'I can't see you but I can paint you in my mind. Your blue eyes have raised a storm inside me--And no breath or beast can describe the strength of it. It is tearing me up from inside whenever I take my eyes off of that painting. So come back and help me.'

"Slaine..." Asselyum mumbled while Riley carried her on his back.
"We are here." He reached the bar.
"Oh Asselyum is with the bad guy!" Axel shouted and ran towards them, "What have you done to her?"

"She's sleeping."
Jimmy came out of the bar and looked at him, "Slaine is not here."
"I know. I'm just here to return her."
"Asseylum slept. How absurd." Jimmy said.
"What's absurd in that?"
"Oh nothing. Thanks for bringing her here. I'll take her to her room." Jimmy picked her up and walked into the bar.

He walked up the stairs, opened the door and lay her on Slaine's bed.
"I thought she doesn't sleep?" Axel stood at the door with Elron into his arms.
"I thought that too," Jimmy looked at her, "Maybe she's tired."

They left. It started raining again and it rained till the next morning. She woke by the sound of the rain and looked around. It was Slaine's room. She walked out of the room and ran towards Lupin's room.

"Lupin!" She opened the door. He was eating noodles while sitting before his computer with Axel. Her face was red.
"I want you to check something." She said and he kept the bowl aside. She raised her hair from her ear, "Could you check if I have an emotion chip?"

He wrote something, "Axel open her ear." It read.
Elron got Axel's toolbox and Axel took out a screw driver. He removed few bolts and the outer ear or pinna was removed.
Lupin took a torch and looked inside.

"Is it there?" Asselyum asked.
He took his notepad and wrote, "Yes, it's there."
She was shocked.
"It was dormant. Maybe something happened that triggered it and now it's functioning again."
"Oh! That's why you were getting those sparks and ear aches!" Axel said.

She turned back, "Well, aren't you happy, Asselyum?" Axel asked.
Lupin looked at her.
'Asselyum?'
"Ben lied."

"So, should I remove it?" Axel asked.
"No, if you remove it now, it'll wipe off...some important memories," Asselyum looked at Lupin. 
"Memories like?"
"Like...How you're my family," She smiled.

. . .

Ben sat inside the cellar and looked at the floor. He heard someone approaching and looked aside. It was Dexter.
"Hi Ben."
"You're doing something horrible. You're just wasting your time."
"Well, I have a lot of time anyways and I am bored."

Ben looked away.
"I'm starting to lose my patience with you." Dexter said. Ben turned towards him. Dexter grabbed his face through the glass bars and pulled him towards himself.

"Your pink eyes," Dexter looked into his eyes, "Give me those purple-pink eyes,"
Ben simply looked into his brown eyes and looked away. Dexter left him, "One day, I'll break you," He walked away.

Ben looked at the small widow at the top of the cellar, which showed a glimpse of the dark sky.
"Slaine, please be fast." He prayed.

Slaine reached the dead sea and jumped from his board. He was surprised to see how the East waters were now completely destroyed. The Manhatten bridge wasn't there anymore and the water seemed blackish. It was stinking.

He looked around. There were no patrol teams around there. Either this place was too safe or too dangerous-- That's why there was no policeman here. He leaned towards the water and looked at his reflection into the water.

"This isn't going to get me anywhere."
He kept the book and the board aside and removed his shirt. He jumped into the water and swam down. It was dark and cold, he began losing this breath.

'I could breathe underwater, maybe I can breathe now too?'

He opened his mouth and realised he infact could breathe underwater. He swam beneath and saw a huge machine of some sort. He touched it and moved across it. He found a small door and swam inside.

It was dark. He pressed a switch and everything lit up light blue. He reached the main circuit which had many buttons on it. The screen before him showed the date and time. Beneath it, there were these buttons for setting the time and date to which one wanted to travel.

"The time machine." He whispered, "I can go back home!" Slaine quickly entered the date and time. He pulled the lever and the machine started. He could hear the fanbelt spinning beneath the floor but then it turned slower and stopped. He tried again but met the same fate.

He opened up the controls and saw that the wires were eaten off, that's why the fanbelt couldn't gain speed and stopped. Maybe he wasn't going home very soon.

He swam out of the time machine and moved up. Suddenly, the stench grew stronger in intensity. He covered his nose and looked above him. There were hundreds of dead bodies floating above him.

His eyes widened. He looked at a teenage boy's body which didn't seem that old. Maybe he was killed few hours back. It hadn't absorbed the sea water yet. He grabbed him and swam up.

He pulled him out of the water and lay him on the shore, near the rocks. He checked his eyes and knuckles-- They didn't seem swollen, neither were his knuckles black like Ben described. He wasn't infected.

But weren't you supposed be infected the moment they bit you and their saliva came in contact with your blood? Then how? She had bitten him on his arm.

Gotham was supposed to live in the dead sea, since she was the only X-DROID that he met underwater water. All others lived on land. So-- She was the one who killed all those people. He jumped back into the water and checked all the bodies-- None of them were infected but they all had bite marks.

Why would she just bite when she could eat them? He took a pointy stone and tore off the skin on the dead boy's arm. It had no blood in it.
So basically, she drank all the blood but didn't eat the flesh.

He wore his shirt back and got on his board. He decided to walk back to the laboratory. On his way, he thought,

'Why wouldn't people get infected from her and why doesn't she eat their flesh but just drink their blood? Is it just a matter of preference or something else?'

In the past, Gotham met up with her siblings. Delete stood behind Allianz the moment she saw Gotham.

"Why are you here?" Allianz asked.
Gotham smiled, "Well, I have a plan."

Allianz looked at her.
"We are breaking the time machine. I already handled the spare one. Once we close the portal connecting the two worlds, the victory is ours. Ben would never reach us again and this world is full of humans who can't stop us"

"ANDROIDS are still here." Allianz said.
"They'll never find us."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because I am targeting a traitor."
"Lucifer?"

"His death will be the declaration of our war and without him and Ben, the ANDROIDs are a piece of cake to handle."

"You know how strong he is?"
"I don't need to know the enemy's strength but their weakness to defeat them and I am well equipped."

"You know Lucifer's weakness?"
"That's how I defeated him the last time we met."

-To be continued

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