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The day felt like any other, with the wind in my hair, a heavy weight on my back, and the scenery flying past. This was my favorite part of the day. It was also about to be the best day of my life. I had more variety of seeds for my newly fixed greenhouse and a bonus of extra food. The most exciting part of my trip was a few metal components I had for the distillery nearby. As soon as I get that fixed up I won't have to worry about gasoline for my bike… for the most part. After checking the grounds for any wandering creatures I headed into the house. It was a long day but at the end of it, I was feeling successful and accomplished. Falling asleep that night had never felt better.
Living through the apocalypse I developed something of a sixth sense for danger. When I woke it was pitch black, which was expected, being midnight. I honestly thought that I should be able to go back to sleep, but there was something that my brain had picked up on. Something was unnatural and my observational senses had yet to pick on it. Sitting up I don't see anything wrong. I could feel that danger surrounding me like a chill that creeps up the spine when you feel watched. There was no natural light and the switch was across the room. Getting out of bed was the last thing I wanted to do because
something is in the room with me
. I strained my eyes and ears only to hear a ‘gloP’. Then I saw it, the darkness on my ceiling finally catching my eye. Slime was growing and sliding across the wood, then suddenly racing down the walls and practically jumping onto my bed. I knew I wasn’t hallucinating when the cold slimy substance splashed over my body. Then came an odd warmth seeped from the living slime. I wanted to move but I fucking couldn’t. After a second to overcome the shock of ‘Living Slime,’ I desperately flung myself off the right side of my bed. There was no hope in escape. Faster than I expected the slime spread over my body and dragged me backward. The cold-warm pulsating mass surrounded me in seconds forcing its way up my nose and into my mouth. I was going to die.
Seconds after the thought it was over. I hacked and coughed up the black liquid only to find myself in a well-lit room. Hovering over me was a winged woman with cultist-looking robes and runes on her or something similar. She expressed a backward-ass creepy smile at me, before backing away.
“Good morning child, I was unsure if you would have survived the trip here but I am so very pleased that you are still alive.” I got the worst vibes from this lady, that sentence definitely held murder in it. My attempt at lifting my arms stopped very suddenly as I felt metal pinned my wrists down. I look down and find myself cuffed to a table, frantic I pull hard in every direction, shaking the cart I was laying on, nearly tipping it. What the actual fuck was going on?!
“Hey! What the hell is this? Let me go!” the strange woman turned back around holding… something I wish I had never seen. It looked like an ugly mix between a cicada and a fetus but 10x’s the size of both combined. “What are you doing?! S-Stop right there!” I was scared before but I’m freaking out now. I’d seen plenty of fucked up shit when rounding the wrong corner but I did not want to know what she wanted from me. At this point, I was desperate to get myself out of these cuffs. I pulled and tugged until the table rocked and almost tipped over. She stopped it with a big black wing and set the jar next to the table.
“This won’t do. I hate to do this but you are going to be more trouble awake than asleep.” I felt something wet and writhing make its way around my neck, and then over my nose and mouth. As black crept over my vision my last thought was that I’d never been kidnapped nor turned into a lab rat before I’d give it zero stars if yelp was still around.
God, I was so cold, so cold I wasn’t even shivering anymore. My mind was sluggish and my limbs heavy. My chest ached and it was so hard to breathe. I felt sick like I could throw up my organs. But I was also hungry, I felt so empty like I had slept and gone into a coma and woke up a week later. I felt sleepy most of all, I wanted to fade away but I couldn’t do that everything was dark. I felt hollow and so empty but not just from the hunger, cold, or pain but …by existing. Shifting my weight around I felt the vibrations of a sob pass my lips yet my ears heard nothing. I didn’t have the energy that it took to open my eyes, then there was some light close by, I could see it. Probably a fire if the warmth, I could just barely feel, was anything to go by. Reaching out and just brushing that little bit of warmth, I felt ignited. Like eating warm soup on a cold day. I just wanted to be warm. Using all the will I had left, I latched onto the closest thing I felt. I'm not sure how I grabbed it, as I didn't physically have to move, but I was pulled closer to it by some force, until I was on top of it. It took no convincing or psychological build-up to hold onto the warmth that enveloped me, in fact, it was nearly instinctual.
I felt almost instantly better. Lighter but heavier, real in a way I hadn’t been moments prior. I still couldn’t open my eyes, this time not for lack of energy or trying, they just wouldn’t open. Trying not to panic about what that psycho lady could have done to me, I lifted my hand to see what became of my face. A mechanical whirring sound registered and I only knew my hand made contact with my face because of the clank of metal and a strange knowledge of my situation I was really trying to ignore. I was me but…not.
I spent the next few seconds waking up, then a fan kicked on blowing in my ear. I move my hand to try and block the sound. Where was that coming from? I hear my metallic hand bump against metal again… that's when a thought crossed my mind. I remain perfectly still to sort my head out, but my thoughts felt scattered still. Out of everything, I knew if I started to panic I could end up in a worse situation, so I need to think about what to do next. I’m clearly not as I'm supposed to be, I can't smell or see. I can hear but.. I also can’t feel even though I know I'm moving. That lady must have placed me here, changed me, I need to adapt or I might not make it out. For now, at least I’m still alive, or at least I think I am. How could I be thinking if I was dead? What did she do to me? I start focusing on myself and notice everything is different. My awareness spreads and I’m… a metal robot husk that can barely do the minimum. Slowly I become aware of the wires, joints, and motors that make me up. I want to get up. I need to move. I need to start doing something. Am I actually in this thing? Or is this what has become of my body? Is there anyone around I can ask for help? I need to find a place to hide first,
‘here's to hoping I’m not in a dangerous room
.’ It’s difficult but I’m able to push myself up off the surface I was lying on, which was also made of metal. I hear the scraping of my metal. That fan had sounded louder before but now I realized it was actually fairly quiet. I should be able to hear anyone that comes into the room. My right arm felt like pins and needles every time I tried to move it, I could tell it ended at the shoulder.
I’m able to shimmy myself to the edge of the table and hear my feet hit the ground. I can also feel resistance from one of my feet as I stand on it, the other feels… loose, wobbly, it’s… not functioning I suppose.
‘
Heh. My leg has stopped functioning. I feel like I might Fall apart if I move.
’ Pun intended. ‘
Puns, I'm going insane
.’ God, I wish I could speak, thank God I couldn't though.
“What the Fuck?” I heard a voice that caused me to freeze up instantly, then I felt- or heard, I'm not sure at the moment, my body being picked up. I wanted to get out, to run and hide away.
I knew, subconsciously that I had an exit, I could run away, so I did it. Moving backwards, away from the warmth, the hollow, cold, hungry, feelings rushed back into me. It wasnt as bad as last time though. Then I saw color, light, I heard myself breathing, heavy. I would have let out a cry of joy if a man hadn't spoken again.
“Well this is unexpected, it seems Miranda misjudged you.” He had a German accent almost, maybe, I never met a person from Europe but movies and tv shows gave me enough of an idea. Looking to the voice I see a man in an old trench coat and a big hat. He wore gloves, and a loose shirt… or was it just unbuttoned and the man was lazy.
“Where... What does that mean?” my voice sounded wispy and soft. I bring a hand up to my throat and catch a glimpse of something blue and misty, pausing I decide that the most logical course of action was to hold out my hand and scream. What startled me the most was that my hand was see-through, misty, and almost white in color, the blue was fine. What happened to my… What happened to me? Had I not just been a robot? I looked down at my body and jumped, I was floating, rising higher, I hit my head on the ceiling and jerked back down with a whine. I wanted to curl up and cry, and did just that. I hear the man cross the room.
“This is the first time you’ve woken up, isn’t it? My name is Heisenberg, you are in my home.” He knelt close to me but still a few steps away, he points to the metal husk and it moves closer to me… I felt slightly comforted that he was not normal either.
“You were able to make that metal move, right?” Taking a better look at it, the husk is a faceless heap of scrap vaguely in the shape of a human with parts of it missing. I sniff and wipe away dry nonexistent tears, and shrug. “Can you do it again? Try just going up to it, and back inside. I can wait if you need a second, no rush.” He spoke slowly and with consideration, he correctly assumed that I was terrified.
I didn’t understand why he wanted me to do it so I asked, “why?”
He spoke softly “I just want to see you do it again. Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you.” Without much thought on what to do next, I went back into to the metal machine. I have no idea how I did it but I felt a lot better once warm. The downside, I lost a lot of my senses as it was basically just a glorified tin can. I bring up the arm to my face again and my hand bashed into my head. Reeling from the impact I carefully feel around for my mouth and then trail down to the neck trying to communicate that I couldn’t speak.
“Fascinating, and can you come out again?...Please.” That time it was much easier, I again left like I had the first time, but this time when I was leaving I noticed a white line of hair reaching out towards the torso of the metal body. Not all the warmth left me as I left the husk. These threads were new or maybe I had just been too freaked out to notice it before. Behind me was another cord connecting to my…
“AAH!” fly to the far side of the room. Don’t panic. I was staring at my body. Don’t panic. My cold
dead
body. I was all cut up and my clothes were tattered. I’m
dead
. My
dead body
was lying on a table across the room. Oh yeah, I was totally panicking. The man watched for a second before tossing a tarp over my corpse.
After that interaction, he eventually coaxed me out of the corner and back into the metal husk. He moved the husk, and me by extension, to another room calmly explaining everything he did. He explained who it was that had hurt me, as well as what had been done to me. Miranda, the woman who kidnapped me had killed me by turning me into her experiment. Upon deciding the experiment had failed she sent the body to Heisenberg, the man helping me right now.
Thankfully, he has decided to not tell Miranda about my survival. Being able to control machinery falls in hand with what he does. He was looking to take down Miranda and, after what she did to me, I’m inclined to help him. After the explanation, he offers me a deal. I help him take down Miranda, and in exchange, he promises to build me a suitable body, and allow me to stay here in the factory away from Miranda’s sight.
“I’ll answer as much as I can tomorrow, it’s getting late tonight and this..” he makes a grand gesture to the room around us, “Is something best discussed over a meal or while working.”
I take a steady breath, did I even need to breathe right now? “Alright…can I stay with you… I don’t really want to be alone.” I watched him nod and shrug; he didn't seem to care. I wasn't feeling tired but who knew if that would change or not. Tomorrow I'm going to get a lot more answers. I felt him pick up the metal body I was in again and we headed out of the room. He placed me down.
“Alright, this one here is more complete as far as robots go, hop into it.” Leaving the old husk I had been in and entering the new one, warmth and a filtered vision washed over me, I like this one a lot more. I could see this time even if it was like watching the world through a really old camera. We head up to what looks like his room and he places me into a chair with cushions. He then headed for his bed, laid down in his clothes, and seemed to just fall asleep… I was going to try and sleep as well. I figured out how to turn on and off the cameras at will and fall into something similar to sleep. It felt nice and restful, I was mostly aware but more like meditation.
The first few weeks living in Heisenberg’s factory were awkward as we were both unsure about the other. Heisenberg’s factory was a little fucked up. The number of bodies I’d see throughout the factory in random closets, and in corners, was disturbing. Heisenberg himself was…interesting. He wasn’t mean to me per-say just a little rough around the edges. He’d been living here alone for a while with no one but his ‘siblings’ and the Duke to talk to. All of who I have yet to meet.
Heisenberg, I found out, was a bit of a scientist and mechanic. He’d often ask me to do something and honestly, I think he was testing my limitations. I’m not sure I should trust it completely but he was helping me and I needed to try. He moved me around so I enjoyed having something to do. On my second day in the factory, I feared being trapped in a room all day, surprisingly he actually takes me around and talks about his ‘home’,
He says he was working on a body for a long-term takeover. I couldn't speak without being outside of the husk. I really didn't like being outside of it, I felt like I could just float away. It was 3 weeks later when he started to test features of the body, I felt like I was in a really fucked up doctor's office.
“I'm almost done with this, can you try opening your eyes?” Heisenberg asked in a gruff voice, messing with something on my new head. Then started fiddling inside the torso of my body. It felt really odd but I did what he asked and was suddenly able to see light and color. “This is a newer camera, that old rust bucket was out of date.” He gave a small smile after noticing I was looking at him, he was was elbow-deep in my chest putting something else together. It looked like he was putting a speaker to my chest. I would love to have a voice but being able to see in this body would be fine enough for me honestly. I watch him work on the body I inhabit and then I can make a noise with the speaker. It’s a fuzzy buzzy sound. He doesn't look up for the longest time. “Alright try it again.” He asked.
“Hello? I can talk!” Although it’s static and soft, I can talk now! “Yes!” I put more force behind my words and I can hear my volume increase. Talking as a ghost… everything sounds wispy and lost to the wind. This is much nicer.
“Now Ara, let’s see about getting this all fixed up. You’re no good to the cause if I have to carry you around all the time.” Heisenberg moved around the room and brought over parts of legs he had just lying around… wow. that was great for me, but confusing and creepy to see. “These need some repairs and fix but the metal is sturdy and durable.”
Honestly, I didn't mind being carried around, but I wanted to start helping. “If you give me arms first, I can help with building the rest of my new body. I know enough about mechanics, this should be fun.”
“Oh, so you might not be completely useless if I give you arms first instead of legs.” He huffed and the box of legs floats to the side and in floated a different box of arms… the fact he just has boxes of appendages is weird… so weird.
“How long have you been doing Mechanics?”
He just laughs at the question. “Hold on, if were going to start with… small talk? I'll only tell you something about me if you say something about yourself, sweetheart.”
I tried to scrunch my face, being a robot I lacked facial expression, “Alright, you’ve got yourself a deal,
stud-muffin
.”
I can see him physically pause and look at me, thinking for a long second before he spoke again. “Alright. We're done with that, Ara.”
“I started building cars with my dad when I was 14.” I continued the conversation, fulfilling my end of this bargain.
I could tell he was now trying to regain a certain image with his response. “I’ve worked on planes and cars since before world war 2 back in 1930.”
This time it was my turn to pause, it was 2057 so that meant it was nearly…127 years ago. “Wow… you’re old, like 127 years old.”
“I’m Experienced. There’s a difference.” He connected more pieces to my shoulder, I feel pins and needles again. “That's about 50 more years than you… 127? That’s longer than I thought, I think you are a few years too many Ara. It’s not been that long yet, last I saw it was 2019… give or take a few months. Your 37 years off”
I didn’t respond right away, then i felt something pinch. “Oww… alright, who are your siblings? You said something about them? And then someone named Duke” I was half paying attention to the questions or answers, why was this hurting at all? It's a robotic arm, it shouldn't hurt at all.
“That's a topic I actually want to avoid, my psycho ‘family’ is not a family, they all just have a fucked up desire to pretend and win Miranda’s approval, she doesnt give a shit about any of us. We’re all her lab rats.”
“Yeah that’s fucked- OW-Fuck- be gentler or something, that hurts!”
“Plugging in wires is only so gentle.” he has the audacity to laugh at my pain. “Hold still.” I feel his powers immobilize me, then he does something that sends my soul flying out of the body. Looking down I see my trashed metal husk and Heisenberg. He looks up, and then back down, then up again. He grumbles something and the spark starts again. The warmth leading to the body returned…had he just killed my body's power by accident?
“I
said
to be gentle.” I placed my hands on my hips. Then floated over to watch over his shoulder after he rolled his eyes at me. I actually could get used to this floating thing. I’m never going to need to use a ladder again in my life. He grumbles again and this time I’m the one laughing at him.
“Yeah yeah laugh it up.” He grumbled that too and I decided to stay spectral until the arms were attached. Then I see Heisenberg pull out a little device and turn it on.
“Log 3 Day 1 of mechanical reconstruction, with Power source. When Ara is inside a mechanical body and the energy of her core sparks or zaps she receives pain. Power dying on a core causes her to be removed from the body entirely. When creating a new body for her having multiple power backups may be required for her to continue existing in the body in case of 1 core failing or short-circuits due to power overflow. With the anticipation of future damages, creating sockets to be interchangeable would limit pain and shock to core. Creating such could increase chance of appendage loss at joint.” Heisenberg's tone became more observative and science-y. I thought it was kinda cool that he recorded everything.
After that incident, he spent the rest of the day fixing the arms and then having me inhabit the body again all the while we talked, swapping questions. Apparently, he's much happier in his factory just building than going to the nearby town or seeing any of his ‘family’. Apparently, there were also creatures around here called Lycans, which is what he thought I would turn into. Then I didn't. Now im here. Once I had a body with arms we immediately began to work on the more permanent appendages for me. All the while he was able to conduct his ‘experiments’ on me. I can take over any piece of machinery. He was pretty excited when things started to come together but something that I couldn’t do was pick up objects or move them unless they had a core. For my ability to actually work it needed to have energy running through it. He had asked if I could try with some dead things but I really didn't want to see dead things so soon.
I was able to help Heisenberg with building my body a lot, handing him parts or fiddling with wiring. A screw there, a panel there. Even some painting was required, thankfully Duke, who I finally got to meet, sold some. It kinda looked like he sold just about everything. A lot of the time Heisenberg would forget to sleep and just passout right there, falling asleep in his chair. I’d wake him up and then he’d head back to his room sometimes forgetting I can walk now and carrying me with his powers, setting me on the table in his room and then passing out on his bed. Occasionally, I’d get brave, or bored, enough to leave the body and explore a bit. I’d never go very far but it was entertaining to poke around. Sometimes, I’d drop in by the Duke's elevator and chat for a while. Through my exploration I found I had somewhat of a limit, going too far I would grow colder and weaker.
The mechanical body was slow going. It needed fine motor control to operate as a human would. I wanted hands that had usable fingers. I didn’t really need movable toes, but I did need an actual voice box and preferably the best optics we could make or get our hands on.
Slowly but surely over a few months, the body was completed to both of our standards. His were, surprisingly, higher than mine. And it was
my
body.
“Heisenberg just let me in it already. Turn it on.”
“Hold on just a few more minutes, it's almost perfect.”
“I know I said I wanted it to be perfect but it’s been long enough I don't even care if it has a compass in it.” I float next to him as he fixes a small compass in his hands and then sets it into the back of my hand. I was done waiting, this was a long and rewarding project that looked amazing. It would have strength beyond that of Heisenberg because of the twisted fiber cables we used and multiple power cores that generated energy using me and each other to bounce heat around and generate enough I should be self-sufficient. Then he finally turned it on and I was able to enter it being drawn to its warm core leaving my old husk behind.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It was only a week after my permanent body was built. Karl said something about a few more experiments, this time with larger mechanics and about my own extent of control. I would be able to control anything I can reach or have previously possessed. My reach was about 20 feet, then I would get too tired and stop moving. It was scary, and I didn't really want to try it again but with time I was able to push my limits and increase my distance from a body to 75 feet. These lines connecting me to a body also seemed to serve a purpose, as long as I have a tie set to a body I can reach it from any distance. More recently in an experiment for jump of host to host I went the length of the compound to reach a body I set a tie to. I impressed Karl and myself, it was like 3 miles apart. Karl even created a log for it in his voice recorders.We were in his room, it was after the 3-mile zipline into a body. “Log 3 of Day 240 experiment: Ara. While finding out the limits of Ara’s abilities, which have been increasingly impressive. Her Spectral form can now pass through solid objects as long as one piece of her form remains outside that solid object, anything thicker than 6 feet she describes she's overcome with the feeling of becoming lost or stuck, whereupon she must remove herself with the help of a ‘Cord’. Pushing the limits could result in harm. Undetermined definition for the situation. Her ability to possess mechanical robots is not limited to humanoid form and requires only a motor and a power source, other than that she has no needed RAM or pre-written code. If data. is present, it is seemingly buried as Ara takes total control. After taking control she can leave a ‘Tie’ within a husk centered upon the core, whereupon she can enter that body at any time after leaving it. We have taken to calling these husks, Host forms. Outside of Host forms, Ara has the capability to wander in her spectral form with a limit, up to 75 feet away from the last host before she grows cold and stops moving and thinking, falling into an apparent slumber. Considering there had been a time in her history when she was only able to travel 20 feet away from a host body, I'd say her spectral form has increased in strength and durability. It seems possible to extend the length she can travel to any body with time and effort. Additionally, a jump from host to host does not appear to have a limit. Today she successfully jumped from one host to another spanning a distance of 3.2 miles, the furthest distance across my laboratory. Further distances must be tested outside.” After that, he clicks off the tape recorder and tosses it away. My body is sitting on its usual chair while I lay down hovering over his shoulder, chin resting on my palm. It’s gotten easier to exist outside a body, the one sitting a few feet from me has become my main body, It has an extremely thick Tie attached to me.“Thought of any more experiments to try?” I ask as he moves into the kitchen area. I no longer need to eat but Karl did. It was hard sometimes to swallow my jealousy. There were so many foods I missed eating. I rolled onto my back to stare at the ceiling.“Yes but none that you had said yes to in the past, oh that's right!” He finished making himself something to eat and set it on his desk then pulled the tape recorder back over to himself and I hear it click. “Log 3 part 2 Day 240 Addition note. After Ara takes possession of a mechanical body with data, the processing tends to slow or stop entirely as the information moves at human speeds. Often incorrect.”“Hey!” I spun to face him only to find a smug face, his finger not on the record button as I assumed but the pause. He hadn't recorded anything. He’d been teasing, mostly, I placed my hands on my hips. “Oh please! Like you’d be any better, calculators exist for a reason.”“I seem to recall your math was off by about 37 years.”“Well, how was I supposed to know I’d been pulled back to 2020? Last I knew it was 2057! Technically, I shouldn’t exist for another ten-ish years yet!” I lunge over to knock his hat off, not really expecting him to stand up at the same moment.Karl's eyes seem to be filled with confusion and then shock. “Wh-” He stands up right into my path and in a moment I feel a warmth wash over me. On instinct, I move into it, but find my thoughts a mixture of mine and a voice that sounds like Karls running through my head. The warmth feels different than what I’m used to, alive in the way machines aren’t. “Yeah, you can say I'm not like a machine,” I speak but it's not from me. “What the fuck?” That time it is me speaking only it’s not my voice but Karls...uh-oh “I’d say uh-oh is an understatement.” I couldn't stop myself from speaking but I also could follow the humor and laugh a bit aloud, it sounds awkward. “Hehe- stop that. Sorry.” From an outside perspective, it probably sounded like Karl was going back and forth with himself and I thought it was hilarious. I could feel Karl's disapproval of the thought but the satisfaction at a question he often thought about. Human possession was possible for me. A moment later he was thinking about asking me to leave a Tie here, it would be safer for me then the thought stopped. “I guess you saw that one? Yeah. You should do it. It sounds like a good idea.” by the end of the verbal conversation I can hardly tell what I said and what he said. “Nor can I. maybe one of us speaks and the other just thinks the thoughts. Yes. yes. I’m going to think this is your body after all. Ara, you spoke that.” whoops. “Get out so we can talk.” damn it. I almost didn’t want to it was like-Not a moment after beginning that thought, I‘m forced to leave his body. I was very glad I was cut off. That would take some getting used to if we ever did that again.Karl sighs and sits back down, it took him a moment to regain his composure and thoughts. “Well considering the theory of possessing people has been confirmed, You should leave a Tie with me.”I raised an eyebrow. “You want me to leave a Tie with you?” That confused me but I look back to the thoughts he had when considering the idea. He wants to protect me… he cares for me, and this would be the perfect and best way to keep me safe if anything happened… he was shocked by the sudden intrusion I made but overall he didn’t seem upset, but proud… like really proud, mulling over the experience id say he almost considers me a daughter… wait… does he? I glance at him and consider him as a whole so far.“Karl, is this your indirect way of asking to like… adopt me?” I said it kind of teasing in case it wasn’t quite what I thought but honestly the idea of having someone watch over me like that was nice. He’s honestly old enough to be my great-grandfather but he looked old enough to be my dad.“Well, you’re an adult so I can't really do that but… you’re enough of a hassle to deal with I’d say you're a child. Besides you have no idea what you're doing half the time.” He made it into a light joke, leaving it entirely up to me it seems. Karl Heisenberg was nice to hang around, honestly, when I first got here I couldn't do anything on my own so it was nice having him care for me as much as he had. Being in this place alone I couldn't imagine, honestly I’d probably get really attached to the first person I saw an opportunity to befriend as well.“Oh, screw you, old man!” I laughed and floated down until I ‘stood’ in front of him. I hugged him for a brief moment and left a Tie then I lean back. The Tie to Karl looked slightly different than the rest; it was gold in color. The ties to my mechanical bodies are blue in color.“You’re tie looks different. I wonder if it’s because you’re living? Or because you also have a Cadou?” I look at it closely and comment aloud for Karl to hear. “It’s got a gold hue.” I grabbed it to try and examine it closer and felt a heartbeat under my palm. “Oh, that’s neat!” One hand holding the cord the other I stuck into his chest.“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!”“Testing a hypothesis!” I didn’t really need to stick my hand in his chest but it was revenge for all the time he did it while building my body and told me to suck it up. The rhythm was the same! “I can feel you’re heartbeat through the Tie, that’s so cool.”“You did not need to do that.” he sighs.“What? No of course I did.” I grin impishly. “It was completely necessary.”Karl didn't do any research or experiments on me for a while. We focused on creating his army, then after another week I see him drawing up diagrams for a new project, a bird. It looks like a raven, and another project, a wolf? No, maybe a fox, it's small. I decide to confront him on it after he pinned them on the wall, “What's this for? Feeling lonely?” He looks over to me and then back to the designs. “With you? How in the world could I possibly become bored? No, these are actually going to be for you so that you can go out into town when you want. As you are Miranda would learn about you in a heartbeat but like this, you would be able to look like my eyes in the town.”“Dun Dun Duhna Dun Dun Duhna” I dove out of my body and into a roll like in the spy movies. “Du’nana Duhna!” I didn't want to roll my metal body around on the floor and accidentally break something so going incorporeal was my best choice. My mechanical body sits on the table in the corner like it does every night.“What in the world are you doing, you little imp?” He sneered at my antics but didn’t seem to truly mind them.“Preparing to be a spy, duh.” I did a few more spy moves, hiding behind the tables and then flipping over one. That was a benefit of being a ghost doing tricks like that was almost effortless.He scoffs at my response but I could tell he was amused. I’ll admit sometimes I act like a kid but I’m 27-ish… what year is it? How the hell do I tell the time in here? It's been ages since either one of us was outside. I can understand why I don't go outside, the hag might get wind of me, but Karl should go outside soon. He probably doesn't need sunlight like a normal human but it would still probably be good for him. Perhaps we should work on this outside animal stuff faster and head out to this town.It takes, what I believe to be, 3 weeks to finish the bird, getting the weight and wings to lift the bird and the power cell small enough was a bit of a challenge. But eventually, I was hopping around his desk as a little raven. It was too bad I couldn’t voice the mantra of ‘Caw Caw motherfucker’ that was repeating over and over in my head. Flying around the room experimentally I try to get the hang of landing and taking off, I only crashed into Karl once when I caught him off guard, the other times he caught me. Once I was feeling more confident I fly towards his head and steal his hat, then fly for the door. A cry of protest follows me. I fly as fast as I can toward the elevators only to stop mid-air and, despite my best efforts, gravitate backward into Karl’s hands. He takes his hat back. Stupid metal powers.“Alright sweetheart, that's enough playing for you.” he’s been calling me that for a few weeks now but I don't mind it all that much anymore.I pop out of the bird “Aw come on that’s totally not fair. I was almost there too!” I jokingly whined, swiping my hand through his hat fast enough that a breeze lifted it a little. “When do we get to go outside? And who am I spying on? I know for a fact you haven't gone outside in well over 3 months.”He lets out a heavy sigh and nods “Fine but let me sleep first and actually look presentable for tomorrow.” He makes his way back to the bed and sets my bird on the shelf above his bed. Then like every other night falls face-first into his bed, still in the same clothes, and falls asleep. Rolling my eyes I get back in my humanoid body to pull his boots off and then bring the blanket up and over him.“Sleep well old man.” I leave and head towards the Duke's elevator to see if he’s there. “Hey, Duke!” I hopped up onto some crates.“Evening miss Ara, going up?”“Or down. No, actually I’m seeing if you have any recipes I could buy. I’m thinking of making some food, I want to try and do something for Karl.” It's also been nearly 6 months since I first got here, I don't know when his birthday is so why not just do something nice?“Well, of course, I have many recipes, and if you promise not to share them with anyone I’ll give one to you, but you must make me a plate as well. Promise me that and it's all yours for a small charge.” The Duke seemed very excited.“Of course Duke! Just make sure you're here in a few hours, I'm going to be cooking it tonight. How much?” After some exchange in coins and searching to find a recipe I could make with the limited ingredients Karl had I eventually found something. “Thank you! I’ll be back with the food and recipe soon.” I nearly ran back to the scraggly kitchen area but held back. I am made of metal so I make a lot of noise when I run. No need to wake Karl up. Most nights I spent making or patching up clothes but tonight I will learn cooking! We’ll I had been able to cook while I was alive but I hadn't attempted it since. We’ll see how good these hands do, we can call it a stress test.Cooking had actually been pretty fun, although I couldn’t smell it, it did look good. As soon as I had a plate for Duke I took it to him and then headed back into the kitchen hoping the smell would wake up Karl. A few minutes later he appeared looking confused.“Tada!” I gestured to the table. “I made you breakfast! I hope it’s alright, I can’t taste or smell it.” I put my body in its chair and popped out, then I could smell it. “Oh, it doesn’t actually smell too bad.”He sat down almost confused. I floated above the table with my legs crossed staring at him expectantly. “You made this?” He seemed astounded, it wasnt that big of a shock to do nice things for friends. “Yes, now eat it before it gets cold.” I sit down on the table watching him. I notice that he was modestly dressed today and his hair looked damp. He took a shower and put on proper clothing for this outing.I let him eat in peace, setting my bird body on the table and then inhabiting it and flying up to land on Karl's shoulder. I sit there and wait for him to finish his food. Finally, he does and I can't help but smile as he disgustingly licks the plate. “That was some good cooking.” Personally, I consider it a successful dish. Flying down to the table Karl stands up.I do a small dance on the table as Karl set the dish in the sink. “Alright let us go out, your far too excited to stay in here.” He picks me up and he walks to the elevator where we join Duke. It travels upwards for a while before we stop and I see light pour through a garage gate, then Karl opens the doors and he's stepping outside, I don't know why but I use my wing to cover my eyes. Then I see snow, it's really pretty. Karl is walking outside and I knew if I was anything but a bird I’d have the biggest grin on my face, it's lovely. I jump up onto Karl's head and look around. I do an exciting bird dance before taking off. I go up, up to heights I’ve only ever been in airplanes. I can see for miles and there’s a castle! There's a village below, and it looks tiny in comparison to the castle. Tiny even to the warehouse we came out of. I can faintly feel a pull on my metal body. Right, I should probably stay closer to Karl, but I’m coming back for this view another day.I dove down back into Karl's view and landed in a tree. I squawk using the recording we made of a raven and wiggle my tail feathers. This was going to be awesome.