Chapter 4

“Do something, old man! We’re gonna die here!” Ethan yelled. One arm of the tenazoid burst into flames and fell to the ground, scattering fire everywhere.

“No, no, no, how did this happen on my watch? This has never happened before…” Grimhold thought to himself.

The second arm of the tenazoid broke off and fell to the ground, and soon, the flames spread up the legs of the large machine.

Lily began crying again. She turned to Ethan, and they stared at each other for a moment.

Ethan smiled sadly and said, “We’re both just really unlucky, aren’t we?” He held her hand and pulled her closer to his chest, saying, “It’s okay…”

The glass barrier before them broke open, and a strong wind current pulled both of them out of the tenazoid.

There was a sudden moment of silence as Ethan watched himself and Lily fall toward the ground. The fire had filled the entire facility, and sharp metal scraps covered the ground.

“Oh no!” Grimhold said softly as he watched them plunge to their doom.

Suddenly, a large gust of wind spread out, putting out all the flames and sending the metal scraps flying across the facility.

Commander Grimhold shut his eyes to prevent dust from getting in and held on to a rigid platform at the entrance to avoid being blown away.

As the dust cleared, Grimhold slowly walked back into the facility, waving his arms to clear the remnants.

When he returned inside, his eyes widened in surprise at what he saw. The eyes of tenazoid D1 had turned golden yellow. As the dust settled further, he saw Ethan on the machine’s left palm, carrying an unconscious Lily in his arms.

Ethan’s eyes glowed bright yellow, and his hair flowed as if a strong wind was blowing beneath him.

“He’s like her… He’s... a technopath!” Commander Grimhold said in shock. He stepped back slowly and attempted to lock the door to prevent Ethan from escaping, but tenazoid D1 launched forward, smashing the large metal door to pieces with its right fist.

“A tenazoid is on the loose. Lock all exits immediately!” Commander Grimhold yelled into a device on his wrist.

The alarm blared again, and soldiers from different departments in the base ran out to restrain tenazoid D1.

They gathered in front of the large machine and stared as it stood silently. Ethan, still on the machine’s palm, threw Lily toward the soldiers, then controlled the tenazoid to jump over them the moment they were distracted.

The tenazoid continued running through the base but suddenly stopped.

“…Help me…” a female voice whispered faintly.

Ethan turned toward the sound and ran in its direction. He soon arrived at the chamber where Delilah was kept in cryo-sleep. He smashed the glass barrier open and gently brought her out, using the tenazoid’s limbs.

The tenazoid continued its run through the base but found no exit. Ethan looked upward, then controlled the machine to place him and Delilah inside its chest.

The machine knelt and blasted through the ceiling, breaking through the roof of the large base and landing on top of the building.

Multiple tenazoids, already waiting for them on the roof, surrounded him. As they slowly approached, one of the controllers in the machines said, “Kindly deactivate that war machine and exit its control area, or we will be forced to use violence.”

Ethan’s eyes glowed even brighter, and all the tenazoids surrounding him began coming apart.

Soon, the machines exploded one by one until all the tenazoids around him were nothing but pieces.

He activated the thrusters on tenazoid D1 and blasted off the roof. Commander Grimhold reached the roof just in time to watch the machine fly off.

“…I will find you, Subject 1010…” he said with hatred in his eyes.

***

Ethan coughed up blood as he jumped out of the machine’s chest. His vision was blurry, and his head hurt as if it had been struck by a hammer.

“What kind of power did I use?” he asked himself.

He got up from where he knelt and turned to the yellow tenazoid, which had run out of jet fuel and landed in the middle of nowhere. Ethan stared at the machine with blurred vision. He staggered, then soon collapsed, unconscious.

His eyes slowly opened again after a while; it was already night, and the wind that blew by was cold.

“Huh?” he said as he noticed a fire nearby.

“You shouldn’t stress yourself so much. Your headache will come back…” a female voice sounded from the other side of the flames.

Ethan sat up from where he lay and saw Delilah staring at him with her beautiful emerald green eyes.

“Thanks for saving me… Cryo-sleep isn’t really fun…” she said.

“Nah… I wasn’t really myself back there,” Ethan said, turning away.

“But you still would have done it even if you were yourself, right?” Delilah asked, tilting her head to the right.

“Well, yeah, I guess. I don’t know your story, but I don’t think it’s fair making a 13-year-old girl suffer like that…” Ethan replied as he moved closer to the fire.

“You’re an interesting person, Ethan. I saw it the moment you came to the school. I’ve been watching you ever since…” Delilah said.

Ethan raised his head. “Wait, you never went to cryo-sleep?” he asked.

Delilah placed a finger to her lips and answered, “I’m a technopath, just like you. But I’m only a child, so escaping the cryo-chamber was impossible. But when you came to the school, our minds linked. So, I was able to manipulate things to lead you to where they kept me…”

“You mean you were responsible for the tenazoid incident at the school? And the virus that affected D2?” Ethan asked.

Delilah turned to him with wide eyes and nodded slowly.

“Creepy,” Ethan said, turning away from her.

“I’m not creepy! Cryo-sleep messes with your head. Any longer in there, and I would’ve gone insane for real…” Delilah said with a sad expression.

“So, what do you plan on doing now?” Ethan asked.

Delilah replied, “Me? I’ll follow you wherever you go. But don’t worry, I won’t be a burden. So what’s your plan?”

Ethan let out a sigh, then said, “I want to find my parents, so… I’ll head to Chrysoverse, even if it means crossing this entire desert on foot.”