Angelo Quills : The Shores of Black Sand Beach : Book 1

Prologue

Marko fidgeted with the small toy bearing box in his metal hands. He was always very interested in human things, in fact he'd been collecting some small figurines from a toy franchise called "Squishy Cats". He was day dreaming, his usual thoughts lingering, as he sat on the shore side wall next to his business partner, Angelo. Though, if you were to ask Marko, he'd say friend, instead. It was a habit for him to call Angelo a friend, even a brother, as he'd been the first person to ever talk to him, when he woke up in a lab. On top of that, he knew Angelo better than anyone on the earth's surface, which was saying a lot, because it always seemed that Angelo was keeping something from Marko... and everyone else too.

"Marko..." A faint voice called, muffled by his thoughts. He didn't react, he kept his glowing robotic eyes on the box. "Marko." The voice said a little louder. He still didn't respond, holding the small box in his hands tighter now and looking up slightly. "Marko!" The voice snapped. In that moment he circled back into reality, looking next to him as he realized who'd been calling to him. Angelo.

"Yes?" Marko's robotic voice said back, flinching as Angelo sighed, obviously frustrated. He definitely has a headache... Marko thought to himself. "Sorry, I was... 'thinking', again." Angelo furrowed his eyebrows. The subject of "thinking", if you knew what it meant to them was particularly touchy when it came to Marko's friend.

"Well, quit it... for both of our sakes." Angelo said, standing up. "We need to make it back to the office. We have papers to look over." Angelo pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it with his green lighter, the color matched his emerald eye, being his left, his right was dark blue, and it reminded many people of a sapphire. Marko stood up as well, almost not even needing to think about it. All his movements were near effortless, being a robot and all. The automaton looked up at his friend.

"Hey... A-Angelo?" Marko breathed. Angelo was intimidating at most times, so asking him of anything seemed like a crime. Angelo looked up at Mark, as they began to walk. He had this... look on his face. It was like he already knew what Marko was going to ask. He shook his head, breathing out some smoke.

"I wanna take a break too, but this is important." Angelo said, taking another breath. He let out, sighing. "We bring justice to the table, it's our job." Marko nodded. He'd noticed this, Angelo's want to fix injustice. At this point it was like an old enemy of his. It would be stupid to argue with Angelo if he brings up the "Justice" subject. Marko had tried in the past, but the arguments always ended he same, and so Marko eventually learned his lesson.

...

They made it to the small office they worked in, waving hello to Em, the receptionist. As they walked into the main building, Marko and Angelo braced themselves. It was simply always busy at the BHIF, the Bounty Hunter's Investigations Facility. They quietly walked through the loud hallways, hearing the voices of people from angry clients, to annoyed employs.

They passed all the commotion, luckily not attracting any attention from people there. Marko and Angelo were easily known as some of the best... Detectives, per say, in that galaxy. It was true, and Angelo couldn't care less of his reputation. He walked, opening his office door for himself and his comrade behind him. He quickly hands him some papers from on his desk in the middle of the room.

Angelo was always right to business. Oddly enough, a first glance at him would give you the opposite idea. He looked a lot like member of the mafia, having dark eyes, both a different color, and he was constantly wearing vests and formal wear. He had lots of freckles, too many some would say. He was generally tall, being 5'll, and was in shape. He did a lot of exercising, and tended to drink a lot of coffee, and he has this deadly glare that made you feel you'd done something wrong.

"Just start off with those," Angelo suggests, fixing his curly hair, as some of it was in his eyes, as usual. Marko looks at the papers, going to the door at the right of Angelo's office. He opens it greeted by a high-pitched meow from Marko's small cat, Lady. This was his office, close to Angelo's, and just right for him. He had shelves with his collection of Squishy cat's on them, and his desk at the far left back corner of the room. Lady jumped off of his desk, where she'd been asleep, and walked elegantly over to Marko. She was a small cat, and naturally quite skinny. She rubbed her body along Marko's metallic leg, as he smiled. She'd been his cat sense he could remember, the Doctor told Angelo it would be good for him to have a pet, to help him adjust to interacting. He could understand the words of animals, so he'd had plenty of conversations with his beloved cat.

"How was your day, Little Lady?" Mark asked picking her up, and sat in his chair, she gave him an answering mew, and began purring as she loafed on the surface of his desk. He smiled. "I'm glad. My day was ok too... I've been thinking a lot lately..." She meowed at him, lifting her head in concern. Marko sighed. This was something she was aware that he wasn't suppose to "think". It was their way of saying wondering... about his life. He was a robot with a lot of human aspects, like, oxygen tanks, hunger, sleep, and even outer-layer-sensors, that simulated skin, this explained his liking to wear cloths, like cargo pants and t-shirts.

He sighed, placing the papers from Angelo on his desk. A whole lot of phone calls to make, and some robotic part replacement papers. There were also some bills, and business charts rustled into the bunch along with loose business opportunities, as he flipped through the titles and subtitles of articles contracts and personal paper work too. He got up, preparing himself some grapes in a bowl. He could already tell by the size of his work load and the different types of papers he'd read through, that it was going to be a long night.

Marko finished the papers around 2:45, putting them in the bin at the corner of his desk. He sat back in his chair stretching his arms up. Lady saw this as an opportunity to get cuddles. She jumped onto him, breaking his stretch Marko held Lady close, stroking her head, her purring intensifying. He yawned, putting her down for a moment to grab the cable from under his desk. He plugged it into his forearm, and sat back again, petting the cat once more, his gears stopping and his energy shutting down.

Angelo wasn't unhappy, but he always did look bored. He sat in silence as he wrote signatures and looked over technological plans. He was always so busy, always working, always strategizing a way in life. Angelo was listening to his favorite songs, ash had a headache today. He often got these headaches during the fall time, but he didn't know why. He went to check on Marko sooner or later, finding him asleep, and charging at his desk. Angelo smiled at him, knowing he wouldn't see him. He hated it if anyone saw him smile. It made him feel weak, a feeling he hated and avoided.

He sighed happily at the sight of the sleeping Marko with his cat. He shut off the light, and walked over to Marko, patting his head three times. "Night big guy..." Angelo sad, smiling slightly more. He walked over to the door leaving only one comment as he left. "Don't die on me a second time... ok?" He kept back a tear with those last words, as death had not very well been his friend in the past, not at all...