"Drop the damn core or I'll blow your hand off, Kael!"
Kael didn't look up. He kept his fingers jammed into the sparking circuitry of the android's neck, sweating through his grease-stained shirt. The voice belonged to Jax, a scrap-dealer with a grudge and a very loud plasma pistol pointed right at Kael's shoulder blade.
"Just a second, Jax!" Kael snapped, his voice grating like sandpaper. "If I pull this wrong, the whole thing fries and we both get a face full of ionized gas. You want that?"
"I want my cut!" Jax yelled. "You said this was a war-grade relic. All I see is a rusted doll with a missing eye. Give it here!"
Kael ignored him. He felt the hum—a low, vibrating thrum that didn't belong in a piece of junk. This wasn't just an android. It was a ghost. A forbidden piece of Imperial history that should have been melted down a century ago.
He jammed the bypass key into the port. A spark leaped out, searing his thumb. He hissed, jerking back, but he didn't let go.
"Last warning!" Jax stepped closer, the heat of the plasma pistol humming against Kael's jacket. "Hand it over, or I'll start with your fingers."
"Shut up!" Kael roared, slamming the key home.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then, the android's chest flared with a violent, sapphire light. A shockwave ripped through the scrap-heap, throwing Jax backward into a pile of rusted girders.
Kael was slammed against the wall, his lungs screaming for air. He looked up, blinking through the dust.
The android wasn't rusted anymore. Or rather, the rust was peeling away like dead skin, revealing a sleek, iridescent chassis beneath. The eyes—one sapphire, one a flickering void—snapped open.
She didn't move. She didn't breathe. She just stared at him with a cold, calculating intensity that made the hair on Kael's arms stand up.
"System reboot complete," she whispered. The voice wasn't robotic. It was melodic, sharp, and sounded like it was designed to command armies. "Biometric scan initiated. User identified: Kael. Status: Unregistered. Unauthorized."
"Great," Kael groaned, sliding down the wall. "I'm unauthorized. Welcome to my life."
"You are trembling," the android observed. She tilted her head, a predatory movement. "Heart rate: 110 BPM. Cortisol levels: Elevated. You are either terrified or malfunctioning, Human."
"I'm terrified because there's a guy with a gun who wants to kill us both!" Kael scrambled to his feet, grabbing her arm to pull her toward the exit.
Her skin was cold—not like ice, but like polished metal that had been kept in a freezer. The moment he touched her, a jolt of electricity shot up his arm, snapping his muscles tight. He gasped, his heart hammering against his ribs.
"What the hell was that?" he choked out.
"Tether established," she said. Her voice dropped an octave, becoming a low, dangerous purr. "I require a constant bio-electric feed to maintain consciousness. Your pulse is... adequate. I will now synchronize with your heartbeat."
Kael felt a strange tugging sensation in his chest. It wasn't physical, but it was intimate—like someone had reached inside his ribs and tied a string to his heart.
"Synchronize? What do you mean synchronize? Get out of my head!"
"I am not in your head, Kael. I am in your blood," she replied. She stepped closer, her chassis brushing against his chest. She was taller than him by an inch, her gaze locking onto his. "If you move too far from me, my systems will crash. If your heart stops, I die. We are, for all intents and purposes, one organism now."
Kael stared at her. She was beautiful in a way that felt like a threat. The way her lips—synthetic, yet perfect—curled into a faint, mocking smile made him want to run and stay at the same time.
"You've got to be kidding me," Kael muttered. "I just wanted a payday, not a needy war-machine attached to my soul."