SRD intervention

"Are you serious?" A woman looking at a file having a written document of a phone call report made thirty minutes prior to night; she looks down at the dialogue between the factory worker of Ophlia production and one of her agents.

Her blonde, flowy hair, which reached her lower back, flutters as she runs past the various offices in the building, the office environment being nothing different from a 21st century with newer technology; her heels echo and tap the carpet's surface, causing all the agents to turn their attention to her.

Her black dress was elegant and professional; her badge yielded multiple signals suggesting her high status compared to the other people in the office. After walking through the corridor of offices and cubicles, she enters a singular office named after herself.

She reaches towards the speaker of the building, preparing her announcement to the on-duty agents and staff: "I have come to inform you all. After months of our peaceful lives and the protection of Shilo being kept well, as you all know about the train breach that occurred two weeks prior."

There was a pause between those words.

"The perpetrator is now on the metal sheets between the industrial estate and our city centre. They leaped over a four-metre wall, which means we're dealing with a robot. I want all on-duty staff to immediately concentrate on searching the metal sheets."

With her logging off the announcement system, multiple SRD agents both in the city centre and on standby went into full force, their all-black SUVs rolling out in rows laced with protective covering and bulletproof windows were no joke.

At the same time, agents flooded the top of the skyscraper; the helicopters were ready for deployment after such inactivity. It gave a sense of thrill to the development of an infiltrator. The pilots and staff climbed upon the helicopter, they belted themselves in, and within a minute, a rotor started spinning.

"I want visuals from the helicopters on the screen." The lady enters the main control room prepared to see the live footage from the helicopters and assist them however needed.

One of the operators asks, "Minister, do we immediately neutralise the threat?"

Her laugh fills the room; the richness and flavour of her job shook the operator to the core. "Of course we do. Do robots reason? Do they think? All of them are just pawns of their owner; as a matter of fact, two of them eve"n

The helicopters fly at the height of a skyscraper, making sure to remain a steady altitude away from any threats; the footage starts being broadcasted on the main screen of the control room. The faded sun with the stars in the night gave a sense of mystery behind their targets.

"Try to fly around the area within the industrial estate; them detouring to the sides would be equivalent to inefficiency; robots aren't fans of those." The pilots in the helicopters split off, covering at least five kilometres of area each using their sonar technology.

The pilots communicate with each other: "I have eyes on a potential campfire at S59." He pulls over towards the fiery light in the dark night, slowly approaching it, the broadcast shifting its view towards that specific helicopter.

The minister watching the scene orders precaution, "Don't blow them up yet; there might be a human."

The operating room starts to envelop in a mass talking session, like they were rebelling against the situation; they were all eager to end this threat already despite risking a human life.

"Everyone shut up!" The minister's voice exploded into the control room, causing a silence. "We will make sure that if there is a human, they could provide us valuable information outside our walls."

The control room seems to understand her viewpoint, especially with the multiple helicopters and armoured SUVs approaching the campfire; it seemed all to be safe.

"We have a visual on a tent" The signal cuts, and the control room flurries in panic, turning their broadcast onto the next helicopter's view.

The minister in a panic orders, "Give me a report, pilot." The silence hung in the air for a couple of seconds until he replied.

"We have one helicopter down; it hit the metal sheet in an instant. There were no shots fired." The raging flames started to relax on the metal sheet of Shilo as the helicopter and all its crew died from the tragic aftermath of a random failure.

The minister looks at the operator next to her. "Playback the footage before it cuts and figure out anything." The operator starts analysing the footage while the other helicopters continue to keep a safe distance away.

A minute of silence passes with nothing happening; the SUVs were starting to catch up with the helicopters ahead, being a mere minute away from the campfire. They alone contained over fifty armed agents. "Minister, I found something."

"Play it."

The main screen plays back the destroyed helicopter footage. Before the signal cut, a faint white light emitted from the campfire; it wasn't a glare or a lock on, but a white light that shone in the darkness like a lighthouse.

"zoom in"

The operator zooms in on the campfire below; the image was blurred, but with a bit of technology, the pixelated image started to turn itself clear. The white light wasn't a weapon or a tool but a hand.

That brown trench coat standing lighter than the night but brighter than the sheet of metal, the short white hair that penetrated the darkness coupled with those dark green eyes staring straight at the camera ahead, and the resolve behind that expression filled with a faint satisfaction at the destruction coming up

The minister instantly issues the order, "What model is that thing?"

All the operators sorted through the models available within their massive database; none matched; not even a chance of one matching was possible.

"There is none; it's a new robot," the operator says, panicked.

The minister scoffs, "That's not a robot; it's a monster."

The SUVs catch up and form a circle entrapment of the camp; the monster inside stands motionless, analysing its prey. They have multiple angles of this new robot until another figure appears; they come out of the tent at the sound of the SUVs and helicopters, a young Black-haired boy dressed in a grey trench coat.

"Is that thing human? I need a report." The control room waits for any reply.

An agent behind an SUV replies, "It gives off organic life signals; that's a human boy."

They all think about the possibility of this being a hostage or, even worse, a disguise to lower their guard; anything could happen.

"Shoot the robot, air unit 02." A helicopter starts turning itself to the side; the door from the back opens, and an agent with a .50 calibre aims out of the steady helicopter. He calculates the wind and distance, making sure his shot is aimed.

The monster below gives off the same feeble white light, suggesting a challenge to the sniper in the helicopter, clearly not satisfied with their futile attempt.

Behind the control room, the minister starts to question this monster, 'Why doesn't it shoot? Maybe it can be reasoned with, but that risk is far too great for now; that hand is a gun in itself. Her eyes wander to the laser beam-shaped weapon on the right hand of the trencoted robot.

"Fire when needed."

The agent shoots the sniper at it. In response, a quick turn towards the unit and a burst of light rushes straight towards the helicopter at the speed of light. The bullet evaporates within the immense heat, and the helicopter blows up midair into flames spiralling down onto the metal.

'That weapon is too dangerous; we need a way to deactivate it. The agents on the ground are terrified and won't act either, it seems.'

The minister turns towards the operator to the side once again. "Try talking it out with them."

With the orders being transferred, an agent gets away from the cover of the black SUVs towards the middle of the entrapment; without a second to spare, both the boy and robot aim their weapons at them.

The agent speaks out, "We don't have to fight."

"Bring out that person behind the operation, and we can talk." That humanlike voice coming from a monster who destroyed two helicopters gave a sense of eeriness.

The control room looks at the minister, all with wide eyes, clearly not wanting her to be killed out there due to a mere robot and boy in the middle of nowhere, but that's why they aren't the ones leading.

"Get me an SUV." She walks off from the control room down to the building's elevator. She rides down towards the front exit and gets into a black SUV. The Metropolis skyscrapers start to stretch in all directions within the city centre, and the SUV instantly speeds at maximum speed towards the scene.

The city centre starts to disappear within a couple of minutes, and they start driving on the metal sheet towards the army of agents on the scene. 'They must have some other purpose than to destroy us; if that thing wanted to, it would've killed us already.'

The SUV drives in the night for a couple more minutes until the sound of helicopters and men ordering each other around comes within her range; the SUV stops outside the entrapment, and the minister gets out towards the pair inside, making sure she's visible.

"No need for any more deaths. Let's talk like you wanted and come to an agreement."