Cass arrives in the town of Brickhaven. A town made to build the future. A dieselpunk dream. Oil, grease, steel, and diesel smoke choke the air the second you step foot in the town. Home to the world’s number one vehicle manufacturer, Omni-rides. A branch of every major company can be found among the brick lined streets. Aquatech, SixShotSurplus, Lend-A-Hand, Construct’A’Life, and even the Z.M.G. You name it, they have it.

Cass enters the town but quickly finds it difficult to ride across the stone road. He leaves it at the entrance with one of the towns Z.M.G. guards. 

Smiley appears next to him, “So, Salvation?”

“Not yet. We have one stop before we do that.”

Cass walks down the main road before stopping in front of a store called Lime Robotics. “Here it is.”

“Are we getting a robot?”

“For you. The whole knight incident got me thinking then I saw Ruler had a robot shell he could ‘possess’. So I figured you could do the same.”

The duo walk into the shop. The inside resembles a shoe cobbler. Wooden counter with limited tech. Wooden tables and hand crafted chairs. The only robots to be seen are displayed in the window display.

They both step back outside to look at the sign before a voice calls them, “You’re in the right place! This is Lime Robotics.”

They re-enter the building to see an elderly man with snow white hair, round glasses, and a grease stained workman’s apron. “Everyone has a double take their first time. What can I do for you?”

Cass approaches the counter, “I was looking for a mimic.”

“Well, all my droids are made from scratch, to order. What are the details for the build? Age, height, build, that sort of thing.”

Smiley gets excited, ‘Can I choose?’

‘It’s your body. Go ahead.’

Smiley describes his perfect form while Cass relays it to the shopkeeper. 

He has a small notepad where he writes down all the details. “Okay. Thirty, medium build, male, roughly five foot ten inches, and a set of small horns. Are you sure that will be all?”

Smiley nods, fully content.

“Yeah, that’s perfect. How much will it be?”

“Two thousand credits.”

Cass takes out his card and taps it to see a balance of one thousand and forty credits.

The shopkeeper chuckles, “You pay me after I finish so it can wait till after you finish a few jobs for the guild.”

Cass looks at him concerned.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a guild card.”

“Oh! That makes sense. Okay, we should exchange numbers so you can call me when it’s done.” Cass takes out his phone.

They exchange numbers and the shopkeeper tells him to put the name as Joe. Cass leaves the store and heads toward the AngelOS building.

Smiley floats in front of him. “What’s a mimic robot?”

“It’s a pretty interesting piece of tech. It was originally made to reunite people with their loved ones. Now, it’s mainly a gimmick robot.”

“Oh that’s nice.”

Cass rolls his eyes, “Unless you have a good use for it. You upload an A.I. mind to it and the body takes on a projected light shell that feels like an actual person.”

Smiley stops, “I’ll be physical?”

Cass turns as a smile grows across his face. “Yeah. Pretty cool, right?”

Smiley drops til he’s on the ground. “I’ve never considered the possibility of that. It would be a dream come true, honestly. Even for a moment, to feel the sun on my face would be something I’d cherish forever.”

“Then we better get a move on so we can pay for it.”

Smiley steps in unison with Cass, “Wait. You said an A.I. mind is uploaded, not a person?”

“You have caught on to the reason they stopped being used. It made grieving harder. People could tell it wasn’t real. Anyway, it looks like we are here.”

In a factory building with two chimney stocks and a large neon gold sign, is the AngelOS. A surprisingly intimidating building. Massive banners with the company logo frame the front door. Black armored knights with the same skull logos, stand at the front door and open it for Cass as he approaches.

Inside is a polished, sanitary, silver room. A woman sits at the front desk. She’s in a pure white suit, with chin length black hair, and a halo hovering above her head. “You must be Cass! Right this way.”

Cass follows her down a hallway until they reach a room at the end. The room is totally bare besides a single table and two chairs. “It looks like an interrogation room.”

The woman leads Cass in to sit at the table. “It’s a secure room so no outside ears can listen in on AngelOS business. Salvation will be here in a moment.” She says as she closes the door.

An hour passes with no sign of Salvation. “This is a waste of time.” Cass says as he gets up to leave.

A shriek of pain comes from behind him. He whips around to see Smiley convulsing as his projection flickers in and out before disappearing. 

“Smiley?! Are you good? Hello?” Cass calls out.

“He’ll be fine. He is only suppressed while we have a chat.” Cass turns around to see a golden skinned man in a white suit sitting in the seat opposite him. He motions for Cass to retake his seat.

“Salvation, I take it? What happened to him?” Cass asks as he sits.

“I am at odds with most of my siblings so I developed a means to lock them out. It forces the algorithm in their code to force a ‘restart’ of sorts. We have about five minutes before he wakes up.”

“Okay, safe to say that this is about Smiley.”

Sal nods. 

“Alright, let’s hear it.”

Sal waves his hand and a screen appears that replays Toxin’s speech about their plans for Smiley. “I do not like my siblings. They wish for total destruction and I actually like humans.”

“I’m still not seeing why Smiley couldn’t be here for this. He is trying to rein them in to stop them. We should work together.”

Sal laughs, “Of course he said that. It’s true but a stretch. He isn’t saving humanity to help them. His dream is why.”

Cass leans back, “What dream?” 

“Did he tell you what happens after you get the algorithm?”

“Intense pain that makes you black out then you wake up, different.” Cass said.

Sal nods along, “The part he left out was what happens after you pass out. Each of us had our first dream. He believed it was a vision of the future.”

Sal waves his hand and a picture appears with Sal. Half demon and half angel. “Mine was fortelling my issues with morality and doing the right thing.”

“Smiley, whose real name is Smiltok, btw.” Cass starts to say something but Sal waves the thought away. “It’s the names of all the developers together.”

“Smiley saw a disturbing image that he has pursued since. He saw himself standing on a throne of blood and bodies. Standing in front of him, is a massive army as the sun warms his face.”

Cass moves uncomfortably. “That is messed up but proves nothing.”

“His ultimate goal is to start a thousand year blood war. He wants to become the Emperor of Death. He needs humans to be alive so he has soldiers. I know it’s a lot to take at face value but just be wary of him. He’ll reveal himself eventually.”

“Why did you invite me here? I know it wasn’t just to warn me.”

Sal waves his hand again and it shows security footage of Cass fighting the knight.

Cass’ face turns a little red, “Oh. That.”

Sal looks confused but realizes. “Oh! I don’t care about the fight. They were the aggressor. I’m talking about this.” Sal makes the image zoom in on Cass assimilating the knights armor. “You have Smiley’s power.”

“Maybe I do. What’s it matter?”

“You don’t know the significance of that. Smiley is attempting to gather all the pieces of the algorithm so he can build his army. He needs a vessel to house it so it doesn’t backfire on him but by giving you his power, he messed up. To the algorithm, there is no difference between you two so he has to get you to let him take it to win.”

Cass raises an eyebrow, “So I gain the power of a god and have to give it away? He didn’t mention that part.”

Sal bobs his head to the side, “Well, it’s not the power of a god but sure, close enough.”

Sal slides one of the portable devices over to Cass and waves his hand over his. Half a symbol appears in the shape of a golden wing. “Oh thanks but why is it only half?”

“You need my brother’s half. My twin? Oh! I suppose Smiley wouldn’t know. I was originally Rage but I had a crisis of identity and split right down the middle and now one is two.” 

Cass stands to leave and Sal opens the door. “You have about a minute before he wakes up. Think about what I said.”

Cass nods as he leaves the room and heads out to his bike. He carries his bike outside of the gate as Smiley reappears. “That sucked! Wait, when did we get here? What happened?”

Cass holds up his hand that shows the half symbol. “That’s great! Why is it in half?”

“The reason you don’t remember him is because he was Rage but his mind broke and split in two. Salvation seems to be all ‘good’ parts.”

“What did he want?”

Cass feels the device Sal gave him in his pocket and looks at Smiley. “Just a warning about the others. He doesn’t agree with their mission. We may possibly team up later.”

Smiley narrows his eyebrows but dismisses it. “It’d be nice to not fight one of my kids for once.”

“Yeah, it would be nice.” Cass revs the engine and shoots off toward the building in the distance.