Synth

The idea of a singularity was always such a fascinating one to TO. the idea of everything condensing in on itself, of all matter and energy in the whole universe coming together into a singular tiny point in space which was so compact and intense that time itself warps and becomes meaningless seemed so big and incomprehensible, yet there it was: the most likely birth of the universe.

In that moment, TO’s thoughts and feeling all got sucked into a singularity of their own. It drew everything towards the singular idea that DH was coming down here to ‘save’ them, and that Kei would shoot them the moment they opened the door.

DH: Their mate, their precious mate, their beloved. DH would open that door and get shot, and unless TO did something, they’d have to lay there and watch their mate suffer in pain, bleeding out.

-blood and bone and blood and bone and no no no no no-

The pain, the images of blood, and memories of that juvenile synth all faded to the background of TO’s mind. Even the need to get back to the ship before it took off faded into an unimportant detail in their head. The singularity that pulled everything together in this moment was the singular need to keep DH safe. An angry growl escaped them as they twisted on the ground, trying to force themself up and onto their feet. The pain in their knee was excruciating, but for the moment TO didn’t feel it. They recognized it, and they knew it hurt, but it was as though their mind had determined that the pain was unimportant.

Still, their knee didn’t work, and their efforts to get to their feet failed.

“I would rather not gag you.” Kei said from where they sat on the floor, waiting with pinned ears for the door to open, “But if you make too much noise, I will.”

This wasn’t working. No, they couldn’t just get up and attack Kei; their knee was damaged, and they wouldn’t be able to walk. Facts and information flooded their mind, fueled by the core of rage; a supercomputer powered by the center of a black hole.

Objective: Protect DH. the idea sunk into their head and planted itself firmly above everything else. What are my resources? I have my claws. My mouth. My ears. I have my armor, but not my chip. I can activate my armor without a chip, but it’ll be useless: I won’t be able to move in it. They struggled, trying to rip at the rope with their claws but the Kei had bound their hands meant that they couldn’t quite reach. If only their fingers were longer. If only they had a knife, or scissors, or-

I have a welder.

They did have the pocket welder! When their armor dissolved away into the bracelet, it would have ended up in their pocket. Which pocket, though? And could they get it without Kei noticing?

They shifted, letting themself roll on their back once more. Despite the fact that their brain seemed to disregard the sensations of pain from their body, their body was still reacting, and a loud, long groan of pain escaped them.

“if there had been a more effective way to do this without keeping you in a sustained state of pain, then I would have done so,” Kei said, glancing at them only briefly before focusing their eyes back to the door. “But I need the others down here as well. Getting rid of you alone won’t fix all my failures.”

Though the gasp of pain TO gave a shallow laugh, “Your failures? You had nothing to do with it.” Thankfully, they could now feel the weight of the welder in their pocket and luckily, now that they were on their back, it was on the side facing the wall. They reached for the pocket to the side, their arm twisting painfully under them as they reached. Their fingertips could only just feel the welder in their pocket, but they couldn’t quite grasp it. If they could just grab it, if they could just get their fingertips to nudge that tool a little closer, they might be able to get a grip on it.

“That is true.” Kei said, never taking their eyes from the door. Still, TO could see their ears flick with shame and frustration, “But I had an opportunity to stop it. I should have reported you long ago. As such, I feel as though I have allowed this, so I am fixing it.”

They were so close! The tool kept slipping from their fingertips and each time they thought they might have it, the welder slipped and risked falling deeper into their pocket. At the moment, Kei wasn’t watching them but if they looked over, if they decided to see what TO was doing, they might notice them fumbling around, and might question why.

“You feel, you say.” TO said, managing a fake chuckle between their straining and soft groans of pain. “And you’re going to kill other synths-“

“You and your collection of mistakes are not synths.” Kei snapped.

“You’re going to kill other synths based on what you feel, is that it?” They scoffed, “I think that might make you more ‘defective’ than I am.”

“If I am, it is Avery’s fault for convincing me to go along with this. The insurgency’s for performing this awful surgery, and yours, for letting it happen. Still, when I failed to report you all, I was normal. I am making up for my failures now.”

“Well, if you think that me and DH rutting like animals makes us defective, and you think you’re better than I am...” they grunted as they reached for the tool, hoping that Kei would assume it was a dismissive noise, “Well, I’ve heard of synths having such relations and being separated, or being dealt with some kind of punishment, but I don’t believe any synth who has harmed or killed other synths get away with such light punishment. I believe any synth who does that gets corrected…if they’re lucky.

Kei’s ears pinned back again, their lip curling as they emitted a low growl, “You three are not synths.” they hissed as their hands tensed around the gun, their claws threatening to come out.

Claws! Yes, they had claws! TO pulled their own claws and used the tips to grasp the tool with a thin indent in the metal, pulling it closer to their hands until they could grasp it properly. They let out a low, shuddering breath of all the air they had been holding as they fumbled for the tool.

How loud was the tool? They had no idea, and it was very possible that the moment they turned it on, Kei would hear them and take the welder away. The only way they could do this was by distracting Kei and hiding the noise. They shifted on their side again, wincing in pain as they did, gritting their teeth against the cry which begged to escape them. “You really think that?” They demanded, “You really think you know better than our overseers did? than the Commander and Ark-1” They laughed loudly, turning the welder on as they did. The flames cut through some of the rope, but it also singed their hand. Their laughter turned into a sudden cry of pain as they dropped the welder from their hand, wincing.

For the briefest of moments, TO worried that Kei might have heard it clatter to the floor.

“I think no such thing!” Kei snapped. “If they knew what you were like, they’d have you-“

“But Ark-1 knew.” TO snapped, panting as they ignored the fresh pain in their hand. Thankfully, Kei didn’t seem to have heard anything. Likewise, they didn’t seem at all concerned about TO’s cry of pain. Still, the tool now lay on the floor behind them. TO had no idea where specifically where it was, and didn’t think they’d be able to reach and fumble around to grab it without Kei noticing something. Still, maybe they didn’t have to. The rope felt much looser now, so likely they burned away enough rope to allow them to escape. They struggled, trying to twist their burned had enough to free themself.

“Ark-1 only knew because I told them.” Kei snapped, their eyes flicking over to TO. “Last I was informed, they were in the process of dealing with you both.”

“They were going to separate us.” TO said, “Not kill us.”

Kei growled again, “Perhaps when this is over and I am once more among proper synths, they’ll be more strict with such incidents in the future.” Their ears twitched with disgust before they focused their attention back to the door. “Clearly, such deviant behavior shows further issues with your character. You’re working with insurgents “

The rope was loosening. They could feel it. With every movement, something threatened to give way and free them. They struggled, grunted, and twisted their hands about. The rope rubbed against the fresh burn, pulling another yelp of pain from them. As the pain coursed through them, their hands jolted, straining to get away from the source of the pain with such force that the rope blissfully snapped.

It was all they could do to not jump up, grab the welder, and charge at Kei right away. Their leg was useless, and the welder wouldn’t stand much of a chance against a gun. They had to get Kei over to them. They had to make Kei come over to hurt them more, but not something to make the other synth angry enough to simply shoot them. Still, with Kei’s state of mind, that might be difficult to manage. They were so easily enraged, their head seeming to ache when the anger got worse. That might have been something TO could use, as it would likely affect Kei’s ability to reason. That would make it easier for TO to fight them, but if they pushed Kei enough, they would just shoot, even if that wasn’t the most logical course of action.

Was there a way to get out of this without getting shot, or was that inevitable? If it was inevitable, how could they avoid further injury?

“W-what makes you think they’d listen to you?” TO said, “You’ve been here among the insurgents just like GiDi, DH, Avery-“

“I have not worked with the insurgents.” Kei snapped, “I am no traitor.”

“But you didn’t follow protocol.” TO said, their mind dredging up every single rule that Kei might have broken. “You ate their food, drank their water... and perhaps you forgot, but you assisted us. Before you went for DH’s multi-gun that day, you were very helpful while gathering up those cocopods for the trip.” They allowed a smirk to cross their lips, their ears twitching, “Or, did you forget that you did, technically, help the insurgency?”

For a moment, Kei wavered, “I... That was simply to find a means of escape.” They said. “Our superiors expect us to make an effort to escape-“

“By assisting the insurgency?” TO asked, “Alright, for the sake of argument, let’s ignore the cocopods. Let’s say they accepted that you did that only to attempt an escape. What about the procedure?”

Kei’s ears pinned once more, “That was not my fault.” They said, “That was-“

“Goretta refused to do the procedure without your consent.” TO said, “That’s why Avery worked so hard to convince you, and you agreed! Your mind is like mine now, and while I got through my training with a raw mind, do you really think you’d have gotten through yours? Do you think that the officers would see you as anything other than broken now?” They shook their head, wincing as they did, “They’d do their scans, run you through their tests, and see how your mind has been altered. Then, they’d label you as broken. You’d be repurposed.”

“You do not know-“

“If you went back to them with so much as a missing leg without having done anything really worthy in your time, then they’d just repurpose you to save resources.” They grunted in pain. “I know. I’ve seen it. I had a period of training in management, and the officer there sent off an elder synth to be repurposed just because they were getting old and slow. If you were lucky, maybe they’d put you in reclamation.” TO chuckled again, keeping their hands close together as they did, “Imagine, just day after day of taking apart broken equipment and old clothes for the rest of your life!”

“All tasks are equal under King Decon.” Kei said, but as they spoke TO could see some worry, some concern in their ears. Yes, all tasks were considered equal under King Decon, and a normal Synth would be happy to do any small task for Him.

But Kei was no longer a normal synth.

“Well, it doesn’t matter.” TO said, “You allowed your brain to be altered by insurgents. You agreed to it.”

“I was tricked.” They hissed.

“if you had been following orders, you wouldn’t have so much as spoken to Avery, and they wouldn’t have been able to ‘trick’ you as. You claim.” TO said, “Isn’t that why you’re not allowed to speak to our captors?” Their ears perked up suddenly. “Maybe you were deviant even before this, and that’s why you allowed your mind to be tampered with.”

“Silence.” Kei hissed, their ears pinning back once more. “I was always a model synth.”

“And you know what... I’ll tell you this, just so you know it, and can’t deny your role in helping the insurgency later.” TO said. they shifted, tilting their body away from Kei. “You didn’t just allow your mind to be altered by the insurgency, you provided your mind as a resource to the insurgency!”

Kei’s eyes widened, their ears dropped back. They looked at TO, watching their ears for any hint of deception, but all they could see was the apparent joy in giving Kei this information, visible despite how their ears flicked and twitched from pain. “I did no such thing!”

“Why do you think Goretta wanted to do the procedure in the first place?” TO asked, “It wasn’t for you, and she hardly knows Avery enough to do such a big favor for them. No, she wanted to use you as an experiment so she can help other synths later and repair their minds as well.”

“This was not a repair!” Kei snapped again, now turning away from the door, their body facing TO, their hands shaking on the civilian gun, “This was a mutilation!”

TO took a breath to steady themself, pushing away the pain, steadying their hands. “Oh, your mind was mutilated, yes,” TO said, speaking slowly and carefully, “But not by Goretta. King Dick ruined your mind before you even came out of the tank”

Kei gave a violent scream, electrified by rage and anger. Their eyes narrowed, their ears pinned back and shook with pain as they turned the gun to TO, and pulled the trigger.