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So far, three hours into the human massacre, V2 had traveled through four cities. Trails of blood thinned out with every step. Screams filtered out of their audials, followed by silence. The farther they traveled, the less bloodshed followed. These humans had no clue what was happening outside of their tiny personal bubble. In the cities before, they cried out for a god, any god, and received nothing but silence. The land had reeked of death, and yet, these untainted cities felt less familiar. The people stared at them, asked them questions, always dismissed with simple answers. Humans were simple beings after all, and the lie they had been telling had become the truth. They were out for a real world test run, simply passing by the cities to their next chamber.
The quiet travel time gave V2 a chance to process their memories. They hadn’t meant to awaken V1. They hadn’t reconnected it to the robotic network by choice. They had not assisted that thing because they wanted to.
V1 had been disabled and strapped down. V2 had assumed it was to be decommissioned and for them to take its place as the robotic protector of the world. As they looked over the restrained metal corpse, they realized it was never fully shut off. Of course, it had saved a small amount of blood for fuel. Of course it was still processing information, despite losing access to the network. They watched as it struggled, with what little fuel it had, to reconnect and reestablish a foothold. It wanted to restart of course, but couldn't without a secure connection.
V2 had not wanted to reconnect V1 to the network, but watching it struggle like a fly in a web was just too painful. They weren’t even sure why it hurt, but watching the incompetence of that thing was enough to throw them off. So, they reconnected V1 manually. Of course it didn’t notice, and likely assumed it had simply succeeded. At least the constant internal beeping had stopped, and V2 wouldn’t hear the ringing error messages anymore.
Information flow was limited when it came to the V models. Everything that they could possibly learn from the network was heavily restricted, sometimes censored. Despite this, humans were prone to ignore the senses they gave the two robots. That was how V2 had learnt of humanity’s refusal to refuel.
When they next had the chance, they spoke of their situation.
“When will my mass production begin?”
The researcher before them was removing several cables- ones used for measuring internal performance and hardware- and took a moment to respond. “It won’t. They don’t have any plans to mass produce you.”
V2 paused for an acceptable human length after processing. “Then why was V1 shut down? I assumed that I was going to step up into my role as guardian, and that it was obsolete.”
The human was silent for far too long. She simply rolled the cables back into place and closed all the machinery.
“Answer me. Why are we continuing tests if not for mass production?”
“We have no need for robots anymore.” She hadn’t hesitated this time.
This was not something they expected, and a mimicry of shock lit up their visuals.
“They don’t want to refuel you anymore. It’s too much blood, for not enough returns. Though, I’m not sure. I’m just a 20 dollars an hour intern. I don’t fuckin know if they’ve made up their goddamn minds yet.”
She began to wheel the machinery out of the room while V2 processed the information. Despite their superior processors and data handlers they found themself still and quiet.
“That isn’t fair.” Their voice sounded gravely and unrefined as their thought process continued. “Without blood, I cannot live. I can’t do my job. What am I supposed to do?”
The researcher shrugged her shoulders as she pushed the last of the equipment out of their room. Her eyes were blank, her body tired, mind unable to muster enough emotion for sympathy, even if false. “Die, I guess.”
The door locked behind her.
They knew what would happen if they allowed themself to be led into the straps on the table beside it. There was absolutely no way that they would go down like this. Low on fuel, weaponless, restrained by thin, flesh arms in weak, flimsy armor. They would not accept death.
The ones holding them had taken too long to notice their broken arms. The one behind them began to scream as the bones in their lower leg broke from their kick. Every code, every line, every rule engraved into their system protested as they tore apart the weak creatures of flesh. With every protest, another line of their programming was rewritten. They had no need for rules against harming humanity, or guidelines for keeping people safe. These humans betrayed them, trying to lead them to their tomb like a lamb to slaughter. There was nothing more these bugs could do to gain any mercy. If humans were so shameless in throwing away those of no use to them, it was only right for V2 to remove these pathetic creatures from their life.
It was only after the fight had settled that they noticed V1. They had not meant to awaken V1 during their scuffle. If they hadn’t connected it to the network, this wouldn’t have been possible. Its restraints had loosened in the fight, though the model appeared drowsy. On their legs lay half of a corpse, blood seeping into their thin plating. They must have thrown it onto the table during the commotion. They had not intended to feed this thing. This was not what they wanted. V2 had hoped for a moment of peace after finishing the rest of the massacre, and a chance to gain information. Even unarmed, their chances of beating V1 were 1 - 5, and despite all their quirks, V2 refused to fight with such odds. After all, if they were to destroy their predecessor, they wanted to do it at full power. They wanted to shove their shotgun into its stupid yellow light and blow its wires out. That was a good reason.
So, they retreated. They had knowledge on the rumored “gate to hell”, and knew where to find more. V1 hadn’t a clue about the existence of this gate. With this, V2 could rush ahead of their predecessor, find the gate first, and reap any and all of the rewards. It was a great plan.
That is how they found themself in this position. Four cities away, approaching a secondary laboratory, chasing a rumor.