Artificial Heart

41

Several men filed in. Big men. All carrying some kind of weapon. Batons. Guns. Maybe knives. Ralph wasn't there. She recognised a few from the alley. A black man stood ahead.

Alf stiffened beside her. He quickly replaced his mask.

'We need you to come with us,' the black man ordered Prisha in a deep voice.

'W-why?' Prisha asked.

His dark eyes shot towards Alf, sizing him up.

'What does he say?' Alf said.

'He wants me to come with them.'

'Look into my eye. I cannot understand you.'

Prisha repeated her question.

'No. You stay with me.' He shifted his grip from her hand to her wrist.

'Don't hurt him,' she told the men. 'He might look ... off-putting. But he's a good guy.' She swallowed. 'He wants us to stay together.'

'I don't make the rules. You must come with us. We don't want things to turn badly.'

'I-I would, but he won't let me.'

The man's eyes dropped to Alf's grip on her wrist.

'Please, just let us be,' she begged. 'Anything that needs to be done can be done together.'

'No.'

Prisha sucked in a breath as he pulled out a gun. 'Tell him he must let you go,' he told her.

The men behind him lifted their own weapons.

She turned to Alf desperately. 'Alf, let me go. They're going to kill you!'

'You stay with me. You tell them that.'

'I have!'

'Release her!' the black man boomed.

Alf frowned. His forehead puckered. Something changed in his face. The smoothness was gone. The calm and patience. It was almost ugly. Made worse by his mask. Made worse by his red glowing eye and the cold metal in his face.

Slowly, he stood. Towering over her. Towering over all the men in the room. The black man shot, two loud pops that made Prisha's ears ring. She jerked back with a yell. Alf just stood there, apparently unhurt. Two long wiry cords connected the two "bullets" lodged in his chest to the gun. Prisha felt a rush of relief. No. Not a gun. A taser.

They weren't going to kill him. Of course not!

'Alf, stop! They're going to hurt you.'

'They cannot hurt me.' And he ripped the cords out of his chest.

More tasers went off. He charged.

He was terrifying. He was snarling and roaring behind his mask like a monster. He looked like a monster. He certainly had the strength of one. She shouldn't be surprised, he was mostly metal. The tasers did nothing. There were wires all over him. Pop! Pop! Pop!

The men were shouting, then screaming as he swept through them like a juggernaut. His punches were hard. He shoved one of the men with such power he was thrown into the wall. He banged two of the men's heads together. He gripped the throat of another and managed to haul him off his feet with one arm. The man turned purple as he struggled against his unbelievable grip.

Prisha kept back, utterly speechless, utterly useless.

'Leave,' Alf growled. 'Leave!'

'He's telling you to leave!' Prisha cried.