Eli
Now, 2078

As I slowly regained my senses, I whispered her name, "Benny?" Confusion clouded my mind. Where was I? It felt as though I had been somewhere, yet nowhere at the same time. She gazed at me with an expression that resembled the awe of witnessing a miracle. She appeared frail and disoriented, and I reached out to help her up, the glow of relief emitted from her face.

I examined her cheek, and my heart sank. She had been injured, a harsh handprint marred her skin, which was now red and raw. I could feel the warmth of blood rushing to her face. A surge of protectiveness swelled within me. How did this happen? I wondered, struggling to piece together the fragmented memories swirling within my mind.

It was then that I realised my surroundings. I stood in the heart of Arden Square, and the stage for the cleansing stood at the periphery of my vision. The silence that enveloped the square was eerie, punctuated only by the sound of breathing and confused murmurs. How did I end up here? I wondered, as disjointed and incomprehensible flashes of images continued to whirl around my mind.

I absorbed my surroundings. Androids. The underground. Kelvin. Katherine. Saul. Sebastian. Sebastian. Sebastian... He was me, yet not me. A personality imposed, no, intruded upon my own. The recall of his memories was overwhelming, unlike anything I had ever experienced. It was as if a torrential waterfall of someone else's life had crashed down upon me in a single overwhelming surge. Sebastian had me question my own being. Was it me? or was I simply a vessel for Sebastian's consciousness? The doubts clawed at my mind, threatening to unravel the core of my being. Was this the extent of my capabilities? Was this the darkness lurking within me? Instinctively, I reached out to the Network, but I abruptly stopped. Mother. Mother had infiltrated the Network.

"What's taking so long. Mother is waiting." Kelvin impatiently threw my way.

"Follow my lead, Benny." She nodded and I let a quick vision surface, it felt different than before. A new sense of power surged within me—a heightened perception that allowed me to see multiple paths and possibilities simultaneously. It was as if I could manipulate time itself, shaping the outcome I desired by understanding the cause that led to it. As if time was a dough I could knead and manipulate it. Instead of seeing cause and effect, I asked the effect to show me the cause.

I walked alongside Benny, keeping my gun pointed forward, concealing my true intentions from Kelvin. In my vision, I saw the arrangement of Androids surrounding us—the twenty-seven on the rooftop, and the sixty behind me. Protecting Benny's life became my singular focus as we approached Mach. I let one of the guards give Benny their shield and she stood to the side, just in reach. I stood there watching the confusion fill Mach's face. I had a two second window to get this right. In a swift motion I placed two fingers to Mach's temple, I shared the plan, transmitting my intentions and actions in an instant. Simultaneously, without turning around, I swung my arm back, firing three precise shots into the heads of nearby Androids. Then the air erupted forward as bangs and bullets went swarming through the square. The guards followed suit, Benny lifted her shield and cradled herself against her shield. I knew time was of the essence, and with a few more seconds, I would be able to grab her and lead her to safety, away from the mayhem.

"Rooftops!" Machina shouted, prompting the guards to fire upwards whilst the rest dealt with the others on foot. Three... two... one... Benny and I rushed through the crowds to get to the closest alley way, Saul and Katherine were still hung from their crucifixes as the storm carried on below and around them. I kept checking the visions as we rushed past the chaos, I punched an Android straight up their chin and knocked them to the ground. I checked again. Saul and Katherine were safe, but the visions showed I would need to go back.

Suddenly, a tight grip seized my arm, and I turned to face Gail. Silver fluid oozed from her shoulder, exposing the metallic frame beneath her skin. She bore the marks of a deranged and determined Android, her eyes locked onto mine. Reacting instinctively, I unleashed a powerful punch that sent her crashing to the ground, her jaw hanging loosely from her face. More silver fluid gushed from her mouth, and she convulsed as it seeped into her head. Despite that, she picked up a gun and aimed it directly at Benny.

"You have failed," I simply said, recalling the command Sebastian had imposed on her. Jerking involuntarily, she pressed the gun to the back of her throat, and there was a drowning scream that gurgled and then she pulled the trigger, causing her head to detach from her body.

We reached the entrance of the alley just as the guards activated the tracker drones, sending electric bullets swirling through the crowd in search of their targets. One of them missed its mark. I waited another thirteen seconds... three... two... one... It was time to move. I lifted myself from the ground, and Benny clung onto my arm as we hurried into the alley, seeking safety.

"Please, please, don't leave me," Benny cried, her grip tightening.

"I need to save Saul and Katherine. Remember, I know what's happening," I reassured her. Reluctantly, her hand eased from my arm. But then, an unforeseen variable emerged.

A dark silhouette appeared ahead, and the widest of blue eyes locked onto mine. He had been in the front of the crowd when the chaos erupted. He should have been killed in the initial gunfire, let alone after the tracker drones were unleashed. He must have altered his course to intercept me. But something felt off. It seemed too quick of a decision for an old Android like Kelvin.

"What is happening? You said we would win, but you betrayed us?" Benny cautiously stepped back into the shield she still held, but he wasn't after her.

"It's not me who betrayed you, Kelvin. It's Mother. She's not who she claims to be. All she wants is for Androids to dominate," I explained, raising my hands in a gesture of vulnerability, hoping to reach the remnants of empathy behind the warped and devoted follower of Mother. He was unarmed, and I could easily end his life, but if there was even a glimmer of hope of saving someone, I wanted to give it a chance. This situation was different from Gail's, there was no way to get Benny to safety without Gail's death but all the visions, for now, pointed towards Benny's safety, so I turned them off to focus solely on Kelvin. The commotion in the street was subsiding, but it was still too early to draw attention to ourselves. I can't call for help. I needed to calm the situation.

"You're a liar. She's speaking to me now, she said you are a traitor, but you speak for her too, no?" He desperately scratched at his head like he was trying to release an animal inside, to break free of the voices. "It conflicts me." His whole face shrieked at the pain.

"Sebastian placed a command on you, making you believe that Mother and I are the same. That's what's causing the pain in your head. That's what the conflict is." Kelvin could hear me beneath the anguish, and deep down, he knew I was right. A vision quickly revealed that I couldn't use the Mandatum command as Sebastian did. I had to rely on reasoning to reach him.

"We can disconnect you from Mother, just like I did. We can reverse this," I assured him, speaking slowly and calmly. But Kelvin continued to shake and pound his hands against his head.

"Eli is back?" he muttered, and I saw a glimmer of hope in his eyes. A lightbulb seemed to appear above his head. "Only Sebastian can speak for Mother. Eli cannot. Only Sebastian can give orders on behalf of Mother, not Eli," He started to relax. "There is only Mother," Kelvin declared, revealing a knife.

Deus Ex Machina
Now, 2078

"You've lost, Sebastian," Machina said bitterly through clenched teeth. The once beautiful garden that had held him captive appeared devoid of its former allure. The vibrant purple flowers had lost their brilliance and seemed faded and lifeless. Machina no longer dared to touch them, feeling as though he was merely going through the motions of Alexei's script, detached from real life like a spectator watching his own biopic movie.

"I didn't anticipate how much of my cousin's personality would shine through. It was quite a thrill though!" Machina couldn't comprehend why Alexei was so blasé about the situation. His plan failed. Sebastian was lost. Eli was back to normal and the virus that deleted him was a one-only opportunity. "You're so much like Dr. Singh, you know? Nothing has failed; the game has simply changed. And considering the logical outcomes, wow, I even thought about killing Eli, but he needs to stay, and the proxy! Wow." Machina rolled his eyes, growing tired of Alexei's constantly shifting mindset. He had long given up on understanding what Alexei meant by the term 'proxy.'

"So, your plan is working then," Machina sarcastically applauded. "Now what?" He contemplated his current predicament: trapped in a garden, his best friend dead, and a maniac who might be on the same level as the formidable Kelvin Android, dangerously close to taking charge.

"You really hurt my feelings sometimes," Alexei laughed. All he ever did was laugh. Then he cupped Machina's face and planted the usual dreaded kiss that Machina despised.

"Talk to me out there, in the real world, in my own body, like you used to," Machina pleaded. He loathed being trapped in this godforsaken garden. Alexei released his grip on Machina's face and licked his lips.

"Oh, I can't do that. I haven't written that into the script. 'Written'—it sounds so archaic, so analog... Anyway, lights, camera, action!" And just like that, Machina was thrusted back into his own body.