Synthetic Survivor: Machine Age

Thunder roared in the sky. The storm bad arrived, it was the third time this week. Out of the two other storms that came before it, the third was the least powerful of them all.

Standing in the middle of the abandoned encampment was the lone man in black who was now a changed man.

True now to his form, he was now half machine and half human, both in body, and mind.

Before that eventful night, the long night of pure bloodshed and agony, he was reborn. From the murderous, uncaring, stoic machine man he was, to a less murderous, a bit uncaring, still stoic man machine. 

Complicated as it may sound, there was a difference. Even if it was just a smidge. 

One opened his eyes and was greeted by the field of death he had sowed. He looked around and he felt emotions he never before had felt in such a normal manner until now. 

"So this is what it feels to be happy," One said. 

[The sight of dead bodies make you happy, dear?] Hailey said in her husband's mind. 

One smiled and and laughed. 

"So you really kept your promise," One said. 

[Of course, dear]

"Well then, what do you suggest I do from here on out?" One asked his wife. 

[Dear, all I can say is, be you, continue what you've been doing. You've built up so much and done so much, it would be a waste to abandon all of what you've done and start anew] Hailey said.

One looked around the desolate plains and looked up to the sky where the clouds were. The rain poured down from their bellies and drenched One's hair.

"Okay, I'll return," One said. 

[I'll be with you in whatever you decide to do] Hailey said. 

One turned to the direction of the Fortress City, he was unaware how long he had been out but judging by the decomposition of the corpses around him. 

They were at the late stage of decomposition, rigor mortis.

"It's been a week," One said as he knelt down to observe the corpse of a female mage. 

[It's been 5 days dear, the simulation I put you in was slower than time in the real world] Hailey said. 

"Huh, none of them decided to check on me?" One was a bit disappointed. 

[Dear, you went on a rampage. Even tourist loyal of subordinates would become afraid to approach you seeing how you dealt with an entire army alone] Hailey said.

"You're.. right, well, time to walk back and hope that they'd still accept my authority," One said before he began his journey back to the Fortress City.

When he ran, he traversed the distance of 700 meters in just 1 minute and a half. Blazingly fast but since he was just going to walk back to avoid spooking the garrison, 

Walking would take him basically 10 minutes.

Upon further analysis thanks to his Thermal and Xray vision, and Hailey's help in computing, he determined the two individuals to be Jorn and Toby. 

The fact that they were all the way here and hiding behind some boulders made One think thank they were out scouting for him.

Toby and Jorn were there specifically to retrieve their man in black. 

The reason for their actions were simple, without the man in black, several well-known personalities within the Fortress City had already begun vying for power by attempting to manipulate the king. 

Their attempts were so far kept to a minimum thanks to William and Patricia's interventions but corruption, mismanagement, embezzlement, and unfairness had already begun to spread. 

It wouldn't be long until the man in black's efforts to turn the Fortress City into a self-sustaining and prosperous city would be put to waste. 

Human greed had no bounds whatsoever. 

The two were hiding behind the boulders because, despite their noble quest to retrieve their leader, they were utter terrified the moment the man in black began walking towards their direction.

Although he was looking at the Fortress city, giving them a sign that he was going to return, his eyes said otherwise. 

"What the hell does purple mean!" Jorn whispered to Toby. They were sweating buckets.

"The hell are you asking me for ? I don't know! Blue means he's fine but red means he ain't fine, but purple? I don't know!" Toby whispered back. 

"Go peek, is he still there?" Jorn said. 

Toby reluctantly crawled to the right side of the boulder and slowly poked his eyes out from his natural cover. 

"Huh, he's gone?" Toby said. Indeed, the man in black was no longer in front of them.

"Huh? He's gone? Wait, how?" Jorn peeked over the left side. 

The man in black had completely disappeared from their view. Only the death encampment up ahead was there. 

"Shit, mud is sticking around my joints," Jorn said as he tried to remove the mud from his armor. 

"My robe is soaked," Toby added. 

But there was another shadow standing on top of the boulder. 

Jorn and Toby, after realizing this, slowly turned their gaze to the top of the boulder and there he was.  

As the thunderstorm picked up its intensity and lightning struck the encampment further, there he was. 

Standing on top of the rock, the man in black was looking down on them with his two purple eyes. 

[Hello there, my husband's servants] The man in black's eyes suddenly shined a bright blue and a hologram appeared behind the two men.

"Eek!" They were both frightened. The feared that this was another strange attack meant to kill them.

But they were wrong to ȧssume. 

A holographic projection of a beautiful and short woman appeared and smiled at them.

"Hello, I am your leader's wife, a pŀėȧsurė to meet you all," She said and then smiled.