ROBERT
NICOLE rocked back and forth on the makeshift belt around Robert's waist, slapping against his right thigh as he ran. Breathing hard, he reached the tip top of the metal embankment and turned, firing twice into the crowd of pursuing patrol bots. He saw one collapse before he fell out of sight and tumbled down the other side of the hill. Sharp slivers of metal stabbed into him at every angle. He curled around NICOLE to protect her fragile casing, feeling the heat of her hard drive and the barrel of the gun against his cheeks.
The bottom finally came and he stopped, rolling to his knees. He had landed smack in the middle of a large steel valley, tall piles of scrap surrounding him. Above, huge skeletons of old power transformers towered into the smog, electric veins and arteries arcing back and forth, near invisible against the dark sky. He could hear HoverUnits closing in on his position.
Robert quickly flipped open NICOLE. "Bring up the map, now!" A flickering 3-D grid lit the immediate area in a dark green, shining like a beacon. Better hurry. "Are we in position?"
"PROCESSING…"
The roar of engines grew steadily louder, approaching from the north. Footsteps, metal against metal, shook loose rust and dirt, the particles sticking to his wet fur. NICOLE burned in his hand. It was coming close to the wire.
Robert steadied his breathing, in no hurry. Calm. Easy, breezy.
"BINGO."
"Confirm position."
"CONFIRMED, AREA 3572-B. TRANSMITTING. I'LL NEED TWO MINUTES, ROBERT."
"Certainly, my dear."
Perfect timing, a lone SWATbot appeared at the top of the hill, trying to be a hero. Robert took careful aim and fired. The metal figure's head popped in half, the body stretching backwards and rolling back where it came from. Robert set NICOLE down to let her work.
Reinforcements came in no time at all. Five, no, six SWATbots, marching in unison, arms raised in an attack salute, heading down the hill. Robert ducked low and moved five steps away from NICOLE. BANG. The flash took down the second bot from the right.
The other five bot-heads scattered like insects, while the dead shell of the fallen sixth fell face-flat into the loose scrap. Robert smiled and stabbed his feet into the hill, left, right, left, right. He didn't need to worry about cover as long as he was faster than the SWATbots, quicker on the draw.
T-minus 1:30.
Robert saw a horizontal red splotch move to his upper right. Bending on one knee, he fired two shots, hearing metal denting. The SWATbot's arm pointed upwards and rifled a plasma burst that rocketed into the sky. Robert took evasive action.
He couldn't see the others but he saw one bot get up and dive into the upright shell of the last SWATbot. It rode the metal corpse down the hill, sliding and shooting in Robert's general direction. Moving left, he managed to target the SWATbot's knee, then heart. Bang, bang. The two bodies tumbled down to the bottom of the gully, junk'd.
Engines roared closer. T-minus 1:00.
A pair of spotlights sliced into the murky dark. Robert felt loose rust swirl up all around him as the HoverUnits flew overhead, bright cones of the spotlights inches from his curled form, bright enough to see where the last two bots were hiding. Robert assumed that the biggest one was the squad leader, decked out in thick armor and likely, with enough firepower to frappe everything in its path. Its left arm closely resembled a cannon.
Better take them out quickly, then.
Robert stepped outside of himself and took control of his body. He moved at the speed of his bullets, and it seemed to him like he reached the final two SWATbots just as they crumpled from the weight of death. A HoverUnit flashed a blinding beam of light onto him as he caught the heavily armored SWATbot squad leader from behind, catching it as it was falling.
Move one. Use gun to crack left arm armor.
Move two. Rip open left arm emplacement with left hand.
Move three. Grip manual override.
Move four. Spray/pray.
"INTRUDER! INTRUDER!"
Robert had the first two moves down when the HoverUnit closed in and began firing. Plasma slammed into the squad leader shield, prompting Robert to reach into the left arm and squeeze the manual override without hesitating.
Everything froze after the recoil. The HoverUnit stopped firing, the wounds stopped hurting, his heart stopped beating. The ground moved ten feet forwards without his permission, and Robert found himself higher on the hill watching the flaming wreckage of the HoverUnit spin into oblivion. It passed overhead, skinning the air and bleeding steel, out of sight into the hills of scrap. He didn't hear the final crash.
Back at the bottom of the hill, feeling like a walking blood clot, Robert slid the gun into his makeshift belt, amazed that he had still managed to hold onto it. NICOLE was right where he had left her.
"You're done, I hope."
"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?"
"Nothing. Did you get the map?"
"AFFIRMATIVE. WERE YOU NEAR THAT EXPLOSION?"
"What makes you say that?"
"ALL THE HAIR IS MISSING ON THE LEFT SIDE OF YOUR FACE."
Robert resisted the urge to check himself. "It'll grow back. Let's get the hell out of here." They had lost their satellite hookup yesterday, but today they got something better. With the updated wire schematic of the city, Robert could move around quicker, get the materials he needed. To build, to work.
Alarms growing ever louder in the distance, Robert ran as fast as he could in the direction of Chuck's house.
This time he came to life ready to kill with his bare hands. Robert calmed down when he remembered where he was, under the watchful glare of NICOLE and a 88 deactivated Uncle Chuck.
At least he had slept, for the first time since… since he had woken up outside of the city. Shit, had it been that long?
No. Not this, not now.
His tools awaited him on the table, next to the unfinished control board. Sitting in the chair, he closed his eyes and tried to remember where he had left off, how far he had gotten…
"PLANS FOR TODAY, ROBERT?"
He opened one eye. "Work, darling. Work. Like always."
"PERHAPS WE SHOULD ACTIVATE THE MONITORS, CHECK THE STATUS OF-"
"Not today. I'll speak with them next time I need something in their sector." Robert went quiet, swallowing hard.
"RUNNING FROM YOUR PROBLEMS AGAIN, ROBERT?"
"You should deactivate until I need you."
"BUILD, BUILD, BUILD, THAT'S ALL YOU APPEAR TO BE CAPABLE OF. AND YOU DO MOST OF YOUR BUILDING OUTDOORS, ISN'T THAT RIGHT?"
"Cheeky little bitch-"
"YOU REQUIRE RESULTS AND YOU REQUIRE HELP, MORE THAN WHAT I CAN OFFER. YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO ME MORE OFTEN, ROBERT, IF YOU WANT TO GET OUT OF THIS ALIVE."
He wrapped his makeshift belt around his waist, picking up his gun and yeah, yeah, yeah-ing his way to the door. "You want me to listen to you more, NICOLE, you should start being honest with me, because I can't but shake this feeling that you're trying to get rid of me."
The tiny computer clicked twice. "IF YOU SAY SO."
He hesitated at the door. "It can't be that hard to be nice to me."
There was a moment of silence before an explosion of synthetic voice rocketed at him. "WHY YOU DISGUSTING LITTLE SHIT, HOW DARE YOU MAKE PRESUMPTIONS! YOU'RE NOT THE ONE WHO HAS TO PUT UP WITH YOUR FUCKING ASS! AND FOR YOUR INFORMATION, I DO WANT TO RESCUE THE OTHERS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO I CAN GET AWAY FROM YOU! I FIND YOUR PATHETIC LITTLE PRE-SCHOOL CRUSH ON ME QUITE INSULTING. YOU THINK I'D EVER HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOU? YOU MAKE ME SICK! I HATE YOU! GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE, NOW! NOW NOW NOW!"
An hour later, a short distance away from the ivory prison, Robert still hadn't healed from what NICOLE had said to him. What was happening to her? What was causing her to act this way?
He wondered if someone had somehow corrupted her software, put a virus into her system without his knowledge. When they pirated the wire map of the city, or even when they repaired Chuck.
That would mean that they were watching him. From the beginning.
The city was getting to him, all the smog, soot, danger, pressure… It wasn't what he was used to. Man, oh man; he loved the girl, and if it turned out that she really did mean those things, he already forgave her for it.
He needed out.
He needed out.