Nothing about the current situation made sense to Red. First, his food had been delivered late, which was strange enough. Then, Derrin had been dragged into a cell less than an hour later. Now, once again, someone was coming. He never had this many visitors in one day.

  The change of light forced him to squint as he eyed the ladder. It was likely past noon, judging by the level of brightness reflected into the hallway. Red sighed absently and leaned against the wall.

  “I wonder who it is this time?” He muttered absently.

  Derrin seemed to have retreated into silence for the time being. Perhaps he was worried about who was coming. Red wasn’t worried. None of the Gearborn truly scared him. Plus, he was even friends with one of them. Well, that may have been a one-sided friendship.

  A figure stepped into view, and Red felt his heart rate quicken. He recognized this Gearborn from before. The robot glanced at him with interest. Red felt his body unnaturally stiffen. He knew what was happening, but it was still hard to think straight. The Gearborn that faced him was the same one who caught him in the first place.

  The only thing Red knew with certainty was that this thing could mess with emotions. He had seen it happen to the crowd nearby and had even fought it off himself. Despite his mist reserves still being lower than he would have liked, Red began to circulate the mist throughout his body.

  It wasn’t a proper defensive method against the mental attack, but the comforting sense of mist throughout his body always made him feel stronger. It wasn’t any physical change that happened, but more of a mental change. So in this case, the mist seemed to counteract the tug on his emotions. His rising fear in the presence of the Gearborn vanished.

  “You are quite the interesting specimen, I must say. I have never seen one of your kind push off my attacks so freely before. My mistress will definitely find you interesting,” The Gearborn rubbed its chin absently.

  “I’m glad you made that clear. I was concerned after the comment you made last time,” Red smirked.

  To his surprise, the Gearborn laughed. Well, Red thought it was a laugh. It still didn’t sound entirely human and gave him the creeps.

  “I will speak with you in a minute, specimen. For now, I have other matters to attend to.”

  He shook his head, “You know I had to have this long conversation with Alpha earlier, but your guys' naming sense is quite strange.”

  The Gearborn just nodded and continued forward.

  Red was once again struck by how closely this Gearborn resembled a human. It looked nothing like Alpha and the other gearborn he had seen. While those clearly didn’t resemble humans, this Gearborn had a nose, eyes, and a mouth. Its face was still white as a sheet of paper, but its body and movements were much more human-like.

  Despite them moving seamlessly like humans, there was still something simply off about them. Everything operated mechanically, and although this Gearborn could clearly show emotions to some extent, it wasn’t nearly like that of a human. Red wondered what the Gearborn was up to. There really wasn’t anything else down here except…Derrin.

  Red turned quickly to his new friend. Actually he wasn’t certain that they were that close yet. But they were locked in a prison together so that it couldn’t get much closer than that… Unless, of course, they acted like Alpha. That weirdo. He tried to get a glimpse of Derrin, but he was nowhere to be seen. It was already difficult enough to see him, and now Derrin seemed to be standing back from the door.

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  “I have to say, human, you are lucky to have encountered me. Any other Gearborn would have simply killed you on the spot. Fortunately for you, my mistress and I have a soft spot for those with…” He paused and turned to Derrin’s cell, "incapacitating injuries.”

  “Hey buddy, you're making weird comments again. You guys really need to change your phrasing…” Red trailed off as he felt a sudden spike in his emotions.

  He stumbled as an overwhelming fear suddenly attacked his mind like a rabid animal. His body tried to act on it and get away from the source of fear. Red grunted and forced his mist to circulate faster in an attempt to throw off the attack. He should have known that the Gearborn wouldn’t use his true power right off the bat.

  Red growled a series of curses under his breath before giving up. He slumped onto his bed as he felt blood rush into his ears. His neck began to ache fiercely as he completely focused on his attempt to stave off the mental assault. Eventually, he managed to push the attack off enough that it no longer affected him. The mild bit of fear was still trying to gnaw at his brain, but it was minimal enough.

  As his mind came into focus, he heard loud heaving sounds coming from Derrin’s cell. What the hell happened? Red jumped his feet and leaned against the bars, trying to see what was going on. The fear he had been focused on earlier vanished completely.

  “That is just a small taste of what’s in store if you don’t cooperate willingly. I would prefer to deliver you to my mistress in one piece, but she won’t have a problem if I bring you along broken as well. It’ll be your choice,” The Gearborn said nonchalantly as if nothing had even happened.

  A cough echoed from Derrin’s cell, “Heh, it’ll take more than that.”

  The Gearborn shook his head, “Unfortunate.”

  Red suddenly felt an overwhelming pressure slam into his head like a battering ram. Stumbling to the floor with a thud, he groaned in agony as an overwhelming sense of dread and fear swallowed him. His previous technique of circulating mist to prevent the mental assault seemed to do nothing.

  Despite the formidable pulsing in his head that made him want to pass out, he forced himself to concentrate. The Gearborn’s true power seemed to be his ability to instill fear and dread in his enemies. It seemed that at a certain point, the ability transformed into a mental attack as a person’s senses were overwhelmed by too much fear.

  Red felt the attack vanish, and the sweet relief of emptiness washed over him. That was up until a burst of pain shot through his neck when he moved to stand up. He barely managed to stifle a groan before continuing the circulation of mist back to his neck. If only he had some more cold water with him.

  “Well, that was fun, but I hope you choose to change your mind,” The Gearborn sighed regretfully.

  Red caught his balance against the side of his bed as he struggled to rise to his feet. The pain in his head was gone, but his neck now felt like it was getting choked again. He wished he had been more present during the ordeal. He missed almost everything that the Gearborn had said to Derrin.

  “Oh, this is surprising. I didn’t expect you to remain conscious through that. He at least has his first core layer, but you barely have any mist yourself. How intriguing indeed?” The Gearborn cocked his head.

  “Bloody hell. At the very least, give a guy a heads-up before you decide to invade their minds. That was quite unfriendly.”

  A crooked smile appeared on his face, “You hide your fear well. Unfortunately, I specialize in fear.”

  “Quite the specialization. You certainly are unique. I’d tell you about my specializations, but I don’t think we’re that close yet. But I’ll give you a hint. It begins with ‘s’ and ends with ‘pouting nonsense’. It's quite the pastime of mine.”

  “Was that supposed to be humorous?” The Gearborn asked.

  “Nope,” Red said happily, his fingers twitched nervously behind his back, “Just the truth. Now you'd better hurry off, you’ve probably left Alpha alone for too long. The way he was acting, he might simply get thrown overboard, and that would certainly hurt my heart.”

  The Gearborn turned and began walking towards the ladder, “Specimen, specimen. You certainly are something, aren’t you? No wonder that idiot is always coming back up acting like he has a nut stuck in his gears.”

  “Uh…”

  Red collapsed onto his bed after the Gearborn left. What the hell was that blasted thing? As much as he had tried to put on a calm facade, the Gearborn saw right through him. If he was being honest with himself, he hadn't done a very good job.

  Normally, he’d just convince himself that problems like this would resolve themselves. That was not the case here. This Gearborn was a problem, a big problem. Thinking back, he tried to remember everything else that he knew about the monster.