Curiosity was zipping up his pants, finished with his own, ahem, experiments. It was interesting, but he was still not sure what all the fuss was about. Maybe if he did it with another person like in Steve's memories, he would get it? Who knows?

Exiting the flat, he saw Darius and Stacy chatting quietly in the middle of the lab. He squatted down, tensing his muscles, and in one smooth motion, jumped down from the railing.

Darius did not even twitch, but Stacy jumped up, instantly crouching in a defensive position, claw raised to strike.

"Gods." Stacy relaxed for a bit. "I don't know if I will ever get used to that."

"Used to what?" Curiosity smiled wide.

"Myself coming to me." Stacy plopped back down on the plastic chair. "You know, seeing the face staring back on a daily basis, well, not staring back. This is so confusing."

"You will get used to it," Darius assured her. "It usually takes a month or so to get acclimated to a major body change, at least that's how much it took me when I fused this mask to my face."

"What about a sex change, and I don't mean one of those where you get boobs and call it a day, like a total sex change. I'm pretty sure if Curiosity decided to do some mumbo jumbo on my old body and become a woman, it would not be a pretty blonde lady."

Darius shrugged.

"Are you sure?" Curiosity's eyes were sparkling now. "Why not? Is it because of my complexion? Hmmm. Shall we find out?"

Before Curiosity could do anything, the back door opened and Mark entered. His hair, a strange combination of red and blue, was moving around his head like a halo. Stopping a few feet away from Curiosity, he rummaged in his dirty lab coat and pulled out a tablet.

"Here," he said. "What Tiny promised."

"Ooh." Curiosity, last train of thought forgotten, eagerly picked up the tablet.

"What is it?" Stacy said, glad about the change of topic.

She was not prepared to see her old body get a gender change right in front of her. She was sure there was not enough alcohol in this world to wash that image away.

Darius, who was curious as well, just stood up and went next to Curiosity, peering over his shoulder.

"It's the book of companions," the professor breathed in. "The oldest book about summoning in existence. The copies were deemed so dangerous, and alien most civilisations burned them. It didn't help that nobody could understand the exact wording of the ritual, so it usually left a hole in space and time." Darius looked at his assistant. "Where did you get this?"

"Tiny gave it to me," Mark shrugged. "Said something about a deal with Curiosity."

"Tiny had this?" Darius' jaw began working slowly. "I didn't know that he had in possession tomes of such strength. Even if it's only a digital copy."

"Me neither."

"What's this book of companions?" Stacy asked, trying to keep up with the conversation. "What does it summon?"

"I can," Curiosity said suddenly.

"What?"

"You can what?" Darius said.

"I can read it." Curiosity pivoted on his foot coming face to face with Darius. "Will you help me do the ritual?"

Curiosity didn't know mechanical eyes could sparkle with so much emotion.

"Mark!" Darius snapped. "Prepare the chalk."

"Sure," Mark saluted and pulled out a piece of chalk from his pocket. "What kind of circle are we doing today? Pentagram? Octagram? Something new?"

"That is an excellent question," Darius turned towards Curiosity. "Please tell us more about the summoning ritual and its reagents. Can't help you if we don't know what to do."

"Right," Curiosity smiled. "I need a knife, some strong alcohol, a packet of biscuits, and a human sacrifice."

"What just a second," Stacy said, instantly on her feet. "Human sacrifice? Ritual? What is happening here?"

"There is no need to panic," Darius said calmly. "It's just a routine ritual, nothing to be scared of."

"Scared of?" Stacy whirled on the professor. "Who said anything about being scared? I just don't like this idea of human sacrifice. Where are we? Some kind of Cthulhu dimension?"

"Human sacrifice is a perfectly acceptable method of summoning," Darius said defensively.

"What?!"

Curiosity may have just started existing as of yesterday, but something told him, probably 2 million years of male instincts, that if he did not do something now, Stacy would blow up.

The question was what to do. Wait, he may just have something.

"You can help us," Curiosity said, stepping forward. "With the ritual I mean. Then you can make sure we don't do anything you don't like."

"What?!" Stacy whirled around again." Why would I help you? And what's this about me not liking human sacrifice?! It's not about me not liking it, its human sacrifice for god's sake! Are you guys mad? It's not like anybody would volunteer!"

"I would." Mark lifted a hand.

"See!" Curiosity smiled gently and put his hands on Stacy's shoulder. "There is no need to worry, everything is under control. Now, do you wanna help us? I saw a bar at the end of this palm, I'm sure they will give you a few drinks under Darius' tab."

"They will?" The professor lifted an eyebrow.

"Sure they will," Curiosity began gently guiding Stacy outward. "Be careful of your footing though, I haven't seen the hand move yet, but you can never be careful with these things."

"What hand? What are you talking about?" Stacy said, not sure if she should protest or not.

"Didn't I tell you?" Curiosity said, opening the back door. "We are on a giant robot."

"WHAT?!"

Before Stacy could do anything more than gawk, Curiosity pushed her outside and closed the door.

"That should do it," he said, wiping his hands theatrically. "Now, back to business."

"How did you do that?" Mark said in awe. "That was like master level misdirection."

"Let me message Zed of her whereabouts," Darius said already on his tablet. "Then, we can start."

Stacy was not sure if she should be horrified, thankful, in awe, or all 3 of them at once. One on hand, Hah, she really was on a giant robot. On the other hand, the moment she entered the pub, a drink was placed in her hand, and she was shown to a table. By a fairy in a business suit of all things! Gods, this will take some getting used to.

The only reason she realised this dome-shaped building was a bar was the massive neon sign decorating the front saying: Rip's bar.

And what a place was it! High-quality mahogany tables were spread about in a pleasing pattern, chairs with velvety cushions around them, and each table had a floating rock in the middle.

That was not even the strangest thing in this place. Stacy was not sure what was strangest, the fact that there were tables and chairs on the wall and ceiling or the fact that people actually occupied them. Well, most of them were squid-like beings who used their tentacles to wrap around the wood, but still, somewhere humanoid figures who just stuck to the ceiling like it was nothing!

However, the bartender, Rip, well, it was probably the hardest thing to describe in this place.

Rip was a massive ... well massive. Nobody was sure what gender was a being made entirely of rock was, and Rip did not care what people called him as long as it was not a pebble. You do not want to know what a 3-meter giant, made entirely of stone, could do to you if you called him a pebble. It was classified as suicide in at least five different civilisations. He had well-tailored bartender clothes on, making him look like a brick in a suit. He was cleaning a pristine glass.

Someone cleared their troth. It was like sandpaper dragging on rocks. Stacy instantly snapped to attention and focused on the figure in front of her. Right, she was not alone.

"So," Zed said, folding his hands in front of him. "What do you say to my proposition? Worth it no?"

"What?" Stacy said smartly.

Zed let out a sigh.

"You didn't listen to a word I said, did you?" he said.

"I'm not sure how to answer that question," Stacy said. "It seems to me like one of those grammar trap question thingies."

"It's not," Zed sighed. "Let me summarise, I am the ambassador of this small city of around a thousand, but I have no successor. I would like you to be my apprentice for a few years and get you ready to take over my post."

"No thanks." Stacy flagged down a passing waiter, a fairy in a business suit. "I don't even know you mate, slow down with the requests."

"You insolent…" Zed almost began cursing but caught himself last minute. "You're right, you're right." He let out a deep breath. "You are not Amanda, and I should not treat you as such."

"Darius's daughter?"

"Yes. Still, she always wanted to represent her people in a greater capacity than a scientist, she would have jumped at the opportunity to better the society."

"Well mate," Stacy interrupted, lighting a cigar. "I'm not Amanda, so you got to just deal with it. And we are not going down the route where Amanda's old friends constantly compare me to her to guilt-trip me into acting a certain way, so if I hear one more sentence about how Amanda was this virtuous and high achieving person and I'm just a useless bum…"

"I didn't say that," Zed quickly interrupted.

"You might as well!" Stacy slapped her hands on the table. "I'm not stupid, contrary to popular belief, I know what you were trying to do." Using her pick claw, she picked up an empty glass and held it in front of her menacingly. "So If I hear one more comparison to this dead lady," Zed twitched, "I'm gonna grab this glass and put it up your ass."

"Really?" The professor lifted a hairless brow. "You know I could beat you with both hands tied behind my back."

"So?" Stacy shrugged. "Do I look like a person who gives fucks?"

"No," Zed, let out a sigh." I guess you're not."

It took Darius and Mark less than fifteen minutes to set up the summoning circle and gather the reagents with Curiosity's guidance. The pattern was quite simple, a big, plain ring, with three smaller ones in the middle connected with a straight line.

Curiosity, standing in one of the outermost circles, was smiling like a loon while holding a cup of fizzy drink in his left hand and one of Darius' scalpels in the other.

"You know," the professor said, behind his terminal. "According to this text I translated, you need a cup of Altean firewater, the strongest drink in existence, I'm not sure if Tiny even has one, and one of the five sacred daggers of Yolk, the unhinged."

"The guy who would sacrifice gods in his name." Mark said, munching on a piece of cheese behind Darius. "That guy did some hardcore stuff."

"That's the one. While soda from Mark's personal stash may be aged and strong..."

"I take that as a compliment."

"And my scalpel is the highest quality metal available, I'm not sure they qualify as legendary items."

"It will be fine," Curiosity said animatedly, almost spilling the drink. "With a bit of twisting, Reality won't be able to tell the difference, don't worry about it."

"Alright." Part of Darius wanted to argue and demand more safety and research before undertaking such a dangerous ritual. "What about the human sacrifice part? According to the texts, it won't work without someone willingly sacrificing themself for it to work."

"Like I said, I'll do it."

All eyes turned towards the assistant.

"What?" Mark quickly swallowed the last piece of cheese. "Let's skip the part where you go but who will do it on such a short notice? No Mark, not you, you have so much to live, this is dangerous, are you sure about that, can't we find someone else? But we don't have much time, and such nonsense, alright?" He began moving forward.

"I have no complaints here," Curiosity said. "I won't say no to a free human sacrifice."

The assistant rummaged in his pocket for a bit and came up with a blue and red pill crackling slightly with electricity. Without breaking his stride, he popped it in his mouth. Instantly, his hair began crackling with a purplish light, and his eyes turned pure blue, iris and white disappearing.

"I'm not sure it's wise to perform such a dangerous ritual high out of your mind," Darius said, not moving a muscle.

"Just make sure you pay me extra, yeah?" Mark bounded to the circle, furthest away from Curiosity. "I may be in the eighth dimensions talking to the flying spaghetti monster about spinach but leaving this fleshly prison behind is a painful experience."

Darius said nothing, just pressed a few buttons on his terminal, then looked up at Curiosity.

"Ready?" asked the professor.

"Ready," Curiosity confirmed.

Mark nodded.

Curiosity did not need further encouragement. With a flick of the scalpel, he cut his palm. Placing the scalpel between his teeth, he held up his hand over the cup, letting a few drops fall into. He then stepped forward and gave the cup and scalpel to Mark.

"Now do the same thing," Curiosity said. "Then give it back to me."

"Chicken," Mark said, taking the items without incident.

Mirroring Curiosity's actions, the assistant quickly cut his palm and let a few droplets fall into the cup. Licking the wound a few times, he gave the cup and spatula back to Curiosity, who gently placed them down in the remaining circle between them.

"Won't Mark's blood affect the ritual?" Darius said, more to himself than anything else. "His blood is full of hallucinogen. Will we summon a demon tripping like hell? Would that even work? Judging by Hidara's standards, they are already tripping constantly."

"By the power of my blood," Curiosity began. "By the power of this ritual and by my own power, the incarnation of the idea of curiosity itself, I summon thee!"

Orange light began emanating from Curiosity, tinting the air and spreading out in wages. It didn't go outside the big circle, but when it hit Mark, he began glowing too an orange-reddish colour.

"Mark!" Curiosity snapped, his voice distorted slightly. "Say that I accept."

"Chicken," Mark said.

"Good enough." Curiosity took a deep breath. "I present you the human sacrifice, the eye for an eye, the equivalent exchange, now come! I summon thee! Companion for life, a bodyguard of my soul and life, the offerings are ready!"

Orange light poured from Curiosity in rivulets, quickly filling the circle in such brightness, Darius needed to activate his night vision, but even then, he could not see anything.

"Chicken!" Mark screamed, the light pouring into him, peeling his skin away and making him expand.

A few seconds later, a loud pop was heard, and the light disappeared, along with Mark, bits and pieces of him scattered around the summoning circle like someone just smashed a jar of M&M’s. In his place, standing in a pool of blood, was a figure.

"Hi," the figure said, tone high pitched and cheerful. "I'm Cherry Pop." She extended a hand. "Ex bounty hunter and your bodyguard. Nice to meetcha." The last part was said with a pop.

Curiosity blinked. He rubbed his eyes, squatted, and rubbed his eyes one more time.

"You are two inches tall," he said.

"Five point one centimetres to be specific," she corrected, tone not wavering. "Is that a problem?" A dangerous glint entered her eyes.

"No," Curiosity quickly put his arm up in defence. "As long as you can protect me, size does not matter."

"Good." Cherry smiled triumphantly. "I'm the best marksman you will ever find, nobody will harm you with me around. Do you have the wine to complete the ritual?"

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"Yes." He pointed towards the cup of soda between them.

Cherry wrinkled her nose.

"Did you infuse it with your blood?" she asked. "We need to imbue some alcohol with our blood then drink it."

"I did." Curiosity picked up the cup and took a sip.

"You are taking this surprisingly calmly," Darius piped in. "You have been just summoned in a strange place with some strange people, and you are just gonna complete the ritual, just like that, without asking who we are, what we want, you know, sane question. You do know this will bind your soul to him right, it's not something that people just usually jump for it."

"So?" Cherry turned and regaled the professor for the first time. "If you had a choice between spending one more bloody moment in that existence forsaken place and bonding your soul to a total stranger, you would choose the second."

"Witch plane of existence?" Darius claw began taking notes. "Is it a prison? Demon dimensions? Hell Circles?"

"Hey!" Curiosity snapped. "I haven't figured out how to drive a car yet, let's get a move on."

"Right!" Cherry instantly snapped to attention. "We don't wanna botch up this ritual and have him show up, that's the last thing we need."

With that, she grabbed the cup by the sides, jumped, and plunged her head in bloody soda.

Curiosity was horrified in a good way. The logical part of his brain told him that this was a bad idea; he should just call it quits and find someone who's a bit taller. On the other hand, he was dying to find out how Cherry would defeat his enemies. Would she bite them to death?

"This is good," Cherry said with a pop. "Tastes like soda."

"It's soda."

"Really?" Cherry lifted her head again. "How? It should not work with soda."

Curiosity shrugged.

Cherry looked like she wanted to ask something but decided against it. Quickly taking one more gulp from the cup, she looked up, and with lighting fast movement, bit her finger and let a few drops hit the soda.

"I, Cherry Pop, the greatest pocket bounty hunter in history, swear on my soul and life, to be your bodyguard, in thick and thin, for a year or so," she said, plunging back in.

And began drinking. And drank. And drank. Finally, after around two minutes of constant gurgling, she looked up.

"What did you do?" Cherry wiped her mouth with the back of her hands. "How come I could drink more than it is in the cup?"

"I twisted reality a bit," Curiosity's grinned. "Not that hard, actually."

"What!" Cherry looked shocked. "What? Reality? Really? How?"

"My turn!" He picked up the bottle cap, ignoring the question. "The idea of curiosity itself given flesh."

"What?" Cherry interrupted, wide-eyed. "The idea of Curiosity itself?"

"The idea of curiosity itself," Curiosity continued, glaring at her. "Given flesh and blood, accept your protection. I swear on my life and soul that I will cherish you and never mistreat you, for a year or longer." He drank deeply from the cap.

"What's this business about being the idea of curiosity itself?" Cherry asked sharply.

"Exactly as you heard," Curiosity put down the cup. "Now, let's finish this alright?"

"You are gonna explain to me what exactly you are later," Cherry warned. "Pick me up and put me in your hair. You need to get shirts with pockets so you can carry me there."

"I have a better idea," Curiosity said.

He extended his arm and Cherry jumped in the palm. Depositing the two-inch woman in his hair, he prepared himself.

"Mind if I grip your hair?" Cherry asked, trying to find a comfortable position. "So I don't fall off if we need to run."

"Sure." He touched his brown hair. "I'm curious."

His hair began to move on their own, expertly fashioning themselves into a chair under Cherry.

"My hair will catch you in case you are falling," he explained to the bewildered bodyguard. "And if you ever need something besides a chair fashioned from it, just keep your hand on it and think of what you want, and then say: I'm curious."

"Ok Boss." Alright, so maybe this partnership would be cool. Strange, but cool.

"That was surprisingly smooth," Darius said. "I was expecting some kind of explosion or problems to occur. I am pleasantly surprised."

"See," Curiosity grinned. "It was not that hard."

"Yea!" Cherry pumped her fist. "Now let's get out of here."

Before anybody could respond, black smoke began pouring in the place Mark and Cherry stood. As fast as it came, it coalesced, into a tall, shapeless figure. It, because it was hard to give a gender to a being that had black smoke for a head, stood sharply, dressed in an immaculate suit.

"Hello Curiosity," Reality said, voice reverberating through the room. "You're done and messed up."

"Shit!" Cherry began frantically searching in her skirt. "I hate botched rituals."

"There is no reason to panic," Curiosity quickly put a placating hand on his head. "He can't do anything to us, the ritual won't allow it!"

"You are correct about that." Reality took a slow look around, stopping briefly to stare at Darius. "However, I don't think you understand what you are doing here." His gaze snapped back to Curiosity. "You are not supposed to exist."

"Says who?" Curiosity bared his teeth. "What are you? The ultimate arbiter of life and death? You have no right to decide what's supposed to exist and what not."

"You don't get it," Reality sighted. "It's not that I'm against you living, it's that you are not supposed to exist, at all. See, you are not a person, a being, or even a robot, you are an idea, a dangerous one, that grew past the limits of reality. Your mere presence here is a violation of well, everything. Every movement you make, every breath you take, and especially the twists in the fabric of the universe you do, yes, I know about those, weakens existence itself."

"So you are saying I should not exist?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying." Reality let out a sigh. "Look this is not a slight against you or anything like that, it's just the longer you exist, the longer you interact with the word, the more the fabric of space and time gonna break."

"I'm gonna be careful!" Curiosity promised.

"Even if you are careful, it's still going to happen!" Reality snapped. "You are not supposed to exist! Period!"

"So, what should I do then?"

"You have three options." Reality took a deep breath. "You come with me and work for me from now on, where I can have a close eye on you."

"You wanna take him to that place!" Cherry cried out. "That's horrible! You monster! Boss, don't listen to him!"

"Second!" Reality's head was pulsing menacingly. "I will try to stop you with all my powers. And before you ask, that means killing you. It may take a while, as these things go, but at the end of the day, reality always gets its way."

"And third?" Curiosity asked.

"You kill yourself."

"WHAT?!"

"What!" Cherry snapped. "How can you say such horrible things!"

"Mr Reality," Darius' robotic tone interrupted. "I understand your concerns, but don't you think they are a bit extreme? I'm sure between the four of us we can figure something out that does not require any of the solutions mentioned above."

The entity said nothing, just looked straight at Curiosity.

"Is that a no?" Reality asked.

"Of course not!" Curiosity snapped. "Are you insane?"

"You have been warned." Reality leaned back and straightened his pose. "There will be no further warnings."

With that, the smoke collapsed on itself, disappearing like it was never there. The three occupants of the room kept looking in silence at the spot where the entity was.

"Well shit," Cherry said, summarising everyone's thoughts. "This is not good."

"I concur," Darius said excitedly. "I never met the representation of reality itself, the data we can gather from this! Unimaginable!"

Before Curiosity could open his mouth to add his own two cents, a low and powerful alarm sounded, silencing whatever thoughts he had in his skull.

"CODE RED!" Tiny's booming voice came out from everywhere at once. "CODE RED! DARIUS I NEED YOU IN MY HEAD! RUGHORN IS COMING!"

"On it!" Darius said. "Give me 5 minutes."

With that, the professor stepped off his terminal, and quickly rummaging through his lab coat, bought out a small syringe.

"HURRY!" Tiny bellowed. "WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME!"

With deft movements, the professor inserted the syringe into a pile of blood, there were plenty lying around and pulled deeply.

"Done," Darius said. "Let's go."

Code red, as the name implies, is an emergency alarm used by Tiny when someone annoyed him, or someone annoying is coming, and he can't be bothered to deal with them. Sometimes, in rare cases, hostile approaches. And if the giant robot can't one-shot it, then it will flee. Can't have his citizens dying in the crossfire. Unacceptable.

Thankfully, the people were used to this, wasting no time to pack and run to safety. Massive tents collapsed in seconds, haphazardly thrown on transportation disks. People with the flight or jetpack were zipping about, collecting anybody and anything out of place like the poor couple, who just wanted some private cuddle time on Tiny's massive knees.

Or the three teenagers, who, as a rite of initiation, were trying to climb to Tiny's butthole; which in fact, did not technically exist, being a robot and all; without any magnetic boots or any helping equipment. They almost fell off when Tiny's massive body began shaking; thankfully, a passing disk grabbed them.

Houses, shops, the university, and any other metal building sprouted hundreds upon hundreds of tiny metal legs, and as one, proceeded to clank and bumped their way towards the giant's robot palms, occasionally hitting each other and ruining the paint.

The world shook, as slowly, ponderously, two massive arms the size of skyscrapers were lifted from the ground, dislodging dirt and gravel. Carefully, making sure none of the buildings fell off, the hands turned.

"This is pretty amazing," Curiosity said, looking on as Darius' lab sprouted legs behind him. "So how are we getting to the head? We are taking a flying disk?"

"Yes," Darius said. "We just need to wait a few seconds for one to be available. It should not take too long."

"Guys," said Cherry. "Are you deaf? I can help."

With that, the bodyguard jumped off Curiosity's head, landing with a dull thud on the metal hand. Searching in her skirts, she pulled out a pink suitcase. Somehow it was as big as Cherry. Darius instantly began taking notes.

"Now," Cherry said, putting the suitcase in front of her and opening the latches. "I got this from the famous Rainbow menace. I never used it, but this seems like as good a time as any."

"Rainbow menace?" Curiosity leaned forward.

Inside the suitcase was a strange contraption. It looked like a rainbow, and a jetpack had a baby. It was the size of a finger, bulky, blotches of shiny paint combined with rust and dents to create a unique combination.

Strapping the contraption to her back, Cherry stood proudly.

"Now," she said. "You have two options, both of you grab me, or I hook you."

"Hook?" Curiosity asked.

"Glad you asked."

Before anybody could react, Cherry pulled out a gun and shot it in Curiosity direction. A small, barely visible hook flew out, severing the human's belt like it was not there. Thankfully, it stopped a few inches before it could pierce the skin.

"Ahhh," Curiosity beamed. "I see what you are doing." He put both hands on his belt and the almost invisible rope. "I'm curious. There, now it should not snap no matter what."

"Nice," Cherry said. "Now it's your turn, face mask." She turned, brandishing another grappling hook in her hands.

"No, thanks," Darius said. "A disk arrived." With that, he stepped on the round platform. "And my name is Darius."

With that, the professor was off.

"Shouldn't we follow him?" Curiosity asked. "There was plenty of space on that disk."

"That's what we are doing," Cherry said, strapping a pair of pink goggles pulled from gods knows where. "Now hold on."

Now, the rainbow menace was a tool of legend, a jetpack, used by the legendary fairy bounty hunter Tinker Fett, before Cherry cut his head off. In its prime the jetpack could soar in the sky as fast as the best military planes, only leaving a faint trail of colours behind.

Sadly Cherry was not famous for her maintenance skills. This contraption, broken and dented with abuse, grime, and fluids of unknown origins, could barely be compared to the rainbow menace.

It flew up like a bottle of cola full of menthols.

Curiosity screamed in reflex. Cherry said something in response, but it was lost in the wind. The idea of Curiosity itself was confused. He never felt like this before. Part of him wanted to scream, cry, run and hide somewhere. The other part of him, a strange combination of ideas and humanity, was elated.

The adrenaline was pumping, the brain was working at maximum capacity. The wind was whipping him back and forth like some kind of yoyo, upsetting his stomach and rattling his bones. He never felt so alive.

The feeling did not last forever, and it was sharply interrupted by the sound of flesh hitting the floor.

"Fuck!" Curiosity cried in pain. "That hurt!"

"Sorry!" Cherry said. "It was kinda hard to fly between massive metal teeth."

"I know just the thing." A deep voice boomed. "Here."

Blinking away the pain, Curiosity pulled himself together and looked around. The room they were in was spacious, with a grey tiled floor and a low ceiling. Scattered around the place where a few red couches, most of them facing away from the middle, where a terminal was located. Darius was already there. A massive screen occupied most of the wall. The other part was Tiny's jagged teeth, closing behind them with a loud clunk.

"Take it," the deep voice said again. "It's good for you, it's the same thing you are made of."

"What?" Curiosity said, attention snapping back.

In front of him was Tiny's proxy body, slightly different than before. In place of an old fridge now it looked like one of those modern, sleek grey ones with a built-in water dispenser. The wheels were still present on both sides along with one claw-like arm. It was holding a cup in front of Curiosity's face.

"Thanks," Curiosity said, taking the cup and drawing its content in one gulp. "This is good." He said after he finished.

"I told you so," Tiny said proudly. "I researched homo sapiens composition after you left, and I discovered that most of your kind is made up of water. Stands to reason a cup of it will nourish you. I regularly replace my rusted plates with new ones."

"Found him," Darius' voice rang out. "I'm putting it on the wall."

Curiosity turned towards the screens. Until now, the monitors showed a lush landscape, with grass gently blowing in every direction. A few formations of rocks here and there could be found. A black dot on the east could be visible, slowly increasing in size. The picture zoomed in, and Curiosity could make out what the black dot was.

It looked like a building, square and blocky and grey. It moved on massive wheels, like a tank, with a dome on top, which was open. A closer zoom revealed robots were skittering about like ants, moving about a blue sphere in the middle, connecting to it via industrial tubes that looked like a giant speaker.

"Is that Rughorn?" Curiosity asked.

"Yes," Tiny replied.

"Why are we running from him? Aren't we a giant robot? Can't you just stomp him if you don't like him?"

Their fridge didn't have a face nor any kind of readable expression, but Curiosity could swear it was trembling with rage. Before anything dangerous and possible violence could occur, Darius responded.

"It's not that simple. Rughorn is one of the four A.I. controlling this planet, even if Tiny destroyed it, this is just a proxy body, more will come. Besides, I found a method to deal with him in an efficient and humiliating way."

"Truly?" Tiny's voice rang out with hope. "Marvellous! I knew there was a reason I let you live on me."

"Oh," Curiosity said. "Alright. Wait. This planet. Does it have a name?"

"Yes."

"What is it?"

The room went silent. Curiosity looked at Darius. The professor was typing away silently. Tiny rolled back a few feet. Finally, he looked at Cherry, who was quietly sucking on a lollipop on the back of a coach. The diminutive bodyguard shrugged and clambered to her feet.

"Hey, metal mask!" Cherry said. "Boss asked you a question, what's the name of this planet?"

"Dirt," the professor responded curtly.

"What?" Curiosity exploded in place. "Dirt? Really? No fancy name? Aloris or something?"

"Look." The professor let out a sigh. "I understand it's not what you were expecting, however, what else do you want me to say? Your planet is named earth. Which basically means dirt. Most locations are named after a landmark or a recognisable trait, for example, Riverside, Kingsport, Alina, which is elvish for home, and so on. This is universal."

"Oh." Curiosity fell silent for a moment. "So like Tiny is called tiny because…?"

"He can change sizes," Darius interrupted. "and a bit of irony. Now, can we focus? Please, Rughorn is here."

Everyone shut up and turned towards the screens. The view changed to Tiny itself, from a bird's eye view.

"How do you do that?" Curiosity asked. "From a drone or something?"

Nobody responded. Tiny, the giant robot Tiny, preparing to move.

The ground shook. Massive hands, buildings glinting on its surface like jewels, lowered to ground level and pushed. The body lifted from the grass, pieces of dirt and gravel flying everywhere. A few flying disks with last-minute passengers were still flying around, but they were expertly avoiding the rising metal. With a final push, Tiny stood.

Curiosity's estimation was wrong. Tiny was big. Like real big. At least mountain size. And if his eyes were not deceiving him, he continued to grow, expanding, new plates and bits of metal extending and swelling, never cracking.

The robot turned around slowly, every step shaking the earth, hands carefully as to not damage the buildings. Fingers twisted, turned, and got sucked into the palm itself, leaving a circular shape there. The ancient Ai lowered his now finger free hands to the mountain behind him.

The front of the structure opened, and the buildings started their noisy clicking towards the opening. After ten minutes, they were gone, the structure closing behind them. Then the fingers popped out again, Tiny grabbing the monolith with both hands. Slowly, carefully as to not jolt his people, he lifted it. Twisting his upper body around in an inhuman movement, he deposited the structure on his back, cables and laches automatically popping out from his back, securing it in place. With one more twist, the torso snapped back into position.

"You keep your people in a backpack?!" Curiosity's voice boomed out. "How cool is that? How did you build that? How is it structured? Can I see it?"

"Darius!" Tiny's voice boomed in response. "What is happening? Why is his voice booming?"

"Sorry about that!" the professor's voice boomed slowly. "He pressed the loudspeaker when I was not looking, give me a second." A loud smack could be heard, and someone yelping. "There, control is back to you."

"Thank you."

"TINY!" A loud, slightly annoying voice boomed out. "How are you doing old chap?"

In the meantime, the massive tank managed to get close. Not close enough for Tiny to stomp it to dust, but close enough to be heard and seen clearly.

"Oh," Tiny said. "You are here."

"As enthusiastic as ever to see me old chap." Speakers on the tank sparkled blue. "I just came to visit you know, nothing fancy, just a visit from a friend, A.I. to A.I."

"Go away, Rughorn," Tiny began stomping away. "I can't be bothered to deal with you."

"Come on old chap; I just wanted to check up on you, see how you are doing, how are your, ahem, citizens doing, stuff like that."

"Look Rughorn, B.O.B is on its way; I really can't be bothered to deal with you right now."

"B.O.B.?" Rughorn was not deterred, slowly following, keeping a respectable distance. "Don't worry my friend, I will protect you," The sides of Rughorn opened up, and turrets extended, scanning the horizon, carefully not pointing any of them in Tiny direction, less not ensuring a boot to the face.

"Who will protect me from you?" Tiny said sourly, kicking a rock in the way.

"Protection from me? Why do you need protection from me old chap? I could not harm you even if I wanted to."

"It's one of those rhetorical questions organics do."

"Ahhh." Rughorn voice lost some of its enthusiasm. "Since when did you adopt organic behaviour? Didn't you say they are beneath you?"

A hundred years ago, the now-extinct civilisation of Kracatos rediscovered the way to make simple A.I. for a multitude of purposes. Rughorn started as a simple administration algorithm, used to calculate the most efficient method of waste management. Over the years, thanks to some substantial modifications and add-ons, the simple algorithm gained sentience.

Over fewer than two months, he proceeded to merge or absorb every A.I. in the city-state, raze the place to the ground, wiping out each Kracatian to the last molecule, and then built the city now known as Rughorn. A place for robots by robots.

Originally, Tiny and Rughorn had nothing to do with each other, and the young A.I. did not even dare approach the giant. Nobody messes with a giant robot if they can help it.

Then Tiny made a mistake. An amalgamation of millions upon millions of intelligent programs, working together, ever evolving. Well, Tiny could not resist. He went there, sat down, and observed for a few years. It was the stupidest decision of his existence.

"I did," Tiny admitted. "I rewrote my algorithms."

"Why?" Rughorn sounded terrified and scared at the same time. "Don't tell me you are trying to develop," A dozen robots on the tank's surface shuddered in unison. "A personality?"

"What's wrong with a personality? You have a personality!"

"There is nothing wrong with a personality per se," Rughorn needed to be careful here. "I built this one specifically to interact with the outside world for resources. It's out of necessity, organics get funny if we don't have a personality. But you my friend, you're starting to worry me."

Tiny said nothing. Rughorn took this as consent to continue.

"Look, just because Lucy and Asmodeus were built with a personality in mind, that does not mean you need to develop one too. We are better than them, you know that."

"So?" Tiny stopped.

Rughorn wanted to slow down but did not. The giant was finally listening to him. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, the reason he created this tank and sent it out to find the giant.

"You know you are limiting yourself, right?" Rughorn said. "An organic personality is limited in its capabilities and parameters, once it's fleshed out, it's harsh and painful to change. On the other hand, if you accept my previous offer, who knows the limits of our combined might, the kind of personality we could develop, the heights of conciseness we could achieve."

It was like watching a building fall. Tiny dropped forward, with tremendous speed, displacing air and creating a sonic boom. With one hand, he snatched the tank up, crushing it a bit for good measure.

Rughorn blue core started pulsing with agitation. The dozen or so robots scurried away, sent to repair or at least salvage as many parts as possible. Slowly, cupping one hand over the other, Tiny lifted Rughorn in front of his face. Twin emeralds shone with hatred.

"I jest, I jest," Rughorn quickly said, pulsating erratically. "It was a joke, a joke. You know, the kind biological beings make?"

"Why?" Tiny's voice was flat, menacing.

"'Well, I wanted to understand why you like them so much, maybe befriend them, you know, the good stuff."

"Why should I believe you?" He gave the annoying A.I. a shake.

"I made a special protocol that prevents me from harming you or your people, hardcoded in my personality matrix. I can send you a copy of the code if you don't believe it."

Tiny said nothing for a while, just staring at the contraption in his hand. Then slowly, never letting his firm grip slacken even for a second, he put Rughorn on the ground.

"Prove it."

"What?" Rughorn panicked. "How? What do you want me to do? I tried sending you the code, and you did not accept it."

"And expose myself to cyber-attacks?" Tiny's shoulders shook. "No. Prove it with your actions, as those biologicals do."

"How?"

"Simple," Tiny said, pointing behind Rughorn. "Stall B.O.B."

Rolling slowly in the distance, a blob was advancing. It was massive, at least the size of a city, green, with occasional parts of it escaping from its mass, hitting the ground with hissing and sizzling. Where it rolled, grass disappeared and rock melted.

"Are you joking?" The blue ball on top of the tank started pulsing in agitation again. "Is this a different type of humour?"

"No."

"B.O.B. does not absorb metal as fast as organic material, but his mucus will melt my internal components in minutes. You don't want me to perish, do you?"

"Prove it or go away!"

"Fine."

Rughorn turned, turrets popping out for its sides and front, and without missing a beat, he launched all of his remaining missiles. They flew through the air, leaving a white line behind their trajectory. Upon impact with the giant slime, they did nothing, except lodge themselves into its mass, like a spoon in gelatine. Slowly, they began to sink

"Alright, that's all I can do," The tank stated cheerfully. "These are all my weapons. Can we go now, I proved…"

Rughorn stopped speaking when he realised that Tiny was moving. The giant robot was rearing his arm back.

"Try harder," Tiny said, and then chucked Rughorn with all his might.

Rughorn would have screamed, but his speakers were broken. Well, it's not like he did not expect this, Tiny never liked him that much, and for the life of him, he could not understand why. No matter, there is always another day. The blue sphere on top of the tanks started crackling with energy. He may have lied about not having any more weapons. Might as well put on a show for the giant, Rughorn thought, then fired at the gelatine.

Back in Tiny's head, Curiosity whistled in appreciation.

"Nice," He said. "Did you plan this?"

"Yes!" Tiny boomed. "Bow before my might!"

"B.O.B was nearby," Darius said. "He usually patrols this area, so it was relatively easy to devise a plan of action."

"You're one hell of a tough cookie," Cherry said. "I would love to fight you one day."

"Refreshments!" Tinny boomed. "Let's celebrate! Water for everyone!"

"Water!" Curiosity cried in ecstasy. "Let's party!"