Prologue:
September 28th, 2109, two months after the destruction of General Victor Hammer's STRI-KR control center. The Buy N' Large Starliner Horus had begun its rounds through the Kuiper Belt, harvesting water. Inside one of the millions of rooms, was a group of camera bots, film crews, a stage that resembled a broken podium, and the two most powerful men humanity has ever seen; The Forthwrights.
Shelby Forthright sat at a makeup table with a PR-T robot, which was applying graphite and other kinds of makeup to make him look like he had just been through hell and back. His suit was ripped up and crinkled. While the beautician bot was repeating her normal speeches such as "You look gorgeous" and "I know honey, I know," a thought that had been lingering in Shelby's head for decades was bubbling like boiling water. He was looking back at the speeches he had to make and what Buy N' Large had done over the years.
Nearby, his younger brother and the true leader of Buy N' Large, Donovan Forthwright, was overlooking the script and going over what needed to be done to ensure the transmission of code A113 would be clear and without issues. After this, he noticed Shelby was looking distraught. Donovan approached him, with two of his STRI-KRs standing at both of his sides. "What's wrong, Shel?" he asked his brother. Shelby looked up as the PR-T robot applied the finishing touches. "I'm alright, '' Shelby muttered. Donavan patted him on the shoulder and looked at the beautician bot. "That's enough, PR-T." he told the robot. The PR-T folded its arms back into its shell and floated away. "You don't look alright" continued Donovan to Shelby. "This is our finest hour, a symbol of our success! Just think, the others who were in control when we were young merely dreamed of doing this! We made their dreams a reality! Our lord Baal and our ancestors the Khazars would be very proud of us! I don't see how you could not be as overjoyed as I am!" Shelby turned to face his younger brother and took a breath.
"Donovan," Shelby began. "Do you remember when we started gaining power? When we would start buying up businesses left and right, watching as our bottom line increased? You know, before we bought out the oil conglomerate Fumahol?" Donovan nodded his head, yet confused as to where his older brother was going with this. "Everything was fine until that oil acquisition." Shelby said before pausing for a second. "You've...changed." "In what way?" asked Donovan. "The power." Shelby responded. "It's gotten the better of you! After we had control of the oil, you started showing your true colors! It's like I'm talking to our father all over again!" Donovan knew what he was talking about now, and began getting defensive. "Don't you dare speak of dad like that!" Donovan boomed. "Everything he did was for the greater good of us all!" "Dad was wrong!" Shelby argued. "Everything he did was unjust, and he groomed you to be just like him! Look at what we've done to the Earth and to the human race! All of this, for money and to please a false god?! Yes I was in it for the money too, but I didn't want blood on my hands for it!" Donovan frowned, extremely offended by the remark to their religion, but said nothing as Shelby was now an inch away from his face. "I'm done being your little puppet, Donovan!" Shelby concluded. "I'm taking an escape pod back to Earth. Might be nothing there but at this point anywhere is better than here!" Shelby started to walk away, but Donovan's STRI-KRs stood in front of the exit, blocking Shelby's path. "If you want to leave, then so be it." Donovan snapped. "But you're not done here yet. Relay the message, then you can go!" Shelby, not wanting to die, reluctantly turned around to get the shoot over with.
He put on the gas mask around his neck and protective suit and stood at the fake podium. A red flashing light blinked off camera. The flags and Buy N' Large House Of Representatives sign hung low from the wall. A camera robot faced Forthright, standing at his podium. The Buy N' Large theme began to play. "Just cut it off, will you?" Shelby interrupted. As the song cut off, he faced the camera and began his speech. "H-hey there, Autopilot. Got some bad news..."
A few takes were done for good measure, which only took a quarter of an hour to complete. As Shelby was finishing the last take, Donovan whispered to his private STRI-KRs. "Go to full auto-pilot, take control of everything, and do not return to Earth!" Shelby recited convincingly. He began to apply the gas mask as he started to walk off the podium. "Repeat, do not return to Earth-lets get the heck out of here!" The cameras cut and Shelby removed the mask and protective suit. "Get that edited and processed as quickly as possible" ordered Donovan. "I want that message and the override code broadcasted to all starliners by today!" Shelby looked at Donovan. "You're rotten!" he yelled. "Rotten to the core!" Donovan turned and just looked at him with the least bit of humanity in his eyes. "As of now, you are no longer my brother!" Shelby pointed angrily as he turned around to leave. Donovan smiled deviously. "Doesn't matter," he said as Shelby didn't respond as he approached the door.
Before he could reach the exit, Donovan motioned his hand to the STRI-KRs. They both shot at Shelby's legs, incapacitating him. The plasma blasts knock him forward onto the floor. He screamed in pain as he gripped both legs one at a time, not knowing which was more painful. Donovan walked over towards the bleeding Shelby and kicked him over so he was facing up. Donovan pulled out a pistol in his suit, placed his foot onto his chest to hold him down and aimed the pistol between his eyes. "I never had a brother, anyways." Donovan said. Six shots rang out throughout the room, the bullets penetrated Shelby Forthwright's skull, with blood, chunks of skin and bone splattering onto the floor and onto Donovan's suit. He stepped off the corpse and blew the smoke off the barrel of his pistol, and then unloading the empty clip and installing a new one before putting it back into his inside pocket. "Get this filth out of my sight." Donovan ordered the STRI-KRs.
As the STRI-KRs left to drop Shelby's body into the garbage chute, one of the transmitter operators entered the room. "Sir, we've been having some trouble trying to reach the STRI-KR forces on Earth," the operator said. "I'm not too concerned about anything or anyone on Earth like I was recently," Donovan replied. "There is no hope for the humans out there! If the STRI-KRs continue with their original directive, then so be it." Donovan stood watching the film crew take down the set and transfer all recorded footage to their computers, then walked off with his two STRI-KRs to overlook other important matters as the Starliner Horus continued through the Kuiper Belt.
Chapter 1:
12:29 PM Central Standard Time, in the outskirts of Southern Chicago, IL. The date is July 6th, 2110, just a year after the assault on Buy N' Large's main STRI-KR base. A dust storm had started to die down a few hours ago, and the air was still clouded with dust, almost like a thick fog. Several fog lights emerged from the distance. A very old four-door squad car from the nineteen-sixties, covered in dirt, was lighting the way for a large tanker truck and several off-road converted sedans fitted with armor plates, guns and other assortments of junk forming four-wheeled metal creatures of war. Inside the squad car, the driver and the navigator sat at the front. The navigator was looking at a radar screen and a map.
"This is ridiculous!" said the driver. "We've been driving around for eight hours and haven't found a single drop of water!" "The trackers would probably work better if this cloud of sand lifts quicker!" replied the navigator. Just then, as the sand cloud lifted more, the radar began to chirp, indicating that there was a source of water nearby. "There we go!" exclaimed the navigator. "Head southwest!" The navigator got onto a radio, communicating with the other vehicles. "We found water!" said the navigator. "Three miles, southwest. There seems to be a drop in land, so drive on with caution."
The group of vehicles eventually stopped by the edge of what used to be a fairly deep river. The drivers and other crew members got out of their vehicles to inspect the area. Out of the passenger side of the pump truck, a familiar Wall-E jumped out, with its assault blaster carried on its back. It was Slayer. His paint job remained the same from last year. His scratches could easily deceive, making others think he had aged, when in fact this was a result of many fights and other hard work to help humanity survive. His plasma pulse blaster, which he had kept after killing General Hammer in 2109, was beginning to show cosmetic wear as well, yet still worked like it was brand new and reloaded with fresh ammunition.
"There's water down there!" the navigator pointed out to Slayer. Slayer and a few other marauders headed down the rocky slopes to the floor of the dried up river and found a small filthy pond, which was only a few inches deep. Slayer's slight excitement turned into disappointment fast, along with the others. "You gotta be kidding me?!" said Slayer. "Eight hours for this?!" "It's certainly better than nothing" one of the drivers commented. "Fine," Slayer sighed. "Filter it and pump it into the tankers, and quick!"
The crew began hooking up large rubber tubes to a gas powered pump and feeding the pump down towards the pond. The pump began to rattle and roar to life, pumping the filthy water into a filter, cleaning it out into the tanker. Other crew members had their guns out, scanning the area for any threats that could be lurking nearby. Just then, an alarming sound came from the nineteen-sixties squad car. The navigator heard this first and scrambled towards the car as quickly as she could. She looked at the radar in shock and quickly took up arms. "STRI-KRs!" she called "STRI-KRs coming from the northeast!"
A squad of STRI-KRs that had been scouting the area for some time saw the group of vehicles just as they began pumping what water they could find. "First catch of the day, troops!" called the lead STRI-KR. "Waste 'em!" Slayer and some of the marauders took their positions behind vehicles, rocks, and some small piles of trash and began firing at the raging crowd of killer robots. Both armies began firing at each other, several clashing together and ripping each other apart. Slayer and some others defended the filtration pump truck as the filthy pond was sucked up through the tubes, filtered, and drained into the tank. Two STRI-KRs were ready to shoot down the truck, but Slayer lunged at them like a savage beast and pinned them to the ground while blasting both of their bodies to a pulp with his plasma rifle.
Before long, the water was sucked up as the small battle continued. The hose was quickly wrapped back up onto the truck. "We got enough now, let's get moving!" called Slayer. He and the rest of the marauders made a run for it to their vehicles and started speeding off. The last few STRI-KRs from the squad began flying after them. The dune buggies and tricked-out battle sedans moved to the back to cover the pump truck and navigator car's rear. One dune buggy managed to wipe out several STRI-KRs, but was blown up by another STRI-KR. Another sedan was ready to start annihilating the offending robots, but began swerving as STRI-KRs began firing at it. The sedan managed to dodge the attacks, but its right wheels went up a mound of trash, causing the vehicle to flip onto its roof, crushing the driver and gunner inside. The last of the vehicles soon had managed to wipe out all the STRI-KRs that were following them as the convoy raced away through the small dead city covered in trash.