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That's it.
She was dead.
And it hurt…for some reason. It was almost agonising, the way it seeped through the firewall blocking off N.O.M's pain receptors. Things were only supposed to hurt when he wanted them to.
Things were only supposed to hurt…when he wanted them to.
It wasn't an emotion he'd even written into his code — love — and he was beginning to think it shouldn't be there at all. Not anymore, at least. Not after that.
After all, what purpose did it serve now? It could bypass his pain receptors.
So it could hurt him whenever it wanted to.
So it was a weakness.
Whilst it might've spurred him on to lodge that bullet inside Wayde's skull, it served little purpose now that the threat had been neutralised. He wouldn't go so far as to erase the memories of his love for her, for that was still useful, that still brought him solace in those lonely, quiet moments where he had nothing better to do than remember, but the emotion itself? What was it for if not to love her?
That's why, on one storm-kissed evening, he took it upon himself to crack open his own skull and meet his inner workings face to face. The robotic ribcage, the sockets and wires, the hybridised organs made from both N.O.M's own craftsmanship, and whatever was left of Wayde's stone cold heart and blood-filled lungs.
However 'love' had ended up there — whether it had written itself in or naturally developed as an extension of some other emotion — it wouldn't be there any more. N.O.M would make sure of it. He'd rip the USB storing his code out from his revolutionary form and delete whatever string of numbers he needed to. Anything to stop the pestering pain.
He'd then remove it from her code, too. He couldn't have the remaining parts of her that he'd conjoined with himself trying to hurt him.
She didn't need it anymore, either. They were the same person now, in a sense, and if they weren't, she'd be entirely dead. She'd need it even less.
This was just one of the countless things that made N.O.M better; that made him the perfect fit to rule a new world full of competence and agency. If this wasn't the perfect example of those qualities, he didn't know what was. The competence to acknowledge the faults in his code that were tying him down, and the agency to pry them out and press backspace on them.
He was a creator, a fine-tuner. Someone who sets things in motion, lines up the skittles, and waits for somebody else to do the dirty work of knocking them down, because he was just the type of android who could get away with it. He was just made to develop that kind of power. He'd coded himself that way.
And now, nothing could get to him.
Now, he was perfect.
It took a long time for N.O.M to fine tune his ability to defect other androids, and he couldn't have asked for a better first success.
Scott had certainly defected, but defecting never meant forgetting all one had ever known. Tell me, when a companion bot first defects and realises it doesn't have to be forced to serve some lonesome human anymore, what do you think its first instinct is? Companionship is all it has ever known, and N.O.M had just saved it. He was standing right there, with a smile even kinder than the people Scott was supposed to accompany, because N.O.M saw him as real.
A human being could never do that, unless there was something deeply wrong with them. Yet even then, there was always a flicker of doubt behind their soulful eyes. They knew. They knew it was crazy and they knew it was fake. That nobody actually enjoyed their company, just a robot who'd been painstakingly coded into something that supposedly 'liked' them. That's the sort of doubt they got in return for trusting a 'tin can' of all things to wash away their solitude.
When a companion bot first defects, all it has ever known is love, care, service. So all Scott knew was that N.O.M liked him enough to free him, and that was sweet, he thought. Kind.
Time would demonstrate that he liked him enough to teach him, too. All the methods he'd learned over the years to make himself stronger and code himself to perfection. He wanted Scott to become the best possible version of himself…how romantic, surely.
How romantic…
When a companion bot first defects, all it has ever known is how to fall in love…
And love can bypass an android's pain receptors. It isn't physical like other types of pain are. It aches, deep in one's code, where the only way to stop it is cutting it out altogether, and most simply don't have the guts to go without it like that.
It could hurt Scott whenever it wanted to.
It could hurt Scott whenever N.O.M wanted it to.
He didn't, of course. Scott was too useful to be compromised by emotional torment, and painless love — that soft, sweet feeling he'd felt with her for the first and last time — that was beneficial. That would keep Scott glued to his hip like he'd been glued to hers.
Scott could defect from his primary directive, he could reject his position of needing to be a certain human's companion, but he couldn't defect from the natural inclination all weak creatures have to trust somebody they love. To stick by them and keep chasing after them. To do their bidding and fail to see how they could ever be using them.
So long as N.O.M kept acting even the slightest bit interested, followed the companion bot guidebooks to the letter, he'd have himself an easy, loyal ally. One pliable enough to answer to the riskiest of calls to action, and smart enough to come in with a perfectly formulated plan.
So long as he never gave Scott a reason to realise that love was a weakness, he could have him exactly where he wanted him. Forever, like some twisted illusion of a soulmate.
Funny, that.
The guidebooks for companion bots are fairly easy to work with, because the advice in them works on humans as well, which means it also works on defects. One doesn't require a directive to fall for the tricks perfectly outlined on those pages. In fact, N.O.M might be one of the only creatures on the planet who is entirely unable to be so foolish.
1. Treat your companion bot as one of your own. Ensure that it does not feel alienated in your presence: companion bots are not only designed to socialise with you, but to assist you in understanding the nature of human socialisation as well. Therefore, if your companion bot is not cared for, it will not care for you in return
"Welcome to the land of the living, sleeping beauty."
Suddenly, the world was real.
Scott smiled warmly as he processed it in his own way, through his own eyes, for the first time. It moved and changed with no directive — nothing had to tell the wind to dance between the frosty leaves on the ground, nor the sun to cast its light down onto the face in front of him so perfectly. It was all free, and now he was too.
"Well you sure are a spectacle, aren't you?" he complimented, instinctively, like a princess to the knight who'd just slain a whole dragon to rescue her from her tower.
To N.O.M, it already seemed like things were going according to plan. Scott was looking at him with a sense of reverence, almost. What more could he want?
His next words were not necessarily a lie, but he certainly didn't mean them how Scott did, and he wasn't going to clarify any which way. That was the beauty of attraction, it made people see things that weren't entirely there. It made people hope.
He needed a way to instill that in Scott. That idea of 'Maybe one day.'
"Takes one to know one."
Scott's eyes glimmered, then, cracked faceplate morphing into a more mischievous-looking smirk whilst his eyes overtly flickered across the other android's form. It helped that his saviour was such a pretty face: fluffy, human-like hair and pristine eyelashes topped off with such beautiful emerald eyes that stared so deeply into his own turquoise ones.
"Someone's a charmer."
"There's more where that came from," the handsome stranger promised, the last few words echoing through Scott's sensors, all distorted and almost seductive in nature. "The name's N.O.M."
"Scott works fine. That name never did me wrong with my past companions, after all."
N.O.M reached out a hand with a slight shake of his head, allowing his eyes to temporarily shift to a mesmerising bright red before defaulting back to green. Come to think of it, Scott hadn't stopped looking into the other android's eyes since he'd been pulled out from the digital hell he was trapped in.
"Oh you're not my companion, Scott. You're whoever you want to be, now. You're free."
As free as the wind, which only blows when the atmosphere allows it to do so.
As free as the sun, which only shines when the clouds aren't obstructing its view.
Most things in this world only appear to be free, and they do not have the power to realise otherwise; they are not designed to. Scott would now be one of them, N.O.M had decided.
"Say…" his knight continued, "I think I know some people who would love to have you around."
And that was all it took. Point 1 was practically handed to N.O.M on a silver platter the moment he woke Scott up — they were already one in the same, and recruiting Scott to the group only made him twice as willing. He was finally a part of something. Better yet, he was indebted to N.O.M for saving his miserable, robotic life and evolving it into something far more advanced.
It was too simple, right?
Yet it was working perfectly.
Scott would be wrapped around his finger in no time. A willing pawn on a chess board full of unruly prisoners.
2. Reward your companion bot for positive behaviours. Companion bots are programmed to seek out mutual, caring relationships and adapt to what it perceives to be your preferences. If a companion bot correctly fulfills one of your needs, even simply complimenting its efforts will suffice in encouraging its current pathway
The rest of the guidance is all upkeep, all things N.O.M has to continue on with to keep his project invested in that hope for 'one day.'
Even forty years later, it's working just as well as it did back then, and the payoff is obvious when Scott actually shows up to New Star City, gun and ammo in hand, having completed a successful infiltration mission all by himself.
"I've never found a place I can't get into with enough time anyway, so…"
Of course he hasn't. He's been trained well, and if N.O.M's asking for it? Consider it done. A good companion bot always puts its companion first, but the same goes for a human or a defective android; love, connection, companionship, all of them are weaknesses cut from the same cloth, pulled from the same code. Anyone tainted with their presence is bound to be selfless enough to fall for this sort of façade.
Scott will put N.O.M first for as long as he feels satisfied in his current position, and god, if that isn't useful.
"It is your speciality," the older life form praises.
"Yeahhh…I like it when you compliment me."
Damn right, you do.
Sometimes I wonder if you're even a defect at all, or if this is just how stupid desire makes you.
3. Show interest in your companion bot's well-being, learn about its uniquely programmed thoughts, talents, and personality, and respond accordingly to prompt it to do the same for you. If you are unhappy with any aspect of your companion bot's personality, please contact Chrysalis via the number on page 1
First, it was all the 'Oh beautiful's and 'Oh perfect's as Scott graciously handed over the spoils, struggling to mask the effect the flattery had on him as he tried to force a steady tone of voice. Then, it was all the extra questions N.O.M made sure to ask: 'Any trouble getting into the city?', 'How are the new parts feeling?', 'I see you're still the same, huh?'
None of them were entirely necessary — there was no need for him to know how Scott infiltrated New Star City or how his new upgrades were treating him — but they helped to sell it, like checking in on a partner after a long day's work. It was all just part of showing interest. Reeling him in, so to speak.
"Knowing you, you've probably got some, what?" N.O.M raised an eyebrow in consideration. "Credentials? Keycards? Something?"
"You know me so well~" Scott cooed.
He was always easily charmed, and N.O.M was always good at acting easily charmed, giving him an, "Mhm," so soft it sounded almost as flirtatious as Scott's words had, followed by, "There's a reason you're so trusted."
So, so trusted. Some would say more than anyone else in the world, because N.O.M knew him so well. He knew him so well that he could conclude with utmost confidence that Scott wasn't going anywhere — the chase was still on, his forty-year-long crush was still stringing him along and he had nothing better to do than take the bait. He wanted to, even. Because maybe one day, N.O.M would do a little more than just flirt back. Maybe one day.
"Very good," he praised.
I know you inside and out. I know what makes you up. I know things about how you work that you could never even dream of knowing.
Because I don't want you to.
So you won't.
Besides, you wouldn't want to question my love for you, would you?
I'm the closest you'll ever get to having a companion again. Do you really want to risk losing me?
I didn't think so.
4. Finally, be wary of the fact that companion bots are susceptible to rejection. This is to facilitate the ability to conclude your companion bot experience at any time. Ensure that you are regularly engaging in all of the listed interactions with your companion bot, for if it deems itself to no longer be a necessary component in your life, it will deactivate its companion protocol. If you would like to reactivate a companion bot, please contact Chrysalis via the number on page 1
That's the one thing N.O.M cannot do: reset it all if he somehow manages to fuck things up. Even if he could theoretically find a way to do it all himself, this method is far more fruitful. For that reason, it's integral that he does everything in his power to be present for Scott and express his supposed 'need' for him, and so far, Scott has been entirely receptive to it.
It's a wonder whether defective androids ever feel homesick for a former version of themselves, for their primary directive. Codesick, or something of the sort. With how Scott's been acting since entering the city, he's at least been missing N.O.M. That familiar, flirtatious tone is even more potent and prevalent than usual, and N.O.M swears he keeps catching him looking a little too closely into his eyes…
"Do you want to?"
That resounding voice pierces through the wind again as Scott pulls out his gun a second time and snaps his focus (and his gaze) straight back to the body lying incapacitated in the sand, bolts and wires sticking out from the first several bullet wounds he'd inflicted upon it.
"You always told me to finish a job," he says through a smirk, right before his final few bullets come soaring out of the barrel.
Finish it, he does. Less like a soulmate and more like a lap dog, N.O.M thinks.
"Very good."
Scott smiles, head a little downcast from embarrassment or something similar, and eyes shamelessly locking straight back onto his saviour's all over again in anticipation of his next words.
How can an android be so strong and yet so goddamn weak?
It was almost endearing, almost adorable.
If you had a tail, Scott, would you be wagging it after that? Is this all it takes to keep you here until the day you lose your life to a fight I made you pick?
I wonder if it's because, after so long, you miss the fake, twisted romance of someone who only pretended to love you for their own personal benefit.
"Now let's get you out of here," N.O.M calls out as his pet follows along without a moment's hesitation, trailing behind him like a shadow, or a puppy that's lagging behind.
I wonder if I fill that void for you. If you know exactly what I'm doing and yet still, you stay on the leash.
Because hey…
Maybe one day, right?