Red Velvet Fanfic [prototype]

Volume 1 - A Stroll Down Murder Bot Avenue

 A well built man stood atop a large black mechanical tower in the middle of a desert. A white cowboy hat on his head covering his slicked back blonde hair. The brim shaded his pale, handsome face. His blue eyes fixated on a plume of dust moving towards his location. He took a swig of water from his metal canteen and wiped his mouth with his gloved hand.

"well i'll be a reznors uncle. look who finally decided to show up" he said.

Beside him sat a larger bulky hunk of a man. a Pancho draped over his broad shoulders. His goateed face also shaded by a white cowboy hat, and had slicked back sandy hair beneath it.

"if a reznor was around, id grill that sucker and eat it." the larger man said, with a deep quiet voice.

"yea some reznor flank burgers would hit the spot, bro." the smaller brother replied, he stood up waving his arms. "i wonder if they can see us all the way up here. Maybe if someone with a little more presence helped?"

the larger brother stood up slowly, and raised his hands up into the air as well. The dust trail glided along the sand down below toward them. As it got closer, a 6 wheeled Sand Crawler was visible at the front of the dust wake. The crawler pulled up to the large building the 2 brothers were waiting on. A circular hatch on top of the crawler popped open. A man with a thick, dark unruly beard stuck his head out of the hatch. he wore a pair of dark goggles and looked up to the top of the tower, standing about 8 stories tall.

"are we late?" He called up to them casually.

"there better be water to drink in there!" The smaller brother shouted down to him.
The 2 brothers used a rope to repel down the side of the building and boarded the crawler.

"what took ya' so long Dingo? we were baking out there for hours." The aggitated smaller brother said as he hastily looked through a foot locker for a canteen of water.

"Ay, give us a break will ya'? we came as soon as we saw the flares. Besides you both looked peaceful up there. you're both still whole and breathing." The man called Dingo replied as he drove them away in the crawler.

"the heat is as dangerous as any droid." The large quiet brother chimed in, taking off his hat and wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"yeah, that blazing ball in the heavens was drying us out like 2 slugs in a salt filled frying pan."

"well, listen to this. i didn't ever think i'd see the day the mighty "bad ass" Billy Gunn into "Bawlin'" Billy Gunn." Dingo chuckled.

"not funny." The large brother commented.

"come on now Big Bart. just a little joke. you and your brother just sit back and relax while i get us all rounded' up." Dingo chuckled as he drove the crawler smoothly over the sand. They drove for a few minutes, heading to an identical tower to the one Dingo just picked Bart and Billy up from.

"you sure they're here? i never saw a flare from this direction now that i think about it." Billy asked as he looked out a small plate glass window in the side of the crawler.

"If, they ain't here then they're dead, or as good as dead. They were to hit the south-east tower." Dingo said pointing to a map he had taped to the crawlers center console. Bart nodded as he looked it over.

"make sure you're all reloaded. just in case." Dingo reminded them. i don't see any droids but they could swarm anytime. He skid to a halt at the foot of the building. Bart popped the hatch to look up. there was no sign of the people they were there for.

"nothing" Bart said as he came back down and shut the hatch.

"i'll go look around." Billy nodded as he pulled a lever, unlocking the rear door, which swung down to form a ramp.

"you better be quick." Dingo snickered not that Billy needed to be reminded. Billy ran across the soft hot sand toward the building. he noticed something out of place. a small white piece of paper waving in the wind looked stuck to the metal grates and pipes along the side of the tower.
Upon looking closer, the paper was pierced by a knife as if left there on purpose. Billy tore the paper and turned it over. the word "CHROMA" was smeared crudely on it, written in oil. Billy yanked the knife from the metal pipe and darted back to the crawler.

"that was quick." Dingo quipped.

"just like you said." Bart said holding up the paper and knife.

"Kato's knife, no doubting that." Bart sighed.

"what in the world would he go to Chroma for? you know i expect this from Road Dog but not Kato. ain't he the logical one? he suddenly got a death wish? damn." Dingo grunted in frustration.

"To Chroma then?" Bart asked.

"if Kato went, im sure they had good reason. like Dingo said, he's the logical one." Billy agreed with Bart.

"you can all keep your logic. ain't no logic did anyone good out here in no mans land." DIngo muttered as he slammed his foot on the gas pedal and the crawler sped off.

"well this is it fella's. we're about to pass the reflective barrier. better man that gun Barty boy." Dingo said pointing up to the mounted machine on top of the crawler. Bart took off his hat and put on a pair of goggles then pulled himself up the ladder and took a form grip on the guns handles.

THe crawler zipped through an invisible barrier, which reacted only when the crawler zoomed through it. it looked like the air around them rippled like water. As they passed it, a huge, impossibly large tower stretched into the sky, as if it popped out of thin air. The tower was a massive monolith, a huge black obelisk against the blue sunny sky.

"damn monstrosity looks bigger everytime i see it." Billy said agast, looking out the window.

"probably is. damn droids prolly gonna build until the entire world is consumed by their twisted mechanical city." Dingo said not slowing down. the crawler soared as it flew over a sand dune.

Without fail, a swarm of flying droids began to descend in pursuit of the crawler. the black saucers were quick and nimble, gaining on the crawler below. Bart swung the guns twin barrels towards the incoming hostiles and squeezed the triggers on the handles. the pistons hammered the rounds out, sucking the belt of ammo through it. the Hail of gunfire chewed through the cloud of saucer shaped droids.

"chew'um up Barty boy!! WOOO!" Dingo cheered hearing the machine gun thundering away.

"they were crazy to come in here on foot." Billy said not feeling optimistic about their friends fate. "i hope they are alive just so i can kill them myself for making me take this unnecessary risk."

"what happened to they had good reason? what happened to kato's logic? having second thoughts?" Dingo laughed, as if he was now enjoying himself.

The droids chasing them, were now returning fire. finely tuned laser blasts peppered the sand and crawlers thick metal hull. Bart was still in good shape and continued to bravely fire back at the droids closing in on them.

As the crawler maneuvered Dingo swerved to avoid a sudden upcoming crevice in the sand.

"what the hell is that?" he spun the steering sticks hard to the left. Billy looked out the window.

"looks like some sort of waste ditch. maybe a drainage system? ive never been around the city this far out. " Billy tried to explain what it was.

"why would a city of murdering robots need a drainage system?" Dingo asked.

"what am i? a Chroma engineer? how would i know? but that canal might work in our favor. if we go down, the droids will flow in following us, right into Barts killbox!" Billy exclaimed.

"yea thats a great idea, except it limits my direction to forward and backward. the sides of that thing are awfully steep, if we go down can we get out? what if more droids show up?" Dingo argued.

"Just get in the damn thing we ain't any safer out here! or you wanna tuck tail and run, leaving our comrades out here to die." Billy told him.

"whatever then have it your way! HOLD ON UP THERE BARTY!!" Dingo turned toward the right, launching the crawler down into the canal carved into the sandy earth. it splashed down into the shallow water. Bart braced himself for the landing and held on tight.

As predicted the droids followed them down into the canal and narrowed there formation, making it easier for Bart to shoot them to shreds. after a few curves in the canal, Dingo slammed on the brakes, bringing the crawler to a skidding halt before a large pooling basin... and behind that a large run off wall stood. dirty water flowed down the wall into the basin.

"i told ya, dead end!" Dingo said slamming the dashboard. Bart show down the last of the droids. his hands tingled inside the gloves from the non-stop firing of the gun. the twin red hot barrels bellowed smoke.

"what now? go back and look for an exit? another droid unit will be on us like vultures soon." Bart called down to them.

Another unexpected voice answered him from outside the crawler  however. A young man with shaggy  haired man jumped out from behind some scrap metal on the edge of the drainage pool. a big grin was on his stubbly face.
"you big handsome ass-kicker! I could kiss you!" he exclaimed seeing Bart atop the crawler looking all heroic.

another man came out as well. a slender man with dark hair and thin dark eyes. he had a thin mustache on his upper lip and a triangular goatee on the lower.

Bart knocked on the inside of the porthole he stood in with his boot to get his partners attention.
"road dog and raccoon dog alive and ready for extraction." Bart announced.

The rear ramp door fell open and billy came out to see them.

"what in the blazes were you 2 thinking coming this far into the kill-zone unprepared?" Billy shouted.

"hey, dont look at me!" Road dog said putting his hands up innocently, noticing Billy was directing his frustration at him. "i mean sure any other time i'd blame me too but this was Raccoons idea!" Billy nodded awkwardly and fixed his glare at Raccoon dog.

"Kato? you decided to come all the way out here? totally off mission and into the mechanical hornets nest?"

"he sure did. when the reflective barrier was adjusting, you know when it fades slightly and you can just about see Chroma slightly through it? that really rare glitch? well ole' eagle eyes said he saw an explosion come from Chroma through that anomaly." Road Dog declared folding his arms. "said we need to investigate. Mhmm. so i just followed his lead."

"you saw an 'explosion'?" Billy groaned.

"whats up? Dingo said poking his head out the back of the crawler.

"you sure it wasnt just a glitch or some barrier reaction?" Billy asked.

"hey Kato's senses are the keenest." ROad Dog said.

"it was an explosion. Droids are quite the engineers. look at this structure, still standing. the droids still operating all these years. it is not common for the droids infrastructures to malfunction. it was worth investigating." Kato/Raccoon Dog answered Billy.

"he makes a good point.. but uh.." Dingo chimed in.

"the explosion was a good ways up too. chances it was humans up there arent likely." Road Dog added.

"all this scrap is what came down. a lot of rare parts. should fetch us some good money. lets load it up shall we?"

"how'd you know we'd come? what if we didnt happen to run into you? like finding a grain of salt in a desert type odds! in fact im shocked you even made it this far alive!" Billy shouted.

"well we had the flare still. we just were waiting for the right time to use it. we didnt expect you'd be here so soon." Kato explained.

"money is a motivator." Billy nodded.

"whatever, quit the chit-chat and load up before the drones come back and melt us. let's go!" Dingo shouted impatiently.

"okay okay. relax. Dingo grab the wheel, back her in so we can load up and be ready to take off if the droids come. Bart, you stay frosty on the guns. cover us while we get our score all onboard." Billy told them. He quickly joined Kato and Road Dog and helped them haul all the scrap metal and droid remains up the ramp. The scurried back and forth, making many trips trying to get as much as they could before more human hating droids came back for more.

"okay, i think we should go." Dingo barked from the driver seat.

"alright Dingo. Hey, Kato, Roadie. bring it in. we're outta'time." Billy said circling his hand in the air.

Road dog was on the far side of the pool where the water poured from the top of the wall from the level above. He saw a hand axe on the edge of the pool.
"hmmm. dont see much tools like this out here." He thought as he tucked it in his belt. he then saw a crossbow stuck under some twisted metal panels. he used his strength to move the large bent metal sheet and scooted the cross bow out with his foot. When it got close enough he reached down to grasp it.

"Roadie let's go man!" Billy shouted across the draining pool. Road Dog held up his index finger, telling them to give him a second.
Road Dog went to lift the cross bow, but the strap was snagged on something. He pulled it harder and it came out, but it also revealed what it was caught on: A human arm. It caught Road Dog off guard.
"theres a body over here." Road Dog told billy.

BIlly just shrugged.
"lot's of bodies out here. yours too if ya dont get yer' scrawny ass over here. Move it or lose it!"

Road Dog unwrapped the strap that was twisted around the limbs wrist. as he unwound it, it fingers twitched briefly.

"holy lug-nuts!" IT'S ALIVE! THIS PERSON IS ALIVE!" Road Dog yelled.

"okay we arent an ambulance. do the right thing, put one in the cranium, end their suffering." Billy said pointing his finger at his temple like a gun.

Road Dog heaved the large metal piece off the body the best he could. A young girl laid beneath it.

"it's just a kid!" Road Dog said dragging her lower half from the water. Kato came out to assist him.

"are you kidding me?" Billy sighed.

"whats going on! i said come on!" Dingo said banging his hand on the roof above him.

"you dont want to know." Billy moaned.

Kato put his fingers on the girls neck to feel a pulse and held his ear close to her lips.

"feint pulse and breathing. she is alive." KAto confirmed. they lifted the girl and carried her up the ramp and into the crawler.

"we cant be rescuing other numb skulls dumb enough to venture out here!" Dingo said as he finally drove the crawler back down the canal.

"man, save it. this is a kid. what is a kid her age doing alone out here?" Road Dog argued.

"kids are dumb man! probably came out here with some friends trying to be cool or something!" Billy threw his hands in the air.

"do you want to toss her out the back then?" Kato asked Billy.

"Tch." Billy just clicked as he went to sit in the passenger seat by Dingo.

"i duno. something different about this one." Road Dog said rubbing his chin.

"she wasnt in the water very long. no pruning.. also her skin is very pale. not a sign of someone who has been wandering out here. also her clothes look strange." Kato observed.

"yea they're a tattered mess cause she decided to take a stroll through Murder Bot Avenue." Billy sighed.

"well, whatever she is doing out here don't matter. we ain't leaving a poor kid out here alone to die. come on Billy." Road Dog said to him.

"he's right bro." Bart called down to them as he remained vigilant on the gun.

"whatever." BIlly said kicking his feet up on the console.

"we can bring her to the hospital when we get back to Rust Valley. Shes just gotta hang in there 'til then." Dingo told them as the crawler sped down the canal to safety...