Executioner

****AN INTERESTING THOUGHT****

I will probably be the last face you see before you die.

Right about now, your fleshy human brain is likely wondering how this is possible. The answer is simple: I am the Executioner. Killing is an art. And I am the artist. My gun is the palette, and my sword, the brush. I was created to kill, as dark or as dreary as that may sound. At the behest of Master Ragi, I am to record my history to the Legion's archives. Ragi tells me it is standard protocol for new recruits, though I am not sure I fully believe him. Nevertheless, I shall not disobey him.

This unit's designation is Executioner Droid, Model Number: One-One-Six. E-116, or simply E for short. I am the sixteenth generation of Executioner. This unit was created exactly four years, two months, twelve days, seven hours, six minutes, and forty seconds ago.

Ragi told me that he wanted to know the circumstances of how I ended up in that mining colony. But, where to begin? Where to begin...perhaps the beginning would be best.

****UPLOADING MEMORY CORE****

---

****MEMORY UPLOAD COMPLETE****

"Executioner One-One-Six, activate."

These were the first words that I ever heard. These are the words that gave me life. As my optics flickered on, I slowly scanned the room, curious about my new existance. The room in which I had been awakened was rather bare, with no human comforts or furnishings. Instead, pieces of scrap metal adorned the floor, and damaged, forgotten droid hulls could be seen scattered among the refuse.

****A SMALL NOTE****

I know now that this area is called a "Laboratory".

As I gazed around the Laboratory with my newfound eyes and curiousity, I was approched by a small human in a suit of fine quality and detail. The human's fur on the top of his head was slicked back, and he had ocular lenses balanced on the crook of his nose.

"Executioner One-One-Six, please stand for me." He said.

I obeyed, sitting up on the floor and then finally standing up on my own two feet. The man continued to scrutinize me.

"Hmm...balance servos appear to be in check." The man raised his finger in the air. "Executioner One-One-Six, please follow my finger."

The man lowered his finger to the floor. I lowered my head. The man moved his finger to the right. I looked to the right. When his finger moved to the left, my head followed it.

"Vision seems normal." The man commented. "Executioner One-One-Six, weapons check. Display long-range rifle."

It may seem odd, though I had just been "born" several minutes ago, I knew exactly what the man was talking about. My right shoulder shifted and opened, revealing a small, tactical sniper rifle. The rifle unfolded itself, placing the scope right in front of my right optic.

"Good." The man said, smirking just a bit. The tests continued for many minutes, me simply following commands, and him trying to find any type of error with me. Once the man seemed satisfied with the results of his little test, he asked me one last question.

"Executioner One-One-Six, question: Who is your master?"

****SEARCHING MASTER REGISTRATION****

I turned to the small human. "You are my master, Alexander Sync." I spoke. "I live to serve you."

Master Sync smiled at me. "Good!" He said, clapping his hands together. "All systems are go, Executioner One-One-Six. All your functions appear to be running smoothly."

Before I continue, you are probably curious about my master, correct?

****UPLOADING MASTER REGISTRY INFORMATION****

Alexander Sync. He was born in Rondo, the capital of Moira. Ever since he was young, Sync had been fascinated with machinery and technology. By the age of eighteen, Sync had created one of the most famous droids in existance: The Watchdog Sentry Drone. At age twenty-three, Sync founded his own droid manufacturing company: Sync Industries. He has created many different types of droids, and is the creator of the Executioner series of droids. He married soon after the founding of his company. He currently has only one child, a daughter named Ashelin Sync.

Master Sync smiled at me. "Good!" He said, clapping his hands together. "All systems are go, Executioner One-One-Six. All your functions appear to be running smoothly." Sync looked at me for many moments. "You are my greatest creation, E-116. Do you know that?"

"Data unavailable." I replied curtly. Master Sync chuckled at my response. "Well, then just take my word for it. You are the pinnicle of weapons technology. Perfect in nearly every way." He turned, and began to walk out of the room. I stood there, perfectly motionless. As Master Sync reached the door, he turned toward me.

"Aren't you coming along?" He asked. "Oh...wait a minute. E-116, follow me." I obeyed, stepping forward and walking just behind my master.

---

"We're almost there, E. I have just one more little test for you, but it shouldn't be anything you can't handle."

I was a tad confused when my master told me I was going to be tested again. "But Master," I asked. "You said that I had all ready passed your inspection. Is there something wrong?"

Master Sync chuckled. "Nothing's wrong, E. In fact, it's not even really a test. More like a demonstration." Now that I think about it, my Master's answer was rather vague. But back then, I was satisfied with that answer. I didn't question my Master.

No droid ever questioned their master.

Master Sync stopped suddenly. "All right, E." He said, turning towards me. "I'm going to head to the viewing room just down the hall. I want you to head toward the field testing room. It's just down the hallway on your right." He said, gesturing with his arm. "Yes, sir." I replied.

While Master Sync continued down the hallway, I banked a right and made my way to the field testing chamber. The testing chamber contained a number of small, concrete structures, often used to test new equipment or droids. Numerous bullet holes could be seen all throughout the chamber.

"Testing, testing," A voice rang out from the intercom. "E, can you hear me all right?"

"Yes, sir." I replied.

"Excellent." I recognized the voice as my master. "All right, E, I'm gonna test your combat protocols now. When you see a target appear, attack it with the weapon you feel is best."

"Understood." I said. There was a small beep! and suddenly a target shaped like an enemy soldier popped up downrange. The target was beyond my shotgun's effective range. Wasting no time, I unshifted my shoulder and took out my long distance rifle. I zoomed in on the scope, taking a bead on the target's head.

BLAM! The target's head exploded into hundreds of pieces. There was another small beep, and another target appeared downrange. I quickly shifted my aim and fired, causing the target's head to explode in a similar fashion to it's earlier counterpart.

Another beep, another target. This time, the target was much closer. I flicked my right arm, causing the my concealed shotgun to reveal itself. I raised my gun and fired, the blast of the shotgun taking off most of the target's upper section. Another beep. This time, the target popped up on my left. I spun toward it, shotgun leading, and fired. Another perfect shot.

Beep. Another target, this one much closer than the previous ones. I quickly sheathed my shotgun and rifle. Instead, I flicked my left wrist, causing a thin longsword to extend outward. I slashed across the target's midsection, taking the target's torso clean off. Beep. Another target, this one downrange. Not bothering to switch to my rifle, I simply took aim at the target, raised my arm and threw my sword with all my strength. The sword whistled through the air, then smashed into the target's chest, tip first. I rushed at the target, brought my foot up, and kicked the hilt of my blade in deeper. Had I been attacking an organic target, the blade would have penetrated all the way through. Since the target was wooden, however...

The target shattered.

****A QUICK QUESTION****

I'm pretty damn good, aren't I?

"Excellent job, well done." My master spoke through the intercom. "Of course, real targets won't stand still, but nonetheless, impressive." I could hear my master's voice over the intercom, though it sounded muffled. "Did you want to see more?...No?...Well, perhaps later." Master Sync quickly returned to the intercom. "Nicely done, E. Why don't you come up to the viewing room so I can show you to the others?"

I complied, and quickly made my way to the viewing room. As I entered the door, my Master's face beamed. "Gentlemen," He spoke to the four others seated in the room. "And lady, of course." He added, looking at the only woman in the room. "This is my latest and greatest creation: The Executioner, Model One-One-Six."

"Very impressive, Alex." One man, with black fur and dark brown optics, remarked. "But what makes this Executioner different from the others? It doesn't really have any extravagent weapons. In fact," The man stood up, and looked me over. "It has less weapons than the E-115."

"That's true." Master Sync said. "But one major flaw with the E-115's was that they would constantly run low on ammunition during firefights. Not only that, but the weapons on the E-115 added a lot of bulk, making the droid slower and making it a bigger target." Master Sync turned to me. "E-116 fixes that problem. With fewer weapons, a lighter but more durable carapace, and an advanced combat system, E-116 would be able to work circles around it's predecessor."

The man seemed satisfied with that, and sat back down. "What does it run on?" the young woman asked. She had long, auburn colored fur, and bright blue optics.

Master Sync smiled. "E-116 runs on an experimental pulse reactor core. The pulse core has a tremendous energy output. E-116 should only have to recharge his core once every three weeks."

The girl smiled. "That's pretty good, dad."

Master Sync returned the expression. "Thank you, Ashelin."

****UPLOADING PROFILE: ASHELIN SYNC****

Ashelin Sync. The sole daughter of Alexander Sync, and the heiress to the Sync fortune. Much like her father, she has an aptitude for technology and is almost always at her father's workplace, studying new droid models.

Master Sync turned toward the rest of the group. "Is there any other-"

****ERROR: MEMORY FILES CORRUPT. SKIPPING AHEAD****

---

****RUNNING SELF DIAGNOSTIC****

Damn. It would seem that my memory core has degraded somewhat over the last four years. Some of my memory files may have been corrupted. Unfortunately, I cannot recover them. I apologize for the inconvenience. Instead, I shall continue my tale from the next closest memory. This memory was recorded thirty minutes after my "demonstration".

****UPLOADING MEMORY CORE****

"Do we have to talk in here? I feel...exposed." A familiar voice said.

My optics flickered to life. I slowly glanced around, expecting to see my master or his daughter or a fellow scientist. I was back in the Laboratory, placed on a core charger.

****THEORY****

Perhaps Master Sync placed me back in the lab to recharge my core and to keep me safe from...less than savory individuals. But I digress.

I continued to scan the room. Nothing was different. Scrap metal still adorned the floor, glinting in the light. Forgotten droid hulls dotted the refuse piles. Yet still, I felt that something was amiss. If Master Sync had locked me back in the lab, he would have switched off the power. I should have been in hibernation mode.

"'Exposed'?" Another voice sneered. "Mother Darkness hides all of her children. Even the less-than-faithful ones."

I turned my head toward the source of the conversation. They were huddled on the opposite side of the room, trying to keep the tones of their voices hushed. They must not have known how powerful my audio receptors were. One of the humans was dressed in black robes, but the rest of his features were expertly hidden in the shadow. The other, however, was one human that I had seen before. The man with black fur and dark optics.

"Save your religious crap for someone who actually cares, Joran." the familiar man said, scowling. "If someone were to walk in right now-"

"I would vanish into the darkness' cold embrace," Joran interrupted. "And leave poor Zoromir in the harsh, unforgiving light."

The familiar man, Zoromir, shifted uncomfortably. "Have you done as I commanded, Zoromir?" Joran asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Zoromir nodded. "I have. I've located the perfect droid model for your plans. Come," he said, motioning to the dark human. "Let me show you."

The two humans shifted through several piles of refuse, slowly, but surely, making their way towards me. I held perfectly still. It was the only thing I could do.

"This," Zoromir said, motioning toward me. "Is the Executioner One-One-Six. Sync's latest generation of Executioner."

Joran tapped a bony finger against his chin. "It doesn't look like much." Joran huffed. "It looks...frail. Like a twig would be harder to snap than this."

"That's how it might look now," Zoromir explained. "But it's carapace is actually harder than the E-115. And it's also much lighter. Trust me, Joran, I've seen this thing in action. If you had an army of these..." Zoromir chuckled a bit. "Rondo would fall within days!"

Joran didn't appear intrigued or interested at all. He snorted in my direction. "There's just one problem, Zoromir..." The dark man said, turning towards his subordinate. "All the droids in this facility are registered to Alexander Sync and Sync Industries! So long as the droids see Sync as their master, they won't obey me! I won't be able to control even one of these E-116's!"

Zoromir raised his finger toward Joran and grinned. "I've all ready thought of that." he said, with a large grin on his face.

****REGRET****

I wish I had punched that stupid grin right off of Zoromir's fleshy face.

Zoromir raised his finger toward Joran and grinned. "I've all ready thought of that." he said, with a large grin on his face. "I've developed a set of protocols that will not only give you remote access to these droids, but will also enhance the droid's combat and stealth features at the same time!"

Joran tapped his finger against his chin again. "Hmm...what about droid laws?" he asked.

Zoromir laughed. "The best part!" He exclaimed. "These assassination protocols will allow the droids to negate the droid laws!"

"When can you install them?" Joran asked, obviously not sharing in his partner's mirth.

"I...uh, I can install them when the E-116's go on the assembly line." Zoromir explained, his smile quickly fading. "In just a few days."

Joran nodded slowly. "Good." He continued to scrutinize me. "Install this one first." Joran turned around and walked toward the lab door. "Zoromir," he said, turning around. "Remember, this conversation never happened. If you tell anyone, I shall kill you. If you suddenly get cold feet, I shall kill you. And if you fail me, Zoromir...The Dark Ones will have you begging for a death that will never come."

****CRIMINAL DATABASE FILE: DARK ONES****

Not much is known about this enigmatic group, other than they live for discord and destruction. Some of their members are able to tap into powerful shadow abilities. Unfortunately, that is the extent of our knowledge. Their motives and their high ranking members are unknown.

As Joran disappeared, Zoromir turned to me. "All right, then..." he mumbled to himself. "You're first." Zoromir took a step forward, but stopped suddenly, realizing something very crucial.

The power was on. I was online.

"Damn it!" Zoromir growled, rushing over and throwing the power switch.

I attempted to disconnect myself from the charger, but was too slow. I could feel my circuts slowing down to hibernation speeds.

---

At that time, I had no idea what Zoromir had done to me. After shutting down the power, I had been forced to enter a hibernation mode. I now know what that pesky (yet surprisingly sneaky) meatbag had been up to.

He had made me even greater.

****IRONIC THOUGHT****

Zoromir sought to make me ruthless with his upgrades...he certainly succeeded.

As my senors and other systems were coming back online, I took the time to run a quick diagnostic of my functions. Several seconds later, the results came back. I was 100% operational.

Strange...fully operational? Zoromir had told his partner that he was going to outfit the E-116s with some type of software upgrade. My systems should've been able to detect that.

Before I could contemplate the strange situation further, the lab door opened, and Master Sync strolled in, his disposition cheery.

"Another glorious day, eh, E?" Master Sync asked.

"The data is unavailable." I replied. "I have no knowledge of the day, therefore, I cannot compare it to data correlating to any other day."

Master Sync grinned, then looked around the labratory. "We should really put some windows in here, then." he said. He strode over to a nearby console and pressed a button. Immediatly, I could feel my hull detach from the core charger. I hopped off the charger and landed with a small thump.

Master Sync walked up to me. "E, run a-"

"All ready completed." I replied, cutting my master off midsentence. "All systems are 100% operational. I am combat ready, sir."

Master Sync waved his hand at me. "Oh, no, E, no combat tests today." He explained. "Today, we're just going to give you a few software updates and tune-ups. Nothing major."

I found it curious that Master Sync wished to give me another software upgrade after Zoromir had said he had updated my programming. But I did not voice my curiousity. I would obey my master to the letter.

Master Sync turned around and began walking toward the door. He waved his hand at me to follow, and I obeyed. "Before I have you tuned up, though, E," he said as we walked down the hall. "We have a couple guests here today, and I'd like to show you off a bit."

I nodded. "Of course sir." I said.

****FAST-FORWARDING MEMORY****

The next few minutes of my memory is just walking through the seemingly endless hallways of Sync Industries.

****RESUMING NORMAL PLAY****

As we entered Master Sync's office, two humans were waiting for us. Sync's office wasn't extraordinary by any means. It contained a desk, a computer, a sofa...nothing fancy.

Sitting on the sofa were two humans. One human appeared to be at least twenty and was fairly well-muscled. He appeared to have seen many battles. The other, however, appeared to be a thirteen year old boy. As we entered the room, the older man stood up, motioning the boy to do the same.

"Ah." Master Sync said, going to shake the older man's hand. "You must be Mr. Grey."

The older man gave a quick nod. "A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Sync." he said.

Master Sync looked down at the child. "And who is this?" he asked.

Mr. Grey looked to the child and gave him a pat on the back. "Athanatos." the child replied. "But everyone calls me Athe."

"A pleasure to meet you." Master Sync said, shaking the young boy's hand.

****UPLOADING PROFILE: ATHANATOS & RAGI THE GREY****

Ragi the Grey is the current leader of the rebellion group known as the Legion, a group seeking to end the corrupt rule of King Ulthos. Ragi's father lead the group before him. Ragi is a fair and balanced leader, who is wise and careful in his decisions.

Athanatos is...an interesting subject. Athe's entire clan was either killed or arrested on false charges around the time of his fifth birthday. He is one of the few survivors of the incident (Perhaps the only one). Athe seems to possess a large amount of magical strength.

"What can I help you with today, gentlemen?" Master Sync asked, sitting down behind his desk. Grey and Athe took a seat on the sofa. The child, Athe, continued to stare at me. He cocked his head, curious. Curious myself, I mimicked the movement, cocking my head in the same fashion.

"I'll get right to the point Mr. Sync and won't waste any of your time." Grey started. He paused for a moment, considering his next words. "We think that the Dark Ones may have infiltrated your facility."

Master Sync adjusted the ocular lenses on his nose. "That's a very serious accusation." he said at a length. "But...do you have any proof?"

Grey was silent for a few seconds. "Well...no." he said. "But after retrieving some documents from an abandoned Dark Ones facility, we believe--"

"Let me stop you there, Mr. Grey." Master Sync said, raising his hand. "So, what you're telling me is that you have nothing more than theories?" Grey was silent. "That is what I thought." Master Sync said. "Look, all of our employees have to go through a background check before they can be hired. If there was anyone who might have belonged to the Dark Ones, I would know."

"The Dark Ones are crafty." Grey said immediatly. "They have been known to infiltrate facilities and assume identities perfectly. There is actually a very large chance that they have all ready infiltrated your company."

"We have nothing of value here!" Master Sync retorted.

"What about droids?" Grey asked. "Weapons?"

"Our droids are encoded with failsafes." Sync explained. "If someone should attempt to seize control of them, they will immediatly shut down. Not only that, but all droids are licensed to me. As far as weapons go, we don't produce anything you couldn't get from another manufacturer." Sync paused. "Well, maybe except the Handheld Portal Device, but that's in the testing phases."

"But-" Grey tried to argue.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Grey, but I can't go around chasing crackpot theories." Master Sync stood up. "Unless you can provide me with tangible proof of the Dark Ones activities, I can't do anything."

Grey nodded. He motioned to Athe, and both of them stood up. As they were heading to the door, I quickly reviewed the video feed from last nights incident.

Unfortunatly, some of the video had been erased.

My system should have logged that. I couldn't keep this to myself anymore. No doubt something suspicious was going on.

"Sir, if it's of any relevance," I began, causing Grey and Athe to stop. "Last night, Zoromir was in the labs. I believe he updated my software, though I cannot confirm this."

Sync's eyes seemed to widen. "Zoromir updated your software? He doesn't have clearance to do that! Do you have proof?"

"Yes sir." I replied. "I have a partial video feed. Unfortunatly, most of the video seems to have disappeared."

Grey turned to Sync, a smug look on his face. "Now," Grey said. "What were you saying about your company being secure?"

Wow! I'm really interested in E's past Bill! This should help me write my story by knowing more about him :D

New chaptah iz up!

Cool story Bill. =)

New chaptah is new!

New chapter is up! Enjoy!

Interesting concept and writing style in this one Bill, would like to see where it goes.

Whoops! I've, er...kinda been putting off writing a new chapter for Executioner. I will remedy that situation!...when I have the time for it. That probably means Friday or so.

After quite a delay, there is a new chaptah!!! Enjoy!...oh, and enjoy the Portal reference, too. XD

Cool chapter Bill, and I found the portal reference. =P

/me found it without reading the story even :3

cmd+f and then i type in "portal"

Lol, nice reference. Good chapter Bill.

That's cheating Tholo. =P

More Bill? or did this stroy die?