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Just like in Medical, the room erupted in chaos. This time, it wasn’t a few people but a room full. Everyone was yelling and talking all at once before a high-pitched whistle rang out, silencing the whole room.
Lennox raked us all with a glare as she stepped up to stand beside Poe and Oz. “Why?”
“Why what?” Poe squeaked.
Lennox sighed. “Why now? Why reveal cyborgs to a world that has discarded and hated them? What makes you think they are ready to hear what we have to say?”
Poe straightened her shoulders, meeting Lennox’s narrowed gaze. “Before I met Dax, I worked as a reporter. Despite knowing that I could get in trouble, I used my connections to dig deeper into the creation of the cyborgs. I won’t lie; it was mostly for personal reasons. I had dreamed of meeting cyborgs, of meetingDax,since I was a young girl. Do you know what I learned?” She looked out at the gathered crowd. “Most people don’t hate cyborgs. I talked to many who loved working with them, who valued what they brought to the world. They talked about Medical Models who had helped overworked nurses and doctors, and created medical advances that had saved lives. Military Models had shielded human soldiers, ensuring that they made it back home to their families in one piece instead of in a coffin.” Poe smiled. “Heck, I saw one vid file where an older lady talked about how she loved her Technology Model because he always helped her with the newfangled technology she couldn’t understand. But more importantly, she loved him because she no longer felt lonely. He would sit and talk with her and made her feel like she wasn’t all alone.” Poe sniffled. “When they came for him, she tried to fight them, but one little old lady was no match for a team of Global Allegiance officers. She died a few months later, telling everyone that the Global Allegiance was wrong-that her cyborg wasn’t defective. That she considered him to be one of her sons, and what they had done to him had broken her heart.”
Oz stepped forward. “We aren’t saying that there weren’t humans who were cruel. Even now, there will be those that hate cyborgs simply because they are different. What Poe and I are saying is that there are more good humans than bad, and those humans have been fed the Global Allegiance’s lies for long enough. If we can show them that you feel, that you just want the same things they do-love, home, and family-then we convince them to fight for you; forus.The Global Allegiance would no longer be able to hide behind the lie that you are nothing more than machines. They would have to acknowledge that they created thinking and feeling beings that they abused and then murdered, or run and hide from the accusations.”
“We all know the Global Allegiance doesn’t care.” Poe looked at me. “They will use Nara to try and make more cyborgs they can abuse all in the name of making a dollar. We must hit them where it counts-their profit margin. Otherwise, they will keep coming until they destroy us for good.”
“Poe and I both have people we love in this room. We know what we are asking. But we truly believe it’s the only way for us to save Nara while also getting rid of the Damocles sword that is hanging over our heads for good.”
“I agree it’s time.” Dr. Shaw rose from her seat, her eyes glossy. “I never wanted to hide you away from the world. I always wanted you to be a part of it. I know it’s hard to trust that humans will do the right thing, but staying in the dark will only let the Global Allegiance continue to spread their false narrative. Enough time has passed that I think it’s time to provide the world with a different perspective on my cyborgs.The right perspective.”
Axios stood. “Until I found the rebellion, I thought everyone would view me as a monster. To my pleasant surprise, it was Aria, a human female, who made me feel like I was perfect the way I was. And now, one of my very best friends is standing up there and asking that I trust her. Oz taught me about movie nights and getting drunk, spent nights showing me what it was like to have fun, and never once cared what I looked like, insisting that one day a female would love me for me.” His blue eyes strayed towards where Lillian and her mother sat before he walked over to stand next to Oz. “I believe that the world has to be filled with more of Oz’s people than people like the ones who hurt me. And I would like to meet those humans. But I never will if the world doesn’t ever get the chance to learn that we are so much more than what they believe we are.”
Dash and Iris were the next to stand. “For those that don’t know me, I am the Beanie Baby girl.” Those in the rebellion gave a chuckle. “But I am also the first human female who ended up at the rebellion because I fell in love with a cyborg.” She leaned into Dash’s side, and he wrapped his arms around her waist. “Dash is my whole world, and I would never risk him. Never would I want him to fall into back their clutches or face termination by their hand. But…” she dropped her hand to cradle her belly. “I don’t want my son or daughter to be born into a world where they always must hide. Where the world considers them to be nothing but a machine. As scary as it seems, maybe it is time for us to step into the light. It won’t be easy. But nothing worth anything normally is.” Dash’s hand joined hers as he placed a kiss on her cheek. “I follow my Iris. If she agrees than I do as well.”
A squeal came from the back of the room. “Holy shit, you’re pregnant!” Aria’s voice rang out as she and Caia raced to Iris’s side, grabbing their best friend in a hug. Aria narrowed her eyes at Iris. “When we aren't facing the biggest fight of our lives, we are going to have a serious talk.”
“Deal,” Iris said.
“All of you are fucking insane,” Acer stood. “But I was, too, before I got wiped and reprogrammed.”
Collective gasps rang out from Lennox’s cyborgs.
“Don’t worry, it was for my own good,” Acer grinned. “If my Marley has taught me anything, it is that sometimes we have to have faith. Faith that if you do something that terrifies you, it will lead to a result you could only dream of. Fuck it. Let’s show the humans who the hell we are.”
I stood, all eyes in the room turning to me. “As you know, it is my female that the Global Allegiance is holding hostage. They took her because they want her to relaunch the cyborg program.” Gasps filled the room. “And she could,” I smiled. “My Nara is rather brilliant. But instead, she ran, taking the Luxury Models with her because she didn’t want to create any more cyborgs that would be at the Global Allegiance’s mercy. She wants to fight. And I know that even though they have taken her, she will do just that. She will fight. She will fight to get back home to us-back home to me.”
Fluid filled my eyes. “After seeing my brothers find their females, all I wanted was one of my own. One who would look past my size and see the male underneath.” I lifted my hand, flexing the fingers that could crush something or someone without thought. Nara had taken my hand without hesitation. She didn’t care that her hand was small compared to mine. She didn’t fear what it could do. Holding my hand made her feel safe.
I smiled, sending fluid spilling down my cheeks. “Nara was the female who did that. She looked past my large frame and into my heart. And every part of me is screaming to race in and grab my female. However, I know that taking the battle to their main headquarters will only bring death.”
My eyes roamed over all the faces that had become so dear to me, and the new ones I hoped I would get to know with time. “I would do anything to get my Nara back, except risk everybody else I love on what would be a suicide mission. Their main headquarters is heavily guarded and in the center of a major human city. Make no mistake, they want us to come for her. It would force us out into the open, but on their terms, reinforcing the idea we are nothing but defective machines who use violence to achieve our goals. Let’s do something they would never expect. Let’s show the world who we are, but onourterms.”
Lennox looked around the room. “This will affect each and every one of us here. Reaper and I might call ourselves your leaders, but this isn’t just for the two of us to decide. So, if Reaper agrees, I say we put it to a vote.”
Reaper stood, arms over his chest, and examined the crowd before sighing. “All of you deserve to decide your fate. I may be the leader of the cyborg rebellion, but what type of leader would I be if I didn’t give those I love a voice. Let’s vote.”
Nara
Icollapsed on the bed face first. Who knew that pretending to go along with Roman’s plans would be so exhausting? Everything I said, everything I did, I had to make sure that it sounded like I was doing what he wanted. I second guessed myself constantly, worried I would do something that would give me away.
Flopping onto my back, I gazed around at my decadent prison. The bedroom was spacious, a huge canopy bed trimmed in soft pinks sitting in the center. The walls were painted a beautiful shade of slate gray, a massive chair resting in the corner that was the perfect size to crawl into with a good book.
Ahuge, attached bathroom and a walk-in closet, complete with a full wardrobe of clothes in my sizes, rounded out the bedroom. If I wasn’t worried about surviving, I would be dwelling on how creepy it was Roman Rothchild had known my clothing size.
I could have asked the Service Model, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer. Along with the bedroom, I had a furnished living room and kitchen stocked with food. The whole mini apartment was bright and airy, a far cry from Roman’s office of darkness.
I suspected he had made it so I would find it appealing, but a prison was still a prison even when it was nicely decorated. When I wasn’t working, I was locked in the apartment with nothing but the Service Model for company.
And he wasn’t much of a talker. Well, that ended tonight. I had nothing and no one except him, and I was missing Brone and my Luxury Models something fierce. Ihad only gotten to talk to Core, Caliber, and Chaos once before I had been taken. Hearing their voices had reminded me how much I missed them. My heart ached for both my Tank Class and my guys.
Hell, at this point, I’d take seeing Reaper’s pissed off face, battle axe and all. I wanted someone to remind me I could do this. That I had what it takes to lie to one of the most dangerous men on the planet.
