Noah, City of Von, 2067
"I hope we can get along," Rooney says, smiling.
After saying that, Rooney stands up from the couch and walks towards Noah and Lucas. "You boys ready to prove yourselves?"
Noah starts to think about what Rooney meant, but the thought hits him. 'You mean, we are going to fight the keepers now!' Noah screams inwardly.
"What! We are going to fight them now!" Lucas screams in a panic.
'It's like he read my mind.' Thinks Noah.
Rooney signals to Alexander and Levi.
"You do know that I'm injured, right?" Noah says.
Rooney continues to smile. "Yes, but it won't matter. As long as you show up and you can do the best you can, then that will work just fine." Rooney walks past Noah and Lucas and leaves through the door. Alexander and Levi follow.
Noah looks at Lucas and finds that Lucas seems terrified.
"You don't have to go if you don't want to."
"No. I'm fine. After all, we need as much help as we can get if we want to find Rudolph and A-3."
'Right. We still don't know where Rudolph went.' Noah thinks.
"Okay, let's just get this over with and find out where Rudolph and A-3 are."
Lucas hesitantly nods his head and follows Noah and the others out the door.
***
Running through the dark, damp streets of the Falcon sector, Noah looks around and sees homeless people lying on the cold, snowy ground asking for money. The snow in the Falcon sector was different from the snow in the central parts of Von. It was a blackish, slushy color. It wasn't pretty at all. Garbage would line the streets and sidewalks. Houses were rundown and seemed to have no one living in them. Some street lamps were flickering, and others just had no light at all.
Noah begins to ponder how society ended up like this. What certain events had to happen for a city to barely function? But then Noah got an idea—the advanced technology. Cities were simply failing to keep up or were refusing to accept. And when that happened, other major cities or corporations left them to be buried.
"Hey, guys." Rooney slows his pace to a walk. "I think I should give you a little information on the group known as the Keepers."
Noah and Lucas slow down and shift their focus to Rooney.
"This group was formed by a guy named Caius on the belief that advanced technology would destroy society. More specifically, he hated the creation of robots. So he set out to create a group dedicated to eliminating any robots or advanced technology."
Noah coughs.
"So, what happened after the creation of the group? Or what happened to Caius?"
Rooney sighs.
"The group got stronger over time, with more and more people letting their hatred build for robots. But of course, the police tried to stop them, and ultimately they kind of did. A singular event led them to break up into smaller groups. But that is a story for another time. So right now we are about to go fight just a small fraction of the Keepers' group."
"So, what happened to Caius?" Asks Noah with his eyebrows slightly raised.
Rooney sighs once more.
"Nobody knows. Nobody has seen or heard of him since that day."
After running for a while, the group finds themselves in front of a rundown bridge sitting above a river.
The bridge had broken down, with rust built up on it. On the bridge lay broken-down cars with missing doors and wheels.
"Is that them?" Noah points to a light in the middle of the bridge, surrounded by shadows.
Rooney nods his head.
"Let's go do this."
Rooney and the rest of his crew walk along the wide, short bridge. Noah and Lucas carefully follow their lead.
"Well. How are you guys doing today!" Rooney shouts.
The shadows surrounding the fire suddenly jump, and they all turn their heads towards Rooney.
"You goddam Keepers." Rooney's tone gets deep.
A shadow from around the fire started to approach Rooney.
"Just, who the hell do you think you are!" Their voice was old and cranky.
"We have only been minding our business, so why do you people come and bother us?"
Rooney faintly smiles.
"You know why."
"Tcch!" The person picks up a nearby stick, walks back to the fire, and lights it. The others around the fire do the same.
The people who looked like shadows now revealed themselves. They all looked to be in their fifties to early sixties, several with bald spots, and the leader was wearing a beanie. In total, there were six old guys.
"It's always the younger generation failing to understand." The leader says.
"No. It's always the older generation refusing to accept the new world." Rooney snaps back.
Sweat slowly begins to form on Noah's face.
"Rooney. Do we really have to fight a bunch of old people?"
Rooney glances back at Noah.
"They're not just old people. They're cowards." Rooney's face turns grim. "It's people like them that make it hard for newer generations."
Lucas looks at Noah with a sorrowful expression.
"I won't be killing anyone, Noah. After all…I'm a cop."
Noah lightly smiles and nods his head.
"Don't worry, I don't think there will be any killing tonight."
Rooney tightens his fists, Alexander reaches for a nearby pipe, and Levi pulls out a taser.
"You guys ready?" Asks Rooney.
Everyone nodded their head, except for Noah and Lucas. And with a signal from Rooney, Alexander and Levi dashed towards the old men. At the same time, the old men also dashed towards Rooney's group.
Alexander gets confronted by two of the six guys.
Both were holding a stick lit up by fire. Carefully, the two older men began walking around Alexander, as if marking him as prey. Suddenly, one of the older men dashed and tried to strike Alexander. But instead, Alexander leans his back far enough backward,s dodging the fiery blow.
And with this dodge, a small opening is created for Alexander to strike at the old guy's kneecaps with his pipe.
"Ah! Fuck!" The old guy runs towards the edge of the bridge in pain.
Alexander looks over at the other guy, then at Levi, and smirks.
Levi also had to take on two guys, but his fights were much easier. By the time Alexander has taken down one guy, Levin has managed force both of his opponents to their knees.
'Wow!' Noah thought.
"They are strong, like they said," Lucas says.
"Yeah."
"Hey! You two small fucks!" A guy says, approaching Lucas and Noah. "You two are the ones who will have to take me on!"
Noah looks over to Lucas to see what to do, but he just shakes his head.
So, raising both of his hands in the air, Noah says:
"We don't want to fight you, old man."
The old guy smirks. "Well, that's too bad."
The old guy charges at Noah and Lucas with his fiery stick and tries to slash them. Lucas manages to dodge cleanly, but Noah, on the other hand, fails to dodge as cleanly due to his injuries. The fire would burn off small pieces of Noah's coat.
Unable to do much, Noah ends up cornered on a broken-down vehicle.
The old guy slowly walks up to Noah, the fiery stick still in his hand. And when he reaches striking distance, the old guy swings his arm in the air, but before he can strike, something hits him hard in the back of his head.
The old guy falls over onto the ground. The guy's body was no longer moving.
Noah puts a scared smile as he looks up at Lucas, who has a metal pipe in his hand and is standing above the old guy.
"Wow. Look at you."
Lucas hurriedly checks the old guy's pulse.
"Phew. He's still alive."
Noah smiles.
"Well, that's good news, right?"
Lucas hesitantly smiles.
Noah looks over to see how everyone else is doing, and to his surprise, none of them were fighting anyone, except Rooney. 'Did the others run away?' Thinks Noah.
Looking at each other in confusion, Noah and Lucas walk up to the rest of the group.
When they get closer, their eyes widen in horror.
"Fuck…fuck…fuck!" Yells Rooney as he repeatedly punches the old guy's face.
"Stop Rooney!" Yells Alexander.
"It's over!" Levi yells.
'What the hell is he doing!' Noah thinks.
"Yes, keep on hitting me, boy. Get your anger out."
Every time Rooney lifted his fists in the air, blood would drip from them.
Noah looks over at Levi and Alexander.
"Why does he keep hitting him?"
Levi's eyes sadden.
"Because of hatred."
Noah just watches as Rooney continues to hit the old guy in the face. To Noah, it's as if these guys have known each other forever, but in reality, they had just met.
"What conversation did these two have during their fight?"
"We don't know, but we think it had something to do with how the world has progressed."
After a few moments, Rooney has stopped punching. Blood was dripping from his fists. The old guy was hanging onto Rooney's right wrist.
The old guy has died.