was born ready.¡± He pulled Luke up from the floor and they begun to plan. The old man took out a few pieces of paper and pencils used to draw up a crude map of the surroundings. There were shops all around the house, however it stood alone on a small grassy knoll. It was a popular place for miners to go after a day searching for minerals, and they could be used as well in their drunken state. Luke assured Setsuna that he would be able to convince any of the miners to step on the property and set off the automatic alarm that was around the entire house. It was simply an alarm whenever something entered the space around the house however, and it was unknown when or where the entry happened. Luke would leave the drunken men to stand there and talk with the police, but this was the interesting part. Since the alarm couldn¡¯t detect where or more importantly how many objects entered the space around the house Setsuna would enter at the exact same time, watching from a nearby bench. There, he would fade into the darkness and get to the house, giving Luke a signal from nearby when the alarm had been disabled. After that they would search for the file and find it, then leave without triggering the alarm as it would be disabled. It was a damn good plan if Luke had to be honest, and he could see the gears turning in the old scientist¡¯s head as he thought it through. This was not a man to be taken lightly. Setsuna winked at him. ¡°All in the pursuit of knowledge, eh?¡± ¡°Hopefully this doesn¡¯t lead us to the pursuit of freedom.¡± ¡°Oh please, we won¡¯t be sent to jail.¡± He packed up his notepad and paper and stuck a hand outside, feeling the weather. Looking back at Luke¡¯s ratty old jacket Setsuna put up one finger as a sign to wait a minute and went into his walk in closet. Coming back out, he had two coats in hand, and gave one to Luke. ¡°We can¡¯t have you breaking and entering in something like that. You¡¯d like like a criminal after all!¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure this sky blue jacket is criminal in and of itself Mr. Setsuna.¡± He chuckled. He looked more and more like the father that Luke was always missing. Though it wasn¡¯t all that different from how Setsuna normally acted around him. ¡°Aha, better than that ratty old thing, isn¡¯t it? Well then, shall we get going?¡± ¡°Get going? Now?¡± ¡°Of course! Seize the day!¡± Perhaps Setsuna had been more into the plan than Luke had previously thought, and dragged him outside towards their destination. He really acted like a dad. Luke wished that Setsuna had been his father, instead of the farming bumpkin that got rid of him as soon as he could. It was strange, he might have said it in his head before, but he really did care more about Setsuna as a parental figure than he ever had about his parents. There was no comparison. Now here he was getting dragged toward another parental figure¡¯s house. Perhaps he would be able to get insight on the man that he had heard so much about. Luke braced himself as Setsuna dragged him towards the one place he didn¡¯t expect to go in a lifetime, the house of Lexa¡¯s father, the man that started this entire mess. Or at least discovered it. Over & Over: Myon Sayuri Pt. 2 The house was exactly as Setsuna had described. Shops littered the area around the house, and a bar stood at the middle of them with a counter and chairs scattered around the premises. Among the many miners included some farmers as well, even steelworkers from the place Luke had come from. As Luke walked towards the bar in his new-ish coat, Setsuna sat next to the grassy area where the house was on a bench, newspaper open. The bench was also under a street lamp, giving Luke easy sight of the older man. Luke sat down with a few of the noisier miners and bought a few drinks, something he hadn¡¯t done in quite a few years, at least according to his mind¡¯s clock. It tasted like water and alcohol, but he kept it coming. He didn¡¯t want to get drunk, but he wanted to seem innocent enough to the other miners in order to gain their trust. After that he could get them to trip the alarm¡­ Thus he joined ranks with a large laughing man and a small hunched man sitting near the back of the bar area closest to the alarm. ¡°Atta boy! Drink em down!¡± ¡°Who¡¯s the new guy Slick?¡± ¡°Dunno, just joined up.¡± ¡°Jeff, my name is Jeff.¡± The name that they had decided on was tacky, but normal enough to not be noticed. ¡°So Jeff, what brings yeh down here? Workin¡¯ in the mines?¡± ¡°Nah I just heard this was a great place and all! Looking at the grass over there I¡¯d agree!¡± Slick and the small man simply smiled and looked over at the grass. ¡°Workin in the mines all day makes ya really wanna see some green, so course we come here.¡± ¡°Yeah, this is the probably the only place with grass in the area.¡± Luke nodded. ¡°You ever been over there before?¡± ¡°The grass? Ain¡¯t there something up with it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s tripped isn¡¯t it?¡± Slick took another large swig, calling for another drink. ¡°Now that ya mention it Barb I think it is.¡± It sounded like the smaller man''s name was Barb, but it was probably a nickname. They likely didn¡¯t even know each other¡¯s names, and it was something to talk about. He needed to keep the beer and the conversation going. ¡°So why are you called Barb?¡± ¡°Barb? He¡¯s called Barb cuz he¡¯s a little man! Gahaha!¡± ¡°Am not! It¡¯s cuz I fell on a rose bush one time dammit!¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Ahaha, then why are you called Slick?¡± Barb choked on his drink and slammed the drink down on the table. ¡°Pfft ahaha! He slipped on a damn sponge and fell on the conveyer belt! Almost got crushed up ¡®fore someone saved him!¡± Slick looked over at Barb and punched him on the shoulder lightly. ¡°I ain¡¯t done nothing of the sort¡­¡± They had started to get tipsy at this point, and Luke had already poured out two beers, actually having had one. This must be the time to jump on the gun. They had to be at the point of no return, he could get them to do something as small as stepping over the line and tripping an alarm. He definitely could. Luke steeled himself and spoke up. ¡°Hey, you guys really like the grass huh?¡± ¡°Is nice¡­¡± ¡°So go o¡¯er there and feel it!¡± ¡°Buh the alarm!¡± ¡°Nahh is fine, jus go over and touch it quick, trus me!¡± ¡°Ahh fine fine, I¡¯m goin!¡± Slick got up from his seat, Barb having fallen asleep, and walked unsteadily over to the border. Setsuna had been watching, and stood up immediately. This was it, phase one was about to work. Slick looked at the grass and smiled, stepping one foot on the lawn. As soon as he did, Luke ducked past him and behind a small tree out of Slick¡¯s vision. There he stopped, hearing the alarms start. Slick giggled and ran away, mumbling about the soft grass, trying to find his friend Jeff. But Jeff was gone, and in his place was a still mentally sharp Luke, who made a run for the house, seeing Setsuna in the doorway. ¡°C¡¯mon Luke! We made it!¡± ¡°That was scary¡­¡± ¡°Oh come now, be a man. We¡¯re in after all!¡± Setsuna gestured to the entire house with both arms a full smile. ¡°Looks just like the last time I was here! Not a thing was moved!¡± Luke looked around. It appeared to be a pretty normal house, though quite messy. Papers sat on every single counter, and strange machines were propped up with pencils and stones as if moving one thing would cause it all to come crashing down. ¡°Ahh let¡¯s see¡­We should probably check the basement first.¡± ¡°Basement?¡± ¡°Strange isn¡¯t it? Not many folks have basements anymore, but old Thickton never listened. Build me a damned basement he said, heh heh.¡± Setsuna felt around the walls of the dark house, looking for some sort of switch. ¡°Hey don¡¯t you think turning lights on would be a bad idea?!¡± ¡°Lights? No, I¡¯m looking for the switch to open the¡­ aha!¡± Luke heard a small noise, and seconds later felt the ground move right from underneath his feet. Hopping to the side, he heard Setsuna chuckle. ¡°Heh, watch out Luke. This house isn¡¯t all that safe.¡± ¡°I can see that¡­¡± Setsuna simply smiled and descended into the darkness. Luckily down here, however, the duo felt a bit safer about having lights on, and Setsuna quickly found a mounted bulb, illuminating the area in a bright light. ¡°That man never stopped working¡­¡± In front of them were all manner of machines and diagrams, theories on how black holes worked, a diagram on how the old man thought time flowed, everything. Even on the south wall there seemed to be some sort of murder wall. A picture of a hawkish man was stuck in the middle, surrounded by strings connecting him to others. As Setsuna walked around he put his hand to his chin and picked things up, muttering to himself. ¡°So I wonder where the copy is?¡± ¡°No shit¡­¡± ¡°You find it?¡± ¡°I found the only file around here with the name Myon Sayuri on it. I¡¯m fairly certain this is it.¡± ¡°So strange they didn¡¯t take all this stuff when they raided his house.¡± ¡°Oh they didn¡¯t raid it. They moved him out and set the perimeter up.¡± ¡°Oh really. Well¡­ let¡¯s just get started on the file.¡± Setsuna smiled and looked to the papers. ¡°To Myon, my friend¡­¡± Over & Over: Myon Sayuri Final Setsuna touched a button on the strange file, and a hologram appeared. A tall man with a white handlebar mustache faced them, spectacles on his face and hands clasped behind his back. ¡°So Myon, you¡¯ve finally made it. I hid all this information here in the hopes that you would find it. Now, I know how impatient you are to find what you came here for, but I have a bit of a request as well. Please, take care of my daughter. Her name is Lexa, and while I placed her with Z-mo I feel as if you would be a bit¡­ different of a guardian. I know not her age right now, hell, she may be too old for a guardian anyways, but if you tell her how you know me I at least ask you to befriend her. Now, we can move to what you came for.¡± Thickton pressed a few buttons and turned a few dials, moments later bringing up a large screen in front of him. ¡°Now this is the time anomaly. It has been damaged by something strange, and there are a few pinpoints which seem as if they are holding time in this one place. Strangely enough, these pinpoints are people, not events.¡± ¡°Not events?¡± ¡°They are tied to people around us, including you yourself. Now, by this point, your pinpoint should already have been fixed, so you needn¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve got Z-mo and a man whom I haven¡¯t met on the job.¡± The bushy haired man smiled and shook his head. ¡°Pretty good chances, eh? Either way, they are our only hope, so you must trust them. I created these bands which can be worn by a human to go back in time per the loop but still remain memory. It took many tries, but I¡¯ve finally perfected it. Z-mo is to give the bands to this third party and everything should work out in the end, provided he goes with the plan. Sadly, one affected by being a pinpoint cannot wear them, so please do not try. We must trust in them.¡± Setsuna looked from the hologram to Luke. Thickton had stopped talking for a moment, so Setsuna smiled over at the younger man. ¡°You¡¯re the one, aren¡¯t you. You¡¯re trying to repair the loop.¡± ¡°I am.¡± ¡°So, how did you fix me boy-o?¡± ¡°I honestly have no idea¡­ Z-mo told me that each of you had a problem, and I was to fix it.¡± ¡°How long have you known this?¡± ¡°Probably a day.¡± ¡°A day?! And how long did you go through the time loop?¡± ¡°I thought I lost count around eight-hundred.¡± ¡°WHAT?! You went through a time loop and kept your memories that many times?! How are you still mentally¡­¡± ¡°I have a goal, and I intend to succeed.¡± The older man closed his eyes and shook his head. ¡°How long is a loop?¡± ¡°About a week.¡± ¡°Mmmm and you¡¯ll have to help all of these individuals in that time won¡¯t you.¡± ¡°I will.¡± ¡°I have no idea how you could even begin to help¡­ how many is it?¡± ¡°Four more people.¡± ¡°Four more people in six days, can you really do it?¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°With little enough sleep a man can do anything.¡± ¡°You¡¯re insane aintcha, must be that girl of his hmm?¡± ¡°Yep, it is.¡± ¡°Man you answered that fast¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ve wasted enough time over the past few weeks of time looping.¡± ¡°Haha! I suppose you have! Now, let¡¯s get out of here.¡± Setsuna picked up the file and walked out followed by Luke. Much to their surprise, there were no secret alarms or police standing outside when they emerged from the carefully hidden basement, nor were there any mishaps on the way back to the store. For once, Luke was surprised. He¡¯d half expected that Setsuna would be one of the harder ones to deal with since he was involved with the government. It was refreshing. The older man stretched as he sat back down at the small table in his home, plopping the file down as well. ¡°See? That wasn¡¯t so bad.¡± ¡°No, it really wasn¡¯t. I half expected the army to be outside of the house and to be sent off to prison until the loop started again, then spending weeks trying to find out how to avoid just that one thing.¡± ¡°Heh, that sounds terrible son.¡± ¡°Son?¡± ¡°Oh, sorry. I just¡­¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. I just haven¡¯t been called something like that in a long time.¡± ¡°Your father never call you anything like that?¡± ¡°My father could barely even be called that. As soon as he could send me off to this city he did, and I haven¡¯t heard almost anything from him since.¡± ¡°No shit¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re practically a better father than he ever was, heh¡­ you¡¯ve given me a lot of food and stuff over the years.¡± ¡°Bah, I¡¯m a failure as a father. I let my family die.¡± ¡°Oh you did not, you couldn¡¯t have stopped them.¡± The old man shrugged and poured two cups of tea. ¡°It¡¯s better for me to think that I could have done something. It gives me a subject to think about sometimes.¡± Suddenly something felt strange. Luke looked down only to see that the rings were glowing and something was whirring inside of them. Setsuna noticed it too and stood up. ¡°What¡¯s going on?!¡± ¡°The bracelets, they¡¯re doing someth-!¡± Suddenly the light stopped, as did the whirring noise and Luke sat back down, hearing a feminine voice come from the bracelets. ¡°Subject: Sayuri, Myon. Approved.¡± ¡°Approved? Luke, does that mean that¡­¡± ¡°I think old Thickton jumped the gun a bit. Now you¡¯re finished. Nobody ever told me something like this would happen¡­¡± ¡°Good thing we were inside my house.¡± ¡°No kidding.¡± ¡°What now?¡± ¡°I move on to the next one I suppose.¡± ¡°And who is the next one?¡± ¡°Either my landlord or a robot that tried to rob me and is without a circuit regulator.¡± ¡°Seems like you¡¯ve got a lot to deal with¡­ I¡¯d offer my help, but I feel like it would go easier the more casual you can be with the subjects. Bringing an old man like me with you would only prompt questions. If I may help though, you should consider starting with the robot. Somehow it feels like that one is going to be rough¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re definitely right on that one, and you¡¯re probably right about this being easier if it¡¯s just me as well. I¡¯d like the help, but time is something that I need right now.¡± ¡°I know you¡¯ll do great boy-o, and if you have any questions or need any help just come rushing over. I¡¯ll do what I can. I¡¯m pretty good with robots, and if you need me to fix him up I believe I can get him started again.¡± ¡°That might be more of a help than you know.¡± ¡°No problem! After all, you¡¯re like a son to me ya damn steel worker.¡± ¡°Former steel worker!¡± Luke smiled along with the older man and they shook hands. After a brief exchange of goodbyes, Luke left, feeling emboldened. He thought about just what Setsuna¡¯s problem had been. It hadn¡¯t been the need to find the file, it hadn¡¯t even been trying to break into Thickton¡¯s house. After thinking about it, he¡¯d probably found the real reason. Setsuna had wanted someone that he could be friends with, someone to act as his son. He¡¯d wanted to be a father so long that he¡¯d barely thought anything about treating Luke as such. Luke, on the other hand, hadn¡¯t had a father for almost an equal amount of time. Finding one in Setsuna was easy, the older man had always been good to him and Luke was sure that if he hadn¡¯t given Luke food a couple of times he wouldn¡¯t be here even for the time loop. Thankfully Setsuna had been so good to him. The old guy really was like the dad he never had. Though this one hadn¡¯t been so hard, he still had almost a full week left. He felt as if Crash¡¯s quote on quote trial would be quite a bit more difficult than Setsuna¡¯s, so he went back home to sleep for the night. For once, it would be without Lexa, which felt strange, but he had to just keep remembering that it was all for her. Damn she¡¯d better thank him after this. Needing to be rested for the next morning, he fell asleep quickly. That stupid robot better not hurt him tomorrow that is, if he could find him. Update Well this is embarassing. Alright I know what you''re thinking, "What is this idiot doing besides writing!" If you thought that I would say it was a valid point. The only thing I have to say against it is that life sure does hit like a truck doesn''t it lol. I started writing this when I was at a low-ish point in my life and I really love the story of it, but things are really rolling around in my life at the moment. I will of course keep writing it, but I''ve got paper after paper after paper after paper during the time around midterms T_TIf you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. More to come, but damn am I a slow idiot or what lol Thank you for your support! -General Over & Over: Crash 1 Luke leaned up in bed the next morning. He didn¡¯t want to waste time, getting up at eight sharp. All this shit that was going on¡­ he¡¯d beat it. After getting dressed in his traditional smelly garb he walked outside. If he wasn¡¯t able to find Crash today he¡¯d likely give up on doing them in order and find Pat as soon as possible, looking for Crash when he could. He didn¡¯t want to do them out of order, but he didn¡¯t exactly have time to look for a bot for three days out of his week. Now where to start¡­ he would probably try the underground market, as he was unlucky enough to end up there with Lexa many times before he¡¯d started the trials. As he teetered towards the crumbling entrance, Luke saw a few robots surrounding a strange object on the dusty ground. Upon closer inspection, it looked to be a box of robot components¡­ It was a box of¡­ of circuit regulators. Which could only mean one thing. ¡°Ay! Out of my way you dumbasses! Gah¡­ where is it¡­¡± Luke didn¡¯t even have to see Crash to know he was in the crowd of robots, ever looking for his circuit regulator. According to the timeline, he would only find it if Lexa died¡­ which meant he had to find some way to find the stupid piece without that happening. This wasn¡¯t going to be easy. ¡°But every journey begins with a single step¡­¡± Luke muttered as he walked towards Crash, knocking him on the head. Sadly he¡¯d not already met with Crash this time around, but he felt that the bot could take a lot of strangeness in one go. The one thing he¡¯d have to watch out for was his violent tendencies. Since the regulator toned down his free will, among other things, the bot would be more prone to violent outbursts and crime. Something Luke was used to from the bot. ¡°Who the hell knocked!¡± ¡°Someone who wants to help you find your regulator. Actually, I might have a pretty good idea of where it is.¡± ¡°You know where my regulator is! Did you take it?!¡± Crash grabbed Luke¡¯s shirt collar and hoisted him up, but he forced himself to remain calm. ¡°The collectors, I¡¯m sure they have it. They¡¯ve been dealing with circuit regulators down here for a while now.¡± ¡°Hm, the collectors¡­ Fine let¡¯s go, but if you¡¯re wrong I¡¯m guttin¡¯ ya!¡± ¡°Fair enough.¡± Crash then allowed Luke to lead him to the stall that he remembered to be the one with Crash¡¯s part. As long as nobody else had bought it he wouldn¡¯t have to worry about being killed¡­ Once they approached the stall, the shady salesman behind the counter smiled, handing a tray of parts to a man in a long coat. Something glistened, and Crash¡¯s robot eyes caught it. ¡°That¡¯s my goddamn regulator!¡± At the bot¡¯s comment, the man in the long coat began to run, weaving in between people and stalls in his attempt to escape. Crash, however, was not concerned with being cordial, blundering through stalls and knocking people out of his way as he went. The man in the coat looked back one final time, and Luke, running behind the bot, saw his eyes widen. The man took a quick turn to the right into an alley and Crash bashed into a stall, following him. Before Luke even arrived he heard the bot¡¯s discontent.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°God dammit! Where¡¯d he go!¡± It was weird. There was what looked to be brick wall and ceiling, no way out. Where¡¯d the man gone then¡­ Crash tore through some baskets and crates but to no avail. The man was gone. ¡°Gah¡­¡± One of the shopkeepers approached them from his stall, looking back through the throng of people flung out on the ground. ¡°I¡¯ll take it that you fellas got cheated by the Beiorg gang?¡± ¡°Beiorg gang?¡± ¡°He stole my damn regulator!¡± At that, the shopkeeper backed off a bit. People were familiar with bots who¡¯d lost their regulators. They were dangerous most of the time. A fairly fitting description of Crash to be honest. ¡°You don¡¯t know the Beiorg gang? They function around this area, mostly guys that hide their identities with them big brown coats. They can be pretty hard to catch once they¡¯re runnin¡¯ from ya.¡± ¡°Huh, thanks. How would one find them? So we can get his regulator back.¡± ¡°Find them? Son, they steal and trade. They don¡¯t just give back. From the looks of yeh you aren¡¯t one with extra cash to flash their way neither.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± ¡°Mmmm¡­ But if I was you I¡¯d talk to Sam. He¡¯s up near Jullong¡¯s bar at night.¡± ¡°Damn right we¡¯ll talk to that bastard!¡± ¡°Hopefully I didn¡¯t just kill the old man. Ha!¡± ¡°Thank you, we¡¯ll talk to him. C¡¯mon Crash let¡¯s-¡± A flicker caught Luke¡¯s eye, and he picked up a silver coin from the ground. On the face was a strange bust of a man he¡¯d never seen before. On the other side was a building of grandeur. It was a strange coin¡­ In the background of his thoughts, he heard Crash yelling at him and stuffed the coin in his pocket. ¡°Crash? My name¡¯s-¡± ¡°Crash is easier.¡± ¡°Huh. Whatever, get going!¡± ¡°Alright jeez!¡± Crash picked up Luke by the pants and hurried out of the markets, just before the angry shopkeepers caught up to them. Once outside Crash plopped him down and started walking towards Jullong¡¯s bar. Had he been in another situation he might have told Crash to reel it back and make a plan of what to ask this Sam and how to ask it, but at this point, he didn¡¯t feel like wasting time. He just wanted to get something done for once. At the opening of the door, all eyes pointed through the smoky atmosphere to pinpoint the two new pieces of meat who¡¯d walked into their bar. A pair of bots whizzed by them, their gunner arms shining in the dim light. A bit scared, Luke pointed Crash towards the bartender, standing behind an old wooden counter. ¡°What¡¯ll it be.¡± ¡°No drinks.¡± Luke didn¡¯t really have the money to get one anyways. ¡°We¡¯re here to find a man named Sam.¡± One of the men sitting next to him, who almost seemed to have scales on his skin, rose up at the mention of the name. ¡°Ol¡¯ Sam? Where is the codger? Boys! Bring Sam up here!¡± Laughing, a few of the smaller scaly men flung up a man dressed in the rags of an old brown coat and hat. A white beard flew out from his face and his wrinkled features left no question about his age. He picked himself up and started muttering, eyes opening from one of the many crevices on his face. ¡°What do you want Guillermo?¡± ¡°Coupla fresh kids here lookin¡¯ to speak ta you. Hah, if they come lookin¡¯ for you they gotta be in real trouble gahaha!¡± At this, many in the bar laughed, and Sam looked into Luke¡¯s eyes. ¡°What are you here for, boy?¡± The men continued to laugh, but Crash spoke above them. ¡°We¡¯re looking to beat the Beiorg gang into a damn bloody pulp!¡± Silence. ¡°The Beiorg gang. What n the hell are you looking for them for.¡± ¡°They stole my damn regulator! I¡¯m gonna get it back if I have to kill every last fleshie in the city!¡± Finally, Sam replied. ¡°The Beiorg gang. You want to cause them harm. Destroy them?¡± ¡°Fuck yeah!¡± ¡°We¡¯ll talk in a back room then. Guillermo? Come.¡± ¡°Yessir.¡± Over & Over: Crash 2 Suddenly the demeanor changed in the room. Guillermo¡¯s men blocked the door and a few came up behind Crash and Luke to keep them from running, or so it appeared. Gone was the jokes at Sam¡¯s expense, replaced with an air of respect and secrecy. It was very strange. Crash and Luke were led into a small room with double wooden doors, closed by the two minions and locked from the inside by Guillermo. Sam and Guillermo sat down at the end of a table and motioned for Luke and Crash to do the same. Once they had sat down, Sam started to stroke his beard, Guillermo making notes in a journal. They weren¡¯t the bar ruffians they had seemed to be five minutes ago¡­ ¡°The Beiorg gang. One of the most secret groups in the city, even having connections in the top districts, where folks like us could never dream of going. They steal and resell all the time, kings can¡¯t keep a treasure from them. Bringing the Beiorg gang down is all I¡¯ve ever wanted.¡± ¡°Old Sam used to be a Beiorg. Got excommunicated fur havin¡¯ a wife. They¡¯re pretty strict. No family no connections no problems, that sort of thing. Me n the old man been looking for ways to take them down for years. But we don¡¯t have an in¡­ don¡¯t even know where their hideout is or anything. If we just had something, we could swoop in there and take down the infamous Beiorgs once n for all!¡± Instantly, Luke thought of the coin in his pocket that he¡¯d found in the market. It was a bit of a longshot, but he look it out of his pocket and sat it on the table in front of the two gruff men. Man he hoped it wasn¡¯t just some coin he found on the road¡­ ¡°Is that¡­¡± ¡°Well I¡¯ll be¡­¡± Oh thank god it was useful. ¡°This is a coin from the old era. Beiorg¡¯s use them to determine their hideout location and level of safety, see?¡± Sam took a pin from his pocket and poked the eye of the portrait of the man on the coin and it unfolded into a small digital map. ¡°They¡¯re in Strafe district¡­¡± ¡°Aye, under the ol¡¯ theater.¡± ¡°Well what the hell are we waiting for! I¡¯m gonna get my damn regulator back!¡± Crash got up but Luke caught him by the shoulder before he could go any further. ¡°Hold on, you want to die? We need some sort of plan first.¡± Guillermo folded his arms. ¡°Much as I like the ¡®nthusiasm, this is only half the trouble. We wanna take em down, you wanna get the bots regulator back. Who n the hell knows where their storage facility is!¡± ¡°Guillermo is right, regular members don¡¯t have access to the storage facility, meaning if we barge in there the facility members will be alerted and their entire inventory will be moved to another location. After that, these coins will be reprogrammed and there will be a culling of potentially traitorous members. Meaning in your department we won¡¯t be any further than we were ten minutes ago.¡± It dawned on Luke what they must be talking about. ¡°We have to target both buildings at once.¡± ¡°Precisely, but first we have to find out where the warehouse is.¡± ¡°How the hell are we gonna do that!¡± ¡°The Beiorg¡¯s are speciesist, I¡¯m a known traitor and Guillermo is way too big. We have a membership token. That leaves you, boy.¡± Luke found himself in the gazes of all three of them and it dawned on him what they were concocting. ¡°H-hold on. You can¡¯t be serious!¡± ¡°Ah don¡¯t really see another way.¡± ¡°Gaha! Don¡¯t worry kid they won¡¯t kill you!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll acquire the disguise and we¡¯ll meet back here at seven tomorrow morning, reasonable?¡± ¡°B-but I-¡± ¡°Sounds good! See you there old man!¡± Crash, suddenly in a good mood, dragged Luke from the chair and out into the hallway. ¡°We¡¯re gonna get my regulator back! Well, you are.¡± ¡°They¡¯ll just find out that I¡¯m a mole! There¡¯s no way I¡¯ll be able to pull this off, why can¡¯t one of Sam¡¯s men do it!¡±Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°They got that weird scaly skin. You¡¯re the only one that can do this¡­ uh¡­¡± ¡°Luke.¡± ¡°Yeah what you said! I¡¯m just gonna go back to the pile of garbage I was sorting through till tomorrow.¡± ¡°Wait. Why that regulator? Couldn¡¯t you just get a different one? That¡¯s the only thing I never understood.¡± ¡°Yeah yeah I guess that¡¯s fair if I¡¯m gonna drag you into it.¡± Crash sighed. ¡°My regulator is special. When I was created they put a defective regulator inside me, then put me out into the world without even fixin¡¯ it! Anyways, I wandered around for a few years till I found this guy that helped me up when I was going through a seizure fit thing out in the street. Not only that, this guy was smart! Old bastard but he fixed my regulator and made it even better! It¡¯s basically priceless, I¡¯ve got the best regulator ever made.¡± Luke blinked. ¡°What was the old man¡¯s name?¡± The question surprised the bot but he pondered it for a second. ¡°Hmm, Tickland or something.¡± ¡°Thickton?¡± ¡°Yeah! How¡¯d you know?¡± ¡°I used to know him, kind of.¡± ¡°Good enough for me, you better get my regulator back!¡± Crash slapped him on the back fairly roughly and walked off into the night leaving Luke alone at the bar. Dodging a mining truck coming his way, Luke snaked through the large crowd that was still bustling through the dirt street. Nothing was really ever quiet here. There were a lot of different mining shifts, meaning that each worker got up at left at a different time. Thanks to that, the small businesses on the road were always busy and ready to serve up a cup of whatever a weary worker wanted. He was silent as he dodged in between them, remembering what it had been like only a week ago. Though probably months ago in reality¡­ Walking through a throng like this alone was normal for him. He heard a few miners laugh and crash their mugs together at a nearby bar. He heard a young boy squeal with his friends at a game drawn in the dirt. Women were knitting together in front of a business only feet away. He¡¯d known all this for a while now, yet they were the very things he tried to avoid thinking about most. Normally, he¡¯d walk through the throng, hands in pockets, face pointed towards the ground. Things had changed. Hopefully he could change them again for the better. Before he knew it, Luke was back at his apartment, dropping down into his bed. He wasn¡¯t sure how he could sleep with how rough the next day would be, but his exhaustion finally hit him and soon he was snoring. ¡°Don¡¯t fo-!¡± Beep! Beep! Beep Beep! ¡°Wha¡­¡± His hand instinctively slapped his alarm clock. Six in the morning. Yeah, it would probably take awhile to get there. The miners were on their way to the first shift about now, and the night shift was getting off. It was probably the busiest part of the day. A lot of the steel workers would go around this time as well, just like he¡¯d used to. Before all this¡­ He flung his feet out and grabbed something that Mr. Setsuna had given him. Whole grain. Practically gold in the food department. Clink. He¡¯d dropped his spoon. Since the alarm clock, that had been the first noise in the entire apartment this morning. The only one. He was dipping his hand back into the madness, wasn¡¯t he¡­ Sighing, Luke got up and put from relatively fresh clothes on, the darkest colors he could find. His darkest shirt did have a crude patch on it, but it would work. He closed the door slowly and softly behind him, trying not to disturb the silence of his home. He didn¡¯t know why, but he felt as if he¡¯d closed the door loudly something would have happened. As he walked back to Jullong¡¯s bar he thought about his short dream. All he remembered was a word and an f noise. He couldn¡¯t even remember who had said it. It sounded like a mash up of a hundred voices¡­ maybe? Meh, just a dream. ¡°Boy! What took you so long! The bot got here twenty minutes ago!¡± ¡°The bot probably didn¡¯t leave the trash cans.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± Luke walked up to Crash, Sam and Guillermo, ready for the plan. As much as he didn¡¯t want to infiltrate a hostile gang¡¯s headquarters he didn¡¯t have much of a choice. As Sam led them back to the room they¡¯d been in the day before Luke thought about what he¡¯d just said. Infiltrating a hostile gang¡¯s headquarters. He was a nobody. A steelworker at best. But he¡¯d changed. Guillermo slapped his hand on the table. ¡°Aright now you¡¯ll be taking this coin an these clothes with yeh. As long as yeh look the part they probably won¡¯t know you¡¯re a spy.¡± ¡°Probably?¡± ¡°I¡¯d ratha not give any absolutes son.¡± Sam then began to talk. ¡°Now, after you get inside you have to find the boss''s room, or at least the foreman. Looking at a higher ranking member¡¯s coin will let definitely show the location of the warehouse they control. After you learn of the location, do whatever you have to to get out, then ditch the costume somewhere and hightail it back here as soon as you can. No need to steal the coin as long as you remember where the warehouse is.¡± ¡°Just one thing¡­ won¡¯t the member that lost the coin I have get back inside and they¡¯ll think something is up?¡± Sam squinted his eyes. ¡°Boy, the only way inside is with a coin. No matter who you are, you aren¡¯t getting inside without a coin. Not only that, their identities are completely hidden from one another. They likely won¡¯t even know you¡¯re a different person and if they do they¡¯ll assume you¡¯re new.¡± Slightly reassured, Luke gathered his things into a bad that Guillermo gave him. ¡°One o my men is posted here, where you can change inta the disguise. Knock on the door once. Once again after you want him to buzz off. He¡¯ll guard you n make sure nobody finds ya changin¡¯. Good luck¡± Luke looked to crash before leaving. ¡°We¡¯ll get Mr. Thickton¡¯s regulator back. Trust me.¡± ¡®I don¡¯t know why, but I do trust you ya damn meatbag. Kill em all!¡± He laughed and smacked Luke¡¯s back again, pushing him out the door. Now was the time to get serious. Over & Over: Crash 3 Once he¡¯d arrived at the place that Guillermo had set up for him, he walked past the scaled man and into a tiny room, where he changed into the disguise. It wasn¡¯t all that comfortable, but as long as he got the information they needed it wouldn¡¯t matter. He knocked on the door to alert the guard that everything was alright and after waiting another minute, walked outside. It was dark, there was nobody around. ¡°Absolutely silent¡­¡± He muttered to himself as he walked down the street towards his destination. He wasn¡¯t used to seeing a street that wasn¡¯t bustling with people, no miners, no street venders, no bars. It was certainly an eye opener. Luke then walked up to the dilapidated theater. It had had a hay day a hundred years ago, but now it was just a shell of its¡¯ former self. No longer did dancers strut around the large comfortable seats, or what were left of them at least. It was cold and damp, the theater was in the strong grip of decay and mold. The same feeling was clawing at him back home but¡­ he was going to get back what he¡¯d lost. Or what Crash had lost at least. Quietly approaching a small wooden trap door on the stage, Luke placed his coin into a perfectly sized hole in the very middle. A few seconds later, the trapdoor lurched downwards, and he was lowered into a dark corridor. This was where his instructions got hazy. Sam knew about the Beiorgs themselves, but they¡¯d likely changed a lot about their operations in the time that he had been away, something he¡¯d adamantly said would be important if Luke was to pull this off. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Approaching a metal door, Luke knocked. A moment later, a small pullaway was opened, just big enough for the man on the other side to see who had approached the door. Luke swept his coin into the man¡¯s vision, and soon heard tumblers moving in each of the individual locks. He was in. The large cloaked man who stood on the other side made a sweeping motion with his arm and allowed Luke to pass. In the next room the dim light gave way to a large facility with numerous cloaked men and descending rooms. The facility was strange, it was like a big hole directly under the old theatre. Glancing over the railing, Luke saw that the hole was dark, and near the bottom there were piles of boxes. The rounded outsides of the facility seemed to lead to living quarters and meeting rooms designed so that the Beiorgs could work and live here. Sam had said that this was to prevent them from gaining connections outside the organization. Secrecy was key, and it had worked for them thus far so there was really no reason to change anything on their end. Now came the hard part, stealing someone¡¯s coin. Not only did he need a different coin, but it had to be someone higher ranked than himself, or at least someone who had access to the warehouse. These people were few and far between and Luke didn¡¯t want to get caught in the act of stealing information from a gang as dangerous as the Beiorgs. They¡¯d kill him without a second thought. Over & Over: Crash 4 Finding a small hidey hole, Luke took a pin from his pocket and opened the coin map. Apparently the facility was housed per rank. This coin was given to lower ranked members, so in turn his living quarters were near the bottom of the facility. Training facilities and meeting rooms were near the middle, leaving the highest ranking officers the top of the facility. They were given large apartment-like places to live, and could come and leave as they wished, without reason. He didn¡¯t need to steal a coin for that long, if he had it long enough to open the map and find the location of the warehouse he would be more than fine. Without anything else to do, Luke walked down to the lower levels. Sticking around here for a while and finding out how everything worked would be his first priority. Denizens were permitted to take off their robes, but a mask over their faces seemed to be demanded at all times to protect identities should anyone betray the Beiorgs. Sitting at one of the cots, Luke pondered to himself until one of the members approached him. ¡°Hey buddy you¡¯re on my cot.¡± ¡°Oh, sorry about that, I¡¯m just not sure which ones are open.¡± ¡°Kinda new huh? No problem, the one next to me been open for a while. Go for it.¡± Luke thankfully stretched out on the cot and closed his eyes. Looking back up, he saw that the other man was drinking something from a small black cup. Seeing his stare, the other man poured him some as well. ¡°Dan. Pleasure. Couldn¡¯t tell you my last name or they¡¯d murder me, heh.¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Paul, no problem.¡± ¡°So, how are you feeling about the raid raid on St. Genevieve?¡± ¡°It¡¯ll be easy, but I¡¯m not sure I¡¯m all for robbing a church.¡± ¡°Yeah I getcha, but they have all the medical stuff we need so it¡¯s unavoidable. Successfully playing along, Luke steered the question towards the Beiorg officers. Stretching on the cot with a disconcerted grunt, Luke use complaining to start off the conversation twist. ¡°Man I wish the guys upstairs could get us better cots.¡± He¡¯d learned at the steel factory that you could get guys to talk about anything if they were a little peeved at their betters. ¡°Yeah, but we¡¯ve just gotta endure it. After St. Genevieve''s we¡¯ll have some better equipment anyways.¡± ¡°Yeah that¡¯s true, but they have those nice apartments up there and all.¡± ¡°True, but they worked to get there. Man, If I was captain Salazar I¡¯d be a happy man. Living in a penthouse like that underground? Guy¡¯s got it made.¡± Captain Salazar. Sounded important. He¡¯d have to find out where exactly that was. ¡°Being so close to the top is nice too, you know.¡± ¡°Yeah, but being so close to the mess hall would kind of piss me off.¡± ¡°I think I could trade the noise off for a place like that!¡± The men both laughed and clinked their cups together. ¡°I just don¡¯t get why he has that stupid glass door. If I was living there I¡¯d have solid oak, none of the pissants from down here would ever be able to get inside. He must trust us pretty well.¡± ¡°Well that or he¡¯s daring us to try and rob him.¡± Raising his glass, Dan nodded and leaned against the wall. ¡°Ah, but enough about Salazar. We¡¯d better get some rest even though we¡¯ll be down here for the next week and a half until the raid.¡± Over & Over: Crash 5 ¡°Oh. Yeah. Good point.¡± As Dan fluffed his pillow and stretched out on his own cot, Luke panicked in his head. Were they not going to be allowed to leave until the raid? He didn¡¯t have time to waste like that, he had another day and a half max that he could spend on this. If he didn¡¯t get it done in time Lexa would¡­ He¡¯d have to do it all again¡­ ¡°No¡­¡± He¡¯d find a way around that. He had to. Laying wide awake both because of the face mask and the dread he felt, Luke waited until about three in the morning before finally creaking out of bed. Finding another corner, he donned his robes and located the mess hall, which was in the upper middle area of the facility. There were a few guards posted here and there, but luckily the robes helped disguise him in the darkness and he was able to slip past them by sticking to the shadows. Salazar would likely still be in his room at this hour, which was the only way his coin would be there as well, so Luke was going to have to be very very quiet. If he woke the Beiorg captain up he¡¯d be killed instantly. There were no guards in the mess hall. Just a big room laden with tables. It looked practically like a school¡¯s cafeteria. There it was, the glass door. Now, however, came the hard part. Creaking the door open, he crawled inside and crept around till finding the bedroom¡­ which was empty. After doing a quick but quiet sweep of the apartment, he found that nobody was there at all. Turning stealth mode off, Luke looked through drawers and did a more in depth sweep, looking for the coin, which was nowhere to be found. As expected, Salazar had the coin with him at all times just like the rest of the Beiorgs. All that meant is that he¡¯d have to wait until-This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Of course I didn¡¯t give a shit about what that jackoff had to say!¡± The sound of the front door opening and a woman laughing alerted Luke to the simple fact that he was royally fucked. Standing in Salazar¡¯s bedroom, Luke took his only remaining option and stuffed himself in the captain¡¯s small closet. At the sound of the bedroom door opening and closing, Luke was able to clearly hear the man¡¯s voice. Apparently he¡¯d brought a woman from the outside back to his place to¡­ well, fuck. ¡°One sec I gotta take a leak then we¡¯ll get down to business. When Salazar next came into the room, he opened the door to the closet and shoved his robe in, thankfully without looking. Sadly however, he didn¡¯t fully close the door, and Luke was able to get a full view of what was about to happen. Sadly, that wasn¡¯t the strangest thing¡­ The man. Salazar. Luke knew him. He¡¯d only seen the guy once, but he was the owner of U.J. Steel, the largest manufacturer of steel in the western hemisphere and the man who owned the vast company that Luke was a production line worker in for the last few years. A few months after Luke had joined the company, Salazar, or Cain Sentury visited the factory to prove his commitment to even the least of his employees and he had the same shit eating grin he¡¯d had back then as well. To think that someone this influential was only a captain in the Beiorgs was a shocker. Who the hell was their leader, the chancellor? No matter, he¡¯d let Sam deal with that. Over & Over: Crash 6 The next few minutes were an atrocity. Suffice it to say that Cain was not a good man and it easily was seen through how he treated the prostitute in front of him. Luke had a fairly low view of the upper class, what had they done for him. The more he thought about it, the more he couldn¡¯t take his eyes off his old boss. His poor working conditions, his piss poor salary, they were all because of this man. In front of him stood one of the few men responsible for his attempted suicide. Cain Sentury and Luke Thomas were the two reasons that he¡¯d tried to kill himself. One a major CEO and economic powerhouse with thousands of lawyers and backers in the government, the other a poor unemployed shut in. One could hardly put them in the same city together, let alone the same room. Yet there he was. ¡°Aagh!¡± ¡°Stupid bitch I said not to move!¡± The man was overflowing with arrogance, self love and hatred for anything that he was not. He expected total veneration, and should anyone cross him they could expect to find a burning husk of their lives afterwards. He was a prime example of the perceived differences between the poor and absolute top class of citizens. In essence, he was an evil man, but as badly as Luke wanted to burst out from the closet and stab him with one of the wire hangers, he had a job to do. He had to bear what was happening right in front of him without batting an eye, which wasn¡¯t all that hard. He was a person able to bear seeing someone he¡¯d fallen in love with dying hundreds of times in front of his very eyes. This was nothing. Oh, and if Luke was successful the Beiorgs would fall as soon as Sam learned of their location. Perhaps Cain would die in here tomorrow after Sam¡¯s men stormed the place. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Closing his mind off from what was happening, Luke shut his eyes and thought about his childhood. It wasn¡¯t a place his mind often flew to, but that only made the distraction even more effective. His mother and father stood with their fake smiles in front of the old farm, giving him the necessities and nothing more. Family friends would visit, a time when Luke was sent to the attic to search for spiders and would only be called down when the visitors had left. A place where he was seen as more of a hindrance, more of an accident, than as a child. Parents of the other families would pat their sons on the head when they were down and tell them to look towards the sky, but Luke¡¯s parents would shove his head down further until he tasted dirt. By the time his head was above ground again they¡¯d be long gone, sucking up to a businessman or treating a local landowner to dinner. The day he turned eighteen was no different. He remembered the day he¡¯d tried to forget for so long like it was only yesterday. ¡°Luke! Lucas Thomas get your ass down here this instant!¡± In seconds he was downstairs standing in front of his mother. ¡°I swear to god if you lose the money your father gave you you won¡¯t be getting any more, now do you have the tickets uncle Ben got for you?¡± ¡°Yes mother.¡± ¡°Good boy, now go outside and meet Ted.¡± Over & Over: Crash 7 Ted was his father¡¯s name.Ted Thomas, the struggling farmer. Ted Thomas the local fool. Ted Thomas, the man with an illegitimate child from a woman who wasn¡¯t his wife. Without another word from the woman in position to be his mother, but who had never actually claimed the title, Luke strode outside to meet his father. The man stood in front of his biological son and pointed to his old rusted truck, signalling him to get inside. He started the car and with a few seconds of noise the car sputtered to life and they were on their way to the station. ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Got those tickets Ben brought?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°I¡¯d reckon you want to leave this place behind.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°The sooner we can forget about each other the better off you¡¯ll b-¡± ¡°Yes.¡± His father stared at him for another second, deciding whether he was shocked at the quick response or angry at being cut off, but came to the conclusion that there was no use getting angry any more. With any luck his life with children was over and he could finally be socially accepted again. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Arriving at the train station, Luke got out and reached for his bag, which was being held by Ted. ¡°Boy.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Good luck.¡± Luke blinked, it wasn¡¯t something he expected from the man that treated him like he didn¡¯t exist for nearly the past two decades. It seemed that Ted saw Luke¡¯s confusion and decided to clarify. ¡°The better you do in the city the less chance you¡¯ll come crawling back here and annoy the shit out of me, right? So yeah. Good luck.¡± Accelerating, the car door shut, and the last he saw of his father was a hand out the driver¡¯s seat window, clenched in a victory fist. Luke was glad to be free. Suddenly, Luke opened his eyes. Had he fallen asleep?! So that was a dream? It made sense but wasting time wasn¡¯t something he was keen on at the moment. Peeking out the closet door, Luke noticed that Cain and the woman were asleep on the bed, completely passed out. As such, Luke finally felt free to move, and looked through the pockets of the robe for the disgusting man¡¯s coin. Unable to find it, Luke slithered out to the bedside. ¡°Shh!¡± Terrified, Luke looked up to see the woman, wide awake, looking him in the eyes. She put a finger to her lips and pointed to the dresser¡¯s second drawer. Quietly opening it, he gave a sigh of relief. The coin was on top, covering a small booklet. Taking it out, he crept into the next room. Opening the map, Luke saw the location of the warehouse, thankfully, and was so giddy he almost yelped with joy. However, that was something he could do at a later date. As Luke was about to go back into the bedroom and put the coin back, he thought of Dan¡¯s words. ¡°We¡¯d better get some rest even though we¡¯ll be down here for the next week and a half until the raid.¡± Over & Over: Crash 8 ¡°Oh. Yeah. Good point.¡± As Dan fluffed his pillow and stretched out on his own cot, Luke panicked in his head. Were they not going to be allowed to leave until the raid? He didn¡¯t have time to waste like that, he had another day and a half max that he could spend on this. If he didn¡¯t get it done in time Lexa would¡­ He¡¯d have to do it all again¡­ ¡°No¡­¡± He¡¯d find a way around that. He had to. Lying wide awake both because of the face mask and the dread he felt, Luke waited until about three in the morning before finally creaking out of bed. Finding another corner, he donned his robes and located the mess hall, which was in the upper middle area of the facility. There were a few guards posted here and there, but luckily the robes helped disguise him in the darkness and he was able to slip past them by sticking to the shadows. Salazar would likely still be in his room at this hour, which was the only way his coin would be there as well, so Luke was going to have to be very very quiet. If he woke the Beiorg captain up he¡¯d be killed instantly. There were no guards in the mess hall. Just a big room laden with tables. It looked practically like a school¡¯s cafeteria. There it was, the glass door. Now, however, came the hard part. Creaking the door open, he crawled inside and crept around till finding the bedroom¡­ which was empty. After doing a quick but quiet sweep of the apartment, he found that nobody was there at all. Turning stealth mode off, Luke looked through drawers and did a more in depth sweep, looking for the coin, which was nowhere to be found. As expected, Salazar had the coin with him at all times just like the rest of the Beiorgs. All that meant is that he¡¯d have to wait until-Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Of course I didn¡¯t give a shit about what that jackoff had to say!¡± The sound of the front door opening and a woman laughing alerted Luke to the simple fact that he was royally fucked. Standing in Salazar¡¯s bedroom, Luke took his only remaining option and stuffed himself in the captain¡¯s small closet. At the sound of the bedroom door opening and closing, Luke was able to clearly hear the man¡¯s voice. Apparently, he¡¯d brought a woman from the outside back to his place to¡­ well, fuck. ¡°One sec I gotta take a leak then we¡¯ll get down to business. When Salazar next came into the room, he opened the door to the closet and shoved his robe in, thankfully without looking. Sadly, however, he didn¡¯t fully close the door, and Luke was able to get a full view of what was about to happen. Sadly, that wasn¡¯t the strangest thing¡­ The man. Salazar. Luke knew him. He¡¯d only seen the guy once, but he was the owner of U.J. Steel, the largest manufacturer of steel in the western hemisphere and the man who owned the vast company that Luke was a production line worker in for the last few years. A few months after Luke had joined the company, Salazar, or Cain Sentury visited the factory to prove his commitment to even the least of his employees and he had the same shit eating grin he¡¯d had back then as well. To think that someone this influential was only a captain in the Beiorgs was a shocker. Who the hell was their leader, the chancellor? No matter, he¡¯d let Sam deal with that. Over & Over: Crash 9 The next few minutes were an atrocity. Suffice it to say that Cain was not a good man and it easily was seen through how he treated the prostitute in front of him. Luke had a fairly low view of the upper class, what had they done for him. The more he thought about it, the more he couldn¡¯t take his eyes off his old boss. His poor working conditions, his piss poor salary, they were all because of this man. In front of him stood one of the few men responsible for his attempted suicide. Cain Sentury and Luke Thomas were the two reasons that he¡¯d tried to kill himself. One a major CEO and economic powerhouse with thousands of lawyers and backers in the government, the other a poor unemployed shut in. One could hardly put them in the same city together, let alone the same room. Yet there he was. ¡°Aagh!¡± ¡°Stupid bitch I said not to move!¡± The man was overflowing with arrogance, self love and hatred for anything that he was not. He expected total veneration, and should anyone cross him they could expect to find a burning husk of their lives afterwards. He was a prime example of the perceived differences between the poor and absolute top class of citizens. In essence, he was an evil man, but as badly as Luke wanted to burst out from the closet and stab him with one of the wire hangers, he had a job to do. He had to bear what was happening right in front of him without batting an eye, which wasn¡¯t all that hard. He was a person able to bear seeing someone he¡¯d fallen in love with dying hundreds of times in front of his very eyes. This was nothing. Oh, and if Luke was successful the Beiorgs would fall as soon as Sam learned of their location. Perhaps Cain would die in here tomorrow after Sam¡¯s men stormed the place. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Closing his mind off from what was happening, Luke shut his eyes and thought about his childhood. It wasn¡¯t a place his mind often flew to, but that only made the distraction even more effective. His mother and father stood with their fake smiles in front of the old farm, giving him the necessities and nothing more. Family friends would visit, a time when Luke was sent to the attic to search for spiders and would only be called down when the visitors had left. A place where he was seen as more of a hindrance, more of an accident, than as a child. Parents of the other families would pat their sons on the head when they were down and tell them to look towards the sky, but Luke¡¯s parents would shove his head down further until he tasted dirt. By the time his head was above ground again they¡¯d be long gone, sucking up to a businessman or treating a local landowner to dinner. The day he turned eighteen was no different. He remembered the day he¡¯d tried to forget for so long like it was only yesterday. ¡°Luke! Lucas Thomas get your ass down here this instant!¡± In seconds he was downstairs standing in front of his mother. ¡°I swear to god if you lose the money your father gave you you won¡¯t be getting any more, now do you have the tickets uncle Ben got for you?¡± ¡°Yes mother.¡± ¡°Good boy, now go outside and meet Ted.¡± Ted was his father¡¯s name.Ted Thomas, the struggling farmer. Ted Thomas the local fool. Ted Thomas, the man with an illegitimate child from a woman who wasn¡¯t his wife. Without another word from the woman in position to be his mother, but who had never actually claimed the title, Luke strode outside to meet his father. The man stood in front of his biological son and pointed to his old rusted truck, signalling him to get inside. He started the car and with a few seconds of noise the car sputtered to life and they were on their way to the station. Over & Over: Crash 10 ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°Got those tickets Ben brought?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°I¡¯d reckon you want to leave this place behind.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°The sooner we can forget about each other the better off you¡¯ll b-¡± ¡°Yes.¡± His father stared at him for another second, deciding whether he was shocked at the quick response or angry at being cut off, but came to the conclusion that there was no use getting angry any more. With any luck his life with children was over and he could finally be socially accepted again. Arriving at the train station, Luke got out and reached for his bag, which was being held by Ted. ¡°Boy.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Good luck.¡± Luke blinked, it wasn¡¯t something he expected from the man that treated him like he didn¡¯t exist for nearly the past two decades. It seemed that Ted saw Luke¡¯s confusion and decided to clarify.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°The better you do in the city the less chance you¡¯ll come crawling back here and annoy the shit out of me, right? So yeah. Good luck.¡± Accelerating, the car door shut, and the last he saw of his father was a hand out the driver¡¯s seat window, clenched in a victory fist. Luke was glad to be free. Suddenly, Luke opened his eyes. Had he fallen asleep?! So that was a dream? It made sense but wasting time wasn¡¯t something he was keen on at the moment. Peeking out the closet door, Luke noticed that Cain and the woman were asleep on the bed, completely passed out. As such, Luke finally felt free to move, and looked through the pockets of the robe for the disgusting man¡¯s coin. Unable to find it, Luke slithered out to the bedside. ¡°Shh!¡± Terrified, Luke looked up to see the woman, wide awake, looking him in the eyes. She put a finger to her lips and pointed to the dresser¡¯s second drawer. Quietly opening it, he gave a sigh of relief. The coin was on top, covering a small booklet. Taking it out, he crept into the next room. Opening the map, Luke saw the location of the warehouse, thankfully, and was so giddy he almost yelped with joy. However, that was something he could do at a later date. As Luke was about to go back into the bedroom and put the coin back, he thought of Dan¡¯s words. ¡°We¡¯d better get some rest even though we¡¯ll be down here for the next week and a half until the raid.¡± They weren¡¯t going to be let out of the facility anytime soon. With a captain¡¯s coin he could get out tonight if he wanted to¡­ He had to steal it. How long before Cain realized that his coin had been replaced with a dud like Luke¡¯s? He had no idea, but it was the only chance he had so he went back into the bedroom and placed his coin on the booklet, face down. Winking at the woman, he left the apartment and snuck through the mess hall, donning his full robes again as he went. Once he was out, he was free to do as he pleased. The one thing that every Beiorg had in common was the robes. The only way you could identify people by rank was the coin, so all he had to do was flash it to the guards if they stopped him. Luckily the guards didn¡¯t even do that, and when Luke reached the large guard at the front door, he was let through without any further trouble. Once he was back outside, he went back to the place with his clothes and changed out of the robes. Over & Over: Crash 11 ¡°That was actually not all that hard¡­¡± He muttered to himself as he went back to the bar to rendezvous with Crash, Sam and Guillermo. Perhaps the Beiorgs thought their coin idea was so foolproof that they could still grant total secrecy to their members, but Luke saw it as a really exploitable flaw. After all, he¡¯d probably just pulled off the greatest heist in the history of the Beiorg gang though Sam¡¯s raid would probably top that by a factor of a hundred. As he walked back he thought about what his next steps would be. Find Sam, give him the coin with the information on the warehouse, find Crashes regulator. That was a pretty damn tall order¡­ but he would just have to keep going if he was ever going to save Lexa. When he¡¯d finally returned back to the bar he slipped inside the door and found Sam, Guillermo and Crash all waiting with the gang. Immediately he took the coin from his pocket and tossed it to the old man at the table who smiled to himself smugly. ¡°Gentlemen¡­ it¡¯s time.¡± A few of the scaley skinned men grunted their satisfaction and Guillermo slammed a meaty hand down on the wooden table. ¡°You all know the plan! Greg¡¯s group is gonna hit the warehouse with the bot and Luke, the rest of us are gonna hit the HQ! Understand? Get going!¡± With that, a flurry of men ran outside into the night. Luke barely had any time to think before Crash had him hoisted up on a shoulder, the robot wheeze laughing through the dark. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°W-w-where ar-are w-we go-go-going?!¡± ¡°Woo! Sam said he¡¯d transfer the location of the warehouse to us! Let¡¯s get this shit going!¡± Luke, who was bouncing on his metallic friend as they ran through the night, was barely able to speak due to the rough ride and simply went along with it. Without Lexa he never would have done something so stupid. Infiltrate a secret society and try to cause its downfall? What the hell was this storybook scenario anyways? As Crash shot past buildings and alleyways he realized just how much he had been through thus far, though it only felt to him like he was halfway there. If Mr. Setsuna and Crash took this much, what would he have to do for Pat and Z-mo, or even Lexa for that matter? That wasn¡¯t to say he cared, he simply wondered. He really would do anything. Anything to help the person that had done so much for him in only a week or so. It was stunning. Even he had completely changed. ¡°Alright! Let¡¯s get down to the fucking docks pronto! Kudos Sam!¡± After yelling that fairly loudly, Crash took a right turn into an alleyway and jumped over a few boxes and over a fence. He then ducked under a broken wall and Luke feared for his life every time Crash made a move. He felt like he was going to die on this bastards shoulders! A few seconds later Crash jumped onto and slid down a long metal beam, holding on with an elongated arm and riding it almost like some sort of halfpipe. Finally, he jumped a ways down to the ground and they were at the docks. Immediately, Luke could see the dark eyes of the scaled men walking towards him and they got in a rank and file line. The group leader, Greg, took to the front and took the coin out of his pocket. Hitting a few buttons, a holographic projection was brought up in the men¡¯s vision, and he looked towards one of the warehouses sitting out near the water. A pointed finger and a smile was all the others needed, and Crash began to run towards the warehouse as well. Over & Over: Crash 12 ¡°W-what¡¯s the p-p-plan?!¡± ¡°Run in guns blazing! Gahahaha!¡± ¡°Th-that¡¯s a te-terrible p-plan!!!!¡± Again Crash laughed, setting Luke softly down on the ground and jumping through one of the windows of the warehouse. Seconds later, Luke heard a man scream and saw his body burst through the window right next to the one Crash had entered through. He wasn¡¯t kidding. Around him, Sam¡¯s men began tearing open doors and beating those wearing the trademarked Beiorg robes. Luke expected some sort of brawl but¡­ They were literally all fistfighting. Where were the guns?! The knives?! Shaking his head, Luke found himself running through the brawlers and doing his best to avoid their punches. ¡°Take that you thieving bastards!¡± Looked like his other problem was making trouble for himself as well. Crash was fighting five or six of the Beiorg gang on his own, and with a raised box of robot parts he smashed their heads together and threw them to the ground, unconscious or dead Luke really had no idea. He just didn¡¯t want to get hit by a box that big and heavy. ¡°Luke! Let¡¯s find my damn regulator.¡± ¡°Maybe if you stopped beating the hell out of these guys we could!¡± ¡°They stole from me! They deserve it!¡± Luke just grumbled at the fair amount of logic and signaled for Crash to follow him. They hid among the boxes as Beiorg members ran past them and planned on how they were going to find one regulator among probably thousands. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Well¡­ I could turn on the homing thingy, but it¡¯s pretty damn loud.¡± ¡°The what?!¡± ¡°Yeah! My antenna can locate my missing parts with a blinking light. It¡¯s just when I get closer it kills folks with ears so I tend not to use it.¡± ¡°You had a fucking homing device all this time and I had to infiltrate a secret society to get a fucking coin so we could get here?!¡± ¡°It only works at short range bastard!¡± Grumbling once again, Luke asked him to start it up. He didn¡¯t really think any of the Beiorg members could overpower Crash, so he wasn¡¯t all that scared of getting killed in here. The robot promptly stuck a thumb in his head and rotated it clockwise. ¡°BrRrrRRRrrrrRR!¡± ¡°You know where it is?¡± ¡°THAT WAY!¡± ¡°BRRrrrrRRRrrrRR!¡± It sounded like a foghorn, stopping brawls all around and causing Beiorg members to surround Luke and Crash. While the nerves were getting to him a bit more than before with so many folks surrounding him, Luke put up his fists. ¡°To hell with laying back!¡± Luke threw a punch, catching one of the cloaked men on the jaw and tossing him into some boxes nearby. Instantly, however, more of them ran towards Luke and he was forced to back off. When he was about to be overpowered a box of robot parts whizzed past his head and caught the three men about to beat him to a pulp unawares. After they went down Luke looked towards Crash whom he expected to have thrown it. Surprisingly enough, it was the leader of the group, Greg¡­ who was missing half his face. Wires fell out from sockets all over his body and he smiled with the remainder of his humanlike features. ¡°Being a damn android helps in times like this bahaha!¡± Smiling, Luke got back up and gave a quick salute to the man, who winked with his robot eye. Crash, Greg and Luke finished the remaining men off, with Luke lagging behind significantly on the takedown count, and soon they were able to find a group of orange boxes. They looked slightly different than the others, but this was where Crash had brought them. ¡°Is your item here boy?¡± ¡°According to Crash yeah, no idea which box though.¡± ¡°Well... start searching. I¡¯ll have the men shift over here and see what we can do about keeping you two safe.¡± Over & Over: Crash 13 ¡°You ain¡¯t so bad android!¡± ¡°Same to you, robot.¡± With that, Greg launched himself towards the door and clotheslined a poor Beiorg member before escaping back into the thick of the fight. Luckily these orange boxes were fairly secluded from the rest of the fight and nobody would likely come here without reason. Unless they were hiding of course. ¡°So¡­ where is it?¡± ¡°Uhh¡­ start digging?¡± Luke sighed, but started digging through the parts, showing Crash whenever he came across a regulator. Crash was quite a bit faster, being able to scan through parts of boxes in only a few seconds, and was tossing them aside as he dug deeper. Suddenly he found something. ¡°Hah! Oh!¡± ¡°Did you find it?¡± Instead of answering, Crash pulled out what he did find. It¡­ it was Dan. The guy from the Beiorg hideout. How was he here?! Seeing Luke¡¯s face, he smiled. ¡°Aha¡­ I knew you meant bad news. Looks like I should have followed my gut.¡± ¡°W-what?! What are you doing here? And why are you in a suit?¡± ¡°Oh this? I¡¯m not actually a Beiorg member come on. Nope! I work for the upper ministry. The plan was to destroy them from the inside over a few months, but it looks like a few insurgents are going to ruin that little plan. Oh well, this might work out anyways. To answer what I¡¯m doing here, I was looking for this.¡± Immediately, Dan held up what could only have been Crash¡¯s regulator, which was confirmed less than a second later.Stolen novel; please report. ¡°My damn regulator!¡± Surprised, Dan looked at Crash with questioning eyes. ¡°Yours? I believe this is the property of Dr. James Thickton. As a project set up by the ministry, I believe that in the absence of the good doctor, the item has become property of the ministry. I have simply come to retrieve the ite- baaaaa!¡± Before Dan could even finish his sentence, Crash sent a fist into his stomach and sent him crashing through the upper window and out into the river. Luke was sure he¡¯d heard bones break on that terrible impact¡­ He almost felt bad for the guy but fucking around with Crash was something¡­ unwise. Wheezing a few times, Crash picked up the regulator and dusted it off with a metallic hand. ¡°Hey uh¡­ pal. Mind helping me out here?¡± Luke smiled and opened the back of Crash¡¯s head, fitting the regulator in with a satisfying snap. ¡°CR-@111649437063721459-SH OPERATING SYSTEMS ONLINE. PRODUCT PRODUCED BY JAMES R. THICKTON FINANCED BY THE UPPER MINISTRY. FILES INSTALLING¡­ FINISHED. POWERING ON. SUBJECT APPROVED.¡± A popping noise was heard and within seconds Crash was back to his old self. Subject approved¡­ just like with Sayuri. It didn¡¯t come from the bracelets but maybe Thickton set it up this way. Maybe... ¡°Bahahaha we did it!¡± ¡°What?! I thought you¡¯d be all laid back now! Isn¡¯t the regulator supposed to¡­ regulate your emotions?!¡± ¡°Yeah, it does! Now I don¡¯t feel like killing randomly!¡± Leaning his hand on his chin, Luke shook his head. Either way, he was finished. He was one step closer¡­ to saving her. After the hideout had been cleaned out and the unconscious Beiorg members had been rounded up and bound together, Greg approached Crash and Luke. ¡°Thank you¡­ we really couldn¡¯t have gotten rid of this scum without you. I have Sam and Guillermo on the line if you would like to¡­¡± Greg handed them a small square and a holographic Sam popped up. He was holding a mug of beer and sitting around a campfire with Guillermo. It looked like they were burning pieces of the Beiorg hideout¡­ ¡°Luke! Glad that you got out in one piece! Did you find the regulator?¡± ¡°Yeah actually, some guy from the upper ministry who was trying to take down the Beiorgs from the inside had it.¡± ¡°What?! The upper ministry was on their case too? Hmm¡­ What did you do with the guy?¡± ¡°Well, he didn¡¯t really get to finish his sentence before Crash broke his ribs and tossed him out into the river¡­¡± Over & Over: Crash FINAL ¡°Pahahaaha! Excellent! The ministry needs to be roughed around a bit from time to time! Did you hear that Guillermo!¡± ¡°Heh, yeah, good job there. We blew em out of the water here as well. We¡¯ll make sure you get your rightful cut Mr. Thomas, but for now we¡¯re going to let you get out of this before the baddies know your face.¡± At those words Sam¡¯s face went darker. ¡°Yes, I think it¡¯s best you stay at home or cover your face for a while. The Beiorg¡¯s allies will be looking for the folks that brought them down for a while. Be careful lad.¡± With that, Guillermo and Sam raised their mugs and the transmission ended. Greg then tipped his hat and showed them out of the complex, giving them directions on a safe path back to the area around the bar. Crash did seem to be a bit different, deciding to follow Luke around without a word. Once it began to rain Luke ran straight through back home, the bot right on his heels. Once he was back in his apartment he sat down at his small coffee table, Crash taking the other chair. ¡°Welp meatbag we did it.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°Nah that ain¡¯t accurate. You did it and I beat some assholes up.¡± Nodding once, Luke opened a beer and drank half of it in one gulp. Crash watched him for a moment. ¡°Mind if I get one of those?¡± ¡°Hmm? Sure.¡± Tossing Crash one of the drinks, Luke watched as he opened it and drank just as heartily as him. It looked like even robots could get tired. As they both lounged in their chairs and stared at the discolored white ceiling they both took a few more swigs. They didn¡¯t even have to say a word to each other for what seemed like an eternity. Luke would admit, he didn¡¯t hate the robot¡¯s company. He brought some air of companionship into Luke¡¯s life that he really hadn¡¯t felt much before. Crash did decide to interrupt their silence though.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Ya know the last person to give that much of a damn about me was old Thickton. He was a good guy.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never met him but that¡¯s what I hear.¡± ¡°Ya remind me a bit of him actually, except the white hair n stuff.¡± Chuckling, Luke swirled the beer around in the bottom of the can and took another drink. As they continued to talk Luke seemed to grow ever more comfortable with the somewhat new Crash. Where before he appreciated the bot, his regulator made him just bearable enough to be friendly instead of high strung and murderous a hundred percent of the time. By four in the morning they were talking like old friends, but Crash needed to get back to his mode charger before he ran out of juice and said good night to Luke, leaving him alone once again. With only the quiet of the night and the light bulb on a cord over his head, Luke looked around the small apartment. Crash sure could drink. He picked up the cans and put them in a trash bag only to find a small smile on his face. ¡°A friend, huh.¡± Luke woke up five hours later at nine. No time to waste in the week meant that he had to get going. With how difficult Crash¡¯s trial had been he had no idea what Pat would hold in store. If one of these things took more than a day or two he might start getting into hot water. As he ran to Z-mo¡¯s he passed by the same old regular shops and the same drunken miners yet he had almost a bounce in his step as he ran. Things were getting strange indeed. Arriving at Z-mo¡¯s little shop, he quickly told him everything that had transpired with Crash, Sam and Dan and looked to the old bot to see what was next. ¡°Ho, boy! Two trials already down then eh!¡± ¡°Yeah thank God. Guess that means Pat is next?¡± ¡°Yep, who knows, maybe you won¡¯t have to do anything dangerous this time!¡± The old bot wheezed a few times and slapped Luke on the back a little harder than probably intended. He hoped there would be no breaking and entering this time around¡­ After saying goodbye to Z-mo, Luke went back out on the street, hands in pockets. His head bobbed from side to side looking at shops and street vendors until his eyes caught on a familiar sight. It was Lexa¡­ she was looking through some sort of kiddie shop with tops and toy guns. He reached a hand out towards her and prepared to yell her name but his voice caught in his throat. He couldn¡¯t waste time on that¡­ he had to focus on saving her. As he kept saying those words in his head, Luke began to run back towards the apartment. He had to focus. Over & Over: Pat Tano 1 ¡°Are you gonna use these sheets or am I gonna have to come up there and apply them myself?¡± The first thing he heard as Luke approached the apartment complex was Pat yelling at another one of the tenants. ¡°U-uh yes, I¡¯ll do it just give me em ok?¡± ¡°You better get going or I¡¯ll beat the shit out of you!¡± ¡°Y-y-yes ma¡¯am!¡± Pat¡¯s door shot open and a grubby looking man carrying some of the mold sheets plopped out onto the ground, dropping them all. Quickly picking them back up, he ran up the stairs and slammed his door shut, which was only three doors down from his own. Strange that he¡¯d never noticed any of the other residents before. Next, Pat¡¯s head poked out of her door and looked around, fixing Luke in her vision. ¡°There you are! Have you used the sheets yet then?¡± ¡°Erm¡­ no¡­¡± She audibly sighed and grabbed a few in one hand. ¡°Well? Are you going to make me come up there and do it for you?¡± ¡°No ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°Great! Then get going.¡± Before he could even speak another word he was shoved out of her door and back outside. Trounced, he simply went back up the stairs to apply the sheets. Maybe this would be the best way after all, just doing what she said. Could that possibly be her problem? No, no there was no way¡­ Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Crunch. He hadn¡¯t even noticed, but in front of his door was a note, something he¡¯d just stepped on accidentally. With nobody around, he picked it up and read the contents. ¡°Luke, Sam here. We didn¡¯t want any sort of digital message to be tracked so we thought it best to get this letter to you. After divvying up the assets we¡¯ve found that we owe you a hundred and thirty four thousand six hundred and twenty four credits worth of labor charges. It¡¯s a bit bigger of a cut th- Wait.¡± Dropping the sheets, Luke looked back over the sentence he¡¯d just read. ¡°Will be transferred to your account in the next four hours in a completely safe and untraceable but legal manner¡­¡± He blinked. M-money?! He skimmed further through the letter near the end. ¡°... Without you we could never have brought down the Beiorgs, and while we weren¡¯t able to capture I believe some of the big dogs in the operation it is still massively impressive that a single man was able to infiltrate such a secretive society and bring it down. You a special man Luke, and I only hope that your cut is enough to sustain you for a while. Good luck and God bless¡­ Sam Hyze.¡± His back hit hit his door as he put one hand to his forehead and slid down the length of the oaken wood. ¡°A hundred¡­ thousand¡­ what¡­¡± A hundred thirty four thousand credits. He didn¡¯t believe there was that much money in the world let alone his bank account! He had probably twelve credits in there right now, adding this much would just be¡­ overkill. As he went insane from the amount of money he was about to receive, he didn¡¯t even notice Pat walking up to the mold sheets sitting on the ground next to him. ¡°Gonna go right up and apply the sheets, eh?¡± Angered, she slammed his door open and went inside, much to his chagrin. ¡°Wait wait! I¡¯ll do it I just got a letter that is very important! I had to read it!¡± ¡°More important than you dying from mold spores?! Dumbass!¡± She then swung open his closet door and started applying the sheets on the deathly looking area. Yeah it was pretty far progressed¡­ Luke wasn¡¯t even sure how Pat kept the place open with such low prices, not to mention that health inspectors from the ministry should have closed this place already. But somehow she did it. Over & Over: Pat Tano 2 ¡°There! It took less than a minute and now I don¡¯t have to worry about getting shut down so badly, was it so damn hard?¡± ¡°N-no ma¡¯am. I¡¯m sorry I was just distracted!¡± ¡°Stop being an idiot and come with me, you¡¯re going to repay me for the labor now!¡± ¡°Y-yes ma¡¯am!¡± Not that he wanted to work for Pat for half a day, but it wouldn¡¯t be such a bad way to get closer to her to find out her problem. He could only hope it wouldn¡¯t be the shitshow that Setsuna and Crash had put him through. ¡°Now, you¡¯re going to be cleaning out the sewage ports, understand?!¡± ¡°S-sewage ports?!¡± Looks like it was going to be even worse than Setsuna and Crash¡¯s trials combined. Twenty minutes later he was bent over with a strange looking crowbar, dislodging turds and garbage from a large grate underneath the apartment complex. ¡°You find the blockage?¡± ¡°Y-yes!¡± ¡°Great! Now get that shit out of there and I¡¯ll buy you dinner!¡± The prospect of dinner sounded less and less appealing to him as the seconds floated by, but he tried not to focus on the smell or the fecal matter and kept digging away. After popping off a few pieces of dried shit and a plastic wrapper of some sort he was able to restart the flow of dirty water, and the grate started doing its job once again. As he walked back towards the small trapdoor next to Pat¡¯s house he tried to avoid looking down at all the filth, instead looking at the equally dirty ceiling. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Already? Nice job kid.¡± Hand outstretched, Pat helped Luke out of the sewer and back to solid, and dry, ground. ¡°Man, that stuff had really been stinking for a while, glad you were around!¡± ¡°Me too¡­¡± Luke held his queasy stomach, about to throw up, as Pat slapped his back in appreciation. She then helped him take off the rubber suit he had been wearing to avoid dirtying his clothes and they went inside. ¡°So, what would ya like? I can make something or we can go out if ya want.¡± Thinking, he brought himself back to the reality of needing to save Lexa. ¡°Let¡¯s¡­ Let¡¯s get ramen.¡± ¡°Ramen? Why ramen?¡± ¡°I just have a hankering for it, plus I know a really good place on the miner¡¯s strip.¡± ¡°Hmm, well, suit yourself. Go get a change of clothes and meet me down here in a few minutes, ya smell like shit!¡± ¡°No¡­ really?¡± Pat snorted and shrugged her shoulder¡¯s with a smile. Luke quickly put on a different shirt and pants and came back downstairs to find Pat in a light coat. ¡°So, you¡¯ve been to this ramen place a few times, eh?¡± ¡°A few times, yeah.¡± In his head Luke laughed at the comment. Oh he¡¯d been there before, thousands of times actually. All within one week though honestly. Not that that was something he could tell Pat without sounding insane. Perhaps going to Z-mo¡¯s shop would help him out. Perhaps he could find out Pat¡¯s problem a little easier and perhaps he would be able to breeze through this one and get to the final three. Hell, he might even be able to start Z-mo¡¯s own trial if he got the old bot engaged in this night out on the town. He was impatient, yes, but saving Lexa¡¯s life was fairly important to him. Over & Over: Pat Tano 3 As he thought, Luke led Pat down the familiar walkway towards Z-mo¡¯s shop. It was fairly busy for a weekday, he hoped that they would get to talk to Z-mo. When they sat down at the counter the bot whizzed in front of them and wheezed at Luke once. ¡°Why hello there valued customers!¡± Luke mustered up his courage and talked to Z-mo like one of the usuals. ¡°Two of the specials, nice big meat slices ya know!¡± This took Z-mo by surprise a little, but only for a second. He wheezed and with a thumbs up went behind the counter and began to make the meal. Now it was time to talk to Pat. ¡°So, you¡¯re at the apartments a lot huh?¡± Pat was still taken aback by Luke¡¯s surprising social skills, but got into it fairly quickly as well. ¡°Yeah, I spend a lot of time at the old place. Was built by my dad for the miners a buncha years back.¡± ¡°Your dad sounds like a good guy. Is he¡­¡± ¡°Dead. Hell he¡¯d be in his hundreds if he were still alive now.¡± ¡°Ah, well it was nice of you to take the place over.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Well it¡¯s all I¡¯ve ever wanted to do anyways, I really don¡¯t have any big interests.¡± ¡°No? Well if providing a home for the poorest people is an interest then you¡¯re a pretty good person in my opinion.¡± ¡°Nah you ain¡¯t the poorest. You¡¯re the poorest I can afford though.¡± ¡°Not sure whether to be happy or slightly offended ha.¡± Pat shrugged. ¡°Sometimes it seems like the poorer you folks are the better you act. You¡¯ve never caused me any problems and I don¡¯t even think you can afford next month.¡± ¡°W-what, how would you know something like that?!¡± ¡°Sometimes the poorest are also the most untrustworthy, gotta run smooth background checks.¡± ¡°Ahh..¡± Not that that made him feel any better, but learning more about her would probably help. Guess that meant she didn¡¯t know about his sudden cash influx¡­ Better to keep that a secret for now. After taking a drink, Pat sat her cup down on the wooden counter softly. ¡°Well then, the bot should be about done with our food. How did you say you knew this place?¡± ¡°O-oh I just ate here once and it¡¯s one of the best, so¡­¡± Pat stared at him deeply for a few seconds, causing a bit of awkwardness that was only interrupted by Z-mo finally bringing their food to the counter. ¡°Here ya go!¡± Looking back and forth from them a few times, Z-mo quickly whizzed back into the kitchen and away from the awkward couple. Quickly, Luke began to eat. He was a bit afraid he was failing in his social conquest, and tried to strike up another conversation. ¡°So-¡± ¡°You¡¯re a lot like your father actually.¡± Clanggg! Luke¡¯s utensils fell on the floor loudly and sat there as his head slowly turned toward the source of the strange words he¡¯d just heard. ¡°My¡­ dad?¡± Over & Over: Pat Tano 4 Pat smiled at his dramatic response and was soon fully belly laughing. After about twenty seconds of that, she settled down and wiped a tear from her eye. ¡°Yep, Ted the tornado some folks used to call him.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Cuz if you ever bad mouthed him he was the dirtiest fighter anyone knew!¡± She chuckled again and took another drink. That still didn¡¯t answer his question. ¡°How do you know him?¡± ¡°Oh, that. My pa used to live in the outer reaches, a little town called Green Eden.¡± Even though Luke knew very little about his father, he did know where he¡¯d come from. So his dad must have known Pat¡¯s father¡­ ¡°He¡¯d always come home from the bar and tell us stories of the fistfights Ted would get into with the other local men. M¡¯sister even took quite the liking to him.¡± ¡°Your sister¡­¡± ¡°Louissa Tano. She worked at a lab in town here for a while actually, some mad scientist trying to mess with time.¡± She said the name like it was supposed to mean something to him, but he didn¡¯t know it at all. Seeing the confusion on his face, Pat clarified. ¡°Your pop and my sister had quite a bit of unprotected sex, I¡¯ll just say that.¡±Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°W-wait.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll also say this, I know you¡¯re a bastard. It doesn¡¯t really matter to me, as you¡¯re still half a Tano, but I do know.¡± Luke looked down at his bowl of food, thoughts rushing through his head. Hadn¡¯t his father just shipped him away to get rid of him? No¡­ there had to be an explanation. His dad was a piece of shit, he wouldn¡¯t actually try to help him, would he? Looking back up at Pat, Luke realized he needed a second to process this. Not only that but could the lab that his mother worked at¡­ could it really be... ¡°I¡¯m gonna go to the bathroom¡­¡± Pat just shrugged and took another sip of her drink. On his way back he was met in the hallway by Z-mo. The bot looked very serious. ¡°What exactly did she say?¡± ¡°She¡¯s my aunt¡­ Her sister worked for a mad scientist looking into time travel. Or something.¡± ¡°Your aunt? So very strange¡­ first Mayuri and the robot, now your landlord? Why do they all seem to be connected in the most convoluted of ways?¡± Luke sat down at one of the chairs in the hallway and rested a hand on his head. ¡°I wish I knew¡­¡± ¡°Do you think¡­ Do you think Mister Thickton foresaw even this? Did he set things up so that they would perfectly work out?¡± ¡°If what has happened so far can be called perfectly worked out then that man has a twisted sense of humor.¡± ¡°Hm hm ha ha. Still, this is too¡­ these people are too intertwined for there not to be some truth in what I say. If this was the only instance of connection to Thickton, I would call it a mere coincidence. But really, your birth mother, whom you never knew, just suddenly drops everything and moves to a place like Green Eden? I can¡¯t see that happening unless she was told to¡­ Mister Thickton could have even set up your very birth.¡± ¡°My birth¡­ No, I can¡¯t believe that it¡¯s a product of Thickton seeing the future.¡± ¡°Careful boy, Thickton knew the future and the past. You may not be able to comprehend something like someone setting up your birth but¡­ I do believe it possible. Especially for that man.¡± Over & Over: Pat Tano FINAL Luke thought for another few seconds about this possibility, but he couldn¡¯t wrap his head around it. Deciding he¡¯d already been gone too long, Luke returned to the table with Pat and tried to act as normal as possible. He started to say something, but Pat beat him to it. ¡°So, this is about what that madman was trying to fix, isn¡¯t it.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°The guy Louissa was working for. Thickton? This is about him, ain¡¯t it.¡± Luke was at a loss for words. Of all of them, Pat knew about Thickton? ¡°Yes, it is. I¡¯m helping him.¡± ¡°He¡¯s alive?¡± ¡°I believe he¡¯s been dead for a while, but as you said he was researching the science of time.¡± ¡°Ah, I see. I¡¯ll bet that old man has had you running around the world for him.¡± Pat pointed her body back towards the counter and took a drink after staring into her cup for a second. She seemed to be reminiscing. ¡°Not¡­ around the world. I¡¯ve been around town a few times though.¡± She smiled and gestured with her cup. ¡°Time, right?¡± ¡°Right.¡± ¡°So, what¡¯s left? How does one fix the clock?¡± ¡°You know the issue?¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Louissa told me a little bit, most of the numbers went over my head but I do know that time keeps resetting.¡± She certainly knew more than he expected. ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ To fix it I have to resolve people¡¯s issues.¡± ¡°Their issues! That¡¯s a very interesting method! No massive technological behemoths, no gadgets, just helping people until the clock works again? Really doesn¡¯t sound that bad to me!¡± ¡°I just wish I¡¯d been given an instruction book from the beginning.¡± ¡°Haha, well I don¡¯t think you¡¯re alone. If someone had an instruction book for life they¡¯d be king of the world! The reason there are people like you and me is that we have no idea what the hell we¡¯re doing every day and making the best of our mistakes, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ true-¡± ¡°So am I one of those people whose issues you need to resolve?¡± ¡°You are.¡± ¡°How do we know when it¡¯s resolved?¡± ¡°Not really sure, most of the problems have been big and out in the open. I¡¯m not sure about yours at all.¡± Pat sat her mug down on the counter and thought for a minute before smiling and taking another drink. ¡°Then how about this. You promise to help around the apartments and have a meal with me now and then and we¡¯ll call it solved, eh?¡± ¡°C-can you just do that?¡± ¡°No idea! But if I don¡¯t see a problem, there shouldn¡¯t be one.¡± ¡°But-¡± ¡°No buts! I relieve you from your commitment to me, and add another! Will you agree to my terms?¡± Pat sat her mug down and stuck her hand out towards Luke. Could it be this easy? He wanted to believe it but¡­ it seemed like there had to be more for him to do. ¡°Lexa¡­¡± He whispered to himself as he thought about her. No¡­ he would accept this. He didn¡¯t have time, he only had three days left and three people¡¯s problems to solve. Including his own! He had to move on. ¡°Absolutely. This beats breaking into Thickton¡¯s old house any day.¡± ¡°Hahaha! Then it¡¯s settled.¡± Pat raised her mug, and Luke did the same. After they clinked together, Luke and Pat dug into their meals talking the night away. When Luke finally arrived back home he looked at the bracelets. Nothing was changing. Was something supposed to? Were they supposed to say ¡°approved¡± like they had for Crash and Sayuri? No¡­ Crash said it himself¡­ His anxiety was beginning to build on whether Pat¡¯s way worked¡­ but he didn¡¯t have time for that. He sighed and sat down on the bed. Tomorrow was going to be a hell of a day.