Novus Homo Headquarters
SUICD Unit, Tokyo, Japan
16 November 2066, 23:57

78% of file transfer complete, transmission in progress…

A blood-curling scream erupted from the far end of the dark corridor that led to the dimly lit laboratory; it sounded human, but the robotic scientist knew that it came from one of their kind. Quickly, he went from one computer to the other, deleting all the files he could manage to with the few precious minutes he had left, desperate not to leave anything for the humans to feast on. Information was scarce, and he was not going to let something as valuable as that fall into the hands of the rampaging beasts of the surface world.

Intruder alert! Gate 1, shutting down!

Cursing all humans for their atrocity, he rushed to the main computer and shut down the remaining two gates, including the one that would have been his pathway to safety, not caring if he would not make it out of the raid alive. His life mission was at the peak of completion --- the remaining 22 percent of the file transfer was all that he was waiting for --- and that gave him one last objective: complete the file transfer, at all costs.

Gate 1, deactivated!

He fumbled through the controls, draining power from all the other computers and generating it to the other gates, and as he did so, the entire laboratory was submerged into the darkness. The only source of light was from the monitor of the main computer, which continued on with the file transfer. It had only gone up to 84 percent, which was definitely not very much. "Faster… faster…" he muttered in a low voice that seemed too human to belong to an android, clutching the edge of his reclining chair firmly with his steel-plated hands.

There was a loud clang, and he knew the second gate had been knocked down even before the computer voiced it out in warning. He reached out to the controls once again, but stopped abruptly when his hands were halfway there. There was nothing he could do but to wait, that he knew for certain --- to wait for the transmission to be completed, as well as to wait for his end.

He sat still, trying to think of what else he might have forgotten to dispose of, when he saw that the percentage of the transfer had increased dramatically by another 10 percent. His spirits were lifted up as soon as he realized how close he was to success; in a minute or two, it would all be over, after all. The transmission reaching its end slowly by the second, he put his hand over the collar of his white-colored robe and ripped off the identification plate that was pinned there, fulfilling the last step in his side of the brilliant plan to overthrow the war the stupid humans were initiating.

Another clang.

Gate 3, deactivated!

Those were the last words he heard before the sound of blaster fire hitting metal and skyrocketing into all directions deafened him. Heavy fire continued to pour on, and with a loud roar, the metal gate came crashing down to the dusty steel floor, and a squadron of armed human soldiers charged in, their blasters all pointing towards the defenseless scientist. They stayed in that position for a few heart-stopping seconds until their commander marched in and gave out the order to search the area.

But to their anger and frustration, they found none. All the files in the other computers have been deleted, leaving not a single clue about the androids' next move. With a loud outcry, the commander let loose of his weapon and fired at the computers in a frenzy, destroying them one by one until minute eruptions flooded the laboratory with smoke and mechanical debris. He was about to order that the scientist be killed, when he realized that the large metal plate the robot had been leaning on was not a wall --- it was the main computer.

He rushed to the scientist, commanding him to activate the computer, but the robotic genius only gave him a knowing smile in return. Enraged beyond belief, the soldier took out his blaster and shot the scientist right through the head, killing him in the blink of an eye. With him out of the way, the fury-filled commander barked that his subordinates reactivate the main computer, marching to and fro in an intimidating fashion as he waited, only to slip into another raving fit as soon as the screen flickered back to life.

Transfer of SC1-43.exe complete!

With a roar, he poured blaster fire on the large data processor, eventually causing damage beyond repair. But he was too mad to care; they had prepared the raid for weeks, only to fail at their ultimate objectives, which was to retrieve the blueprints of the superweapon the androids were believed to be designing, as well as the program rumored to activate their 'Messiah'. Someone must've betrayed them, relaying the androids the time of the surprise attack; but he shook his head, knowing that that matter would have to be dealt with afterwards as there were far more important ones at that moment.

"Blow this place up," he instructed as he began to make his way out of the cove. "Leave no evidences."

His underlings saluted in affirmation, then they scattered all over the area, installing bombs that would bring the place down without appearing like it had been done on purpose. When all the explosives were in place, the timers were activated, and the soldiers began rushing out of the laboratory, fearing that they will be caught up in the explosion. They only had 90 seconds to get to safety, after all, and the radius of the detonation reached up to 150 meters.

One of the soldiers, however, lingered in the area far longer than the rest, apparently in search for something. As soon as he came upon the scientist's unconscious form, he knelt down, removed his helmet, and bowed his blonde head as a sign of respect. Afterwards, he unclasped the android's right hand, pulled out the metal plate that had the name Sean Firestone engraved on it, and tucked it into a special compartment in his combat uniform.

And as he dashed out of the crumbling laboratory as fast as his legs would carry him, he pulled out a transmitter from the same compartment where he had hidden the nameplate. Turquoise eyes glistening with sadness and remorse, he relayed in a voice barely above a whisper, "SUICD, secure. Griffon One, coming home."

/To be continued…/

Dedication: This is for Hareta - Jirou Oriza of the Crush Gear Community – who is a fabulous author and an awesome friend. Thanks for everything!

Notes: Kazie here – this chapter's author. First off, I would like to thank Mara for volunteering to write this with me. Two heads are definitely better than one, so I suppose it would be safe to say that this fic will no longer be in hiatus any longer. Off to the story notes: (1) Novus homo, means "new man"; (2) all of the codes and acronyms used don't really have specific meanings, unless stated otherwise; (3) and the out-of-character-ness level for this piece is high, considering that this is an alternate universe – AU – fanfiction. Thanks everyone!