|| Chapter 3: Trouble Comes in Many Forms ||
A loud yet annoying ringing escaped the alarm clock on the bedside table. The noise was silenced when a fist slammed on it and a loud groan filled the bedroom. The sounds of the duvet rustling could be heard when the ravenette lay on his stomach, shoving his face deeper into the pillow. The duvet shifted downwards, revealing a nice evenly toned backside. From the nape of his neck until his upper-mid-back, it was decorated with tattoos. Those tattoos formed themselves into a large black demonic wing-like sigil tattoo, blending in with the scorpion spine tattoos that ran down until his tailbone.
Two thin black borders spread from his tattooed spine as it stretched to his sides like a rib cage. His tailbone had a small tattoo that was faint yet the number '12-00-89' was seen. His entire arms were covered in rose-like tattoos; from his knuckles to his collarbones, shoulders and the sides of his neck. Between the rose tattoos were serpents, slithering between the leaves and twigs. After a few minutes of light snoozing, he snored himself awake and sluggishly pulled the duvet off him. His hair was messy and standing in every direction from how he slept.
His black sweatpants loosely hung on his hips as he stretched his limbs. Once he got out of bed, he dragged himself to the bathroom attached to the bedroom. A soft yet sleepy groan escaped the bathroom when Ellipse's voice announced from a speaker in the bedroom, "Notice: Today's maximum temperature will be 20°C and the lowest will be -90°C." He closed the bathroom door behind and turned the shower knob on, allowing water to spray from the shower head. As he waited for the water to warm up, he undressed himself and hung a towel on the shower door.
Carefully, he got into the shower. "Fuck! It's cold! Ahhh!" He screamed in surprise and angrily turned the shower knob to the max it could go. A few seconds later, the water got scorching hot and a sigh of relief left him. He took his time washing his body with the homemade liquid body soap he made for himself. It was made from artificial almonds, coconut oil, honey, and ground coffee beans; creating a rich aroma.
He even made shampoo and conditioner by mixing aloe vera gel, vegetable glycerin and coconut milk together. After he finished washing, he turned the water off and got out of the shower. He dried himself off with his towel and wrapped it around his hips before stepping out of the steaming bathroom. He raised a brow when he heard soothing classical music throughout the apartment. He decided to ignore it and got himself dressed in a black short-sleeved shirt and cargo pants. With only thick socks on his feet, he shuffled out of the room and into the kitchen. He started making omelettes and ramen for himself, enjoying making breakfast with the music playing in the background.
After he finished making breakfast, he sat down at the counter and gobbled it up. He was feeling relaxed, drinking his coffee with a sleepy expression. Alas, that relaxing feeling was interrupted when a small 'ting-ting-ting' sound erupted from the middle of the living room. Suddenly, a bright blue light beamed in the living room before settling down, revealing a hologram of a figure.
The figure was a middle-aged man, who had a moustache and short black hair. He was dressed in a grey jacket, baggy pants, black boots, and a blue construction helmet that red goggles on it. The hologram of the man seemed fidgety, glancing at the unbothered ravenette's backside that faced him. "What is it, Khan?" He sneered, slurping his coffee with a pissed-off expression, "Spit it out already."
The hologram man - Khan Doorman - flinched, clearing his throat to keep his composure. "Still harsh as before, haha..." He awkwardly joked, fiddling with his hands behind his back while glancing at the ravenette's backside, "Are you in good health? The colony... uh..." Khan almost jumped five feet into the air when the ravenette turned around in his chair, hurling his half-empty coffee cup at the hologram's head. The cup flew through his head and slammed into the floor, completely shattering on impact. The shards rolled to the sides while the remaining coffee poured all over the floor.
A tense yet frightening silence filled the air; Khan was trembling in fear while the ravenette's face contorted with savagery. "What does the colony want from me now?" He sneered, veins popped out of his neck from how he gritted his teeth. "...One of the drones damaged a classroom," Khan revealed with a deep frown, inching away from the furious man, "The doors aren't working properly too." The ravenette felt his blood boil under his skin at his words. However, the ravenette took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "So, you want me - a human - to help your so-called colony after you guys used me as a shield?" He venomously spat out, tapping his finger against his knee.
"You have some balls for contacting me, Khan," He added with a scoff, leaning his cheek against his fist. "I-I know that we hurt you," He stuttered out, his grey-coloured eyes wide in nervousness as his hands waved around, "But... But please come help us! Then... uh... Then I'll never contact you again, I promise!" The ravenette shut his eyes with a frown, listening to his pleas.
'Such bullshit,' He noted the desperation in Khan's eyes when he rambled on and on, 'You guys can fix yourselves since you built, so why are you asking me to do it?' A dangerous glint appeared in his eyes when he came up with an idea. He stared at the hologram for a second. "Sure," He accepted the offer, smirking, "Just on one condition though."
Nervously, Khan pursed his lips while he folded his hands in front of his stomach. "I get all the human corpses in the labs and offices in the facility," He coldly revealed, leaning his cheek against his fist, staring the hologram down. Khan happily accepted that condition, repeatedly thanking him over and over for helping them. With a press of a button, the hologram of Khan glitched away.
"Ellipse," He called out, getting up from the chair and stretching his limbs, "I'm heading to the lab. We'll leave at midday." He didn't wait for a response from the system and headed to the laboratory, humming a catchy tune. Once he was out of the apartment, a 'ting-ting-ting' sound was heard before a beam of light appeared in the middle of the living room.
The hologram started to materialize a tall woman, who had extremely long silver hair dragging on the floor and droopy sunset-coloured eyes. Her skin was pale as snow, causing her eyes to stand out. She was dressed in a black business suit with short heels. Her gaze flickered around in a slow manner, almost as if she was observing the room. She took out a white apron from the kitchen drawer and tugged it on. With a determined glint in her eyes, she picked up the cleaning equipment and started to clean the apartment at an incredible speed.
Meanwhile, the ravenette walked around in his laboratory with a white lab coat on, tugging a pair of white latex gloves on. Behind them was the operating room with the human hands dangling from the ceiling, setting the medical equipment ready on a table. With a small hum, the ravenette tugged a surgical mask on and entered the operating room. The hands retreated back to the ceiling when he made a gesture to a sensor and heard the ceiling creak open as a murder drone corpse got lowered onto the table. A loud thud was heard when the drone lay on the table. He didn't have the usual appearance of a murder drone; he had brown fluffy hair, and peachy skin and was quite muscular.
He was dressed in a black military uniform and boots. Another thing about this corpse was that it didn't have any gashes or missing limbs; he only had two-degree and third-degree burns. "This one looks fresh..." He noted with a raised brow, showing that he wasn't expecting it to look like that. Cautiously, he leaned closer to his face, clicking a flashlight on. He moved it over his closed eyelids before peeling his right eyelid open, revealing a dull golden iris.
He shined the light into it, furrowing his brows. "Strange..." He mumbled with uncertainty, a bit freaked out by this strange corpse. However, his heart sank to his stomach when the iris glowed bright yellow before flickering around. The iris stopped when its gaze landed on the ravenette's startled yet horrified face. The was supposed to be a corpse and he didn't move an inch.
"Shit..." The ravenette mumbled with wide eyes, feeling the tiny hairs on his neck stand on end. As fast as he could, he released the drone's eyelid and sprinted to the door. Alas, his efforts were deemed useless when a devil-like tail with a stinger wrapped itself around his throat, choking him as it tugged him back. He tumbled to the floor, knocking the medical tools cabinet on the way down.
"Gah!" He gasped in pain, coughing when his spine throbbed from hitting the floor. Calmly, the stringer whipped around in a cat-like manner as the murder drone slowly sat up on the operating table. The ravenette observed him with a scowl and reached for a scalpel. With a great attempt, the ravenette positioned himself in a crouching position. "Ow..." The drone groaned out in a low voice, clutching his head with his burnt hand.
The drone shifted its gaze from his lap towards the crouching ravenette, who was staring at him with caution and bewilderment. 'This is bad,' He inaudible gulped when a yellow circle floated over the drone's eyes, scanning the ravenette's identity, 'This is really fucking bad.' It happened so quickly; all he saw was his surgical mask get yanked off by the stinger.
He froze when he spotted the barrel of a gun pointed at his head, pursing his lips. A heavy silence filled the operating room as neither of them made an attempt to move, observing each other. "...I'm surprised that you're still alive and kicking with those burns," The ravenette calmly mentioned with a smile, hiding the scalpel under his sole. The drone continued to observe him in silence.
"You're not from the company," The drone mentioned with narrowed eyes, cocking the barrel of the gun more at him, "Who are you?" Instinctively, the ravenette leaned back with a menacing expression before having a poker face. "A survivor, you could say," He slightly sneered and cautiously made a surrendering gesture with his hands, "Also a scavenger too." At this point, the drone got off the table and stood in front of him, still holding him at gunpoint.
"This is all a misunderstanding, you know," The ravenette chuckled, hiding how his heart leapt into his throat when the barrel of the gun was pressed against his forehead, "I truly had no idea that you were alive." He tensed up when the tip of the stringer tapped against his cheek. 'For the love of God, don't cut my face up,' He internally begged as he kept his calm demeanour up, 'It'll hurt like hell if you do.'
"You're not a worker drone," The drone retorted with a scrunched-up expression, utterly confused, "And you're not a Disassembly Drone too..." Swiftly, the stinger made a small cut on his cheek, causing a thin trail of crimson blood to drip down his chin. The ravenette couldn't help but show his true emotions; a look of pure agitation and caution appeared on his face.
"You're a human," The drone mumbled with a hint of surprise and awe in his voice. The ravenette leaned back against the wall when the drone crouched in front of him, staring at him with calculating eyes. "Hey," He called out to the ravenette, tilting his head as he pointed at one of the burns on his neck, "Can you fix this? It's not regenerating."
The ravenette stared at him with a deadpan expression, not believing what he just heard. "Huh?" He scowled, looking him straight in the eyes, "You want me to help you after you just tried to kill me?" Innocently, the drone blinked at his words, tilting his head like a cat, asking, "When did I do that?" Now both of them were confused with each other; didn't he try to kill him a few minutes ago??