Human After All

Beau was never one for simple plans. He was always about the details, it wasn't just "run and good luck" for him. But in this case, it really had to be simple. None of them knew what it was going to be like once they got to the higher levels. The one detail Beau did have set in stone, though, was that Joshua would not be harmed during the entire escape. That was certain.

"How are we all gonna manage to keep ourselves safe?" Ethylon asked. Rowan didn't bother to say anything, because he wasn't leaving. Rowan did, however, make a pledge to being leaving the bot memories alone when he transferred them into their human form again. He was having his own little rebellion before the sailors got rid of him, and he didn't know when that would be.

"The three of you will be safe, won't you?" Leighlan asked. Ethylon furrowed his brows together.

"The three of us?"

"Well yeah. Maybe four, y'know, once you get Lejend and all." Leighlan continued.

"We're all going, aren't we?" Ethylon clarified. "You're coming, aren't you?"

Leighlan shook his head, a look of near shock upon his face. It seemed that he was astonished they would even consider the idea of leaving with him. Then he began to explain little by little.

"I... don't think I can leave without Jaydin." Leighlan admitted, shrugging his shoulders as though it were nothing. "I can't just leave her. She rescued me, Ethylon."

"You'll be killed!"

"But I'll be with her." Leighlan said. "I can't.... I just can't run. Jaydin took me away from a house of abuse. I'm forever in her debt. I can't just book it at whatever chance I get." He shook his head. "I'm gonna find her, and then I'll stay with her."

"But she would want you to survive!" Ethylon replied hastily.

"I know she would." Leighlan laughed almost. "I can imagine her yelling at me, telling me to run. But then I know that if she actually did tell me to run, I would tell her too bad, and then I would stay with her. I know what I would do, whether she's in a coma or not."

Ethylon opened his mouth to argue again, but Beau stopped him by grabbing him by his shoulder.

"Stop arguing." Beau said quietly. "It's his choice."

"It's suicide!"

"What we're doing is suicide. He's standing by his love." Beau said. "I would do the same for Joshua if he were human...." Then those thoughts came back again. Beau imagined him sitting with younger children, all auburn haired and giggly. He imagined Joshua with a happy family, without Beau, reading books to brothers and sisters who looked exactly like him. It nearly broke Beau's heart to know that he had people that loved him before; not because it was other people, but because Joshua had been taken away from that, taken away for a life as a bot.

"And I would do the same for Beau if he were in a coma." Joshua said, standing next to his master with a cheeky grin upon his face. Joshua's fingers laced together with Beau's. Beau thought to himself that Joshua couldn't get anymore human than this. He wanted Joshua to be human, but he wouldn't change him all of the sudden. Not without a reason, of course.

"Well, let's get going." Beau said suddenly. "The 'copter will be here in a half an hour. Dunno if we're gonna make it in time."

"Yeah, we'll make it!" Ethylon said, adrenaline rushing through his vein. "We'll make it if you can keep up." He teased Beau. Joshua's fingers squeezed Beau's, and Beau smiled.

"First one there wins."



"Joshua?" Beau whispered through the halls. Joshua peeked his head around the corner. His auburn hair fell over his eyes in dirty wisps, and he smiled. "C'mon. These halls are pretty clear."

Joshua pushed himself off of the ground, though he still crouched so he was hidden from the glass windows where he suspected sailors were within. They had managed to crawl through 30 floors already in at least 15 minutes, though Beau did have at tendency to begin sprinting when the sailors spotted them (which had been at least 20 times already). Honestly, Beau didn't think it would be so easy to give the sailors the slip. They had been noticed so many times already, but nobody was really pursuing them. Joshua was even beginning to think that this would be fairly easy.

Ethylon, however, took a different route. He said Beau was being too careful, and they would never get up to the 100th floor in time. Beau almost believed it, but Rowan had given Beau simple instructions on how to get there in a matter of minutes:

First, Beau had to get to the 50th floor at least. When he got there, he would find an empty elevator. After slipping inside, they would black out the cameras, then Beau would backdoor the elevator, which is to say that the doors won't open until Beau reaches his own destination. They would be safe, the doors would open at the 100th level, and then they would run like maniacs to the helicopter. Sure, it seemed too easy, even for Beau, but simplicity sometimes got the best results.

Beau wondered where Ethylon was. He hadn't seen him since they had parted ways on the 5th floor, and since then, Beau and Joshua have practically been on their own. Leighlan slipped off to find Jaydin's room, and Rowan simply stayed within his lab. They hadn't been able to find Troia since they escaped either. She had somehow disappeared again.

Beau keeled over in order to catch his breaths that were somehow shorter than usual. Perhaps the torture made him weaker than usual, and that was why he couldn't catch it as easily. His right side ached as a stabbing sensation pulsed through his flesh like a thousand tiny needles.

"Only 20 more floors." Joshua panted, grabbing Beau by his arm and pulling him up another flight of stairs. "19 if we finish this one, master."

"I can't- catch my- breath." Beau said with long pauses where the heaves of breath came through. Beau forced himself to take a long inhale of breath before he straightened himself out and continued up the long flights of stairs. As they reached the 31st floor, Joshua's quick pace faltered as he nearly fell on his face. They both pushed themselves through the next door.

Beau immediately pushed himself against a wall, hiding their bodies from anybody down the hall. Though there weren't usually people down the hall, this time, there was. Through shattered window shards and broken pieces of plaster stood Mr. Rager. He scolded a sailor in front of him, holding a gun in between his fingers.

"If you think its them, you shoot, you idiot!" He spat quickly. "It's as simple as that!" Then he sighed, nearly dropping the gun at his feet. "I swear, I could do this job better than you monkeys do."

Joshua swallowed hard as he recognized the voice from the video; it was the one who tortured his master relentlessly. Beau didn't tremble though. Now that he wasn't so vulnerable, he could easily kill this maniacal dictator that was Mr. Rager without even breaking a sweat.

The sailor murmured a few things before he ran down the opposite stairs, going down to the level he thought he would find Beau and Joshua. Mr. Rager sighed and started down the hall towards them, though he didn't look around. Beau's dirty and dark figure kept them hidden. Joshua cowered a bit, behind Beau's arm so his bright white face wasn't too noticeable.

Then Mr. Rager started down the stairs like the other sailors did without even taking a glance in their general direction. After hearing his footsteps echo down the flights of stairs, Beau heaved a breath he didn't even realize he was holding. Joshua wormed his way through Beau's arm to peek around the corner of the hall.

"We gotta be really careful now." Beau whispered. "If they see us, they might shoot."

"They're idiots, they won't shoot." Joshua giggled, skipping down the hall (of course, hiding himself when a window came) before he hid himself in a dark crevice, waiting for Beau to follow suit and run down the hall with him.

"Hey Joshua?" Beau whispered. Joshua replied with his head peeking around the corner, yet it was only his eyes. Beau laughed at the sight. "What would happen if we got on the elevator before the 50th floor?"

Joshua shrugged.

"Wanna do it?"

Joshua shook his head quickly.

"If my creator doesn't advise it, then we don't do it." Joshua said.

"But I'm your master!" Beau said, almost sounding jealous. Joshua snickered.

"Yeah, you are, but you don't know what could happen. Unless you feel we absolutely have to go on the elevator."

Beau felt that sharp stab in his right side. But instead of whining anymore, he just crouched and started towards Joshua at the end of the hall. Joshua took Beau's hand in his own, smirk upon his perfectly freckled face.

"We'll make it. Patience will get us through."



After make it yet another 15 flights of stairs and so they were now on the 46th floor. Beau found that most of the halls were normal at this level, untouched my other sailors and explosions. he wondered what was on these floors that made them so calm, but had no time as he fell over and grabbed at his side. The sharp stabbing had not gotten any better as they ran up the stairs, but had actually became worse. Beau took in sharp breaths in an attempt to slow the pains, but that just made them longer lasting and much deeper.

"Come, master." Joshua grabbed him by his arm, again trying to get him off of the ground. "Please, there's only four more flights! Then we can get on the elevator. Please." Joshua begged. Beau pushed himself onto his knees, putting all his weight on one leg as he began to stand up.

Then the door to the stairs swung open down the hall, and a familiar, slender figure appeared down the hall. Joshua gasped, jerking on Beau's arm and nearly fainting at the sight of the figure down the hall.

"There you fucking nitwits are!" Mr. Rager exclaimed. Beau jumped at the sound of his voice, bolting towards Joshua and already heading towards the next flight of stairs. There was a frenzy of bullets through the hall, ricocheting off of the metal walls, and the calmness had been lost just like that. Beau yelled out in sudden pain, though Joshua couldn't see what had happened since they were already up another flight of stairs. Mr. Rager, probably avoiding the bullets in the halls, didn't catch up with them even in the slightest.

Together, they ran up three flights without stopping before finally slowing at the 50th floor of the Capital. Joshua practically had to drag his master down the hall as they reached shiny metal doors. They slid open to reveal an empty elevator. Joshua pulled Beau into the elevator, resting his master's head against the wall before shutting the doors and beginning to fix the elevator so it didn't stop until they got to the 100th floor.

With a few flicks of his wrist and a few cuts on wires, the elevator began to ride up each floor slowly. Joshua fell next to Beau with a heavy sigh. Beau sat up, grabbing the back of his leg with a loud hiss.

"Master?" Joshua said, anxiety filling every note in his precious voice. Beau wrapped his fingers around his leg. Joshua cautiously took Beau's blue jeans in between his fingers and slid them up his calf to reveal a bullet lodged deep within the flesh. Joshua squeaked at the sight of the blood the secreted from his master's leg.

"It's pretty deep in there." Beau gasped, digging his finger into his revealed wound, only to push the bullet further into his flesh. He growled, nearly scaring Joshua, but Joshua wouldn't leave his side, no matter what. After a few wriggles from Beau's finger, he managed to pull a single, silver bullet out from his calf and throw it against the wall. Beau cursed maliciously under his breath.

"Master, there's a lot of blood." Joshua said obviously, running his fingertips through a pool of blood on the metal floor. Beau nodded, swallowing hard with a dry throat. "What are we gonna do?"

"It's gonna be all right." Beau shut his eyes, heaving breaths of silent relief. They were far from home free, yet at the same time, he could imagine laughing at Ethylon because he lost. Actually, he didn't know if Ethylon lost yet. He was just hoping. After all, Beau was shot for a bet! If they had just taken the elevator earlier, they would have safely made it up to the top without being shot.

But he still had Joshua, and that was all that really mattered.



As per usual, when Beau didn't have his details planned out, nothing went to plan.

At first, everything seemed clear; all he and Joshua had to do was run to the helicopter, wait for Ethylon and then get the hell out of there. Beau always had to have his details though, and when he didn't, something managed to go wrong.

Because as soon as they hopped into the helicopter and waited for Ethylon to appear, the door swung open, but Ethylon was not the only one coming from behind it. Instead came Ethylon with a gun pointed to his head by Lejend, his beloved bot turned into a sailor, followed by Mr. Rager with a smirk upon his face. Lejend's expression remained unchanged, as though she had no idea who Ethylon was.

"Get out of the helicopter." Mr. Rager ordered. Beau hid Joshua behind the seats, reassuring him that he would be right back.

"But, master, I—"

"Shush." Beau said, placing his finger upon Joshua's lips. "I promise."

"You promise?" Joshua asked.

"I promise I'll be right here." Beau pointed to Joshua's chest where his heart was. Actually, where Beau thought his heart was. Joshua didn't believe he had a heart, though.

But he couldn't explain why he had this pounding deep within his chest.

"I said, get out!" Mr. Rager shouted, pointing a gun at Beau through the glass. Beau didn't doubt that he could probably shoot him from the distance. He could probably kill Beau without even batting an eyelash.

Beau hobbled out of the helicopter, limping over in front of Mr. Rager.

"Here I am." Beau said. Ethylon swallowed hard from behind the two of them while Lejend pressed the gun closer to his temple. "What do you want?"

"You made me look like a complete idiot." Mr. Rager spat, pushing Beau slightly with the butt of his gun. "I should kill you on sight."

"So why don't you?" Beau said, only keeping their faces inches apart. Oh, how he wanted to snap Rager's neck right then and there, but with the gun close to his body, it probably wasn't the best idea ever. So he kept his anger hidden, though he didn't back down much. "C'mon." Beau pushed him back. "Shoot me."

"So help me, Beau, I will." Mr. Rager pressed the gun to Beau's chest with a shaky hand. "I'll do it."

"Scared?" Beau said. "That's new. You weren't so scared when you were punching me." Beau said. "You weren't scared when you whipped me, now were you?"

"I—"

"Shoot me!" Beau exclaimed. Mr. Rager, for the first time, missed his target as his fingers tightened around the trigger and Beau stepped out of the way. But Mr. Rager suddenly smirked, bring all his force down on the trigger as the blast filled the air and a solitary, silver bullet went flying through the air and over to where Joshua stood. Everything went too fast for Beau too think. The only thing he really remembered was sprinting to Joshua's side and telling him to hold on.

"Please, hold on, Joshua. I'm right here!"