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It was a stormy day in the city, most likely Halloween, if her internal calendar was still right despite everything.
She had a respect for the fact that the graffiti from the event last month was still up, even in the ever-present chaos of the world. Even as she stood on the overpass that looked over most of the area, she could see graffiti lasting through the storm.
The group she was part of didn’t have control over a lot of turf, but it was enough to get by. Enough to have control over some housing, enough to make sure people who needed to be safe were safe…and it was certainly better-kept than the much larger turfs of the larger groups that held control over the chaos.
The overpass was on the outskirts of The Rats’ territory, but she never really felt…danger being here.
She was startled out of her own thoughts by the sound of someone landing next to her and folding wings in, and she turned to see another member of her group.
“Activity on the outskirts,” it hummed, “You should probably come back to main. None of us can get a good look at who’s h–”
“HAMMERS!”
The second voice that came tumbling in was much more panicked, a figure running across the overpass from outside the territory.
She was frozen as both of the other members of her group took off running back into the safety of the main parts of the turf. Ever an imposing force, she watched as another group clambered across the overpass.
Justice’s Hammers.
She had seen them in fleeting glimpses, or seen the aftermath of what they’d done. It was all in the name of Justice, they said, spitting his name and calling upon him as they struck down those who they deemed an issue in the way the world had become. Their mission was a joke, but they were the exact opposite.
“HALT, IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE!” the one at the front of the pack pointed his sword with a snarl.
“VEERONICA, GET MOVING!” the first member of The Rats who had appeared shouted at her.
Vee snapped around just in time to watch him and the second member get slammed into the ground, apparently a second, smaller group of Hammers having hooked around to cut them off.
She didn’t know why they were here, but it couldn’t have been good, and now the three were trapped.
“YOU STAND TRIAL FOR THE EXECUTION OF THE DEMOLITIONISTS,” the one who had pointed his sword stepped closer, “WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THESE ACCUSATIONS?”
Execution of the…?
“W-W3 didn’t do anything!” Vee brought her hands up, nothing but a spray paint can in her grasp, “It w4sn’t us! The Admins already took care 0f that group!”
That ‘taking care’ had been very, very public. It was no secret that the four head Admins had gone missing or been killed. The remainder of The Admins were closed in, and they had been unable to help The Demolitionists when vigilante groups had begun to take them out–including the Demolitionist who seemed to be collectively raised by The Admins.
When that final death went public, the current leader of The Admins went and openly showed off how powerful she was–by showing that she was a shapeshifter as half of Robloxia saw a giant leopard throw a man off the HQ live. It was a show of power, but also undeniably a show of grief. The man had deserved punishment, of course, having been the head of the main group taking out The Demolitionists, but nearly everyone agreed it was…too much.
But it did send a message that the group had been dealt with.
So why were they…?
“YOU THINK WE BELIEVE THEM? A SCAPEGOAT WAS ALL THEY NEEDED, BUT WE KNOW THE TRUTH. JUSTICE GUIDES US RIGHT TO THE ANSWER.”
…
Alright.
In one swift motion, Veeronica drew the skateboard from her back, slamming it to the floor and immediately kicking off, darting for one of the pinned members of her group, slamming her board into the Hammer doing the pinning and flinging them back.
Now that was at least a somewhat fair fight, rather than a one-versus-...roughly ten, if her quick counting was working for her.
This, however, was not intended to be a fight. This was an escape.
Vee kicked her skateboard up to dislodge the other Hammer that was holding down the other Rat, and the three of them barrelled through and immediately started running to try to get off the overpass, further into the turf they were used to, where they could hopefully slip into an escape route.
That plan was foiled very swiftly when Vee was grabbed by her hood and held up in the air. She heard her name shouted in panic, and she crackled in a fearful static, kicking her legs out.
“G0! PL3ASE! D0N’T WORRY ABOUT M3!” she frantically called, trying to encourage the other two to keep running. They looked at each other with a panic, and Vee could hear rapidly approaching footsteps, spiralling her into further panic as she raised her volume as much as she could manage, voice crackling and straining as it clipped in variable tones, “I 54ID RUN, Y0U IDI075! 0N1Y 0N3 0F U5 H45 70 DI3 H3R3!”
‘Only one of us has to die here.’
Was she really…giving herself up to that? The knowledge that this was it?
But in her situation, she knew it had to be.
Still, she wasn’t going down without a fight.
Vee squirmed in the grasp, grabbing her spray paint tight and turning to blast it into the face of the one who was holding her, letting her escape their grasp just in time to punch the next person who was approaching in the face. She wasn’t a fighter by any means, but she knew that getting hit with metal would hurt.
The next guy got a skateboard aimed at him, and Vee just kept going. She knew it was a losing fight, but all she could think about was just one of them had to die here. Maybe if she was lucky, none of these people knew how robots worked, and she could actually get away from this with damage to her casing that could be repaired. Maybe, maybe, not even she had to die during this.
She turned to confirm that the other two in her group had managed to make it across the overpass just in time for her to get grabbed again, now held by her hood dangling over the concrete underpass far too far below for comfort.
Oh. This was going to shatter her.
“AN INNOCENT PARTY HAS NO REASON TO RUN!” who she assumed to be the leader of the patrol shouted, “SO YOU ADMIT YOUR GUILT. DO YOU HAVE ANY FINAL WORDS BEFORE THE SENTENCE IS CARRIED OUT?”
Vee stared down, skateboard slipping out of her grasp and clattering far below, splintering on impact.
“M4y Justice find th3 tru7h,” she hissed at last.
A solid pause hung in the air save for the rain and the distant sound of shouts. The Hammers had lost the other Rats. Thank whatever god was out there, if any could hear her.
“He already has,” the executioner firmly stated, and released his grip on her hood.
The second she was free-falling, she shut herself down.
She was going to die, but she was not going to feel it if she could help it.