For the birds

"Really? Seriously?" questioned a Russian accent aloud.

Zoric was in the park area. Ever since he got here he figured that taking a low profile was probably the best option. This was why he would either work at night or resort to hiding in plain sight among the locals in order to appear friendly. His body, being mostly metal, had the capacity to attract attention. That said attention was mostly unwanted. Especially for the critters who now resided on his body in the form of a newly discovered perching place. He was being seen as a statue much like most metal objects would have been seen.

There he was sitting on a bench with the wooden cracking under the massive amount of weight that was his robot body. He wore a bright pink shirt with no sleeves, a pair of white pants and brown shoes. For someone who wasn't trying to draw attention to himself he certainly didn't know how to match very well. If it was one thing nobody could accuse this man of being it was a fashion expert. This was the result of years of being in prison before conceding to his current fate of being on assignment. Prison fashion from the Motherland wasn't exactly the greatest.

What made matters worse was that he really went out of his way to try to fit in and over did things just a bit. He even sported a white fedora hat and a pink watch. He tried his best to match but didn't really have the money to do what he wanted to do with his wardrobe. If he left Russia with wads of cash that same currency would give him away. That was why money would be wired to him versus him having it directly. Alas, he would have to wait for two weeks to receive a debit card.

Birds perched upon his shoulders. The sun in combination with the sights and smells appeared to be soothing. Yet at the same time these avian creatures finding a home on his shoulders, lap and arms wasn't appealing.

His head lowered. He was getting unwanted attention no matter where he went. These birds were not helping the situation either. They were drawing more attention to him than what he wanted. Of course, the vomit of colors he branded certainly wasn't assisting his effort in fitting in. He looked like a bottle of Pepto tablets that had a love child with a dirty pair of pants. Seeing the condition of his lower wear reminded Zoric that he would need to wash clothes at some point. Most of the time he wore black. The grease and oil he used to keep himself limber leaked into the fabric. With no natural body odor it did make sense for him not to worry about cleanliness too much. Still, he was standing out for the lack thereof.

People were staring. This wasn't good. Passerby after passerby eyed Zoric. Some laughed. Some took pictures. This wasn't good. Of course the weird dress he brandished was to confuse people on who he was even if his identity was compromised. Even still he pulled out a pair of shades and covered his eyes while lowering his head to watch a troop of ants crawl along the group with bits of seed and bread in tow.

"You blasted rats with wings," Apparently something in his chemical make up was drawing these creatures. Zoric figured it out. Some of the oils he utilized smelled suspiciously like bird seeds. So, to them, he was not only a place to ruffle feathers but he had the aroma of lunch. Yet he had nothing to give them. If he did he would throw some food down and run for the hills.

Someone would assist him with the latter part of his wishes. A random person who was now sitting not far from Zoric on the same bench sprinkled bird seed on him. Now, of course, the way the birds appeared to be so happy should have been soothing to Zoric. WELP! None such would be the case. Those seeds made even more birds come. Zoric wasn't too troubled by this since there were already more than a few present. But then...

"Sweet Jesus Christ with a baseball bat!" Out of nowhere seemingly flocks of birds came and applied an absolute coordinated flying tackle attack in the form of bunches of birds dive bombing the man directly in the face. Zoric's body, though metal, was flipped backwards over the back portion of the fence. Zoric's body lay upon the grass. His shades went flying across the display of lush green. His neck was the support of the rest of his body. His hair went East.

"Did that just happen?"

His right eye twitched against his will. When this body was programmed it would do things that the normal Zoric would do. He was very much annoyed with whomever just put seeds on him. Any other person would have found a firearm shoved between their lips. In fact, Zoric was about to resort to violence. He just wasn't going to take that crap from anyone. He was about to end the life of whomever had the nerve to intentionally put that stuff on him or at least he believed it was intentional. Who was he kidding? He wasn't going to hurt anyone. He needed to get the birds off of him first. With a mouth full of feathers and with so many birds' feet stepping on him to the point where it sounded like tiny raindrops tapping against a metal floor.

Zoric's arms flailed wildly in every direction. His arms, hands, fingers, feet, body and even his head once he got to a vertical base were all slapping birds left and right. Once he got up on his feet Zoric held the last two creatures in his hands. In his left hand was a pigeon and in the right he had a seagull in his grasp. He was amazed that such a variety of avian was after him today. Maybe this woman could control birds? It wouldn't shock him. He had seen and heard of very unusual people around these parts.

Just as he was going behind his back to grab his firearm to threaten this young lady he stopped when he actually made eye contact. Not only was she not a target of his he also couldn't bring himself to perform violence against a person who happened to be a female. Sure, it was sexist of him to treat women any different than what he would treat a man. But for this woman's sake? Perhaps it was a good thing that he thought this way. He sighed. His hand moved back to his side. The birds had flown off.

"I'm alright," he said.

Zoric didn't know how to take this situation. He had already released the creatures but still he felt like he was placed an even more awkward situation. He wanted to tell her something but didn't bother saying what he had to. There was no way to reveal this to a person without coming across like a bad guy. Not to mention that many of her mannerisms and even the way he perceived her putting bird seeds on him intentionally just so he would get attacked reminded him of a dear old friend. He lowered his head. There was a hint of shame in his body language.

But then Zoric perked up rather quickly. He didn't want to give himself away so quickly. A fake smile went across his face. He found the way that she talked to be a bit different. Never had he run across someone who vocalized this way. It was always interesting meeting people there were different. Then again he didn't have much room to talk. He was a walking zombie apocalypse combined with a Terminator type of person.

"Edovan Blanski," he lied. He didn't want to tell her his real name. There was no way he was revealing his true identity to someone he wasn't so sure would go babbling about him. The smile faded. Zoric wasn't great at hiding his feelings. He felt ashamed of himself. How could he tell her that, the moment he saw her face, she was placed into a facial recognition program built into his mind that she was one of his targets. Revealing to someone that he was sent to kill them wasn't exactly the greatest conversation opener.

But why? For what reason would this girl be so dangerous to the point where someone would want her to be dead? She seemed so sweet. Zoric could tell. He wasn't an idiot. He met many dangerous people in his life. War was to blame for that. Therefore he just couldn't see how in the world she was that much of a threat. For crying out loud she found that feeding birds was a past time or at least that's what he perceived.

"Acai? Nice name," he said. He wished that wasn't her name. He knew that at some point he'd have to eliminate her no matter how nice she was.

While he was reluctant Zoric did warm up to this young lady. He always thoughts the youngsters here were nothing more than trouble makers. However, he knew he would run into one that didn't seem all that bad. He would have been quick to tell someone younger than he was to respect their elders. Oh, but he didn't want to reveal his age. He would feel like someone's grandfather. It was awkward enough being a cyborg. He didn't need anyone offering him a senior discount at a restaurant even though he wasn't old enough for that yet.

"A gift, eh?" He watched her pick some flowers and do something weird with them. He didn't want to take anything from this woman. After all, he had just met her. He didn't want to establish any attachments with anyone. If she knew what was good for her she would have ran for the hills immediately. "Don't listen to this Zoric. Don't take whatever she's offering," he mentally reminded himself. He had to remember his mission. That mission was to kill young people such as this young lady.

But when Acai offered him her gift he couldn't help himself. She put those flowers in his hair. His face went from warm and fuzzy to serious. He didn't want this gift from her. He didn't want her trying to win him over. Zoric was a soldier. Always has been and always will be. His grandfather was training him from a young age to act like a trained robot so he was a cyborg even before becoming a cyborg. This was why it wasn't hard for him to reject kindness. "Acai, I need for you to run away from me. Don't question. Just do it," he pleaded. Zoric had to eliminate her. He knew it. He was trying to give her a head start.