The underground marketplace had seemed like a hopeless thread until he found out this was where he could find answers to the question that haunted his dreams. Now, with renewed confidence, Aris makes his way out, and on his exit, he bumps into a towering mass. Dark mist conceals its figure, its soulless glow emanating from the halo of its oculus. The same malevolent presence that had tormented him through unending nights, each haunting vision inching him closer to the abyss of madness.

He loses his footing and scrambles backwards, his heart thundering against his ribcage. Eyes wide with primal terror, he inched away like a cornered animal, watching helplessly as the aberrant horror savoured the moment before its inevitable fatal strike.

A guttural, mechanical rasp reverberated from the thing's respirator systems, mimicking the restless, beastly groans. It's ominous wheezing fills his mind.

The concealing mist ceases. Revealing a skeletal machine with shoulders bulging out of its ragged poncho.

"Despite the devastation, progress with uncovering details of this case can be attributed to our recruit, Aris." The commissioner, Aris's commander, stretches his hand out towards the burgundy-haired man. "It has earned him a spot on the Interpol recruitment watchlist.”

The room applauds.

Adrenaline rushes from the memory of his commander's words. The weight of expectations pushes Aris to lunge at the android, knocking it to the ground. He straddled the mechanical horror, twisting its skull with both hands in a desperate attempt to wrench it free. The android countered, its servomotors whirring as it resisted the violent motions. An icy, vice-like grip clamped around his forearms, wrenching them away from the android's head.

THONK!

A heavy boot collided with the side of his head, the sudden impact sending stars across his vision. He recoiled, tumbling away as handcuffs he carried spilt from his pockets, clattering across the pavement.

Aris staggered to his feet, his senses scrambled. His blurred sight could barely make out the two figures dressed in baggy construction uniforms standing defensively before the android.

"The hell are you doing?" the man with long hair and work jacket, unzipped, growled.

It has the answers that will bring me closer to the top, closer to her. Getting those answers is what I'm doing. Aris didn't voice his thoughts, knowing it didn't matter. 

The android dismisses the backup in incomprehensible mechanical clacking, its halo eyes piercing Aris's eyes with a cold, reasoning gaze. The android intoned in its growls, bowing in apology before turning to depart.

The two men exchanged uneasy glances before disengaging from the fray.

Apologies meant nothing to Aris. He wanted vengeance, his hate burning like a smouldering brand. As the machine turned its back, Aris snatched up the discarded handcuffs and flung them towards it.

CLANK! BZZT!

The electrified cuffs struck true, arcing volts of electricity conducting through the android's chassis. It convulsed, stumbling as lights flickered in its visual receptors.

"W-why?" it pleaded, its synthesised voice glitching.

Aris' eyes narrowed, and his expression twisted with antagonistic desperation. Without a word, he charged after the android as it retreated into the nearby alley.

The dismissed duo exchanged confused looks; the shorter-haired one led the pursuit of Aris, the ruckus drawing them inexorably back into the fray.

The machine leapt nimbly atop the weathered rooftops lining the alleyway, its metal feet clattering against the aged ceramic tiles. It agilely bounded from one precipice to the next, avoiding the crowded, narrow streets that serpentine through the tightly packed bazaar stalls below.

Sparing a furtive glance over its shoulder, the android spotted Aris in dogged pursuit and the two civilians lagging behind him like buzzing flies. That momentary lapse in focus proved costly, as it misjudged the next leap and missed the edge of the adjacent rooftop.

It plummeted with a resonant clang, crashing through the canopy and tumbling into the bustling marketplace. Vendors and shoppers scattered with shouts of alarm as the machine hit the packed earth.

Aris tried to swim against the tide of the panicked crowd, past glowing vendor signs and steam vents from the surface above, his smaller frame quickly diminishing amidst the labyrinthine network of winding alleys. No matter how fervently he shoved and wove through the crowds, the android's staggered, although longer, strides allowed it to pull ahead steadily.

The chase continued, the erratic android making several more missteps and near-misses, yet Aris could not close the widening gap. At last, he could only watch helplessly as the machine leapt back atop the rooftops, its metallic form disappearing over the horizon of the sprawling bazaar.

Having been utterly consumed by the single-minded pursuit, Aris found himself hopelessly lost amidst the now-empty labyrinth of desolate alleys and shuttered stalls, the shadows around him stagnant like the air.

“DAMN IT! DAMN IT ALL!” Aris's desperate howls echo through the hollow streets, cursing his failure at apprehension.

“However, this status is fickle," the commissioner clarifies for the seniors, murmuring jealous remarks. "He has a long way to go before solidifying himself as a serious candidate.”

“Why am I…” His frustration filled his eyes, and grief and despair returned to the boy.

Aris slumps against the cold, damp wall of the alley, his chest heaving with exhaustion and despair. The weight of his failure crushes him. He had the machine, the key, and the next step to unravelling the mystery within his grasp, but it slipped away, leaving him lost and alone in the labyrinthine streets of the underground city.

He closes his eyes, trying to hold back the tears that threaten to spill.

Silencing the echoes of dripping water. He recalls a scene.

It’s only the beginning.