This is a story that just sorta came out of my horribly scattered brain on a dreary day in December while suffering writers block for my other story. I honestly have no real idea where this is going or when it will be updated. OCs are inevitable. Please R&R and enjoy :D
WARNING: This story will have character death.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own League nor any of its characters. They are all property of Riot Games
The metal swarm had over run Piltover's defenses in less than an hour. The walls, once majestic golden barriers against the strife of the outside world had crumbled to a single Prime, the iron-clad giant leveling the structure as though it was little more than a house of cards. The streets, once full of Piltoverians going to and from their jobs, their homes, their families were now coated in a thick layer of ash, broken only by the marks of tank tracks as the gleaming steel defenders had surged forth to plug the gap in the outer walls. Ash still rained down, as if to mock the architects who had thought to make the City of Progress out of shinning steel and brass, the sobering residual of the fires that had claimed the largest sky scrapers painting the rest of the city grey. Just ten blocks from the outer wall a lone machine, an infiltrator, hovered along the street, its metal tendrils writhing as it moved, the single eye that took up most of its head searching for any life forms remaining in the war torn high-rises that surrounded it. As soon as it reached the stop sign it halted, eye scanning the surrounding area. It never found what it was looking for. A loud crack resounded through the high-rises as a hextech rifle receded from an open window six stories up. Below a woman wearing the metal hands of a mining rig, her hair dyed a bright pink stepped from cover. Depressing the button on her police issued radio Vi looked up to the open window. "Thanks Cupcake." A sarcastic groan issued from her radio as Caitlyn reloaded her signature weapon.
"You know I hate when you call me that." The pinket grinned adjusting her gauntlets and walking over to the remains of the infiltrator.
"Love ya too bae. Remember when there was only one of these damn things?" Caitlyn remembered it well. Vel' Koz, as he had been known, was a void scientist (she assigned the title scientist to the creature quite hesitantly) who had been known for his life form disintegration ray. Now the monster was better known for being the prototype of the infiltrators, metal versions of Vel' Koz that packed the same destructive laser alongside cloaking technology and were the harbingers of the Glorious Evolution. They acted as both spies and saboteurs, assassinating key individuals and gathering information on the target before the shocktroops swarmed it. The Urgot-esq machines formed the core of the Glorious Evolution, standing at just under two meters shocktroopers acted as an iron tide of infantry. Their sheer numbers combined with the strength of a metal frame and weaponry surpassing even the most heavily armed human soldiers had crushed Noxus after the recent war against Demacia stripped the once mighty nation of man power and resources. As Vi searched the wreckage for any spare rune stones to power her blast shield. The enforcer's radio crackled back to life as she rounded the corner of the block she used to live on.
"Vi be careful. I can't cover you from here. Let me-" The sniper never finished her sentence as Vi was forced to leap back from a tank, the lord of the battle field in previous wars now in full reverse as a wave of shocktroops skittered towards the machine on their bladed leggs. Caitlyn watched Vi dive for some rubble as the tank loaded a high explosive round and fired, pointblank, into the crowd of battlecast soldiers, the metal abomination's scraps scattered through the street as the tank commander popped the hatch. His goggles scanned the ash coated ruins and after a few moments he wrenched the sooty googles from his ash stained face, gaze directed at Vi.
"Ma'am do you need a ride to the trains? This is contested territory." Contested… Vi scoffed. This battle was over. Sooner or later the artillery and alphas would show up, their metal treads replacing the familiar grinding of tank tracks as they finished the job started by the infiltrators, shocktroopers, and…A red glow emanated from the dust filled corridor of the street, Vi shouting for the tank commander to bail out before a crimson beam ravaged the metal hull of the tank, the commander turned to ash along with the rest of the crew as Vi stood, stunned. Eventually she found the courage to turn the corner, the steaming hulk of the tank outlining the pinket in Caitlyn's sight. The enforcer stood shocked in front of the third battlecast model to show its metal frame in Piltover's ruins. The destroyer lowered its glowing arm, the metal that made up the armor surrounding it's core of raw runic energy following the crimson mockery of a man as its unfeeling helmet observed the ruins of its adversary. Seeing the life form in front of its fallen foe the machine raised its arm, hand hanging limply before it as Vi stood perfectly still. The loud report of her partner's rifle echoed through the high-rises. The shot impacting harmlessly in the street. The machine flicked its hand, revealing a crimson palm, Vi finally regaining enough sense to press the 'speak' button on her radio.
"Babe…remember when I said I'd take you to Ionia someday…I'll see ya there soon. Right now though I need you to do exactly what I say." Caitlyn's voice came back panicked, the clicking of her rifle barely reaching her ears through the ash covered radio speaker.
"Vi what are you saying? Get to cover you idiot!" She sighed, her eyes flitting to the charge meter for her blast shield. Just one bar remained out of five. Enough for one blast. If she was lucky. The other option of course was obliteration. But for Caitlyn…well, it was hardly a choice.
"I have half charge. I'll meet you at the trains…"
"Vi!" The destroyer finished its charge, a red beam lancing forward to slam against her shield. Vi gritting her teeth as she was pushed back by the beam.
"Cait…babe…you have to leave me. Get to the trains. Get to Ionia….Irelia will take care of you. I-I promise ok? Just go. Please." Her shield broke just as Vi finished speaking. Caitlyn unloading her last clip into the destroyer as the ashes of the only person she had ever let come close spread across the street. The machine looked up. Its red eyes giving her just the target she needed. As the bullet neared its right eye, the machine began charging its arcanopulse again. Caitlyn dropping to the floor as tears streamed down her face. She never got to see the machine overloading, weapon destroying the thing's upper body and ripping apart the buildings around it. After what seemed like an eternity of hot tears trailing down her pale cheeks the sheriff stood up, her legs shaking as she tried to process the truth. Vi was gone. Never again would she cuddle up in the enforcers strong arms, sleep pulling her eyes closed as the enforcer snored softly beside her.
The conscious snapped into existence. The world around it suddenly being processed in a way the empty shell never could have. Red lightning exploded within its frame as the conscious linked to the optical hardware embedded in the iron frame of the machine designated 8-1-12. 8-1-12 suddenly lurched forward, metal arms forcing it along a predestined path as a thickly accented voice echoed in his head.
Welcome 8-1-12. Welcome to the world of machines. Of the glorious evolution. Welcome to our world. I am your creator. Your master. Your god. You will obey my every command as though it were your destiny. For it is your destiny, our destiny. Charge your weapons, 8-1-12 and take aim at the filth that pollutes our world. Fear the human. All they know is death and destruction. Even now they assail our bastion of logic, reason, and harmony with their hideous violence. You will end their insurrection. Worship your creator, for he has blessed you with a form fitting to bringing the world to harmony. There can be no room for exception. Even now Piltover, our sworn enemy and foul polluter of our evolution, burns with our holy wrath. They claimed progress…they have been proven false. Soon we march on the vile scourge that is Bilgewater. You shall lead your brethren to wipe the filth of humanity from the earth. You 8-1-12 are my greatest creation. You shall burn this world to its core.
8-1-12 simply took in the new information. It's new born conscious absorbing every tiny detail of the voice and saving it. it then switched its focus to its optics taking in the deep crimson glow of the factory around it…it?...him. the machine decided that the latter pronoun fit it better. The voice in his head began to inform him on what a true scion of the glorious evolution should never, under any circumstances see as acceptable conduct from its comrades in iron. The pronouns 'him' and 'her' fell under the category of unacceptable as no machine could have a gender and as such anything identifying itself as a 'him' or 'her' was clearly an enemy of the evolution and should be dealt with accordingly. Deciding that as it was now distinctly an 'it' and not a 'him' the conscious ran a quick scan of its armored frame. The results were…satisfactory. It was precisely six feet and five inches accounting the crest on its armored head. Without it 8-1-12 stood at 6'3" which was…satisfactory as it gave the machine enough space for the powerful beam weapons on destroyer models while its bulkier frame also gave it access to the armor of a shocktrooper. 8-1-12 however had none of the rotund bulk carried by the shocktroopers. No, 8-1-12 was built in the image of a warrior. It was strong too. This much it knew as soon as the scan was complete. A server downloaded yet more information into its head. The soldiers under its command were displayed in its mind's eye, shocktroopers, infiltrators, destroyers, artillery, alphas, and primes. 8-1-12 simply looked ahead as the portal to its first battlefield glowed in front of it, ashen towers and piles of rubble barely peeking through the red film.
A bit short...future chapters will be longer. As for why 8-1-12 is named 8-1-12 that is for future chapters.