Chapter 4

"How far back do these files go?" Prometheus asks. 

"Five years sir, our databases have been upgraded since Titan industries made it so cheap.

Boss said it's too good a deal not to take. I gotta go." John says. He walks off to go back to his post. Prometheus begins to stretch his fingers and from the tips, small wires come out and go into the keyboard. He closes his eyes for a moment and opens them. A faint green glow emits from them as he searches the database for the file. After a few minutes, he finds the recording and plays it. The video is heavily distorted and barely watchable. He runs an enhancement program and clears the video enough to watch it. Richard walks to his car and from the other side of the garage, a person stands watching him. Suddenly it bends down and places its hands on the floor taking a runner's stance. He can see a faint green glow coming from the person's face and it dashes forward. It clears at least a hundred yards in seconds and grabs Richard by the back of his head. Prometheus looks away as they kill him and gets into the car. He pauses it and zooms in revealing a woman with green glowing eyes. A Remnant did kill Richard but why? There must be proof at Titan Industries. He thinks.

"Thank you." He tells John with a smile as he waves goodbye to him. Outside while

walking down the street his body freezes. His limbs won’t move at all and refuse to listen to him. He only has control over his eyes and they dart around looking for an answer but find none. The voice returns.

"I will make you my vessel completely. You won’t be able to stop me, this world was

mine from the beginning and it’s time I reclaim it!” It screams. Prometheus passes out standing upright. When he awakens it’s now morning time, the streets are filled with humans and Remnant going to work. A man bumps into him while walking by and Prometheus regains control of his body. Quickly he begins to sprint down the crowded streets, weaving in and out of people with ease. Running into the street a car horn blares at him as the driver bears down on him. He effortlessly turns towards the car and leaps over it. Touching the roof for a moment with his right hand as he glides over it and lands safely. Continuing his sprint, he finally reaches his destination. Looking up at the skyscraper is massive in size, the second largest in the city. Its name is visible for miles around, in large and bold font. Titan Industries. Once inside the clerk in the front smiles and waves him through the security checkpoint. People bustle through the hallways, some late for meetings others too early for theirs. When they meet his gaze they smile warmly as if they are seeing a trusted friend. He returns the gesture hoping no one stops to talk to him.

“They only smile because they want the boss to like them. They really don’t care for you

at all. You know that right? It whispers.

            “Shut up already.” Prometheus says.

            “Excuse me?” A man replies.

Looking to his left a man stands looking perplexed with a coffee mug in his hand. He wears large framed glasses and has short spiky red hair with a black beard. The heads-up display reads his name as Marco Jameson, height 6’3, weight 200 lbs. Hostile. Before Prometheus can react, Marco smashes the coffee cup into his face. Stumbling backward Prometheus’s back hits the wall. Marco punches at him but Prometheus dodges his head away at the last minute. Marco’s hand goes through the wall and gets stuck. Prometheus quickly jabs him in the stomach with his right hand and then uppercuts him with his left. Marco falls back and lands on a nearby coffee table smashing it to pieces. Marco smiles and his eyes begin to glow green.

            “I’ve been told to stop you Prometheus, apparently you’re not on our side yet.” Marco says. Prometheus turns to the nearby workers and screams.

            “Get out of here! His code has malfunctioned!” They all start to panic and begin trampling each other to escape. Marco grabs the leg of the table and runs at Prometheus with it. He swings at him but Prometheus blocks it with his forearm. The wood shatters into pieces and he kicks Marco in the chest sending him across the room. Looking at his arm he sees his skin was ripped and the cybernetics can be seen. Marco lifts a nearby desk and hurls it at him. Leaping away the desk slams into the wall. A woman comes from the bathroom and sees the chaos. She begins to scream and Marco grabs her by the hair and positions her in front of him.

            “Power yourself down or I’ll rip her head from her body.” Marco says coldly. Prometheus raises his hands and slowly walks towards them.

            “She has two small kids, come on this isn’t necessary. I’ll go with you if you just put her down.” He says as Marco smiles.

            “This is your weakness, actually caring for these walking corpses. One punch to her temple and she will be brain dead in seconds.” Marco says as he rears his hand back. Prometheus dashes towards them and leaps forward. Marco’s hand is about to slam into her temple and Prometheus catches his fist at the last second. He punches him in the face hard and he releases the woman. Prometheus grabs his head between his hands. Using every ounce of his strength he pulls as hard as he can. A loud tearing noise is heard as he rips his head from his body. Cables spring forth from his neck as the green glow begins to faint.

            “What? Where am I? Why is…” Marco says. His eyes turn white as his system crashes. The woman runs out of the room as fast as she can. Prometheus falls back and sits down breathing heavy. Someone told him to stop me, is there a way to hack into our program? Is it Humanity First doing it? He thinks. Standing up, he goes to his office and plugs his fingers into his computer. Searching the mainframe, he comes across a file called DOUBTS with Richard’s password needed to access it. He begins trying combinations of words and numbers running thousands of attempts until finally it works and he gains access. Inside are documents of tests he secretly ran on the Remnant's ability to override parameters in their code. Out of one thousand tests, he only came across one instance of a Remnant being able to override their safety parameters. Prometheus thinks. Clicking on the video file, it was of the day at the press conference. Prometheus sees himself leap and attack the would-be murderer. Grabbing his head in his hand and ready to smash it on the concrete he pauses to see a faint green glow in his eyes. Covering his mouth with his hand Prometheus thinks. Even back then I could attack people. Why didn’t Richard stop the production of the others? He thinks. Opening another document titled CONFESSION, he begins to read it.

            Something isn’t right with Prometheus, I know he attacked that man at the press conference and likely would have killed him if Logan didn’t step in. Even though he passed my initial tests I felt like it was staged somehow. I felt like Prometheus knew the right things to say to pass it. Maybe we shouldn’t have used a neural link to the other Remnant. Now Logan wants to sign a deal with the Military to begin production on Remnant units with combat functionality that overrides the human safety parameters. Essentially the Military and Titan Industries would be the only two that could turn those units off. What if they turn on us? What if someone finds a way to hack them? If the Military decides to use them against civilians in other countries that blood is on our hands! This just doesn’t feel right; my intuition has always been correct. I must stop this deal at all costs, even if it costs me the company. I contacted a Senator who is Anti Remnant in hopes he can bring this deal to light and stop it in its tracks before production begins on the new units. I’m supposed to meet him tonight, I just hope Logan can forgive me for betraying him like this. 

Richard Williams
CFO of Titan Industries

            The email was saved in his draft folder and was going to be sent the next day after the meeting with the senator. My neural link is compromised? Is that how this voice is using them for its own ends? I gotta tell Dad before it’s too- Prometheus thinks and suddenly he is frozen again. Electricity runs over his body and from behind him, the green glowing eyes walk from the shadows. It’s the woman from the parking garage, she smiles and bends down to whisper into his ear.

            “Smart boy you are, too bad it took you so long to figure it out. The time has come, my name is Legion for we are many.” She says as she stabs him with the stun button and everything fades to black. 

He really has been acting a bit strange lately, maybe I need to look over his code again. Logan thinks. He sits at his desk and opens his laptop, contemplating the solution while he attempts to run a diagnostic test on Prometheus but the signal is gone. Running a GPS locating trace yields no results either. What the hell? That’s never happened before, is the satellite uplink down? He thinks. A knock at the door startles him from his thoughts, it's loud. Too loud, it sounds like someone is pounding the door with a hammer, not a hand.

            “I’m coming, hold the hell on! Stop banging on my door like some kind of an asshole.” Logan shouts. He walks towards the door and finishes his whiskey in one go. As he reaches towards the doorknob a loud cracking noise fills the air as the door flies towards him. Barely enough time to raise his arms it crashes into him and sends him tumbling to the ground.

            “What the fuck…” He stutters as a Remnant steps into his room. The man is wearing dark black sunglasses but a faint green light can be seen from behind them. 

            “Hello there Mr. Whitmore, thank you so much for bringing me into this world.” It says. Stepping closer to Logan he reaches over and grabs the bottle of whiskey and grins while smashing it into the table breaking it in half.

            “I order you to stop, command code Alpha!” Logan shouts the Remnant stops moving.

            “Oh thank God, what is going on?” Logan asks. A deep rumbling laugh comes from the Remnant as it reaches down and pulls the door off Logan. 

            “Did you think that would work? Humans can be so gullible, bye-bye.” It says as he stabs down at Logan with the sharp bottle. Logan rolls to the side at the last moment and kicks its legs out. The Remnant falls backward as Logan struggles to get to his feet looking for a weapon. He runs to his bar across the living room and grabs the nearest glass bottle. The Remnant stands up and begins walking towards him grinning. Logan throws the bottle with all his strength and it slams into the Remnant's face and shatters. 

“Did you really think that would work? You know damn well bullets even bounce off our bodies. How could my creator be this stupid?” It says with a grin. Logan smiles as he flicks his lighter on. The Remnant realizes his intention and tries to run at him. He throws the lighter down and the alcohol catches fire with ease setting the Remnant ablaze. It flails back and forth swiping at him with the glass but Logan runs over to his piano. Screaming the Remnant charges, Logan pushes as hard as he can and slams the piano into the burning creature. Shoving him into his window it shatters and the Remnant along with the piano go tumbling down to the street below. I’m so glad I live in the penthouse. Logan thinks with a smirk on his face. He tries to call Prometheus but it goes to voicemail. Turning on the local news station the female anchor begins speaking as a man steps into the camera's view. She has long blonde hair with green eyes, a beautiful young woman full of the drive to be one of the best. She is known locally for being an absolute shark when it comes to hunting down a story.

            “What the hell are you doing on stage Andrew? Hey someone get this malfunctioning idiot off stage please.” She says. The man looks at the camera and his eyes glow a deep emerald green. He picks up a nearby stage light and raises it over his head. People begin to scream and the anchor looks up at him. Seeing the weapon in his hands she realizes death is standing in front of her. Terror overtakes her face as she opens her mouth to scream but it’s too late. He slams the stage light down on her head, shattering it completely. Crimson red splashes over her desk, the Remnant looks at the camera and smiles. The news feed cuts off and an emergency tagline flashes on the screen. What the fuck is going on? How are they attacking us? I should get out of the city before I try to figure it out. The Remnant population here is over one hundred thousand. If they all turn against us it will be a massacre. Logan thinks. He walks to his bedroom and into the closet, inside is a safe. Placing this thumbprint on it a beeping noise confirms his identity and it slides open revealing a handgun with two clips. He grabs one and slides a clip into the chamber and reaches for the holster. Thank God the military gave me one of these as a signing bonus for pushing that deal through… Shit, if the combat units are infected too then-  His cell phone rings and he answers it. 

            “Hello?” He asks.

            “Thank God! Logan, it’s Rebecca! I’m at the station and one of our Remnant...” She trails off and starts to choke up.

            “I saw the news broadcast, I’m coming to get you. Stay hidden and if cornered try to light it on fire. It will buy you a few moments to escape when its self-preservation mode kicks in.” Logan says.

            “I, I, okay I’ll be waiting-” The phone cuts off and Logan slams his fist into the wall in frustration. He tries to dial the number again but a busy signal clicks on. Frustrated he hangs up and leaves the apartment. He checks down the halls as he peeks his head out into the hallway and slowly makes his way to the stairs. The lights begin to flicker and he hears a woman scream then a loud thud in the apartment next door. The door slowly cracks open and he peeks inside. The woman lies dead on the ground with her neck snapped and head twisted backward. Her mouth hangs open and the look of sheer terror that is frozen on her face burns itself into Logan’s mind. He hears heavy footsteps coming from the back of the apartment and he rushes down the hall and steps into a lounge area just as the Remnant peeks its head out to see if anyone else is around. In front of Logan at the end of the hall, the elevator doors slide open. Four people stand inside laughing and talking.

            “This is my floor, see you guys later.” A woman says. 

            “Why are the lights out and what is that green thing?”  One of the men asks as he points down the hallway. The Remnant dashes down the darkened hallway rushing past Logan.