Leon was wrong.

  The after-party was like a hazy daydream of a drugged clubhouse where a bunch of raving mad rich kids tried to compete for who was able to squander the most amount of money in the least amount of time.

  Bets took pce during drinking contests and risky dares that, Leon assumed, could end with them immediately disowned by their family if they ever found out. This included the loss of billion credit trust funds that secured their future for decades.

  Most of them had rather nasty ends as their unchecked alcoholism and drug consumption knocked them out entirely until a medical team on standby took them away as quietly as possible. They were obviously trained for situations like this and their unfazed expression told Leon that it was probably their professionalism or sky-high paycheck that caused them to not even twitch a single facial muscle as they carried off their hangover patients.

  In fact, the entire mansion they were staying at seemed like it was purely built for parties like this. The wide stone patio was filled with half-clothed people while several attendants walked around, giving out cocktails and high-profile desserts.

  The scenic pool and adjacent whirlpools were crowded to the limit as loud music echoed throughout the mansion into the night sky.

  It was a party on a scale Leon never experienced in his life and he didn’t know if he wanted to ever go back at the sting scars this memory would leave in the future. Whatever social game he was thinking of fixing, it was clear that this wasn’t the solution.

  “What’s up with your face?” Tara shouted loudly over the music, a drunk Nicole hanging barely on her hooked arm. She changed into a glittering silver dress on the way with long high heels, earning her multiple stares from the surrounding students.

  “I think I’m going to be sick!” Leon screamed back, feeling the sheer amount of chaos crawling up to him. Tara just ughed in his face while taking another cocktail from a passing female attendant.

  “Loosen up, schorship boy! This is a golden opportunity. Jade’s parties always get completely out of hand so you gotta make the most of it! It’s a one-in-a-million experience!” Her voice started to slur at the end as her body faltered, almost causing both of the girls to fall over.

  Luckily, Trey’s hand grabbed Nicole’s arm in time, stabilizing them both. After checking up on them for a second, his head turned toward Leon with a slight flush on his face.

  “I’ll watch them, buddy. You can go inside for a moment to cool off. You look like you’re going to lose it.”

  Barely nodding in thanks for his friend’s timely rescue, Leon let himself be swept through the sea of drunks until he arrived at the opened doors leading inside the mansion. Although there were still numerous people, it wasn’t as overly crowded as outside. More groups trying to socialize gathered inside, allowing Leon to briefly catch his breath.

  He quickly made his way over through the common room until he arrived at the rge kitchen isnd, trying to somehow get a cup of water. To his dismay, however, he found the cabinets and appliances being stained completely white without a handle or gap insight.

  As much as he loved technological advancement, he innerly cursed at the sight of this. What did they try here? Pressure-sensitive cabinet doors? A remote controller? Some universal master key?

  ‘Alright, what’s your secret?” Leon mumbled quietly as he tried finding a way to open any one of the white cabinets in order to find a gss. Like really, why did they decide to just quit on old, red pstic cups altogether? Is this a movement to reduce waste or were those cups just too cheap to offer to the highest css of the city?

  He tried pressing and tapping, hoping they would be pressure-sensitive or at least detect motion, only to fail miserably. It appeared their ability to open was locked, a mechanism to keep unwanted people from rummaging through them. On second thought, a pretty smart idea considering the people grouping together outside in a drunken fit of insanity.

  As he thought about where to scavenge a gss of water that didn’t include fighting through a crowd of drunks to get to the water stand outside, Leon’s arm was suddenly pulled by what appeared to be a bck and white prosthetic hand. Looking up, he saw a human-sized robot standing directly in front of him.

  “What the…” The words were stuck in his mouth as his eyes widened considerably.

  Seeing the life-like human robot in front of him, Leon almost couldn’t hold in his excitement, completely forgetting his prior predicament. This kind of robot was unlike anything he’s seen at Alpha Dynamics so far.

  Apart from the prosthetic arm section, the robot with its male design was dressed in a bck attendant suit while the head was covered in synthetic skin with probably fake hair transpnts. In short, its facial features and appearance was extremely lifelike. Without the rather stiff and straight movements, it would be difficult to tell it apart at first gnce.

  Who designed this? A GenoTech product? But wasn’t Alpha Dynamics the leading corporation in Robotics?

  Leon’s mind was caught up in all kinds of questions when another pull from the human-like robot, or better said, android, brought him back to reality. This pull, however, was a lot more forceful than the st one, making him stumble forward a little.

  “Ehmm, do you need something?” Leon asked awkwardly, trying to resist its grip strength.

  ‘Does this robot even have an auditory and voice module?’ Leon pondered for a moment. ‘What a stupid thought. Of course it does! It’s a million credit robots, after all. Maybe even more expensive!’

  Leon felt foolish just thinking this robot wouldn’t have something so basic. And yet, the fact his arm was still being pulled made it more believable.

  “Hey, what…” He ughed, trying even harder to get his arm out of its grip but the robot wouldn’t let go.

  “This stupid, hey! Is your shitty motherboard fried? What the hell!” Leon started cursing as he began fighting back. Unfortunately, neither the robot nor Leon wanted to give in, stalemating both in a mutual pulling contest.

  That’s when another voice made its presence known, a voice he heard not so long ago on TV.

  “Say, what exactly are you doing to my newest android there?”

  It was the very owner of this mansion and host of the party, the winner of the maglev race he watched, Jade. She looked more id-back than when she was on TV, wearing an oversized red hoodie with bck leggings. Her hair was partly braided and pulled up into a high ponytail and dark eyeliner framed her brown eyes that were scrunched up slightly in annoyance.

  Behind her, a small group of older uppercssmen were sitting in the designer lounge, watching their exchange in the kitchen in amusement.

  Leon ughed weakly, trying to expin himself.

  “Your robot is bugged.”

  She looked over at the android for but a second before turning back toward him, her frown now more apparent.

  “He seems fine to me.”

  “No, this thing is glitching out, can’t you see?” Leon remarked as he pointed at his arm that was still being pulled by the robot’s arm.

  Seeing this, she slowly raised an eyebrow before looking him up and down.

  “Sorry, kid, but who are you?”

  Her stare became increasingly more intense over time, making Leon increasingly uncomfortable.

  “Hey, that’s our schor boy, right there. You be~tter keep your skanky pa~ws off him.”

  It was the slurred voice of Tara saving him from this girl’s piercing attention. Looking over, he saw her entering while Nicole, who was held up by Trey, followed right behind her.

  “We were look~ing for you Leee~oon.” Tara moved her head with an unfocused gaze, stopping as her eyes fell on Jade. “Why are you here?”

  Shaking her head, Jade looked over at Leon before turning back to a now drunk Tara.

  “Is that guy with your group, Bates?”

  Tara looked at Jade for a hot second with an unfocused gaze, her brain still processing the question before turning to Leon. Suddenly, her green eyes lighted up again with a slurred smile on her face.

  “Oh schor boy! We were loo~king for you!” As she repeated her earlier statement, it became obvious that she exceeded her drinking limit long ago.

  Leon tried gaining Trey’s attention through a pointed gaze, hoping for him to help out. Unfortunately, that lovestruck fool was too busy trying to take care of Nicole to pay them any attention.

  He could only shake his head while the pretty blonde crossed her arms with a sigh.

  “Bates, are you…” Shaking her head, Jade waved her hand in defeat. “You know what? I can’t deal with you right now. This is ridiculous.”

  Turning back around, she was facing Leon again who seemed much more busy trying to get his arm out of the android’s grip than a minute ago.

  “I came here with Trey… originally.” He said as he tried pulling his arm very hard several times in a rapid motion.

  Jade just nodded with a bnk face as she observed the ridiculous spectacle. It was unclear what she was thinking but Leon had bigger concerns at the moment. Unfortunately, the one who owned the android didn’t seem eager to do something, making him feel like he would be standing there for the rest of the night if he did nothing.

  Around half a minute ter, though, it seemed the blonde girl had enough as she opened her mouth.

  “You know, it would be easier if you just-”

  A loud screeching interrupted her words as the android’s prosthetic arm fell down limply while a loud aural alert marked the loss of one of its primary limbs soon after. Dumbfounded, Leon lifted the limp arm up before letting it go, watching as it fell back down without any resistance.

  That was it. He broke it.

  Scratching the side of his face, he looked stupidly at an annoyed Jade who even with one raised eyebrow looked undeniably attractive.

  “Oops…”

  ……….

  ‘A machine always acts within the limits set by its creator. Even if it’s capable of so much more.’

  ~~Dr. Benjamin Harper’s Memoirs~~