Nathan

"He must have seen it by now." Nathen thought as he sat in his house watching the time tick away. He knows that wont stop him, but any distraction he could get was worth the risk. KP moves fast since his connections are easier to get a hold of as he's able to move freely around.

Nathen went to use the land line phone. KP could pick up any signal with the barrier he has around the town and has the ability to redirect, cancel, or track the call. This line belonged to the previous owners. Nathen has one source that he can call only on this phone to someone who managed to get a local number.

"Any new reports on Miku?" Nathen immediately asked.

"Your patients get shorter by the day. She's still not stable. We've had to remake and reprogram it twice because it self destructed. I don't think we can input everything you want in her."

"What do you mean you can't?! What are you getting paid for if you can't do the job? I need this thing now!" Nathen demanded.

"You're asking us to risk our own safety. After self destructing, it caused two of our men to be hospitalized and one was nearly killed. It's too dangerous for us to keep trying with the power levels you requested."

"All I hear are excuses. I want you to meet me by the edge of town in seven hours with Miku. You do what you can until then and I'll take over from there." The line grew silent. Nathen waited for a response.

"We'll do what we can."

"Good." He hung up the phone. Meeting under the highway on the far west side of town is the only opening Nathen has to meet anyone on the outside without raising suspicion. Meeting at midnight meant not many people, and not a lot of distractions. 

He looked to his hand and saw it still wasn't back to normal. Naturally, KP knows what does and doesn't affect him. But he somehow knows what he's been exposed to and knows how to use it against him.

It's easy to be effected in this world with the excessive exposure to nuclear and toxic compounds in the air and growing in the food. Just about anyone can be harmed if the right combo is made.

After attempting to fix his hand and letting it soak in medicine, night had fallen, and it was just about time for him to go. He walked outside the back door with his bag to a partly cloudy sky. He peaked over at Carly's house. There were lights showing through the curtains meaning they were still awake. He walked carefully making sure she didn't hear him.

Nathen walked through the ally to a car that sat at the end of the block. He got in and threw his bag to the passage seat taking off to his meeting location. The barriers around the town were so strong against Nathen, he needed to park at least a mile a way and walk to the meeting location hoping he still wouldn't be too close to the inner shield. 

"Jess didn't come with you?" Nathen asked the lone man standing under the bypass.

"She would've if she didn't have to go to the hospital last minute." Tank answered him.

"And Miku?" Nathen went on. Tank threw his head to the left gesturing behind him. Nathen followed his point and saw a small shadow sitting on a rock running their hand through the dirt. He walked over to examine the figure.

Miku looked up to Nathen. She looked like a regular girl. Her hair was long and brown, covering her green eyes. Her skin was smooth over the metal that should be underneath. She appeared to resemble a young teen. When she stood, he noticed her arms seem slightly out of proportion. The more Nathen looked at her, the more dissatisfied he became.

"This was the best you could do?"

"She destroyed the body three times. We were lucky to fix it back to this state." Tank told him. He knows this is just an android prototype, but he still expected better despite it being a first attempt. Nathen was going to respond to him when he felt something on his back. He turned back around to see Miku staring at him.

"Are you my owner?" Miku looked him up and down.

"Who programmed the voice function? She sounds like a kid." Nathen looked to Tank.

"I'll own up to that mistake as we were using a backup system while the main one was being repaired and crossed the wires accidentally.

"Is there someone to play with?" Miku spoke again.

"Where's her controller?" Nathen asked.

"Here," Tank reached into a bag he had and handed it to him, "the one thing she can do right is go around normally. Things get a little rough when you start using the pad. You can't put her on full power. There was another wire that got crossed and she may overload and go against you. Other minor details and glitches, but I'm sure you'll figure it out." he shrugged. Nathen watch him as he doesn't seem to be taking him seriously.

"Alright Miku, you want to play?" Nathen asked her.

"Yes! Who can I play with?" She jumped up.

"You see this disk?" He pulled out a plain black frisbee disk from his bag. He looked to the switch that was in his other hand and turned the one to ten dial to three.

"Go catch!" Just as Nathen commanded, Miku's eyes rolled up and the pupils were gone showing only the whites of her eyes. He assumed that was one of the glitches that were mentioned. She lowered her head and took off after the disk he threw.

The disk went just above Tank's head who tried backing up, but Miku jumped to grab hold of the disk quickly. Upon grabbing it, she slammed into him, making them both go to the ground.

Her hands slammed against Tank's chest. By how far in her hands went, Nathen could tell some of his ribs might've been crushed.

"Not bad," Nathen said, "for a three level." He watched as Miku stood up and walked back to him, handing the disk over. Tank laid on the ground holding his stomach.

"Reckless actions like that are the reasons why you can't get pass that River City guy." He said choking on his words.

"Don't you worry about him. He's my target. Once we get pass him, I'll be able to get into his system in their main lab. Then we can complete these prototypes." Nathen assured him and turned off the switch. Miki's pupils came back and she looked normal.

"That was fun, can we play more?"

"Not now, but soon." Nathen told her. His business there was done. He needed to head back with Miku before anyone notices he was there.

Nathen grabbed his and the bag Tank brought when he heard the sound of an ambulance siren going over the highway above. He looked over to Miku and notice her blinking uncontrollably. Her pupils disappear again showing just the whites of her eyes. This time her eyes kept rolling, showing a red pupil coming upward.

"What's wrong with her?" Nathen moved back and yelled over to Tank. He rolled over to see them.

"Defect. Certain sounds trigger her. We were in the process of fixing that when you called." He did his best to speak. He doubled back over not responding anymore.

The ambulance was moving fast, but the siren was still audible. Miku began looking around and suddenly shot a laser beam from her eyes into the far distance. Her aim was toward a house that was even further than where Nathen parked and hit it strong enough making the entire right side of the house explode.

There was a scream in the distance. Nathen looked to the switch and tried turning it on then off. Miku didn't change, she continued looking around again and faced him. Her eyes began glowing red again powering up for another shot.

"Miku! Stop!" He ordered. Her eyes twitched and was blinking rapidly. She must have been fighting the urge to obey and go against his order. The sound of the ambulance siren was long gone so he didn't understand why she was still in this state. She lowered her head and was going to charge forward.

"Miku, listen to me and stop this now!" She was already running when she slowed down. She wasn't at a complete stop before crashing into him taking them both to the ground.

"Oh, did I do this?" Miku asked. Her eyes were back in focus and the power rage was done.

"You, how good is your hearing?" Nathen asked in pain.

"I can hear sound from a mile away maybe more."

"This will be fixed immediately." He rolled over and got up. His arms were covered in scrapes, cuts, and blood from sliding in gravel. This much was nothing. He could handle a lot more than Tank, so that wasn't enough to keep him down. But he couldn't have Miku going on a rampage again. He looked around for something or anything to cover her ears.

"This place has nothing." Nathen muttered and grabbed the bottom of his shirt and began to rip it. He tore two strips and plugged them in Miku's ears.

"If you freak out in my car, there will be a problem." He told her. Miku held her hands over her ears making sure her hearing would stay minimized. He could see she'll be of great use once she's stabilized. Nathen knows KP isn't working on the creation of androids in his labs just yet. He'll be in for a surprise.