They looked up at the giant Tower dominating the landscape. The sleek tower was an ancient monolith, a reminder of another time, it was a monument to the human race. The two of them stood there and just looked at the building. At some point it dawned on them that they were not alone. They slowly looked at one another and just stared, they couldn't understand why they were there or even why they stared at each other.
" What do we do now?" He asked her.
" I don't know." She said back
Out in the perimeter of the tower, where the light didn't penetrate the darkness, something moved. A dark form stood just in the shadows, and regarded them silently. A metal arm alarm protruded from the darkness and beckoned them over. As they walked over their metal feet crunched loudly on the gravel. They walked over just before the light turned dark and stood there. Even though the mysterious figure was cloaked in darkness, they could tell this was a giant figure. Red eyes peered out of the darkness at the pair.
"There are many questions, but I only have a few answers. What can I tell you is that for whatever reason you have been deemed cast-off, the human society has no need for you anymore and you now reside in these metal bodies." The low gravelly voice from the stranger told them.
"I don't know who you are or anything about your past. I do know that I have found several like us, and we have banded together. You are welcome to go with me. I must let you know about the dangers of being out here alone. Machines are not looked upon in a favorable way. So I offer you refuge with us, and if you want my protection then come with me." As he finished you walked away.
The pair glanced at each other, and as if having a silent conversation, began to follow the stranger. He was a hard person to miss at seven feet tall, with a gun metal gray frame. And in the large brown cloak, he definitely was an intimidating figure.
"After the war." He began randomly as they walked. " Mankind split into two schools of thought, even though machinery had aided the war that resulted in the deaths of millions, there were those who believed that man was the cause and that machines weren't to blame. On the other side, Humanity blamed technology for the downfall of society. They longed for a time before the ruination of human civilization. Eventually differences arose and they split into two factions. The Human League and the Prophets of Love. That's your newbie history lesson for the day." He said as he fell silent on the march.
The low light that the moon gave off aided in their travel, but soon the pair realized that their vision had enhanced greatly and they could see pretty well in the low light. The three of them trudged on through the night, in this new state they did have certain advantages. They've been on the move all night, no sore feet, no fatigue. The sun began to cross the horizon when they finally reached our destination. The wind blew across the desolate plain, whipping the cloak around the stranger.
The entrance jutted out of the ground, the tall stranger walked right up to the door, entered a code on a panel and the doors split open. The pair quickly followed as lights came on as their feet clanked against the steel floor. The entrance to the bunker was lined with arms, legs and other machine men, in different states of disrepair.
"What's the deal with them?'' he asked.
"That's what I was talking about earlier, our mechanized kind are not often kindly treated." He snapped back at us as we continued deeper into the base.
The base was larger than it seemed, they walked for what felt like ages. The stranger stopped at a set of large double doors, with another keypad entry, the doors hissed as they slid open and the stranger continued in. The pair followed closely behind as the door hissed again and shut. The room in which they entered was oval in shape, for other mechanized beings stood as they entered.
" Chief, good to see you."
" Sir, any news from the outside world."
" Hey chief, I think I can fix that rotator problem, but I'm going to need more steel."
" All right, yes I will tell you all of what happened while I was out, but I have found two other wanderers who need our protection." Chief spoke to the others.
" Let's introduce you, the beat-up one with green eyes is Apex, a tough customer but you'll enjoy having him on your side. Next to him is Shard, she is our recon specialist, no one is stealthier than her. Next, the smaller one is Switch and Ratchet is the construction bot with four arms."
" Team, these are our new members, he's Alpha and she's Phoenix. Make them feel like they are at home here, because they are." With that, Chief turned to the computer terminal and checked the sensors and saved data. The new members mingle with the rest of the crew. When he had finished his reviewing of the scan to recordings, he came back to Alpha and Phoenix.
" In the morning we will go and seek the supplies that we definitely need." Chief said to Alpha and Phoenix.
The next morning the whole crew assembled outside the base, only Apex stayed behind to guard the base. The wind was blowing hard again, causing visibility to be low. The small group headed west away from the base, they were a couple of small scrap heaps they were going to investigate. Chief's cloak blew in the wind, the others donned tighter tunics in an attempt to hide their metallic forms. Only Ratchet with his four arms, made little attempt at hiding who he was. Off to the West they headed hoping with the wind blowing it would discourage any other travelers. The group made it across the blasted plain without encountering any resistance. The scrap heap loomed up ahead in the distance, the graveyard of scrap that helped them to keep their bodies from deteriorating. Chief scanned the area and even though there seemed to be no movement, he hadn't been around this long by taking chances.
" Shard, go check it out." Chief ordered her.
Without another thought, Shard streaked out in front of us, toward the scrap yard. What seemed like an eternity past before Shard reappeared. Shard rushed up to Chief to give her report.
" I didn't encounter any resistance, but it looks like the Human League has claimed this place has their own based upon all of their markings." Shard detailed to Chief.
" All right, let's not take our time here, I don't want to run into any Human League patrols. It's risky enough just being out here in the daylight. Let's go." Chief barked.
With that the group made their way into the scrapheap. Piles of picked through metal lay scattered about. Ratchet started rummaging through the piles immediately, Switch right by his side. With a motion of his hand Chief signaled to Shard and she began to patrol the perimeter. As if feeling their eyes, Chief turned to Alpha in Phoenix.
" Phoenix, see what you can do to help Ratchet and Alpha you're with me. Chief said to them and then turned to walk away.
Alpha had to hurry to catch him, together they found some higher ground in order to survey the distance. For a long time the two of them stood there eyes scanning the horizon. Meanwhile Ratchet kept weeding through the piles, as soon as he had gotten what he could he was off to the next. His four arms moving at a blur, handing pieces that he could work with to the others. The place had almost completely searched when out of nowhere came a Human League patrol, their solar powered vehicles were almost silent. The six vehicles pulled in behind three harvesting metal, in a half moon formation the riders dismounted and looked at the machines in front of them. The leader took off his helmet, a vicious car ran up the left side of his face, and an eyepatch hid his ruined eye.
" What have we got here? Mechs in the daylight, you must be desperate for some scrap." The leader grinned as the group slowly closed in.
High above, Chief watched the humans and knew what was about to happen. With an outstretched hand and a few precise motions of his fingers, sent a message to Shard. He then turned to Alpha, " Stay here, you have no combat skills or weapons yet, let us take care of this." Chief ordered before he jumped.
With the resounding thud he landed behind the patrol. With a flick of his arm a blade extended out above his wrist. Without another thought, he swung and decapitated the two of them to his left. In the commotion the one-eyed man pulled a warhammer and meant to bring it down on an unsuspecting Ratchet. Instead, the large hammer connected with Switch, who had jumped in the way. Switch paid for it dearly though, the hammer smashed him dead in the head, crushing his face. Sparks flew from the connection as Switch crumpled to the ground. Ratchet tried to catch the leader of the patrol, but the one-eyed villain fled on his solar bike. Chief was left with the other three, when Shard appeared behind the men and with the quick motion broke one of their necks. One of them hopped on a bike and sped off, but was met by one of Ratchet's arms and fell to the ground and didn't move. Alpha came down and stood next to Shard as they both detained the last human, the only one who didn't move or attacked her in the melee. Chief hurried over to Switch and cradled him in his arms, Switch looked up with his ruined face, trying to find the face of his leader. Switch couldn't hold his head up and was unable to control his movement as he twitched in Chief's arms.
" I c...c...can't see you." Switch muttered
" It's okay Switch, I'm here." Chief tried to soothe him.
There was a loud pop and a shower of Sparks. Switch was gone. Chief could barely maintain his rage, so he sat up and started marching over to their captive.
" You know, he's going to come back and find all your damn mechs. And when he's done you'll all look like that one over there, Just Junk. Because that's all you are is junk." The man screamed at Chief.
" I don't really give a damn, because they'll find your body first" Chief said as he extended his blade and with one swift motion drove the blade deep into the prisoner, Chief looked into his eyes as he twisted the blade and the man was gone. Chief lowered the blade and the man slid off into a heap on the ground.
Retracting the blade he said,"Ratchet see what we can get off these solar bikes and let's get Switch home. Chief trailed off.
Ratchet harvested what he could off the bikes, when he was satisfied Chief slung Switch over his shoulder and started the journey home. The journey started as the Sun had started to set, so they would have the cover of darkness with them on the way back home.