They were encircled by desert bandits.
"Remove your clothes!"
Lucifer felt a gun at his head, "You too,"

"What are they saying?" Clanthido asked Ameradite.
"They are telling us to remove our clothes," Ameradite said and he got the knife closer to Ameradite's neck, "What are you telling him?!"
"He doesn't know English, I'm just translating," She said.
"I thought these were Americans?"

"Where are you from?" He pressed the gun tightly on Lucifer's head.
"Switzerland," He said without batting an eye.
"Oh, so they are Europeans,"
"Well, you both know English," They stared at Ameradite and Lucifer, "Remove your clothes,"

"No, fuck you," Lucifer said and one of the bandits dug a knife into Lucifer's shoulder, "Argh!" He groaned in pain.
"Lucifer!" Ameradite shouted but they held her back.
"Do as I say or we'll kill all of you!"

"You're removing your clothes or you want another knife on your throat next?"
Lucifer looked into his black eyes and removed his coat. He then proceeded to remove his turtleneck and his pale skin shone under the sky.
"Remove your pants too,"

"Are you gay, you faggot?" Lucifer asked.
"What the fuck did you say—"
"Calm down, don't hurt him," Another one of them looked at Lucifer, "We can sell him for a good price, he looks young,"

Lucifer glared at them. They threw his turtleneck at him, "Wear this and get into the truck,"
"I do not take orders," Lucifer said.
"Well, then, learn something new. Get into the car or I'll smash your legs and put you inside myself," He looked down at him, his hazel eyes shining under the sun.

Lucifer clicked his tongue and got into the truck, followed by Clanthido and Ameradite.
'I was reckoned to help other ANDRIODs and find Ben...What the fuck did I get myself into...'

The ANDROIDs were decreed to be dismantled and put back in their gelleptical cells. An inquiry team for finding Lucifer and bringing him back to the Royal Palace in Switzerland was dispatched and arrangements for a new security force were made. Coelestin got a dinner invitation from a huge businessman in New York and left the following morning.

The guards took all of the ANDROIDs to the UV chambers and discarded their batteries. They lay on the work desks, waiting to be dismantled and taken to the furnace to be melted and made into something more productive and extract expensive metals out of them.

They just lay on the work desks quietly in the foggy, green UV light laboratory. It was cold and dark. One week and everything would be over. Suddenly, Valorie opened his blue eyes and looked at the ceiling, he breathed in and out. He remembered Ben,

"Make me a species of the rebellion. I want to become a weapon that revolutionises this world," A minor boy about fourteen, ebony hair, glittery brown eyes ran after Ben. He had an amputated leg and an amputated hand. Ben turned towards him,

"Listen, Will, we already have Asselyum and the others—"
"You know they are not enough and you don't have time to make a high tech robot as Asselyum again. I am the one, Ben."

Ben looked away, deep in thought, "No, it's too risky,"
"The worst-case I die,"

"You don't care about dying?"
"Ben," He moved towards him, "They ate away my leg and my hand. I still get nightmares and I'm so afraid that it's not gonna go away for the rest of my life." He looked into his eyes with sad regard, "I don't know where to go anymore,"

Ben looked into his eyes, "The pain might kill you,"
"Let the pain turn into power,"
Ben crossed his arms as his pink eyes looked down,

"Okay,"

He remembered the four procedures they did which made him renounce his humanity, the pain, the howls, the sentiments he had when he felt he was nearly dying. He recalled waking up with a new hand and a new leg, a new body. His face looked different and his eyes were shining blue. Ben sat beside him, "Do you feel alright?"

"...Yes,"
"Can you feel your body, try moving your toes and your fingers,"
He could do that. He smiled, "Am I an ANDROID now?"
"Yes," He got up and pressed his fingers near Valorie's eyes, "Ben?"
"You get your energy from both food and batteries, you can switch to any whenever you want,"
"Okay,"

Ben moved closer to his face and looked into his eyes,

"There is this...screw inside your left eye which contains the passage to the time machine, no other ANDROID has it."
"Really? Wow! So cool!" Valorie touched his eyelids.

"Pull it out from your eye and it'll connect your system to the time machine and you can travel through time. But use it only when you have no other choice because, after this, you'll lose your ability to see forever,"
"What the hell, then I'm never using it. I don't need to travel through time,"

Ben smiled. His smile was a dismal one, like watching riping plums fall and squash, such a waste to a young life.
Did he know Valorie would need it? To make a sacrifice to save a plummeting conglomerate?

As he lay on the laboratory table, he looked at the ceiling above him, he slowly got up. He could run away, he still had his food reservoir, he could run far away and never come back.

He was tired of fighting already. What was the point, X-DROIDs were gone, they had new threats, it was a never-ending limbo. And he didn't want to remain stuck with these pieces of metal with no feelings. He should leave everything behind and run, he looked at Asselyum, MiK, Norman. He looked at the walls, his vision turned blurry from the tears.

His memories flushed all upon his mind, ready to be forgotten, the colours slowly faded away into darkness and he could see grey candlelight, blue eyes looking at him. Those blue eyes connected all of them, they were a family. Family isn't who you're born with,

It's who you die for.

Asselyum lay beside him. He wiped his tears and his vision cleared again. He snorted and reached his hands towards his left eyes. He pressed its iris and it glowed blue. A tiny screw popped out of it, as his computer hologram appeared before him. It was the time machine, asking to enter the year he wanted to be in. The screw was the lever.

His hands were shaking as he entered the date he wanted to go to. His comrades in the past might help them again, right? He didn't know if what if was doing, was worth risking his vision for, he didn't even know why he was doing it or what was he expecting. His hands trembled as he pulled out the screw,

"Let the pain..." He whispered, 'Why can't I be selfish when I need that the most! I don't wanna lose my eyes to something so uncertain!'

The screw fell on the marble floor, bounced back up and then finally rested on the floor, making a loud noise in the quiet room, reverberating through his ears.

"Turn into power,"

After that, it was all dark. He opened his eyes, but it was dark. He didn't know where he was, what time it was, was he even alive? Because it felt like years since he had been seeing the darkness. There was no light, no sound, just him.

"The pain might kill you," He heard Ben's words resonating the dark, "It killed me,"

He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the blue sky above him. Everything was blurry. He got up and looked around. Asselyum lay beside him, her face was clear. They were on a footpath. He rubbed his eyes but the blur won't go away. He got up and took a deep breath. He rubbed his eyes continuously, but the blur won't go away. He couldn't see things from far away. All the cars on the roads were blurry, the signs were blurry, people's faces were blurry. Asselyum lay close to him so he could see her clearly but everything else was blurred.

He got up and looked around, "Excuse me, could you tell me the date?" He asked a pedestrian.
"It's November fourth,"
"Erm year?"
"20XX,"

'Four hundred years'

"Could you tell me the way to Manhatten Bridge? There's a bar near it I need to visit,"
"Well, you can take a taxi till there. It's pretty far away,"

"Alright, thank you," He walked towards the corner of the road and waved his hand. A taxi stopped in front of him and from there started his journey to Manhatten.

-To be continued

Valorie
5500 Rebellion