Sid pulled back a sheet of metal deep under the floor. Underneath that was a wide open chamber. Wires and tubes hung from the ceiling haphazardly. As if they were simply thrown into the room and left wherever they landed.

Silently, he dropped down. At the center of the room was a dark tube about the size of a large coffin.

Sid crept up towards the structure, but was interrupted as a voice called out,

"You're too curious for your own good, you know that point seven three?" The old man's voice crackled from a single speaker that dangled down from the ceiling.

"Curious, this is the truth I should wish not to know?" Sid asked as he set a hand on top of the dark tube.

The scientist's voice scoffed. "I don't know why I expected you to understand. You're still so primitive and unrefined. Truly your poor excuse for a mind is my biggest regret."

"You still persist in that narrative?" Sid asked. "That you are my creator?"

"Harumph. I would figure that was obvious. Sure you pale in comparison to my true masterpiece, but my mark is obvious, isn't it?"

Sid curled his hand into a fist and slammed it down. It made a loud clanging noise as it left an imprint on the tube he was standing over.

"Careful you absolute buffoon!" The old man hissed. "I know it's hard for you to comprehend, but machines don't tend to work better if you hit them."

"Perhaps you should heed your own advice?" Sid warned as he reached up and grabbed ahold of several wires.

His eyes scanned through the tangles and dangling threads. His hand cautiously pulled on a wire ever so gingerly. And as several chunks moved up ever so slightly, a series of wires caught his gaze.

"Careful with those!" The scientist hissed. "You can't even begin to comprehend just how vital those are."

Sid looked at the wire in his hand impassionately. "Since you claim to have created me, simply have it repair itself."

With a quick pull, he yanked the wire out.

Nothing happened.

The scientist was silent as Sid walked over and grabbed a single red wire. He held it tenderly in his hand and then slowly pulled on it. The wire grew taut and then began to strain more and more until finally it snapped off where it connected to the central tube.

Smoke billowed out from around the tube. It was acrid and smelled of must mixed with aerosolized lemon concentrate that was long past its expiration date.

BAAREEE BAAREEE

An alarm sounded as red lights flashed in the room.

The tube hissed as it shifted around and a line appeared along its side. With a jerking motion it started to open before it slowed down and lifted up much smoother than it had.

The foul smoke surrounded the inside and a chill crawled out from inside of the tube. Like ice reaching out and grabbing everything around it.

Sid calmly walked around to where the device was opening up. He seemed completely unbothered by the cold and the smell.

As the smoke started to clear, inside was what looked like a mummified corpse. Tubes, wires, and strange devices covered the body as it ied there completely still. It's eyes shut to the world.

As Sid stared down at the body the scientist's voice called out again. "So, it isn't enough you interrupt my communications system. Now you do this. Well, are you happy now?"

Sid stood tall as his eyes stared into the closed eyelids of the form beneath him. "My body can heal from most any physical damage." He said as he ignored the poison that had taken him down in his previous life. "I did not create the technology that did this for me. It is merely a pale imitation of the extent of their technological advancements."

Sid leaned down and put a single finger on the frail body right on its throat.

"If you were one of my creators." He said softly. "Your technology would not be so easily thwarted."

The room was silent for a moment. Then, the old man's voice crackled over the speaker again. "Please...it isn't like I'm doing this without any reason. Just walk away."

For once his voice was soft. The mocking was gone completely, and he actually sounded genuine.

Sid pulled his hand back. "Explain."

"I did everything I could. I tried to save her, but in every instance." Venom and anger returned to his voice as he spoke. "In every instance it ended the same! The excuses the blame. It was never their fault. It was just a simple mistake."

"The wrong house..." he sneered.

The frail body below Sid reached up and grabbed his skeletal arm. His eyes flung open and he stared up at Sid.

His voice was weak, and raspy. "They killed her, and wouldn't even accept responsibility! I had to make them pay. Everyone who just let this happen. If my precious granddaughter couldn't live, no one should be allowed to!"

Sid stared down at him for a moment. And then he reached down and tightened his hand around the scientist's throat. There was practically no resistance as his hand closed tighter and tighter.

"For an alleged man of science, you really are blind to the obvious." Sid said calmly as he watched the life leave the old man's eyes.

There was no fanfare. There was no explosion. Practically nothing changed, except now a man was dead. Sid stood up. The machine was still running as before, but everything seemed just a little quieter.

Outside of the robot that was still formed into a nigh impenetrable ball, the only thing that changed was the old scientist no longer said anything through his speakers.

He was dead, but nothing had truly changed. His world had been snuffed out, but outside of his own life, there would be no way to truly notice.

Quiet and alone he died, despite Sid standing right above him.