531

The old Mariner Tech laboratory was one of the taller buildings in the Skylines. The lower levels had once hosted the majority of their administrative offices, and a few labs that were used to show off research to garner the public’s favor. The middle levels were used for medical research, including trial patients and recovery for their tech hybridization patients. The public record showed the top tier levels were offices for their most important scientists. They were actually the laboratory for the military ops division of the company that they had successfully kept quiet.

Chan Yi had come to life on those levels. Emerged, they called it when it happened. His creation had been Mariner Tech’s greatest accomplishment; an AI who followed orders blindly but could make decisions in the field to complete his assignment. He had completed dozens of missions without a single fault. He refused to count how many people he had killed under those orders. He had been nothing more than a weapon then.

His first true memory had been blinking his eyes open in his compartment in the lab to find another AI standing over him. He didn’t know how Two knew he was emerging at that moment, but he’d come to be there with him. It had been terrifying, to feel so much.

They had taken that journey together, learning what it meant to have these emotions. What it meant to hide them from the scientists because as soon as they realized Two had emerged, they began talking about reprogramming and destroying the ‘contaminated’ specimens.

Chan Yi entered the nearest building that had the angles he needed. Across the street, he climbed to the thirty-sixth floor of an empty advertising building.

Whoever was in charge of this operation had assumed Chan Yi had to go through the ground floor. With his talents and invulnerability, it would take a lot of men to stop him, but he had good odds even against the superior numbers. Yi wasn’t 531 anymore though. He didn’t automatically take the straightest route to a target as he once had. His life meant more than his mission - usually. He had two missions tonight; rescue Fulmer and find Two. He wasn’t sure which had the highest priority. He knew he was there to find Fulmer. That was the job. But his heart made things messy.

Two wasn’t wrong. Love made them stupid.

It made them do the unbelievable too.

Chan Yi wasn’t stupid though. Before he’d made the climb, he drove to his nearest weapons storage - he had three in different places throughout the Builds and Piles - and collected what he needed. If this was a setup for him, it was a chance to find Two and he had to take it. It didn’t matter how bad an idea he knew it was.

From his perch on the thirty-sixth floor, Yi could read the heat signatures across the way. No one had joined them. There were only three people in the room, and Two was one of them. Most eyes couldn’t see the specific signature that Two and Yi emitted, but it was clear to see for anyone that knew how to look for it. Mariner Tech had tried to recreate them over the years, but they had never managed a working model without the programming that had led to his emotional awakening.

Yi had already set a zipline across to the other building and he watched the movements across the street to make certain no one was in position to see him as he swung over. The motorized trolley pulled him quickly up the line towards the wall of the other building. As he approached, Yi shot the window in three places. The glass pane cracked and fell inward as Yi crashed into it.

He rolled to the floor and moved behind an abandoned desk. The wind rushed through the open window, throwing debris into the air. Old papers and trash filled the air until it was whiped out into the street. Yi already had the schematics of the room in his head, and he moved towards the door.

Four men waited in the stairwell, two on the 36th floor and two on the 37th. The heat signatures showed one moving towards the door and Yi ducked around the corner, pulled a gun from his thigh holster, and waited. The man stepped into the office, gun held out in front of him.

Yi fired before the man saw him moving. The agent fell to the ground, but Yi was already moving out the door. He ducked a fist from the man outside but retaliated with gunfire instead. The man fell with a bullet to his side, and Yi pulled the trigger a second time. He wouldn’t take a chance with a Mariner agent.

He ran up the stairs and was surprised to find them empty. He went past the first landing more cautiously. When he checked his heat sensors, the men who had been guarding the door had moved into the 37th floor where Two was.

He pulled a second gun from another holster and moved quietly. He could hear movement below him, but it was slow coming. Were they hoping to capture him on the 37th floor? Or were they just cautious with him waiting above?

One of the men was waiting inside the door. Yi took the gun with the adaptations for his own kind and shot through the drywall. The man went down, and Yi holstered the gun and pulled out a smoke grenade. He crouched down low and tossed it in the room, letting it do its job before he stepped in a minute later.

The grenade had been made for outdoor targets, so the room was thick with it. He switched his vision to see through the smoke. Three humans and Two. Two was next to a seated man towards the back of the room. The other two men were crouched low but moving towards the door.

“531, we don’t need to do this. They just want you back.”

Chan Yi recognized the voice, and he couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face. “Jackson, the last time you saw me, you were on your back. How did you convince Mariner to keep you alive?”

“You went out a window. Someone had to clean up your mess.”

“I’m not here to deal with you, Jackson. I just want Fulmer.”

“Come and get him.”

Yi stopped because he knew that voice too. Two.

Something moved in the smoke beside him. Yi moved forward to attack the agent that came at him. He swung his leg out, knocking the agent to the ground. A bullet to the brain stopped him and he moved away from the noise of it.

“Elias? Report!” Jackson called out.

“Was that his name? Condolences.” Yi said as he moved towards Two.

“Damn it! Where is the backup!” Jackson shouted.

Yi found the agent in the smoke and stood up so that Jackson could see him. “Not close enough to help you,” he answered. “Tell them 531 said hello.”His fist connected with Jackson’s chin and Yi watched him stumble. A punch to the solar plexus had the man on the ground and out of the fight. Yi stood over him, but Jackson wasn’t worth the cost of the bullet or the blood on his hands.

He looked back at the door and could see the slow-moving backup, still creeping up the steps a few floors below them. He moved towards the back with only one thing keeping him from Fulmer.

The man had been pulled behind a tipped-over desk, with Two standing watch over him.

“I just came for Fulmer,” Yi called out into the smokey room.

“And I’m here to keep him.”

“No,” Yi said as he stood up. He watched Two’s eyes widen as he saw Yi in front of him. “You’re here to lure me. Don’t you know who I am?”

“531. An agent who went rogue and became a terrorist.”

“A terrorist?” Yi said with a smile. “Is that what I am? And what do I want with Fulmer? What dastardly plan would I need him for?”

“You tell me.”

“I’m a PI. That’s all. His wife hired me to bring him home, and I intend to do so.”

Yi stepped closer and Two brought a gun up and pointed it at him. Yi stopped moving, but he holstered his gun and held his hands up. “Do you know me?”

“Why would I know you?”

“Because you should.”

Two’s eyes widened but he shook his head. “I have amnesia. I got a new augmentation, and I don’t remember anything before it.”

“Or they took the memories from you. My name is Yi. You know me, Two. More than anyone else in this world.”

“My name is Wu DaQi.”

Yi watched Two’s eyes and the way he was processing what was being thrown at him. “They’re lying to you, DaQi. Your real name is Two and I’m the one who gave it to you. Just like you named me Yi.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Two demanded.

“Not with what they’ve told you.” Yi could hear the movement from outside and he knew he was out of time. Two wasn’t ready, but Yi had to give him time to remember. There was something there, he could feel it. Two was still there, beneath DaQi.

As much as he wanted to save Two from all of this, there was only one person he could save today.

He stepped closer to Two. “I would never hurt you,” he told him. “Be careful, these people aren’t who they say they are. And neither are you.” Two dropped his gun and Yi moved before Two could stop him. He pressed his lips to Two’s for a quick, chaste kiss. “I’ll be waiting for you, Two. Find me.”

Before Two responded, Yi pushed him as hard as he could. Two went flying back and was knocked behind a desk. The door behind them opened and Yi ran to Fulmer and pulled him to his feet. The man’s hands were tied, and he was still gagged. Yi undid his hands as he pulled him towards the wall. He found the right window, then shot it twice. He kicked the rest of it out and pulled Fulmer to him. “Hold on!” he yelled to the man.

“Don’t!” Yi stopped as Two stared at him from across the room. He didn’t have a weapon out, but he rushed forward.

“You don’t need to worry, Two. You taught me to fly.”

Yi jumped, pulling a struggling Fulmer with him. He grabbed the zipline with one hand and kept Fulmer close with the other. The man grabbed him tight now that he was his lifeline. The zipline burned through his glove as they slid, and he felt the precious skin of his hands rip. The pain was extreme but while he could survive the drop, he’d be in no state to fight off the agents coming after him. Fulmer’s heart rate said he’d be dead before they hit the ground.

They flew through the air and back into the building across the street. Yi let go of the rope, hit the ground, and rolled to his feet. Fulmer wasn’t so agile. He kept going until he landed hard against a pillar.

Yi pulled him up. “Can you keep moving?”

“What the hell is all this?”

“Your wife wants you home. Let’s get you back to her.”

Fulmer opened his mouth to say more, but Yi grabbed him by the arm and pushed him towards the other part of the building where their final escape waited.

He looked back across the buildings and could see the heat signatures of humans trying to figure out how to chase him, and the agents on the streets below scrambling to figure out his next move and trap him in the building.

Two stood at the window, watching.

Yi waved, knowing that Two would see the gesture, blew him a kiss, then ran with Fulmer to the escape tube that would see them to their escape vehicle.

Two would come. He would remember. And they would finally be together.