I woke up confused and in a daze. It’s really dark and it smells like dirty laundry in here. I tried to cry out but there is a cloth in my mouth. I tried to move but I was tied up at my wrist and ankles. What’s going on? I heard a door open and a few footsteps.

“Aye, you awake?” A voice said. I moved my head towards the voice. I heard footsteps coming towards me. Then light filled my vision. I flinched away from the brightness. When my eyes adjusted to the light, I looked up. A teenage boy stood in front of me with a blindfold in his hand. He smiled a bit. I tried to ask him a question but the gag prohibited me from doing so. He frowned then came forward to untie it.

“Sorry about that,” he said trying to loosen the knot. “The boss made me do it. It’s not like I enjoy tying chicks up.” He removed the gag and stared at me.

“Was that supposed to be a joke?” I said roughly. The guy took out a bottle and set it on the ground in front of me. I looked at him for a long time, trying to decide whether he was cruel or just stupid. After a extensive and uncomfortable period of time, I decided that he was just stupid.

“Can’t drink with my hands tied behind my back, now can I?” I said looking behind me, then at him. He laughed. Maybe he is cruel.

“That’s not water,” he said patting my head.

“Then what is it?” I asked. He paused for a moment, searching for the right words.

“Let’s just say if you don’t give the boss the information he needs, that bottle will be the end of you.”

“The…end of me?” I choked.

“Yeah, as in ka-boom.”

“Who the heck are you?”

He smiled and said, “Ellis DiVilige.”

“Ellis DiVilige? Of DiVilige Industries?” Oh crap.

“So you’ve heard of us? Good, that makes my job a whole lot easier.” He leans against the wall.

I smiled a bit. “Are you really going to kill me?”

“What do you mean?”

My smile widens. “With the DiVilige’s back record of mass homicides, does your family really want to risk charges, jail time, and most likely be governmentally shut-down for a bit of information? I can see the headline now: ‘Head of DiVilige Family Murders Teen.’ The media will love it.” Ellis’s smile falters a bit. Then he quickly walks up to me and unties me.

“What are you doing?” I said rubbing my wrist.

“Riella Geuni.” He said helping me up.

“What?”

“That’s your name right?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Look,” he said taking a deep breath. “We are not the bad guys here.”

“This is coming from the dude who just threatened my life.”

“I know your job requires you to swear to secrecy but this is life and death.”

“As a loyal employee of Geobots Inc., I am not obligated to talk to you.” I stated turning away from him. He mumbled something about teenage girls being stubborn.

He looked at me from under his eyebrows. “Geobots is now defunct.”

My eyes widened “What?”

“We blew it up 48 hours ago.” He was saying some other stuff about Geonet being corrupt but I wasn’t listening. I was too busy thinking about my family’s company being destroyed. My father…he was in the building 48 hours ago.

“Where is he?” I whispered.

“Where is who?” he asked bitterly.

“He! HE! My father you brainless piece of trash!” I grabbed him by his collar. “Where is he?”

He gave me a pitiful look. “Dead.” I stepped back. “Your father is dead.”

“Dead?” I squeaked. No. He can’t be dead.

“Yeah,” he said, smirking. “He was pronounced dead today at 9:45 pm. Sorry.”

I hurled myself at him and pinned him to the floor. “My father was the founder and president of a multi-billion dollar business. Geobots provided many ally countries with android weapons. This man helped your dad when he was bankrupt. And you’re telling me he’s dead?”

“Your dad’s weapons malfunctioned and killed thousands of innocent people. And we, being in debt to your father, took the fall. But then your good, old dad started selling the malfunctioned weapons to murders and rival countries. Now the bots have a mind of their own. They’re roaming around, randomly killing people.” He pushed me off. “Trust me, he deserved to die.” I slapped him. Hard.

“How dare you? How could you?”

He rubbed his face. “It was pretty easy actually. Riella, you’re dad was suicidal and you know it.” I sighed. It’s true, my dad was suicidal. He tried to kill himself on various occasions.

“Look,” He said helping me up, again. “I know you loved you’re father but he was an evil man.”

“I know.”

“We’ve done nothing wrong. We’re the good guys.”

“I know.”

“So,” He said, grabbing my shoulders. “Will you help us?”

I looked up at him. “Why do you need me?”

“In order to recall the bots we need the retrieval code and to deactivate them we need the dismantle code. And you’re the only one who knows them. So I’ll ask again. Will you help us?”

“Yes,” I said, firmly. “I have to fix my father’s mistakes.”

He grinned. “Good, follow me. You’re going to meet the boss. Mr. DiVilige himself.” He led me out the room and into a long, narrow hallway. The hallway led to a small waiting room with a desk in the corner.

“Wait here.” He commanded. I sat down and watched him chat with the receptionist. Then he walked back and sat next to me.

“Hey,” I whispered.

“What?”

“How’d you get me here all tied up. I don’t remember being kidnapped.”

The receptionist waved at us. “Mr. DiVilige will see you now.” Ellis got up and walked towards the door. I followed him.

He suddenly stopped, looked back and said, “You drank orange juice this morning, right?”

“Yeah, I did. How did you know?”

“Did it taste…funny?”

I thought for a moment. “Now that you mentioned it, it did taste a bit funny.”

“That’s because we drugged it.” He said, walking away.

“You…WHAT?!”