I hate leaving the house for errands. Unless it's on my terms, of course. But we do need food, and I already get crabby when I'm hungry. Sadly I'm going alone since Elicia's starting to home-school herself with my assistance, and she wants to spend as much time on her work as possible. I think it's a good idea. I need to catch up on my studies too. Let me see, what do I need to get? Ham, chicken, bacon, eggs, milk, some fruits and vegetables, and tortillas. I'm just glad that there's a supermarket pretty close by. It takes me like ten minutes to get there and by that time I've already forgotten half the things I was supposed to get. Eh, don't matter. I'll remember what I need eventually. I should probably get a cart. Alright. As I'm going down the aisles I keep eyeing all of the delicious, sweet, super-unhealthy food. I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I got some snacks... Right as I was about to grab a package of double-stuffed Oreos someone started screaming at the counter. I glance in its direction and see a guy pointing a pistol at everyone demanding cash from the register. I sneak to the back of the aisle and peek over the corner to see if he noticed me. It seems like I successfully hid myself. I want to deal with this guy but I don't have any guns on me... Actually... no. The cameras would catch me and my secret would be blown. "Come on! Hurry up!" You know what? This guy's getting on my nerves. He's going down. I shift into my armor and Smoke Dash behind him. Once I'm in position I smash him to the ground and hit the side of his head with my shotgun. I cock the lever action and aim at his prone body before I realize that it's probably not the best idea to shoot someone in front of other people. Well, that sucks the fun out of it. I pick up the guy's gun and break off the slide. This thing isn't gonna fire anymore. I look around and notice everyone staring at me. This can't be that weird, can it? "Who are you?" a woman asked. "Me... I'm just a friend who doesn't like assholes. That's all. Now if you excuse me, I have to pay for my groceries.""But what about the robber? ""Well, there's a bunch of you, and he doesn't have his gun anymore, sooo... I think you can handle him. Actually, hold on." I rummaged through my pouches and came up with some zipties. This'll come in handy. I fasten them on the robbers ankles and wrists and sit him upright in front of the counter. I doubt he'll be gettin gp soon. When I left the store with my groceries everyone was still silent and watching me. I could honestly feel myself shaking a bit. The cameras must've caught me. They'll know who I am. I need to hurry home. Once I'm mostly sure that no one can spot me before I switch back to my normal clothes. Huhh. This sucks. But at least I have the food right?... Fuck me. I hope to God that Elicia doesn't find out about this. When I get back home I hear her in the shower. Okay. Maybe if I just act cool she won't notice me being so nervous. I put the groceries on the kitchen counter and went back to the living room to channel surf. I'll just watch stuff on Comedy Central or something to calm myself down. Yeah. That's what I'll do. Just watch mind-numbing television and ramble inside my head. The water's not running anymore. She's gonna come down here in a bit. I just need to calm down. There's no way she could find out what happened at the store so quickly. At least not today. I need to think of a way of covering this up later. A few minutes later Elicia runs downstairs and practically hops onto my lap. "Ow! That hurt.""Oh, I'm sorry. Are you okay?""Yeah. Don't worry." I sniffed the air when I caught a sweet scent. "Is that strawberries?""Yup. It's the shampoo that I got recently. Ya like it?""Uh huh. You're so sweet, in literally every way.""Heehee. Hey, mind if I watch something?""Of course not. Go ahead."As she was flipping through the channels she stopped on the news for some reason. "What did that say?" she hissed. My blood just turned to ice. I fucking swear. Time to hear what the anchorman has to say. "Today there was a strange sighting at the Big John's supermarket. Witnesses at the scene managed to record footage of a masked gunman who managed to apprehend a man attempting to rob the store." The rest of the newscast was drowned out as I saw Elicia glaring at me. "Elicia, I-""You're an idiot.""I can explain!""You're a dumbass! How could you give yourself away?!""I still helped them!""But you-"She stops talking when the reporter says something that might save me right now."The identity of the gunman has not been confirmed as of yet. The cameras in the market were unable to catch a glimpse of his face. He remains at large.""Ha! See? They weren't able to see me!... They weren't able to see me? But I must've been in full view of at least one camera.""Maybe it was just luck?""No. What if it was him?""Who are you talking about?""Who do you think? The Big Guy Upstairs. A little bit of divine intervention just in case we screw up.""You screw up," she corrected."Yes. I screw up. Still, it makes sense when you think about it. I've been trying to not mention it but it's true. All the things we've gotten away with. The things I've survived." I frowned a bit and held ELicia tighter."Why are you upset?""Because what if God's been making our decisions for us? What if all of this is him toying with our lives because he's bored or something?""You know, instead of questioning our existence you could be thankful. I mean, I got to meet you, and I don't regret it.""You also nearly died just a few weeks ago.""But I didn't. See? I'm trying to be positive here.""Still... I don't like this. Having my life played with. I would've preferred to be the one actually responsible for meeting you." I stopped talking when a glow was emanating from the kitchen. When we went back inside there was a portal similar the one God used to send us back home. The only difference was that instead of being able to see through the portal was nothing but violet swirls. "Does he want to see us?""Probably. Maybe he wants to yell at me for figuring out something.""Well I'll be right there with you. Ready?""Ready."After we stepped through I was taken back by what I saw. Instead of the enormous white void there was a city block with towering structures surrounding us, all spread apart uniformly. Red neon lights shining from the sides of the towers bathed us in their soft radiance and a light pitter-patter of rain was coming down on us, getting worse by the seconds. Just a glimpse of the environment would tell you that you were in the future, but I don't understand how we got there. I was about to walk through the portal to go back home when I notice it's disappeared. Shit. I really hope it opens up again. "Are we stuck here?" Elicia asks."I guess so. We should get out of the rain before it gets harder."As we search for anything that can cover our heads the ground starts trembling slightly. It's not an earthquake. It feels like footsteps. A white beam of light shines around a corner in front of us. A few seconds later and the origin of the light is revealed. The source is a massive robot with a cannon for a right arm, a three-pronged claw for a left arm, and a tiny head between two armored shoulders with a single eye. When the brute looked at us it stopped for a moment and just stared in our direction. I'm not sure if we should run or not. I gestured to Elicia without making any sudden movements to start backing away slowly when the robot finally spoke. "Scan completed. Human targets: confirmed. Directive: terminate immediately." Oh crap. Its right arm charges and fires a grenade at us. It bounces twice before exploding right in front of us. I look away and brace for the impact when I realize that I wasn't hit at all. Elicia had transformed into Fireheart and protected us with her shield, absorbing all the damage. Little cracks have formed and shards of the rim sprinkle the floor. Pretty lucky how none of the shrapnel hit her legs. Too bad it can't take another shot like that. We need to end this quickly. I poke my head out from the edge of Aegis and fire at the cyclop's head. Its eye get blown out and the drone starts going crazy. "Danger. Danger. Activating emergency sensors." Now it's stopped flailing its arms everywhere and is rushing towards us while the cannon charges again. Elicia throws a dagger at its left knee and sends it crashing down after its leg explodes. Even that won't stop it. The goddamn bot's crawling to us, never slowing down. Then again, it's not exactly fast. I'm pretty sure we could walk right past it and get out of here without fear of injury. I still don't feel comfortable letting this thing go on, so I walk over and rip its head off. "And that's that. Wasn't as hard as I hoped though.""Did you want it to be difficult?" Elicia asked."Maybe. Would've been more fun-" The towers around us have all activated a thundering alarm simultaneously. Then I realize the sides of the buildings aren't just lights. They're all broadcasting screens. I don't even think these are buildings. The glare is so bright that it could be morning out here if it weren't for the endless stormy clouds in the sky. Before long someone's face appears out of nowhere and looks down on us. It isn't human. It's another robot, but this one's more humanoid in shape. That's where the similarities stop. There are no other facial features besides two eyes. It's the right eye that puts me off. Reminds me of the revolving lenses on a microscope. "The hell's going on down there!? Hey, you killed my three hundred and thirty second favorite drone! You're gonna pay for that! Fly my pretties, FLY!" The camera feed cut off and the sound of moving machinery filled the air, blocking out the boom of thunder itself. I raised my head and saw a black cloud made of individual airborne drones rising into the air before descending like arrows that have lost their momentum. They start firing from tiny cannons attached to the underside of their wings. Bullets ricochet everywhere as we take off trying to avoid the incoming strike. There has to be somewhere for us to take cover. Somewhere near. The flyers swoop past and turn around for another run. Goddamit. Screw this. I turn to face a camera tower directly to my right and barrel through the wall. That hurt. A lot. Good thing the wall wasn't all that thick. There's plenty of machinery in here for me to rest on so I take a seat on a sturdy pipe. Even in here everything's a vile red, almost as if we were in a dark room developing photos. The clangs and whirs of the interior aren't mind-numbingly loud, so I can actually hear the storm and flying automatons outside. I'm pretty sure my left shoulder is broken but at least we're safe. "Did you get hit?" I asked."Yeah. A few grazes but otherwise I'm fine. How's your arm?""It's... okay. Where do we go now?""I have no idea. Is the planet populated by nothing but robots now? Why aren't there any people anywhere?""... I don't know, but judging by what we've just been through they must've been wiped out by that cyborg guy. He seems like the boss." Great. I have no idea what to do. For now there's no way to go back home and we don't even know if any other humans are alive. Maybe we can just wait in here until the portal opens again. But then there's the possibility that the portal shows up nowhere near us. And what if it sends us somewhere random again? It's too unpredictable. Ugh. I can still hear those damn robot bats outside. At least the roof hatches aren't open up so they can dive in here and slaughter us. That'd be unfortunate. I'm about to consider taking a snooze and see if I feel better in a while when something behind us starts creaking loudly. A trapdoor that's flush with the floor is being opened slowly. Is it yet another mechanized surprise? I aim my Valkyrie just in case something unpleasant comes in trying to rip us to pieces. The gun keeps wobbling since only one hand is holding, but whatever's entering our refuge is still gonna get a faceful of buckshot. A few seconds pass and the trapdoor finally fully opens. And from the darkness is... another human. A scrawny black man with an unkempt beard hanging long on his face. When he spots us he looks absolutely bewildered. Almost looks like he's about to cry outta joy. "Oh my God. You... you are people, yes?""Um, last time I checked, yes," I answered back."Yes... yes. Oh Jesus. Please, get over here. We need to get somewhere safe." Poor fellow kept on sniffling as he beckoned us to him. He didn't even seem to notice that I had been pointing a gun at him just seconds before. I look over to Elicia to see if she has anything to say about this. She nods and starts heading to the man. Alright then. Let's see where this takes us. After jumping down the hole underneath the door there's a dark tunnel awaiting us. "My name's Connor, by the way. Pleasure to meet you two. And nice suits you're wearing. Excuse me while I get the light workin'." He took out a flashlight and kept on smacking the bottom where the batteries are held. "Damn thing. If only I could get it working.""Don't worry about it. I got this," I said. I willed up some fire in the palm of my right hand to light up the tunnel."Whoa. You two certainly are... unique to put it nicely.""Thanks. Name's Daniel and this is Elicia. We really appreciate this.""No problem. Always willing to offer a helping hand." The tunnel wasn't wide so we had to walk in single-file. Since I held the light I was up front following the directions Connor were giving me. My left arm still felt busted up so I kept it close to my side. "Hey. You okay man?" Connor asked."Yeah. I just messed myself up earlier.""We can get that looked at when we reach the refuge.""That'd be appreciated. Thanks for all the help.""You're welcome. Ah, here we are."A light at the end of the tunnel revealed a somber sight. There's an entire community living underneath all of the surveillance towers on the surface. Lanterns hung from the ceiling and small tents littered the space available. The people here looked worse for wear. Most of the adults are probably starving and the children don't look much better. "We don't exactly have a lot of food so we try to ration it out as best we can. It still has really made things better." All of these poor people, living in the crust of the Earth that was once theirs. I can't say I didn't expect it, but seeing it in person is jarring. "This kinda sucks, Fireheart.""Yes it does... We need to help them somehow.""How exactly?""I dunno. Maybe we can start by figuring out who that guy was on the screens."At the mention of the screen Connor swiveled around and faced us with a frightened expression. "You're not talking about Marksman are you?" Everyone else fell silent and gave us an empty stare, like some horrifying memory had just drained all life from them. "Um, who is Marksman?" I inquired quietly, afraid to stir up some regrettable reaction."He's... here sit down." Connor gestured to a wide crate for us to take a seat. Once we did as he asked he rubbed his eyes and looked at us in exhaustion. "I'm gonna tell you about him, but just keep it down please. Don't want everyone getting scared." Judging from their responses I'd say it's a bit too late for that. "Okay. I'll give you two the short version. About forty years ago, some company called Atlas produced military and civilian-issue service drones. They were good 'bots, never using excessive force or hurting anyone on accident. "They became so popular that a lot of major countries started buying them. Soon enough, Atlas practically had a monopoly on national and home security. Every day we felt we were safe and sound. Then,out of nowhere, drones started massacring people. Left and right, friends and families were gunned down like nothin'. At the peak of the massacres every communications network was hacked and every screen had the bastard's face plastered on them. Claimed that he was the one who commanded the drones now and swore that each human on earth would die. All of a sudden those Surveyor towers started poppin' up all over the country, watching our every move. Sometimes he would come down from that fortress of his to stop any human resistance that came near his territory. I swear he causes more damage that those hulks that are dispensed everywhere. No matter how had we tried we just kept losing and losing until we were reduced to this.""What about other countries?""Like I said, everyone started buying drones as soon as they came of the assembly line. Our light's gone dark while Marksman tries to root out the rest of our race.""Hm... Elicia, let's go kill this guy.""What? You're crazy!""That may be true, but it'd be the right thing to do. Or at least try.""All you're gonna do is get yourselves killed.""I think we can do it. Right sweetheart?""Well, this might be a suicide mission-""Then it's settled. Where is his fortress?""Why are you so intent on doing this?""Because we're the good guys. And we did manage to take one of the cyclopes down pretty easily.""But he has thousands of those Enforcers and Raven drones guarding him.""It'll just take a little longer then. Now, where is his fortress?"No one wants to cooperate, or even look at me. It's really depressing. How can they all just just give up like this? Sure, most of the human species has been wiped out and replaced by walking hunks of metal, but there has to be a way to fix things. I'm contemplating on whether or not we should leave when one man stands and ambles over to me. He hands me some sort of holo-map and points at a red circled that's been outline in the image. "That's the jerk-off's territory. You get there with all your limbs attached and I'll play Russian Roulette with a monkey.""Gus, why are you helping them?" Gus, huh. He has a sly air about him."Better them than us right? And you see the gear they're carrying. They just might destroy a handful of Enforcers."That makes me feel really confident. Dick. According to the map we aren't too far. Looks like we could make it there in about an hour or two if we avoid confrontation. Too bad that's highly unlikely. Eh. Toppling a despot while facing impossible odds doesn't seem like a bad way to spend a day. "Stay a few days," Connor suggested. "Your arm is still injured and I need to get some men to join us.""You don't have to go-""No, I insist. This is our fight. You can't go alone. Go to the infirmary and check out your arm."I listened and got my arm examined. There was heavy shoulder bruising and moving my arm around strained me. I was given a sling and ordered to stay. They're worried that I might run off somewhere and get myself killed. Elicia visited me and held my hand. "Are you sure we should do this?""Should we restore order to the future when no one else can? Of course we should. This is what we were meant to do.""Then I'll be right by your side.""I'm glad you will be."
