Hearing the child's question, Nolan rotated his metal helmet slightly, servos producing soft whirs with the motion. The blue ceramite caught fading light as he turned.
He looked down through the helmet's eyepiece at the human child standing not far away on the garbage heap. When he spoke, his voice emerged low and deliberately neutral.
"Child, I am not Iron Man. Nor am I an angel who came to save you."
The words fell with finality.
Nolan, who had already begun retracting his gaze, drove the blue power armor forward without further hesitation. His mag-boots produced heavy impacts against broken pavement, each step carrying him away from the encounter.
However, before he had taken more than a few strides, something made him pause mid-motion.
He suddenly turned his tall armored figure around, pivoting smoothly despite the armor's bulk.
He walked slowly back toward the human child, whose expression had collapsed into visible dejection. Heavy steps announced his approach, giving the child time to look up again with confused hope rekindling.
"Remember this, child." Nolan's voice carried through the vox-grille with quiet intensity. "Humans can only rely on themselves. If you want to escape suffering, you must learn to resist. No angels are coming. No saviors will appear. Only your own strength matters."
The low voice reached the child's ears clearly despite ambient noise from the slum settling in for night.
Nolan's massive palm, wrapped completely in blue metal shell, moved with surprising gentleness. He reached toward the equipment mounted at the bottom of his power pack.
A grenade with a cold metallic gleam on its surface immediately jumped into his palm, released from its mounting clip.
Then he placed the explosive device carefully into the human child's hand, which had raised instinctively to receive the gift. The small fingers closed around the grenade automatically, gripping something of weight and substance.
"Can I... may I know your name?" The human child's blank expression shifted, mouth opening in a slight smile that revealed uneven yellow teeth, products of severe malnutrition and lack of dental care.
Nolan stood silent for a long moment, the pause stretching uncomfortably. His helmet remained fixed on the child, visor unreadable and emotionless.
"Astartes." The word emerged quietly, almost reluctantly. "You can remember this name."
Then he turned sharply, driving the blue power armor past the terrified adults who had remained frozen throughout the exchange. He walked forward without looking back, his stride purposeful and final.
After Nolan and David, whose metal form triggered fresh screams from the assembled civilians, passed through the layers of garbage barriers filling the nearby area, Nolan's voice emerged suddenly through the communication channel.
"David, remember to dispatch the outpost department stationed at Imperial Heavy Industries. I want them to recruit potential combatants from this location and improve the living environment here." His tone remained measured, thoughtful rather than emotional. "The people here need hope to survive. Rather than dying of starvation or drowning in drug addiction, better they should fall on battlefields fighting for humanity's future."
"Understood, my lord." David, who had been following steadily behind the blue power armor's advancing form, shook its metal head slightly. The gesture might have conveyed approval or perhaps mild surprise at this display of consideration. "Your kindness represents their only hope for salvation."
David's eye sockets flashed blue light several times in rapid succession, data streams processing and transmitting instructions back to the base. Then it continued respectfully, "My lord, we remain approximately eight hundred meters from where Miss Jessica's signal disappeared. We need to turn left at the upcoming intersection."
Nolan acknowledged the navigation update without turning his helmeted head. "Understood. Lead the way."
The servo robots' engines produced low, buzzing hums as they patrolled back and forth through the dim night sky. They moved like dark specters waiting for opportunities, sensors sweeping constantly for threats or targets.
Five automatic servo robots surrounded Nolan's tall armored figure in loose formation, creating a mobile defensive perimeter. One by one, they activated their extremely bright searchlights, the beams cutting through gathering darkness like solid bars of illumination.
At that moment, Nolan and David had arrived at the precise location where Jessica's mobile phone signal had vanished completely.
The site proved to be a narrow alley sandwiched between low buildings constructed from cheap materials. The structures leaned slightly, appearing on the verge of collapse. The alley itself was filled with all manner of worthless discarded debris: broken furniture, stripped appliances, unidentifiable refuse that had accumulated over years.
The winding passage could barely accommodate two people walking side by side. It continued extending deeper into the slum's heart, disappearing into shadow. Where it ultimately led remained unclear from this vantage point.
Starting from approximately three meters above ground level, tangled wires crisscrossed the entire alley space in chaotic patterns. The electrical lines formed such dense coverage that they blocked nearly all ambient light from penetrating. The mess created permanent twilight conditions even during daylight hours.
At first glance, the wire arrangement looked like a super-tangled knot that would prove impossible to unravel without simply cutting everything away.
It also resembled a massive metallic spider web, though one abandoned long ago by whatever arthropod intelligence might have created it.
The automatic servo robots' searchlights swept across the scene continuously, illuminating different sections in sequence. Light and shadow danced across walls and ground.
David, blue light flashing steadily in its eye sockets, lowered itself into a crouch. Its metal back curved as it brought optical sensors closer to the ground.
It stared motionlessly at traces left on the alley's wet surface, advanced scanners recording every detail. Internal processors ran calculations repeatedly, analyzing patterns and reconstructing sequences.
Not long after beginning this examination, David suddenly raised one metal palm in a gesture of discovery.
It pointed at messy, barely recognizable blurred footprints scattered across the ground before it.
Turning its metal head to regard Nolan, who stood with arms folded across his armored chest, David spoke with analytical precision.
"My lord, I believe I have located traces belonging to Miss Jessica. She or her companion may have sustained serious injuries. Observe these marks: here are chaotic patterns left by two individuals supporting each other's weight. Based on the distribution and depth, I assess it most likely that Miss Jessica herself was the seriously injured party."
Nolan, wearing his metal helmet that concealed all facial expressions, did not need to ask for elaboration.
David, which had been crouching with its metal back curved, quickly stood to full height. It took cautious steps forward, advancing several paces deeper into the alley's throat.
Then David, maintaining its downward focus on the ground, continued addressing Nolan.
"According to footprints preserved at the scene, two separate groups appear to have been following the injured pair. The first consists of a single individual wearing combat boots. Judging from the stride amplitude and pressure distribution indicating applied force, this person possesses considerable strength and physical conditioning. The most probable identification would be a soldier or mercenary. Though I cannot rule out the possibility of a trained agent from some organizational entity."
David paused, processing additional data before continuing.
"As for the second group following behind the combat-booted individual, their origins prove more elusive. The footprint evidence shows this group contained the largest number of people, including adult males, adult females, and even children's footprints scattered throughout the pattern. Could these be the human slaves Miss Jessica previously rescued?"
David, blue light continuing to flash in its optical sensors, returned to stand before the blue power armor. It delivered its analysis slowly to Nolan, who had remained silent throughout the investigation, absorbing information without comment.
"Tsk." The sound emerged from Nolan's vox-grille, a soft expression of skepticism. "David, that assessment proves not necessarily accurate. Don't judge whether parties involved are hostile or friendly based solely on simple physical evidence."
Nolan, who had been staring upward at the countless complex wire tangles overhead, suddenly lowered both sturdy arms to his sides.
He drove the power armor deeper into the alley, advancing more than ten meters past David's position.
Then he pivoted and faced the Man of Iron directly.
"I noticed something wrong with the wire distribution pattern above us, David. From this position, observe: the cables overhead display obvious signs of damage. Furthermore, examining the edges of several melted sections, this damage appears consistent with plasma weaponry."
Nolan's metal helmet rotated upward, tilting back to improve his viewing angle. The eyepiece's enhanced vision systems captured details invisible to unaugmented human sight.
He raised one sturdy arm, the limb heavily wrapped in blue metal shell, pointing toward specific locations overhead.
"David, according to your footprint analysis, if the individual in military boots following them was indeed a pursuer, why would Jessica fire into the air? Why not direct shots at whoever pursued behind her?"
His armored finger indicated several holes burned completely through wire insulation and into the brick walls beyond, the plasma having punched clean through with devastating heat.
"Consider this: if Jessica's injuries prevented her from fighting effectively, the plasma pistol could easily be handed to her companion for use. The weapon requires no training whatsoever, simply continuous trigger pulls. I believe no carbon-based lifeform within tens of meters could survive the terrifying high temperatures generated by plasma discharge."
Nolan's tone carried the quality of someone working through a puzzle, assembling pieces into coherent pattern.
"However, Jessica and her companion did not employ this obvious tactic. Or more accurately stated, at the critical moment of the incident, they determined something else represented a far greater threat than pursuers behind them."
He paused deliberately, letting that sink in.
"Or perhaps the individual behind them was not a pursuer at all. Perhaps he was providing assistance."
Nolan's voice had barely finished when David, appearing to ponder the logic presented, stepped forward again with renewed purpose.
It first conducted another comprehensive scan of the surrounding environment, sensors sweeping methodically.
Then it immediately approached one of the alley's brick walls, moving with focused intent.
The next second, David's two metal fingers penetrated the old brick wall surface, pushing into deteriorated mortar with minimal resistance. It dug gently, excavating something embedded within.
Shortly afterward, a bullet with distinctive silver sheen appeared on David's metal palm. The round gleamed under searchlight illumination, its surface unmarked by corrosion.
"My lord, similar projectiles are embedded throughout the nearby walls in considerable quantities." David addressed Nolan while examining the recovered round. "Furthermore, based on this bullet's entry angle and my reconstruction of its ballistic trajectory, I have developed additional theories regarding the incident."
David, who had been speaking to Nolan while studying the evidence, suddenly raised its metal head.
Blue light projected rapidly from deep within its eye sockets, the beams spreading across the alley space before them.
Ten seconds later, a collection of virtual images restored through on-site trace analysis and data-driven simulation appeared clearly in the air, holographic projections floating with perfect stability.
Accompanied by numerous shifting patterns of blue light creating an eerie atmosphere, the reconstruction began playing.
Two blue virtual figures supporting each other, one clearly limping badly, broke into the alley entrance with obvious desperation. Their movements conveyed panic and exhaustion.
Just as the two virtual figures attempted to flee deeper into the alley's protective darkness, one of them suddenly noticed something overhead.
The figure quickly raised a plasma pistol gripped in its palm and fired upward at the tangled wires.
Simultaneously, a different blue virtual figure, this one significantly more robust in build, entered the alley rapidly from the street behind.
However, judging from his shooting posture as he raised a weapon while looking backward, and from his agile simulated footwork as he moved, the truth became obvious.
He was not pursuing the two injured figures ahead of him at all.
On the contrary, this sturdy stranger was almost certainly buying time for Jessica and her companion to escape, providing covering fire against whatever pursued them all.
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