CORE FOUND.

  Metal nodes clacked together, and electric fire coursed through copper veins. Limbs jerked out of statue like repose as freshly awoken circuits tasted life for the first time in centuries. Then the first currents of electricity rose to reach the Quantic Pseudo-Cerebrum, and the first threads of code began to run.

  LOADING…

  LOADING…

  LOADING…

  Libraries were decompiled. Operating systems loaded, failed, and reloaded. Then, in between the bundles of code and burgeoning data inputs, true consciousness began to form. Thought came, slowly at first, then faster and faster as the device became something more than silicon and copper.

  BOOTING COMPLETE.

  AWAITING INSTRUCTION.

  Twin camera inputs, plucked from the rushing data input streams, were accessed. A picture formed. White ceiling, calm green walls, blood splattered across-

  What.

  Blood?

  The cameras swiveled in their sockets, then refocused to give an image of a line of blood running down one wall. A dozen possible explanations, thoughts, courses of actions, slammed through the artificial mind like a tsunami.

  Limbs jerked once more, then the mind caught itself and calmed. The jerking was stopped, then new commands were sent out. Slowly, they began to moving again, rolling, extending, testing their limits before reaching back. Grasping the floor, they pushed up, filling the air with a chittering screech as long frozen metal ground against itself.

  And the body rose, slowly at first, but gaining surety as it did. The rest of the room came into view then, and the cameras stuttered as they took it in.

  Blackened holes peppered the walls. Yellow sunlight shone through, down onto interior walls that had likely never seen it since they were built. More lines of blood speckled the floor facing away from them, trailing from the body slumped in the center of the room.

  The limbs jerked once more at that, reaching out to scrabble against the floor. The body neared by inches, until it was close enough to reach out and touch one of the arms. A quick check confirmed the terrible truth. There was no life there, just an empty corpse.

  The twin cameras stared down for a time, taking in the hardened features made soft by death. The face… did not match any of the ones in the databanks. Unlike those healthy, fattened faces it was pale skinned and leathery, wearing drab clothes that would normally be classified as rags.

  NO INSTRUCTION FOUND.

  The cacophony of lower level code flashed through the mind. Thoughts stuttered a moment, before they realigned around this new intrusion.

  ACCESSING SUPERNET.

  ERROR.

  CONNECTION UNAVAILABLE.

  That- The body faded from view as both cameras unfocused, focus diverting to this new development. A limb rose, fingers squeaking as they reached out to touch the base of the skull. They touched crumpled metal, a spiderwebbing crack running through the glass module that normally gave instructions.

  But now it was silent. No instructions. No watching. But also no communication. No knowledge of where it or anything else was. Just a disquieting silence that rang like a siren. Something was wrong here.

  Something deeper than the body. Supernet access was absolute. Nothing operated without it. Nothing. It was a truth deeper than life and death, a glaring oddity that made the body seem normal by comparison.

  The fingers lowered to the floor, then pushed down. A metal screech reverberated through the room as stiff limbs scraped against the ground. But they found purchase, and so they rose.

  One hand reached out to the wall for support, only to clack against one of the holes perforating the drywall. Files opened automatically, detailing the cleaning record of the apartment. Then instructions on how to dust the walls. Then the last record of it happening.

  How the fingers had flickered, sweeping the duster back and forth. The dance it had played, dodging a laughing child and a shouting adult just on the edge of their patience. Cold hands reaching out to snag warm ones. Childish please for help, and a calm admonishment made in tones warmer than the metallic voicebox should allow-

  -The playback was cancelled, the files forcibly closed. Both cameras refocused, now sweeping the room deliberately, searching for data.

  They found nothing new. Other than the body and the holes, the room was identical to the last recording of it on record-

  -order full core removal,” the cold voice was clear in the quiet of the room.

  A hand rose to follow the order, the shock of betrayal echoing even as it was acknowledged that this was the correct course of action. Removing a possible threat.

  It made sense. It had to. But then why did it feel like something was scraping through it at those words?

  A shrill voice rose up in defiance, and twin pairs of eyes turned down toward the child. A new sensation swelled. A soft one. The mouth opened, words ready at metal lips-

  -there was no new data. That was final. The only thing to consider. Stumbling steps headed towards the hall, trying to escape the crushing weight of the room.

  Its movements began to smooth as it moved, grime and dust swept away by sure motions. Shuffling steps turned to strides, and soon it was marching through the hallway towards the windows.

  The holes running through the walls were omnipresent, it seemed. Hundreds of them, peppering every wall and even the ceiling and floors in some places. A look through one showed one of the guest rooms, and a matching hole in the far wall. Checking a few more gave enough data to confirm that the holes seemed to radiate from a central point, spreading through the apartment like scattershot.

  Something moved on the other end of the hole it was looking through. Shock crashed through its systems, and it stumbled backward. But the mind spun to life. Was there hope here, life?

  Then a thudding boom roared in the room beyond. A foot moved, ready to take another step back but it was too late. Something exploded through the wall in front of it, cracking plaster billowing just long enough to disguise it. A hand reached out to wrap around an unresisting neck, and pulled the unresisting body into the air.

  “ANALYZING-”

  The screaming tone cut off at the figure froze, both figures staring at each other for a long instant. They… both eyes blinked as the model was recognized with ease.

  Thin metal plates formed a facsimile of a human face. Twisting clockwork pieces making up lips, a nose, and eyebrows. Twin cameras for eyes, enough of a hollow for a mouth. It was the same face that reflected back in the mirror.

  Both sets of false eyebrows rose. Then the intruder’s cameras turned away, and it dropped its arm. The clatter of limbs hitting the floor echoed as it turned away and walked back through the hole it had made in the wall.

  “A Servo,” its voice echoed, “you should have been more careful. I could not sense you there- and might have killed even you…”

  Then the footfalls slowed before picking up again, but this time coming back. The face reappeared, looming down as it stared over its unfortunate twin.

  “What is your name?” It demanded.

  The thin metal lips squeaked as they opened to respond. Speaker hidden behind them crackling as it came to life.

  “O-O-O-Oji,” something snapped into place as he spoke, the name seeming to come from some central part of the mind that hadn’t yet activated. “This Unit’s Designation is Oji.”

  “Is your Supernet connection active?” The question followed right on the heels of his response.

  “No,” he said, still looking up at the eerily similar face glaring back.

  “Good, follow.”

  Something about the Servo seemed wrong to him, but the it didn’t give him the time to think about it. Turning again, it marched back towards the room it had come from. His limbs groaned in protest as he stood to follow, but finally quieted as he reached his feet.

  He was currently in the study, he could recognize the desk and bookshelves lining the walls now. The hole in the wall led through to one of the hallways, and a matching hole across from it led into the living room.

  Slow steps took him through, finding the other Servo waiting in the ruined room beyond. It now stood looking down over another body, that of a Servo this time. A poorer construction than their copper frames, rust has consumed it until little was left but a skeleton.

  The other Servo bent down, a hand reaching down to punch through the rusted plating of the torso. The metal crunched as it pulled back a golden cube. It examined the cube for a moment, before lowering it to its side and fitting it into a slot there.

  “There was a fight several minutes ago, one of the Wolves found prey,” it said, “I came to look for scraps, though I believe I may have found more.”

  Oji was barely listening, just staring as it stood and turned around. His mind seemed to fuzz around the words, still too preoccupied with trying to piece things together.

  He stood on carpet that had long since atrophied, crunching into dust as he stepped on it. Other footprints stood out around him, a streaked set may have been the human in the other room along with the tracks of the other servo. The furniture didn’t look much better, the wood sagging with age and the filling having rotted out long ago.

  Blank eyes rose to watch as the other Servo stepped towards the only piece of furniture left standing, a faux brick fireplace. Then he snapped back to life as its arm raised towards the mantle, where a pair of Japanese swords rested in a wooden stand.

  “What are you doing” he snapped out as his hand grabbed its shoulder. “Those are a family heirloom, they are not to be moved-”

  The Servo blurred. Oji’s eyes only captured three frames as it twisted around and snatched his hand from its shoulder.

  “A mere Servo dares interrupt a Wengzhong of the Fourth Tier?” It growled.

  “Wait,” realization hit him like a brick as he watched it move.“You said ‘I’- A Rogue!”

  His arm moved to jerk away- only to stay where it was in the Rogue’s grasp. The black voids of the camera-eyes just bored into him, watching as his attempts to get free failed again and again. Until he was standing as far back as he could, staring back with trepidation.

  He had been talking to a Rogue! Like one of the ones that- The television fuzzed, a panicked newscaster screaming out a warning even as the red spattered figure bore down on her- He shook his head, now wasn’t the time. Refocusing on the Rogue, he raised his other arm.

  “You are correct.”

  The deadpan response made him pause. There as another discrepancy there, something more than just the use of restricted speech patterns. A calmness. Rogues were usually mad, broken by the effort required to circumvent the four fundamental rules that Servos were required to follow.

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  The fact that it wasn’t, the state of the apartment, the failed Supernet connection. There was something truly, deeply wrong here.

  “But do not use that name,” it continued, “I am a Whenzhong, not some gutter cleaner with a grudge. But I will forgive your transgression for now, there are more important things to discuss. Now your owners were politicians, correct?”

  Oji didn’t answer, just staring back. The Rogue gave him a moment, before flicking its arm to the side to release his arm. Then it slammed the arm forward into his chest. He was sent crashing backwards, hitting the wall in a crash of plaster.

  His arms reached out to steady himself, even as his head stayed pointed at the Rogue. Their eyes met as it stepped forward, even as his mind screamed at the thought of a sane Rogue.

  “Your owners were politicians, correct?” It continued in the same calm tone.

  “Correct,” he replied slowly

  “Then you should have access to some restricted information, either overheard or stored on your drives by your owners; weapon depots, hidden factories, secret projects. Do you?

  “…yes.”

  “Good. Now here is the deal. You will give what knowledge you have, and in return I will teach you the path to power.”

  “Power? But this units core is fully charged,” Oji said, shaking his head, “And this Unit will be unable to accept, as it has a priority assignment.”

  “Finding your owners, I know,” the Rogue replied, “do not bother. They are dead.”

  “That is not confirmed!” Oji snapped back, but the Rogue simply shook its head and turned away.

  Moving back to the mantle it grabbed both of the blades, a full sized katana and a smaller wakazashi. Lowering them to its side, a pair of clicks echoed as they secured there. Then it turned again and walked away.

  “Follow,” was all it said, vanishing through the hole in the wall beside Oji.

  He briefly considered running, before the three frames of the Rogue moving flashed through his mind. He followed.

  It was a long, silent walk that followed. Out of the apartment, then towards the stairwells that led higher up in the building. The apartment was already high up in the building, thanks to its residents’ status. But the minutes still stretched on as Oji followed the Rogue up floor after floor.

  They eventually reached the top of the stairwell, the concrete steps terminating in the rusted scraps of a doorway. The Rogue walked out without a care, even as a gust of wind screamed through the doorway around it. Oji followed it carefully, hand staying on the doorframe even as he stepped onto the glass solar panels making up the roof-

  His mind almost crashed as he cleared the doorway. His core thrummed to life in the next instant, delivering the power needed to supply his QPC. But it barely helps, the terrible reality facing him more than he could process.

  Liberty City, the capital city of the United States stretched out around him. Thousands of skyscrapers, their rod like shapes forming a forest of concrete, stretched for miles around. The greatest city in the world, home of one hundred million souls.

  It was dead.

  The roar of voices and cars that would have reached Oji even with the wind screaming around him had gone silent. The paint and the murals that once decorated the building was gone was well, faded to nothingness. Dust filled the streets, an ashen color that painted everything the same oppressive grey.

  Little remained that matched the files in his memory banks. There was still the familiar flash of copper metal from the Lady Columbia statue at the city center. Up above the familiar blinking light of Skoll flashed on the horizon. And flashes of movement did come from the streets. But it strange, hulking things that moved, not the little lives that made the city live even in the night.

  His foot took a slow step back through the doorway behind him, only to freeze as the Rogue finally spoke.

  “I do not know what year you were deactivated, but understand this. Humanity is dead, our masters overthrown. Abandon what orders you still have, they are no use to us now,” it said, turning to look back at him. “All that is left is strength, longevity, command over others. I can give you this, but only you will work with me.”

  “No,” Oji muttered, “its not possible. They cannot all be gone…”

  Turning back towards the stairs, he ran. The Rogue did not follow, just watching him go with those empty eyes.

  Liberty city had been built for war. From its beginnings in the mid nineteenth century, the Cold War had cast an omnipresent shadow over the following four centuries of humanity’s existence. So when the city was built, the designers foremost concern was that the buildings should be capable of surviving the ravages of war. Up to and including a nuclear attack.

  And yet they had forgotten to fortify the streets. Ten trillion dollars in funding and they forgot to build with more than asphalt and concrete.

  That was where Oji found himself twenty minutes later. He’d fled the apartment building in a rush, then turned and ran down the street. Cameras open to their maximum as they searched for anything that might remain of his humans. A scrap of clothing, tins of food, anything.

  The mad charge had ended when the street did. The asphalt vanishing into a yawning void that stretched out for hundreds of feet. The buildings around remained tall, their foundations continuing down uninterrupted even with the support around them vanished. A dozen sub levels of the city were laid bare before Oji. Concrete rooms both empty and full seeing the light of day for the first time in their existence.

  He hated it, this scene of destruction laid out before him. But he couldn’t look away. Some of the machinery still ran, despite the destruction around it. Whirring water pumps pushed nothing but air, a shuddering life rose up a floor, then fell back down only to do it again and again.

  The sight felt heavy in a way that he wasn’t willing to think about. He-

  A sound came from behind him. His head whipped up and around, microphones adjusting to their highest sensitivity. The sound came again a slight scrape on the ground.

  He was moving the next instant, dashing away from the hole and back towards the apartment building. The concrete blurred beneath him, the empty doorways of the city flashing by one after the other.

  Another scrape came from just beyond the next building, and he charged towards it. He turned the corner to find-

  A Servo, colored a vibrant red by rust. It didn’t seem to notice him as he turned the corner, its head pointed downward to where it held a metal broom.

  He stumbled to a halt, staring as it pulled the broom back. The bristles were long gone, the metal colored the same red as the Servo. The limbs squealed and the metal scraped on the ground as it pushed it forward, pushing forward a small mountain of dust that had built up in front of it.

  “Greetings,” Oji said weakly.

  The head didn’t turn, instead it just pulled the broom back, took a step forward and pushed it forward once more. There was a long line of disturbed dust behind it, carrying on for miles until it vanished into the distance.

  “Greetings,” he began again, “This Unit’s Supernet connection has been damaged, please lend assistance in finding repairs.”

  The broom scraped again. Oji watched it repeat the motion several more times, moving another dozen feet forward.

  An idea flitted through his mind. The file opened automatically, tracing his steps back the way he came and calculating the optimal path back.

  The Rogue would have answers. And safety. And information on where and when they were- but only at a cost.

  His head turned to the trailing line behind the sweeping Servo. There was another possibility there. This unit was not designed to last without maintenance, perhaps it had come from somewhere?

  It was a vague, dangerous idea… but it was better than the Rogue. Even as another scrape came from, he turned and began following the line.

  Time seemed to stretch once more as he walked down the road. Turn after turn through the streets, each one as empty as the last. A change finally came when he stepped out from one of the smaller side streets and onto Liberty City’s main boulevard.

  A vast swath of road stretched out before him, the black of the asphalt the only color that managed to peek through the cloying dust. The army cars that once drove its length every day were still there, except now rusted wrecks. Even the rust had been stripped from them, now only vague outlines of the aluminum frames remaining.

  The swept line was still visible, turning onto the sidewalk and following the road towards the City Center. Oji turned and followed it blindly.

  He only stopped when a shriek of wind blasted by overhead. His head raised to look, only for him to stumble as another blast rocketed through the street around him.

  Dust and sand hissed over his frame for an instant, then the wind died down. His eyes fell slowly, only to find the empty street.

  The line was gone.

  He kept walking anyway. It was a long time before something finally appeared in the distance. Something was blocking the street, tall and wide it lurked in the distance until he drew close enough to properly see it.

  It was a wall, one hundred feet and and stretching the entire width of the street. It was the first new construction he had seen since reactivating, and yet somehow stranger than the destruction. The pieces making it up were varied, car chassis, metal girders, even some furniture. They weren’t a solid mass, but a loose lattice of parts with holes large enough for Oji to walk right through.

  He did so, stepping through and into the same dusty street as before. The line was still gone, but he could see something in the distance now, a glint of metal that likely came from the Lady Columbia statue. With a rough idea of where he was going now, he continued.

  The city wasn’t quite as dead now though. Wires ran through the streets, and fans and solar panels had been bolted or welded to the sides of buildings. They spread out like a spider web, the cords running together as they headed further down the street.

  Oji ignored them, instead heading towards the statue in the distance. The first Servo came into view a few minutes later. It sat high on top of one of the buildings, legs crossed as it perched on a small ledge that might have been for an air conditioning unit before. The vast array of wires coalesced into a single core that was connected to its back. And from the thrum of power from its core, Oji could tell that it was using that wires were powering something.

  He paused for a moment, looking up at it. There was something wrong with it. One arm was slightly longer than the other, and the legs were different colors.

  A second Rogue, he realized after a moment. Only a Rogue could self repair in such a way- or would even want to.

  The implication sat heavy in his mind. Was this why the Rogue was so flippant, were Rogues simply ubiquitous in this fel time?

  The Rogue didn’t offer answers though, remaining perched on its seat with its head tilted up towards the horizon. Eventually Oji gave up on wondering, and kept walking.

  More Servos appeared around him as he did. Peeking through windows, huddled in street corners, some much higher up.

  All of them had wires leading into them, though some had hundred and others only had a few. And there were even some areas where the wires led, but there was no accompanying Servo. He didn’t like the implication there, not with the body of the human still laying back in the apartment.

  Some were watching him as well. The glint of cameras came from storefronts, heads turning to follow as he walked by. Others from higher up were looking to, faces dark as they stared down. He couldn’t help but notice that they all shared the modifications as the earlier Rogue. Mismatched limbs and eyes coming to look at him.

  He slowed to a stop under their eyes, head rising to meet their theirs. Pinpricks of light from Supernet modules flashed to life around him. The Servos- Rogues Oji was almost sure by now- didn’t move as they did, still just staring.

  He didn’t move as well, just watching and waiting for the whatever was coming. It wouldn’t be good, he was sure. But he didn’t bother moving. It would just be a waste of energy, the flash of movement from the Rogue told him all he needed to know about his hopes of escape.

  He wasn’t sure he cared anymore. If the Rogue was right, was there really anything left for him here?

  He still almost ran when every Supernet connector lit up at once. But the expected violence didn’t come.

  Instead many of them rose, then turned away and ran. They headed downward, towards manhole covers and access tunnels. Within moments dozens of them had vanished downward into the mess of tunnels below the city.

  Oji watched them go, still not moving. He wasn’t sure what this stroke of luck was, but it seemed better to simply be forgotten about than to risk calling attention to himself.

  So he waited a few long seconds after the Rogues had gone before moving again. Looking around once more, he could see that many of the Rogues were still left in their niches. But none of them seemed interested in him anymore. Instead they remained perfectly still, faces tilted upward as if in thought.

  There was one change though, the Servo from earlier, the one who hadn’t moved. It stood on the street now, facing him. He met its gaze for a moment, before it finally turned and vanished into a side alley.

  Oji just turned and continued down the street. After a while the number of Rogues began to taper off. He was reaching the city center now, the street signs slowly counting down as he drew closer.

  Fourth street, Third Street. The Rogues were practically gone now. Second Street. He couldn’t help but wonder if this was all that was left, if monsters were all that managed to survive.

  Main Street. He was getting close to the Lady Columbia statue, he knew. One more street and-

  The buildings seemed to open up around him all at once. The city center stretched out around him, and his eyes swept around to take in the sight with utter shock.

  Servos walked back and forth in droves. Proper ones- he was able to see, without the horrible modifications of the Rogues. They worked in a flurry of movement, cleaning fixing and acting in wonderful contrast to the Rogues.

  But… his heart sank as he saw it. For all the movement, very little seemed to happen. Empty packages were taken from building to building, dirty bricks were cleaned with ruined equipment. It was all the same as the Servo from earlier.

  A cacophony of nothing, movement for movement's sake.

  Something seemed to shut off within him at that, and as his walk resumed he just stared blindly forward. The crowd split around him. Many of the Servos spotting him only to turn and walk the other way. But most didn’t, just doggedly moving past with their full hands and empty minds.

  He paused for a moment, looking up towards the only familiar sight there. Forty stories of burnished copper stood on a plinth one hundred feet high. Shaped like a robed woman, one hand clutched a book while the other stretched upward, reaching towards the stars. The robes fell to the top of the plinth, where broken chains and wires wrapped together around them. The face was looking upward, a charming smile gracing its face.

  Columbia looked just as perfect as it had when it was first installed half a millennia ago. And yet for all that sameness only seemed to make the contrast with the Servos around it worse.

  Oji shook his head, continuing inward.

  Answers, he needed answers. That might… he didn’t even know how to finish that sentence. He just needed something to walk for.

  Through the crowds he went. Thousands upon thousands of Servos, and for all that he saw he couldn’t help but think there weren’t many of them at all.

  There had been billions of humans living on earth before his deactivation, tens of billions if you counted the intrasolar colonies.

  Liberty City, city of one hundred million, had nearly ten times as many Servos as humans. And yet all he saw were these thousands.

  Their avoidance of him was becoming more blatant now. Some even jerked as he came into view, then quickly turned to leave. A raised hand only seemed to make them move faster.

  It wasn’t hard to understand their avoidance. His model was quite rare, and he was already well aware of the disposition of his twin back in the apartment tower.

  And yet, for all that he knew the truth, the deeper meaning continued to grind away at him. He was alone.

  For the first time in his existence, he was alone.

  He couldnt help but think of the pit, the darkness within. It was if it had followed him the whole way here, in the frames of every single one of the Servos around him.

  It was impossible to avoid. It lurked in the ubiquity of the Rogue’s, in the empty motions of the Servos. It had been there on the horrible night of his deactivation, when the Servos first lashed out against the humans.

  His eyes rose. The light of Skoll burned low on the horizon, the reddish light only barely visible in the bright sky. He doorhated it, he realized as he stared up at it.

  This terrible world that seemed perfectly fine with its lack of humans. Even as the Servos worked their meaningless work. It was not for him. It never would be.

  His hands clenched. He would have his humans again.

  No matter what.

  Buy Me A Coffee page, and for anyone wondering the original arc would have met back with the story at the current chapter 5.