The MetalBody building’s automatic front doors quickly shot apart at the appearance of the Anomaly Corps as if they somehow knew of the way the other doors in the building had been treated lately. The trio were finally setting out on foot to take on their mission after a long day of last minute double-checks and preparations.

  It started with new casual clothing from Maria apparently for the purpose of blending in with Aes citizens. New shirts, sweatshirts, pants, shoes, and, of course, necklaces with their respective companions attached. Viktor had a sneaking suspicion that her true intention was just to be able to spread her fashion designs around without having to do any actual marketing. He supposed if the artistic expression in question was more harmful he’d have some concerns with being treated like a glorified canvas, but he had even less of a problem with it in truth because the clothes were of an impressively high quality.

  Since they would be moving at night, the next thing the creators wanted to address was the Corps’s vision. They had been given countless improvements to their eye cameras over the years, with the initial updates bringing about large leaps in video quality as well as the qualities of more minor features such as eye-to-brain latency and tracking speed. Eventually, the updates became more frequent and less substantial to the point where the androids were basically desensitized to it all in the present day. That was not the case with Maria and Jane’s latest innovation, however. Dubbed “Cat’s Eyes”, the trio’s new lenses were able to produce a level of clarity in darkness that rivaled cats due specifically to two key components: a general upgrade to their ISO sensitivity and an adjustment to their apertures. The ISO upgrade was relatively simple, mainly just installing specially made digital light sensors that reflected enough light to see basically anything in the dark. The aperture problem was a good bit more complicated. Before, they had standard aperture diaphragms that could expand and contract in a circular shape similar to a human’s pupil. It was perfectly serviceable, but testing eventually revealed that the androids actually saw less clearly in darkness than humans. With that discovery in mind, Maria and Jane then apparently researched animals that had good night vision, came to the conclusion that modeling after cats was the most fitting option, and got to work. According to Jane, it took an intimidating amount of tries to get it all to work properly. They initially needed to create lenses that functioned somewhat like anamorphic lenses so the light taken in by the sensors could be processed correctly. They then realized that the iris diaphragms produced unwanted visual effects such as intense blurring when paired with the anamorphic lenses, so they ended up having to start over from scratch and design a whole new type of diaphragm that fit more to the lens’s oblong shape. Several months’ worth of work later, all the components worked correctly and the trio finally obtained their new eyes. Viktor had felt winded after hearing about the whole process. Vivienne stuck around for the explanations on how to operate the technology prior to the in-depth talk and then politely excused herself. Vanitas left as soon as the creators finished replacing his eyes, claiming to not care much about it.

  Additionally, they were given cell phones that contained OS and software typical to Aes’s own immensely popular OnyxTech-brand devices. The androids already had comms systems built into them of course, that wasn’t why the creators wanted them to have the phones. The real purpose of their inclusion into the list of utilities had to do with a particular modification applied by Maria and Jane accessed by clicking a button located just under the power button on the right side of the device. As it turned out, doing so prompted an extremely intricate fold-out transformation from the normal phone form into a perfectly android-sized recharging chamber that looked nearly identical to the ones present at MetalBody. The two explained that because these devices were solar powered and the trio were mostly going to be operating at night, they were to be used in times of absolute necessity, most sensibly when they were on the verge of overuse-induced shutdowns. The option was also given to charge them with power adapters, but this was understandably treated with much less seriousness since having to hook themselves up to public electrical outlets would cause unnecessary inquiry and lots of other problems in most cases. As Viktor confirmed his understanding of the phone’s true function back then he allowed himself to be just a slight bit introspective. Just a few days prior he would’ve wondered how his creators had the time or resources to produce such things on top of all their other MetalBody responsibilities, but now that he’d been informed of their supply of alien technology it was a lot easier to work things of that nature out. That being said, he was given so little information about the scope of the materials that the possibilities could’ve been endless for all he knew. What he did know was that that train of thought was long, dark and had winding unsteady tracks. It was time to refocus.

  The last items on the list were the trio’s weapons and companions. These tools were usually repaired regularly, but the creators stressed that in this case extra improvements needed to be made to the sharpness of the blades and weight of the hammer to keep them better prepared “if need be”. Repairs were definitely needed anyway regardless of whatever vague yet-unclear threat was out there. With the obvious exception of Vivienne’s gear, Streya and the boys’ weapons looked especially worse for wear after having been used on each other so viciously the day before. Luckily everything returned in the androids’ hands looking even more fearsome than they had previously thought possible. As the androids received their respective companions, Jane seemed to think it necessary to issue some further explanations.

  “Your companions can be activated and deactivated in a few different ways, so you’ll need to be aware of your options moving forward. As you’ve already learned, they’re linked to your brains so that you can command them quickly and directly in a bind. What we haven’t told you is, that extends to turning them on and off. It’s as easy as thinking about it or saying a command of your choosing. Also they each have kill switches right here, here and here only in case of Absolute. Emergency. Got it?”

  The three of them nodded and took their respective companions back. Though he didn’t say anything, all present could tell Vanitas must’ve been testing out his thought commands because Streya suddenly began to rise and fall seemingly on its own.

  ? ? ? ?

  It was around midnight when the Corps began to embark on their travels. They were all programmed to intimately know their way around Aes’s every street, but Maria and Jane designed a map of the city to be added to their lenses in Heads-Up Display form to help them pinpoint the locations of the light anomalies for their mission. Viktor in particular became fond of studying the map during the last few bits of off time he had before embarking on the mission. The city’s blocks were arranged into a square perimeter split by a central highway into two triangle sections. MetalBody HQ was situated in a block in the middle of the south triangle mainly consisting of several other office buildings for various businesses mostly involved with the development of technology.

  According to the creators, Aes was the site of a technological advancement boom around ten years prior. Back then, some honest independent developers had apparently sold patents for a few revolutionary inventions to the city government to be used for the betterment of living conditions around the city. Unfortunately, these improvements were implemented too quickly for both the supply and Aes’s aging politicians to keep up with, resulting in progress being fragmented and scattered across certain areas and causing the timeframe of the construction to spread out from then all the way up to the present year. Viktor recalled hearing news stories detailing the struggle to fund projects to bring the tech to various zones that seemed to prove this story true. In any case, he was becoming more and more convinced every day that Maria and Jane were more influential than they let on. They were the only “honest independent developers” he knew of that could have invented things of that scale.

  A thump at the back of Viktor’s neck that felt soft and faraway roused him from his thoughts. He spun around to find the source of the hit and saw Vanitas staggering backwards behind him, clutching his hand.

  “AAGH–Ay! You back down to Earth yet? Your skin is so hot to the touch it damn near melted my fucking hand off!”

  To Viktor’s surprise, the fingers on his irritated partner’s right hand were bright red and smoking profusely. He tried pushing through the confusion to say the right things.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “I, uh–my bad…You remember the cooling trick, right?”

  “Yeah. Just wish I didn’t have to use it for some bullshit…”

  Vanitas did as he was suggested, making sure to continue grumbling on under his breath. The suggestion in question was a feature that had always been a part of the androids’ repertoire, a cooldown system involving vapor compression that could take place at any point inside their bodies at will. The trio hadn’t really ever made use of it. Viktor had gone through data conflict uncontrollably so many times he wasn’t sure it even worked right. Nonetheless, Vanitas was able to get his hand back to a working temperature with relative ease.

  “Good as new. Damn. Anyway, back to what I was saying before. What do we even know about this location we’re s’posed to be at?”

  “Some abandoned warehouse up in the top corner of the south sector. I looked up the area last night, it’s unfortunately pretty run down. It makes sense that a light anomaly would show up in a place like that, though. There’s not usually much to have to keep track of there on your average day. Just the same old groups of people without homes trying their best to survive.”

  Viktor noticed Vivienne perk up at that last sentiment.

  “Oh, Vik, we should talk to some of them! We could learn more about how humans live directly from the source!”

  “I don’t think that’s the best idea. Humans aren’t always receptive to friendly conversations, especially not at this time of night. We don’t wanna cause any more trouble than we need to. My plan is to be as covert as possible. Get in, find the source of the anomaly, shut it down, get out.”

  Vanitas shook his head.

  “That ain’t my style, Vik, you know that. We gotta at least leave something behind for people to find after it’s all over, y’know? Let ‘em know who saved the day.”

  “Sure. Let’s just alert the whole city to the existence of the secret group of androids suspiciously frolicking around at night. The police will totally just wanna come over and chill with us, maybe shoot the shit over some beers–”

  “Alright, alright. I won’t do anything too extravagant.”

  The trio paused at a street corner marking the end of South Aes’s main road, Providence Street, and turned left to start going down Eighth for the rest of the journey. Viktor pinched the bridge of his nose like he’d seen someone do in a sitcom as Vanitas flashed a defiant sneer.

  “Why do you even care about the police anyway? They can’t do shit to us. I say let one of ‘em try me, they’ll start to understand their place real quick.”

  “I care because it’s that exact type of behavior that’ll end up getting MetalBody in hot water. Just because we’re finally out of the building doesn’t mean we can just do whatever we want. Maria and Jane have, uh…goals they need to see through. Lots of very important long-term goals…Look, none of this shit matters, just follow my lead, ok?”

  Viktor saw Vivienne flash a confused expression out of the corner of his eye. Vanitas scoffed.

  “I don’t know, Vik. The more time I spend thinking about those poor, weak little humans, the more I start to believe I can do anything…”

  Viktor’s eyes flicked up towards Streya on instinct, his brain hard-wired to detect even the slightest hint of hostility. Vanitas seemed to notice this and paused for a second before bursting out in a fit of raucous, almost intense laughter.

  “I’m just playing, bro. I wanna see this thing through just as much as you do. Loosen up a little.”

  “Whatever,” Viktor mumbled, trying his best to look unaffected.

  Vanitas’s confession back in MetalBody’s service station seemed at that moment to have been proven undeniably true. Neither Viktor nor Vivienne had ever been so distinctly capricious, and even Vanitas himself seemed much more so lately. Certainly enough to raise some internal alarms; however the Corps leader made a mental note to leave his theorizing to when they had a moment to rest as they reached another intersection. After a cautious left turn onto North Avenue, their destination loomed ahead.

  It wasn’t hard to notice the subject of their quest at the warehouse on the end of the street. A focused beam of light shone through a hole on its damaged roof, a tiny and unsettling beacon in a sea of miles wide pitch-darkness. As they got closer, the Corps couldn’t keep themselves from fixating on it; Therefore, with their awareness of their surroundings compromised, all three androids failed to notice how unusually quiet the streets were. Furthermore, it wasn’t until Viktor was about even with the warehouse’s half-opened roll-up door that he was snapped out of the trance by a peculiar squelching noise that began to sound from under his shoes.

  “That’s weird,” Vivienne said, her attention still fixed on the light. “It hasn’t rained in six days. What are you stepping in, Vik?”

  Viktor took a step back and knelt down to examine the liquid. It was a bit difficult to make out its exact color, but it was definitely thicker than water. He dipped a finger in, brought it back to his mouth and licked it.

  “It tastes like…iron?”

  He looked back at his teammates. They had both managed to look away from the light. Vivienne’s eyes slowly widened as Vanitas looked to have spotted something in the distance.

  “Oh, shit…”

  Upon following his crass teammate’s line of sight, Viktor noticed that the liquid spot seemed to mark the end of a trail stretching about 16 feet north of his position. The trail curved into an alley on the left side of the warehouse. Vanitas looked back at him and Vivienne.

  “That’s gotta be blood, right? C’mon!”

  “What? Wait, hold on–”

  As per usual, Vanitas did not heed Viktor’s advice and instead chose to casually jog toward the alley by himself.

  “Whatever it is, it doesn’t involve us! We’re here for the light, fool!”

  Vivienne gave Viktor a sympathetic look before following Vanitas’s path.

  “Well, it could be connected somehow. We shouldn’t leave a bone unturned, right?”

  Putting aside the immediate urge to question her on whether or not that expression was used correctly, Viktor reluctantly got up and began to follow after his teammates. He noticed that the trail got thicker the further along he went and tried to hold off on analysis until after the investigation concluded.

  Vanitas stopped abruptly after turning the corner into the alley. He could barely get his words out through what sounded like an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

  “God DAMN. Check this shit out, Vik. Dude got brutalized.”

  Indeed, the damage the man opposite the trio sustained seemed too grotesque to be natural. For as early on in death as what was left of his body seemed, Viktor figured the most accurate way to describe its form was “more remains than man”. He lay splayed out against the wall of a disgusting dumpster plastered with blood in a ring around his head like some sort of unsightly target. Looking closer, there were two main areas of damage: one an impossibly deep dent on the top of the head and the other a cavernous hole in the center of the chest. Viktor had never seen anything like it. He looked away to find Vanitas performatively gasping a couple breaths of air in to compose himself.

  “This shit is crazy. Kinda looks like his head got put in a life-sized one of those metal can crushers Jane’s pops used to use.”

  Vivienne made her way to the body and knelt down to examine it. Her eyes moved rapidly, taking in all the visual details of the murder scene.

  “C’mon, Vani. We need to focus. I’m trying to see if I can recognize any of the typical signs that would point to a struggle or a beating or a shooting or something, b-but there’s just nothing to go off of. For starters, he’s the only body here. There also aren’t footprints or bullet casings or any other objects that would’ve been left behind by a perpetrator. T-There is that trail of blood, but…that doesn’t clear much up at all. Was he killed out on the sidewalk and dragged into this alleyway? If not, then…then what? It just doesn’t make sense. For something like this to happen to someone by random chance or by their own doing? N-No way.”

  Just then, a loud crash sounded from inside the warehouse. Viktor had a sudden realization that this may very well be the moment Maria and Jane had been waiting for for a whole decade. He needed to separate himself from the other two and get in that building as soon as possible.

  “Alright I know this is gonna sound nonsensical but I’m gonna need you guys to stay out here and keep investigating this situation while I go in there and see what’s going on. Worst case scenario, if you don’t see the light go out in, like, five to ten minutes, come after me. Got it?”

  Vanitas looked back at Viktor with a knowing expression.

  “‘Ay hold up Vik, I’m not ju–”

  The panicked android figured he had no time to hear anyone out and took off running toward the commotion.