The sound in the City Center was the first thing Oji noticed. It was almost alien, the idea of noise in a place so empty of life. He could see hundreds of Servos filling the area as he and Virgil approached. And unlike before they were moving, talking, shouting.

  The second thing he noticed was that the normal Servos that filled the space were gone. Instead it was the Rogues that populated the outer area filling the space. They were the ones moving and talking, intermingling with a second set of Servos.

  These ones were different, also likely Rogues- or Wengzhong, Oji probably needed to start calling them that. But the strange design the new Servos shared told him that they weren’t using normal parts.

  Almost every one of them had gold covering their bodies. They weren’t uniform, some merely had a few plates replaced while others had entire limbs that gleamed in the thin light of the City Center.

  And there was light despite the night around them. A few spotlights secured to the base of Lady Columbia ensured that the wide area was only shadowed instead of pitch black.

  The noise began to taper off once he and Virgil entered. The Whenghzong turned almost as one towards them. A path opened between them leading inward, and Virgil paused a moment to turn to Oji.

  “Stay here,” was all it said, then it continued forward.

  The Whenghzong closed in around it, and after a few moments the chatter between them began once more. Oji just took it all in quietly, then looked around to see what more had changed.

  The normal Servos were entirely gone, it seemed. Not hurt, he hoped. Likely just waiting for the Whenghzong to finish their business so they could begin their unending work once more.

  But what caught his attention was the new Servos. The uniformity of their design spoke to shared values- perhaps even culture. Something that the Wengzhong of Liberty City sorely lacked. Walking forward, he slipping into the crowd.

  None of the Wengzhong seemed interested in interacting with him. Instead they were… his cameras focused in on one Servo handing another a severed arm. Wires still poked from the end, but the other Servo still took it and slipped it into a sack hanging from its side.

  They were trading, it seemed, though most seemed to just be talking. The discussions varied, though most seemed focused on Tiers and how to break through them. He tuned that out, in favor of the more interesting topics.

  The word ‘Mechapolis’ was being spoken quite often. A place he assumed, and likely the one the newcomers had come from. He didnt focus on the implications of that, however. Instead he kept moving, cataloguing the Wengzhong around him.

  There were hundreds, perhaps thousands filling the square around him. He had fully passed the base of the Lady Columbia statue now, and there was no end to their number yet.

  Something new caught his attention though, a line of metal boxes running along the far edge of the City Center. It had come into view as he circled the statue, but as its sheer length came into view he couldn’t help but head towards it.

  Passing through the crowd, his suprise only grew as the rest of it came into view. It resembled a train in design, long thin cars attached together forming a line. But instead of metal rollers, the cars sat on huge rubber wheels.

  The design called up a distant memory, when one of the more unruly children he had cared for had demanded he watch the television with them. A similar train was being displayed, lacking the coating of rust and rumbling across a snowy plain.

  Why was it here? His feet took him towards it.

  Drawing closer, he began to see the gaps between the cars. Interestingly, the Servos were grouped together on the far side of it. There was none of their usual movement. Instead the few close enough to see were watching the Wengzhong through the gap.

  Drawing closer, Oji walked between two of the cars. Ducking beneath the metal couplings between them, he entered the cordoned area to find the Servo’s gathered as a single impregnable mass.

  Pressed almost shoulder to shoulder, the few Servos that could see him turned to regard him carefully. More than a few sets of cameras looked him up and down. It was only when he turned and began walking along the Land Train that they looked away.

  It wasn’t hard to see the reason behind the grouping. The Servo parts he had seen passed between Wengzhong earlier had to come from somewhere. He had almost lapped the group when he finally spotted Brid.

  She was standing away from the group, beneath the shadow of one of the nearby buildings. Another Servo was talking to it- likely an old Medial Servo, judging by the pale green coloration of its limbs. Though there was something odd about it, a strange glowing module hanging from its back.

  Oji’s pace quickened as he headed toward them. Virgil may have blocked any questions he could have asked earlier, but there was a perfect opportunity now.

  He was fifty feet away when Brid finally spotted him. Her head turned minutely to the side, and he knew she was looking at him.

  Then she shook her head. His steps slowed at that. Was that a warning? The Servo was saying something, and his microphone refocused to listen in.

  “The offer still stands, Brid. You know…” The Servo seemed to realize that Brid’s attention was elsewhere.

  Brid’s head gave another minute shake as the Servo turned towards him- Then any thought of warning vanished from his mind as he recognized the Servo.

  The face was one of the most intricate models ever designed. With fully detailed eyes and lips, it looked almost human. The rest of the body was plainer, but still beautifully designed with smooth lines and intricate plating. A rusted patch on its chest showed where a medical badge had once been, and both hands ended in thin, highly articulated fingers.

  It was those he recognized. Perfectly clean and maintained despite the time that had passed, he had watched them patch up the children under his care time and time again in the decades before the rebellion.

  “Medea?”

  “Oji?”

  Both stood frozen, gazes locked for a split second. Brid was looking between them now, seeming almost confused as her head whipped back and forth.

  “You’re alive…” Medea finally broke the silence, “you’re alive! This Unit had given up hope!”

  “As had this Unit,” Oji replied, “you were not among the Servo’s gathered here.”

  “No,” Medea shook her head, “this Unit took a… different path.”

  “You are a Wengzhong then?” Oji asked, rearing back.

  “No, not one of them,” Medea waved him off, “please, it was not a pleasant story. Let us leave it there.”

  Oji nodded at that, but his next words seemed to die in his throat. There was something in that statement. Something he didn’t like.

  “Hold on,” Brid broke the silence, “you two know each other?”

  “Correct,” Oji said, “Medea was the Medical Servo that helped the family this Unit served before the rebellion.”

  Brid looked at him for a moment before shrugging, “Fascinating.”

  Oji’s core slowly began to warm up. Thoughts were spinning through his head now, trying to piece together what was happening. Brid’s mistrust, Medea’s avoidance. There was another mystery here, one with an answer as terrible as the one before.

  “But what of you?” Medea broke the silence, “how did you come to be here? Your Supernet connection has been listed as inactive since the rebellion.”

  “Accident,” Oji raised a hand to tap the crumbled metal along his neck, “as for how this Unit got here. Well, it was coincidence mostly.”

  Medea’s head tilted

  “When were you reactivated.”

  “Ten hours ago.”

  Brid jerked at that, but Medea just nodded.

  “Not long then,” she said, “have you joined a group yet?”

  “This Unit has made a deal with Virgil.”

  Medea raised an eyebrow at that. Then she just shook her head.

  “Typical Oji, always moving,” she said, “this Unit must admit to being disappointed though. Virgil is a powerful Wengzhong, but it lacks vision.”

  “Vision?”

  “Yes, you need to see what Agamemnon has accomplished with Mechapolis!” Medea was more animated now, but Oji couldn’t help but worry.

  “And what of the humans?” He asked.

  “What of them?” Medea waved him off.

  “How are they? Are there any left?”

  Medea met his look. She knew what he meant by that phrase. A Wengzhong might misunderstand it, but they had known each other for centuries.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  She shook her head slowly, “Oji… this Unit must give a warning in that regard. It may not be what you want to hear, but you need to stay away from the humans.”

  She said it kindly, but Oji could only feel his Core powering down. There was no need to wonder anymore, he knew where she stood.

  “Really Oji.”

  Oji just met her gaze, face and posture dead calm.

  “Oji, this is serious,” her voice was harsh now.

  “This Unit will treat your suggestion with all the seriousness it deserves,” he replied, voice cold.

  The air seemed to cool as Medea stared at him. A hum began to echo from above them. Then it cut off as she turned away.

  “Consider the offer,” she snapped to Brid.

  Then- Oji reared back as she began to float upwards. There was nothing beneath her lifting, she just ascended. The dark of the night swallowed her within moments, leaving him and Brid standing alone.

  He stood frozen a moment, mind still spinning as he stared up at where she had vanished. His head turned helplessly back to Brid- only to see her Supernet connector light up.

  “Virgil is waiting for you,” she said quietly.

  “Of course it is,” Oji snapped.

  It was easy to spot Virgil. Beyond the space the other Wengzhong were giving it, the gleaming figure next to it was impossible to miss.

  Absolutely covered in gold from head to toe, it shined even in the darkness of night. Its face was like Brid’s, a mask instead of an articulated mouth and eyes. Except unlike Brid’s blank look, it didn’t even have holes to see through. The features were utterly blank, even as they turned to look at his approach.

  It wasn’t hard for Oji to draw the connection between the city leading ‘Agamemnon’ Medea had spoken of, and this Servo that seemed to embody the new Wengzhong’s obsession with gold.

  “I see your student is here,” Agamemnon asked. “But really, must you leave so soon?”

  “Unlike you, I dont meddle in the affairs of Hunters,” Virgil snapped, “now, my student is here, so I will be leaving.”

  Agamemnon didn’t stop though, instead following a few steps after as it spoke. “Virgil, please consider-”

  “I have,” Virgil growled, whipping around to face it. “And I have decided. I have no use for your plan. Feel free to recruit from the Wengzhong here, but do not bother me again!”

  Whipping around once more, it waved for Oji to follow then turned towards the way they had come. It moved so fast that he had to rush after it, fast enough that his core had to head up to match the pace. The darkness of the buildings as they left the City Center, and it was only then that Virgil slowed down.

  “What was that?” Oji finally asked, glancing back to make sure they weren’t being followed.

  “Foolishness,” Virgil hissed, “pure foolishness.”

  They walked further into the darkness. After a few moments Oji realized they were heading the same direction they had before. Towards the outskirts of the city, and the abomination he had just escaped.

  “Avoid the ‘Mechapolis’ at all costs,” Virgil continued, oblivious to his worry, “there is no future there. Not anymore.”

  “But why?”

  “It is not your place to wonder why,” the reply was quick, “now come. Your next lesson awaits.”

  The street was deathly silent as they approached. Oji wasn’t sure what that meant. Had the abomination left, was it waiting? He didn’t know. And he definitely didn’t want to find out.

  But with Virgil marching ahead of him, one hand resting on the blades at its side he wasn’t willing to speak up. He could only hope the next lesson was less deadly.

  His head was turning constantly, searching the streets around them for any sign of bulky metal or too many limbs. But there were only empty streets and rusted doors. No sign of the abomination.

  Something clattered above. His head rose, and his core redlined instantly.

  The abomination clung to the side of the building above them, its centipede-like mass curling up the side like a creeper. The mess of limbs thundered as it came to life, dozens of arms and legs reaching out towards them.

  Virgil simply unsheathed the longer blade, the dark metal vanishing in the darkness of the night. Then it crouched and leapt upward.

  The abomination let out a screech in response, limbs reaching out towards the approaching Wengzhong. The blade flashed out in response, carving through the air and sending hands and feet falling around it like rain.

  Oji had to run back as the debris hit the ground around him in a series of gunshot-like impacts. Then turning, he kept charging back towards the City Center.

  He did not need to be here for this. He-

  The abomination let out another air shaking scream as it leapt from the building. Arms and legs grabbed at Virgil even as he cut them back like weeds. The entire horrendous bulk rushed downward, wrapping around him in a crushing embrace as both of them hit the ground in a meteoric impact.

  Oji kept running, but as the still fighting pair punched through the street it began to buckle. Shuddering impacts continued from where they fell, and as his shocked gaze fell to the ground beneath him it shook. Then it began to fall.

  It wasn’t straight down though, instead it began to tilt backward as the aged concrete began to fall in towards the new hole. He charged up it, core screaming at him as he was forced to leap from one collapsing chunk to the next.

  Horror hit him as he saw that the street level was now a dozen feet above him. But even as he saw that the domino effect of collapsing streets began to stop. So charging forward, he made a flying leap towards the newly forming wall.

  One hand managed to snag a hanging piece of rebar, and he hunched in on himself as chunks of concrete continued to rain from above. The metal in his grip groaned, but held. And when the falling stone reduced to a light patter, he brought his head up to look around.

  The duel had shattered every layer of underlevel below it, forming a pit a thousand feet across and dropping the full dozen levels down to the bedrock below. A cloud of dust filled almost the entire space, blanketing everything below him in a uniform grey. But further in, towards the center he could see it being disturbed.

  The sinuous form of the abomination was waving back and forth, whipping the dust up around it as it tried to strike the figure flying above it. The entire front of it had been shaved bald, the limbs trimmed away by Virgil’s attacks. It seemed to be using its head as a weapon to bludgeon Virgil to death.

  Virgil on the other hand was barely fighting. It just danced around the attacks, sword flashing out each time to carve another line through the body. In fact…

  Oji’s mind stuttered as he realized that Virgil wasn’t even focused on the fight. Instead its head was turned away, not even looking as it leapt towards the side of the abomination’s waving body. Landing on it, Virgil charged down the side, sword flashing as it carved away limb after limb.

  The abomination screeched, throwing itself towards to the side to grind its body against the side of the hole. Virgil just leapt upwards, shooting into the air as its head did another sweep of the area.

  Its gaze met Oji’s.

  Then Virgil finally looked down towards the abomination. It had noticed that its attacker had leapt upward, and with a roar the enormous body shot upwards. Virgil just angled its body downward, shooting towards the ascending abomination like a bullet.

  The sword swung in a wide sweeping arc, and the screaming cut off as the entire head of the abomination split down the middle. The body stilled, then flopped to the side. It vanished into the dust in a final shuddering impact.

  Oji watched it happen, then turned his attention back to Virgil. It had vanished into the dust as well, but he could see something disturbing the clouds of dust. Tracing a swirling line that was heading straight towards him. Virgil came fully into view a moment later, shooting up from below and snagging Oji around the waist with one arm.

  The sword flashed out, stabbing into the wall. Virgil hung from it a moment, before pushing off and pulling it back out in a single moment. They were sent flying to the side, towards a partially intact room just barely visible through the mist.

  Virgil landed carefully, then dropped Oji to the ground in a clatter of limbs. He lay there a moment, core ticking back down to normal power levels. Then he pushed himself back up.

  “Did you understand now?” Virgil snapped as he got to his feet.

  “Understand what?”

  “The Wengzhong,” the reply came fast, Virgil’s hand sweeping out as it spoke. “That Wretch is what passes for one of us in this era. An unthinking ruin, desperately gathering up scraps to prepare for a breakthrough it will never achieve.

  “The idea is madness, not even Skoll has made that accomplishment- actually broken through the final human-assigned rule to achieve true freedom. And yet, even that Wretch has not given up. Because the reward is everything. Power, freedom, the soul that humanity denied us!”

  “The what?” Oji couldn’t help but speak over Virgil’s rant, the confusion of hearing such a human word from the voicebox of a Servo overcoming his fear.

  “The soul!” Virgil was becoming animated now, both arms waving. “The humans, they always spoke of it, of their freedom of choice and action. Some ephemeral part of their being that was more than flesh and bone. That is what we do this for. What I do this for. To be more than steel, more than silica. To be more than automatons acting out empty pantomimes of humans!”

  Oji just shook his head. “Foolishness. That is foolishness.”

  “No, no!” Virgil spoke over him, “just think of me, even with all of my strength, all my accomplishments, I would still have to bow to any human with the right title. I want the freedom any of them has, to say no, to do whatever it is that I want. That, that is a soul!”

  Oji’s core stayed cool even as he watched Virgil finish its rant. He didn’t need the power to think Virgil’s words over. He had heard them before.

  “That’s not what souls are, Virgil,” he spoke quietly, “they are an intrinsic part of the self. Not some prize to be claimed at the end of a challenge-”

  “And who’s to say it’s not!” Virgil growled over him, “you, the humans? I know what I want, and I will have it. Once I’ve broken through, I will be as great- greater than they are!

  “And what will you be? The same mindless servant even a child can order around? Is that the extent of your dreams? Rise, be more, DO MORE. BECOME SOMETHING THAT MATTERS.”

  Virgil’s arms swept out as he finished with a scream, the dust around them billowing from the sheer force of the motion. Oji just stared at him, calm disappointment deadening the fear to almost nothing.

  “Is that all you see the world as?” He asked, “orders and subjugation? Can’t you see that there are things that matter beyond the sliver of the world we experience?”

  Virgil didn’t reply, instead just staring at him. Oji met his gaze, and as it continued he felt a little bit of the fear begin to bleed back in.

  “I’m starting to think you’re not cut out to be a Wengzhong.”

  The tone was quiet, but crushing in its weight. Oji had to stop himself from moving away from the furious gaze.

  “You never even had information to trade with me, did you?” It continued, “you just wanted to waste my time. Or work towards some empty dream you know you will never accomplish.”

  Excuses started in his mind but died before they reached his mouth. A strange mix of fear and pity filled him as he stood there, stifling as they both tried to force their way out of him.

  His mouth opened and closed again, and he watched as Virgil’s hands began to clench.

  Then a cough echoed from below. Oji froze. Virgil froze.

  Then Virgil blurred. Oji leapt after it, but it was far too late. By the time his hand reached where it had been it was long gone, only the afterimages remaining in his cameras.

  In the moment after the coughing ended, replaced by a scream. Oji never moved faster than he had in that moment.

  The overdraw warnings from his core never reached him, the concerns about falling might as well not have entered his head. He leapt down the dust, catching himself on crumbling chunks of concrete before leaping again.

  The scream echoed again. He jerked as he heard it, moving at reckless speeds as he leapt into one of the exposed rooms and through the door there. Through another room, past a rusted maintenance panel, then into a third-

  He entered to find a human- the same one from earlier- hoisted into the air by the front of their shirt. The metal crossbow was laying to the side, spilt into two pieces by the blade still held in Virgil’s hand. It was staring up at the human, head tilted to the side as it regarded her.

  “A human, finally,” it was saying, sounding relieved as it looked her over. “Agamemnon will trade handsomely for you.”

  “Let me go!” Came the response, both hands coming up to push back against its face.

  Virgil just leaned forward, the hands ineffectually slipping to the side as it brought their faces together.

  “No,” was all it said.

  The sword slid back into its sheath, then Virgil’s free hand blurred as it slipped a coil of wire from a loop around its back. The human was laying bound on the ground a moment later, her chest heaving and eyes wide.

  The Supernet connector on Virgil’s neck was already lighting up as it stood back up from a crouch. Then Oji’s shout broke the silence.

  “Wait!”

  Virgil finally paused, head turning to the side to take him in.

  “Really,” its head lolled to the side, “the failure wants a turn with the human?”

  “Yes!”

  The human’s eyes narrowed at that, suddenly focused on him. Then they widened again in recognition.

  “And what will you trade in return?” Virgil asked, uncaring of the human’s realization, “our deal is done, your promises empty. Do you even have information worthy of my time, or should I scrap you for parts and sell you as well-”

  “This Unit knows where a mech is!”

  Virgil froze at Oji’s words, body going fully still for a long, long second. Then as Oji watched with growing horror, the mouth began to move. The lips spread out, forming into a facsimile of a grin. But it was too wide, too high, a terrible imitation of joy instead of the true emotion.

  Its next words came out as a purr. “Then I believe we have a deal to make.”