Episode Ten: When we left Magnus last time he had returned to his office after investigating the Radlem Residence. As he arrived, he found that his car was parked in the alley out back, meaning one of two things: Veronica had returned it, or she was in his office while he was in her house. After entering, he didn’t find her anywhere inside the office. She found him however, and stunned him. Magnus woke up tied to a chair with a familiar hand cannon in his face once again and began trying to talk to Veronica. Lucky for Magnus his detective skills have kept him alive longer than he expected, and long enough to uncover the truth about Veronica’s mother. (or back to Episode One or Episode Ten)

The hand cannon quivered as Veronica squeezed the trigger. I knew this outcome was a possibility, but I guess I was hopeful. Then I realized that I wasn’t dead. Veronica looked at me, and then at the gun. “It seems I’m out of bullets, fate just seems to be on your side.” I sat anxiously awaiting what would happen next. “So I get to live?” She looked at her gun with disgust. “For today.” Veronica pulled a chair up in front of me. “You really think my father would do such a thing?” I nodded in agreement, knowing I was pushing my luck here. “It’s the only way you could have been completely cured.” She leaned back on the chair, and her beauty almost made me forget what she had done to me already. Almost.

We sat staring at each other for a little while and suddenly she smiled. It was a gorgeous smile, yet it frightened the hell out of me. “Tell me about yourself Inspector Gadget.” I looked around, obviously confused by the reference. “Well, I used to be on the police force, I trained and programmed many of the droids still working there today.” I suddenly felt like I couldn’t stop the words from coming out, maybe it was her beauty, or maybe I just wanted to talk to someone. Either way, I told her everything. From me originally being human to my issues adapting to becoming a robot and beyond, just everything. As we sat there she looked me up and down. “I’m impressed Magnus. You’ve done pretty well for yourself.” She looked down at the gun in her hands. “Sorry about that, it wasn’t personal.” Suddenly I felt like things were turning around between Veronica and I. “I know you had your reasons. But I’m on the case against the judge now, hopefully I can clear him as he was…” My mind flashes back to the video of her walking past the judge. “…in desperate need of an upgrade.”

Veronica looks at me almost knowing what I was about to say. “Well I should probably go then. You live today, but know something. I’m tracking you, so now I can find you and kill you whenever I want. So if you end up near my house again, I will hunt you down.” As she stood up, she leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Maybe in another life, we could have been friends… or better.” As I watch her leave I realize I’m falling for the girl. She’s already killed me, and I’m falling for her. What a ridiculous emotion love is, why couldn’t that be something my brain just forgot about? As the door slams shut behind her, I realize she has left me tied to a chair. How to get out of this one? The knot on my hands is just below my grease valve, I could always open that. But I’d ruin the carpet. Some days I wish this place wasn’t mine at all.

After a lengthy fight with some rather frustrating knots I manage to get free and get myself off the floor and out from under the table. I’ll spare the details in saying, that was not my most graceful of moments. As I survey the damage, my desk is on it’s side, a bookshelf has been tipped over and I’ve broken pretty much anything that was glass in my main office. Not too shabby. However while I’m still looking around something catches my eye. A small pile of drained nanites lays on the floor, close to the chair where Veronica was sitting. I scoop them up and toss them into a nanite reader. As they begin to recharge the data within them shows they have been formatted to rebuild tissue. Nothing I didn’t know already. As I scan the rest of the data nothing really important jumps out at me. Only strange thing is why these nanites are here if she is completely human? Maybe she’s still not completely cured, but drained nanites only come from robots. Maybe they were from her sister?

Suddenly I get the feeling that these nanites have a much larger story to tell and so does Veronica’s organ donor sister. I call the police station and get them to re-examine the body. Something isn’t adding up. I had never heard of nanites jumping host before, but where the sisters were so connected I suppose it would be possible that some could have transferred during a surgery. Doctors are normally extremely careful in those cases, but if her father was the one administering the surgery then it is again a distinct possibility. Finally the police station picks up and I ask for the morgue. They patch me through and I realize I’m talking with a regular officer. “Hi, Magnus here. Where’s the doctor?” The droid on the other end says something I couldn’t have predicted in years. “The doctor is under investigation, Radlem’s daughter’s body has apparently up and walked away.”

Hope everyone enjoyed today’s episode, it has been fun writing these and even more fun rereading them. I would love to hear feedback on how the story is going and favourite moments now that we’ve reached ten episodes! Thanks!