Chapter One: UPD4T3

(Zyke)

Rain. Rain falls on my head. My sword glistens in the lights. The oil that runs on it flows, and the grip I have is tight. The one I killed is below me, as we stand on a lightpost. The light from his visor fades, and his computing ceases. He lays, limply, as his left arm detaches, and falls to the ground below. The electricity of my blade fries any remnants of computing or data left behind. My scarf flies in the wind, and the shirt on my body flaps and flails. I stand tall over my foe. "Zyke! What the hell are you doin' up there?!" A voice yells out. I look down, to see a robot with a mohawk and a metal skull for a head, with cyan-blue lights as eyes. It's Rocky, my old pal, and 'professional band member of the D3L3T3D'. At least, that's what he wants me to address him as when ever I say his name. I prefer to just call him Rocky. I hop down, and land with my fist in the ground. "Nice landing, bolty." I sheathe my sword, and walk with him. He has a guitar on his back, and no shirt on, exposing his synthetic human skin. He wears tattered, black pants, and high, yellow, leather boots. "So, who'd you kill today?" He says to me. "A bounty hunter, a criminal, an assassin and a car thief." I say, slightly beaming at my own kills. "Wow, a higher rank than most vigilante robots these days." He punches my arm playfully. "Well, how many shows did you play today?" "The 2. I only could handle 2, or I'd have completely fried up. So much fan love, man. Gotta 'preesh the art." We walk down an alley, and I reach for a fire escape. I grab it, pull it down, and climb it. I get to the stairwell, and go up one, and open the window to my apartment, which Rocky shares with me. He climbs in, and I turn on the lights. The apartment is brown, with yellow and blue furniture, an old CRTV, a kitchen with a view of the TV, and a hallway leading to two bedrooms. "I guess Zee and Astro aren't home yet." I say. Zee is a small, red, mailer bot that got stuck in our wall 10 years ago. We found him when we moved in, and reactivated him. That was 4 years ago. Astro is...well..an astronaut. He's a small kid, in an astronaut suit. He was laying in our alley, covered in trash and dirt, so we brought him in to live with us 2 years ago. Having these 3 mouths to feed, and with Rocky not bringing in as much money as he once did, I strive to work for these guys. Our neighbor is Jupiter Holt. She's a photographer, and a great actress. She loves Rocky's band, and comes over to hang with us every now and then. A knock bangs at our door. I walk over to the door and open it, and there Astro is, holding hands with Zee. They walk in, and Astro closes the door. "What are you guys doing here so late?" I ask.

".-- . / .-- . -. - / - --- / .-. --- -.-. -.- -.-- .----. ... / ... .... --- .-- ... --..-- / .- -. -.. / --. --- - / -.-. .- ..- --. .... - / .. -. / .- / -.-. .-. --- .-- -.. .-.-.-" Zee says. "Well, maybe if you didn't keep your morse-code on, I could understand what you just said!" Zee notices the morse-code, and turns a lever near his mouth. "There, is that better?" Although still the same beeps and boops, I can understand Zee clearly. "Yeah, I can understand you." I say. "Well, me and 'Stro went to Rocky's shows, and then got some food for you guys once you got home." Astro nods, and holds up the bag of white food boxes. I take it from Astro. "Thanks, Astro." He gives me a thumbs up, and walks over to the couch. I open the boxes to see warm, oozy wires and oil-cubes. The second box has the same, except the oil-cubes are drenched in coolant. " Ohhh, yeah! Just like momma used to make 'em." Rocky says. I grab some chopsticks, and dine in. The wires taste delicious, and the oil-cubes are to die for. Astro and Zee work at a kitchen for bots. Zee provides the ingredients, and even cooks himself, and Astro is a waiter. Ever since they began working there, the shop has gotten higher ratings. Rocky sloppily eats his food, and slurps down every oil-cube in 1 minute. He loves it when they are drenched in coolant. He's just weird like that. Astro lays on the couch, and stares at the TV. Zee walks over and turns it on. "You're welcome!" He says. Astro high-fives him. None of us knows what Astro is. He could be human, but humans have to learn bot-speak. Lucky for me and Rocky, we were built with vocal modulators. But Astro breathes, and eats human food. I've never met a kid like Astro. He's so smart, and somehow kind and generous, without even saying words. I finish my meal, and head to bed. I would stay up longer, but I need to charge up. My power usually lasts about 2 years, depending on the charger. I just need to charge up every few months, and this is one of those few months. I take off my shirt, walk into the bathroom, and stand in the cleanser. The cleanser is a shower-like appliance, that once stood in, uses mist and soap to clean off the body. I walk out, grab a towel and dry off, and then climb into bed, grab my cord, plug it into my back, and drift to "sleep".

( . . . )

I wake up to the sound of knocking. I turn over, and unplug my charger. Jupiter stands in my doorway, with a worried expression on her face. Her being afraid makes me afraid. She's a fearless woman. I get out of bed and walk over to her. "You need to see this." She says. We walk over to the TV, where Rocky sits on the couch, Astro has his hands on his helmet, and Zee lays his head in Rocky's lap. I look at the TV, which shows a news broadcast declaring that all robots, by order of the FCC and the United States Government, must be moved into a secure, over-looked, and guarded environment due to recent acts of some robots who acted in rebellion against humanity. I stare at the report, and even the robot on screen puts their hands on their face, and says, "May God have mercy on those affected by this, including myself.." I throw a punch into the wall. I knew that one day, some robots would ruin our chances. We had a perfect peace. They then show the men responsible for this, and humans who signed this, with great smiles on their faces, like.."We've wanted this to happen. You have just given us a reason." I lay against the wall, with my hands balled in fists. I slide down the wall, and sit against it. "They can't do this," Rocky yells, "they are putting us in prison! We are not defectors! Neither are most of robot-kind! This isn't fair!" Astro pulls up his helmet and wipes away a tear. Maybe he is human. And he's hurt because he loves us, and doesn't want to leave us. Jupiter looks at me, and hugs me. "I don't want to lose you guys.." She says. Rocky looks up. "Jupiter, we are not going anywhere. If we have to break the law, or any—" "No, we aren't. We are not breaking the law." I say. Rocky stands up. "Yes, the hell we are! I am not losing my right to live with humans just because of some rustbuckets who don't like 'em!" "I didn't say we weren't going to do something about it." Jupiter looks up at me, along with Rocky, Astro, and Zee. "We have to go to America. There, the robot group that is against humans is based. We are going to confront them, and get them to apologize and make amends for their actions. Then, we are going to take them to the hands of jus—" "Is all of this some superhero mission for you? We can't go to America with this going on! They will probably jail us, or kill us!" I look at Rocky. "Do you think I want to argue about this? I just want to show the government that robots are not against humans. If that means going to America, and fighting against the robots who caused this, then surely I will go to that means." I walk into my room, and shut the door. I pull out a duffle bag, and begin to put clothes in it, and other things. Jupiter opens the door and walks in. "If you are going, I'm going." She says. "No way, Jupiter. If you go, you could get hurt." "Do you think I care about that? I can handle myself. I care about your cause. I love you guys, and would do anything to save you."

Rocky walks in. "We ain't leaving yet, damn! I was kinda hoping we could stay a few days." He says. I stare at him. "A few days? That could be how long we have until we are kicked out, and put in some prison-like sector." "Zyke, a few days. What's the worst that could happen?" Jupiter says. I sigh. "Fine. A few days." I stop packing my bag, and put it under the bed. "If we can still go outside without being stopped, then maybe even longer." I slightly wish I didn't say that. Rocky grabs his guitar, and walks out of the door. Jupiter hangs out with me, Astro, and Zee. Later, l Astro and Zee have to go to work. She leaves with them. "I hope you can handle being alone, you big baby." She says. "I can handle myself." I say, holding onto my sword. "Alrighty, then." She closes the door. I sit on the couch, and realize that I left the body of the bot I killed on the lightpost. I open the window, and run out to get it.

(Jupiter)

I watch Astro and Zee as they walk to work, then pull out my camera for the perfect moment when they hold hands. I always thought it was so cool how they protect each other. I snap the pic, and let it print out. I'm one of those old-fashioned girls. I take pictures with Polaroids, and Kodaks, and occasionally the iPhone X. It's got a good camera, although it's old tech, and slightly hard to come by. I walk back to my apartment, and go inside. Figaro greets me. I pat his head, and grab a slab of meat for him to chew on. I toss it to him, and he nibbles at it. I sit on my couch, and turn on the radio. At first, I wanted to hear the music, but it began with a news broadcast about the bots. So, I plugged the radio's AUX cord into my iPhone. I selected a couple old songs, and a few I downloaded from an archive website. I start playing my personal playlist, beginning with "Who Dat Boy" by Tyler, the Creator. Classic song by a classic artist. It's been 101 years since he was born, which is kinda cool. I walk into my room, and grab 5 rolls of posters I've found or collected, some duct tape, and began to work on taping them up. One poster was for a movie about the Loch Ness Monster and some kid. My mom showed it to me when I was 10, and it's been my favorite movie ever since. Another poster was for some boy band that was around the mid-2010s, and they had, like, 20 members. I found their music while visiting family back home in America, and it completely blew me away. The rest are movie posters. After putting them up, I lay down on my couch, grab my remote, and turn on the TV. I switch thru channel after channel, 1 out of 10 having something to do with the robot-removal. I finally found a channel that shows old shows. One is about some two guys driving in an old car while killing black-eyed people and meeting cool dudes in suits with invisible wings. It's a cool show, but it's almost always reruns. So, I just sit around until I can find the right show. I grab my pick and pick out my 'fro. Figgy lays on the floor next to me, almost asleep. I take the opportunity to walk out of the door, and go grab some real food. I walk out, and begin to go down the stairs, until I start to feel like a bad person for leaving Figgy there, so I go back, wake him up, and take him with me. He's a good enough pet to act right without a leash, so I don't grab one. It's not like they make them big enough for him. We walk down the stairs, and head into the streets. I look around for some places to eat, or what I'm feeling like having. I see a ramen shop, and almost book it through a crowd to get to it. I walk up, and ask for 2 bowls of ramen, one with chicken, and one with extra steak. The man looks at me with a strange face, until he sees Figaro, who is sitting on the stool next to me. His cuteness probably aided with the order, because Figaro almost got more steak than he did ramen. However, he really likes ramen, so he doesn't care either way. After we eat, I pay the man, and we walk off. I grab a napkin and wipe off Figaro's mouth and nose. We walk down an alley, as a sort of short-cut. As we walk, I get the feeling that I'm being watched. All of a sudden, two guys come out of a corner, with baseball bats and a knife. I see them and turn the other way, but 3 other guys come out, one with a gun, clearly un-loaded. Figaro growls as they approach us. "Come on now, missy, give up whatever you got on you." One says. "We clearly don't want no trouble, and you don't wanna have to go to the pet cemetery." Another says. "Listen guys, I don't have anything you need. I just wanna get home." I say. "Not until we get every cent you got on you." "Come on now, you don't want it to get messy here, do you?" I ask. They all approach. "Fine. We can make it messy for you. Figaro, now!" Figaro dashes towards a guy, and bites into his shoulder. Two guys come swinging for me, but I have a way of dealing with them. You see, I have some kind of power. Call it a gift, or a curse, but I can connect with Figaro on a certain level. Using his attributes, I can conjure claws made of energy, and have incredibly fast speed. My eyes go pink, and my hands are surrounded by the claws. I slash at the two guys, cleanly cutting off one's arm, and the other's hand. One guy sees this, and begins to run off. I run after him, and tackle him, pinning him to the ground, I begin to slash at his chest and face, until he seems unconscious. The guy with the gun aims at me, pulls the trigger, and realizes his gun isn't loaded. He throws the gun aside, and takes off. "Somebody help! It's the Jungle Queen! The Jungle-" My pink claw grabs his mouth, and pulls him back. I throw him onto the ground, and stand over him. Figaro runs over, and looks down on him. "You're damn right, it's the Jungle Queen." I knock him out with a punch to the face. My claws dissipate, and I walk off with Figaro. I go home, and run into the bathroom. I throw my hoodie off, and take a really long shower. Sometimes, it leave a bit of residue while using my powers. By residue, I mean my face looking more cat-like, having sharp teeth and nails, and a long tail. I look in the mirror, and notice the attributes. I groan, and pick up my clothes. I walk into my room, and toss them on my bed. I open my closet, and grab my customized onesie, with a tail-hole, just in case. I walk into my living room, and turn the TV back on. I begin to watch my shows, and soon drift off to sleep. Figaro sleeps on the floor next to me. It's hard being the Jungle Queen.