Cold World

"Code 01 and 02 to Headquarter. He got away again, took the target. Started tracking, waiting for further instructions."

It was raining heavily that day in August. Although it was the peak of summer, the weather was very weird. This scenario played right into his hands. Rain means fewer witnesses outside the destination, less attention means a larger time window and a higher chance of success.

With his cold blue eyes he stared at the street, every mistake meant death. The person beside him new that aswell.

They had come too far to lose everything now. He started the car and gave her a pistol.

"Checked the gun, it's loaded and unlocked. Two kilometers to the end of town, no enemy units insight. We're good to go! "

Suddenly two Exodeus robots landed on the street in front of their car. Armed with LMG's they aimed at the driver.

"Give it up V01, this is the end of the line. Give us the object and your deletion can be prevented. This is the only warning, if you do not agree to these terms we are forced to run program Ex.

Grinding his teeth, he clung his hands to the steering wheel and whispered to himself:

"Still you talk about them as objects. . . they are normal people. . . just like you used to be. . ."

He looked the person next to him in the eyes and pointed to the 9mm pistol next to her.

"We won't let them win if all else fails. . . you know what to do. It is and has always been your choice. Just remember one thing: Getting captured is worse than death, so think hard about it."

The person nervously just nodded at him and closed her eyes. Slowly he got out of the vehicle, his black coat dragging on the wet floor. While he held his left hand up, he hid the right one in his pocket.

"Before I am about to be erased or whatever, I have a question for you: What do you see in this car?"

The robots looked at each other and responded synchronously.

" Our target: object AX 20W, size: 165cm, colors: white-black, category S, danger level red. Immediate action is needed for restoration and programming. "

The man just laughed tiredly and looked back at the car.

"You really forgot how to be human, haven't you?

All that I can see is a young girl, her name is Haru Asamune. She is 20 years old with white skin and raven black hair. She goes to the prescribed schools like everyone else and has a good academic performance. However, what is not in any file or file is that her parents put her under too much pressure at school, furthermore, she was bullied by her class and called a whore and hooker. But I know your categories are only interested in the final result. Your S stands for suicide and red for the chance of success, doesn't it. How do I know that? Remember, I used to be one of you, remotely controlled and limited by government orders. Are you a new product line or the latest model... Now I remember, you must be the newest version, the Collectors, you must be quite new to the job, my condolences."

The rain became heavier, he took his hand out of his pocket. A Remote control with a button was visible. He closed his eyes and looked towards the sky.

"If I ever had a chance in the first place, please don't let me down. "

He held up his hand and pressed the button.

Full of hope, he clenched his hands into fists but nothing happened.

"V01 did not meet our conditions, possible threat must be eliminated. Now starting with Operation Ex.

They had both machine guns targeted on him and the car. The girl held the pistol to her chin. Her hands trembled when she tried to pull the trigger. The man just closed his eyes and stood there.

In the next moment, hundreds of bullets fired from the rifles, after a few seconds it was quiet...

The rain drops splashed into his face, he opened his eyes in complete amazement. In front of him, two people were hanging out of their metal armor, their bodies pierced with bullets, their faces were hardly recognizable. Both machine guns were destroyed, the ground was completely covered with blood and bullets. The remote worked, he himself programmed it as a jamming transmitter for their weapons.

The man walked up to the bodies and took the radio in their robot suits.

"V01 here, codes 01 and 02 can't talk right now, request assistance to clean up. Next time, send better soldiers and not just a small unit. Oh, and give the boss my regards...

Then he destroyed the device and took a deep breath. The next moment he walked towards the car and opened the door. A trembling body with tears in its eyes looked at him, the gun lying on the floor.

"I told you today everything is on our side. Your journey is not over yet, you hear me? But right now we have to leave, new units will arrive in a few minutes. "

The girl nodded at him hesitantly and clung on to her seat.

A few shots hit their car but it could still drive on. Silence returned, they took a last look at the city before they finally left.

It was a long ride, the girl said nothing, she was still frightened by the incident. Suddenly the man began to breathe heavily and cough, a ricochet hit him in his left hip. The girl looked worried and signaled him to stop.

"No, we don't have time for this now, soon we'll be at our destination. "

The girl just clenched her hands in fists and looked at him angrily.

". . . Stop at once! By the time we get there, you'd lose too much blood. "

They stopped at a forest path, the girl took one of the knives laying in the backseat.

"The bullet is still in your body, we must get it out! Is there a lighter and towels around here somewhere?"

The man just looked at her in amazement and searched for the materials.

"So you can speak after all. I completely forgot that you study art, you certainly need a quiet ha-"

"Be quiet! When you talk, I can't concentrate. Here, just bite down on your own coat...It'll hurt. "

The bullet was stuck deep in his flesh, with the blunt knife it was difficult to get so deep into the wound. Her hands were shaking and she became more and more nervous. The bleeding became stronger, she had only the weak light in the car available. Fearfully she looked into the wound when the man suddenly took her hands. His facial expression was relaxed and calm, he looked resolutely forward with almost empty blue eyes, his coat glowing in the moonlight.

"Don't worry Haru, I've felt much worse pain than this so relax, just pretend you're drawing at school"

With tears in her eyes, she successfully operated the bullet out of his body, then she heated the knife and pressed it against the wound. Even the hissing of the flame left the man completely cold, he took a deep breath and wanted to thank Haru. When she saw all the blood on her clothes and the seats, she tore open the door, got out, and threw up.

He took the bullet and put it in his pocket. Afterward, he got out and patted her on the shoulder and smiled.

"You should be proud, the other girls in class could never do that. It's perfectly normal to react that way, so take your time. Let me know when you're ready."

Then he turned his arm, and a touchpad began to glow. He entered a combination of numbers, it beeped softly and a map appeared on the display. Concentrated, he looked at everything carefully and then turned off the program in his arm.

Then he took the pistol and looked at the magazine. When he saw that it was empty he just looked satisfied and put them back in the box. Then he just looked at her in the distance.

"Sorry for forcing your trust onto me...they would've never let you go...not when you worked with the top criminal number one.

After a few minutes, Haru got back in without a word and their journey continued. All night long he drove, when it was morning they had almost reached his destination. Haru yawned loudly and rubbed her eyes.

"Did you drive all night? Do you even need sleep?"

"I mean I could sleep, but I don't need it to stay fully functional. It's better if we get there as soon as possible. "

" Sigh, I have no choice but to trust you anyway. On the other hand, it can't get any worse than my previous existence. I hope you weren't lying. . . about this place. "

"It's far too late for lies. Yesterday we escaped from your school and escaped from the government...so you have a good story to tell later. "

He reached into his pocket and gave Haru a necklace.

"Here, take this. As a pendant, I used the bullet so that you can always remember how brave you were. Who knows, maybe you even saved my life with this? Take good care of it. "

"What do you mean, maybe?! If it wasn't for me, you'd never be able to drive now. It's probably the least you could do for me.!"

Both started to laugh and continued to discuss.

(Next day - Headquarters of POIS - Project Of The Ideal Society)

"What a bunch of losers! How can you lose to ONE person and this man of all people?! Seems like he is not the only traitor in our organization, this remote control is one of our models. It is time to introduce new guidelines and tougher rules: failure is not an option! All units to the highest alert level, tell them: The deletion of V01 has top priority, any means and methods are allowed. . .

V01. . . as always an error in our system. . .