"Welcome to the Gutter, Lucky."
For some unknown reason, Lucky had a slightly ominous feeling about the greeting. It didn't feel good, especially if that simple greeting sounded like a warning that if he didn't take his mission seriously, he might not make it.
"Thanks." Lucky sported a smile, watching Aldric call someone.
"This is Terenei and Jehnid," Aldric introduced as two men stood before them. "They oversee the engineering…"
Lucky barely listened to Aldric's formal introduction as he assessed Terenei and Jehnid. Terenei was taller than Jehnid, but a little more slender. His brown hair was spiking all over the place with an eye protection as a headband. Terenei playfully grinned at Lucky, offering his dirty hands to him.
"I heard about you and even saw how you cleared the area," said Terenei amicably. "That is so cool, man."
"He's the man responsible for Rex," Aldric added as Lucky reached out for a handshake. "Any mechanical issues, he's the man."
"Well, aren't you great?" Lucky mused. "Rampage Rex is a beast."
"Haha! He's also a beauty." Terenei's grip on Lucky's hand tightened, and his calluses rubbed against the latter's palm.
From what Lucky could tell, Terenei seemed to be the happy-go-lucky type. Considering he was the mechanic behind Rampage Rex, Lucky quickly grasped the man's personality.
"And this man right here is Jehnid." Terenei took the courtesy of introducing his partner, Jehnid. "You've driven Rex, and this guy right here is the man responsible for the technical issues."
"You mean the windshield?"
Terenei proudly nodded. "It was pretty cool, wasn't it?"
"It was." Lucky extended his hand to Jehnid, only for the man to look at it without taking it. "Uh… okay."
Lucky clasped his hand and smiled, eyes on Jehnid. Unlike Terenei's welcoming and excited nature, Jehnid looked more like he didn't want to be there in the first place. The serious type. Not only their personalities were different, but they were also different in physiques.
Jehnid was shorter than Terenei or even Lucky. He had a slightly darker complexion, doe eyes, and a long nose. His naturally meek visage paled in comparison to his repelling aura. Unlike the casual creases and dirt on Terenei, which the man didn't seem to care about, Jehnid was well groomed.
"I'd say… he's the brain of Rex?" Lucky guessed, making Aldric and Terenei nod in unison.
"He might be a little grumpy, but he sure hell is a genius," Terenei moved closer to Lucky and whispered. "He's not a bad person, and he secretly likes you, I tell ya."
"There are still things I need to repair in Rex," said Jehnid to Aldric. "Can I go now?"
"Of course." Aldric nodded, and without wasting a breath, Jehnid marched away. When he faced Lucky again, he smiled reassuringly. "Do not worry about him. Terenei is right. Jehnid isn't the friendliest, but he's not a bad person. He seemed to like you as well."
"He's just worried about Rex." Terenei casually threw his hand behind his head, releasing all the odor he kept under his armpits. "He's grumpy because Rex keeps having system errors after you used him."
"He's blaming me for using Rex to its maximum potential?"
"Ah, nope. He's not mad about that. In fact, he's impressed. He likes you because someone finally showed that our work wasn't for naught." Terenei grinned, his eyes lighting up. "He just wants to make sure it'll be working great again in no time. After all, your driving skills gave us insight on how to improve Rex."
"I'm glad you two seem to get along well, I'll leave Lucky to you, Terenei." Aldric nodded approvingly. "As for me, I need to return to my duties."
"Aight!" Terenei happily accepted the order, watching Aldric signal his colleagues.
"Take him to the lab," ordered Aldric before he turned around to leave. "I need to dissect him."
"Well, the boss has spoken!" Terenei grinned at Lucky. "Want to check our workshop?"
Lucky glanced at Aldric and the artificial intelligence they executed moments ago. Two men dragged the headless robot with their arms, leaving trails of blood as they did. Aldric carried the head. Lucky caught the Artificial Intelligence's finger move, but it didn't surprise him.
For a robot, being headless shouldn't be a problem.
"But how come there's blood?" Lucky blurted out, staring at the blood trail on the floor. "If they are robots, what's the purpose of the blood?"
"Right. You're a Visitor, so you don't know." Terenei chuckled, turning on his heel, and then strutted away. "Come, follow me. I'll fill you in on the way to our workshop."
*
*
*
According to Terenei, the purpose of the blood in successful artificial intelligence was nothing but a way to hide the fact they were robots. They looked and were designed to look like humans; they even acted like humans, mimicking human emotions to blend well with everyone else.
One would have a hard time telling them apart.
"So, how did you figure out he's sent by the Metro?" Lucky asked on their way out of the building to get to the workshop.
"Aldric found out."
"How did he do it?"
"Aldric has his means of finding out everything in Ant Hill." Terenei casually shrugged. "There's nothing that happens here that Aldric doesn't know. That's why he's the chief."
"How convenient." Lucky rocked his head, not giving too much of the bullshit answer he got. Terenei didn't seem to know himself, nor did he look interested at all. Asking him more would be a waste of breath.
"But what we all know is that the Metro sends those guys to check what's going on in the Gutter," Terenei continued. "If you haven't known yet, they call this place Gutter for the obvious reason. Sometimes, you'd hear them say sewage."
"I figured that when Nero said everyone in here was nothing but rats in the sewage."
"Those bastards." Terenei hissed, but his anger didn't last that long. "They're just so afraid that a rat would find a way to get to the Metro. Talk about pussies."
Lucky let out a short, airy laugh. He was sort of starting to like this guy more and more, and the fact he was Rex's mechanic made him even more likable. When he looked ahead, he caught what looked like a large open garage situated right outside in the exits of the main building.
"Oh, my." Terenei halted, stopping Lucky by slapping the back of his hand on the latter's chest. "Gorgeous."
Lucky nodded, eyes on the monster truck up ahead. "It is, indeed, gorgeous."
"Not that!" Terenei pointed in the direction. "Her!"
"Her?" Lucky followed the direction the man was pointing at, only to see the mute he picked up days before. "You mean the mute?"
"Mute?"
"She can't talk."
Terenei quickly set his eyes back on the mute, patting Lucky's chest with the back of his hand. "My friend, I'll follow you to the workshop in a bit. I just had a more important thing to do, and that is to console the damsel in distress."
Damsel in distress?
After saying his piece, Terenei wiped his hands on his slightly dirty clothes while approaching "the damsel in distress." Lucky shook his head, shrugging nonchalantly.
"I hope she also lost her sense of scent when she became human-like," he muttered to himself as he walked to the workshop not far away. "The man smelled like he hadn't showered for a month."