“INFINITY!” shouted Neo.
Of a sudden, all those empty eyes glitched. Shining-red lights blink from their robot eyes as if the code just reactivated their system. Everyone started to grasp their breath. Many of them looked terrified, but the remaining looked calmed down.
Neo just watched what was happening in front of him and stayed silent. He felt relief when he saw Tony back to normal, breathing easily while his eyes found him, then smiled.
However, although everyone there had received their consciousness back, they didn’t move from their line as if they were still under the control of the program or something. Neo looked at Corine. His expression clearly hid many questions.
“What was that for? The code?” Neo realized that the code Corine’s gave was somehow activating the HumanBot as if they were under his control. Knowing that fact, Neo once again felt that Corine was just using him and the HumanBot.
“An army should work properly. Somebody should give them an order. And that somebody would be you, Neo.” She replied.
“By robbing their freedom? No, I am not going to do that.”
“Well, if you don’t like it. Just don’t use it.” Corine stayed calm. She moved closer to Neo to add, “You can use it in case of an emergency.”
“No. I will never used my friends.” Neo hissed.
Corine gave him a smile he didn’t like before moving forward to face the HumanBot. Ignoring Neo.
“Good morning, my precious Infinity Force!” Corine used an implanted microphone to make her voice louder, and everyone could hear it clearly. She ignored the gaze that Neo gave beside her.
“Good morning, Professor!” Everyone replied. It shocked Neo, who could remember clearly that none of HumanBot liked The Creators, especially their leader, Corine. But, how they responded to her call made Neo feel more curious. They definitely were under control.
“I am happy to announce that the latest upgrade to your body and system went smoothly. Well done, everyone. Thank you for participating in.”
Neo raised his eyebrows. He didn’t know what was going on right now. All he could do was just patiently wait.
“Today is a big day. Because we are one step closer to getting back to the ground.” Corine talked slowly while maintaining her chin up. All eyes were on her right now.
“As you know, all of you have been created for one and only mission. Defeat the Greenish on the ground so that we could live there once again, our home sweet home. The Ground of the Planet Earth.”
Neo grasped his breath. He looked around and saw everyone change their expression after hearing the speech. However, none of them talk as if their mouth were shut. And it was true. Corine, who controlled everything in their system, was now shutting them up until she could finish her speech without any unnecessary interference.
“With the upgrade and a little gift, I hope you can progress well in the upcoming training serial.” Corine smiled and then clapped her hands twice. And thus, just like a magic, she turned off the controller in the HumanBot system, and everyone started to talk to one another.
The hall suddenly turned noisy.
With his enhanced hearing, Neo could hear every conversation inside the hall. He didn’t even have to try.
“That’s crazy. Was the Greenish real? I never saw one of them.”
“I thought that it was just a scam.”
“My mother told me that The Greenish doesn’t exist. It was just the story to scare kids and make them sleep before nine.”
“Go to the ground? I don’t even know if we have another place except the underground.”
“Is that necessary? I’m scared. Can I just stay here like forever?”
Neo’s eyes accidentally saw those beautiful hazel eyes that belonged to Hope. The girl kept silent, her mouth was slightly opened, and her eyes locked to Neo’s.
“Neo … do you hear me?” she whispered, and of course, her soft voice could be heard easily by Neo. Although there was more than a fifteen-meter distance between them.
“Yes.” He replied.
“N-e-o … it’s strange. Do we even have that name on the list?”
At first, Neo thought the beautiful girl he adored was trying to talk with him. But now, she shook her head, and what’s come from her lips was just a sentence Neo couldn’t understand. It was like the girl was just talking to herself, to her mind. But still, Neo was curious why she mentioned his name.
“SILENCE!” shouted Corine.
Everyone shut their mouth and got back to the perfect position in their line. Their eyes were now focused only on Corine. It was really fast, but however, only Neo didn’t experience it as if he was the exception of that controlling system
Neo honestly hated it when he realized that Corine had something that could control all of his friends. It made the HumanBot look like a Bot and not a human. Besides, no humans love to be controlled like that.
“I forgot to announce to you one more important thing.” Corine suddenly grabbed Neo’s shoulder and pulled him closer to her.
“My son, Neo, he would be your leader. From now on, his words hold power. The power of Infinity Force.” She smiled while giving a nod to Neo and asked him to walk forward.
Neo didn’t understand, but his feet were moving as if they were no longer in his control.
“Everyone, your powerful leader. Give him respect!”
Tuck! Tuck! Tuck!
Neo’s eyes widened when all 99 HumanBot in front of him were kneeling on the ground while facing the floor. None of them raised their face to see Neo by eyes like a minute ago. The view that he got made him feel anxious. Neo looked behind, and Corine was still smiling. But Neo realized that he never liked her smile, although that woman was his mother.
“What did you do?” Neo hissed, he didn’t like the thing that Corine had done to all of the HumanBot. It was really clear that The HumanBot was no longer free. Everything was controlled. And the fact that they were also human-made Neo frustrated even more.
“Stop it. It doesn’t necessary.” He added.
Corine ignored his unexpected reaction. She smiled, then moved closer to him to whisper. “I made you a leader. You should be grateful.”
Neo couldn’t hold it anymore. His anger suddenly raised, and the mocking smile on Corine’s face made him even angrier. He moved his right hand, and planned to push that woman away from his side, but suddenly … his hand stopped at an inch before touching her shoulder.
Still trying, Neo pushed her hand stronger till those blue-greenish veins could be seen clearly on the surface of his skin. He was trying hard only to touch Corine’s shoulder but failed. His hand was still there as if an invisible object was protecting Corine.
“Are you trying to hurt me?” Corine could easily move her face closer to Neo. And strangely, Neo could no longer pull her face away. He could not move any inch. All of his body was rejecting his order.
“Well, you can’t. Not without my permission.” She added in a whisper that she made sure that only Neo could hear that.
“And now, let the first training section begins.”
Corine left all the HumanBot inside the hall without any more words coming from her lips. She walked out like a ghost while Neo was still trying to push his body to move like he wanted. But he couldn’t.Neo found out that his body was controlled by someone else who was not himself. The same fate that all the HumanBot also faced. It was strange, but remembering the latest upgrade that he still didn’t know the detail, made him feel robbed. Not only him but all the HumanBot. They lose their freedom before they even realize it.“Neo, how you doing?” Tony ran to Neo. After the metal door hidden on the wall closed entirely, all the HumanBot were suddenly free to move on their own.Neo stared at Tony from head to toe as if he was investigating him and trying to find what’ things had changed. But as long as he could remember, Neo couldn’t see any changes in Tony’s physical.“Do you get it too?” asked Neo, a strange feeling made his throat itchy. It feels like it’s been a while since the last
Zink!Zink!Zink!The hall suddenly became noisy because of the sound of alarm rumbling from every corner of that giant room. The enhanced hearing system that almost every HumanBot have causes them to struggle to stay balanced while standing on their feet. They tried to cover their earlobes using their bare hands to reduce the annoying sound from the alarm.Neo seemed to be struggling a lot. He fell to the ground while lying on the wall, trying to manually reduce his hearing system because he was the most sensitive HumanBot in terms of that system.“Arghh …”[Mutant body received damage from unknown object]Another notification popped out and confused him.[Warning!][The host might collapse]“What was that for? Arghhh …” Neo complained on something that he could only seen from the notification on his robot’s eye.“Neo, are you okay?” Tony ran toward Neo and gave him a hand. He held Neo’s arm to push him to stand.Zink!He turned it off, and suddenly, he could not hear anything. Even
Neo and the others couldn’t see anything inside the darkness caused by the black smoke. As the training section has been officially started, Neo, who already set the hearing system back to the highest level of sensitivity, began to hear the short breathing system of the HumanBot hidden inside the darkness.“Transformer, do you think the infrared gonna work?”“I have activated the Infrared’s eyes.”Immediately, Neo’s eyes color changed to red as the infrared function had been activated by Transformer. And now, he could see everyone in the darkness, including their facial expression right now when they were lost in the dark and didn’t know what to do next.Neo knew that not all the HumanBot have the infrared system planted in their eyes. Any kind of superior system that normal humans could not have was planted in HumanBot. Still, not all of their body could accept it. Some rejected it, and thus, the system could not work correctly or could not even work.In front of Neo was Hope. She lo
Darkness. Neo could not see anything except the darkness that surrounded him. He was sure that both of his eyes were fully opened, but there was still nothing there. Only darkness. Started to wonder what was happening to him, he suddenly felt like his body was flying. He was lying, but he could not feel anything holding him back, as if he was there lying while flying.“Is this what they called dreaming?” he whispered to himself. His voice sounded weird, as if he got a sore throat.“Hello? Is anybody here?”Neo was trying to find the answer himself. The notification was the only thing he could remember before everything turned into darkness. When the countdown reached 0 seconds, suddenly, everything turned black.“Hell─.”A transparent screen suddenly appeared in front of his face. The light from the screen blinded Neo’s eyes for a second.[Rebooting in progress (10 minutes left)]A weird loading scale inside the screen started to count down the time. Neo tried to touch the screen, but
Neo could no longer speak as if a lock system was placed on his lips. He was trying to free himself, but still, he had no power to move at that moment. A second after, the darkness in front of him started to move like a mini tornado that sucked everything in that room, including Neo’s body. But however, whatever holding Neo’s body was much stronger than the mini-sucking tornado. Neo was still there while he could feel the strong sucking sensation moving to the mini tornado's center. Wondering what was going on, he could only be taught to himself to stand still and calm down. But the movement of the mini tornado was powerful, thus, Neo started to lose consciousness. “Am I really going to die now?” he said to himself. And suddenly … Neo’s body started to feel hot as it burned from the inside. He tried to scream but could not do that because of something still shutting his mouth up. The burning sensation was still there, while a painful feeling started to join the party. Neo could ha
The Greenish race was not originated from Planet Earth. They have their own planet before invading the Earth and destroying everything, converting it to another place suitable for their new home.Humans did not know the reason why The Greenish came out of nowhere and never left because no human could interact with the Greenish. They could speak, of course, but their language and human language were not the same.One important thing about The Greenish that everyone already knew was the fact that they were all shapeshifters. The original appearance of The Greenish was just something covered in green color. They were fully alive.They do not have skin like a human; their skin is as dry as reptiles. But they do not have scales on their body, nor fur. Only Skin. Their body was slim without any curve, just as linear as a ruler. They have three eyeballs colored black attached to the front of their face. They did not have any nostrils, but their mouth was just a big round-shaped cavity with h
Neo could feel his body refreshed as if he had just woken up from eight hours of sleep after having such a nutritious dinner before bedtime. The feeling he got came from absorbing the DNA essences from the Tarantula’s leg into his system bank.It was only a low amount of DE, but the effect made Neo feel spoiled. Even so, he did not have such a long time to enjoy the treatment from the system because the Tarantula right in front of him was starting to find a way to stand up with one leg gone.“Come on, Greenish. Give me more.”Neo started to understand now. He learned very well.The system inside his body that never stop asking to be fed with something containing DNA could be everything. Especially the living things. All Neo had learned from the academic school he got as the HumanBot, every living thing have DNA.But however, the system was like only recognizing the Greenish DNA at this moment. Ignoring DNA from the human or even the HumanBot. Because the notification showed that there
“Neo!”“Neo!”“Neo, wake up!”Neo could hear a soft voice that he knew belonged to Hope. She called his name hundreds of times, and now … her call could be heard by Neo.The teenage boy started to move his eyelids, trying to open them. A bit hard to do, as if both of his eyelids were sealed by something.“What happened?” Neo groaned as his body felt ached. He was confused by the looks of four different faces. They looked worried.Hope, Tony, the one girl with short hair like a guy that must be Trish, and another guy with a pale face. Neo did not know what they were thinking; thus, he pulled his back to sit, and once again … he found himself on the floor.“Gosh, you scared me!” Hope moved backward, creating a distance. Her body was covered by sweat. Same as the others three.Neo did not ask for more questions. In fact, he looked around and discovered that the view was totally different from the previous one he could remember.In front of him, five meters away, there was Tarantula’s car
It was an attack from Trish hands. She threw a twin chakram blades that suddenly appeared when she summoned them. Her special weapon. The twin chakram was too big for the girl, but she could use it easily as if her hands were made to control them. Its sharp black blades successfully separated the rattlesnake’s new head in a second before the snake even realized that it was in danger. Whooosh! The chakram spun back to the girl and she could just catch them without getting any cut. “Thank you, Trish. That’s amazing.” Neo could not hide his amazement toward Trish’s movement. He quickly jumped forward to grab Tony’s shoulders and pulled him back before the rattlesnake monster grow back its head. “You did well. We will never know that the snake could regenerate like that if you didn’t do anything. Pull yourself together, okay?” Neo shook Tony’s shoulders to get his attention back. And he made it. Tony nodded and gulped his saliva. He looks confused but at least, his confidence was bac
The rattlesnake monster was less aggressive compared to the Tarantula. Its huge and long body moved out from the box. The green smoke was still circulating around the snake, covering the tip of its tail as if the smoke was continuously secreted through that body part. Neo and the other survivors of HumanBot moved backward to give a space for the snake in front of them. They do know that the upcoming battle required huge space because after all … anything could happened to them. Anything bad like poisonous spit from the snake or something else. They need to stay aware. “What do you want me to do?” asked Trish, her eyes widened after realizing that her strength would help Neo. She could not even stop staring to Neo’s eyes with a spark on her eyes as if she was staring at the person that she most adore. “Fight with me, by my side. Wait for my-” Neo did not continue his words because suddenly the notification distracted him once more time. [Automatic-weapon controller is ready] [Wait
An explanation about the automatic system planted to Neo’s body suddenly made all the HumanBot inside the hall silenced. In their mind, it would be very cool to have such a power that can defeat the Greenish as big as the Tarantula Greenish alone like Neo did. However, after hearing to Hope’s point of view, almost half of them changed their mind. Knowing that they will become a fully robot fighter scared them. After all, freedom was the greatest thing that they can dream of. “All right, what’s next? It is over, right?” Aaron broke the silence with his mocking voice. He glanced to Neo who stood in front of him, battling against his own mind. Neo thought that Hope was right. Hundred percent right and it made him felt like a joke. Because he was the one who already have that system and he did not even realized that he lost control over his own body. But before Neo could think about it any further, suddenly the sound of the annoying alarm was back … ZINK! ZINK! The lights inside the
Neo had finally understood what was going on. Even so, he could not tell the true story to anyone inside that hall because he still had a lack of trust toward the others, including his best friend. Using his creative mind, Neo tried to find an excuse to tell them before their curiosity led to something bad happening.“It was Corine’s special gift.” Neo answered to question of Aaron.Everyone who still could stand on their feet was now looking at Neo. They were having a big curiosity toward him now. After all, they never saw Neo do such a thing during the training against something. Besides, this time was the first time for all HumanBot to fight against the real monster, the Greenish. Usually, they only have to fight the low-quality robot with integrated AI in their system.“Special gift?” Aaron could not believe it. But however, his voice sounded like he was jealous, as usual.“Yes, it’s a special gift for me. That’s why she asked me to be the leader. Because of that gift.” Neo starte
“Neo!”“Neo!”“Neo, wake up!”Neo could hear a soft voice that he knew belonged to Hope. She called his name hundreds of times, and now … her call could be heard by Neo.The teenage boy started to move his eyelids, trying to open them. A bit hard to do, as if both of his eyelids were sealed by something.“What happened?” Neo groaned as his body felt ached. He was confused by the looks of four different faces. They looked worried.Hope, Tony, the one girl with short hair like a guy that must be Trish, and another guy with a pale face. Neo did not know what they were thinking; thus, he pulled his back to sit, and once again … he found himself on the floor.“Gosh, you scared me!” Hope moved backward, creating a distance. Her body was covered by sweat. Same as the others three.Neo did not ask for more questions. In fact, he looked around and discovered that the view was totally different from the previous one he could remember.In front of him, five meters away, there was Tarantula’s car
Neo could feel his body refreshed as if he had just woken up from eight hours of sleep after having such a nutritious dinner before bedtime. The feeling he got came from absorbing the DNA essences from the Tarantula’s leg into his system bank.It was only a low amount of DE, but the effect made Neo feel spoiled. Even so, he did not have such a long time to enjoy the treatment from the system because the Tarantula right in front of him was starting to find a way to stand up with one leg gone.“Come on, Greenish. Give me more.”Neo started to understand now. He learned very well.The system inside his body that never stop asking to be fed with something containing DNA could be everything. Especially the living things. All Neo had learned from the academic school he got as the HumanBot, every living thing have DNA.But however, the system was like only recognizing the Greenish DNA at this moment. Ignoring DNA from the human or even the HumanBot. Because the notification showed that there
The Greenish race was not originated from Planet Earth. They have their own planet before invading the Earth and destroying everything, converting it to another place suitable for their new home.Humans did not know the reason why The Greenish came out of nowhere and never left because no human could interact with the Greenish. They could speak, of course, but their language and human language were not the same.One important thing about The Greenish that everyone already knew was the fact that they were all shapeshifters. The original appearance of The Greenish was just something covered in green color. They were fully alive.They do not have skin like a human; their skin is as dry as reptiles. But they do not have scales on their body, nor fur. Only Skin. Their body was slim without any curve, just as linear as a ruler. They have three eyeballs colored black attached to the front of their face. They did not have any nostrils, but their mouth was just a big round-shaped cavity with h
Neo could no longer speak as if a lock system was placed on his lips. He was trying to free himself, but still, he had no power to move at that moment. A second after, the darkness in front of him started to move like a mini tornado that sucked everything in that room, including Neo’s body. But however, whatever holding Neo’s body was much stronger than the mini-sucking tornado. Neo was still there while he could feel the strong sucking sensation moving to the mini tornado's center. Wondering what was going on, he could only be taught to himself to stand still and calm down. But the movement of the mini tornado was powerful, thus, Neo started to lose consciousness. “Am I really going to die now?” he said to himself. And suddenly … Neo’s body started to feel hot as it burned from the inside. He tried to scream but could not do that because of something still shutting his mouth up. The burning sensation was still there, while a painful feeling started to join the party. Neo could ha
Darkness. Neo could not see anything except the darkness that surrounded him. He was sure that both of his eyes were fully opened, but there was still nothing there. Only darkness. Started to wonder what was happening to him, he suddenly felt like his body was flying. He was lying, but he could not feel anything holding him back, as if he was there lying while flying.“Is this what they called dreaming?” he whispered to himself. His voice sounded weird, as if he got a sore throat.“Hello? Is anybody here?”Neo was trying to find the answer himself. The notification was the only thing he could remember before everything turned into darkness. When the countdown reached 0 seconds, suddenly, everything turned black.“Hell─.”A transparent screen suddenly appeared in front of his face. The light from the screen blinded Neo’s eyes for a second.[Rebooting in progress (10 minutes left)]A weird loading scale inside the screen started to count down the time. Neo tried to touch the screen, but