191 Casual Declaration

Meanwhile, Aida set up the wifi router and laptop, and began typing away, ignoring Artemis. She had to look to see if Ace successfully covered his tracks and whether he left her a message.

Entering the site that he created, she saw no new messages.

She stared listlessly at the ceiling. There was no response from Lucifer and Ace. They may have gotten caught up in some work or just forgot to contact her. She would have Xiao Ai monitor the situation and if they still don't show up in 24 hours, then she would do something.

Settling that issue, she couldn't help but be distracted at the thought of her cute children. They had all been adamant about staying with her yet she had ruthlessly left them behind. Even if it was for their own good, she still felt an immeasurable amount of guilt.

'Now what?' she asked herself.

Honestly, she shouldn't feel so confused about her next actions. The answer was obvious. She would hunt down her former master and take revenge. He betrayed her and tried to kill her, then sent people after her. This had scarred her and left her afraid to connect with others. It was the very reason why she still kept Light and the others at arm's length despite knowing they already saw her as family.

In the end, she meditated to re-focus herself. Only after finishing all her tasks could she have the happy, carefree life she hoped for.

During that time, Xiao Ai and Artie had begun running facial recognition on everyone in the city. Xiao Ai was already familiar with what Aida's former master looked like so she generated an image from memory.

Xiao Ai had already explained the backstory behind why Aida was so eager to track this man down, so Artie was equally as infuriated. His white and soft looking robot body stomped through the camera feeds, looking forward to catching this evil man.

Calming down from her anger, Aida opened her eyes. She found Artemis sitting in front of her with his arm in mid-air clearly about to poke her. She swatted his hand away. "What are you? An elementary school child? Shoo."

Artemis simply laughed and went back to the couch. Aida let it go as she knew he was just teasing her in an attempt to comfort her. "So what are we doing in the city?"

Aida raised an eyebrow. "You mean what am I doing in the city?"

Artemis lazily waved a hand. "Yeah, sure. Same thing. What's yours is yours, what's mine is yours."

Amused by his casual declaration of her ownership over him, she pointed out again. "When did you become mine? If you were mine, wouldn't I know?"

In a rare moment of seriousness, Artemis turned to look Aida in the eye. "You didn't give up on the base and helped my Ma to pass in peace. That's reason enough."

Aida cocked her head to the side in confusion.

Artemis elaborated, "She was injured when we ran away from the infected and ended up fatally wounded. The environment we were living in wasn't any good and I knew they drugged the food so I would have to take the risk of stealing food every time. The drugs wouldn't be good for my Ma. We didn't even have a house to live in and had to brave the cold winter."

"I couldn't get any antibiotics for her and she was constantly in pain, but she would always look at me with a smile and remind me 'If you ever find a woman worth giving your life up for, you better keep a tight hold on her forever.' For some reason, she was always worried I wouldn't find anyone in life." Artemis had a bittersweet smile on his face as tears collected at his eyes, threatening to fall down.

Recognition dawned on Aida as she heard this. Her eyes rounded in shock. She hadn't recognized him up till now because he had his face covered the entire time when they were at base and barely said a word. Artie also hadn't given Aida a reminder because he had assumed she already knew who he was.

"Anyway, when you came along, she was already on her last leg. My Ma ended up passing away, but she was much more comfortable and I could tell from her smile that she was genuinely happier. You even made her a grave and a tombstone in a nice location. For that, I have you to thank."

He threw a cute lopsided smile towards Aida while saying, "So that's why I have decided I will follow you."

Aida wasn't too sure what to say in this situation. She felt uncomfortable being put in a situation where she had to respond to his true feelings. "...I'm sorry about your mother."

Artemis simply shrugged as he continued to cutely smile at her. "She's in a happier place and now I have you."

Aida's heart throbbed for a second, touched by his words. She quickly turned around and focused on her laptop, ignoring Artemis' casual yet serious confession. Touching her cheek, she thought to herself, 'What is wrong with you Aida? You hardly know this guy.'

He didn't pressure her but simply smiled at her back. Aida's action back at the base might not have mattered much to her, but only he knew how much of an impact her actions had made on his life.

He continued to stare at this girl who had so many faces. As a base leader, she came off as a cold and powerful individual who could even keep the sky from falling. As she spoke with his mother, she seemed just like the friendly girl next door. As she defeated the Reapers, she looked like the devil. When he found her again at the wall, she looked just like a lost puppy.

Just how many more sides did she have hidden in her? He wasn't too sure, but he was determined to find out.

***