CODE X 777

C O D E 1 2 B A T T L E

Lupin was suddenly surrounded by many skateboarders. He was always afraid of skateboarders. Every skateboarder except Slaine was intimidating to him. He was shaking with his head held down.

"Hey, is he really shuddering now?"

"What a p***y! Want mom around?" They laughed.

Riley walked towards him and all of them moved away. He stood before him and pressed his skateboard on the ground "So, how do you know Slaine?"

Lupin didn't say a word. Riley was slowly losing his patience with him.

"Answer me, you trash!" He picked up his skateboard and hit him with its tail. Lupin fell on the ground. He had a huge bruise on his face. He looked up at them and crawled away. Riley's blue eyes looked down at him and he grabbed his collar. "Freaking speak, you motherfucking rat! How do you know Slaine?!"

"Hey! What's going on?" They saw a policeman walking towards them in the dark.

"Riley, let's go." They all skated away, leaving Lupin behind.

"Are you okay, kid?" The police officer asked. Lupin ran away back to the bar—into his room.

Slaine and Asselyum still stood at the balcony.

"What do you mean Lupin's going to die?" Slaine asked.

"I mean—d**g addicts don't live long. You never know when he might overdose and his body gives up."

"Actually, we all are d**g addicts, struggling with our d**g of choice."

"I don't know what that means."

"We need to help him."

"I've got more important stuff to do." Asselyum bailed out but Slaine grabbed her hand "Are we not important to you?" He asked "Tell me, does any of us matter to you? Even if just a little"

She looked into his eyes.

"All that matters to me is the upcoming war." She pulled her hand away and walked out of the room. He looked outside the balcony. She opened the door to Lupin's room. It was dark and he sat in a corner. She moved towards him. He was high. She sat before him on her toes.

"It's so sad you're making yourself a dumpster of talent."

He hid his face between his legs and squirmed them towards himself.

"Do you regret it?" She asked. He didn't reply. She stared at him for a while then left him to be. 

The next morning, they all sat in the bar while Mr James cleaned up.

"Hey, why is this dog still here?" Slaine kicked Elron who was sitting beside him.

"Don't kick him!" Axel scolded him.

"Asselyum, tell me more about yourself," Jimmy asked her.

"I was the first android made in 26 ATGXW."

"ATGXW?"

"It means 26 years After The Great X-DROID War."

"Is this replacing all that B.C and A.D we use?" Axel asked.

"I think so," Asselyum said "After that Code C- 555, Valorie was made, then came the doublets—Who work as a small team of two, Norman and MiK, and finally came the strongest android, Lucifer,"

"Lucifer?" Slaine said.

"The most intellectually superior among all of us. He doesn't need any human aid to function like me. He was last used in a war against the UK and he ended up completely destroying that nation and submerging it underwater." Asselyum said.

"What?!" They all shouted.

"We have lost the UK," Asselyum said.

"So, they all have controllers or coordinators?" Axel asked.

"Valorie only needs a mechanic, Norman and MiK need each other to function,"

"So, it means you need maximum human aid?" Jimmy asked.

"Yeah, I need a controller, coordinator, mechanic and a technician," Asselyum replied.

Lupin walked down the stairs to the bar. His eyes were swollen and he looked paper pale.

"Hi, Lupe!" Jimmy said and continued chatting with Asselyum. Axel was busy feeding the dog. Slaine looked at him.

"Are you okay?" He asked and Lupin wrote, "I'm alright."

"Well, you look otherwise."

"Don't we all?"

He looked at the dark bruise under his eye. "How did you get that?" Lupin didn't say a word.

"We need to find the fifth oblivion and kill them. They are like a spinal cord to the vertebral column of X-DROIDS. If we kill them, the others will die by themselves." Asselyum said, "The killings have started."

They all stared at her quietly.

In the afternoon, while Lupin was working on the computer setup, Asselyum and Slaine stood at the terrace.

"Someone has hit him," Slaine said.

"Hit whom? Lupin?"

"Yes. He's got a blemish."

"Maybe he just fell somewhere. He was high last night."

"Really?"

"I saw him."

"When?"

"When I went to his room."

"Why did you go to his room?"

"You said we should help him."

"...Do you want to help him?"

"I just want to do what you want."

Slaine looked at her and she looked at him. "You are so difficult to understand." He shook his head and picked up his skateboard.

"I'm going out for a quick skate." He ran down the stairs and went out on the streets. As he passed through the bridge towards the city, he remembered,

"I just want to do what you want."

"What do you mean?" He reached the skatepark. It was full of scooter kids and some other skater boys. Riley wasn't there. Slaine was slackened. He went up the ramp. He had planned to do a 720 that day. Also, that race which Riley mentioned was coming closer. He went up the ramp at full speed and switched to do the trick. Suddenly, that same scooter kid he met the other day, came in front of him. They crashed into each other and went down sliding on the ramp.

Slaine got up with a bruised ankle. The kid dusted himself as he got up. "You again, huh? Bro, leave me alone. I'm trying to do something important here." Slaine picked up his board and went to the other side of the park. He was constantly being followed by that kid everywhere. Though he didn't interrupt him again and Slaine did the tricks smoothly. Suddenly, he felt a tingling in his ear. Those were the headsets Asselyum had given.

"Slaine!" He heard Axel's voice.

"Axel?"

"Asselyum went after two X-DROIDS!" Axel seemed out of breath—As if he was running.

"Where are you now?"

"District 12, near a Mongolian shop. Come here, quick!"

"That f*****g i***t," Slaine got on his board and went down the street.

"Guys, can you hear me?" He said on his headset.

"Jimmy is asleep. It's just you, me and Lupin." Axel said from the other end.

"If Jimmy can't fight, how will Asselyum fight?" Slaine said.

"I don't know—Her energy is just 33%"

"This brainless blonde!"

Meanwhile, a little girl sat at a huge dining table, decorated by candies and cakes—A full course meal to achieve diabetes. She was dressed up in a puffy, extravagant frock and took a sip of her tea as she looked at the monitor in front of her. She was what all the ANDROIDS called her—Delete.

"So, these are the codes of X777" Her voice was a high pitched—A stranded for kids her age. Three dolls served her a tuna fish-like dish. She sliced it up and as she ate it, she smiled "After all, human flesh is the best." She looked back at the monitor "I might like the new team actually. 

Younger blood boils better."

-To be continued