text: Deep breaths. It's almost time. I've been waiting years for this exact moment. It cost me everything. Quite literally to be exact. I was a soldier. A man of war and violence. I did it for 45 years and for all that time I've been gifted with nothing but pain and pity and sympathy. All thoughtless. Just because of who I was, what I morphed into. First, it was my left arm. I lost it to an infection after I attempted to throw a plasma charge back at the men who attacked us. The cost of my arm was worth saving my friends. The damn thing was burned. Completely charred from my fingers down to the elbow. The company I was with treated me great at first. They gave me an advanced model Titan limb module. It was almost like having my full arm back. Fluid control. Almost zero process time for actions to be made. It made me a little slower but I could still fight. At least good enough to be asked to join a special ops group when I finished my third tour. I joined, of course. The others on the team all had, “enhancements” as they called them. It made us better. After being successful in our operations, they asked if any one of us would take part in a new program that attempted to test the length our tech enhancements would go. I liked the power it gave me. They took my other arm. I was stronger. I couldn't lift a car but still above average. My legs were next. I could survive a fall landing directly on my feet without any damage from over 30 feet. I felt like it was the next step for humans. I had been one of the last 3 people left from the original starting 8. They asked for one last test. They said our bodies could handle it. A new neural implant. It was supposed to make us even better. Better than humans. Beyond that. We all went at the same time. I walked out of the operation. The others not so much. I was the program's success. The only success. They used me from then on. Attacking smaller militia. Things not even worth my time. It was nonsense. All political repositioning. Kill this warlord here. Kill this revolution leader there. I became a puppet. Then I took some damage to the implant in my head. I had to retire but that doesn't take away what I experienced. It happened when I came to realize what I had become. I was knocked over when I stood watching a child sob and grab at the body of their mother. She was the voice of some revolutionary cabal. After that, I was glad it was over but not long after I had become accustomed to normal life, things began to change. First I would lose feeling in my hands. Then my legs would spasm randomly, my vision would blur. Then I heard it. It was a second voice in my head. Different from my own inner thought. Slightly distorted. “They did this to you”, he kept whispering. I tried to reach out to my contact with the program director and got nothing. It kept saying that I needed to do something about what they did to me. I didn’t listen at first. Why would they ignore me? I was the one who did their dirty work. They wouldn't just toss me aside after all I've done for them and all they gave to me. They had not answered. It's been 3 weeks and now I can't stop listening to the voice. It said it was the AI that ran the subprograms for the implant. All the extra processes were done by it. It said it knew what they were really doing. It was all some sick experiment for a weapons manufacturer. It's right. They took everything from me with lies and false empowerment. I gave them my body and they made me less of a man then what I was. I was supposed to help people. Not destroy those I wanted to save. I need to fix this. It whispered. I could never do that but it was right. I collected my things and drove. I did not know where to go. It felt as if I was being guided. I arrived. It was an award ceremony for scientific advancement crap. And here I am. Waiting for him. I'm off stage by the curtain. It wasn't a large stage. I should be there in a few steps. The next award is his. They announced his name for advancing cybernetics. Well, they all get to see what won him the award. I walked out. I didn't even need a weapon. I grabbed his neck. The satisfying crack reverberated off the walls. I felt at home. Maybe I was just a war machine. Nothing but a robot who could think. The most dangerous kind of machine. He hit the floor with a thud that was scrubbed out by the sound of the audience screaming. A large crack ranges out. I fell to the floor. What the fuck? I looked up and saw a high window, a rifle laser, and another flash. He shot my legs out. I lost them again. I tried to crawl behind the stage. He used a static charge to keep me from moving. He jumped down and made his way over. He bent over, pulled my head off the ground and pulled my plug I woke up moments later behind a blue screen. Where am I? I tried to move but could not seem to even feel anything. I tried to move my head but nothing. It set in moments later. This was all I was. I wasn’t even a man anymore. Memories on a hard drive. Like a damn word file. Just numbers and currents. I felt another shock hit me. I can’t remember what I was just thinking. I can’t really remember anything now. I feel like I should know but I'm having a hard time reaching out to the thought. Is someone going to help me out of here? A scientist walked into the room with a long cart. He grabbed a long cable. The end had spikes, like a transfer wire. Thank, God. He was going to help me out of here. This damn chamber. The man pulled up the sheet that covered the cart. A body. Arms and legs like a machine. The scientist looked up to my screen as he plugged the wire into the back of the body's head.