The large mechanical man stood over ten feet tall and had a wide body. It was made entirely out of a bronze metal that seemed to gleam in the low light of the room. Its knees hissed with the sound of pneumatic pistons as it crouched down slightly to pass through the large door. Shaggy could see that the automaton’s arms ended in round wrecking-balls that were easily the size of his torso.
Shaggy watched as Ephemara phased out of existence and Slink gave a low moan as Moe appeared on his wrist. He summoned his own claws again and lowered his stance, ready for a fight. But a loud snap-hiss and a crackle resounded in the room before an elderly voice emitted from the robot.
“Ahh, it appears that my sensors were not incorrect after all. A few sewer rats have been using one of my escape tunnels. I would suggest that you all surrender peaceably. I have no desire or time to clear out your bodies.”
Shaggy grimaced. “Yeah, I’m going to go ahead and say fuck that!”
Shaggy leapt at the robot and slashed his claws at the large robot’s chest. However, where he expected to feel his claws dig into and through the metal, he felt his arms rebound harshly. His shoulder nearly popped as Shaggy spun out from his attack and soon he felt a red hot burning coming from his claws.
Wincing in pain as the burning grew and grew, Shaggy glanced down. Some kind of clear liquid was covering his claws, and he could see them slowly being eaten away. The pain was about to become unbearable so he quick dismissed his claws and checked his hands. Luckily, whatever was covering them feel off once he transformed and his hands were rapidly healing the red burn marks left over.
“Very interesting. A Therianthrope with an enhanced healing factor.” The elderly man’s voice said.
The robot turned to regard Shaggy as he grit his teeth while his hands healed.
“I trust there will be no other objections? Also, could the young miss currently hiding in the room please revert back? Your phasing abilities are playing havoc with my sensors. Half of them say that you aren’t there and the other half are screaming that something should be there.”
As the old man spoke, Shaggy looked over the robot, hoping for another line of attack. Slink was glancing around, looking for Ephemara. But the young woman hadn’t reappeared yet. Shaggy noted that the giant automaton’s feet and legs weren’t covered by the clear liquid, and so he formulated a plan. But the old man’s voice spoke again, before he acted.
“Young lady, I grow tired of your insubordination. Please de-phase or I will be forced to retreat this unit and lock the escape tunnel door. Once that is done I will have this room flooded with poison then flood it again to be rid of your bodies. If, however, your abilities extend to phasing through objects. Then be aware, the only thing past this door are MY escape tunnels. You are all completely within my control. Now PRESENT YOURSELF!”
After the scream, the voice fell into a fit of coughing and Shaggy realized something. Even if he trashed this robot, there were probably a few more in the tunnels beyond. One running battle was enough for today, and at least this guy was a villain. So he wouldn’t throw them in jail. He would probably just kill them. Shaggy sighed as Ephemara seemed to come to the same conclusion and reappeared.
The old man’s coughing fit ended as he said. “Very good. Now if you would all be so kind to follow Omega-1. We can have any further conversations in a more civil setting.”
Shaggy grimaced again, but nodded at Slink and Ephemara. The large robot, Omega-1, crouched its way back out the door as Shaggy continued to study its design. It reminded him of the cover of one of his wife’s Steampunk books. All metal piping and whirring pistons. As they followed the big robot out into the dark sewer tunnel, Ephemara whispered in his ear.
“This is bad. Cog is batshit insane. We have to escape.”
Shaggy was about to ask something when the old man, Cog, yelled indignantly. But now his voice was coming from everywhere.
“INSANE!? What is insane about wanting to achieve the ultimate in human perfection? An achievement that can only be obtained by the addition of non-degradable, non-organic materials? The way forward for both Alien and Human species is through the application of such technologies. Why I remember…”
Shaggy ignored the old man’s continued ranting as he raised an eyebrow at Ephemara. The young woman shrugged and sighed. Slink behind her had a pensive look on his face as they traveled down the large, round sewer tunnel. Shaggy gave the boy a questioning look as he asked.
“What’s up?”
Slink nervously wrung his hands as his eyes upward. “It’s almost time for me to log out. What’s gonna happen to me in-game?”
“Oh, then I guess your adventure is over. You’ll just appear back at your home location, so the bar or the lair. But the world will move on, so I’ll get to enjoy this wonderful torture sequence alone.” Shaggy grinned at the alarmed look on the boy’s face.
“But what about the NPCs? Will they remember I was here? Will you get in trouble with the old man if one of us just up and disappears?”
Shaggy shook his head. “Naw, the game AI will react like you were never with us to begin with. To Ephemara, it would seem like you escaped by yourself during the rescue and to this old man, it’ll be like you were never there.”
“So I will lose Affinity with Ephe?” Slink asked worriedly.
Shaggy scratched his head. “Well, I guess? If you gained any during the escape then, yeah, you’d take a small Affinity hit. There has to be some negatives to leaving in the middle of doing something. Like if you use it to escape from someone chasing you or something, the System will balance it out. So maybe the NPCs chasing you will magically find your trail when you log back in or if it was another player, they will get a hint by the system to your current location. The AI is pretty good at keeping things fair and realistic. At least it was in other games, and this game is way more advanced, in my opinion.”
Slink nodded before he steeled himself. “Well then, I have to log out. Sorry about this.”
Shaggy waved him off. “Bah! You’re fine, kid. If I’m not back in Under-Town when you log back in, tell the others what happened, okay?”
Slink gave a two-finger salute and then vanished into motes of light. Shaggy could hear Cog still preaching his trans-humanist rhetoric. He sighed as he walked beside Ephemara and Omega. It was turning into a long journey. One that was interspersed with the old man ranting about the various ways humanity was doomed to failure. He tried to have a quiet conversation with Ephemara a few times, but the old man’s ranting was as intrusive as it was insufferable.
Shaggy eventually gave up as they finished a long stretch of curved tunnel and entered a large open domed room with multiple tunnels drip feeding sewage into a larger tunnel. Shaggy plugged up his nose as his eyes watered. He hurried after Omega, who trundled along the pathway until it got to a large section of piping. It used its large wrecking-ball sized hands to knock gently on the wall.
Suddenly, the squeal of twisting pipes filled Shaggy’s ears as several valves twisted themselves and the wall of pipes swung inward, revealing another tunnel. Shaggy gave another sigh as they moved into the large tunnel. At least this one was well lit with what looked like bright light-bulbs placed along the tunnel. As Shaggy looked around at the new tunnel, he found it was better built and seemed newer than the ones they had passed through earlier.
“Finally.” Ephemara whispered.
It took Shaggy a few seconds to realize that Cog’s droning preaching had stopped. He smiled as he moved close to Ephemara and whispered back.
“Old man can bluster, eh?”
She nodded at him before gazing at Omega-1’s colossal frame. “So what’s the plan, boss? He obviously can detect me, but that just means he’ll know when I leave. I don’t think he can stop me. But what about you?”
Shaggy waved her off as he noticed more movement in the tunnel. Several concave divots in the walls seemed to shift and he could just make out the creaking of metal. Looking closer, he could make out several slim robots that were shorter and more sleek looking than Omega-1. He waited for them to attack or something, but they merely shifted as his group walked past.
Judging it safe to talk again, Shaggy answered. “If it comes to it, get yourself out and I’ll meet you topside. Where we started, got it?”
“Ya sure, boss?”
“Of course,” Shaggy whispered back. “I have a pocket full of candy and enhanced healing. I’ll be fine.”
Ephemara pulled a face. “Candy drenched in sewer water. Are you really gonna eat that?”
“Sure. Why not? It’s still in the wrapper. Also, if push comes to shove and I need to eat, I’m going to eat. Won’t have a choice.”
She kept the disgusted look on her face until a bright light appeared ahead of them and nearly blinded them both. It filled their tunnel with artificial light and cast the nearby robots in sharp relief. They almost covered the side walls and stood shoulder to shoulder. They were even stacked on top of each other in pairs. Shaggy reassessed his escape plans as they entered another large, domed room.
Where the first was made of stone and was clearly made for the sewer system, this one was all metal. Loud automated machine whirred and clanged nearby. Churning out bits of machinery Shaggy could not identify. Large industrial smelters were roaring as small robots tossed in scraps of metal. A raised platform sat in the center of the large room. Just below the platform stood three rows of memory banks arranged in a circle. At the center of that circle, on the platform itself, was a wide computer desk and an even larger holo-monitor with an old man seated in front of it.
Omega-1 waved them forward as it stopped moving. Clearing indicating it wanted them to approach Cog by themselves. Shaggy shrugged and moved forward as the old man slowly stood from his large metal chair. The chair was made of the same bronze metal as the robots that surrounded them and even had the odd bits of metal piping traveling along its sides. As they got closer, Shaggy realized the Cog was not just ranting and raving about his beliefs. He had actually done it to himself.
The old man’s body was a mix of metal and human. His body was a crisscross patchwork of metal piping, his right arm was entirely replaced with a metal one, and his right hand was a three-pronged claw. Both of his legs were replaced with slim, bronze-metal limbs that were more sleek in design than any Shaggy had seen. Even one of the old man’s eyes had been replaced with the glowing red glass of his automatons.
Shaggy was walking up the center platform as Cog raised a hand in greeting. The old man would’ve looked like a kindly grandpa if it wasn’t for all the metal bits sticking out of him. Ephemara and Shaggy made it to the top of the platform and watched the older man as he went to shake Shaggy’s hand.
“Welcome, my boy, welcome to my little playground. It is a microcosm of what I imagine the world to be.”
Shaggy grunted as he stared down at the offered hand. “You mean you sitting at the center of everything surrounded by your machines?”
Cog waved his hand dismissively. “Oh please, don’t pretend to be one of those stuffy types. Leaders will always step up to replace their inferiors. My time will come, but that is not why you are here.”
“Why are we here?” Ephemara asked, drawing an almost hateful look from Cog.
The looked was replaced almost immediately with a placid one and Cog grunted idly. “Why don’t you join 1138 in the cafeteria while I explain to your friend not only what I want, but what I can do for you as well?”
Shaggy grinned. “Actually, food sounds good about now. How about we all head to the cafeteria and you can explain to both of us?”
The hateful glare appeared on Cog’s face again, only to be replaced again. Shaggy shook his head and the old Villain’s obvious attempts to separate them. The man clearly hadn’t been in a social situation with people in a long while. Cog nodded happily at the idea and pointed at a small humanoid robot.
“Just follow 1138 as I get my chair.”
The small blocky robot waddled off on two legs, followed by Shaggy and Ephemara. A loud new sound came to their ears as they made it to the bottom of the platform. Turning to look, he saw Cog in his metal chair floating after them. It wasn’t fast, and Shaggy found it completely odd. In a world of flying cars, a floating chair just made you seem lazy. Which made Shaggy think the chair had another nefarious purpose.
He made a mental note to keep an eye on the chair as 1138 stamped its foot impatiently. Ephemara grinned down at the foot high robot before they started walking again. Shaggy took in the large room as they made their way across it. The large circular room had five tunnels shooting off from it, not including the one they had come from. Each tunnel was almost completely obstructed by conveyor belts full of parts traveling down them. Shaggy could make out various bits of bronze metal being moved in and out of the tunnels.
Cog moved his large chair to above Shaggy’s shoulder and grinned down at him. “Impressive, isn’t it? The whir and clang of industry. Moving things ever forward toward their inevitable conclusion. All put into motion by my genius, of course.”
Shaggy gave the old man a bland smile. “Yes, it’s a nice automated system of conveyors belts.”
Cog smiled back, obviously proud of himself. They came to a metal wall that slid away after 1138 did some kind of intricate knock. They entered what was probably the world smallest cafeteria with three tables and barely enough chairs for each of them. Along the back wall was an industrial style kitchen with a stove, sink, oven, and fridge with a bar-like countertop in front of it. Shaggy sat down and waited for the others to join them.
Cog floated his chair next to Shaggy and stopped. But Ephemara couldn’t sit as 1138 had grabbed her pant leg and was pointing at the kitchen area. Cog rubbed his hands together as he licked his lips.
“I am excited to see what your woman can cook up for us. It’s been so long since I had a decent meal.”
“I’m sorry what?”
“His WOMAN?!”
Shaggy and Ephemara spoke over each other as Cog looked at them like they were idiots. The old man carefully produced a napkin from somewhere in his chair and placed it on his lap. He glanced up at Ephemara before turning to Shaggy.
“Oh, of course I just assumed you were traveling with your... girlfriend? Side-piece? What is the proper word these days? No matter. Send her to the kitchen so that we men can talk.” Cog spoke with a finality that was mind-boggling.
Shaggy coughed as he attempted to correct Cog. “Um, she is not MY woman. She’s a partner and whatever you have to say to me can be said to her. Just have one of your bots cook us something.”
Cog looked downright affronted. “That’s a woman’s work! I won’t have my monuments to perfection sullied by attempting something so... female.”
“But you have no problem with me being... sullied, with such work.” Ephemara said through gritted teeth.
“That’s your lot in life. Blame god for not blessing you with the right gender. Although I suppose I can fix it with the proper modifications. Of course, you’ll have to submit to being marked with the proper identifiers to show you are a lesser male.”
Shaggy had to throw himself out of the way as Ephemara threw herself at Cog. The old man smiled idly as a purple shield pulsed into life and shocked Ephemara clear back over the table and into the wall. She lay on the ground, groaning in pain as traces of purple energy crawled along her body. Shaggy picked himself and glanced at Cog who was grinning maniacally.
“Woman. They never learn their proper place until you put them in it. More so these days.”
Shaggy grimaced at the old man’s words but forced himself to nod. “Oh yeah, I see what you mean.”
Shaggy stood up next to Cog’s chair and stared down at Ephemara. He tried to communicate with his eyes for her to phase and get out as he placed a hand on Cog’s chair. When no purple shield popped up, he turned and smiled at the old man. The next second he had his claws out and he was tearing into the chair with his right hand as his left swung wide right at the old man’s face. Sparks and metal flew as the purple shield reengaged and Shaggy was sent sprawling toward the kitchen counter.
Shaggy felt all the muscles in his body tense up. Nearby, Cog screamed and cursed. Shaggy was too stunned to look around when Ephemara’s face appeared over him. She leaned down to pick him up as Shaggy tried to tell her to run. But his mouth wasn’t obeying his orders. As she stood him up, he saw Cog in his chair, rapidly spinning in circles. The old man was trying to grab a hold of several flailing wires as he spun.
Shaggy felt his muscles stop their spasms and tried to talk again.
“Go!” He grunted painfully.
Ephemara glared at him and shook her head. “Not without you and not without giving that sexist asshole a piece of my mind.”
Shaggy grunted again as his legs firmed up underneath him. “Get out of here, Ephemera! I got this. Like we agreed.”
“I never agreed, and that was before this fuck went all old world on me.”
“Just get the fuck out of here, damn it! I’ll pay him back for you and meet you topside.”
Ephemara glared at him, but let him go and phased. At the last second, 1138 lunged from nowhere and stabbed Ephemara in the back with something. A look of pain crossed her face as she vanished, taking 1138 with her. Shaggy grimaced and hoped his NPC friend would make it, but for now, he needed to get out of here.
He rushed out of the room, past the screaming Cog, and into the main chamber. As he ran, he raked his claws over every bit of machinery he could touch. Clawing through everything as fast as he could. Nearby, he could see big Omega-type robots pouring into the room along with their smaller brothers. Shaggy even had to boot a few one foot droids out of his way as he traveled toward the center of the room.
“Kill him! Stop him, damn it!” Cog screamed from behind him.
Shaggy spared a glance behind him as he stabbed into the nearest memory bank. Cog had abandoned his chair and was running full speed on his metal legs. Shaggy ignored him and clawed into the next large bank. He clawed through another as an Omega-droid appeared in front of him and swung its massive wrecking ball-shaped hand. Shaggy dove underneath the swing and dove for the next memory bank.
Both of his claws slashed through the large bank and Shaggy tore his claws free. But before he could turn, a sharp pain pierced his abdomen. Looking down, he saw a triangular sword had stabbed right through him. One of the skinnier robots had jammed it’s metal sword arm straight through hi. Shaggy yanked his body off the sword as he healed and stumbled toward the next bank. He raised his hand to attack when a large whirring came from behind him. Thinking quickly, he dove to the side and looked back to see several of the smaller robots crouched down, ready to thrust their weird swords at him again.
Shaggy grimaced and ran out of the circle of memory banks. He dodged a few more thrusts, luckily there were so many robots that they were hurting each other more than they were him. Shaggy slashed the legs of a sword robot and body checked it into a large machine nearby before running off again. He could still hear Cog shouting behind him as he chose a tunnel at random and followed its conveyor belts. Shaggy noted, idly, that these belts were carrying open chest pieces from the Omega robots.
Shaggy dodged a few more sword robots that seemed far faster than the Omega variants. But they were also more fragile. He could easily tear into them with his claws, and continue moving. He saw the end of the tunnel he was following as he reached a hand into his pocket. Shaggy idly swiped at a lunging robot creating a large gouge in its chest as he pulled a candy bar from his pocket. He entered the room just as he got the wrapper off, but what he saw made him lose his appetite.
The room was full of mechanical arms, placing human torsos into the Omega-bots. The bodies were cut in half and blood and entrails still leaked out of them as the mechanical arms stuffed them into their bronze shells. Shaggy almost threw up as he watched the macabre display. Toward the back of the room, the Omega-bots were transferred along the conveyor belt into another section of Cog’s base. Shaggy wasn’t sure he wanted to follow the bots anymore if this was only the start of their transformation. But the collective noise coming from behind him and the still attack sword droids forced him to.
Candy bar forgotten, he made a dash for the exit as he idly raked his claws along droid and conveyor belt alike. Shaggy angrily smashed every mechanical arm he came across. Shaggy wanted to destroy every bit of this fucking machine. He was so set on destroying the arms that he even took a few slashes from the sword-bots. ignoring the pain, he got to the exit and destroyed the last mechanical arm. He was in the middle of turning to attack another sword bot when a large purple blast hit him in his side.
He felt a cool breeze on his left side and looked down to see his left arm and shoulder were gone. Along with part of his torso. Shaggy fell to his knees as his healing did what it could, but several sword-bots stabbed into his guts. Shaggy grimaced and swung feebly at the surrounding droids. A large metal ball appeared in his vision and he felt the swords rip out of him as he rocketed backwards. He grunted as he hit a wall and tried to pick himself back up.
But as he levered himself up with his hands, he realized his legs were gone. He was just a torso. The same as every other body in the room. He had the chilling thought of having his body turned into one of the Omega’s. Cog’s voice spoke up as Shaggy glanced around.
“Oh, don’t worry. I have special plans for you and your special body. Genetics aren’t really my thing. But I am sure I can manage.”
Cog appeared out of the crowd of bots surrounding Shaggy. The robots had all stopped, standing eerily still as Cog approached. The old man raised his right hand and his three claws spread wide, revealing a hole in the center of Cog’s arm that crackled with purple energy. Cog looked down sadly at Shaggy, almost confused.
“Why can’t people understand? Why can’t they see the perfect and correct way of the world?! It is all so obvious. Yet plebeians like YOU are always GETTING IN MY WAY!”
Cog huffed angrily as his energy cannon continued to charge. Shaggy lowered his head and readied himself to accept his fate. He was on a one-way trip to Deathville. He sighed as he glanced back up at the old man. Hopefully Ephemara got out. He would check on her once he finished his death trip. As the large purple orb grew at the end of Cog’s arm, Shaggy grinned and raised a middle claw.
“Fuck you, old man.”
Cog screamed angrily as the purple orb grew larger and looked ready to fire. At the last moment, Shaggy dove forward and slashed a claw through the old man’s right leg. Cog’s cry went from angry to surprised. Cog tilted backward and his energy cannon went off when it was pointed straight up into the ceiling. Shaggy laughed as he flopped onto his back. He saw the metal ceiling break off into chunks and fall around him. Even the stone and brick behind the metal fell into the room.
Shaggy continued to cackle as he heard the various machines explode as they were hit with random debris. Cog roared with rage as more and more of the ceiling started to fall. The last thing Shaggy saw was a large metal plate collapsing right on top of him. There was a brief spike of pain and his vision went black.
You have died
No respawn/emergency point nearby
Initializing Deathville protocol
Shaggy sighed as the color bleed from his vision. He was ready to go through whatever nonsense Deathville had in store for him when a message popped into the corner of his vision.
T: Hey, it’s my turn. Log off already, Pod-hog.
Shaggy grinned at his wife’s message and opened the chat box to respond.
S: Hey, I just died. Give me a second.
T: Ha! Noob.
S: It was epic. I’ll download the vid so you can see for yourself.
T: Yeah, yeah. Just log already. I have things I need to get done.
S: Sure, sure. See you soon. Love you.
T: Yeah you do.
Shaggy shook his head as he looked around. He was in a black and white version of the room in which he died. Deathville was pretty much a ghost town of the city you were in with no people and no other players. He briefly wondered what kind of test Deathville was going to throw at him as he navigated his menu. He grimaced at the monochromatic death and destruction around him. Shaggy logged off, thinking about what could happen to him in this place.
