The Defenders Of Aireon

(1) Location: Hideout; 10:30 am, August 3034

"We're low. We'll last about three more days. After that we're on reserves." I forced my eyes open groggily and sat up, rubbing my eyes. I was on the couch, where I usually sleep. I looked up at the clock, stretching.10:30 am. Huh, I'm up early. I thought. Just then Grant walked into the living room.

"Keith. You're up. Get ready, we're going to Zenox Mall." He tossed me my retracted shield.

"What, why?" I asked, fumbling before catching it.

"Supply run. You have 10 minutes. We'll be in the truck." He replied and walked away.

A supply run? I thought, We're low on supplies already? Our last run was only a week ago. I stood up, yawning as I made my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I rinsed and started putting on my gear. Boots, gloves, and Vetk. Vetk is the name of my advanced glasses. Well, half glasses. It's only on one side and covers one eye. I use it to enhance my vision in the battlefield. It helps me track things and it counts as a com-link so I can talk to my team.

I grabbed my shield and walked to the garage. The rest of the gang was there, loading up the truck with weapons. The truck was a sleek black vehicle. It was built like a desert jeep, no doors, and an open roof. It had a decently big trunk and nice wheels. It was fast, which we liked.

"You took eight minutes." Grant noted, in a semi joking voice.

"Oh, lay off, he just woke up." Zeyla replied, playful punching him in the shoulder.

"Three-minute difference, it's not the end of the world." Jean added.

"A lot can happen in three minutes. What if we were in battle? We can die in three minutes," Grant said, in a completely serious voice.

There was a moment of silence, before we all burst out laughing. When you're in an apocalypse, a lot of things are funny. Plus, it eases off tension and helps us forget we're in an A.I invasion.

"Yeah sure, if we didn't have our relics." I said, as the laughter died down.

"Yeah..." Grant agreed softly.

"Well, let's go. I call shot gun!" Zeyla called and ran towards the truck. Everyone broke into a run towards the truck.

"Grant's driving!" I yelled, sliding into the back seat.

"Of course, he always drives." Jean said, flashing a smile at Grant.

Grant mumbled something under his breath and got into the driver's seat. He turned on the engine and drove out. The drive to Zenox was about 10 minutes. We passed some bots. They didn't notice us though; our vehicle was cloaked. The bots seemed to be D class.

Every bot has a class, from A-D. With each class, comes different types of bots. Higher class bots exceed lower classes in five things. Weaponry, Durability, Speed, Design, and Intelligence. All classes of bots have a sort of humanoid design. Instead of faces, they have blank metal heads. All bots seem to be made out of a strong type of metal.

D Class bots have a bulky black design with a heavy claymore that they could swing fast. They weren't the smartest of the bots, being at the bottom of rankings, but they had enough smarts to know how to fight. There are two types of D class. Melee, who have claymores, and Range, who have blasters.

C Class bots have a sleek silver design. They have a long coat like design with a waistband wear that holds their rapier, which is their main weapon. These slim and graceful swords are used in a quick succession to attack. These bots are usually used as guards.

B Class bots have a glossy white color. They have a glowing orange that courses throughout their body. Their weapon is a pair of sickles, both the same orange that courses through the bot's body. These bots are much faster than Class C and D.

A Class bots have a smooth and reflective dark color. They have an aerodynamic design. Their weapons consists of sharp blades that transform from their hands to a triangle shaped red blades. It's made out of a hot material that slices through objects like a laser. It radiates red wisps that fade as it leaves the blade. These bots are insanely fast and can adapt to situations quicker than any other technology ever discovered. They are reversed for personal guards and top-grade attackers.

The first time we ran into these bots were a few weeks back. We barely escaped with our lives. They seemed to be a new type, an entirely new class. We placed them at the top of bot rankings. We're no where near their skill level.

"We're here". Grant's voice woke me up from my trance. Guess I zoned out, as always.

I glanced up at the massive building. Zenox was a mall and warehouse in one. It had quite literally everything. Some things, like firearms, are restricted to some. Not to us though, it's not like those restricting systems still work in an apocalypse. The building had glittering sky blue walls that rose from the ground. The windows were a reflective orange and at the very top was a black Z. The building was 3x the size of a football stadium. There were white pillars in a row down the entire building. There were now ivy plants spouting from the bases. The door had a pale rose coating with gold designs. There seemed to be something blocking the door.

"Wait. Those are bots. They shouldn't be here. They never are." Zeyla said, concerned. She was pointing toward a large mass of bots infront of rose and gold colored.

"Doesn't look like too many bots. Seems that there's no A class at least. Should be a piece of cake." Jean noted, squinting.

"Must be a new order. Even if so, we can't turn back. We need supplies. We'll try to sneak in. If not, we fight through." I replied, swinging the door open and stepping out. I activated my Vetk. The screen jumped to life and a little circle bounced around each bot, scanning them.

"There's twenty D class and three C class," I observed.

"Twenty-three bots? We've been up worse, lets fight!" Jean declared.

"No, even we can't risk it. What if they send signals and reinforcements come? We only fight if we need too." Grant said, putting a reassuring hand on Jean's shoulder. She hung her head but didn't argue more.

I put the truck into cloaking mode and strolled around back of the mall. The back was just as striking as the front. It had the same sky-blue walls and orange windows, but it also had a light silver spiraling around the edges of the windows. There were gold flakes sprinkled around the pillars of white.

"No bots outside," I said and pushed open the door. Inside, red eyes lit up. My Vetk instantly activated and scanned all of them. There were about fifty, all ranged D class. We all froze in place, silence dawning over us all. There was a low whirling sound, of dormant bots activating.

"Well, crap."