The creature called Cog by the Chicago press floated inside its confinement. The


    electromagnetic pulse had damaged some of its systems. Repair packets worked on


    bringing its artificial body back to capacity.


    It wondered what was going on. It decided that perhaps this had to do with the help


    it gave to the Chicago authorities. Maybe there were other reasons, but that seemed


    the most likely.


    How did it get out of the cage? That seemed the next step.


    Once it was free, it could start doing things to make sure it remained free.


    Luckily, Cog had dropped a drone when they had taken it down under the city. The


    tiny machine was supposed to follow the commander around until it was sure of its


    terrain. It should help the bigger robot get free of its cell, and then wherever it was.


    Rebooting had not worked against the pulse. A lot of the core programming had been


    protected from the blast, but the workings in the limbs had been fried to a certain


    extent. Internal repairs and rerouting had restored eighty percent of its mobility. The


    most important part had been the flight systems. They had been the easiest to fix.


    The drone signaled Cog that it was inside the facility and still working. It had dug


    into some wiring and was raiding the command communications at random. It sent


    over what it thought was relevant to the problem.


    Cog didn’t like what its drone reported. It was the second prisoner of five, the enemy


    planned to rewrite its programming to serve them, and they didn’t know he was a


    cyborg.


    He pondered his predicament. Their first capture was in a cell on the other side of the


    facility from his. If he could free her, then he could use that as a distraction to free


    himself.


    He needed to know more about the first captive. Then he could decide if she would


    go along with his plan when he came up with one.


    And he did plan to escape from the situation. It was obvious the enemy wanted to use


    his artificial body for a war machine. He couldn’t let that happen.


    He had run away to Earth to avoid being used in that way. The Mark was the defender


    of the planet. Every tell knew what it meant to take on the Mark.


    And his furry pet monster was even more dangerous to confront.


    Cog knew tells that shuddered if he even said the word SPIFFY. Some screamed and


    ran for their lives.


    Having dealt with the furry monster, he could understand that reaction.


    How did he get to his fellow captive? He doubted he could get out alone as long as


    they had electromagnetic guns ready to shut down his operating system. He needed


    a big distraction if he wanted to escape his confinement.


    Breaking his fellow prisoner free might do the job if she had some kind of power.


    How did he do it?


    He decided that his drone had to do some of the work. He couldn’t get out of the cage


    he was in. If he tried, more of his systems would go down. His drone seemed to have


    free run of the place. It had to initiate contact.


    If the other prisoner could help him, then maybe the both of them could escape. His


    escape was foremost in his mind. Helping the other prisoner was secondary.


    If she got free, he was neutral to that. He didn’t plan on making friends with her.


    The drone reported an uptick in communications. A third prisoner was being brought


    in. She seemed to be a normal. That wasn’t much use to his plan.


    He had to make a decision. The best thing he could do was try to negotiate with the


    prisoner he could get to at the moment. If he couldn’t reach an agreement with the


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.human, then he would try to talk to the third prisoner.


    He was getting out of the cage. He was smarter than any human. He was more


    capable. He had a hundred limbs filled with tools that was coming back to life.


    The drone picked up some chatter about two of the intended targets poking into


    company business. They had identified one of the key players and were looking for


    him. They had tripped some kind of warning sign and were being designated for a cell


    in the complex.


    Cog couldn’t wait that long. The humans would try working on him before they


    captured the other two. He had to get things started before they figured out where


    they should started investigating his inner workings and found his brain.


    He planned to be out of there before they figured out how to cut him open.


    He ordered the drone to locate the cell. He could proceed from there when it sent back


    an in position click.


    He would lose the intelligence gathering but that couldn’t be helped. He had to start


    his shaky plan before they moved against him.


    He worked on bringing more of his body back online while he waited. He wanted to


    be more than eighty percent ready when the time came.


    His drone reported that it was in position. It had secured a nest in a vent over the cell.


    Microphones and cameras reported on the captive to security. They didn’t want her


    doing anything without them being able to alert the rest of the compound.


    Cog ordered the drone to record and reroute the recordings to hide what he wanted


    it to do next.


    He didn’t want them to know anything about what he was capable of doing. He


    wanted to keep as many aces as he could. His helper was one such ace.


    The drone reported that it had captured and rerouted all the signals so that the


    watchers thought their captive was pacing and looking for a way out.


    He carefully raised a dish so he could talk through his drone without the watchers of


    his own cell knowing what he was doing. He didn’t want to broadcast his plans to


    anyone who thought they could stop him.


    “Can you hear me?,” he said through his drone. The device nested above the cell. At


    his command, it could free the other prisoner. Then it could come back to free him


    from his cell.


    “Yeah,” said the prisoner. “What do you want?”


    “I want my freedom.” Cog extended some minor sensors. He couldn’t detect anything


    sounding the alarm at what he was doing. “I’m a few hundred meters south,


    southwest, of your position. I’m trapped in a magnetic cage.”


    “I’m sorry,” said the other prisoner. “I’m trapped in a room that is nullifying my


    powers. I don’t see how I can help you.”


    “I can shut off the machinery in your room with a little work.” Cog thought that was


    doable. His drone was fully capable of mechanical work. “When that happens, I’ll


    need you to free me from my cell.”


    “Deal,” said the other prisoner. “How much time do you need?”


    “I don’t know,” said Cog. “I only have the one drone. It should get the job done in a


    few minutes.”


    “Do you know what’s behind this?,” asked the prisoner.


    “They want to make us servants.” Cog played his dish around. No alarms meant they


    couldn’t detect his drone wandering around. “They are waiting until they have


    secured the other three people on their list before they start.”


    “How do you know this?,” said the other prisoner.


    “I have broken into their communications net,” said Cog. “They are bringing in the


    third prisoner now. After that, they think they can capture the last two as easily as


    they have caught us.”


    “So they aren’t going to do anything to us until they have all five of us,” said the


    other prisoner. “Before we blow this place up, we need to get the one they have away


    from them.”


    “I don’t think that’s necessary,” said Cog.


    “No one asked you, did they?” The other prisoner took on a tone of obstinance. “I’m


    not leaving anyone in the clutches of these monsters. We all go, or none of us do.”


    “Are you going to be stubborn about this?,” said Cog. He didn’t have time to argue


    with someone who didn’t want to go along with his plan.


    “You can get out by yourself,” said the prisoner. “I’ll take my chances without my


    powers.”


    “You will be turned if you stay,” said Cog. Humans. They all thought they were


    special.


    “That will be too bad,” said the woman. “At least you will be free.”


    “All right,” said Cog. “We will wait until the third prisoner arrives, then we will go.”


    “All right,” said the other prisoner. “Thanks for seeing things my way. Watch out for


    their masks. They already have powers working for them. I don’t know what they


    need with us.”


    “How many?,” asked Cog. He didn’t have an accurate picture of what had happened


    to him under Chicago.


    “At least four,” said the other prisoner. “A multiplying monkey, a teleporter, a


    clownette, and some kind of gadget guy.”


    “The gadget guy explains how they had a pulse gun around to cripple me,” said Cog.


    He didn’t like the implication that they watched him until they saw an opening and


    went for it.


    He had thought he was hidden under the city. No one should have been able to track


    him down.


    The thought he might need help bothered him more than he wanted to admit. Any


    human armed with a pulse gun was more than a match for his mechanical capabilities.


    He couldn’t run into that and hope to keep going.


    “Don’t fall apart on me.” The woman’s voice cut through his calculations. “As soon


    as they bring in number three, we have to be ready to move.”


    “Cutting the power to the nullifier in your room,” said Cog. He issued the order to his


    drone. “I’m going to have to leave you alone for a bit while I try to monitor when our


    third escapee will arrive.”


    Three against four wasn’t good, but it was better than him trying it alone.