The Prison

August 6th 5023

He was cornered, with nowhere to go, but after being on the run for three months, X had grown used to this. He grabbed a metal pole and hid behind a crate as government agents fired. They closed in and formed a circle, their guns all aimed at X.

"Give it up, X. We've got you surrounded," one of the police robots announced.

"What do you want with me?" X asked. This question nagged at him for so long, ever since three months ago when the first batch of agents showed up. None of the agents said anything.

Pak! Pak! Two agents fell down to the ground.

Behind them stood X's brother, K.

"C'mon!" K shouted as he jumped onto his motorcycle. X ran toward him as K kept shooting at the agents, more of them fell down.

"Let's get the hell out of here," X said.

"Yeah. Let's." K reloaded his machine gun.

"That was some nice shooting back there."

"I know, I've been practicing," K said as sirens rang in the distance.

"Police robots, let's go."

The bots were speeding up and soon they were right beside the motorcycle. They hovered steadily trying to snag the bike with a grappling hook. K readied his gun and shot some bots down, but more kept coming.

"I'm out of ammo!" K shouted as a hook punctured a wheel, throwing the motorcycle of course. It tumbled off the road throwing X and his brother into a crate.

"We've got you now, X," A bot said as it aimed a gun at K.

X needed a distraction to get his brother out of this. He scanned the area. Nothing. Then, he realized what was in the crate. Guns. And it was open. He kicked the cover back and scooped up a pair of machine guns. The bot spun around in an instant and K took off. X stood there, relieved, as the bot lowered his gun and got out his handcuffs.

"Alright, X, you're coming with me." The bot took X and tossed him on the back of another larger bot.

His eyes kept scanning the area. K had to come back. He had to. They had to get out of this. A hand smacked the window of the large bot.

"K!" he shouted.

"X! I'll get you out of here."

He knew better though. K wasn't going to be able to kill these bots. Not this time. X couldn't risk both of them dying. I don't want to lose you, too. I don't want to lose you, he thought as the bot put a metal cover on his mouth. X felt a needle puncture his neck. His brother pounded on the window. X thought he heard a scream. The last he saw of K was a single tear. Then, everything went black.

X woke up in a cell. The walls were lined with some sort of metal and there were no windows. The bars were plasma pulses that glowed red, reflecting onto the metal, giving the room an amber glow. A bot walked in armed with a plasma baton. X could tell he was of higher rank because of his gold plating at the shoulders, almost looking like built-in epaulettes.

"You better get comfortable, your death is near. It is currently six pm, your execution will be at eight pm. Consider yourself lucky, the Leader of all Worlds will be here." The bot's metallic voice smacked against my ears. It was flat, like a bad recording on one of those ancient machines. Not an ounce of humanity as he announced X's execution.

He genuinely wondered why the Leader of All Worlds would be anywhere near him at all. Had he called for X's execution? Why was he so important?

"Your last meal will be at six-thirty, Little Sparrow," the bot said.

"W-what?" That was X's dad's nickname for him, how did the bot know? The government couldn't have access to all of his past! Or could they? X wondered.

As the bot walked out, X noticed there was a little limp in its step. Impossible, there was never a malfunctioning bot in history, not even a limp.

X thought back to one of his brother's lessons. A glitch in the mainframe. Could there actually be glitches? Ways to take out any of them permanently? K had told X that if a robot had a limp or any other human-like bone injuries, that means a glitch, a way in for humans.

X remembered asking K how he knew that.

"I don't know, I just do," K told him. K always knew more than he did.

Thinking of his brother made X miss him, the things they did together. The thought that K might be dead struck him hard. He broke down, sobbing, his tears flowing down, trying to fill his empty heart. X had to escape, he had to see K again. Glitching mainframe, he whispered to himself as he began formulating a plan.