"You mean to tell me that your men lost Eight Thirty One?!" Someone, an old man, yelled at Stone. "I'm sorry sir! I had Thompson go with his best men to infiltrate the house that Eight Thirty One was in so they could capture it."

"You failed for the last time. I'm demoting you from lieutenant general to first lieutenant Stone.

"Sir yes sir." Stone complied knowing that General Grey was ranked higher than him. Grey was the one in charge of this whole operation and he was after something called Eight Thirty One.

"Someone call Briggs in here right now!" Grey ordered after Stone walked out in shame. He went down in rank so it was natural for him to feel shame.

_________________________________________

Nearly a month has passed since Axle was admitted to the hospital for emergency surgery. He was slowly recovering and was still bed ridden. Carly chose to stay with Axle and she'd frequently visit him during that time period and she refused to leave his side. The doctors chose to accept it since there was no convincing her to leave.

Day in, day out, Axle was out of it. After that surgery he was in a coma and he didn't wake up since then. Doctors speculated it was the blood loss that did it or maybe it could have been another factor that they didn't see. It was hard to believe he was still alive at all when thinking about the surgery. It was night time and visiting hours were long over. The room was dark. The machines still working, beeping. He slowly opened opened his eyes and looked around.

"Hospital huh? How long was I out?" Axle asked himself as he continued to look around. He was groggy, and who wouldn't be? The guy's been asleep for a month. He found Carly sitting next to his bed sleeping. A small smile creeped up on his face. "How long has she been here?"

He took notice of her being asleep. She looked peaceful but distressed at the same time, no doubt because of him. "Wow, never thought I'd be happy to see her sleeping face as much as I am now." He said to himself quietly, trying not to wake her up. He then laughed quietly to himself.

"It's funny. I fell asleep and like every time I wake up, she's the first face that I see." He couldn't help but smile at the sleeping girl. He didn't want to wait to talk now so he tried to nudge her awake but she didn't wake up.

"Psst, Carly." Axle called out as he decided to use noise to try and wake her up. "Carly." Still no response from her. She must have been in ram sleep. "Carly!" He quietly yelled. He was still in a hospital so he took the rest of the other patients into consideration. He watched as she stirred up from he peaceful slumber. She looked around and saw Axle. He was looking at her, smiling.

"Axle..." She smiled before tears filled her eyes. She went over to hug him and cried into his neck. All Axle did was hug her back, taking in every feeling he and she was experiencing. "You idiot... why did you that?" She sniffled. He watched her whimper and this broke his heart. He kept staring at her and he said, "Carly... don't cry. I hate seeing you like this... It makes me sad."

"I almost lost you Axle!!" She yelled,not caring that she was still in a hospital. "But you didn't, did you?" Axle said as she finally looked him in the eye. Her grey orbs looking into his chocolate eyes.

"I missed you Axle, you didn't wake up after that surgery. We all thought it was the drugs and the blood loss but you fell into a coma." The tears didn't stop flowing. "I thought I lost you!"

"Do I really mean that much to you?" Axle asked as he put up a smirk. She didn't answer. She looked away because of it, clearly embarrassed. "Carly... can I ask you something?"

"You just did." She joked trying to lighten the dull mood. "Okay okay, real funny. But seriously, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah." Carly said as she looked at Axle once more, feeling glad that he was alright. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

"What?" Carly shocked to hear those words. In truth Axle was unsure about this before the night he got shot but waking up like this helped him confirm his feelings. "I didn't stutter Carly."

"Why do you want me to be your girlfriend?" She asked in a state of nothing but shock. "You mean everything to me. All I just wanted to do was come back to you... Carly I-"

She put her finger on his mouth to cut him off. "We can't." She said with a low sigh. "Why not?" He asked her. He still remembered the kiss he gave her and the kiss she gave him. This was all to confusing for the gamer. "Because you almost died and I'm the reason for it." She said before she started to sob once more. The pain and guilt shoved it's way back to the surface for Carly.

"You're not that I almost died. I was just reckless." Axle told her. "That guy you killed was with the military and it's the same military that wants me, the same people I escaped from."

"Why would the military want you?" Axle asked as he gained a new topic to be confused at. The gamer, confused by the whole situation, looked at Carly strangely. "They want me because I'm not a human... I'm just artificial, I'm not a real person... just an android." She said as tears reformed within her eyes.

"I'm a military experiment. My designated title is CH-831. Short for Cybernetic Human Eight Thirty One."

Axle looked shocked. But it didn't even look like the information phased him. "You see Axle, nothing about me is real. I'm just a weapon used to blend in to society."

"You're not a weapon and you're not a robot. You're your own person Carly and nobody can take it from you. Anything capable of feeling emotion cannot be counted as a robot." Axle told her as he hugged her, not even caring about what she was.

"It doesn't matter if you're a real human or an artificial human, my feelings for you won't ever change." Axle told her with a smile before breaking up the hug.

"Even though I'm a robot you still want me to be your girlfriend?" Carly asked him as his words left her flabbergasted.

"What part of 'it doesn't matter' didn't you understand?" Axle laughed. "Now I'm gonna ask you again... Carly, will you be my girlfriend?"

She looked at him with an uneasy stare.

"I'm still not sure if I should." Carly told Axle. "What do you mean?"

"You killed somebody Axle, a soldier from the army. You almost died in the process too. How much people have to get hurt, how much people have to die because of me?"

"I promised to protect you, no matter what happens. And I also told you that I wasn't gonna break that promise Carly. Whatever burdens may come, I'll shoulder each and every one of them. Not because I have to, because I want to. You're not in this alone. Not anymore." Axle told her with a reassuring tone of voice and smile.

"You idiot..." Carly looked at Axle with a weak smile. "Do I really mean that much to you?"

"Yeah. You do. So what's your answer?"