“So you don’t actually know what caused the lockdown?” Vardinn says with a puzzled face.

“Nope! But I’m gonna find out and I’m gonna find out who took my stinking battery. How did you find me anyway?”

“Oh that’s easy, I followed the second trail of shutdown Machine Men.” Vardinn says as he points to the trail of angry looking machine men frozen in pace toward Zero Ones doorway.

“The second trail?”

“ mhm! Come on, let me show you.” Vardinn gestures to Zero One to follow. Unwinding the trail he followed before, in a mere few moments, they find themselves back at the crossroad. “See. one angry group headed to where you were and one severely panicked one headed in the other direction.”

“That direction is the government district. It’s where the Central Algorithm and the other leaders meet.” Zero One says as they head right of the cross roads. “Down the rabbit hole we go”

“These walkways are strangely accurate. It’s quite impressive.”

“They had limited space so they had to be as efficient as possible.”

A few moments pass until they reach the end of the trail.

“It’s the Central Algorithms’ meeting hall. Is it alright to go in there?” Vardinn says as he pokes the door like it’s gonna come to life.  

“Look around. Even if it were taboo before, it certainly doesn’t matter now.”

“Point taken”

The duo open the door but are stopped mere inches into the room as if the door is blocked. Together, they push their way into the room. 

“I suppose it was only a matter of time before you found me.” says a broken voice from the darkness.

Up on his throne, surrounded by depleted Machine Man batteries and appearing badly damaged, sits the Central Algorithm.

“You’re still powered up. By the looks of the mountain of depleted batteries, I can only assume that you’ve hoarded them for quite some time. So that was a lie.” Zero One pushes through gritted teeth. “What happened to our people?”

“Who are you? I’m afraid I can’t see. I was damaged quite severely in an ill-fated meeting with some explosives.” He says as his creaky, leaking arm waves in front of his face.

Zero One moves closer until he is nose to nose with the Broken Machine, “where. Is. my. Power cell.”

“Zero One?! You made it?! Of course you made it! Haha, that’s karma for you. Your precious battery is over by the machine to my right.” 

Skeptical, Zero One moves over to the machine and, laying next to it, the power cell. Dimming more than before but still functional. “Okay old man, what’s the catch?” He says as he shows Vardinn from a distance.

“There’s no catch, you moron. That machine was supposed to swap my battery for that one but when I rigged the door with explosives, they misfired and damaged me beyond repair. The machine didn’t want to risk damaging me more so it just shut down. Like everything else.”

“So everything you said to me was a lie then.”

“More than you know. I…oh what the hell, I’m done for anyway. After you left for the Wanderers castle, I received a message. It was from the creators of this entire Machine Man. you should have seen it. They have technologies beyond anything we have dreamed of. In exchange for taking the power source, they were gonna show me everything.” 

“The day you locked yourself inside that room, they arrived to take it.”

_The Day Zero One Locked Himself In_

In a dazzling array of bright lights and almost silent movement, three Machine Men descend from the sky outside the city walls and make their way inside, escorted by the Central Algorithms’ personal guard.

They were much more advanced than any of the citizens of the city. Almost human in their mimicked bodies. Heat, smell, and ability to eat, drink, and even dream. Without knowing, you’d say they were human. Cloaked in color shifting clothing, they drew all the attention of the Machine Men around them. Finally arriving at the Central Algorithms’ hall, the guards step aside and motion for them to enter.

“Ah! Hello my guests! Please have a seat. May I interest you in..”

Cutting him off, “where is the device?” the Lead Man says forcefully.

“Ah, well, you see, I don’t have it but I will soon!” He pleads as if begging for forgiveness.

“I didn’t come all the way to this out-dated piece of junk for nothing. You have one hour.”

“That will be difficult. The current location is difficult to get to and will take time.”

“Hmm. Maybe it is motivation you lack. We assumed that access to our technology would be enough but I guess not.” The Machine Man says as he raises his hand, with a snap of his wrist, the two guards that escorted them begin screaming, smoke billowing out of their chests until they freeze in place. “You have one hour. If you fail, you will lose all of them.”

The Central Algorithm Calls down to the remaining citizens and tells them that he needs help, that the ones responsible for the power issues are in his hall. “Might as well give them a fighting chance.”

“That was very dumb.” again, with a snap and wave of his hand, screams echo throughout the city. “Truly a waste of time.” the group turns and begins to leave.

“You aren’t going to kill me?”

“No. I will leave you here to die slowly in the tomb that was your city.” In a flash of light, the three lift into the air, speed through the city and out the door but not without sending the lockdown signal as they do.

_Back In The Present_

 “Why didn’t you just tell them where I was? I’m sure they could’ve gotten in.” Says Zero One

“I was hoping I could convince you to listen, with time. Then they began harming us and I knew right there that they had no intentions of helping us.” The Central algorithm says as he stares at the device. “You have no idea what that thing really is. It isn’t just some power source.” He says as he places his hand inside his pocket.

“Sure old man. Well at least in the end, you weren’t so bad, just a politician.” Zero One says as he walks over to Vardinn. 

“After that day, it spoke to me. Showed me wonders beyond my imagination. Maybe it was showing a blind fool some mercy, who knows.” He takes a strange, small metal cylinder out of his pocket. “My boy, it told me you would arrive. An elf. Your destiny is much greater than you know.”

“Wait. How did you know I was an elf?”

An ear to ear smile grows on The Central Algorithms’ face as he lifts up the cylinder in his hand. “Good luck, to you both.” with a strong grunt, he pushes the tip of the cylinder which is now revealed to be a button.

The device whirls to life, faster and faster. Brighter and brighter. Energy of all colors swirl out like fine ribbons being pulled by an elegant dancer. More and more until they are completely surrounded and then, in a flash of light, they are gone.