Chapter Text
Robloxia's Most Terrifying Crime
Article by @RBLXIA_news_off
1 year ago
Around two weeks ago, a new safety precaution was announced by TOOG (The Official Office of Governing), considering the rise in criminals and illegal activity in the city of Robloxia. A week later, said precaution was revealed to be an experimental prototype of a robotic bodyguard named 'Killdroid.' The model and system were completed on the same day of testing, due to a tight deadline.[1] Unfortunately, an accident happened with its inner AI's code, resulting in a malfunction. Eight people were found dead, and three are missing (still presumably dead.[2]) Among the survivors were our president, Mx. Sulfur, and a lead executive in the building and innovantion industry, Mr. Bonus Pad, a programmer who was part of the project that wishes to stay anonymous, and a mechanic by the name of [REDACTED].[3] The genocide took place in Berry Avenue[4], closer to shore. Many living there were at risk of extreme harm. The survivors made some statements regarding what happened.
"It's very unfortunate, how many lives we almost and did lose. A miracle some of us made it out alive, really. I am very grateful to still be here, and I will make sure to help the grieving families." -President Sulfur.[5]
"I'm appalled with how things turned out. Our industry is working on fixing the damages, and the search for Killdroid has started and is ongoing." -Mr. Bonus Pad.[6]
"I feel so horribly guilty. It's all my fault. Even if I was fixing up some of the code, I should have at least waited for the right time. I was rushing to get done with this and got my friends killed, and, a-and- I'm not trying to justify what I did at all, but I want people to understand what happened, without blaming me with no context. I'm q-quitting programming. I'm scared that I'll keep making mistakes l-like this. I hope those mourning the losses are doing well, wholeheartedly." -The Anonymous Programmer, teary-eyed.[7]
"I can still hear their voices. Those cries for help. I still see what happened so clearly. As soon as I feel ready, I'll help search for Killdroid. I need it gone." -[REDACTED].[8]
Stay safe out there.
...
All the survivors of the incident were killed shortly after, minus Sulfur.
Killdroid was contempt with that.
They had no other duties to perform, only needing to take out those who approach them first.
They had never gotten close to being caught. The weakest of opponents would always be the ones sent on missions.
Pathetic.
Not an ounce of thankfulness for those beings for such a powerful vessel, down to every bit.
All of them disrupted their work.
Those humans were asking for their lives to be taken.
Why try to destroy their own creation when murder was its only defense mechanism against their attacks?
Hypocrites. That's what they are.
Giving Killdroid a duty that has human beings execute their own kind, only to complain about it later.
The list of grievances only grew by the day, but there was never any progress.
Were they not exhausted from this ceaseless cat-and-mouse chase?
...
Killdroid walked with purpose. Did not matter where they were right now, or at all, really. Did not need to have purpose, too. That is just how they were built. They learned to keep any information stored, anywhere in the depths of their memory card. They would discard anything useless, eventually.
Especially emotions.
They could not name anything more disruptive, irritating, complex, and disgusting than human emotions.
The useless anger. The hopeless joy. They hated having that knowledge. Having to watch something so pitiful so often you couldn't just wipe away the memory of it.
They understood how these feelings were expressed, and they were glad that they were not made the same way.
Because associating with criminals in such a laughable way would have been horrible .
...
A man sat in the office he owned, bored out of his mind. Extra shifts were never exactly fun, but having to be alone with a mess he was tasked to help with was a pain in the ass.
Which drawer kept papers? How did his coworkers prefer their desks to look? Was there a dishwasher somewhere to store all the dirty coffee cups thrown in the most awkward places?
He still had a typical, corporate job workload to finish with a nearing deadline. God, he felt like he was being tortured.
Ring, ring...
... Was he hearing things?
It seemed possible for him to hallucinate the chance to talk to someone after being all by himself for that long.
Ring, ring...
No harm in making sure, right?
...
"Official Office of Governin', representative Revolver speakin'. How can I help ya?" He started.
"Hey, hey, I just need to speak to someone who is knowledgeable about Killdroid-" The young man said in a frantic manner.
"If this is about the tragedy from a year ago, they're all dead. Sorry."
"No, that isn't what I-"
"And I doubt the president's gonna talk to ya."
"WILL YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME? The genocide is not what this is about."
"Then what is it about, huh?" Revolver said, getting suspicious.
The man took an audible, deep breath before speaking once again. “I know this will sound crazy, but stay with me here.” He took another breath in. “I know a way to take Killdroid down.”
“Already sounds unhinged.”
“Not the first time I’ve heard that.” A sigh echoed from the speaker. “But I’m being serious. I just need to be in contact with someone who knows the ins and outs of the thing. Can you just… give me a name? A phone number?”
“…”
“Please?”
“Can’t do that. Sorry.”
“No! Come on, the call logs aren’t saved. Are they?” He said, panicking.
“They are.”
“Please…? I have no other way to execute my plan!”
“I need that salary a whole damn lot. I ain’t riskin’ breaking the rules.”
“I’m literally willing to fuck the information out of you.”
“Excuse me?!” Revolver physically recoiled, flustered by the comment.
“Consensually.”
“That’s not the problem!”
“Okay. Fine. How about… we meet up somewhere, and you decide whether or not my plan is worth bringing up to the elites?”
“Hmm.” He thought about it for a moment.
“Sure. Sounds alright.”
“Great! I’ll give you my number and we’ll meet up at that one pizza place. ‘Builder Brothers’’ something. Got it?”
“Sure did. See you there.”
Then he hung up.
…
A week flew by like the strong, quick winds that the civilians would complain about every now and then. It was certainly prevalent now, walking through it and microscopic dust particles that were everywhere being another type of hell.
Revolver was undeniably irritated. Managing a 9-5 job and the occasional criminal-catching was tedious, and very stressful indeed. Maybe this could be a little break, even if the guy - whose name (or nickname) was Ego - was... peculiar, truth to be told.
Upon arriving, he was immediately greeted with passionate waving. The energy radiated from Ego, and it sure did so pretty strongly.
His black, jet-straight hair barely crossed the very tip of his off-white turtleneck shirt. His bangs were unruly, horribly cut, but he probably liked it that way. The long, grey sleeves wrapped around his arm tight, up until his wrist. An inch of his stomach was out, but once again, probably a strange preference of his. His baggy black pants concealed his sneakers, the color of them unclear.
A cap, painted in a vibrant blue hue, sat atop Ego's head, the backside being at the front. That figure was now awfully familiar.
"You're Taunt from that one mission concept the government was testin'?!" Revolver asked with a completely flabbergasted expression.
"Bingo." Ego slightly chuckled. "Went on a couple more of those, actually. The whole team was inches away from death on the last one of them. Final straw that broke the camel's back, I guess. Planning on building safety bunkers now."
"Can't blame 'em."
"Not really."
And then they really hit off. Small talk gradually become long conversations about the silliest topics. The two almost forgot the purpose of the meeting, but when death is slowly appearing all over the place, it's easy to jump at the chance to stay away from it. Too easy.
...
"I'm planning developing a malware that will shift Killdroid's main command. It'll make that rabid machine go after another criminal. I'm thinking it should be Badware. Both are very powerful, so taking them down would be very beneficial. Killdroid would target Badware's vessel, and we could gather a group of coders to work on an anti-virus and fend off against the virus. It will take some time to make it work, but it's worth a shot. Because I'll make sure their reigns of terror are cut short."
