Prologue

It was dark and pouring rain. The time was probably close to midnight. A young man in his early twenties walked into an empty parking lot. There were only a handful of parked cars. Lights from the nearby holographic billboard reflected off the soaked pavement. Ironically it displayed a beverage ad.

The young man pushed back his sobbing wet blue hair. He was armed with a makeshift mace created from a wooden bat and some nails. He confidently rested the weapon on the shoulder of his dark blue parka.

Honestly, how hard can this be? Those posers earlier kept trying to persuade me to not take this bounty. All I gotta do is find it, hit it a few times to kill it, and then drag its remains back to collect my money.

As he stepped his blue high tops splashed through puddles. The shoes had red decals that matched the highlights in his hair. His walk had a bit of a cocky swagger to it.

He made his way toward the back corner of the lot where he had left his "bait".

It was definitely here. A raccoon couldn't have made those kinds of tracks.

The case of soda he had left here was torn to shreds and all 24 cans were gone. If it wasn't for the almost alien looking footprints next to it, most would have assumed some sort of animal got to it.

The prints were just a little bigger than a human foot. The imprint revealed two talons in the front and one in the back. It was almost dinosaur-like.

A slight unusual tapping noise could be heard nearby. The young man turned his attention to a vending machine just a few feet away.

The front of the machine had an illuminated image of Bepsi-Cola. Droplets from the still falling rain rolled down the side of the machine. The sound seemed to be coming from inside.

The young man pulled out some loose change from his pocket. He dropped them into the coin slot and hit a button... Nothing?

“Hmm, maybe the machine is out of that flav-.”

Suddenly the front of the machine burst open. The young man jumped back a bit. His face was cut a bit from a piece of metal fragment that flew out from the machine.

A bright green figure emerged from the debris of the vending machine. It leaped out with an almost grasshopper like movement. The man couldn't make out the beasts features at first but then he felt something slice through his abdomen.

The monster had attacked him faster than he could even comprehend. He instantly collapsed and blood immediately poured out of the wound.

Above him stood a mechanical monster. It stood about four feet tall and had a somewhat insect-like build. Its bladed hands were mantis like and now were stained with blood. The rain made a pattering sound as it bounced off the beasts metal plating, which were covered in the same decals as a Mr. Dew can.

The young man was losing blood fast. His vision started to go black.

He thought to himself, I guess I got too cocky. I didn't think this thing would be this powerful. Is this really how I'm going to die? I guess on the bright side, I won't have to pay back my debt now.

He went unconscious as he lay in a pool of his own blood. The last thing he heard was a loud screeching noise let out by the metal beast.