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  The T-3 returned and reported to the Team Leader, "I have secured this side of the park. I will patrol the other half." It started off and entered the area Kim took cover in.

  "Great! Here comes one." Kim scanned the area and saw a large branch on the ground. She grabbed the limb, whacked the T-3 in the face, and smashed its shades. Her attack cut a gash under its right eye. Its shiny metal cheekbone showed through the damaged artificial skin.

  The T-3 removed its broken shades and tossed them to the ground. It turned its head, unaffected by the blow. The sun-blazing dot-light brightened and changed to a deep red. The T-3 said with a British accent, "So puppet, you want to play?"

  "Great Kim, make the robot mad!" She dropped the limb and scurried off toward West 1000 Avenue.

  "Do not leave, puppet! The fun is about to start." The T-3 opened fire with its AK-47 and shot wildly in her direction.

  Back at the Transgenic Maple...

  The Team Leader and Pretty Boy received a message from the T-3.

  "T-3 has again encountered the civilian. The female has attacked it," the Team Leader stated. "The female is fleeing." It paused. "Transmission garbled. Transmission ended with... kill puppet? I do not understand. Repeat communication." After about ten seconds, the Team Leader said, "T-3 has failed to report. It may have been damaged." It turned to Pretty Boy. "We may not be able to contain Pandora with only two units. Requesting orders from the Factory as to how to proceed."

  They turned their heads, hearing gunfire.

  With them distracted, Kat seized the opportunity to escape. "I have to find Kimberly," she thought and dashed into the woods, hoping to reach her in time.

  The Team Leader motioned for Pretty Boy to recapture her. "Do not destroy Pandora. The Factory wants her functioning."

  "Understood," it stated and rushed into the woods.

  Leaves and twigs brushed by her face as Kat hurried into a clearing. She halted, spotting the rampaging T-3 as it shot up the area. Her Ult L-E produced charged particles and sparked from her eyes as she entered the fray again. "Where's Kimberly? Not here. So where did she go?"

  The T-3 ran out of ammo, ejected its magazine, and started to place in a new one. Kat ran behind it and jumped on its back. She covered its eyes with her left forearm, and grabbed its rifle with her other hand. Kat jerked the AK-47, aiming the weapon at Pretty Boy as it rushed after her. Several shots hit Pretty Boy’s chest as Kat wrestled with the T-3. Pretty Boy charged them till finally Kat managed to aim the rifle at its forehead. It fell like a tree cut down by a chainsaw. The T-3 grabbed her vest and hurled her from its back. She rolled with the throw and ran for cover behind a large bronze statue of a man wearing a toga and holding a lightning bolt.

  "You want to play too, puppet?" The T-3 cackled as it madly sprayed bullets in the air. Its dot-light burned as if on fire. "My pretty puppet!"

  "Is it malfunctioning?" she wondered, scanning the area as bullets grazed the bronze Zeus with ringing pings. "And where did Kimberly go? Did she go back for the gun? Or is she still hunting me?"

  When the T-3 paused to put in another magazine, Kat rushed through the trees and bushes. She made her way back to where the Team Leader stood, knowing the malfunctioning T-3 was close behind. She halted and stayed out of sight.

  The Team Leader called out over its I-Link. "T-3, report in. What is your status?" It scanned the area, knowing that Pretty Boy had been incapacitated. "T-3 report. Why have you disabled your tracking beacon? Switch it back on." The Team Leader headed into the trees, searching for its brethren.

  In a different area from Kat...

  After the Team Leader left, Kim snuck out of hiding and ran for the PPK. She checked over the gun and scanned the area. "Now to get out of here," she thought. "I’ll let these things kill Katharine. For Ares' sake! What was I thinking getting into a mess like this? Stupid! Real stupid!"

  The Team Leader emerged with the T-3.

  "Halt, civilian," the Team Leader shouted. "Drop your weapon and you will not be hurt."

  "Hades! Not again," Kim thought, ducking behind the maple. "Now what do I do?"

  Kat thought, "I found Kimberly, but not before the Un-Men did. I need a plan." She watched from the bushes, remembered the wall around the Nexus Apartments, and thought, "Her home has the Sphinx Corporation Emblem on it." Kat rubbed her left thumb nail against the same hand’s index finger as she thought, "The Factory and the Council are departments of the Sphinx Corporation. Kimberly may be an assassin, but she's also important to someone in power. Why else would she live in an apartment protected by a barrier? I’m guessing the wall bars bio-mechas from entering. It must be part of their programing not to enter these protected areas." She made her way around the bushes as the Ult L-E dissipated. "I pray her safety's more important than my capture." Kat stepped from her hiding place, taking a big chance. "Will my idea work?”

  She ordered the Un-Men, "Abort your mission. You've made a tactical error."

  The Team Leader studied her tired expression as it trained its AK-47 on her. "What do you mean?"

  "Do you know who's standing over there?" She pointed to Kim.

  The Team Leader glanced at her. "No."

  "For Ares’ sake! What's she doing?" Kim wondered. "Surely she isn’t going to tell the robot that I’m the Phoenix."

  Kat glanced at the T-3, who grinned from ear to ear. Its smirk reminded her of the Rogue's. "Something’s wrong with that Un-Man," she thought.

  She turned her attention back to the Team Leader and told it, "You have Facial Recognition Software. I suggest you use it."

  The Team Leader scanned Kim's face and an alarm went off in its processor. "Kimberly Griffin, resident of the Nexus Apartments." It relayed the information to the Factory. Its dot-light stopped blinking after the Team Leader received new orders, and it continued, "She is the daughter of Mr. Griffin, the Chairman of the Sphinx Corporation."

  "Daughter of the Chairman?" Kat wondered. "I thought she'd be someone of importance, but not someone so close to the top." She took a step back. "Did I make a mistake? Does Kimberly know what I am? Is this a test, and she’s been lying to me the whole time?" Kat looked to Kim's bruised cheek. "It’s so hard to tell. Her battle with the Un-Men seemed so real. So how do I know? How do I know what the truth is?"

  The Team Leader lifted its rifle. "Hunt terminated. Standing by for pickup." It ordered, "T-3 shut down. Hunt terminated."

  T-3 insisted, "Must not let puppets go."

  "Shut down," the Team Leader commanded, leveling its AK-47 on its brethren. "Hunt terminated. Comply."

  The T-3 screamed, "Pretty puppets!!"

  "Are you malfunctioning?" The Team Leader stepped toward its brethren.

  "Puppets! Puppets! Nice little puppets!!" The T-3 headed for Kim as its dot-light radiated abnormally like a red flame. "Kill the puppets!"

  Kat stepped forward, thinking, "No, I don’t think this is a test." She panicked. "That thing’s going to hurt Kimberly!"

  She shouted to the Team Leader, "Quick! Disable the T-3 before it goes rogue!"

  "Hades!" Kim uttered as she stepped from the maple, lifted the PPK, and aimed for the rampaging T-3 that headed her way.

  Without a second thought, the Team Leader shot four times, taking down the other Un-Man.

  The T-3 fell back and blankly stared at the Team Leader. Power drained from its body, and its voice slowed as it questioned, "Why?" Its dot-light dimmed. "Why did you shoot me? We... are... bre-th-ren." Its dot-light went dark.

  "T-3 terminated. I am shutting down," the Team Leader relayed to the Factory. It powered down.

  Kat ran to it and took her Beretta from its waistband and its AK-47. She searched it for anymore weapons and ammo.

  With the immediate threat gone, Kim lowered her gun. "Is it over?" she wondered. "No, Katharine's still alive." She walked from the maple to her.

  Kim held the gun down at her side and said, "And here we are, alone at last."

  Kat didn't hide the fact that she
was mad with Kim for coming out here. Kat told her, "You should go back to your apartment before the retrieval team arrives." She moved to the T-3 and took its spare clip. She glanced at Kim's bruised cheek and wrist and her face softened. "Did the Un-Man hurt you?"

  Kim questioned, "What do you care?"

  "Yeah, what do I care?" Kat whispered, walked back to the bench, and grabbed her backpack.

  Kim followed.

  After placing the magazines and clips in the backpack, Kat slung the rifle over her shoulder and mumbled, "Room for a few more things. But nothing heavy. Got to travel light."

  "Hades!" Kim looked around the park at the metal carnage. "What are you? And why were your eyes glowing? Are you a freak?"

  Kim's words cut at her already wounded self worth as Kat wondered, “Am I a freak?”

  She started to answer, "I..."

  "I suppose you’re going to say you don’t know,” Kim interrupted. “Is that all you have to say? Idiot. You disgust me. You're so helpless and worthless. I've never met someone with such a messed up life!"

  Kat’s hurt expression turned to one of anger as she yelled, "What do you care? Why did you come out here?"

  "I..." Kim thought about it. She didn’t even know. "I go where I please."

  Still angry, Kat snapped, "Have you changed your mind?"

  "About what?" She raised the PPK. "About killing you?"

  "No." Kat stared at the gun then into her face. "About helping me?"

  Kim chuckled. "I help no one, but myself."

  "But you came all the way out here." Without fear, Kat approached her. "If you were going to kill me you would have done it by now." She grabbed the strap to the rifle and backpack that was over her shoulder and held them in a more comfortable position. "So why did you really come out here?"

  Kim snapped, "I definitely didn’t come out here to help you! We’re alone in the world. You have to look out for number one!"

  The squeal of tires distracted them. Two black vans with tinted windows sped down West 1000 Avenue, drove over the curb, and entered Zeus Park.

  With sadness in her eyes, Kat turned to her. "I don’t believe you." She glanced around the park, searching for a direction to run in. "No one can live like that." Kat ran down a path and shouted over her shoulder, "At least, live that way and be happy."

  "Be happy?" Kim wondered as she ducked out of sight of the vans. "What would someone like her know about happiness?" She watched as four Sphinx Corporate Military, wearing dark blue uniforms, jumped out of the first van. The S.C.Ms. had a shoulder patch with the Sphinx Corporation Emblem. The Factory Crest of a silver wrench crossed by a silver screwdriver hung above the patch. The soldiers were armed with FAMAS assault rifles.

  "These men work for the Sphinx Corporation." Kim studied the shoulder patch. "But I don’t recognize the crest over the emblem." She placed the PPK in her purse, preparing to leave. "Which department are they from?" Another thought crossed her mind. "So, does my father have anything to do with Katharine? Does he know what this Pandora Project is? And did he send her to me? If so, why?"

  Three S.C.Ms. with metal detectors jumped out of the second van along with two techs in white lab coats. On the front of their lab coats was the Sphinx Corporation Emblem with the Factory Crest. The techs moved to the Un-Men.

  "Team Leader, this is Maxwell, Tech One-twelve. Power up," one of the men in white ordered.

  "Voice identity confirmed, Tech One-twelve. Unit ready."

  Maxwell was a heavyset man in his late forties. He had a bald head and a fuzzy brown beard, graying at the chin. He waved a H.H.C. with a built-in scanner over the Team Leader. "We had a close call didn’t we big guy? Can’t forget the Factory is owned by the Sphinx Corporation. If you had hurt the Chairman’s daughter it would have been my head. And I don’t mean figuratively." He gulped, thinking of the punishment. "People have been terminated for less."

  Several of the S.C.Ms. carried the remains of the three Un-Men from the tunnel and placed the pieces in a van.

  "Maxwell, perhaps we should write in the Un-Men’s program to identify all civilians before engaging in their hunts." The other tech in his early forties was a thin man with a stubbly face, unkempt black hair, and thick black rimmed glasses.

  "Nice idea, Peters." Maxwell turned to his partner. "Load up the Team Leader for me. I’m going to pack up our equipment."

  "I’m on it." He walked to the Team Leader. "This is Peters, Tech One-eleven."

  "Voice identity confirmed, Tech One-eleven. Ready for orders."

  Peters commanded, "Team Leader, load yourself into the van."

  "Understood." It walked to the curb, opened the van’s back doors, and stepped up into the vehicle. The height of the van lowered as the heavy Un-Man loaded itself into the back.

  Peters adjusted his glasses as he stared at the damaged T-3. "What about this guy? We’ve never had one disobey orders."

  "Except the Rogue." Maxwell moved to the side of his comrade. "To be on the safe side, recall all the T-3s. We will go over their programing at the Factory." He noticed its dark shades were missing. "Make sure the S.C.Ms. find its missing sun glasses. We don’t need a rival corporation getting their hands on them."

  Peters nodded and waved over some S.C.Ms. to take the damaged Un-Man. Once the soldiers retrieved every piece of broken tech, the vans sped off.

  Kim waited a few minutes, left the safety of the bushes, and made her way home. "I better rethink killing Katharine, especially if she’s connected to the Sphinx Corporation. Yes. I think that's best. I’ll let this go. I'll tell Voice I killed the person who saw me at Topa’s. After all, it doesn’t look like she’ll last much longer."

  Chapter Eighteen

  Inverse

  7:57 P.M...

  Kim walked through the front door to the Nexus Apartments, after being buzzed in. The security guard at the front desk gave her a puzzled look as she walked in, soaked and muddy.

  "Did you get caught in a storm, Ms. Griffin?" he asked.

  "Yes." She walked past him with her arms wrapped around herself, laughed, and shivered. "Went for a simple walk, got caught in the down pour, and fell in the mud." Kim mumbled as she got in the elevator, "How stupid of me to run out in my good suit. The cleaner’s bill is going to be outrageous."

  At the thirty-first floor, she exited and made her way to her apartment and entered.

  "Welcome back Ms. Griffin," A.C.S. stated. "The apartment temperature is set at seventy-six degrees Fahrenheit. Lights are set at ninety-five percent brightness. Would you like to make any adjustments at this time?"

  "No. Not at this time. I'll be taking a bath."

  "The amount of stored heated water is sufficient for a bath," A.C.S. stated.

  "Run the water now."

  "At what temperature?"

  "Make it eighty-five degrees."

  A.C.S. stated, "The bathtub will be full in approximately ten minutes."

  "I’m so cold." She went into the Master Bathroom, slipped out of her muddy clothes, dropped them on the floor, and laid the PPK on the sink. Kim added bubble bath to the running water, and the tub soon filled. She soaked in the hot water and listened to the silence of the room. Twenty minutes went by, and her body warmed in the water. "Ahh... Now, I need to get something hot in me." She dried, wrapped herself in a white robe, and put on warm fuzzy slippers.

  In the kitchen, she placed a pot of chicken noodle soup on a burner. As it heated up, she fixed herself a cheese sandwich and placed it on a plate. The scent of the broth filled the air and made her mouth water. Kim poured some of the steaming soup in a bowl and went and sat at the table. The cups and saucers she and Kat had from earlier were still there. She pushed them out of the way and placed the plate and bowl down as she thought, “I can't get that haunting melody out of my mind. It's like it's trying to remind me of something.” Kim took a bite of her sandwich and realized how hungry she was. “Why did Katharine have an old business card of mine? Why does she believe I can help her?" She
sipped on the soup, and it warmed her up. "And why does Unfinished Melody trigger such sad emotions in me? What does it all mean?"

  She ate more of the delicious soup. "So... Am I going to let this go? Do I tell Voice the problem has been taken care of?" Kim groaned, unsure. "Hades! I don’t need this hassle. My life's difficult enough. So... What am I going to do?"

  * * *

  Several miles away in an alley...

  A large centipede crawled up the side of a dumpster. Kat huddled beside the beat up steel box and shivered. She was chilled to the bone in her wet oil stained clothes. "I can't go on. I have to rest," she thought and licked her chapped lips. "At least, it’s not raining." She held the Music Box, finding little comfort with it. Her head ached, and she felt anxious, but Kat knew she couldn’t open the Music Box.

  A spider spun a web in a fire escape above her head. A single street light shown down on it, creating a glistening cage. She whispered, "Traps... Snares... They're everywhere." Kat knew she couldn’t return to Wayfaring Lane or to any shelter. "I can’t endanger anymore lives. Not after they killed..."

  She couldn’t say his name out loud and thought, "Not after they killed Preacher." Her nose ran, and she coughed as her stomach growled. She wasn't hungry enough to forage through the trash.

  "What do I do?" she wondered. "Preacher's gone. Kimberly tried to kill me. And all I have left is the Note and the Music Box. Why? Why do I have them? Is it some cruel joke? Do they hold any meaning for me? Or is there no past for me to find? Am I an experiment like the Un-Men?" She shivered and sniffed again. "No." Kat wouldn’t give up. "It can’t be true. I'm more. I'm more than someone’s experiment. I am, and I'll find my true identity."

  Kat coughed again. "All I have to do is keep going, searching, and eluding till I find the answers. Never give up. I'll find the truth." Doubt pressed against her mind so she repeated, trying to make herself believe, "I will find the truth."

  Her head throbbed, and she felt jittery as the Music Box tempted her. The melody would be so soothing, and it would lull her into a blissful existence. "It might ease my pain for the moment, but agony's better than capture. I can't let them take me again." Kat raked her hand through her wet hair, wanting so badly to cry and have some release from the tension hammering against her skull. She tried to distract herself and focus on anything, but the hurt and anxiousness.