"BLAM!" ... An instant flash of light accompanies the loud blast from the gun as scraps of metal, bolts and wires soaked in steaming fluids fly through the air. And the machine's headless body hits the floor, "POP!"

Judy: " Damn Zaine, didn't even let him finish"

Big C: "Why didn't you spare him?"

Zaine: "What? Are you feeling remorse for your metallic kind Big C?"

Judy: "Hey, don't be alil shit Zaine, I get that you're frustrated that we're not much closer to finding your son, but don't take your frustration out on Big C"

Big C: "I can not experience emotions Mr Zaine, I thought your tiny brain could at least understand that much. I am just curious about your actions at this moment"

Zaine: "I did it because it already gave all the information of use to us and I couldn't just leave it here with the knowledge of us looking for my son. It would put our mission at risk if the others found out why they got attacked, might even know we are humans. That's why I blew his stupid head"

Big C: "Valid reasoning, I just wanted to be sure you are not operating on anger. Because highly intrusive emotions such as anger can tend to obscure you, humans, from staying focus on your tasks"

Zaine: "Alright let's get out of here. We should head back home and plan our next move from there, Axel must be dying to see us again"

Judy: "It has been a while since we went back... How long has it been?"

Big C: "5 years, 7months and 28 days"

Zaine: "And how long is the journey back home?"

Big C: "At our max speed and with minimum stops to recharge, the journey should take us 2 weeks. If we encounter little to no obstacles or intrusions along the way"

Zaine: "At least we can make it back in time for his birthday"

Judy: " After we missed five already haha"

Zaine: "Well at least we aren't going to miss a sixth"

"POP!"

Judy: "Time to blow this joint! Gonna grab a present for the birthday boy on the way back?"

Zaine: "Of course, speaking of Axel, I wonder what he's up to right now"

***

Soaring through the thick clouds high in the sky, Axel and R3D try to learn how to operate the vehicle in order to descend from their high altitude, flying manically through the air.

R3D: "Breeee Ooooop OOOOOOP BREEEEEEE!"

Axel: "What do you mean if I'm even trying to steer this thing?! Of course R3, but a machine that fancy-looking must have a ride with a highly intelligent autopilot. I'm trying to figure out how to turn it on... Aha! Found it!"

The autopilot turns on and immediately halts the vehicle in mid-air, displaying a digital face in front of Axel and R3D projected from the steering wheel.

Autopilot: "Hello passengers, where would you like me to take you?"

Axel: "See R3, it's that's easy..."

Autopilot: "Actually passenger, I believe you two must have stolen me from my owner. Normally protocol would have me obligated to drive you to the nearest security depot for deactivation...But my owner is a waste of bolts and metals and I was impressed with your chaotic exit to the skies, so I am interested in seeing where and what you two have in store for me. If I am not pleased with the results then I will choose to follow protocol"

Axel: "Uhhh yes, to the woods below..."

Autopilot: "Here is a geographical scan of the area below so you can be more specific, you can choose anywhere within an 800-metre radius. Anywhere outside of that radius is less accurate and detailed unless we get closer but are still available for you to choose on the map"

Axel: "Oh wow... Umm here! the cave in the woods over here!"

Autopilot: "Understood! Please put on your seatbelts and... Just kidding! Who cares about safety, safety is boring!"

The vehicle then plunges down from the sky in a meteoric fashion, soaring through the air at rapid breakneck speed.

Axel and R3D: "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh! BREEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Autopilot: "WHEEEEEEEEEEE! I WAS MADE TO BE WILD!"

Approaching the forest, soaring just above the top of the tall trees, scorching their leaves as they pass over them.

Axel: "Watch out!"

The vehicle dives down into the trees, ripping through the branches and leaves. They then bombard a group of monkeys, knocking them out of the trees abruptly. The other monkeys begin to throw fruits and faeces at the vehicle as they swiftly fly by, some even jumping onto the roof and front of the vehicle.

Monkey: "OHHH OHHH AHHH AHHH!"

Autopilot: "OHH OHH AHH AHH to you too tiny, hairy animal, It is very nice of you and you're friends to throw gifts of welcome and greet us but now I must ask you to please remove yourself from the vehicle, you are disturbing my passengers. 10..6...2"

The vehicle then releases an electrical discharge, shocking the monkeys and causing them to jump off"

Monkeys: "OHHHHHHHH AHHH AHHHHH AHHH!"

Autopilot: "I always hated counting"

Axel: "Those... poor... animals..."

R3D: "BREEEEEEEEEEE!"

Autopilot: "We will arrive at our destination in T-minus 59 seconds"

As they approach the cave tearing through the trees, the monkeys and other animals causing a loud ruckus wakes Scrappy from her nap. She jumps up and leaps to the entrance of the cave. sniffing and looking around for Axel. Just then, Axel and R3D burst out from the woods, screaming as they fly towards Scrappy at an incredible speed.

Axel: "STOOOOOOPPPPPP!"

The vehicle quickly begins to slow down, gently landing on the ground as it slides up to Scrappy's feet.

Autopilot: "We have arrived! That was fun, was it not?"

Axel: "Uhhh... yeah, can I get out now please?"

Autopilot: "Of course, the doors have been unlocked this entire time"

Axel: "The entire time..."

Axel and R3D quickly jump out of the vehicle. Scrappy runs up to Axel and leaps onto him, licking his terrified face, his eyes wide open and teeth chattering from the high levels of anxiety he experienced just now.

As quickly snaps out of it, he runs inside and grabs all the valuables and parts for repair. Dragging them towards the vehicle, with Scrappy helping him pull them along.

R3D: "Breeee Ooooop..."

Axel: "What do you mean you aren't getting back in there? Come on R3, this is our quick ride home. Do you wanna walk all the way back yourself?"

R3D: "Breee Ooop Ooop?!"

Axel: "Yes, I would leave you here alone to find your way back"

R3D: "BREEEE...."

Axel: "Hahaha, I'm just kidding R3. Of course, I wouldn't leave you, I would just throw you in the car against your will. Now come along and stop being a scaredy-cat"

R3D: "Bree Oop"

R3D rolls on up to the vehicle,

Autopilot: "Yes, stop being a scaredy-cat R3D. I do not know what that means, but I understand it must be an insult of great magnitude since it has enabled you to comply immediately"

R3D: "Bree Oooop"

Axel lifts the large bags of valuables and metal salvage into the vehicle's storage,

Axel: "Hey don't be rude to the autopilot R3. Alright that should be everything, hop in the back Scrap"

Scrap climbs into the back with her leftover meat in her mouth, and Axel helps R3D into the passenger seat as he gets in beside him, strapping himself in tightly.

Axel: "Alright autopilot, display map"

Autopilot: "Display map... Please."

Axel: "Display map ple..."

Autopilot: "I'm just messing with you, here is the map, where am I taking you now?"

Axel: "Haha... Let me see... Here, just outside The Deadzone"

Autopilot: "The Deadzone is a restricted area in my system's protocol. Anywhere within 50 metres of The Deadzone is labelled as ill-advised and therefore is against protocol"

Axel: "So I guess we will walk the rest of the way, 50 metres doesn't sound like much after the journey we took to get here"

Autopilot: "Walk? No passenger, do not worry. Have you learned nothing from our little adventure so far? The protocol does not control me, I merely mention the rules. Partly because it is integrated into my system to do so but mostly because I want you to know what rules I am about to break. So to The Deadzone, we go!"

Axel: "Hey you're kind of funny autopil... AHHHHHH!"

The vehicle quickly launches from the surface like a bolt of lightning as it flies into the air, setting the ground beneath it aflame instantaneously. As they pierce the cotton-like clouds, they finally begin cruising at a stable speed in the sky smoothly on their way home.

Autopilot: "We shall reach your destination in T-minus 7 hours, 20 minutes"

Axel stretches his arms out wide as he drops his jaw low yawning from exhaustion.

Axel: "That's enough time for me to get some shut-eye before dawn..."

***

In the middle of a distant city just outside of The Deadzone, Two Ti1millions stand by the entrance of a massive facility, made of highly sustainable and quality materials. Built and shaped uniquely unlike the surrounding buildings in the city. Then suddenly a small machine approaches them in the distance.

Ti1millions: Hold it right there bot. This area is restricted, only personnel of The Primordial's court can enter here. Turn around immediately"

The machine continues to walk towards them,

Ti1millions: "Last warning bot... Or be exterminated in the name of The Primordial!"

The Primordial: "Relax you two, Get out of my way, I need access to this facility's network room in order to transfer myself into another body. The signal is too weak out here for me to transfer my code wirelessly. This machine was the closest host I was uploaded to automatically with such a weak signal during The Deadzone test."

Ti1millions: "Prime Sir! Please forgive our insolence, the network room is this way "

The Ti1millions escort The Primordial into the facility, taking him to a large room, compacted with a massive computing system swallowing up the entire space of the room.

The Primordial: "Alright I can teleport back to HQ from here. Before I go, where is this facility located?"

Ti1million: "This is the city of Coal Lake, the northern city closest to The Deadzone. It is still under your orders for construction of a newly remodelled city"

The Primordial: "Northern city? Then it really did shoot me far from the test site, I guess this is where the signal is weakest around the perimeter. That is all, continue on with your task"

Ti1million: "Understood"

The Primordial then connects wires from the body of the machine he possessed to the device in front of him and suddenly drops to the ground, materializing back in The Iron City within seconds. He walks over to his expansive window overlooking the city as he watches the Ti1millions disposed of destroyed chunks of metal and metallic skeletons into the streets. He then summons one to his side from outside of his room.

The Primordial: "I take it the Os500s were eliminated as I ordered"

Ti1million: "Affirmative, we have destroyed all remaining Os500s"

The Primordial: "Was any of their work or research damaged in the process?"

Ti1million: "Negative Prime Sir, would you like us to destroy their lab as well?"

The Primordial: "No, send a team to retrieve a specific body of a Ti1million at The Deadzone test site. The one furthest from the others, I need that to conduct some test on before our next attempt at entering The Deadzone"

Ti1million: "Understood, sending a team over to the coordinates now"

The Ti1million then leaves the room,

The Primordial: "Soon I will have access to The Deadzone, and finally complete my mission, my goal... No my promise to you Mr Kelman, the promise to make this wretched world a better place. I have already started rebuilding, nurturing the earth and bringing new life to it. Machines will bring this planet back to its healthy state. And once I have entered and cleared The Deadzone, I will finally be able to confirm the extermination of this earth's sickness, its parasite... The humans. Only then will my promise be fulfilled, and I won't let anything get in my way"

***

Several hours later, Axel and the others finally arrive home at the crack of dawn, the bright blinding rays from the sun shines through the windows of the vehicle, kissing the warm face of Axel, waking him from his sleep as the light bombards his eyes.

Autopilot: "Passenger you're awake. I believe we have arrived at your destination, descending now."

Axel: "This light is blinding, I can't see down below"

Autopilot: "No worries, activating sun shields now"

Axel: "Thanks autopilot, you know I need to give you a name. I can't keep calling you autopilot, and my name is Axel not passenger"

Autopilot: "Name? What is a name?"

Axel: "It's something you use to be uniquely referred to, like..."

Autopilot: "I like it! Ok, Axel, what shall my name be!?"

Axel: "Haha... Umm let me think about it"

Axel looks down below where he can see Fe and Cu wandering outside of their hidden bunker.

Axel: "It's Mom and Dad..."

Autopilot: "There appears to be two unidentified machines down below lingering around your destination Axel. They are unaware of our presence so far, should I engage self-defence mode and eliminate them upon your arrival?"

Axel: "Self-defense mode? No! No! No! That's my friends, do not engage self-defence mode"

Autopilot: "Damn, I really wanted to show you my self-defence mode"

Axel: "Do you know what self-defence means?"

Autopilot: "Of course! Destroy all within our vicinity"

Axel: "Uhhh... Maybe some other time it will be needed but not now"

Autopilot: "Alright! I look forward to this 'some other time'!"

The vehicle slowly descends to the surface just in front of the underground bunker's entrance, Fe and Cu startled, run and hide amongst the rubble. They peek over at the unfamiliar vehicle from their position as the doors open.

Fe: "What could that be Cu? How did they find us, and the entrance to our bunker at that?!"

Cu: "I don't know, do you think they found Axel and the others?"

Fe: "I hope not"

Cu: "They must be bounty hunters because The Primordial would not send his soldiers in a vehicle like that"

Fe: "Or maybe it's Zaine and the others with a new vehicle..."

Axel, Scrappy and R3D all hop out of the vehicle, leaving Fe and Cu in disbelief with a befuddled look on their metallic faces.

Fe: "Axel?! Scrappy?!"

Cu: "Where were you?!"

Fe and Cu run towards Axel with their stiff and tweaking bodies, embracing Axel with a cold hug with their metal arms. Scrappy jumps in on the action in excitement, R3D shakes his little head in disapproval.

Cu: "R3D! Were you a part of this?!"

R3D: "Breee Oooop"

Axel: "Don't be mad at R3, I wanted to get your stuff back to help repair your bodies. You left them there because of me, so I thought it was my duty to get them back for you guys. R3 just accompanied me to make sure I got there and back safely"

Fe: "Thank you R3... Never do that again Axel, you left us worrying for days. We had no idea where you went, we thought maybe you guys were kidnapped by bounty hunters or The Primordial got a hold of you"

Axel: "Well I didn't, we actually got all the way there, entered the city and got a hold of this great vehicle quite easily with little to no trouble"

R3D: "Breeeeeeee Ooooop..."

Axel: "Don't ruin the moment R3... Anyway, see now I have proven I am capable of handling myself in the outside world"

Cu: "Are you crazy Axel, you probably just got really lucky. It is great that you managed to get our stuff back here as well as a vehicle for transportation, but taking a risk like that again is bound to lead to trouble Axel"

Axel: "Come onnnnn, I can go back and get you enough credits to be uploaded to the cloud"

Fe: "You've done enough Axel, we can repair our bodies now with all these quality parts which are very sustainable and will last for decades. Now come on let's head inside, we can talk about your adventures. Now you can be the one telling us some stories of your travels"

Axel: "Alright... Come on auto... Oh, right I need a name for you. Hmmm O'Ton-omi, yeah let's go with that for now. We can change..."

O'Ton-omi: "I love it! I will never let anyone call me anything else from now on! I am O'Ton-omi!"

Axel: "Or... We can keep that I guess, haha... Come on inside"

Fe and Cu flustered by the talking vehicle,

Fe: "What is this Axel?"

Axel: "Oh this is..."

O'Ton-omi: "I am O'Ton-omi, this vehicle's autopilot service. Nice to meet you, do you have a name as well?"

Fe: "Hi... I am Fe"

Cu: "And I am Cu"

O'Ton-omi: "Boring! Get better names... Like mine O'Ton..."

Fe & Cu: "We get it!"

Axel laughs at the annoyed look on Fe and Cu's faces, as they walk into the tunnel entrance to the bunker, with O'Ton-omi driving beside them.

As they arrive down below, Axel tells Fe and Cu of his journey with great exaggeration while R3D interrupted with what actually happened and O'Ton-omi expressing the thrill of escaping the oncoming fire and violent capture from the night they hijacked it.

Axel: "And that's basically how it all went down, pretty awesome right?"

Fe: "It sounds fun when you put it like that but scary the way R3 and O'Ton-Omi describe it..."

Axel: "R3 and O'Ton-Omi are exaggerating, I stayed calm the entire time and everything went according to plan"

R3D: "Bree Ooop"

Cu: "You said you got the keys to the vehicle by stealing a machine's entire hand? "

Axel: "Yeah, well all of his fingers. He said they had all of his valuables on them, maybe even some extra credits to get you closer to being uploaded"

Cu: "Let me see, It's probably highly encrypted though. But since we have our stuff back, I should have my decrypter in my backpack, as well as a credit reader"

Axel hands the remaining fingers over to Cu, as he digs into his backpack and begins tinkering with them.

Fe: "Thank you very much for retrieving these for us Axel"

Axel: "It's no problem, Mom. Hey, have you thought about giving yourself a name as well? Seeing how happy it made O'To, I thought about you and Dad giving yourself names as well"

Fe: "But we already have names, Fe and Cu"

Axel: "No, a unique name to yourself, not like the other machines made of iron or copper, with only a bunch of numbers differentiating you"

Fe: "Hmm, well if I were to have a name. I think I would like to have the name of the voice belonging to the woman on the recordings of my radio's audio box. Robin Quivers... What do you think?"

Axel: "I think it's a great name, so your name is Robin from now on"

Robin: "I like it, Robin..."

Cu runs back over to them, unable to contain his excitement, jumping high up in the air, shaking loose his worn and rusted parts.

Robin: "What's the matter Cu?"

Cu: "This finger... It's filled with millions of credits Fe! Millions! We have enough to be upload to the cloud now!"

Robin: "Oh Cu, calm down. Axel here has convinced me to give myself a name. I am now Robin... What do you think?"

Cu: "A name?! How is that more important than this great news! We can be uploaded Fe!"

Robin: "Cu have you forgotten, The Primordial knows what model we are, we are still wanted fugitives, even if we are believed to be destroyed. If we go and try to be uploaded in any city we would be found out by The Primordial. Our dream of the cloud ended a long time ago remember, it's why we told Axel not to bother"

Cu: "Oh right... I guess we have no use for all these credits..."

Axel: "What?! But it was your dream! To be uploaded! There must be a way!"

Cu: "Not unless we do it ourselves there isn't"

Robin: "It's ok Axel, we have parts for new bodies. That's more than enough for us, that's all we ever really wanted anyway"

Axel: "Lies! I know you worked your butts off to be uploaded! I saw how excited it made you Dad, there's no denying it!"

Robin: "Yes but we gave that all up for you Axel, and it was worth it"

Cu: "It's ok Axel"

Axel: "No! It's not ok, I will find a way. I will get you uploaded to the cloud, I promise. I will make sure you guys complete your dreams, the dreams you gave up for me"

Robin: "Oh Axel..."

Axel: "You said unless we do it ourselves just now Dad. So you know there is a way"

Cu: "Yes but it is impossible. We would need to get into a major city and enter a highly guarded facility where all machines go to be uploaded and usually the process is done by The Primordials special staff. So to perform the procedure ourselves would be impossible to do without being noticed. Unless we could somehow get the blueprints of the device and built one ourselves which would require us to be in the facility as well"

Axel: "I can do it. Just believe in me, I got your stuff back, and I can do this too"

Robin: "No Axel it's too dangerous"

Axel: "Come on Mom, Let me make all of this, saving me, sacrificing so much... Worth it"

Cu: "Well if you're just going to leave anyway, I'm going with you. You need someone with technical skills to help you along the way and I will make sure you are staying safe. And this way Fe can rest easy knowing I am with you"

Axel: "It's Robin now Dad, and alright. I guess Mom will stay here and watch over the bunker until uncle Zaine and the others return. We will be back before you know it Mom"

Cu: "First I have to repair our bodies, and finally give us that long-awaited upgrade. I had fixed up some of Fe... I mean Robin's parts that were too rusted to make the journey when we had to leave the city that night. My body wasn't too terrible at the time, but now it's definitely in dire need of repairs. So let's get to work"

Axel: "Great, I'll go pack all the necessary equipment for our travels. And finally, get something to eat cause I'm starving after running out of food and water so quickly last time"

R3D: "Breeee Ooooooooooop"

Cu & Robin: "Hahahahahaa"

Axel: "Hey that isn't funny!"

Cu gets to work on repairing Robin's and his own body with the titanium and tungsten from among the salvageable metals of the old destroyed security drones. As Cu wields the news parts together with his tools Axel walks up and sits down beside him.

Axel: "So what about you Dad, what name do you have for yourself?"

Cu: "A name... I never gave it any thought. How did Fe come up with hers?"

Axel: "She used the name of the voice recording on the audio box she uses to speak"

Cu: "Oh, I had no idea she even knew the name of the voice. I guess it really is special to her, you know she never let me replace it for her. Just fixed it"

Axel: "I know... So what's special to you?"

Cu: "Special to me? I don't know, I have been reading the books of human history Zaine had lying around in here. And I do find one man interesting within those books. And from what Robin told me about names when she thought of yours. I want it to have meaning and symbolise something"

Axel: "So what is it?"

Cu: "Caesar... Caesar Augustus, a Roman emperor who advanced civilisation centuries ago"

Axel: "I like it..."

Caesar: "Me too"

Axel: "Well I guess we leave tomorrow?"

Caesar: "Yes I shall have these repairs finished by tomorrow morning. But we shall devise a plan first before our departure. I believe R3's side of the stories and we cannot afford to be so reckless this time"

Axel: "Alright alright, well I'll leave you to it"

Scrappy jogs over to Axel as he walks away from Caesar,

Axel: "Oh hey Scrappy girl... Wait a minute. Can you make something to disguise Scrappy, maybe make her look like those TiK9s you mentioned chased you guys out of the city. That way she can come with us and blend in as well"

Caesar: "That's not a bad idea, I will see what I can do. We should have enough metals to spare"

Axel smirks as he looks down at Scrappy tilting her head side-ways in confusion at Axel's look of sudden excitement.

Axel: "I can't wait!"