Origins of the android

[Tolvur-Q12]

Not quite having a grasp of the situation meant that Bryce was a little slow, slow to answer the man before him who he had clearly heard since his thoughts were now riddled with all kinds of things to say. Did this.. new thing, this calculating.. program for lack of a better term, have his conversations for him? He turned around, his closed hand pressed against his mouth as if in thought. This whole ordeal was foreign, all of it posed nonsense. Why did his body do all these new things? Why did he have more strength than before and why did he wake up on a concrete slad with a chain to keep him down. And why did he need adjusting?

Finally Bryce turned around to the man he thought could give him the answers, but as he opened his mouth after a well thought out sentence he found that the robots that were with the man took on an almost hostile stance, his mind blaring that the intent was violence and urging him to either defend himself or take cover, as well as listing the probabilities of success for each of them.

''I bet your systems are now telling you what to do, right?'' The man suddenly said, motioning for the robots to stand down. Which was an odd thing, even more odd than the fact they listened to him was the fact they were linked to this man's every move, and all of a sudden they were now able to move as a free entity? ''Listing probabilities? We need to work on those, they're as accurate as weather reports.'' He followed with a smirk before moving forward to Bryce, whhile the bots behind him didn't move at all.

The rules of this 'game' were being changed right before his face and he understood even less because of it.

Suddenly a hand was offered to Bryce and the man extending it gave a warm smile, almost a trusting one. ''The name is Brandon Alva Douglas, but you can call me Brandon for short.'' He laughed as Bryce shook the hand given to him, though careful not to crush the hand, which somehow was a thing his mind had accounted for already and adjusted his mucle strength to specifically not break human bone or anything else.

But if it could do that, why not keep his hands from cracking the concrete?

''I suppose you have questions!'' Brandon urged suddenly as he playfully turned around and produced a chart from one of the bots with him. ''Hmm.. Bryce! That's it.'' He turned around once more to face the confused android with a happy set of eyebrows, a smile to match and for some reason a contagious smile, as Bryce found himself not yet fully understanding anything but still smiling.

He knew his body did things without him wanting to, and giving him information he didn't need. And that somehow this Brandon was aware of him being here as well as not batting an eye at the broken concrete slabs and the fist shaped cracks on the ground.

''Says here you did a number on the wall when you woke up before.'' Brandon said. ''Must be the reason they turned you off.''

At this point Bryce opened his mouth, and this time the bots behind Brandon didn't move and just stood there as glorified statues. ''Turned off. You mentioned me being turned on earlier in this conversation. What do you mean by that?'' He asked, the first words to leave his mouth since he woke up here, and leaving him waiting for an answer.

''Simple.'' Brandon shrugged. ''Someone flipped your switch and turned you off, and then on again. Basic IT trick.''

''I have a switch?'' Bryce asked in turn as he looked at his own back, and his hand started to explore his neck and other areas he couldn't see.

Brandon laughed for a moment and gripped the chart tighter as if it was in danger of being dropped. ''No, no, it's a matter of speech, something of a joke we use around here.'' He explained. ''What you have is what we call a Sensory Overload Batch. SOB for short. It allows us, and only us, to monitor and alter your systems from a distance.'' Brandon said, raising his arm and revealing a watch on his wrist and tapping on it, and instantly Bryce felt taps ringing through his mind. ''Or from this thing! It's mobile! Nifty, huh?''

An angry glare was gotten from Bryce as he shook his head to get the ringing out, massaging his temple for a moment as he closed his fist.

''It makes for a fun device, too, especially at parties!'' Brandon said as he finally coughed and lowered his arm, putting both hands on the chart once more. ''Right, not funny. I owe you an explanation, not a reason to hate me.'' He offered as he turned to the side, pacing forward before turning to Bryce with an outstretched index finger to get his attention. ''You died.''

That statement right there caused Bryce's eyes to widen and the fist he was forming to falter. Questions were already swarming his mind but he couldn't ask any of them before Brandon would continue explaining.

''But we fixed you. 'We' being Gero Enterprises here.'' Brandon said with a smile, almost giddy to be able to provide that information.

''Gero Enterprises? They specialise in robotics, don't they? And they fixed me? And.. I need to adjust? I have an off switch?'' ''Am I a robot?'' Bryce finally asked.

''We prefer android, and no.'' Brandon both corrected him and told him he was wrong with a shake of his head. ''There are still human parts in there. Not much of them, but they are. So that makes you a cyborg, hence the adjusting. We can just reprogram androids and gynoids, but with intensive subjects like you, or cyborgs, we can't program in anything.'' He explained, finally answering a few questions. ''We can only influence your parts, not alter the sum of them. That one is on you. That is also why I'm here. To help you.''

''Help me do what?'' Bryce asked, since his body was already being altered slightly right now to keep him from hurting people or even breaking them. ''Can't you just keep monitoring me from a distance?''

With a shudder of his shoulders Brandon laughed. ''We can, but you surely value privacy. And our programming can break, but your organs and bones will keep you going, all we did was put them back together and give them some extra power.'' Bryce was told. ''That's why you need to control it on your own. We're not here to hold your hand. We fixed you, and gave you the means to walk.''

''So walk.''

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WC: 1,140

[Tolvur-Q12]

''..walk?'' Bryce repeated, not at all sure what he was supposed to be doing now, after getting all of that info if it was true to begin with. A robot.. his body no longer his own.. walking was just about the last thing on his mind right now as he tilted his head at Brandon, who fiddled with his wrist a bit, tapping on the device he said could somehow alter Bryce's 'systems' and finally looked straight at the mandroid with a smile.

''I said walk, yes.'' He uttered when Bryce all of a sudden fell to his knees, hands on his head as a giant headache took over for him, a ringing in his ears and everything felt like it was bleeding. And on top of that he began smelling burning metal and his vision was turning blurry. ''I'm on a timer here.'' Brandon told Bryce as he got closer and squatted down in front of him, but of course Bryce couldn't really make out what he was saying as his ears kept ringing, and his vision was too blurred to make out the movement of the speaking lips.

Finally though, the device was tapped once more as Brandon got up to his feet, with Bryce behind him going limp from not having to tense up anymore and falling flat to the floor. ''I'm here to help you, Bryce!'' He was told with the scientist before him turning around and throwing his arms up in the air in frustration. ''But I can't do that if you don't listen!'' Then there was another tap on the device and Bryce felt his breathing get way too heavy of a sudden as he also instantly felt everything around him twice as intense. The concrete beneath him, the loose pebbles digging into his boots, the musky air swirling through the fabric of his pants as well as actually hearing the beating of his own heart, once more drowning out whatever Brandon had to say.

But what he felt wasn't pain though, and the ringing in his ears had subsided and hearing his own heart convinced him there was still a part of him that was human, yet he still wasn't trusting the claim he was a cyborg even though the signs all pointed to yes. Was he stubborn? Yes. But Brandon already knew that and was using that against Bryce. And if that didn't work fast enough there was also the fact he was a martial artist, and adhered to the rules of one raised by pacifists.

Though this also posed a bit of a problem; Bryce needed to get mad to get this whole thing to work, but how did you get a pacifist to be mad? ..maybe Brandon would just have to beat that out of him in some way.

And as Bryce finally got up, though his head was still filled with the sound of his heartbeat and his vision was only now returning, he felt one of the robots that was with Brandon getting closer. He felt something designed not to make a sound or anything but the lightest of vibrations. Bryce felt all those supposed tiny vibrations though, and was almost instantly alerted to the direction of it and instantly the beating in his ears stopped and his vision returned fully just in time to see the robot open up a compartment that shot out a dart towards Bryce.

Without a seconds hesitation his body seemed to yank him out of the way, as if someone pushed him and he was forced to step to the side to regain his footing. But the dart was dodged and he heard it zoom past him, the same way he could hear almost everything just a moment ago. Was this that same experience? Was it the same trigger? The breaking air behind the dart was felt by Bryce in the same way that the concrete underneath his boots was felt all of a sudden, and in the same way he could feel the muscles in his feet carry him to the side.

Maybe it was adrenaline that did this. Or.. was it something else? In both situations Bryce was faced with something out of his own control, but he ended up controlling it in both situations. Was this a question of willpower?

''Good on you for avoiding that.'' Brandon said with a sigh, shaking his head as he moved his arm a bit and pulled back the sleeve that was covering the small device on his arm. And just by seeing it, Bryce closed his eyes and forced his body to tense up in anticipation. ''But you walked in the wrong direction.'' He urged. ''Well, that and you basically ran. No running before walking.'' He shrugged. ''I guess crawling works too.'' And as that was said his free hand was on the device, and Bryce back on all fours with a pain shooting through his head that forced him down to the ground.

But the lower he got, the less it hurt. Why? ''Touch me in any way, shape or form and I'll make the pain stop.'' Brandon offered Bryce as some incentive to actually move for once, the bot still hovering over the mandroid menacingly.

The cyborg raised his head to try and say something, but as he did so the pain got unbearable for a split second and Bryce quickly threw his own head against the concrete; at least that hurt less, and he could control it himself. ''Weak.''

''What was that?'' Brandon asked, standing on his toes and looking over at Bryce as if there was a high fence between them. ''Did you say something? It's hard to hear you from there! Get closer and say that to my face.''

Bryce grumbled a bit at that and, while his face was still down to the ground, he slid his arm forward and then a knee, followed by the other side as he slowly dragged himself forward. Still in pain, he was now slowly making his way over to Brandom; but more the promise of not being in pain anymore.

''You get used to moving like that, and I'll be in the other room!'' Brandon said mockingly loud. ''I'll see you when you, well, back to the first lesson I suppose-''

And since Bryce wasn't able to see Brandon at the moment, but for some reason could feel the tone of his voice getting lower and more serious, he paused a bit, not sure what was exactly happening.

''-walk.''

And with that, a door was heard sliding open and Brandon left, the two bots he brought with him also following him.

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TWC: 2,253

[Tolvur-Q12]

Bryce grumbled as he was left alone on the floor, pain still shooting through his head and forcing him down to the ground. The only relief here was that the lower he got, the less pain he would actually feel. Was that something his body did, or was that something Brandon did to him? He didn't know nor care at this point, it was just that the query was running rampant through his head as what was going on didn't really allow Bryce to focus on what he was told. Assuming there was any truth to it, of course.

But again, by now he wasn't really bothered to think about an answer to the question of it being true and what exactly he was, and what it did to him. He didn't even care about Brandon telling him he died at this point in time. The only thing he knew, but was ultimately powerless against, was the pain pounding away at his skull.

He needed to get rid of that pain, and maybe Brandon was being truthful when he mentioned that the moment Bryce got to him the pain would stop, but then the guy moved to another room, so Bryce was stuck with the pain until he could follow Brandon and ignore the pain. Still, bearing the pain for a bit, which he was sure didn't do anything lasting to his body, would be better than just becoming a rug with a permanent migraine.

So he decided to start forcing his way up, his palms flat against the surface of the floor and his knees pulled up. His head was propped up several inches in one swift motion, and it triggered what Bryce was feeling, intensifying with every inch and getting quite the lasting grunt out of Bryce as he pushed himself up to a sitting position slowly. The pain kept rising, and eventually the cyborg just closed his eyes because it felt as if his eyes could pop out at any second. But at last, he sat, his head now feeling like it was hit by a bus and his vision getting blurry because of the pain messing with his senses, but he was seated on the ground instead of laying there like a useless pile of clothing.

His mind was slowly being torn apart, it felt like, and he could feel beads of sweat forming on his brow from just the required intensity of any motion now, to push him through the pain and allow him eventual freedom.

Then, a click and Bryce could, softly and over the ringing in his ears make out the voice of Brandon behind him. And as he turned around instinctively his head began pushing back against it and forced another grunt out of the martial artist. There was nothing but pain as his eyes momentarily closed, bracing him against the pain for a bit as just looking at objects meant a good deal of pain by now.

But there was nothing of importance there. ''I am going to assume you turned around didn't you?'' Brandon said. ''Sadly, this is the intercom which I set up on a wall facing away from the exit.'' The intercom buzzed, some static being pushed through his voice. ''That means you're turned around. And I don't think your vision is optimal right now. I imagine it isn't, anyway. All that pain going through your head.. Better find the exit real soon, huh?''

And with that, the click of the intercom sounded once more and it shut off, leaving Bryce grounded, turned around, blinded and in pain. Naturally there were some words spoken under his breath, but when the pain came back again because he turned around he knew there had to be a change in this all soon. In fact, there already was. The pain was no longer as bad as before, so maybe he was getting used to it, or it was his body doing this? There were things his body did he would need to figure out still.

Slowly he would push himself from the ground to be crouching but also standing on his feet, and while the pain intesified again, there was a clear jump forward in how much it exactly hurt, which allowed him to push even further considering he had a rough idea of how much he could handle without buckling over. Pushing through that growing pain once more now found him on his feet, in a standing position.

Both hands were placed on his head though and they both pushed in as if Bryce was trying to flatten his own head, but it just managed the pain for him a bit and allowed him to shuffle forward ever so slightly.

Then there was another click of the intercom, and Bryce lowered his hands which made the pain return, and forced him to hunch over. ''Feels good to use those feet of yours, doesn't it?'' The disembodied voice of Brandon spoke as if he could see the cyborg standing finally. ''You're one stubborn guy, you know that?''

''Tell me where you are or make this pain stop now, don't talk just to buy time.'' Bryce finally said as he managed to raise his body again, forcing himself to fight through what he was experiencing. But this time, there was no response, just a click of the intercom and Brandon's presence was gone from the room. At that same moment Bryce found a bit of his vision returning and found he was standing awfully close to the concrete slab he woke up on, allowing him to place his hands on it for support to give himself a quick breather.

A quick moment passed and Bryce pushed his hands from the table, turning in place and moving forward through the pain. It still hurt, and it radiated with every step that was gently taken. A hand was slapped against the wall at some point when Bryce reached it for support and he slid it along with him as he walked, not being able to see any form of door.

After half a round of walking around the room though, his hand was bumped up a bit and caused Bryce to look at what it was that caused it a bit closer. The wall held a small ridge, and another one a few feet away, seperated by a gap that allowed Bryce to put both his fingers in.

The material, as he put one hand in, felt different too. It looked like concrete, but it felt like metal. And pushing his fingers deeper would reveal a crack in the center that ran all the way down. Now, with all the brainpower Bryce had at the time his first thought was that this was a door to an elevator, and so he pushed a second set of fingers in there to allow himself to apply enough pressure to hopefully slide the doors open.

''You found the door!'' The intercom suddenly clicked on, distracting Bryce a bit and letting the doors slam closed with his fingers between it, pulling them back to his body instantly. It didn't hurt, but it seemed there were instincts to surpress here, seeing as human instincts didn't really matter as much anymore. ''Clever boy!''

Bryce sighed and turned around, pausing for a moment to still the pounding in his head before opening his mouth. ''Am I really a robot?'' He asked.

''Did you.. not tell him?'' A voice not belonging to Brandon asked.

''I did, I did, but I think dying and coming back to life kind of complicates things, don't you think?''

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TWC: 3,525

[Tolvur-Q12]

Okay, so those two, Brandon and that new guy, basically said that he was indeed a robot. Or an android. Or a cyborg. One of those three.

But that also meant that.. he had new skills to go with that? Honestly though, he already knew that due to Brandon being able to do this to him and by Bryce somehow being able to dodge a dart flying at him at full speed. But now, he couldn't test out more of what his body could do as he was stuck in a closed off room. Sure he found the door and could get out any time he wanted, but there was a slight part of him that kept hesitating.

What was behind the door? The glimpse he got didn't show him much of anything, so there could very well be a more deadly task than this one behind there. And between that and having to live with an headache, he was happy to stay in the spot he was now. And to top that thought off, couldn't he punch rock and break it? Wouldn't that mean he could just beat his way out of there in the opposite direction?

With only the smallest sliver of headache left Bryce walked over to the wall, right next to the intercom behind him and, while walking, noted a camera hanging in the corner of the room. Maybe it would be best to stand underneath that to maybe get some privacy and not be interrupted by Brandon asking him what he was doing.

His fist closed into a ball as he reached the wall and almost instantly the click of the intercom was heard as Bryce placed his fist against the wall. ''You're trying to punch through the wall or something?'' Brandon asked.

''Oh yeah there's something we haven't heard a thousand times before!''

There seemed to be what was deciphered by the cyborg as a struggle paired with some feedback, and finally another voice came out of the intercom. ''We've had people try that before, so we were forced to strengthen all the walls. Don't bother with-''

The voice was cut off and there was some shuffling to be heard, a yell of pain and a loud thud before Brandon's voice came back on the intercom. ''I think-'' Some more rustling and someone shouting some choice words from a distance were heard before Brandon continued. ''I think you should definitely do that. But uhm.. we can't see you so can you keep us up to date on what happens?'' A beep was heard through the intercom, and while Bryce fully expected that to do something to him nothing happened yet. ''Thanks.''

And then the intercom clicked and Bryce was alone again. No voices to madden him, no camera on him, just a cyborg and an ex-martial artist and his fists. With a sigh Bryce placed his fist on the wall again, using the training he had as a martial artist to punch in the correct way, hopefully breaking through the wall, or maybe just crack it in order to give him some hope of getting out and no longer having to suffer Brandon and his as of yet unknown sidekick that seemed to be quite impatient with the whole situation. Maybe it wasn't a sidekick, but a superior, Bryce started to wonder.

His fist pulled back though, and went on to crash into the wall with force. And while it did minimal damage to the fist due to the pain in Bryce's head being worse at the moment, it was his shock to find out that his fist had done nothing with the wall. A fluke, maybe. He had seen his hands crack stone, and even concrete. Maybe this was a job for both fists at once. And then without hesitation he went on to pummel the wall below the video camera with both his fists, not hearing the clicking of the intercom due to his focus on the task at hand, as stupid as it was.

''Bryce?'' It sounded, but the cyborg did not take notice as his fist crashed into the wall once more. But the only real damage it was doing was scratching skin and paint. ''Bryce?'' Brandon rang out of the intercom once more, but there was still only the sound of flesh and steel crashing against a wall. ''I think we lost him.''

''No we didn't, he's just confused. I've seen this before.''

''With the others? Why? Why are they confused?''

There was a back and forth conversation on the intercom and slowly Bryce was taking note, slowly stopping his fists from being rammed into the wall. His breath now being silenced too as he tried to hear what was being said on the intercom, most likely due to them forgetting to hit the off switch. The irony wasn't lost on Bryce.

''Were. Not are.''

Hold on. Bryce had to backtrack a bit. There were others? Maybe he could find out more through this squabbling set of sadists.

''It's perfectly normal for a person to lose track of what is real or not when they die. Because well, they experience what we think is a dream.'' The voice not belonging to Brandon said, while he himself was almost as quiet as Bryce was being, aside from hastily scribbling these words down. ''Ever had a dream in which you could do what you wanted? I think dying is like that. In fact, the larger base of people assumes that there is something, and we started to create that something here on Earth.''

''Of course this notion fucks with people. And what I think this is-'' The voice suddenly stopped as Bryce shuffled in the range of the camera, his knuckles chafed off and metal poking through, with him looking at it for a second before looking at the camera.

The skin on his knuckles was rapidly growing back, but the sensation of the hits was there still. But in the greater picture, what this did, was push Bryce over the line, convince him that he was actually what he was told by Brandon. And in this very moment, he was calm. Even showing a smile as he looked up at the camera.

''Mind if we take a break? The wall did nothing, by the way.'' He said, his face close to the intercom. And almost instantly Brandon's voice was heard.

''Take all the time you need. Just know that with whatever we do, we're not the bad guys. We're just trying to help you.''

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TWC: 4,621