Chapter Text
He is really going to die. Backed up against the dead end of a shady alley, a soldier racing through the back streets of empty warehouses close to catching up. Like Mino had always known it was likely all going to end. He will take his last breath in the shadows, between the walls of two factories, under faulty cameras, next to trash and rodents, like so many other people already have before and many more will after him. All of them died observed violent and young. All of them will die observed violent and young. He will too. Probably even right at this spot.
His mission shouldn’t have been achievable to begin with. It’s a wonder Mino even made it this far. Didn’t make it far enough though, did he? Sure, the guy is dead, that means the job is done, the money is on its way to Mino’s sister, and they won’t be able to trace anything back to him, but he is still going to die. He is going to leave Dyje behind.
Dyje, who won’t learn about his death until there is inevitably going to be a new mission and no brother to take care of it. Dyje, who will need to take care of said mission. Dyje, who will have no family left if he dies. Can he just die in a common back alley, like so many others, if that will mean leaving his little sister with less than nothing? Mino can’t just leave her. He can’t just die like that, not so violent and young and observed. He won’t.
The soldier sprints around the corner, sleeve getting caught on a piece of scrap metal. It rips. He doesn’t seem to notice, still not slowing down. He isn’t holding a gun. He doesn’t appear to have any weapon on him.
Mino’s hand lingers above the hidden pocket of his baggy trouser, which he had never been able too quiet grown into, ready to reach for his pocketknife. If he times his attack just right, he will be able to make a run for it. He has done stuff like that before, he can do it again.
The soldier is just a step out of his reach when he abruptly stops. It’s not just him that stops. Everything fells like it’s paused. Apart from the usual searing of the cameras and Mino’s shallow breathing, it’s awfully quiet. He can’t hear anything else. He should though. They had been running in between the warehouses and factories for a remarkable amount of time. But the soldier isn’t trying to catch his breath, like Mino had after nearly running into the back wall. The soldier isn’t breathing at all.
“Put your hands above your head!”
Its voice sounds robotic and monotonous, devoid of any emotion and life. Robots aren’t supposed to run as fast as this one just did. Mino will need to warn the others about that development later.
Slightly muffled by the typical military mask they all wear, it repeats its order. It’s harder to tell them apart that way. The mask covers the machine’s whole face, well, it should. This robot’s mask is askew, revealing a sliver of its forehead just above the tinted visor that is still covering his eyes. A very human like forehead. The thing shouldn’t have skin. These things never used to, but it does. Mino takes a step back. Back now fully pressed against the wall.
The thing repeats the order. Not in a robotic tone like the last two times. It sounds like a real person, not completely, it lacks the human soldier’s entitlement, just uncomfortably close to the real thing. It’s too perfect. Robots don’t sound this human. It doesn’t strike him right.
Whatever the thing before Mino is, it isn’t something he would blindly mess with. It isn’t something he would know how to mess with. He raises his hands almost automatically, the knife and plan to attack completely forgotten.
Humans can be killed, he can do that pretty well, even the ones with knives, guns and protective gear aren’t immortal. Robots can be tricked, outwitted. No better than their code, they can be destroyed. It is especially easy to kill in remote dead ends with little to no cameras, corners like the one he is in and shadows like the ones engulfing them. The conditions would be perfect if it was something familiar. If it was a human or a robot. It appears to be neither though, or maybe both at the same time. There is no way for him to tell what it could be capable of.
He isn’t planning on dying in this alley, or any alley or shadow, for that matter. Mino doesn’t put up a fight. Leaving Dyje behind isn’t an option. Mino can’t hurt her like their parents hurt them. He won’t take the easy way out.
Mino hesitantly pulls down the bandana covering his face. His people differ from the soldiers a lot, but they two things in common. They conceal their identities and murder people. Two sides of the same coin, as the local gamblers would say.
He lets the thing’s stiff, lifeless hands cuff him and waits while it and later another soldier try to identify him. The soldier has more distaste in his voice talking about it than Mino, so at least he’s not the only one who’s weirded out by the thing. They can’t find any records of his existence. He doesn’t legally exist. He never used to.
They quickly shove him into the back of the human soldier’s van when they realise that. Mino doesn’t try to stop them. Probably for the best. All the other people in there are dead. He is luckier than these guys, at least in some way. The doors slam shut. It’s too dark to make out the bodies now. Probably for the best, too. He won’t be able to recognise anyone that way. The engine of the vehicle starts and they’re on their way to the closest station.