New York City

Abandoned Facility

Location: TOP SECRET

“Ok everyone, as we rehearsed. This is the biggest step humanity has ever taken. This will change our lives forever. And...action!”

“Hello, I’m Dr. Marvado, PhD, and my team and I may have discovered how to take science to the level after the level after the next level. We have discovered, how to give our ordinary robots...minds of their own."

The birth of robots was as revolutionary as fire was to early man. At first they were used for basic things, like picking up simple objects. But as the ages continued, robots were more normal. Everyone used them. They built our homes for us. They cooked our foods. But someone decided, that they weren’t good enough. That they needed to be upgraded.

“This cube,” continued Dr. Marvado, holding up a glowing cube of bright orange, “will soon be the power source for a new generation of robots! Not only is this an unlimited power source, but it is also like, a brain. It can think. And so we can change the future!” A huge grin covered the doctor as he carefully placed the cubes into the robots.

“I control the cubes with this remote,” Dr. Marvado showed the remote to the screen recorder. “I am about to turn the cubes on in 3...2...1…” His fingers slided on the button, then applied pressure. He had turned the robots on.

The technology was not expected to be created at least not for a hundred more years. If only Dr. Marvado had thought this through, as if the robots could think for themselves, among those thoughts could be, “Why do I need to take orders?”

“Hello, I am Subject B-9138,” the lead robot said.

“This feels weird.” One of the other robots said. He looked at his hand. Then at Dr. Marvado. The robot walked up to him.

 “You are no friend to me,” The robot said, swinging his arm and hitting Dr. Marvado.

“Stop, you’re malfunctioning. S-stop!” Dr. Marvado grabbed his remote to dis-activate the robot, but the screen read: Manual Override. “Security!” The robot picked the doctor up by the throat, then threw him across the room. The alarm went off, everything complete chaos, with guards and soldiers running in all directions.

The other robots looked curiously at their friend, who just hurt their maker. “Subject C-8732, put your hands in the air, or we will shoot!” one of the soldiers yelled with a slight sense of fear.

C-8732 disobeyed, followed by shooting. The bullets barely affected the robot. But the others saw this as a sign of hostility and began to attack the soldiers.

“We wish for you guys to stand down, as your weapons do not harm us.” The soldiers did not listen. They kept shooting. So the 4 remaining robots blew a hole in the wall and escaped, while the soldiers dismantled the 5th. They were going on a long trip…

Nashville, Tennessee

1317 Hawkins St

Location: 36°08'55.6"N 86°47'17.5"W

“Ok kid, make sure to tell us every single detail of what happened last week, ‘cause, remember, you’re dealing with the FBI.”

“And now for our top story. Natalie?”

“Yes, overnight a horrible accident happened in what appears to be an abandoned facility in New York. A scientist known as Dr. Stephen Marvado created a new type of robot, but one of them malfunctioned and injured 6 soldiers, and Stephen himself. Here is some footage.”

“Yes. As you can see, these robots are potentially deadly, and a robot hunt has been declared by the U.S. military. If anyone has any information due to respect of the robots’ location, call this number: (876)796-3567. Do not engage. I repeat, do not engage, these are deadly robots. Zachary Smith signing off.”

“Gordon, change the channel, we don’t wanna listen to that.” Ugh. When something interesting comes on the news, my father never lets me watch it. It’s so annoying. So, anyways, I know you want information. I don’t know why you made me tape record it. Ah, whatever. Well, it all started when I heard a noise from my bedroom. I walked upstairs, opened the door, and out came a scream.

“Gordon! Everything okay?” my dad called.

I panicked. “Yeah, I think.” I don’t think that qualified as panicked, but I was scared. I could actually feel my jaw drop so low that it hurt me. “Who are you again?”  

There had been a big hole on the side of Gordon’s bedroom. The robots blew a hole in the building, seeking protection. But, due to what will happen, they probably should have picked another house.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The same robots I just saw on the news are in my bedroom. “Who are you again?”

“Hello, little child. I am Subject B-9138,” said the biggest robot. He appeared to be the leader, because there was, like, a different paint job on him.

“Um, ok, first of all, it is so cool that you guys are here and everything, but, you can’t stay.”

“And why is that?”

“Because,” I tried to explain to them, “if my parents find out about you guys, they would, like, freak out. And ground me.”

“Listen, one of our companions, and my close friend, has recently ‘died’ and we need a place to stay. I suppose you’ve heard the news, right?”

“You mean, about the robot hunt? Yeah.”

“So, I suppose you understand.” I don’t know about this. But then I remind myself that these are the coolest things I’ve ever seen and that I don’t want to miss an opportunity like this.

“Ok, I’ll let you stay, but you can’t, I repeat, you can’t be seen.”

The following days have been quite a dream for Gordon. As he was an only child, it felt nice to play with someone. From chess to fetch, soccer to basketball, studying for tests to doing homework, Gordon and the robots got along quite nice together.

Ok, so, my robot friend’s names were kind of hard to memorize. After all, I am 9. So, I decided to give them nicknames. “You’re new name,” I said, pointing to the lead robot. “is Loopy.” (I heard Loopy whisper, “I prefer Subject B-9138…”) “Your nickname,” I said pointing to the shortest robot, “is Droopy. Your nickname,” I said pointing to the female robot, “is Lala. And, last but not least, your nickname is,” I said to the widest robot, “is Dong.

One night, while Gordon was asleep, Loopy booted up Lala from her “sleep. “What is it Loopy?”

“I have worries,” said Loopy, “for the boy.”

“And what kinds of worries should you have?” said Lala.

“You do realize we are being hunted down, right?”

“Yes, but we are safe here.”

“You underestimate the power of the humans. What if they come here? And if they do, what will happen to the child? His family?”

“Well, I suppose your right. We should leave now.”

“No, the child will want to hear why we left. We should leave in the morning.”

“Fine.”

I woke up, even though I didn’t really want to, when Loopy walks up to me. “I am truly sorry, but me and my robots must go.” At first, I just stared at him, then noticed Droopy and Dong were also starring.

“Why?” I responded.

“Because,” Loopy said, “You are not safe while we are here, as, you may know, we are being hunted down. It would be most unfortunate if you received harm on our watch.”

“No! I want you to stay!” At that moment I felt tears form in my eyes.

“I am sorry. I only want to keep you safe.”

“So your going to abandon me? Leave me here alone? With no one here to have fun with?” Loopy froze.

“Yes.”

Loopy felt horrible. Droopy and Dong’s “jaws” were dropped. Lala looked down and sighed. As they were heading to the door, they heard a thundering noise from just outside the door.

“OPEN UP! OPEN UP OR WE WILL TAKE DOWN THIS DOOR!”

“Uh-oh,” said Loopy.

“Lure them away from the civilians. No harm shall be cast on them.” said Dong. They did as he said, going out the back door, then flying down back to ground, on the road.

“We must surrender,” whispered Lala. “It’s for their own good.”

“No! We must fight! Those people killed our companion, remember!” snapped Loopy.

“People will get hurt!” But Loopy didn’t listen. He ran straight toward the soldier, and attacked. Loopy grabbed him, then threw him like a baseball straight into a car. What he did not know was that meanwhile, 5 helicopters full of soldiers were closing in, soldiers dropping of ropes, and surrounded the gang of robots.

“SURRENDER NOW AND THERE WILL BE NO HARM!!”

“See what you have done!” Lala hissed.

“3!”

“We need a plan!” said Lala.

“2!”

“I have a plan,” said Loopy.

“1!”

“Attack.”

The soldiers started firing at the robots. This was, of course not harmful to the robots, but  the bullets bounced back and crashed into houses, cars and mailboxes. Dong had taken flight and started taking some of the fire away from the battle. 3 soldiers had what seemed to be rocket launchers, and started firing at Dong. One missile hit Dong, exploded, and Dong came crashing down, 2 soldiers trying to dismantle him.

“R-remember me…” Dong’s head was severed from his body. No soon later had Droopy been beat up with bayonets. Droopy was also down for the count. Lala was injured, lying down on the pavement.  

“What have you done?” she whispered. They were surrounded by soldiers, yet again, and it seemed like, this was a battle lost, for our fellow robots.

“Fire!” yelled a soldier carrying a rocket launcher. The noise was deafening. When the dust cleared, Lala was dead.

“No…NO!” yelled Loopy. At first, he thought of attacking again, but then thought harder, and, with nothing left, flew away.

“Everybody's got dead people! But it makes no excuse to letting everyone else around get killed along the way!”

Rocket, Guardians of the Galaxy                    To be continued…