After hours of Caesar's non-stop pounding and wielding, he finally finishes the repairs on himself and Robin. Their new titanium shells and tungsten joints revived from their aged and rusted look, making them look entirely different from when they first left the city. Robin's body was now way more slender and sleek, with a feminine hourglass body structure and sturdier, tougher looking body.

With now a lot more weight to her steps, she was no longer a hollowed-out shell of iron. And with her tungsten joints, she could move around a lot swifter, and smoothly almost completely quiet.

Caesar's body was almost exactly the same, with a more built and battle-ready structure to himself. His body was now bulkier, his arms, neck and skull reinforced with tungsten armour around his titanium shell, with his fist equipped with thick tungsten knuckles.

Caesar: "Alright, now to modify your body, Scrappy"

Scrappy tilts her head sideways in confusion. Meanwhile, Axel digs through Zaine and Judy's things to find some better gear to travel with. He finds some more of Judy's metallic paint and some hollowed out machine parts he can wear, not only as a disguise but even provide some defence like armour.

Axel: "Woah what's this?!"

He shouts as he reaches behind Zaine's bed to find his huge sword, which dwarfed Axel in size. He grabs hold of it pulling it from behind the bed, barely managing to hold it off of the ground for too long furthermore lift it into the air.

Axel: "This must be uncle Zaine's sword, man it's heavier than I imagined. How does he lift this thing? I definitely need a weapon in case I get into any sticky situations next time"

As he struggled with the weight of the sword, he notices something else fell from behind the bed as he moved it.

Axel: "Uh? A smaller one? I don't remember Mom mentioning uncle Zaine having two... But this is a lot more manageable, it's lighter... And almost the perfect size for me to carry without it drawing attention. I'll just wear one of uncle Zaine's cloaks over it"

Axel takes the small blade and wraps it in cloth, tying it to his back. He continues rummaging through Zaine's things for things that may come in handy on his journey.

Robin walks over to Caesar as he is wielding leftover titanium into an exoskeleton, while Scrappy watches him from the side.

Robin: "... Caesar, are you sure about all this? Do you truly believe you can keep Axel safe?"

Caesar: "I believe that whether we try to stop him or not, he will find his way there. It must be human nature in him. I thought you out of the two of us would have a better understanding of that Robin. I will make sure he remains safe the entire time, do not worry your screws loose or pop any wires on your circuit board"

Robin: "It is just that, he is so young still, yes Zaine and Judy return just fine all the time but they are fully grown, adult humans"

Caesar: "Remember what Zaine said, he too grew up alone and travelled the outside world as an adolescent human. I'm sure Judy was the same way"

Robin: "You are right, please Caesar... Take care of him"

Caesar: "I will"

***

Back in the underground base Zaine and the others raided earlier, the rulers of the underground machines society return to the massacre and destruction of their base. All of them displaying the code names, The Joker, The Ace, The Jack and The King among their flashy bodies, brandished completely in jewels and diamonds. Each of their bodies made entirely of stainless, sparkling gold, chrome or silver; representing their individual ranks. The Joker and Ace both chrome, The King is gold and The Jack is silver.

The Jack: "What could have done this?!"

The Joker: "Couldn't be The Primordial or we'd be destroyed already. This must be a third party..."

The Jack: "If not The Primordial's army, then who else has an army that could have taken out our entire base?"

The King: "Don't you get it?! If it isn't The Primordial, it can only be... Humans. They must have built a force skilled enough and attacked our base after all these years. Advise all the other brokers to be on the lookout and upgrade their security immediately. We have to prepare for war... With these humans"

The Ace: "Contacting them now"

The King: "And also, have all of our attack guards and hired bounty bots to protect our merchandise! They must be after our stock... We already lost one, years ago. We won't lose any more to those rebel humans"

The Jack: "What do we do if we can't stop them? Just like the last time..."

The King: "I don't plan on losing again to those flesh having scum, especially after what they did to our base... We will inform The Primordial of their existence and have them all die! So either way, we win, and they die"

***

The next day

Caesar: "Are you all ready Axel? Everything is packed to go, we're all waiting on you"

Axel: "I'm coming!"

Axel stands on top of the roof, staring into the sky. With his arms folded, skin shining from the metallic paint covering his entire body. The blade tied to his back, with lightweight titanium armour on his chest, forearm and shins, and a machine's skull over his head like a helmet, accessorized with goggles over his forehead.

Axel: "I can't wait to get back to the city! I will accomplish everything I promised I would... Just you wait Mom"

Axel turns around and runs down the stairs, grabbing a large backpack on his way down. As he leaps down the stairs in excitement, dashing towards the vehicle. Robin steps in front of him and embraces him in a hug goodbye.

Robin: "Please return to me Axel, being uploaded or repaid for my sacrifices aren't worth losing you"

Axel: "I will Mom, hey my birthday is in about 2 weeks, I will be back in time for my birthday I promise"

Robin: "I would... Like that"

Axel: "Alright, see you later... Hey, why are you in the driver's seat Dad? I'm driving!"

R3D: "Breee Ooooop"

Axel: "So what if O'Ton-omi does all the driving, that seat is still mine cause I give her...him.. the orders... Wait O'To are you a male or female machine?

O'Ton-omi: "Male or Female? What's that? I am not a machine like your companions, I am only an artificial Intelligence, built into the software of this vehicle"

Axel: "Well, I'll just refer to you by your name then"

Caesar: "I am a better candidate to lead us to the right city, you don't know the other cities as I do"

Axel: "But I know how to get to The Iron City now"

Caesar: "Oh we are not going back to The Iron City, that is the worst place to carry out our plans for getting the blueprints. After all, it is the headquarters of The Primordial. We need to head to a major city with far fewer eyes on it than The Iron City. And you do not..."

Axel: "Alright alright alright, you can sit there. But O'To still listens to me"

Axel throws his backpack into the storage compartment of the vehicle and hops in the back with R3D.

Axel: "Wait, where is Scrappy? Were you not able to build a disguise for her?"

Caesar: "Yes I have, and more. She's now battle-ready and highly protected for any conflicts"

Axel: "Scrappy!"

The sound of sharp metal scrapping across the floor accompanied by the clanging of steel echoes through the room. Out from the shadows, Scrappy comes jogging covered in a shiny exoskeleton, with titanium-reinforced jaws and teeth, titanium claws and titanium armour over her head.

Axel: "WOAHHHH! Scrappy! You look so COOL!"

Scrappy jogs up to Robin and licks her metallic face before she jumps into the back with Axel and R3D. With everyone now inside, they all stick themselves out of the windows, waving goodbye to Robin as they begin to depart from the bunker. Robin waves back as they fly up into the air and into the tunnel leading to the exit.

O'Ton-omi: "Where to Axel? Where are we gonna destroy and cause absolute chaos?! Ha Ha Ha"

Axel: "Uhhh... We still aren't engaging your self-defence mode yet, just bring up the map"

O'Ton-omi: "But you said 'some other time' has that time still not approach us as yet?"

Axel: "Umm... No"

Caesar: "Axel what is this Ai talking about?"

Axel: "Don't worry about it...haha O'To's just funny like that"

O'Ton-omi: "Machine with a lesser name than mine, please refer to me as O'Ton-omi or O'To, you will be ejected from this vehicle on your next offence thank you...But I am not what you call being funny Axel. Maybe you are being a scaredy-cat..."

Axel: "Nice try but that won't work on me"

O'Ton-omi: "So that command only works on lesser machines... Noted"

R3D: "Breeeeee Ooop"

Axel: "Hahaha, ok O'To...Bring the map up"

O'Ton-omi: "Alllrrriiiggghhhtttt"

The holographic map appears before Caesar, showing him a full three-dimensional view of the area around him within a 400-mile radius.

Caesar: "This is very impressive O'Ton-omi...Hmm, the top major cities apart from The Iron City are all here on the map. New Anderthal, Altihex City, Nova Chrome, Crystein, Sunbrite City and Metallica are all extremely far away from where we are since we are close to The Deadzone. The only major Cities remaining that are closest to The Deadzone are Crystal Vos, Gygax City, Cybergreen and Alumi Natium. The safest city out of them would have to be Cybergreen, it's also the closest to us"

O'Ton-omi: "O'To is about to Pull up p p p p Let's go o o o! Estimated journey to Cybergreen is approximately 20 hours and 17 minutes away"

Axel: "20 hours?! And that's the closest major city?!"

Caesar: "Yes, only minor cities surround The Deadzone due to the possibility of the frequency's radius getting larger over time. So The Primordial did not rebuild any cities in the area in case of that likelihood"

Axel: "Wow, well anyway I can't wait to see this Cybergreen..."

Caesar: "Stay focused Axel, the blueprints are our priority"

Axel: "I know I know"

Caesar: "I am sure we will have to make a stop in a minor city on the way"

O'Ton-omi: "That is correct Caesar, for example, my power core at its current charge won't last the entire journey to Cybergreen"

Axel: "You need to be refuelled? where would we source fuel?"

O'Ton-omi: "Well Axel, this vehicle does not use fuel... The power core within me is charged either through solar energy or any generator producing at least 20,000w of power. That is usually the fastest way for it to be recharged, as solar charge takes approximately 1 hour to reach maximum capacity"

Axel: "Well we can wait that out somewhere, that's no big deal"

Caesar: "Hmm all of these minor cities are nowhere to wait around in though, there's none that are safe in the area..."

O'Ton-omi: "I'm going to stop in Marston!"

Caesar: "Marston?! That's the worst place to stop, we will stick out like a sore thumb! And the machines there are savages!"

O'Ton-omi: "Well you did not pick somewhere fast enough, and I have never been to Marston. So I've decided that's where I'll stop to recharge"

Caesar: "No! It would be too dangerous, and aren't we the one's giving the orders?"

O'Ton-omi: "Well Master Axel is the only machine I take orders from at this current moment. Master Axel, do you object?"

Axel: "Well... If Caesar says it could be dangero..."

O'Ton-omi: "No objections you said? Understood! Marston here we come!"

Axel and Caesar turn to face each other as Axel shrugs his shoulders in acceptance. And they ripple through the sky at high speed, cementing everyone in their seats as they raced above the clouds towards Marston.

Axel: "How long before we reach Marston O'To?"

O'Ton-omi: "Estimated time is... 3 hours and 25minutes away"

Axel: "Oh so not that long, great! "

Caesar: "I don't know how I feel about this Axel... Even if just for 1 hour, Marston is a terrible place to stop at"

Axel: "Come on Caesar, don't sweat your screws loose. 1 hour will come and go just like that, and we got our badass Scrappy to protect us if any old scavenger machines wanna give us any trouble"

Axel smiles brightly as he rests his hand under Scrappy's armour rubbing her soft fur upon her head.

Caesar: "It's not any old scavengers that I am concerned about... But the residents of Marston themselves can be very violent"

Axel: "I'm sure O'To will land in a very quiet and secluded place"

O'Ton-omi: "Nope! You know I won't! Ha ha ha"

Axel: "Or not... ha...ha..ha... ummmm we'll stay in the car protected by O'To's self-defence mode"

O'Ton-omi: "Oh Axel, as much as I want to use my self-defence mode. I can not use self-defence mode while in my solar charging status or without the minimum charge requirement being available. So you are completely defenceless once we reach Marston... This shall be fun!"

Axel: "Oh... boy"

R3D: "BREEEEEE OOOOOOPPPPPPP!"

Caesar: "We're in danger..."

***

Meanwhile, in the small city Marston, a city shrouded in orange clouds, a strong scent of warm oil, roaring fires, burnt orange soil and rust infested air plaguing the rough and course wind. Massive deteriorated buildings covered in the burnt orange soil, large oil tanks attached to smoking furnaces with towering smokestacks in the sky. Machines in this city are different from other cities, with their bodies not just entirely stained in rust, but with most of their body parts melted in place. coal pits burning inside of them, as flames either blazed from their heads, eyes, chest or mouths.

Sounds of a little girl, panting exhaustedly as she runs from loud chimes of chains and steel being slam together behind her. streams of fire burst out towards her, grasping at her ankles as she runs terrified and hopelessly from a group of large rusted machines following behind her with heated chains and fire-spitting weapons attached to their arms as they give chase, clearly entertained as they trail behind her, slowly approaching with their deadly weapons and killing intent.

The little girl, riddled with cuts and burns all over her body, and her arms chained together looks up as she begins to slow down from exhaustion, noticing a flying craft landing in the distance. "PwOOOOOOFFF!" A large stream of fire blazes up behind her, lashing her back with a violent burn.

Little girl: "AAAIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE! EEEEYYYYAAAAAAAAAA!"

In the distance, O'Ton-omi having finally reached Marston lands in the fiery hellscape to recharge in an open area with thick steaming oil pouring from a tall structure and into a cravest just in front of them like a waterfall. The course wind grazing against their bodies as they exit the vehicle, rust and bits of tainted dust bounce off the metal of Caesar and R3D "Tink! Tink! Tink!" and stick to the cloth of Axel's cloak, also clouding up his goggles, giving him little visibility.

O'Ton-omi: "We have arrived at our destination, Marston! Wow, this is a shithole, why did you guys pick this place of all places for me to recharge?"

R3D: "Breee...Oooop"

Caesar: "I completely agree with you R3D, this vehicle has a lot of software issues...In other words...Crazy"

Axel: "Did you guys hear that scream just now?"

O'Ton-omi: "The screams of tortured souls? Why of course, does this place not fit perfectly with the description of hell?"

Axel: "...Umm just get your solar charging started O'To. Man, it's hot here, we got just one hour to wait right?"

O'Ton-omi: "Yes estimated time remaining 58minutes 59seconds, trust me. I do not want to be here any longer than you do. I don't know why you guys brought me here... But I love it! Fire! Death! Hot steaming oil! Death! Deadly weapon-wielding machines not too far from here chasing some chained creature! Death!"

Axel: "Wait, what did you say?"

O'Ton-omi: "Oh you mean Death?"

Axel: "No! The other thing"

O'Ton-omi: "Oh, there are machines chasing some creature, with chains and weapons spewing fire towards it. It seemed entertaining so I got us pretty close to get a good view of it"

Axel: "What?! That must be the scream I heard earlier! Scrap let's go save them"

Caesar: "What are you talking about Axel?! Stay here, it is too dangerous to leave the vehicle in this place, did you not hear? There are machines with deadly weapons nearby"

Axel: "Yeah and they're chasing someone, that was not an animal's scream Dad. We have to do something"

O'Ton-omi: "Well you guys go ahead, I'll be right here watching"

Axel hops onto the back of Scrappy and draws his sword from his back. Scrappy leaps over the steaming oil and dashes off into the distance to the origin of the scream.

Caesar: "Axel! Dammit, R3D let's follow behind them"

R3D: "Breee Oooooop"

Caesar: "This is what you had to deal with last time too?"

R3D: "Bree Oop"

Caesar: "Oh my"

As Scrappy races to the scorching flames and Axel notices the little girl, laid across the floor in pain as three machines approach her with heated chains spinning violently in the air and flame-spewing weapons brimming with fire.

Axel: "Stop!"

All three of the machines immediately look up to notice Axel just above them, Scrappy leaps into action as Axel jumps off from her back, tackling the machines with her new razor-sharp titanium teeth and claws. Axel rushes in to help the girl to her feet, the girl extends her arms out with the chains presented to Axel.

Axel: "Oh the chains..."

Axel swings his sword down, cutting the chains in two and releasing the girl from them. She then points behind him as one of the machines comes from behind swinging the heated chain towards him. Axel braces himself with the sword blocking the blow but it wraps around the blade yanking it from his hands. The little girl leaps in front of him as she grabs the sword from the ground and runs towards the machine striking him with the sword, slicing one of its legs completely off.

Axel: "Wow, did you even need my help? Hey! Watch out Scrap!"

Axel screams as he notices the two other machines surrounding Scrappy with their flamethrowers aimed at her, "PwOOOOOOFFFF!" And they blast their roaring flames, shrouding her in fire.

Axel: "NOOOO!"

But with her new titanium armour, Scrappy remains unfazed and snaps her jaws onto their fire-spewing weaponized arms, ripping them off from their body like string cheese. The little girl finishes the machine on the ground after she lops its leg off. Striking it repeatedly with the sword into its rusted skull. While Scrappy tears the other two to shreds easily with her titanium reinforce jaws, dismantling them within seconds.

Caesar and R3D finally reaching the scene only to bear witness to the machines destroyed and in pieces scattered around Scrappy and Axel.

R3D: "Breee Oooop"

Caesar: "Yeah, I guess we could have stayed by the vehicle"

Axel: "Are you alright?"

The little girl turns around to Axel, with her arms shaking. Pointing the sword at him as she trembles.

Axel: "Whoa it's alright now, they're all destroyed"

Little girl: "You... Machines...Save me?... Why?"

Axel: "Yes, but we are not machines. We are like you, well except for those two up there behind me. And Scrappy there is an animal, but you are safe now, so can I have my sword back"

Little girl: "Like me? What do you mean you are not a machine? If you are like me, then you are a slave droid... Runaway machine?"

Axel: "You think you are a droid? We are human... You... And I, We're humans"

Little girl: "Human...What is that?"

Axel: "Oh boy, Ummm come with us. We'll talk about it later, but let's take care of you for now"

Little girl: "I don't know if I can trust strange machines like yourselves. I have never seen any like you around here"

Axel: "It's because we are just stopping here on our way to another city. A major city, called Cybergreen"

Little girl: "there's a city outside of Marston?!"

Axel: "You didn't know there are other cities?"

Little girl: "Never made it that far in my chases, they usually catch me around this area. All for their entertainment"

Axel: "What?! Are there more like you here?"

Little girl: "I..."

Axel: "I get it, you don't trust me yet. Alright come with us for now"

Little girl: "Ok"

They all walk back towards O'Ton-omi, Axel takes his sword back from the little girl and wraps it back within its cloth strapped to his back. He helps her onto the back of Scrappy as he notices she can hardly walk from her injuries.

O'Ton-omi: "You all have returned unharmed, not what I was expecting but I am neither happy nor upset with this outcome. The estimated time until full charge is 50 minutes 15seconds, I see you have returned with the dirty creature. May I suggest not gathering pets from this disgusting place, you may develop rust and other contaminants in your metals"

Axel: "Thank you O'To... For the update"

O'Ton-omi: "You are welcome"

Axel: "So what is your name?"

Little girl: "My name?..."

Axel: "Yes, or do you not have one?"

Little girl: "No machine ever asked me my name... The machines refer to me as runner003, but my friends call me... I mean I'm Rosie"

Axel: "Friends... So you do have friends and see no machine asks you of your name because that's not something they do, we are different... Nice to meet you, Rosie, I'm Axel"

Rosie: "Axel?... Different?"

Axel: "Yes, different. Here have something to eat Rosie, first let's get you inside of the vehicle out of this polluted air, rust and dust will get all over your food"

Axel helps her into the back of O'Ton-omi and reaches into his backpack and hands her a fruit.

O'Ton-omi: "Borinnngggg! Rosie, what a terrible name. You guys just pick anything for a name"

Axel: "O'To... Hahahaha, Ignore O'To I have no idea what's wrong with that car"

Rosie smiles slightly as she takes a bite of the fruit Axel handed her, staring at his masked face in confusion and huddles up shyly in the corner of the vehicle.

Rosie: "Thank you... Axel"