In Adam, we get to re-visit with some old friends…

As his guests approached, Adam straightened and offered a smile to his ex-girlfriend, Anastasia, who looked as yummy as ever even with her hair dyed blonde and cut short. She returned a smile of equal brilliance, which had the man by her side frowning. Hello, the husband.

Then, because he must suffer from a terminal self-destruct wish, Adam drew her into a hug.

“Adam,” she laughed as he squeezed her, tight enough to crack human ribs.

Releasing her, with perhaps a hint of a smug smirk, Adam didn’t even have time to blink before he hit the ground. For a moment, he saw gears whirring before he blinked and his eyesight returned to normal. Nice shot, if a cheap one.

“Seth!” Anastasia chastised with just one word.

The word did nothing for his jaw, which Adam had to unobtrusively pop back into place before anyone noticed its lopsided nature.

“Sorry. My arm just suddenly shot out. Some kind of glitch it seems. I’ll have to run a diagnostic later.”

“Glitch, my ass,” she mumbled, but Adam couldn’t help but note, as he sprang to his feet, that she didn’t seem perturbed at all that her spouse might harbor a few loose screws. As a matter of face, her lips curved in clear, smug pleasure. The brat is enjoying her husband’s jealousy.

And Adam couldn’t help but enjoy antagonizing it. “Not his fault, Ana darling. He is, after all, one of the early models. He can’t help but show his age.”

To his surprise, because by his quickly run calculations his barb should have netted a violent result, Seth laughed.

“I wouldn’t underestimate my skills. Those who do, die, whippersnapper.” With a smile that promised a violent battle—something fun to look forward to—Seth turned his back on Adam and called forth another man who walked slowly, cane tapping, eyes hidden by wide, wrap-around dark glasses.

This shambling ruin didn’t require an introduction. It could only be Avion, but not the man Adam recalled seeing in some of the media vids where he was caught on camera, causing destruction—in other words, freeing cyborgs and confiscating goods. Adam couldn’t help his uttered, “What the fuck happened to you?”

A rueful smile curling his lips, Avion didn’t take offense. “I was a military guest for a while. The food was atrocious.”

No joking. Signs of starvation marked the damaged cyborg. Never had Adam seen one of his kind so gaunt. Fragile.

It proved disturbing. One of the things their nanos did was absorb nutrients from their environment. It allowed them to survive substandard conditions with little need for resupply. A modern version of live off the land, an attribute Adam took for granted judging by Avion’s appearance.

“Looks like more than a shitty diet to me. What really happened to you?” he asked. He didn’t fear spies in this public place, not with all the noise and the fact he emitted a static hum that masked their words.

“This is what happens when you shut the nanos off.”

“Off? What do you mean off? I’ve never heard of that happening.”

“No one has. And yet here I am, living proof.”

“I don’t know about the living part. I’m thinking Avion might be the first cyborg zombie. Except instead of brains, he’s going to start craving batteries,” Seth teased, but Adam could see the worry in the man’s eyes.

“If I need batteries, I’ll go for your wife’s night stand first.”