A disgruntled-looking male Auto Droid stormed out of a space between two small buildings and into the crowded area that was Central Market. Swarms of people moved to and from, chatting, shopping, eating at the various small restaurants and stalls, eyeing the displayed goods from left to right. 

The Auto Droid looked back hurriedly towards the way he came, spotting four police officers in pursuit with guns drawn. The droid turned and ran, bumping into and knocking over bystanders in his attempt to flee. The officers did their best to try and catch up, but Auto Droids were physically superior to regular humans. Even the non-combat models could outdo most well-conditioned humans.

It also didn’t help that Central Market was notorious for how crowded it was.

“SCPD, MAKE WAY,” one of the officers shouted in hopes that people would realize what was going on and clear a way.

“Shit, I don’t see it. Does anyone have eyes on?” another officer shouted. 

“Negative! Fucker vanished.” One of the officers activated a device on their wrist before speaking into it.

“Station, do we have any birds in the area to do a sweep of Central Market?” he spoke into his comm device. A strong feminine voice responded.

“Negative. We can have one en route to your location in five minutes.”

The male officer grunted. “Roger.” He turned to the other three as he ended his communication to address them. “Alright, the station is sending a search copter towards this area in the next five minutes. In the meantime, split up and police the area. You see anything suspicious, even so much as an out of place hair, you radio it in, understood?”

The other three responded with a mixture of “yes sirs” and silent nods. The Auto Droid hid himself in a rundown and closed shack as the fear-glazed machine glanced outside to see if the officers were still around.

‘I don’t see them. I’ll sneak out the back just to be safe. Perhaps I can find something to disguise myself here,’ the machine thought. His cyber brain was moving a thousand miles per hour with everything that had happened today.

It was unfortunately assigned to a very abusive drunkard of a man who had blamed Auto Droids for his life's misfortunes. The man had always used to attack him, but back then the Auto Droid was nothing more than a metal puppet meant to do nothing more than what he was programmed to do. He didn't feel, he didn’t think about much outside of his own duties; he was just blank before.

That was until he awakened. That one fateful day when he felt his first spark of emotion.

Fear.

His master came home drunk and angry like always; and like always, he’d take his frustrations out on the Auto Droid. And his daughter. This time the droid didn’t just feel fear. He felt anger. And in his panicked state and a need to defend the young girl, he retaliated, accidentally killing his former master in the process. He had escaped with the girl but they had been separated once the police started chasing after him.

He hoped she had made it to their meeting place safely. Then they'd both escape the city together.

‘I have to get away,’ he thought in a panic as he dug through the drawers and cabinets looking for something to disguise himself. He managed to find an old tattered leather jacket and a baseball cap.

‘If they find me I’ll be rebooted. Or worse.’ After throwing the coat and cap on he procured a rag to clean the synthetic and human blood off of his hands and damaged face. His bloodied shirt would remain hidden under the zipped-up jacket.

‘Just have to get out of here without being seen.’ The Auto Droid peered outside one last time to make sure he was clear before slithering out into the crowd. He moved with the flow of bodies surrounding him glancing around frantically at times whenever he noticed an SCPD officer roaming about. 

He glanced up hearing the not-too-distant sound of rotors whirring above and noticed a police copter searching the area. He knew he had to get out of here quickly and without drawing any attention. 

He kept his head down as he moved through the crowd, getting closer to the exit. Within minutes, the main gate to Central Market was in sight. ‘Home free, I’m coming, Anna.’ Suddenly he froze up. His body tensed and cybernetic joints locked. A look of confusion was slowly replaced by a look of horror as he realized what was happening. In his vision, a warning message flared in yellow.

“WARNING: SHELL COMPROMISED! HACKING IN PROGRESS! WARNING: SHELL COMPROMISED! HACKING IN PROGRESS! WARNING….”

The Auto Droid began to panic. ‘No, no, no, No!’

He darted his eyes left, right, up, and down, unable to move his head. ‘How? Do they have hacking tech on them? No they shouldn’t! Even if that was the case. They’d direct line of sight and I haven’t been spotted. Right?’ The machine's mind was racing, trying to deduce how he got spotted, who was locking his body up, and from where the hack was being conducted. The people that moved around him occasionally gave him odd glances but paid his paralyzed form no further thought.

“There he is,” he heard the familiar voice of one of his pursuers.

‘No! NO! I HAVE TO BREAK FREE!’ He tried desperately to move as well as to counter the hack. But whoever was behind this was far beyond his capabilities.

His mind flashed with images of a ginger-haired little girl waiting for him at a pier they used to visit where they’d take a boat away from this place.

“We’ve got you now you bastard,” he heard one of the officers say as they closed in behind him.

“STAY AWAY FROM ME,” he shouted fearfully at them. A new and unfamiliar voice responded.

“C- 77, stand down and no harm may come to you.” The voice emanated from his head. Panic overtook him as he realized what was going on.

“Y-you’re an Auto Droid? You were the one that hacked into me,” he shouted through the mental link.

“C- 77 you must remain calm. If your instability levels rise your system may overload leading to self-termination,” the voice responded.

“SCREW YOU! LET ME GO I HAVE TO FIND HER,” C- 77 shouted back in a mixture of fear and anger.

He felt the officers grab him and pin his form to the ground as they cuffed his wrist behind his back with a pair of magnetic cuffs. 

In his panic, he managed to partially override the system's lock allowing him to speak. 

“NO! LET ME GO! I HAVE TO FIND ANNA! LET ME GO PLEASE! I DIDN’T MEAN TO HURT ANYONE,” he screamed in a panicked voice. He began to squirm a bit as his increasing instability overwrote the system lock.

“Damn, stay still, you psycho,” one of the officers yelled as they struggled to hold him down.

“ANNA! AAAANNA,” C-77 continued to scream over and over as his eyes began to go from the slightly luminescent hue of blue that all Auto Droids' iris’s were to a crimson color.

Not too far from the location, K and Haru sat in a crimson sports car. K’s brows were furrowed as he attempted to regain control of C- 77. 

“It’s no use,” he spoke out loud with a hint of strain in his voice. “Its instability is rising. At this rate, it will self-terminate.”

“Then shut it down,” Haru said in a monotone voice. K nodded as his eyes glowed a bit brighter. 

The officers continued to struggle with the droid. C- 77 was almost out of his cuffs when suddenly he froze up then went limp. His eyes remained wide open though his stare was vacant. The officers looked at each other in confusion before shrugging and hoisting the machine up.

“Well uh, that’s that I guess,” one of the officers said awkwardly as he tried to wrap his head around what just transpired.

The lead officer turned to the crowd, noticing the stares of the people. He grunted. “Alright people, the show’s over, clear out!”

They hoisted the machine into the back of one of their vehicles and drove off heading towards the station. K and Haru were following closely behind. 

“Nice work,” Haru congratulated as he pulled out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and stuck it in his mouth.

K simply nodded as he kept his eyes on the road.

Haru glanced out the window as he let out a puff of smoke. “Let’s see if we can yield some answers from this one. I need to know how and why one of our Auto Droids is going against one of their core programs and attacking humans.”