Capítulo 1: I (NOT), ROBOT
(NOIR Industries Mecha production facility, Hokkaido, November 2133)
If a religious person studied the events of the world leading up to the year 2133, it will be a forgone conclusion that God has abandoned humanity. From the sudden appearance of a new sentient species on Earth called Sellardraxians that can use magic and contested for the domination of the Earth. And as if that was not enough, an alien invasion by an galactical empire, the Veo Empire soon followed, only for them to withdraw when another galactical entity called GOMCA intervened, which while helping Earth to achieve major breakthroughs in technology also unintendedly brought Earth into a galactical-level Cold War.
But all these for a Sellardraxian worker called Sean are the least of his worries, for he has a much more troublesome task at hand: building the robotic behemoth in front of him. He brushed aside the long black hair that wrapped around the dark cyan Chinese dragon horns on his head, which had grown out over the 2 year he is here. Directing his tools, he wielded the plates of titanium alloys together. He then levitated himself up more, reaching another section and doing the same.
A notification came up on his HUD, alerting him to take a break after working continuously for 8 hours, his work suit warning to power down if Sean continues. Complying, Sean floated down gracefully to the floor, removing his helmet and yawning.
He looked up, removing his mask that is hanged around his elf ears, seeing his faint reflection on the shiny white paintjob. His face, which put him in the good books of the female Sellardraxian staff at the factory, has an odd scar on his left cheek left behind by the shrapnel of a 120mm mortar during his peacekeeping deployment in Kiev. He walked backwards, examining the 18m tall humanoid robot behemoth in front of him.
"Nova Supreme," Sean thought, thinking of the name of the Mecha he is building. "Fitting for the first mass production Mark 6."
Sean checked out of the production room and headed to the cafeteria, only to see to his surprise that a huge number of workers have gathered at the windows.
"What's going on?" he asked a human worker. He gave him an uncomfortable stare upon noticing his horns.
"There is a protest going on downstairs. The Hokkaido police and UN personnel have set up a barricade to maintain order."
Sean peeked out of the window, seeing to his surprise that a huge crowd has gathered outside the gate to the factory, chanting slogans that is unfortunately inaudible to him due to the excellent soundproofing. He tried to make out the words on their screens, prompting him to roll his eyes.
"Not those pacifists again…" he sighed, exasperated, "speaking so much about how Earth needs to achieve global and universal peace under anarchism, and ironically, they have a tendency of using force to "convince" people."
Sean looked at the UN peacekeepers under the United Nations Interim Force in Japan (UNIFJ) and Hokkaido police in combat exoskeletons called Exo-suits, flanked by sentry robots deployed in anti-riot configuration, sporting collapsible riot shields, tasers and less lethal weapons, while the living soldiers and officers below are equipped with live ammunition to respond to any emergencies.
A familiar UN peacekeeper caught his attention. He is an UN police personnel, dressed in the signature grey-blue tactical uniform of his police unit under his Exo-Suit instead of the military uniforms of the constituent nations of UNIFJ. Recognising his friend, he grabbed a bottle of orange soda from the cafeteria and rushed down towards him.
Inspector Phineas Wang of the Hong Kong Police Force CTRU turned to him, surprised. "Sean, what are you doing here?"
Sean handed him the drink, which Phineas emptied in seconds. "Thanks, haven't managed to catch a break for the past 2 hours. These protestors are really annoying. When you told me that they gave you a headache in Berlin I thought you were exaggerating, but now I have to believe."
"MAKE LOVE NOT WAR!" the crowd chanted loudly and an empty plastic bottle is thrown, hitting Phineas in his helmet and bouncing on to the floor.
Sean chuckled. "Point proven," he commented as he popped an E-cigarette into his mouth, only for Phineas to pull it out and chug it into a trash can nearby.
"You promised your big sis to quit," reprimanded Phineas. "And besides, you were crying out about being tight on money the other day and here you are contributing cigarette tax?"
"She is in Tokyo, she can't control me," Sean protested, pulling out another E-cigarette.
"She is worried about you, you know? She has been spam calling me—"
"Well, if she wants to screw up her combat performance by worrying about me 24/7, and get washed out, she can feel free to do so," Sean replied, puffing out the smoke deliberately in Phineas' face.
Phineas sighed at Sean's behaviour, for a brief moment Phineas is tempted to tear away Sean's act.
More trash is thrown by the protestors, prompting the sentry robots to deploy their riot shields in umbrella formations, shielding the UN and police personnel below. Sean generated a fireball, incinerating the trash in the air.
"See?" said Phineas. "As a Draco subspecies of the Sellardraxians, you can use magic. Sure, it may not be as good as your siblings, but c'mon…"
Sean turned to Phineas with an angry glare, prompting Phineas to keep his mouth shut.
"DOWN WITH UNSSD! WE WILL CRUSH YOU!" the crowd chanted loudly.
A UN personnel grabbed a loudspeaker. "You are participating in an illegal gathering! Your act of protest is a direct violation of Article 3 of the Earth Defence Law! And you also previously threatened assault against law enforcement personnel! Cease your actions immediately!"
Suddenly, the cars in the crowd revved and charged forward, ramming down the barricade and running over several UN personnel, the crowd then soon rushed in, armed with improvised weapons, mercilessly hitting the downed UN personnel and trading blows with the other UN personnel and Hokkaido police that have rushed to stop them, soon escalating into a violent brawl as they clashed. The sentry robots deployed their arsenal, raining down tear gas, tasers and rubber bullets at the protestors, but their sheer number soon overwhelmed the few robots in the area and one of the robots is pushed down and violently dismantled.
"Sh*t," exclaimed an alarmed Phineas as he rushed to the scene, removing the safety on his SIG 516 rifle and Glock 17 pistol. He deployed his extendable police baton and energy riot shield. "Sean, stay back!" he ordered. "This is the Mecha production facility! Rioters have overrun the barricade and have flooded into the factory gate! Evacuate the facility!" he radioed.
A Hokkaido police officer tackled down a protestor. Suddenly, all the other protestors around him started to back off. He turned to see the man below looking at him with a grin. "What are you doing?" asked the officer, alarmed.
His reply was a huge fireball as the man exploded, detonating a suicide vest he is wearing, the blast killing law enforcement personnel nearby. Phineas is knocked down by the shockwave while Sean immediately ducked down and shielded his face from the inferno.
Phineas groaned, standing up, still dazed by what just happened. Before he can make sense of the situation, Sean quickly pushed him down again as a rocket whizzed past their heads, obliterating the cafeteria of the factory and causing a huge fire to start.
"Oh no…" exclaimed Sean to see the protestors attacking civilians indiscriminately.
The protestors have taken out lethal weapons from the boot of the cars and opened fire on the law enforcement personnel, escalating the brawl into a shootout as the UN and Hokkaido police returned fire. Phineas pushed Sean off him and aimed his rifle at the protestors.
"BACK OFF!" Phineas yelled, pulling his trigger, gunning down 2, while Sean immediately ran away from the firefight, hiding behind the Hokkaido police riot van parked in the carpark.
The crowd refused to listen, throwing a petrol bomb onto Phineas, which immediately enveloped him in flames. Phineas screamed in pain, while the Exo-suit is preventing the flames from burning his body directly, the flames are still cooking him alive as he painfully collapsed, rolling around trying to put out the flames.
Seeing his friend wounded, Sean hesitated for a brief moment before quickly coating his arms with a thick layer of ice by rapidly removing heat from the air around him, running and grabbing Phineas, pulling him quickly behind the riot van as bullets whizzed past them, miraculously not being hit by additional bullets. The ice shield prevented the flames from burning Sean's hands.
Sean immediately removed the heat from the air around them, condensing the water vapour into water, putting out the flames on Phineas. He gasped when he is done, cooling down objects at such a speed and scale is extremely exhausting.
"Sean…run…" Phineas coughed.
"You shut up," replied Sean as he pulled the emergency dismantle chord on Phineas' Exo-suit, allowing it to come off him. He grabbed the medical pouch from Phineas' belt which is fortunately still useful, applying anti-burn medication onto Phineas' exposed skin areas.
The protestors then turned their attention to the riot van and peppered it with bullets, suppressing Sean down. Sean grabbed Phineas' rifle and aimed it at the protestors, but his hands start to shake heavily. His fingers stammered, no matter how much his brain tried to give his fingers the orders to shoot, his fingers stubbornly refused to pull the trigger, as Sean breathed heavily, trauma from missing that fatal shot 2 years ago flooded him.
"DAMN IT!" Sean cursed as he threw the rifle aside, hot tears of pain and self-hate rained down his cheeks and flooding his mouth with a salty taste. Seeing the protestors happily gunning down the Hokkaido police, his co-workers, and the UN personnel that Sean once called comrades, Sean's rage soon swallowed his self-hate as he remembered one last asset he can use. He picked up Phineas' helmet, putting it on.
"SCREW YOU ALL!" Sean roared, charging out from the riot van, generating a shield of ice in front of him as he did so. The protestors laughed seeing him charging at them unarmed and immediately concentrated their weapons, breaking the ice shield with ease, gunning him down, the bullets sending excruciating jolts of pain as they entered Sean's body, blood oozing out around him. "SEAN!" screamed Phineas in horror.
The protestors gathered around Sean's body, one of them giving Sean a kick as she gloated.
As this woman will show, karma is just.
A punch came straight at her arm, and before the woman realised it, her fingers and gun are sent flying. "AHH!" she screamed, her voice rising by a few pitches at the extraordinary pain from this impromptu amputation, while her accomplices froze, stunned to witness what happened. Sean then jumped up with such vigour that one cannot believe that he was just shot into a hornet's nest. He tackled down the woman, violently yanking off her suicide vest, sending pieces of metal and plastic dropping everywhere. He then stomped down on her left ankle, shattering it immediately and leaving a bloody mess of flesh and bone on the floor. The other protestors have seen and heard what is happening and all stood there, shocked by the sight that behold them: a Draco that is bleeding out from multiple gunshots and coughing out blood is on a primordial rampage, dismantling one of their peers with nothing but his bare hands.
Sean threw a fireball at the protestors, prompting them to back off. He then grabbed the woman up and violently yanking off both of the woman's bionic arms and throwing one at the crowd in front of him, prompting all of them to scream in horror, some even scared to the point of tears. They were all to horrified at this monstrosity in front of them that fear have overcame their minds and they all froze, not firing a shot.
Sean threw the still alive woman on to the floor, now missing both of her arms and her left ankle, he planted down the other arm in his hand onto the floor like a staff and yelled at the crowd.
"DROP YOUR WEAPONS, AND SURRENDER!"
The protestors all immediately dropped their guns and ran away in horror, only for them to run head first into the UN reinforcements, who swiftly detained them. The surviving UN personnel, Hokkaido police and factory staff all looked at Sean in shock.
"Hardcore…" muttered a stunned Phineas as he staggered over to Sean.
Sean blinked, feeling his consciousness fading as the adrenaline faded and he grew dizzy, his vision blurring as he fell, barely keeping himself steady and upright. UN reinforcements quickly hooked her up to a blood bag and cauterised her wounds and she is chained to the stretcher. Sean stared at the shoulder patch of the UN operator, a familiar low-visibility patch of a silhouette of Earth in space with an acronym pasted over that spells "UNSSD". A ring is wrapped around the image, with white letters spelling out "Special Operations Command"—a patch Sean also used to wear.
"Everything is fine now comrade," assured the operator in a thick German accent. Sean nodded weakly.
"You…must be…one…of those…liv…living robots," muttered the woman at Sean.
Sean smiled, shaking his head. "Now, me and my "siblings" don't like that name."
"My official designation is Artemis 9," he declared, "but I have a name: Sean," he said as he passed out.
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