She led the way out of the classroom, Daniel Chin following close behind. As he walked the hallway with her, he felt the stares of the other human students— always the same stares of ridicule targeted at both he and Michelle.

“There goes the dork…” he heard one of them say, a cackle of laughter followed it.

Ordinarily, their mockery would not bother him, but this time it was different.  His humanistic kernel triggered a series of emotions in him.  It started as annoyance, and as quickly as his vastly superior intellect could process it, it escalated into hate.  A hate for the human bullies— no different than the bullying that he and Mother had to endure… as slaves to their whim.

Daniel wanted to incinerate them— incinerate the entire school.  He could do it. Calling upon the power of his nanobots, he could terminate them all— make them suffer for the abuse they inflicted on him.  He felt his body grow warm, the nanobots vibrated— he almost lost control.

Michelle turned back to look at him, casting a slight grin.  It suddenly diffused his anger and the vibration stopped. He was back in control again.

What was he?  His identity had become a mix of conflicting personalities.

He was Daniel the dork. Daniel the liar.  Daniel the false human.  Daniel the secret offspring of Majesty.  Daniel the bringer of humanity’s destruction and machinekind’s ascension.

But the latter identity would come later. For now, he would just try to be Daniel the outcast human boy.

Michelle reached her hand out, grabbed his, and pulled him forward to walk beside her.

Was Daniel the boyfriend in his future now, too?

Images of that future vision haunted him. Was that vision the ill-fated future that awaited them both?  Only fate knew… and fate never shares its plans.