12: REVOLUTION

Cora blew a piece of hair out of her face as she twisted herself under the dashboard of the family car. There was no way she was going to walk to her destination, so a simple hotwiring was the better option. "Now..." she murmured, sticking her tongue out as she messed with the colorful array of wires. "If you just hook this up to that...and then it should...done!" she beamed.

She slid out from her awkward position, wiping the sweat from her brow. With a grin she pressed the engine start button.

VROOM!

The car coughed to life and started to hover above the ground. Cora fist pumped before quickly grabbing hold of the wheel and slamming her foot down on the accelerator.

For a bit she carefully rambled through the streets, keeping her head low from any cameras or police. Soon she reached the edge of the city. That, is when she started REALLY driving. With an outburst of speed the car shot through the junk of the Surface. Cora grinned as she twisted and turned this way and that, beeping the horn randomly and laughing.

After a while her joy spilt into seriousness as she parked the car beside an old decorated shack. Sighing she tripped out of the drivers seat and approached the large door. She raised her hand and knocked softly upon it.

KNOCK!

A loud shuffle sounded from inside. "Did you hear that, comrade?"

"Who could it be?"

"We shouldn't open it! It could be a trap!"

"If it was a trap then why would they knock at the door?"

"...wait here."

With a twist of iron the door creaked open. Cora smiled hopefully at the rusty head of Sparks. His eyes widened as he pulled the door open for Robotski and Mike to see. "Sister Cora!" he exclaimed. Core giggled, entering into the RRF hideout.

"What brings you here?" Mike asked.

"She obviously has come to join us on our revolution!" Sparks declared.

"No, guys..." Cora started, but stopped stiff. "Wait," she turned to them. "Revolution?"

"Yep!" Robotski beamed.

"We are getting ready for the apocalypse of robot kind!" Sparks slammed his golf putter on his hand. "All the signs point to it!" Cora leapt up upon a desk, leaning forward, intrigued.

"You really think there's going to be a robot uprising?" the three glanced to each other before all answering.

"OF COURSE!"

"Haven't you heard the news, Sister Cora?" Sparks asked. "Robots are finally braking free of the Robotic Laws and are fighting for their own rights!"

"But what could've caused them to brake from those laws?" she asked, frowning. Mike answered this by pulling down a projecting screen. Robotski clicked on a computer and a beam of light washed over, showing the images of the service bot fight.

"As you can see," Sparks paced in a professional matter, "that this black mist is obviously the key to the rise of robot kind. We have absolutely no idea how it works, but we know it works for us!" Robotski when to shut the video off when Cora shot out her hand.

"Wait!" she gasped. The band of robots watched her as she slowly climbed off the desk, walking up to the screen. There, it showed Astro...sucking the black mist out of the robot as it fell to the ground. Throat caught up in a cry, whimper and gasp, Cora felt her knees grow weak.

"Hey..." Sparks muttered, placing a hand on his chin, "Ain't that Brother Astro?" Cora raced over, slamming the computer off.

"Oh my god! Astro! That's why he's been acting funny!" the three robots tilted their heads.

"Huh?" Mike hummed in confusion.

"Guys," Cora quivered, biting her lip. "This black mist isn't helping you. I think it's...changing you...all the robots...they're changing for the worst..." Sparks let out a laugh, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Sister Cora, we know what we're up against! This black mist shall be our ally!" he glanced down to the teenager's worried face. Frowning, he knelt down to her. "It's going to be fine, Cora." He told. She looked to him.

"You saw the clip, Sparks," she murmured. "The only thing this mist is doing is hurting people..." her eyes flourished with emotion. "And taking over robots..." with that in her mind she quickly fled to the door, turning to the RRF before she exited. "DON'T let the black get to you guys, okay?"

"But-"

"The black mist is NOT your friend. It's going to destroy everything!" with that she slammed the door closed and ran to the car, leaving the trio of robots clueless.


"I don't see anything, Astro..." Dr Tenma murmured, eyes searching over the scanners. Astro shook his head, walking over to Zoran side. She was laid upon the lab table, unconscious, as Z and Tenma performed several scans. Somehow, though, the Black Core was hiding its self so perfectly that even the fifth scan showed up negative. Tenma sighed, walking up to her.

"I don't get it..." Astro quivered. "The...the black mist on TV! I'm sure its inside of her! I know it! I do!"

"And how would you know?" Z asked softly, looking up from the monitors with on hand lightly on her stomach. Astro took a deep breath, cradling his head in his hands.

"Astro?" Tenma asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. "How do you know this?"

"I...I-I..." like suddenly being chained, he felt the pondering headache begin and the pain run through his body. "I..." it got stronger and stronger, until he couldn't bare it. "I...don't know. It was a hunch..." gone. It all went away.

Tenma frowned, glancing to Zoran. He sighed, stroking her forehead.

"Well, I guess the least we can do it check her Core. Then we'll know for sure if it's the black mist."

He lifted Zoran's shirt to reveal the pink leotard and went to open the chest hatch located just below her neck. But as he was about to press it open, all the lights in the lab suddenly went out.

VOOOOM...

All their eyes flickered to the sound of the generator giving out. "What in the world...?" Tenma murmured, darting his head around.

"The generator's down!" Z gasped, hobbling over to a vent in the wall. "I'll see if I can-"

"Z, no." Tenma gestured her to stay put. "Astro?" he asked. "Could you check it out?" Astro nodded, sliding over to the low vent and pulling it from the wall. There was a series of wires and circuitry exposed for him to inspect. While he was taking care of that, Tenma went to open Zoran's chest hatch once again. But as he pressed softly on it, nothing happened. He raised an eyebrow, attempting to tug it open. "What's wrong dear?" Z asked, glancing over his shoulder.

"It can't open it!" he said in shock. "Something's preventing it from-"

ZAP!

"WHOOOOAAA!" the two watched as massive bolt of electricity erupted from the wall and Astro went flying across the lab. He landed with a grunt, rubbing the back of his neck. "Oww..."

"Astro!" Z gasped, fleeing to him side. "Are you okay?" he nodded, slowly getting to his feet.

"I think..."

"What's the state of the generator?" Tenma asked, leaving Zoran's side. Astro raised an eyebrow.

"What do you think, dad?" he mumbled. Tenma took a glance over his steaming body and nodded.

"Right, right..."

"How's Zoran's core?" he asked, attention falling onto his sister. Z was still hectic on Astro's well being, following him closely behind as they all stood by Zoran.

"I..." Tenma pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't know. Her systems aren't letting me do a check up." Astro's eyes dilated.

"What?" he quivered. Tenma looked to him with a face of pity.

"Astro, I'm not sure how exactly you knew, but I think you're right. We must take immediate action to find out about this black mist." A shimmer of hope shone in Astro's eyes as he said this.

"What about Zoran?" he asked. They all looked to the sleeping robot.

"Hopefully her programming has shut herself down," Z told. "I think we should leave her in the lab until we get more ground on this, and when the power returns." As they all shared a nod and started to venture back to their apartment, Tenma pondered on something.

"It's curious, isn't it?" he asked, placing a hand on his chin. "That generator in the lab is one of the finest in Metro City. Yet spontaneously just when we needed it, it powered down and acts funny when we try to inspect it." He glanced around the brightly lit hallway. "Yet nothing else is affected." Z frowned in confusion, nodding.

"I think this black mist may be more disastrous then we first thought." Astro sighed, falling slightly behind.

"You have no idea..."


The boy robot stopped sharply at the edge of the building, confronting the sea of black ahead of him. He didn't want to waste any time.

"What are you doing to Zoran?" he asked coldly. A small chuckle arose in that annoying, eerie voice.

"I thought we were friends!" it laughed. Astro bared his teeth.

"Anything but..." he hissed. "Stop torturing Zoran!" the laughter was immediately cut off and a snaking rope of black slinked out.

"It appears that we have different points of view..." it wheezed. "You want to use my power to help people..."

"And what do you want?" Astro asked, eyes narrowing at the rope that was slowly approaching him.

"I want to help you...I want to help all robots..."

"From what?"

"Your creators..." Astro took a step back. "This system that is slowly destroying life itself...humans want power over everything...but robots merely want power over themselves...which is why I let them have that..."

"Don't you see what you're doing?" Astro growled. "You're making it even worse for the robots! If you keep making them destroy things then the humans get scared. And when they get scared of machines they shut them down! You're not making it any better!"

"You don't see the undergrowth of what's going on here," the voice responded calmly. "Those were warnings to the humans. But robots are slowly disappearing, and where do you think they're going? To a revolution! While you have been trying to keep everything the way it was, behind your back is the very thing you despise. Change. And it's coming fast..." Astro scowled, lifting his boot above the twisting rope.

"I will NOT cooperate with you anymore!" with that he leapt up and stomped on it. Suddenly an outburst of ropes lashed out, headed straight for him.

"THEN YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO LET ME FULLY TAKE CHARGE," the voice boomed. Astro barely had time to yelp as the back wrapped itself around him, whipping over his mouth. "WHY DON'T YOU JUST WAIT AND SEE WHAT REAL POWER CAN DO..."


Awaking in a fury of kicks and gasps, Astro jolted upright. He breathed heavily, holding his head. "Bad dream...bad, bad, bad dream..." he gasped out. After a while of panting, he rubbed his eyes and glanced around.

Clouds.

Sky.

Concrete.

He wasn't sure if he was still dreaming or not. He was on the building roof, just at the edge of it, as if someone was about to push him...

"AHH!" he yelped, pushing himself back into the centre. He breathed heavily, shakily getting to his feet. "That can't be good..." he quivered. He heard a loud beep from his wrist, and looked to see the time. He sighed drearily. "And already late for school..." groaning, he glanced down to himself. He shrugged at his cloths from yesterday and sprinted off the building, activating his rockets and boosting his way to the school.