Chapter 1: Strange Meetings

He probably should’ve died back there.

At least that’s what Kaid thought, standing overtop the body of a now short-circuited Murder Drone.

It was close, way too close for comfort, but he lived…

And now he can examine the apex predator lying beneath his feet.

Kaid: “Hah, not so tough now, are you? Now let’s see how you work…”

July 9, 3071. Copper 9.

Kaid had spent the morning doing the usual, scouting outside for any useable metal, bringing it to his personal bunker, and spending a couple hours tinkering with said metals. What’s different is that today, one of his devices worked. A lot better than it should have, as a matter of fact.

Welding bits and pieces, soldering circuitry, nothing out of the ordinary. Until one of these devices he had made felt a bit warmer than normal. And then much warmer…

Kaid: That’s… probably a normal heat… NO, NO IT’S NOT!

He quickly ducks for cover, just getting under his desk before the device blasted off and put the room in an ashy mess.

Kaid: cough cough D- Damn it, I didn’t think that one would’ve exploded…

Meanwhile, a kilometer south of Kaid’s bunker.

Chasing, running. Moving quickly, yet too quiet for them to hear until…

SNAP.

The worker drone drops dead, head detached. The chasing disassembly drone lands on one knee, decapitated head in their clawed hand. Crushing it slowly, they drink the oil as it gushes from the open neck of the poor, poor worker.

Before they can get a chance to truly relish the fruits of their hunt, a loud boom distracts them. The volume and direction suggest it came from the North, and close by too. Close enough to peak the disassembler’s interest.

Tossing the head of the drone off to the side, they crouch before spreading out their wings, launching off the floor and flying over to see what could have possibly made such a sound.

Dazed after the explosion, Kaid picks himself up and dusts off a layer of ash from the explosion. Looking around, nothing looks too damaged, thankfully. Just a few things that could be replaced in another salvage run.

But that was a loud explosion, the kind that could bring unsavory attention… Oh well. It’s not like anything would be close enough to hear him. It’s the middle of the night, right?

Arriving after 10 minutes of travel, the disassembly drone flies low before rolling into the snow, concealing the sound of their decent. They begin examining the surroundings, trying to find a sign that this was the location they had heard. They searched for several minutes, almost ready to give up, before tripping on a piece of the ground which was more elevated than the rest. Moving the snow off the floor, they come across a metal hatch locked into place.

“Hmph, thought you could hide from me…” The disassembler would think, full of pride in themselves. Switching their hand out for a rotating saw, they began making an entrance to the hidden structure. No point in trying to find a key for this place when it could be anywhere, so instead they’ll just break in.

Someone’s breaking in.

Kaid’s thoughts are interrupted by the sound of a saw cutting into his entrance. He quickly grabs his bag of assorted devices and moves to a different room to hopefully stay hidden. Because no worker drone would possibly be outside at this late hour when the sun was out. This could only be every worker’s biggest fear.

A disassembly drone.

Sitting in suspense, hiding away while looking at what he might be able to use to defend himself, his thoughts get cut off yet again at the sound of the hatch breaking and falling onto the main floor of the bunker. Following that, the sound of a much heavier object dropping to the floor, before he hears their voice.

“Well, well… I haven’t seen a bunker this small before in my whole life. Must be for a small group of workers. Oh well, still better than that one chump from earlier.”

He was right, it is a disassembly drone. And now it’s here, hunting him down to be yet another victim. This can’t be how he goes out, right?

Raking their claws against the walls off the bunker, hoping to scare the worker drone so that they’ll be paralyzed when they get caught, the disassembly drone makes their way through the rooms. They eventually come across the room where the explosion happened, noticing the general disarray of things.

“Geez, whatever happened in here made a mess… Maybe they self-destructed or something.”

The disassembler laughs at their own joke, before continuing their hunt. Someone has to be in here, and they won’t stop until…

That door’s open…

Slowing their steps, so that it was nearly silent, they step forward before kicking it in.

“Haha, surpris-”

The disassembly drone had face planted onto the ground. Having been placed right below the doorway, Kaid had planted an electric trap with the intention of stunning the murder drone to give him enough time to escape. But it seems he set the voltage a bit higher than expected, and now they’re out cold on the ground.

Kaid: “Hah, not so tough now, are you? Now let’s see how you work…”

Stepping closer, Kaid pulls the disassembly drone onto a table before rolling them over, examining their metal frame. That’s when he noticed the serial designation armband on their arm, reading it aloud.

Kaid: “Serial Designation C, huh… Interesting name, that’s for sure. I’m just gonna call you C.”