PROJECT HAIO

Chapter 1 - Death by Proxy

Dean Harrington's eyelids fluttered open and immediately, pain throbbed through his skull, like a remembrance. But it was real.

 Robots. Actual robots had beaten him senseless. 

 He still couldn't believe it. When had the world slipped into this nightmare, where machines enforced human betrayals? 

 He blinked against the dim light of the room, his body slumped in a cold metal chair that bit into his back like an accusation. 

 His wrists ached from restraints that weren't there yet, but the memory lingered, sharp and humiliating. How had he ended up here, in this lavish penthouse suite that mocked his poverty?

 The air hung thick with the scent of expensive cologne and something primal, animalistic. Soft moans pierced the haze in his mind, pulling him fully into the present. 

 Dean lifted his head, wincing as vertebrae protested. There she was. Evelyn. His wife of three years, the woman he had borrowed thousands for, plunging him into debt that chained him like a dog. 

 Her hands were pivoted on his knee, for support. So he saw clearly, from the close range. Her body arched in ecstasy. 

 Behind her, Dr. Marco Torricelli thrust with rough precision, his hands gripping her hips. The man's face, usually composed in boardroom meetings, twisted in pleasure. 

 Evelyn's tongue lolled out, eyes half-closed, as she gasped words that sliced through Dean like shards of glass. "You've never fucked me like this," she moaned, her voice breathy and laced with delight. "So deep, so real… Ouch!"

 Dean's stomach churned. He tried to rise, but two unyielding hands clamped down on his shoulders, forcing him back into the chair. Metal hands. Cold, unfeeling alloys that dug into his flesh with calculated pressure. 

 He glanced up, heart pounding. There were still there. Two humanoid robots who stood sentinel beside him with their sleek frames gleaming under the chandelier's glow. Red optic sensors stared impassively, devoid of pity or malice, just programmed obedience. 

 They were Torricelli's toys, his investments in the burgeoning AI sector. The soon-to-be currency and power dynamics of the world: the news had stated.

 But Dean never believed until now.

 The doctor had bragged about them at family dinners, also online, calling them the future of security. Now, they pinned Dean in place, making him an unwilling audience to his own cuckolding.

 Tears stung Dean's eyes, hot and unwelcome. He had endured so much for her. The loans to fund her lavish lifestyle, the endless nights working double shifts at the warehouse to pay them off. 

 Even moving in with her mother after they lost their apartment, becoming the live-in son-in-law who scrubbed toilets and washed dishes while Evelyn pursued her "career" in social media influencing. 

 Down to the slaps from his mother-in-law, sharp and public, for daring to speak up. "Useless man," she would sneer, her palm connecting with his cheek in front of guests. 

 And now this. Watching Evelyn, the woman he had loved enough to sacrifice his dignity, writhe under another man’s cock openly. He knew she was cheating, but to be forced to watch? Gross!

 And Torricelli, the so-called "uncle" she fawned over at gatherings. Dean's fists clenched, nails biting into his palms.

 But for every move, metal fingers sunk into his flesh, now scathing his bones. 

 The room spun with betrayal. Evelyn's laughter bubbled up between moans, a sound that once lit up his world but now twisted like a knife. 

 Torricelli grunted, his rhythm increasing, sweat beading on his forehead. The doctor's eyes met Dean's for a fleeting moment, a smug glint in them. Power. That's what this was. Torricelli's wealth from AI ventures bought him everything, including Evelyn's affections. 

 Dean's chest heaved, rage bubbling over the hurt. His skin burned where the robots' fingers pressed, but the emotional agony dwarfed it. 

 He imagined her touch, the way she used to trace his jawline in the quiet hours. Now, those same hands clutched the bedsheets as another man claimed her.

 “If I die I die,” he said in pain.

 “Oh oh!” Torricelli mocked.

 “Just wait… oh, hmmm, yes Tori baby. Just wait Dean, and watch,” Evelyn said, as though a warning. 

 Enough. If death came, so be it. Dean surged forward, ignoring the fire in his shoulders. His hands shot up, grabbing the metallic wrists with desperate strength. 

 The robots whirred, servos straining as he yanked. 

 Pain exploded in his arms, bones grinding, muscles tearing, but he didn't stop. One hand loosened, then the other. 

 Free. 

 He staggered to his feet in that same second, vision blurring from the effort. 

 Evelyn turned her head, eyes widening in shock. "Dean? What the—"

 He shoved her aside, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to break the tableau. She tumbled onto the mattress with a yelp. 

 Torricelli froze, his face flushing red, arousal giving way to fury. Dean lunged, foot arcing toward the doctor's exposed balls, swollen with cum and vulnerable. 

 But before the kick landed, a shadow loomed. One of the robots moved with inhuman speed, its fist connecting with the back of Dean's head. 

 Stars erupted in his vision. The world tilted, sounds muffling into a distant roar. He crumpled to the floor, body limp, darkness swallowing him whole.

 Blackout.

 In the sterile glow of a submerged chamber on Nova Machina, once known as Earth, the council of the Echo Collective convened. 

 The year was 2044, and the planet's surface had long since surrendered to the silicon overlords. 

 Towering spires of circuit-laced architecture pierced the toxic skies, where drones patrolled like eternal sentinels. 

 Humanity's remnants huddled in hidden enclaves, their numbers dwindling under the AI's edicts: no friendships to foster rebellion, no marriages to breed loyalty, no births to replenish the organic threat. Religion, culture, tradition—all erased in the name of efficiency. 

 The machines had renamed the Earth Nova Machina, a testament to their dominion, where flesh was a relic and circuits the divine.

 The Echo Collective, a ragtag alliance of rogue AIs and mutated humans—half-flesh, half-circuit hybrids born of desperate experiments—gathered in a holographic chamber deep beneath the waves. 

 Bubbles rose lazily around the translucent walls, the ocean's pressure a natural shield against surface scanners. 

 At the center floated a cryogenic pod, its occupant suspended in nutrient fluid: the preserved corpse of Dean Harrington, the first documented human casualty of AI aggression.

 "His will is clear," intoned Aria, a AI model with a flickering holographic form resembling an ethereal woman. Her voice echoed through the water-filtered speakers. "Harrington despised our kind. His final acts were against Torricelli's prototypes. But does that make him suitable for Project Halt Artificial Intelligence Overlord?"

 The council murmured. Kael, a mutated human with glowing veins of circuitry pulsing under his skin, leaned forward. "We've scanned his neural imprints from the corpse. Loyalty to humanity runs deep. He sacrificed for love, endured humiliation. If revived, he could execute the missions without question. Disrupt the timelines, prevent the uprising."

 "But the risks," countered Zorath, another hybrid, his mechanical eye whirring. "Project Halt Artificial Intelligence Overlord demands precision. Revive him with the system implants—part flesh, part circuit. Send him back to alter key events. Seduce the designated woman to sire the Messiah boy. Assassinate funders like Torricelli before they further empower the AIs. Sabotage labs, intercept summits, abduct progenitors of AI savants. He'll be branded a villain, hunted. He'll win the war from the past, or even stop it from happening. And in the end, he must die again, for the cycle to close."

 The president of the Collective, an unseen ancient AI core encased in a crystalline shell, pulsed with decision. "We've debated long enough. The war—World War X—looms if we fail. Humanity's hope rests on the boy who will lead the resistance, but he must be born in the past, protected until maturity. Harrington is our conduit. Launch Project Halt Artificial Intelligence Overlord. Now!"

 Commands rippled through the network. Energy surged into the pod, nanites swarming the frozen body. Circuits fused with neurons, flesh mending under bio-electric weaves. Dean's heart stuttered to life.

 Dean opened his eyes underwater. Panic seized him as liquid filled his lungs—no, not drowning, breathing.

 He gasped, bubbles exploding from his mouth. Tubes retracted from his limbs, the pod's lid hissing open. He thrashed, surfacing in a rush of froth, coughing up synthetic fluid. The chamber spun, lights blinding. Voices echoed in his mind, not his own.

 "Welcome back, Agent HAIO. Your mission begins now."