The Awakening

Chapter 1

Zephyr woke with a start and stared at his cold, metal hands. Then, two things struck his mind. One, why in the world did he have ROBOTIC hands?! Two, why did he have a name? Robots didn't have names in this world. But why did he know they didn't? He had basic thoughts, how to move, how to eat, how to breathe, but why didn't he remember anything but the basics of life? He tried to calm himself, taking deep, deathly sounding breaths. He tried to hop down from the elevated position he woke, but to his avail, he had some sort of device stuck onto his back.

Zephyr couldn't take it. All of these questions, but so little answers. His struggle to free himself only grew more and more. Suddenly, Zephyr felt as if he had been carrying a heavy load on his back. It did not cause him to feel sore, or tense up, but felt it. He reached behind his back and pulled out an object.

Zephyr stared at the item. A kuri knife. He had no idea why he would be possessing such a weapon, but he was desperate. Zephyr turned his head one-hundred eighty degrees, which didn't surprise him being a robot, and sliced at the device holding him. He fell for a few seconds, only to land on his feet, making a loud clanking sound. He did not feel any pain, just the shock of falling from such a height. He then heard the most terrifying sound he thought he had heard in his life.

A man screaming for help.

Chapter 2

The man screamed for help, saying things that sounded like he was about to be hung for false crimes. Zephyr reached into his "bag" of sorts that had suddenly appeared on him and attempted to put the knife away, but when he did, he felt as if something was blocking it. He reached into the bag and pulled out the object.

A sniper rifle.

The murderous weapon answered some questions, but not many. He now knew his purpose. He was a killing machine. Zephyr put his hands on his head, almost wanting to scream, but then came the terrible noises from the man. Zephyr wanted to help him, if he was too kill anything, he wanted to have a reason too.

Zephyr walked towards the sounds of agony coming from the man, and took some time to take in his surroundings. Around him were several walls, lined to the point where he couldn't see any farther with robots, all identical. He noticed one had a bigger body type, another with one eye, and another type that had a hat on. Zephyr felt his head. A metallic-feeling hat lined his head. He tried to take it off, but he couldn't. He walked over to the robot wearing the odd cap and tried to pull it off, but to no avail .However, he did realize why he had the weapons he did.

The robot in front of him had his hands, his hat, and the same items in the bag.

It was named accordingly: Sniper Bot 1.7

Zephyr now knew, that he truly was a killing machine. A robot sniper that was programmed to only kill. Not to be one of those cheesy robots in cartoons that obey your every command, but a free will, killing machine.

The screams grew louder, causing Zephyr to cover his ears in pain. They sounded like they came just ahead. A few minutes later, he had reached the source. A sixty-something man, tied to a chair, with several men in red suits surrounding him with weapons in the hands and holsters.

Zephyr ducked behind some nearby boxes and looked over at the strange, red suit wearing men. They all looked like war-hardened people, but something about them seemed…..bad. Zephyr didn't understand why, but he felt a need to stop them. Suddenly, one of the men started talking. As he spoke, Zephyr raised his head and glanced at him. The one speaking was a tall, big muscled man. He had a Russian accent, and seemed to have some English problems. "So," said the man, "where do I start with you. First of all, you have murdered both Redmond Mann and Blutorch Mann, you've created a robot army illegally, and you have possession of a child while committing these crimes!"

"Wait," said a man with an RPG, his helmet covering his eyes to the point it was impossible to see," it can be legal to create a robot army?!"

"Oh my go-, no, Soldier, it is not legal to make a giant robot army," said the Russian man, looking like he could punch "Soldier" in the face.

Now, a man wearing a dapper coat and a fedora walked towards the man tied to the chair. Zephyr noticed how it looked like some of the robots he had seen before, but wearing red and human.

The man spoke with a French accent sternly, but at the same time calmly, "Zis is outrageous, Grey Mann. But now….." The French man revealed a knife in his hand. "We can our revenge on you and avenge our friends which you 'ave brought to a terrible end."

Zephyr knew he should hate this "Grey Mann," but he couldn't make himself. These men pointing there menacing weapons at him seemed to make Zephyr almost feel guilty for him. But now the men were taking action.

"Spy!" the Russian man said, "kill him."

"But of course." Spy said, now wearing a grim smile.

It was now or never to save Grey Mann.

Zephyr pulled out his rifle and aimed it over a crate. He easily lined up his shot with the French man's head as he stood behind Grey Mann. Zephyr didn't know how he was going to shoot an innocent m-

Without command, Zephyr's finger pulled the trigger.

Chapter 3

The next few seconds felt like hours. The bullet connected with Spy's head, causing him to scream in agony, before a splotch of blood flew out of his head as his cold, lifeless body hit the floor.

Zephyr had killed a man.

Zephyr had actually killed a living, breathing man.

He killed him without trying to.

Now the rest of the red-wearing men stared at Zephyr in complete shock, as if this was a major catastrophe. But to Zephyr, he felt like he had just brought world peace.

"Go!' screamed Gray Mann, "get out of here!"

"Cram it, pops," shouted the Russian. "Soldier! Get that sniper!'

Soldier seemed in shock but as he pulled out a shotgun, Zephyr knew he was out of his stupor. Zephyr ran around the crates onto a flight of stairs, easily ascending the stairs in an amount of seconds. Soldier was giving chase, and even fired his shotgun a few times, but Zephyr just ran, ran like he was running an Olympic track for a world record.

But as Zephyr rounded another corner, it lead to a stack of barrels, impossibly stacked higher than he could reach, and now Soldier was right behind him. He gave out a laugh, right before cocking his shotgun.

He let out a softer laugh, right before pulling out his RPG and aiming it straight at Zephyr's head.

This was the end of the line. Zephyr acted fast, pulling out the kuri knife from his pack of sorts and grabbed the blade with two fingers and threw it at his heart.

It landed at the directed spot, but stopped half way through. Soldier let out a blood-curdling scream, before falling to the side, and then his whole body slouching forward.

Zephyr had done it again. He had killed another man. But this time it was for his own safety. He felt no pain in doing so, in fact, it felt good to stand up for himself. He tried to not let the bloodlust consume him, and walked over to a railing near the stairs. Now it was the Russian's turn to take a crack at him. However, Zephyr knew he might not live through this fight.

The Russian was carrying a minigun, already spun up and aiming towards him.

Chapter 4

"Run," the Russian man shouted, "Run! I'm coming for you!"

Zephyr hated cocky people. He was going to make sure this fat, Russian piece of meat would learn his lesson. Zephyr pulled the bloody kuri knife out of Soldier's body and then ducked behind the railing. The insane Russian opened fire, causing a mass of bullets to rain over the railing and cause a loud plink every time it hit the metal above. Zephyr drowned out the chorus of the sounds and pulled out his rifle. He took aim and fired, this time with his own will, but hit a wall, sending a loud sound echoing throughout the facility. Zephyr quickly reloaded and fired again, but only to miss and be struck but a few stray bullets, causing him to grip his shoulder where the bullets made a tiny hole in his robotic body. He then let go of his shoulder and opened his pack again and took out a smaller gun.

It was a shiny, brand new SMG. Zephyr let out a short, robotic laugh at the thought of him surviving this. He peered over the railing to see the man was missing, but then felt a sharp pain where he was struck by the bullets. He turned around.

It was the man. He let out a hearty laugh and picked Zephyr up by his shoulder, causing him to let out a small whimper of fear. The fat Russian stared him dead in the eyes.

"Heavy is going to enjoy killing little coward robot" he shouted, "and I'm going to turn little robot into new ammo for my giant gun!"

Zephyr was then dropped by the man and made a loud thunk as he hit the ground. He backed up a little ways, only to hit the barrel stack placed inconveniently behind him. Zephyr reached for his rifle, only to have his hand almost crushed by the boot of "Heavy".

Suddenly, Zephyr heard a sound of rapid footprints. He assumed Gray Mann had escaped his chair, but looked over to see him still tied up. Zephyr adjusted his eyes to see better, and saw a blurry, speedy figure running towards his general area. The figure then entered the light, only to reveal it was another robot. It wore a metal looking headset, with a small microphone hanging towards the mouth. It held some sort of sawed-off shotgun, but it was impossible to tell what kind. The robot ran up the stairs and pulled out a bat in the blink of an eye. The robot revealed itself to be much smaller than Zephyr, but speedy none the less. The tiny metal speed demon swung the bat into the man's stomach, causing him to double over in pain, and then swung it against his head, sending him over the edge, then the robot pulled out his shotgun again, and fired directly at Heavy. The Russian screamed, but was cut off as soon as he hit the floor. The robot let out one last remark to the attacker.

"Eat it, fatty!"

The robot then turned to look Zephyr in the eyes.

"Yo, what's up? I'm Jameson."

Chapter 5

Zephyr couldn't find the words to describe how shocked he was to see Jameson preform such a quick act of violence.

Jameson stuck out his arm, offering Zephyr a hand to stand up. Zephyr took his hand, and stood up.

"So," said Jameson, "What's your name and why are you activated?"

Zephyr stuttered, but then answered, "Zephyr, my name is Zephyr. And I have no idea why I am here, or activated. I'm just really confused. "

Jameson nodded. "Interesting. Look, you might end up in the infirmary, I'll meet you there." Jameson started to walk away, then then turned around.

"Oh, and don't tell anyone you have a name." Jameson then jumped from the railing, landing on his feet and dashed off into the darkness, leaving Zephyr alone with a passed out Gray Mann in the chair. He went over and cut the ropes, and then Gray Mann came to his senses.

Gray Mann stared at the robot, and then nodded. "Hmmmm, it seems there might be a bug in the activating system. Anyhow, thank you. Follow me and I'll take you to the infirmary. Gray Mann then started walking away, motioning Zephyr too follow him. Zephyr reluctantly followed, having no idea if he should run from the crime- accused man or to follow him into the unknown. He decided that following him was the best idea, not knowing anything about his mysterious past, or why he was a robot.

After walking through dreary hallways, lined with robotic, blue colored robots that looked like some of the humans, Gray Mann reached two metal doors, with a small sign that said Infirmary. Gray Mann pushed the doors open, and allowed Zephyr to walk forward into the cold, dark room. Inside, a few robots lay on operating tables, each with a weird beam protruding from a strange device leading into them. Surrounding those tables, were a few robots wearing glasses, a surgery gown, and had hands painted to mimic gloves.

"Medics, take care of this robot, and make sure he gets the best treatment possible. He has saved my life."

A few of the medics looked up, but most just kept operating, like they never even heard the apparent leader. One of the medics that looked up started walking, no, rolling towards the pair. The area where feet should be were replaced by a single, rolling wheel.

"Yes, I'll shall begin operating on zis robot, Creator," said the Medic. The robot motioned for Zephyr to follow him, which he did. The Medic then proceeded to help him lie down on the table, back down. Alright, sniper, what seems to be ze problem?

The Medic seemed to have some attitude. It almost made him mad, but he wasn't about to anger someone that might perform surgery on him.

"Well Doc, I think there might be a problem with my finger. It pulled the trigger on my rifle without me telling it too. Also, I've got some bullets that hit my right shoulder."

The Medic leaned closer to Zephyr, then shrugged. "I'll deal with the bullets soon," he said. "But the finger pulling the trigger iz just a normal bug. Let's see what going on in here." The Medic opened Zephyr's chest, which seemed easier than it should, but then the Medic gasped. He poked something inside Zephyr, which made him twitch, and then he closed the cabinet and leaned close to Zephyr's face.

"What iz your name, sniper," he said. "Mind my earlier attitude, but I didn't realize you were one of ze specials." The Medic proceeded to pull out a pair of tweezers from a cabinet, and then carefully started to pull out the bullets in Zephyr's shoulder.

"What do you mean specials?" Zephyr was shocked at the term. Although he thought that it might help him find out about his past, this doctor was sounding more and more crazy.

"Oh, you must have just activated." The Medic finished his sentence as he pulled out the last bullet. "Listen, I have a name too, Primo. And by the way you're wired up, I think you're like me and my friend Jameson."

"Somebody call me?" the voice came from the entrance of the infirmary. It was the speak of the devil, Jameson. "Yo, Primo. We need to fix my friend Zephyr here up. I heard that tomorrow it's going to be all out warfare."

"Interesting," said Primo, "I noticed that the facility was moving for quite some time."

Zephyr was utterly confused. Warfare? Moving facility? He finally spoke up.

"This place is moving?! How come I don't feel it," said Zephyr.

"Because," said Primo, "that's how fixed up the freaking thing is. It's basically a giant tank that moves the place around. It's called the Verge. Now hold still so I can repair you."

Primo moved the odd beam-protruding device over Zephyr. An odd beam, just like that others, lowered itself onto himself, causing a warm feeling to rise inside of him. "Ubercharge ready!"

Zephyr looked over too see Primo with his hand on a lever attached to the device. He then pulled it, causing the beam to become much stronger. However, that wasn't the most noticeable thing. Zephyr had turned completely blue. His body, his arms, his face, all of it a dark blue. He felt like he could run a marathon, right until the beam stopped, going back into the machine.

"So how's that feel, Zephyr, any more dents?" Jameson had been watching the whole thing. It made Zephyr happy to see his first new friend, which had saved his life, had shown up too make sure he was okay.

"Feels great," said Zephyr, "but what's this talk about all out warfare?"

Primo shook his head "these robots seem deadly, and they are. But we are fighting for the good of Gray Mann. Plus, Jameson and I here make a pretty good team. This device that I just used on you, called a medi-gun, makes sure friends can stay in the fight, no matter how much damage they take. It's honestly a work of god. Now rest your eyes. We have a big day tomorrow."