Chapter Text
The atmosphere in the construction room was tense. The smell of smoke so strong it hurt, the uniforms of those workers that were in a complete mess, the ash-stained floor that transformed it from a lively brown to a grey that felt like a remnant of death. It all piled up on top of the stress of finishing an incomplete project. It stood right before their eyes, a bit of each part that has yet to be polished.
Killdroid.
That's the name, correct?
An experimental bodyguard prototype, made to serve as a solider. Made to be a first resort to danger and criminal attacks. Planned to be mass-produced by the government.
So much for mass-production when a singular model took months to complete, on top of long hours of work on a daily basis.
But they had to get this done with.
Everyone put as much effort as physically possible to build what had to be the final parts needed to call Killdroid finished.
...
"Is everyone done here? God, it looks so much messier than I would've expected."
The crew - the construction workers, mechanics, and programmers - all turned to the lead executive, their boss, Bonus Pad. Before anyone could apologize for the wreckage caused, he smiled reassuringly.
"No bother. A president like them would care more about Killdroid than whatever state everything else is in"
"I-I'm sorry, but did you just say presid-"
"Shit, they've arrived! Stay as calm as possible!" Bonus Pad ordered (unknowingly ignoring the question), his playfulness fading away.
All of them stood in a horizontal, straight line. The robot was barely visible behind them. You could say it was like covering up a big surprise. A little gift for the leader of the country themself.
A minute or two passed. The silence was getting awkward.
Knock, Knock.
There they were.
President Sulfur. Governor of Robloxia.
Their gaze made anyone feel under pressure.
You could sense the group's uncertainty. The uncertainty that whispered and told them to do so many things at once it made them freeze in place with no idea how to break the ice.
Luckily, someone was willing to do so. Obligated to with such a role.
"Welcome, dear president. I hope your journey here wasn't too much of a pain. We're grateful to have you here." Bonus Pad begun.
Even the miniscule moment before they spoke was dreadful.
"... I'm certainly quite excited to see what you have put into this. Thank you for your concern, too. I'm alright, and so was my arrival."
The sighs of relief were immediate.
"Let's not keep you waiting, then! Step aside, people!"
They did just that, and there it was.
Killdroid.
A sphere for a head, painted with a warm shade of red, just like the rest of its body. They even gave it that infamous pair of Clockwork headphones, a holographic lense to go along with it. The lense barely landes in the middle, where an 'X' was carved instead of face.
Its torso was protected by shining chainmail armor. Missile launchers sat atop its shoulders. A jetpack was attached to its back, with a storage tank for the missiles and other explosives.
The limbs were thick, and the wires and metallic insides of Killdroid were not hidden by that red base in some spots. That was on purpose. There were protecters on its joints, a dark grey color that matched the rest of the gear it had. Its digitigrade legs give it a shorter appearence (at least, when standing).
Sulfur analyzed every bit of it.
The crew impatiently waited for what they had to say.
"I must say, I am very impressed by the accuracy, compared to the final sketch." They started, sounding quite true to their word. They pulled out a notepad and a pen from behind their back, seemingly preparing for something.
They gave each part of Killdroid a tap, some light, some not quite, checking for the durability of the material. Even after some taps made them hiss in pain, they still smiled.
"You all did amazingly on this. Shall we get started with testing?"
"No need to even ask. Here we go to the testing area!"
They all followed suit.
...
The weather was a balance of sunny and windy today. They got lucky, because they could've been out in humidity or the snow. Things like these are very unpredictable in this city.
"Damn, Killdroid is way heavier than I expected!" complained a mechanic from the group.
"It sure is. Hopefully this is the last time we have to carry one." another agreed.
"Well, I think we're here. Thankfully. I want to let go of this thing as soon as possible." The third carrier said.
The testing area was a vast, plain spot, pretty isolated from the main square in Robloxia. It was bordered up, the yellow-black scripted tape spelling out: "KEEP AT LEAST 2 METERS OF DISTANCE AWAY." That didn't stop curiosity from sparking up, however, with the few people that live on this rural land becoming part of the audience for the multiple tests.
"Alright, are you programmers done with the coding for this part?" Bonus Pad asked, raising his voice just enough for them to hear him and nod. "Sorry, president, we couldn't exactly finish the code for the AI in time." He clarified, just in case. "But I will tell you this, most of the sections are pretty much complete. Just need some bug-fixing."
"No worries. It is an adaptive AI, after all, I'm sure nothing will go wrong. Just give it the correct objectives and functions." Sulfur grinned, easing his mind.
Just as that conversation came to an end, Killdroid made a whirring noise, signaling that it was on and ready to work. The crew and the outsiders watched in complete awe as it moved in a human manner. Nowhere near the typical robotic movement anyone expected.
"Get inside now! Don't want the explosions to kill any of ya!" Commanded Bonus Pad.
Everyone ran inside the building he was pointing at; mechanics sat on the ground floor, the construction workers above them, and the programmer duo on the last one. Sulfur and Bonus Pad were right on the roof, taking notes together.
“The tank on Killdroid’s back contains tons of missiles. They’re thin and not exactly the biggest, but the impact is extremely powerful.” He explained. “You’ll see that in action.” He signaled a thumbs-up to a certain member of the team.
“Shoot those red targets.” Said that member to the robot.
It did just that.
The shot was quick, the ammo practically teleported out of the gun.
Boom.
The smoke from the explosion littered the air with such a strong stench. There wasn't a singular head that did not turn away from it.
On the bright side, Killdroid was working just as intended!
"[CURRENT OBJECTIVE: TAKE DOWN CIRCULAR TARGETS. STATUS: INCOMPLETE.]"
"[SHALL I CONTINUE?]"
"Showcase what you can do too." Added the crew member, nodding. It did not understand what that movement meant. It did not know why these humans were smiling, watching it cause potential harm for something that was seemingly trivial. But if it was tasked with doing this, then it would. That was its job after all.
...
So far, the assessments were on the track to be perfect. The flight mode lasted much longer than estimated. The round grenades, able to be created inside Killdroid, worked just as intended. The crew joked about testing the emergency self-destruct, laughing as the tension lessened. Sulfur was extremely satisfied, writing down information out of love and passion for such a success.
Everyone felt their mood lighten up, sensing relief wash over them, taking away the stress with it.
One of the programmers decided to review the code once more, maybe separate it into sections on a backup file. Just in case.
But suddenly...
"Fuck!"
Most of the main code was gone in a snap.
All because of a simple, accidental click.
"RUN! RUN BEFORE IT GOES HAYWIRE!"
The perplexed crew members shifted towards him, only for a flying missile to make contact with the floor, shattering the windows with it and...
The building was slowly going up in flames.
The smell was of burnt flesh and blood now, the uncomfortable sound of it scraping against the surfaces was all over the place. So was the wincing and screaming in pain. Some tripped on fallen, broken shards of glass in a fit of panic, their clothes slowly becoming disgusting shades of red, brown, or black.
Someone was already becoming nothing but ash and bones as the fire consumed their still corpse. Another bled out on the stairs, the glass inside them forced deeper into their powerless body as they succumbed to their injury and were knocked to the ground.
It was not done.
Killdroid would not stop.
They were outside, but not even their screams of absolute terror saved them.
They were gradually becoming a set of lifeless bodies, some turning unrecognizable, and other completely disappearing .
Nothing left of them.
Nothing more than dried blood.
Nothing more than dead skin missing from their owners.
No more.
And Killdroid joined them, the view of it fading away.
Hopefully to never be seen
A gai n.
