This fanfic is dedicated to the, unfortunately, fictional Rock. The poor guy shouldn't have died…Rock with his deep blue eyes and that corrupted nature.

So what if Rock hasn't died, but suffered the consequences of his love for his father? What if Atlas hasn't died? What if the robots started rebelling?

A side note: The fanfic starts off directly after Ziggurat crumbles. Some websites have said that the entire Metropolis population dies after Rock turns himself into a suicide bomb, but I don't think so. I haven't read the manga, but I adored the movie, and I loved the ending. If you start complaining to me that NO WAY would Rock or Atlas survive…who the heck cares? I'm writing for my own self…considering that now, at the moment, there's only a small handful of Metropolis fanfiction out there.

Feedback can be e-mailed to: homeworkonfire@hotmail.com OR watercentaur@mail.com. Don't add me to your MSN list.

MetroBlood Chapter 1: Torn Circuits

Tima…

He wanted to give up. He wanted to stop searching for her, wanted to tell himself she was nothing but an android, a cyborg. A robot. Nothing but wires and metal. Not human.

But if she was nothing but metal, nothing but wires, then why did he search for what was left of her in the ruins of the Ziggurat?

Kenichi looked at the numerous scratches on his legs and arms, what he had received picking his way through the rubble and debris.

He stopped, wiping the sweat off his brow and gingerly kicked at a sheet of metal, revealing a small pink and red radio. He picked it up and gave it a few half-hearted jingles. Delightful jazz crackled and blasted through his ears before giving away to silence.

His eyes skimmed the floor in front of him.

Was that a hand?

Fear and excitement jolted through him as he started pulling away at the pieces of metal and cement until a whole arm appeared, an arm covered in a sleeve of a thick black sweater. Disappointment jerked through him as he saw that the hand was too large, too calloused to be Tima's.

I couldn't just leave him there.

In frustration and anger, he pulled the rocks and metal away. His hands started bleeding as he pulled away the large slab of cement, the last heavy weight that pressed the half-dead body to the wreckage.

Brown hair that curled.

A red, bleeding hole underneath his heart.

A red gash over one eye that spilled blood over the scratched face.

"ROCK?!" Kenichi cried.

The undamaged eye opened, and the clear indigo pupil stared back at him silently. It seemed to be the only thing on the Marduk's entire body that wasn't damaged.

Murderer…Murderer…Tima…TIMA!

He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

Without even thinking again, he grabbed the heavy body and with difficulty, managed to hoist Rock on his shoulders. Half dragging, half carrying, he made his way towards a spot free of debris.

Why am I helping him?

Because I'm human, he mustered inside his head as he took off the coat he wore, wadded it into a small ball, and applied pressure to Rock's bleeding gunshot wound. His undamaged eye was shut again, and his breathing was slowing.

"Come on…" he said. "Don't just die – you don't deserve it. No one does."

Rock didn't deserve to die?

"Kenichi! Is that you?"

His heart nearly stopped as he looked up. "Atlas! I – the revolution – I thought you were dead!"

"Nearly was dead," Atlas tipped his cap. His hair flowed free from its usual section tied up, and he looked thinner and paler. He peeled back a section of his jacket to reveal that his chest was covered in bandages. "They sealed me up good, but I'm hurt. Badly."

Kenichi didn't dare ask what was hurting – the pain of his wounds, or the pain of the betrayal.

"Who's there?" He asked, stepping over Rock and bending down on one knee. He whistled. "Whoever that is, he's hurt badly."

Kenichi shot a prayer upwards to heaven, so that whatever was listening up there could hear his thanks that Atlas didn't recognize Rock without the Marduk uniform and black sunglasses.

Atlas took off his fingerless gloves and pulled out a small, pen-like metal device from inside his coat. "Good thing you're applying pressure to that…." He stopped to look at the ruins of the Ziggarut. "Don't tell me…you and him were in there when it crashed?"

"Atlas…"

"Sorry," the older man gently touched Rock's forehead, touching the beginning of the long, ray-like scar that slit across Rock's eye. "He'll never open this eye again. Better get it sealed and sterilized before he gets an infection."

"Shouldn't a doctor – "

"Trust me – just because I live in Zone C doesn't mean I don't know how to handle medical emergencies," Atlas flipped the metal device in his hand. "This is a laser sealer – kind of like your average laser surgical instrument, but it seals your skin together. Hold his arms in case he moves."

"What about applying pressure – "

"Okay, you grab one arm, I grab the other."

Bending over in concentration, Atlas pressed the small button with an index finger and a green laser beam shot out. Holding it like a pen, he ran it up and down Rock's eye slash until it started beeping. Fresh blood welled from the wound, flushing itself out.

"Good thing he's unconscious," Atlas muttered to himself. He flipped the button again, and this time, the laser turned blue. Slowly, and working with the skill of a doctor and an artist, he moved the beam over the sliced flesh. After a few moments, in place of the warm blood, a white scar appeared, stretching from his forehead, across his eye, and down his cheek.

"That's taken care of," Atlas said. "We'll take him to the nearest hospital…say, where's that nice girl? Tima?"

So much pain…

"There," Kenichi pointed to the rubble. "She isn't dead Atlas…it was just…she never was alive."

"HAHHH!"

Rock felt his body jerk violently.

Buried! Buried alive!

His eyes snapped open, but his vision was strange. He could only see part of everything.

I can't open my other eye…

People came to him. They told him it was okay. They told him everything would be fine.

He screamed that he was Duke Red's son, and his father had all the right in the world to sit on Ziggurat's throne. Not Tima. Not that piece of junk.

He screamed at why he could only open one eye. The gagged him, and drugged him.

He was afraid. He was so afraid.

Kenichi walked through the silent hallway of the Metropolis hospital, glad that for once, they trusted humans to do the medical jobs rather than robots. Atlas was waiting for him outside with his car, where he would take Kenichi and his uncle to the airport, where they would leave Japan in a few hours.

He opened the door to Rock's room, the last room in the long hallway.

He was greeted with a benevolent, stark white wall with a large window that would face the city, but the curtains were drawn. A tray of food lay untouched on a bedside table next to the bed. Rock shifted and opened his undamaged eye.

"So it was you," Rock said, pushing himself up on an elbow. You that saved me from eternal death," he laughed. "Who do you think you are? God? Damn it, why didn't you just let me die?!"

The last words were shouted and Kenichi jumped. "Rock…"

"I killed Tima, I killed everyone in that damn Ziggurat!" Rock slammed his hand on the table, rattling the plates. "My Father – everyone! I – "

He stopped, breathing hard and staring at the ground, the disheveled hair falling over his eyes.

"Why didn't you just let me die?" He whispered, trying to control his anger.

Kenichi decided to ignore the question; it was something he didn't even know yet. "I'll be leaving for Japan in a few hours, and I wanted to see how you're doing – "

"HOW I'M DOING?" Rock cried. "I'll show you – "

He reached up and tore off the bandage that covered his eye. It was slit shut, and the white scar was still there. "LOOK AT THIS!" He shouted.

"One lost eye is better than two lost eye, Rock," Kenichi said.

"And what will I do now?" Rock said. "I have no place to go – "

"Make this place a better place," Kenichi said. "You've got leadership skills, Rock, you just don't know how to use them."

"And go live in Zone C?" He spat.

"You're not a Marduk any longer, Rock!" Kenichi shouted. "You're – you're –"

"So you want me to go out there, put on a big smile, wrap my arms around a couple of humans and go off singing that Metropolis could be a better place?" Rock laughed. "I'll tell you – the day I'm 100% happy, is the day all robots die."

"Robots can't die, Rock," Kenichi said quietly. "They never were alive."

"Oh, getting emotional, aren't we?" Rock propped himself up on one elbow and winced in pain. "Tima…did you know that Tima was the exact image of my Father's daughter?"

"No – "

"Yes, that's why she was created," Rock hissed. "But she's not Father's daughter! She's inhuman, she's metal – she's nothing but junk!"

Kenichi let his hand fly out and hit the side of Rock's cheek, not hard enough to hurt him badly, but hard enough to stun him. "She's not junk! She has feelings – she…"

"She IS junk!" Rock bellowed, and with renew strength, he jumped off his bed and grabbed Kenichi at the collar of his shirt. Remembering the fear of what happened to him last time he was in Rock's grip, he froze on the spot.

"Listen, this will do you good," Rock whispered. "Tima is nothing but metal and circuits! She was programmed to feel those emotions, programmed to be a human – at least for a while. She was just a toy – metal! Metal!"

Rock shoved him to the floor, and he gripped his side. Limping, he walked back to his bed and climbed upon it.

"Go," Rock said.

"Yeah," Kenichi picked himself up. "The – the medical bills are paid already. Bye."

"Yeah, but no thanks."

Kenichi resisted the urge to slam the door, but instead, he very calmly stepped over the threshold and shut the door.

"Good bye, Rock…good bye Metropolis." He whispered.

Atlas was waiting for him as he jumped into the car – a cross between a hovercraft and a jeep was more like it – and Atlas started up the engine.

"A friend of yours?" Atlas asked as he drove down the road, which was clear of a few cars. Since the destruction of the Ziggurat, everyone seemed to be staying at home until everything was cleared.

Luckily, Atlas had to swerve away from a bad driver and he swore loudly, allowing Kenichi to keep quiet.

"Too bad you're leaving here, huh?" Atlas said again, two hours later in front of the airport. He handed him the suitcase. "Take care of yourself, and give me a call if you ever come back here."

"I doubt it," Kenichi took his suitcase. "Thanks Atlas, for everything. You sure you don't want to leave this place as well?"

"I was here to change it in the first place," Atlas grinned. "I'm not going without completing my job. Tell your uncle hello."

"More like good-bye," Kenichi shook Atlas's hand. "Thanks again. I'll miss you."

He took a step from the airport, returning Atlas's wave.

A sound of a thousand stars exploding rang in his ears and he felt himself being shot backwards into Atlas. He cried out in pain as he hit the car and glass shattered behind him.

He turned, blinking away blood in his eyes and saw Atlas struggling to stand up. Except for a few scratches on his face and a heavy, bleeding wound on his hand, he looked fine.

"Kenichi!" He heard Atlas mouth, but he couldn't hear a word.

"I can't hear!" He shouted back. Fear gripped his stomach. Was he suddenly deaf? And what was the explosion?

The airport!

"Uncle!" He screamed, listening to his own silence but his throat burn. "No – "

Atlas pulled at his arm. "Kenichi! We have to go now!"

From the dust, the shapes started emerging.

Androids. Dozens of them – or maybe hundreds of them!

They emerged from the dust, all of them in different size and shape, but all of their eyes glowed a remarkable green – the same color of the beam that Ziggurat sent out to the sun.

"It's from that freak experiment!" He saw Atlas cry.

They were all heading towards him and Atlas. Too shock to move, he felt Atlas grab his arms and dragged him away, but it was no use. The robots –

Dust swerved around and a heavy wind blew across his head. Looking up, he saw a silver vehicle of some sort – a small, streamlined plane that hovered seven feet off the ground.

The door opened and without thinking twice, Kenichi felt Atlas grab him under his arms and dragged him into the streamlined plane.

Breathing heavily, he looked up at who was driving.

"Rock!" He cried, and again, he couldn't hear himself. "You – "

Rock turned around, a black patch over his damaged eye. "Both of you just shut up and stay still! I know you can't hear – it's result of the explosion. Just stay calm – we'll be safe. And Kenichi? Get something on that head wound."

He could hardly read the few last words on Rock's lips before he crashed into blackness and silence.

"You're terribly weak did you know that?"

Kenichi opened his eyes, relieved at once that he could hear. But his second thought made him push himself up from the soft surface he was lying on. He looked up to see Rock sitting on a low chair with a flickering yellow lamp over his head. He was wearing loose black pants, and a dark navy sweater – something so similar to the outfit he wore when he used himself as a suicide bomb – he even had his sunglasses back on.

"Where's Atlas?" Fear rushed through him.

"Hey you!" Rock said rather rudely and threw a boot at a small door.

"Give me a moment!" Atlas shouted, from behind the door, probably a bathroom.

"That wasn't exactly nice," Kenichi said. "His name is Atlas."

"Your name is Bastard," Rock said, satisfied.

"Where are we?" Kenichi asked.

"Zone 2."

"A Marduk leader, in Zone 2? Give me a break," Kenichi rubbed his eyes.

Rock sneered at him. "Ban's nephew with the leader of the Marduks? Give ME a break."

"Uncle…" Kenichi whispered. Hot, angry tears welled up in his eyes and he buried himself back in the covers. He sobbed deep into the sheets. "Uncle Ban…"

"No time to cry," he heard Rock say stiffly.

"What would you know about losing your family?" Kenichi ripped the sheets off his head and glared at Rock, who was now polishing a small handgun. "Not only did you Father just about had the entire city in his hands – "

"I was an orphan," Rock snipped angrily, yet he did not move. "Duke Red – Father – took me in."

"Some Father," Kenichi whispered.

"Look, I just saved you and that – " Rock jerked his head towards the direction of the bathroom where Atlas was inside. "That person from a whole bunch of freaked robots that just bombed the only way out of Metropolis."

"Why did you help us? I thought you wanted to get rid of me – "

"When Tima was around, I wanted to get rid of you," Rock hissed. "But now that she's dead and gone, and still the same piece of metalloid junk – "

"She's not JUNK!" Kenichi jumped to his feet and pain rang through his legs, and his head started throbbing. "She's – "

"When will you give it a break with that thing?" Rock took off his sunglasses, his undamaged blue eye burning with azure fire. "Tima was created in the figure of my Father's dead daughter…I saw her when she was being created. She's nothing but metal, circuits, and silicone. She was programmed to act the way she did! I'm doing the world a favor in having her destroyed!"

"NO!" Kenichi grabbed the bedpost to balance himself. "Listen…have you ever had a stuffed animal? Or – "

"Dumb metaphor," Rock said, looking away. "Shut up before I decide to make you shut up."

"No! Something you were attached to – mentally…and you never want to throw it away, even though it was lifeless…"

"You love her then," Rock faced him. "You love – "

"I don't…" Kenichi stopped.

"See? You can't even admit it," Rock gave him a cruel smile, his eye narrowing. "You can't admit that you love nothing. You should be thanking me for destroying her…it."

"You didn't," Kenichi slid down and buried his head on his knees. "I did."

Rock nearly dropped his gun. "What are you talking about?"

"When you used yourself as a suicide bomb, Tima wasn't on the Ziggurat throne," Kenichi rubbed his eyes. "I pulled her off it before she could do any more damage."

"Then tried to save her," Rock said, folding his arms across his chest. "Then you pulled me out from that rubble. Aren't you afraid I'm going to have you shredded into little pieces and burn each bit of flesh?"

"I thought you said that you weren't interested in killing me when Tima wasn't here anymore," Kenichi said.

The bathroom door swung open and Atlas stepped out, drying his hair. He looked tired, and there were numerous scratches over him but he looked fine. Rock slipped on his glasses.

Suddenly, Atlas's large brown eyes opened and his mouth dropped. "Kenichi!" He gasped. "What the hell – you haven't told me this was – he's a Marduk!"

Kenichi grumbled, "You two should get along fine. One's a robot hater; the other's a robot hater. I'm sure you have a lot in common. Excuse me, but I'm getting out of here…"

"There's no where out of Metropolis," Rock said.

"What?"

"The only transportation available was through the airport," Rock said.

"No…what about a private plane? A – " Fear throbbed in his head.

"No, don't you understand? There's no way out," Rock removed his glasses again. "And how would you survive up there with a gung-ho throng of robots ready to tear your flesh?"

"You mean, out of Zone 2?"

"There are no robots in Zone 2, I'm sure of that," Atlas frowned. "I take that back. I made sure of that."

"Behold, the Leader," Rock mumbled behind his breath. "What's that in your pocket?"

Startled, Kenichi pulled out the heavy object in his pocket and swallowed, hard. It was Tima's heart – the one Fifi handed to him after Ziggurat crumbled.

"Oh, damn it all," Rock said.

"I still remembered how you shot her," Kenichi said, staring at the wires. "You hit her here, right here."

"And look what I got in return," Rock pulled up his sweater, showing a rather ugly stitch scar under his heart. He pulled off the eye patch to show that it was slit shut. "You should have let me die."

"How can I? I'm human!" Kenichi shouted, clutching what was left in Tima's heart in his hands.

"Will you two shut up?" Atlas folded his arms across his chest. "I'm the senior of this group here and I opt that we find a way how to get pass those robots."

"Another revolt?" Rock raised his eyebrows. "You and the rest of the – "

Atlas ignored him and raised a hand to silence him. Kenichi was amazed at Atlas's strong leadership skill, despite the circumstances. "There's still a whole bunch of us left in Zone 2, and the unaffected robots in Zone 3 – "

"Wait, wait," Kenichi said. "I don't understand – what happened to those robots? The ones on the surface?"

"When Duke Red released that beam that hit the sun's black spot, it released some sort of magnetic energy that destroyed just about all the robots on the surface," Atlas said. "I don't know what it is, but it manipulated some sort of program in the robots –

"So now we have a 1960's theory on robots rebelling against mankind," Rock rolled his one good eye.

"And it's my job to turn them back into useful computer junk with a total of 4MB memory of RAM," Atlas said. "I don't know about you two."

"I don't have a place to go," Kenichi said.

"Well, at least get out of my place," Rock said. "This is my hideout, mind you, and if you feel better, leave with Atlas."

"You're a snake, Rock!" Kenichi said. "Marduk…that's a Babylonian dragon, isn't it? You manipulated bastard – "

Atlas placed a hand on Kenichi's shoulder. "The boy will be my responsibility, Marduk. But for heaven's sakes, let him stay here for a while. He could hardly stand, let alone move."

Rock grunted.

"I think he said yes," Atlas pulled a heavy quilt over Kenichi. "Rock…you and I are going to talk. Let's go."

"What makes you think I'll go with you?"

"I doubt you can stand another moment breathing the same air Kenichi is breathing in," Atlas rolled his eyes helplessly. "Sharing carbon dioxide and oxygen with the person you despise is terribly bad for your health, did you know that?"

Rock stood up and opened the door, slamming it shut.

"That's taken care of," Atlas sighed and started to follow the Marduk. "Sleep well Kenichi. I'll be back soon."

Kenichi nodded and heard a soft click of the door shutting.

Before he slid back to sleep, he clutched at Tima's broken heart, crying.