II. Going Wrong

“Why do you fight me?” Blue asked. “What happened to you?”

“Well, it’s quite simple,” Cutter throws a scissor blade that Blue barely dodges. “I went bad.”

BOOT UP

Cutter was dressed for work. Displaying his old red and black industrial jacket, amateur Detective badge pinned to the collar, with blades tucked in the sleeves, stepped off the Rock City shuttle. The code for Shin’s dog, Giggles, lead to the worst neighborhood in the city, the Glitches.

Rock City might be an ever-advancing shimmering city of beauty and splendor, but with each upgrade there are leftovers. Those left behind live between Roll Street and Light Boulevard. On each corner was either a broken service robot, a member of the Red Gang or a lower-class human family. Cutter didn’t know how a pet robot dog got into this neighborhood, since Shin lives in the upper spires of the city, nowhere near here, but a job’s a job and despite the local troubles it still seemed to be a simple one.

Cutter left the shuttle to see a charger less service bot, construction model, offline with the words war veteran painted on his chest. Cutter wasn’t sure if it was the atmosphere or guilt, but the old war instincts kicked in and a scissor blade went from sleeve to hand in seconds. He only had so many blades left after the Rock City Police removed his maker chip that came with his function. Sometimes Cutter worried that’s why he became a detective robot and didn’t return to wood harvesting. Maybe he didn’t want to be something new and change, maybe he couldn’t do his old function at all.

He sheathed his blade and began to follow the dog’s tracking signal on his Wrist-Clock.

*****

Giggles, as his owner called him, was, like every other Nickle-Do Model 27, a Rush product. Meaning he was made quickly and efficiently for mass production, but unlike most owners that play with the Nickle-Do Model 27 for a couple days then leave them in a garage or closet somewhere, Shin played with and updated Giggles on a regular basis. The Nickle-Do Model 27 was five models behind, but Shin put a lot of work into the little robot dog. Giggles upgrades included a voice adapter to talk to people, a wireless internet connection, and, of course, hoverboard capabilities.

Sadly, Shin’s father, Akira Kurosawa, the famous talk show host and entertainment entrepreneur, thought his son should outgrow such childish things. He had his nanny buy him a new one and handed the mangy robot to the scraps pile. But without Mr. Kurosawa’s knowledge Shin installed a come home upgrade, so the robot dog, now lost in the middle of the Glitches, is trying to find his way home.

*****

The Red Gang, currently lead by a man named Keiji, nicknamed Quick by his peers, is a group of humans that wish they were robots to an obsessive degree. Their bodies were covered in mods and upgrades to test their skills against their robot brethren. Inspired by the War of the Robots the Red Gang has romanticized so much. To their disappointment, most robots nowadays are programmed not to harm humans. So, that kinda puts a wrench in their plans, but the glitches are filled with worthless robots that deserve a reminder of who deserves to be robots more than them.

*****

“General Blade?” Someone said as Cutter walked by.

He turned to see one of many rusted Coyote soldier bots, sitting on the sidewalk.

“You got the wrong guy,” Cutter said and walked on.

“It’s you!” He yelled as Cutter walked on. "I'd recognize you anywhere."

Cutter kept walking.

“I don’t believe the lies! That the Generals have given into the humanities whims, I believe in you, sir. We will—

Cutter couldn’t hear the old bot on the other side of the corner. He had tracked down the robot dog, but sadly, so had the Red Gang. Five members with robotic advancements had the mutt backed into a corner.

“Hello, little doggy, what brings you down here?”

“I must find my master Shin Kurosawa,” Giggles said. Then one of the Red Gang Kicked him almost faster than Cutter's cybernetic eye could process. Giggles tried to fly away, but the fast one never lets him get far enough. Cutter wasn’t allowed to attack humans so he would have to come up with a calm and clever plan around this.

“Hey,” Cutter yelled down the alley, pointing to the other side. “It’s the cops!”

The Red Gang turned on instinct and this gave giggles enough time to escape toward Cutter.

“Hey there ain’t no cops,” Keiji said, but when he turned around Cutter was already running after Giggles.

“I need to return to Shin,” Giggles told Cutter as he picked him up. “Where is Shin Kurosawa?"

“We're on the way buddy,” Cutter said. Turning a third corner to keep the Red Gang from following a straight line.

Keiji wasn't letting him get away that easy.