"BOOOOOOM!" Scorching oil and blackened smoke burst into a mountainous explosion, flooding the already polluted sky with pitch-black burning clouds. The gigantic vat of oil comes crashing down onto the savage machines, as the support beams keeping it suspended, explode and rip away from the container.

The savage machines underneath the approaching cataclysmic threat, watch as it comes crumbling down on them in a destructive explosion. Some of them scatter in different directions, shooting up the descent as they try to get out of the hole before it falls onto them and others scamper back down into the underground building.

But the gigantic container smashes into the edge of the hole, causing all the feral machines as well as the savage machines who raced to the top, causing them to come crashing back down into the hole along with the blazing destruction. Boiling oil bursts and flood the entire floor like running lava, scalding everything it touches upon impact. The savage machines along with their metallic feral pets are swallowed in the sea of oil and explosions, buried beneath the black blazing hellscape.

Axel and the others still running away from the area are faced with a multitude of sinkholes appearing before them, as steaming oil spew from them, bursting out of the ground. Scrappy and Caesar leap over the sinkholes as they carried everyone, avoiding the hot oil.

As the explosions finally come to an end, and the scorched land crumbles into a massive sinkhole filled with the blazing fire burning on top of a sea of oil. The boiling oil sea melts away the floating dismantled corpses of savage machines, showered in the acid rain as clusters of steam disperse from the massive hole trailing into the air. Axel and the others, hundreds of feet away look back at the destruction behind them, witnessing no persuing machines from the hellscape.

"KRACKAAAAAAAKKKK BOOM!" The raging thunderstorm continues, as the downpour of acid rain intensifies.

Axel: "We did it... See Dad? You just have to trust me sometimes"

Caesar: "We need to get back to the vehicle, the acid rain appears to be falling heavier than before"

Axel: "Alright, let's go Scrap"

They all make their way back to the location of the car, as they walk along the children flood Axel with a multitude of questions.

Axel: "Alright alright, before I answer any questions. What are your names, I don't think I got them all"

Levi: "I'm Levi..."

Luca: "I'm Luca, and the two you saved from the dark place are Lily and Leo"

Raine: "Well, their names are Lilybeth and Leonard but we call them Lily and Leo. And my name is Raine"

Viktor: "And my name is Viktor"

Aren: "I'm Aren"

Alyssa: "...My name is... Alyssa"

Roc: "And I'm Roc"

Axel: "Who gave you your names? Did the old droids name all of you?"

Levi: "No, Our names were on our pods... Well some of us, the names on their pods were damaged or erased over time from the harsh environment. so like Rosie, Raine and Roc, we all came up with their names"

Raine: "I thought you were in a pod... Was your name not on there? Or were you lying..."

Levi: "Raine! Maybe his name was erased as well"

Axel: "Don't worry, I understand her suspicions. I do not know if my pod had a name or not. The machine who saved me took me from my pod and had to escape with me very quickly, to avoid the capture of a very powerful machine called The Primordial. My name is Axel... Axel Iridian. That is the name of the machine who saved me, my mother gave me"

Luca: "Don't you wonder what your name possibly could have been now that you know?"

Axel: "No, not really"

Levi: "So how did you save Rosie?"

Axel: "I heard her scream as we arrive in this city, So I raced over to her location to find her being chased by some of those machines. Then she told me there were more of you so I came to find you"

Raine: "Where do you come from? And you never answered the question back in the building. What are you? You said Human, but what is a human?"

Axel: "What's a human? I don't quite know, I don't think I fully understand what it is to be human just yet. But I can tell you the difference between a human and a machine, which I am sure you guys can relate to as well. We bleed when we are wounded, red warm fluid, not oil or coolants like machines and it hurts when we do.

Unlike a machine that feels nothing even when its limbs or head has been removed. We have soft skin, and hair, not hard and sturdy metal bodies. We get hungry, we eat, we sleep, we laugh, we smile, we care for things, we grow in size, and so much more. Yes, some of these things machines can do as well, but we do it naturally, it's in our nature. That's what I know so far about being human"

Raine: "Sounds stupid to me..."

Levi: "Raine!"

Luca: "He is right though, all of these things he mentioned. We have never seen any other machine do... Like us"

Raine: "That's because there are no other machines like us Luca, isn't it obvious? We are a different make of machines, different from the ones we have seen so far. Only now have this one come along who is just like us, thinking he is something else... A human, whatever that made-up name is"

Axel smiles as he chuckles a little, and looks over to Raine.

Axel: "It's ok if you don't want to believe me, Raine. But you will see eventually, there is a whole history about our kind. A history I plan to unfold one day and find out myself, so I will find you the answers you seek. Because I seek them too"

Raine pouts as she looks away from Axel smiling at her, almost blushing as they continue walking along.

Levi: "The machine, who saved you... What is it like?"

Axel: "My Mom? She is very kind and caring. And she is very curious about the world, she is the most human-like machine I have ever met, like my Dad over there"

Axel looks over to Caesar,

Luca: "Mom, Dad?"

Levi: "You call them Mom and Dad, what is that? Their names?"

Axel: "No, it is more of a title. My Mom, who was once called Fe, her name is Robin now... Uhhh long story but anyway. She told me from what she can recover of her past data, she was a nurse droid. And back then humans had figures in their life who raised them in their adolescent stage. A mother and father, mom and dad for short. A mother was the female who took care of you, fed you and watches over you and the father did the same, providing and protecting. When she described them to me, I couldn't help but see them as my mother and father. So I call them Mom and Dad"

Caesar hearing the conversation glances over to Axel and stares at him for a brief moment. The heavy showers of acid rain finally come to an end, and the last few droplets splatter on the soaked ground.

Aren: "So I guess the old droids... Were our mom and dad..."

Tears begin to flow from Luca's, Roc's and Leo's eyes as they slowly begin to sob.

Axel: "Hey don't cry, guys. Their sacrifice wasn't in vain, they did what they could to protect you and I promise you will be safe from now on with us"

Axel looks over to Leo sobbing sitting next to Lily. Noticing her curled up in a ball barely hanging onto the back of Scrappy.

Axel: "What is her name again? The one with the really long hair, doesn't she speak?"

Levi wipes away her tears and sniffles as she looks back at Lily.

Levi: "Oh that's Lily, We haven't spoken to her since she was taken into that dark place... I've never seen her taken on a chase since she was taken there. Sometimes we see the other be taken on chases as their lead to the exit, they pass our cages on the way out. But Lily was the only one taken the opposite direction. And after not seeing his sister in the cage beside him for weeks, on his next chase I think he ran down to the dark place to be with her..."

Axel: "But he couldn't even see her..."

Levi: "I guess as long as he was near her, that was enough"

Axel: "She is very quiet, and her eyes seem to be very sensitive to light like Dad said. How did you know about the security room, Luca?"

Luca: "On one of the chases I was taken on, I ran back to the budling to possibly find a weapon or some means of freeing the others so we could finally fight back and get away for good. And I came across that room just before I was caught. They took me down to the darkroom...I couldn't see anything and then they had an argument among themselves and they brought me back up the day after, threatening to take me back if I did something like that again"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Axel: "So it seems they take the ones who come close to escaping to the darkroom. The ones that almost got away. So Lily... Almost escaped on her own..."

Caesar: "We should be close now, O'Ton-omi should be just up ahead"

Levi: "Oton...?"

Raine: "Yeah...What? Who is that?"

Axel: "O'Ton-omi is our ride, don't make fun of or mispronounce its name. It doesn't like that"

Luca: "The car has a name? Can it speak too?"

Axel: "Yes...A"

Caesar: "A lot"

R3D: "BREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Axel: "That was R3! What's happening?!"

Caesar: "Sounds like he's in trouble... He must know we are close since he just shouted for us"

Axel: "Scrappy! Run! Toward R3, let's go!"

Scrappy bolts towards the destination where R3D, O'Ton-omi and Rosie should be, with Caesar just behind them.

Axel: "R3! Where are you? Wait... Who"

Caesar: "Who is that?"

As they all arrive at the car, they notice a young man sitting on top of O'Ton-omi, shrouded in shadow holding a gun in his hand, as he leisurely sits with his foot pinned on R3D. Axel and Caesar swiftly draw their blades and Scrappy releases a vicious growl as she slowly approaches the young man.

V: "Calm down, lower your weapons... I'm V, and I've come to you with a deal"

Axel: "Calm down? A deal?! You're on top of our ride, with our friend trapped inside and you have your foot on our R3 with a gun in your hand!"

V: "The girl? Oh, she wouldn't stay still and wouldn't trust me that we were waiting until you guys came back. So I had to lock her in the stupid car and this one under my boot kept trying to roll away or shock the shit out of my leg, it was insanely hard trying to lock him away in the car too, so this was the best I could do to retrain it for now. Now I'll be honest the girl had good reason not to trust me since my first intention was to steal this nice craft of yours..."

Axel and raises his sword as well as Caesar with his flaming katana.

Axel: "Scrap..."

V: "But!...But! That was no longer my plan after I heard her bicker on and on about you, saving her with your pet wolf and shiny metallic friend. And that you went to save the others who are just like her. And I just had to see for myself, the wolf, the shiny... Titanium at that... Friend and accompanied by 9 other children. And I assumed that massive explosion was you as well. Impressive..."

Axel: "Get your foot off of R3! What do you want?"

V takes his foot off of R3 and puts his gun away behind his back. R3D quickly rolls down from the top of the car and towards Axel.

V: "Well, as I was explaining. I firstly just wanted your ride, when I saw it just sitting here unattended as I flew by, I thought it must be my lucky day. And it would be perfect to carry out my mission. I landed next to it and it went on and on which was quite annoying so I powered it off and as I was ticketing with it to fly it manually, your small rolling friend of yours came zapping the shit out of me with its tiny little arms... The little shit came out of nowhere.

At first, I thought it was just some crazy little bot, but then I saw the girl and figured the car must be hers's so I told her to come with me. But of course she didn't so I decided to at least take her with me and maybe drop her off somewhere more safe than this shit hole. But while listening to her rant, I have a better plan. An offer for you"

Caesar: "We do not want any offer from you... Now leave us immediately. Or we will use force"

Axel: "What is the offer?"

V: "The chance to do more than save just 10 human children..."

Axel: "What do you mean?"

Caesar: "Axel, do not listen to this stranger. We can not trust him"

V: "After seeing you return, with burnt clothes, soaked in this irritable acid rain and clearly a broken wrist... I can see the trouble you went through to save those kids. Well my mission... Is the same as what you've done today, but greater, and I can see now that you guys are the missing parts to my plan. I'm heading to save hundreds of prisoners, humans locked away in a Major city... Now the girl also mentioned you were going to another city, so I can tell you have a mission of your own. I can help you with that if you help me save these humans"

Axel: "Hundreds... Of humans?"

V: "Hundreds... Back home doesn't have the balls to go save them, but I know where they are and I can't rest knowing they're trapped there. Unable to be free while I stay and do nothing. So I made it my mission to save them. So what is your business in a major city?"

Caesar: "Axel..."

Axel: "It's ok Dad, I think we can trust him..."

Axel nods his head at Caesar, putting his sword away and hops off the back of Scappy.

Axel: "Our goal is to get the blueprints of the upload device for the cloud from one of The Primordial's facilities..."

V: "An upload device? The Primordial's facility?! You guys are even more ballsy than I thought. Esepcially you kid. I won't ask what you want with an upload device, but I can help you get that. We can basically align our goals since we are both heading to a major city"

Axel: "Youre going to Cybergreen too?"

V: "Cybergreen? No, why would you go to Cybergreen of all the cities? That's one of the cleanest, well kept cities. The machines there are far worst than what you've encountered here, I can assure you that. You won't be able to cause a ruckus like you did here. You'd be caught within seconds"

Caesar: "Well we are heading there because it is the closest and safest out of the nearby cities"

V: "Closest...Yes but safest? Maybe for a titanium covered machine like yourself. But a human... They will figure you out. 11 human children will stick out among all that greenery and their immaculate buildings"

Axel: "Well I did have a disguise..."

V: "Disguise? Hahaha, the machines in Cybergreen aren't junkheads. They're extremely intelligent, no disguise will help you"

Axel: "So where are you going?"

V: "I'm going to New Anderthal, we can get you those blueprints from there if you want"

Caesar: "New Anderthal?! No way! We are not going there!"

V: "It's a better bet than Cybergreen buddy, you won't make it far into Cybergreen"

Axel: "Ok... You have a deal"

Caesar: "Axel!"

Axel: "Trust me Dad... Remember..."

V: "Dad? Anyway, those children... Are you bringing them with you? Or do you have somewhere you can take them?"

Axel: "They're gonna have to come with us, my home is too far away to take them there and head back to another major city, O'Ton-omi will have to charge again..."

V: "O...To.. What?"

Axel: "The car! Speaking of O'Ton-omi... Turn her back on now!"

V: "Oh Oh, sure if that's what you want. Cause sheeeshhh does this fucking car talk"

V pulls a device from his pockets and jumps down from on top of the car, pointing the device towards O'Ton-omi. Just then the lights on O'To flicker on. Rosie comes bursting out of the door as it unlocks. Embracing the others, as they all swarm her in hugs.

O'Ton-omi: "Is it morning alreadyyyyyyy? I don't wanna wake up yetttt! Wait is that you Axel? You are back finally. This... thing here! Switched me off and insulted me, give the order and I will eradicate it on the spot for its crimes. I have reached maximum charge by the way, self-defense mode is ready to be activated"

Axel: "No it's ok O'To... Do not activate self-defense mode..."

O'Ton-omi: "But this being, violated me and showed me very little respect. Also I see you did not take my advice of not bringing more those creatures back with you. You have even become just as savage looking and disgusting as them. Your metal has definitely been contaminated, please cleanse yourself of all that filth before you enter"

Axel: "O'Ton-omi... I think it's time you realize I'm not a machine. I'm a human. We are humans"

O'Ton-omi: "You are not a machine? Humans... What is that?"

Axel: "I'll explain to you later, for now we are traveling to New Anderthal... How far away is it from here and do you have enough to make it there?"

O'Ton-omi: "New Anderthal? Yes maximum charge can reach that destination. Your chosen destination is approximently 28 hours 35minutes away from our current location. Is this your new choice of course?"

Axel: "Yes"

O'Ton-omi: "Alright, setting course to route now"

Axel: "Alright, 28 hours though? That's a long time..."

V: "We will be there in no time, it's closer than it seems"

O'Ton-omi: "Even if you are this human you speak of, you must still wash off all that filth before you sit upon my supererb leather"

Axel: "Wash off how O'To? There's no water in this place. Just oil and rust"

O'Ton-omi: "Come to the front of me. All of you, Caesar and Junkdog you as well"

Axel: "Her name is Scrap O'To..."

O'Ton-omi: "Same thing...Alright, cold or hot?"

Axel: "Uhh?"

O'Ton-omi: "Cold it is!"

O'Ton-omi unloads a massive surge of cold water onto Axel and others, soaking them with a high pressure stream of freezing water.

Axel: "AHHHHH! Stop! Stop!"

O'Ton-omi: "All done, Now you guys are clean. You're welcome"

Axel: "....O...O...O'To...Yo... You... You crazy machine! That water was freezing C... Cold!"

All the children shiver madly, vibrating like crazy as their teeth chatter together. Caesar stood by sparkling clean while Scrappy soaking wet and her exoskeleton spotless, sparkling brand new, dashes away from the front of O'Ton-omi.

O'Ton-omi: "Alright boss, No worries. I will dry you guys off now... Wait a minute, I think I missed a spot on some you"

Axel: "Don't you dare!"

O'Ton-omi: "Okay then"

O'Ton-omi dries them off with some warm and gentle air, easing their chattering teeth. Scrappy shakes her body rapidly, drying her drenched fur herself.

V: "Well, that was interesting to watch... Anyway are you guys ready now?"

Axel: "Yes, everyone get into the car"

O'Ton-omi: "Single file line! Before you enter, state your name"

Axel: "Don't listen to O'To, you don't have to do that"

O'Ton-omi: " Yes they do!"

Aren: "... Uhhh Aren"

O'Ton-omi: "Okay Uhhh Aren, enter... Your name sucks by the way. I recommend getting a new one"

Rosie: "I'm..."

O'Ton-omi: ":Already know you, Rosie. So move along, enter"

Levi: "Levi"

O'Ton-omi: "Bad name, try again... Enter"

Luca: "...Luca"

O'Ton-omi: "What even is that? Enter"

Roc: "...Roc..."

O'Ton-omi: "You've got to be kidding me... The name of solid mass of mineraloid matter, that lays all over the surface... Enter"

Viktor: "Viktor"

O'Ton-omi: "I have given up hope of any of you having a good name at this point. Enter"

Alyssa: “...Alyssa”

O'Ton-omi: “Not bad I guess, but could use some work... Enter”

Raine: "Pftt, Raine..."

O'Ton-omi: "Raine... That one is actually good. I like it, finally a good name. Decent, you may enter Raine"

Axel: " Alright that's enough of that"

Axel helps Lily and Leo to the car,

Axel: "This is Lily and Leo now come on, we gotta get moving"

O'Ton-omi: "Alright, enter"

They all get inside of O'Ton-omi, Caesar and Scrappy join after. Entering the back in the Storage compartment.

Axel: "Hey, V... I don't know if we have room for you..."

V: "Room... For me? Oh no I have my own ride. You guys just follow along behind me"

Axel: "Your own ride?"

V walks behind O'Ton-omi, walking out with a spectacular superbike, decked out with large turbines and gold exhausts. He gets on and revs the engine, spewing a burst of bright flames from the exhaust as it emits a beastly mechanical roar.

Axel: "Cool..."

V: "Alright, let's go... You know, I don't think I've gotten your name... I heard the machine call it before. But you haven't told me your name as yet"

Axel: "Axel... Axel Iridian"

V: "Axel Iridian uh? Alright, nice to meet you Axel. We got a big day ahead of us. I'll see you in the air"

V puts on a pair of black sunglasses that slowly mechanically transform into a helmet. And he lifts off of the ground with his bike, bursting into the air.

Axel: "I need one of those!"

Axel stares in awe, as he walks towards the car.

Axel: "Alright, let's go O'To"

O'Ton-omi: "You got it! Buckle up!"

And they lift off into the air behind V.

Back by the massive hole flooded with the burning sea of oil. A very ominous machine covered completely of gold, stand among the charred remains of the savage machines with deep red glowing eyes, watching them as they fly into the air.

Ominous Gold Machine: "Boss... I have located the human I was tracking, but he is now travelling with a small group. I have counted 11 other humans, an animal and two other machines so far. They have taken flight and are heading in the direction of the major cities. What are your orders now?"

The Ace: "Follow them for now, execute the human called V later. 11 humans travelling somewhere, that will prove interesting to The King... Do not lose sight of them Assassin 23. I will inform the King of your report now"

Assassin 23: "Understood"

The assassin machine gets into a camouflaged jet, taking off into the air behind the others. Stealthy following behind them.