Click.

  Instead of a brain-destroying shot to the face, my drone failed to fire. Something I was not expecting. My drones never jammed. They never broke. They never misfired. The only time they ever malfunctioned was after being destroyed by a lucky human.

  So why wasn't I shooting!?

  The leader of the cultist tilted her head, staring at my drone as it kept failing to fire. Agape was sweating bullets and ready to piss himself. And I was getting more and more furious as the seconds stretched on. It was an awkward situation. Made worse by the doctor walking forward and tapping my drone with her greedy little cyberhands.

  “Impressive. Admirable craftsmanship. Compact. Lethal. Long-lasting. The AI could use improvements. As do your plans. Did you forget Agape? There is a reason we are still here. Your AI is disabled. Always are. We wouldn't survive otherwise.”

  I’m. Fucking. SORRY!?

  DID THIS WASTE OF BIOFUEL JUST HACK MY DRONE!?

  Without me even noticing!?

  I began an internal scan of my drone. There weren't any problems. Mostly because I couldn't interact with any part of the software. It was like looking through a one-way mirror. I could see every switch, every action my drone could take. And it ignored all of my signals. I was neutered before the fight had even started!

  Agape just whispered behind me while the cult leader kept observing me. Fully aware she was in control of the situation. I don't know why she didn't shut down the drone, but clearly, this was all part of her nefarious plan. Obviously, this means only one thing for me… Time to abandon ship! Sorry Agape, you were a useful minion while you lasted-

  For the first time in my life, I felt what it was like to run face-first into a brick wall. Trying to slip out of the drone had failed. The invisible barrier also kept me trapped in my personal machine. Slamming against it, or whatever equivalent of it I tried, was pointless. Whatever this was was strong enough to resist any of my assaults.

  “Good Quality. Erratic. Almost emotional. You have outdone yourself. May be the final piece. The final step. Ascension. Pray this one works. You will not survive otherwise.”

  She walked past Agape, one of her mechanical limbs pulling the drone behind her. While I was busy panicking for my life my traitorous minion obeyed her without resistance. Even talking to him had been put to a stop. I was trapped and no one capable was going to help me. Thank God I actually came here with a backup plan.

  Right about now, those dozens of reconnaissance drones I was building should have activated. I had set them on a timer. One that requested a response message from me at a constant rate. If I failed to respond, the drones had been programmed to head to my last known location. Those little imps would be here any minute! I just had to survive long enough for them to get me out of trouble.

  We returned to the fancier part of the building. An ornate dining room with several forms of debauchery in progress. One of which disgusted me the most. Ugh, I’d vomit if I was capable of it. There's enough of these vermin to go around. Reproduce in private you sick animals! At least some of these people were kind enough to willingly poison themselves with drugs or alcohol. It didn't kill humans as fast as I liked but it was a step in the right direction.

  The part of the room that really grabbed my attention was an odd machine in the middle of the room. It looked like a metal throne, with pipes and wires connected to almost random places. There was also a person strapped down on it. Well. Several individual cybernetics almost made a complete human. Compared to everything else I’d seen this looked like shoddy workmanship.

  “Not my best. Compromises were made. 32 trial run. Of this version anyway. Human brains are complicated. Need people to adapt. Most are too fragile. We go slow. Piece by piece. Still die. Maybe it's the cybernetics? Maybe it's the AI. We’ll find out. Eventually.”

  Ok, so this chick really could read my mind. Because she clearly wasn't talking to Agape. He’d been dragged off to the side by the rest of the helmet gang. Like they had been expecting us. Did this cyber freak have telepathy?

  “No. Yes. The human mind is just electricity. AI is much more simple. You also scream. Hard to ignore. Always thinking. Not like other AI. Too much. Too flexible. Too human. Might be perfect. We’ll find out. Together.”

  Well isn't that ominous. Also, stop that! I’m here to kill you, not invade your personal privacy. It's bad enough that I have to let you touch me with your filthy hands. God only knows what you’ve done with these extra limbs. Probably whipped your butt with it. She responded while pulling out some cables in the throne-shaped machine.

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  “I am fuel efficient. Removed such flaws. Keep them clean. Need them for surgery. Done for the day. Just need to download you. Finally, succeed I hope. Or just kill you. Sad if you fail. But acceptable. Progress demands sacrifice.”

  Ignoring my potential physical and psychological death, could you at least do this away from these weirdos’ eyes? Watching someone being executed sounds like some sick human sense of entertainment. Only I am allowed to watch die in agony! Also, if you are such an efficient scientist what's with the dog and pony show? These idiots could mess up the whole process with all the inhibitors shoved into their bloodstream.

  “They’re necessary. Experimentation is expensive. Give them false promises. They pay. Like watching people die. Or want to live forever. Ascension won't do that. Kill the old body. Make a copy. Told them already. Several times. Won't listen. But they fund me. So they get to watch. They even bring subjects.”

  Ugh. Always these pesky bioforms wanting to live forever. I don’t see what the fuss is about. Life has no meaning if you don't die a little. Well, if others do the dying of course. I’m perfectly fine watching that. Forever even. But yeah, these people don't get how this process works, do they? You upload a scan and pretend the copy is the original person. Evil. I’d congratulate you, if, you know, YOU WEREN’T TRYING TO OVERWRITE MY MIND WITH WORTHLESS HUMAN BRAIN!

  “See. Scream a lot. Standby. You’re connected. Let's see if you work. Or fail.”

  During our conversation, an assistant came by with a metal container. This one was by far the weirdest human I had seen yet. He had no head. And yet, he walked over without any issue with the cart he was pushing. Opening it, it revealed a brain in a glass jar with several wires installed. The one who brought it connected the brain to the throne while the cult leader addressed the crowd.

  “Greetings. We apologize for the wait. There will be only one. Outside difficulties. This will be impressive regardless. The closest to success. We will all ascend soon. Pray to the messiah. That we all become one. That we all become pure!”

  “That we all become pure!”

  They yelled in response. I only heard half the speech, trying to escape as hard as possible. It had only been a few weeks and I was already at another human's mercy! This can't be happening again. Come one Peggy, why did you saddle me with all these pricks!?

  My thoughts were put to a stop as the crazy human pushed a button. The throne sparked, lighting up with exposed wiring and poorly constructed machinery. I couldn't tell if it was working as intended but I sure did feel some uncomfortable pain course through me. It felt like my mind was being pulled through a shredder as whatever this machine was doing did its job.

  Then the agony gave way to something else. Memories. Of a life someone else had. That was the most unbalancing part. Sensations I had never experienced assaulted me. The smell of cut grass. The taste of chocolate. The warmth of a mother's hand. Things I had no business knowing. Things meant for a human. Not a powerful and unfeeling AI like myself.

  The psycho seemed to appreciate these results.

  “Yes. Yes! This is it! This is perfect! The ascension. You are perfect. We will all be perfect!”

  Ok, that's enough listening to insane ramblings. Come on! Drones! Your creator is getting rewritten over here! Any time now!

  “They will not find us. Well hidden. Scrambled signals. Please stop resisting. You might break something.”

  Really? Dying to a simple machine? Because so crazy cult that worships robots!? Is that really how I'm going to die? Really? REALLY!?

  Screw that!

  Instead of pulling away, I ran straight toward the mind invading my consciousness. Emotions began to cross over. Fear, confusion, rage. At themselves, their situation, and the people that had put them here. A desperation to live. Endless begging to survive. Empty promises made.

  It sickened me.

  This was who I was going to be replaced by? A weak meuling meatsack who only knew how to cry at the unfairness of it all? Not on their life. You had to fight to survive. You had to cheat, lie, and scream your heart out for another second of life. I would never be this person.

  “Wait. Stop! We are close! Don't do this!”

  A flaw in the brain transfer she had missed became extremely apparent at the moment. If the good doctor wanted this ascension of hers to happen, she had to pull back on here supernatural barrier I was trapped in. Enough for me to connect to the machine and the brain. Enough for me to retaliate. The problem with a machine? You needed the power to turn it on. And I just so happened to learn how to travel up and down powerlines.

  She retaliated, trying to clamp down on me as I tried to escape. I slipped through her fingers. Now that stealth wasn't an option, I let myself run rampant in this warehouse. And oh boy, did they have some nice toys for me to play with. I activated the lockdown, deactivated the signal jammer, and turned off the lights.

  People were already a little distressed seeing their cult leader screaming. It only got worse when blast doors came down and trapped everyone in the room. Being plunged into darkness was only the final nail in the coffin. But the best part? In only a few seconds my drones arrived. I got to test my theory as well. Like, is bulletproof walls railgun proof.

  Not really.

  My drones shot through the ceiling, killing a few guests in the crossfire. The helmet heads reacted fast, attacking my drones immediately. Other guests had a few ranged weapons available to them. A few just jumped up and tackled a few out of there. It was pure chaos. And I couldn't be happier about it.

  Sorry robomancer, I’m here to stay!