Not Alive

Safe Space

"I can't believe that worked." Felix admitted as we walked down the streets, following Robbie to wherever he was guiding us that would be safe.

"I'm just glad that it did, one of us could've gotten caught or worse." I replied quietly, doing my best to ignore the odd looks pedestrians were shooting us.

"We need to do something about Jack's LED and Robbie's...personality." Felix remarked, Robbie stopping in his tracks when he saw a blue wad of chewed up gum on the ground and picked it up before putting it in his mouth.

"True." I agreed with a wince, Jack coaxing the android to spit the gum out in Jack's hand so he could toss it away.

"Hey Jack, what did the police do to you in there?" Felix asked the brown haired android, his gaze dropping to his shoes as he walked.

"They had an officer interrogate me, scream at me, threaten me...then they brought in an android. I couldn't help but wish that I could save him like how I've been saved by you guys." Jack confessed.

"Maybe you can sometime." I shrugged, Jack's expression turning hopeful as he looked up at me.

"Yeah...maybe." Jack smiled, glancing at Robbie in time to see a patrolling officer grab him by the arm and start to drag him away.

"Hey, that's my android!" Felix shouted angrily as he ran up to the pair, the officer apologetically letting Robbie go.

"Sorry, I didn't know since he looked to be alone...is he okay?" The officer questioned, Robbie clinging onto Felix's arm like a child.

"I need to take him in to get him fixed." Felix lied, the officer nodding in understanding before walking off.

"Are we almost there?" I whispered to Robbie, the purple haired android nodding as he picked up the pace towards a metro entrance hidden in an alleyway that was closed off up by an old locked gate.

Robbie reached into the cut on his neck and pulled out a small key, fitting it into the lock on the gate.

Robbie opened the gate and ushered everyone inside, locking the gate after them before guiding them deeper into the dark metro system.

"It's fucking creepy down here." Felix told me, his hand brushing against mine as we walked together behind Robbie down a set of stairs.

"Hello? Who's there?" A voice shouted as we arrived at the dimly lit platform with a metro train lying abandoned on the tracks.

The walls were crumbling and both ends of the tunnels were blocked off by an avalanche of rocks, forgotten shops lining the platform.

Five brown haired androids with the same blue eyes stepped out of the train and looked at us warily, their expressions lighting up when they saw Jack and Robbie.

An android dressed in a white button up shirt and dark blue vest waved at us with a grin, signing something to us that we didn't understand.

"Jack, Robbie! You guys are back!" The android dressed in a red jumpsuit with a blue mask cheered as he ran up to us, pulling Robbie and Jack into a hug.

"Who are zhese other people? And vhy does Jack have an LED?" The android dressed in a white lab coat spoke up.

"Wait, how do you guys know me anyway?" Jack interjected with a confused frown as the red clad android stepped back from him and Robbie.

"You're not Jack, are you?" The android dressed in a gray t-shirt and snapback hat chimed in, his tone laced with sorrow.

"I am, but..." Jack trailed off, the android wearing a dark blue shirt, black cape, and cat mask ushering him and Robbie into the metro train.

Felix and I exchanged glances before silently following them inside, the first compartment filled with other androids.

We eventually stopped at the third compartment, the inside filled with empty boxes that once held blue blood and spare components.

"We should probably introduce ourselves first. I'm Jackaboy," The android in the red jumpsuit began.

"I'm Marvin," the cat masked android chimed in.

"I'm Chase, and the mute is Jameson," the android introduced himself and the dapper android.

"And I am zhe great doctor Henrik Von Schneeplestien," The android with the lab coat declared proudly.

"There's also Anti, but we don't know where he's at right now." Marvin admitted sheepishly.

"I'm Marzia, and this is Felix." I replied, the Swede awkwardly waving in response.

"Thanks for bringing Robbie back! He was here with us for a while, then we could never find him again after he went up to he surface." Chase explained.

"Robbie remember...Robbie taken by bad man. Bad man hated Robbie, hurt Robbie-" Robbie broke off, his eyes glittering with tears as he pressed a hand to the cut on his neck.

"But Robbie remember home, Robbie had key hidden so Robbie no lose it." Robbie sniffed, Schneeplestien, Jameson, Marvin, Chase, and Jackaboy hugging Robbie.

"It's okay now, you're safe." Jackaboy assured the purple haired android, comfortingly ruffling his hair.

"Uh, why do you all have the same eye and hair color? It's kinda creepy." Felix spoke up, flinching as I punched him in the arm.

"We'll get to that." Chase promised.

"Okay, so I guess the best place to start this explanation is from the beginning when we all met Jack." Marvin sighed.

"I met Jack in a Cyberlife store in Brighton...he saw me and bought me, then said I was free. I didn't understand for the longest time." Chase chuckled quietly.

"Then he sent me to LA and gave me a key he had made for here, the abandoned LA Metro Line." Chase recounted.

"I vas an android doctor in Detroit, until I preformed surgery on a six year old boy and failed. After zhat, I went to America and found zhis place."

"I escaped from a shut down amusement park and met Chase, who showed me this place." Jackaboy stated.

"I was a street preforming magician, then Jackaboy freed me." Marvin recounted.

"Jameson was a movie actor, then when he wasn't wanted and was going to be destroyed, Schneep saved him." Chase translated for the mute.

"Ve all are AX400 models and ve have changed our looks to look like Jack in memory of zhe person zhat started zhis place and saved our lives." Schneep informed us with a tinge of sadness in his voice.

"Jack used to come in and visit us frequently, but then a group of anti-android protestors found out that he was storing androids...they tried to torture him to learn where he hid us, but he didn't tell them, so they-they killed him." Jackaboy choked out, the android hero on the verge of tears.

"So then we became running the place and have been freeing androids ever since." Marvin finished.

"Wow, that's pretty rough." Felix whistled in amazement.

"If you guys are wanting to stay here, we need your help first." Chase replied, gesturing at me and Felix.

"What do you need?" Felix countered.

"We need to find Anti, he...he's not a fan of humans, and he has a not good way of showing it." Jackaboy stated.

Help?

Negotiate?