Gary woke up to a metallic hand on his face, and a red flashlight in his eyes. He tried to scream, but found it muffled. He tried again, and failed. Maybe the third time was the charm?

It wasn't.

He kicked out with his leg, and hit more metal. He tried to curl up in pain, but was stopped by another arm holding his legs now.

"Are you going to scream again?" A voice spoke. Even the voice was metallic. Had one of his inventions decided to go beyond exploding, and rebelled?

He shook his head, trying to blink away the tears of pain. The hand was removed from his face.

"Now you will answer our questions honestly. We will know if you lie." The voice said.

"Okay! Just don't kill me!" He tried to say it without screaming, silently praying James would come by. There was no reason to expect him to, at this hour, but it was better than nothing.

"Are you the entertainer known as Leet?"

"Fuck, dude, don't you know the rules? You can't just ask someone that."

"Explain." The voice said. The light grew brighter.

"The unwritten rules! You don't go to a cape's fucking home, while they are fucking sleeping, and attack them!" Gary definitely was screaming now. His mouth got covered again.

"Are you going to raise your voice again?" The voice asked. It was odd… it used the same monotone.

"Mmm mmm..." Gary tried to say, softly, shaking his head.

"Where should we learn of these unwritten rules?" the hand was removed from his face.

"It's basic, okay? Don't go after secret identities, and during Endbringer attacks don't do anything people don't like! Look up PHO, okay?"

"We will confirm, and apologize if necessary. If not, we'll be back." The light dimmed, and disappeared. Gary quickly turned on the light, to see an empty room. Where had the intruder gone?

He had a sudden stroke of inspiration. He grabbed his notebook, and started to draw. This would be awesome.


Gary was drawn out of his designs by a tap on his shoulder. He jumped, hitting the desk and knocking over the pages that were strewn haphazardly across it. "GOD DAMN IT MAN, YOU CAN'T INTERRUPT ME WHEN I'M TINKERING."

He turned, and backed into the table when he saw who tapped him on the shoulder. It looked like the collaborative work of James Cameron and H.R. Giger. A black, sleek, sinuous… robot thing. With a red flashlight for its face.

"We apologize for the earlier intrusion. And the current interruption." It said.

"What?"

"We apologize. We are new and did not know the proper regulations. This will not happen in the future." It was motionless, but he thought he could hear a slight whirring.

"Are you a robot?"

It disappeared. Without thinking, he put his hand in the air where it was. Nothing.

He couldn't wait to tell James about this.