A Guard With A Bug

A week later, Richard stood in front of the mirror in his room to check his appearance. His cheek was mostly blackened from the back hand he had received from the metal soldier in the forest.

He traced his finger along his cheek and nodded. The effects were mostly gone now. He took his bag—which was heavy as usual—and slung it over his shoulder. He walked out of his room and looked around to see Lily. She had been a bit 'busy' these days. She didn't eat breakfast with him and he wondered what she was doing in her room all those times. Somehow he felt that she was up to something.

Then again, it was Lily. She's always up to something and nothing would make her spill what it was about. He had the urge to burst into her room—which to the best of his knowledge was always locked when she was inside—to check on what she was doing.

The thought went away just as fast as it came. He didn't want to go into her room. He had two reasons for not doing that. The first was that Lily was very territorial and would never let anyone else—not even Richard— into the room she stayed.

Over the years, Richard had come to respect her privacy and stopped snooping around even when she was not home. Usually she would keep the door open but these days…

The last time he had entered that room just to see Lily sitting on a chair with eyes closed—while in her underwear—made things really awkward. She had fought him hard that day and if not for his superior skills, he feared that she might have left a scar or two.

The last reason was because he didn't want to burst in only to see her in her underwear again or worse—naked. It would be really…shocking.

As he thought about it, Lily came out of her room then locked it again. She approached him with a wide smile. The first thing he did was observe her dressing. She was dressed in a light top that hugged her body a bit tightly and her jeans were obviously not meant for her size. It stopped at her knees. She had her hair tied up and her body was glistening. 'She was training? Why didn't she ask to use my weapons room?' he thought. That room served for both weapon storage and for training.

Lily noticed his gaze and scoffed. "Stop checking me out."

Richard sighed deeply. "I wasn't plus even if I were, isn't it normal for me to 'check out' my personal security and sister to know if she has a bug?"

Lily chuckled. "You still think I'm a robot don't you?"

Richard shrugged. "You spend a lot of time 'hibernating' with your eyes closed that I began thinking you were recharging."

Lily gave him a glare. "I was personally trained to do specific things but that doesn't make me a robot alright?"

He shrugged again. "Why are you spending so much time in your room? What are you up to?"

"Spying again aren't you?" she looked at him with raised eyebrow. "Continue then maybe you'll find me changing my fake skin one day."

The sound of that made Richard's inside crawl. He shook his head to get the feeling away. "What are you up to?"

"Open your mouth." Lily said and moved just immediately towards Richard. Richard instinctively moved back but between Lily's speed and the heavy bag on his back, he couldn't get away.

Lily gripped his neck hard and it made Richard choke. He moved his hands to pry her arm off but her hold was vice like. Before Richard could even pull her hand from his neck, Lily stumped down on his foot.

The pain was enough to make the already choking Richard to cry out. Lily tossed something into his mouth. "Bite down on it."

She let go of Richard's neck. Richard coughed dryly then used his tongue to feel the small substance she had tossed into his mouth. His first thought was to spit it out but then he noticed the look Lily was giving him.

He bit down on the small object and a slight pain made his teeth numb. A slight whirring sound came from his mouth. Lily nodded and stepped back. "There, you're good."

Richard used his tongue and tried to pry off the small thing that was now rooted to his tooth. "What was that? Did you poison me? You really have a bug!"

Lily scoffed. "You wish. My priority is to protect you so why would I want to kill you?"

"You just strangled me and tossed an unknown substance into my mouth!"

"Please, it's not poison and I'm not defective," she said then asked. "You could have fought back and thrown me all the way to the wall yet you resisted and let me choke you. Why is that?"

"I guess I've gotten used to you doing weird things. You cook all my food so the thought of you harming me is a bit low, I guess?"

"You trust me a bit too much, Richard," she shook her head. "What if I was really defective—or had a bug as you put it—doesn't it make a great way to kill you?"

"Now that I think of it, you haven't been sharing my meals these days. Your programming doesn't allow you eat anymore? My mother modified you?"

Lily gave him another glare. "I'm not a robot and I'm not defective!"

"You sound like one you know." He shrugged. "Get this thing out of my mouth!"

"It's a wireless technology that can send a signal strong enough to alert me if you're in trouble. There's no need for you to be all touchy-twichy with the wrist watch anytime you want to send a distress signal."

Richard felt the small object again. "It works like the wrist watch?"

"Yes," Lily nodded. "I figured that sometimes you might get into trouble and you might not have your hands free or the wrist watch is taken away. In that situation all you have to do is bite down on that device hard enough till it shatters. The signal will be sent to me directly."