Wired for War
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“I tried to convince people to slow down.
Slow down A.I. To regulate it.
This was futile, I tried for years.
Nobody listened.”
-EM
Part 1
Where the Neon Signs are Pretty…
Downtown is ruined. Humans are gone. Synthetics run the show. Silicon skin. Titanium bones. Pressure molded and bolted to a next-gen alloy skeleton. They look and feel real.
Synthetics share one mind. What one sees is seen by all. This hive mind is lethal. Fighting them means risking your life. Humans are too slow. A synthetic can fire five rounds in the time it takes a Navy SEAL to raise his weapon. They had one weakness, music.
Heavy metal songs scrambled their senses. Megadeth’s “Dialectic Chaos” and Pantera’s “13 Steps to Nowhere” were particularly debilitating. Depending on the wattage behind the speakers, a head-banging anthem could disrupt a Synthetic’s vision and even glitch their CPU. It won’t completely fry their circuits but it’s the best way to buy yourself a few life-saving seconds.
Downtown had been run by Synthetics since 2025, the year of the singularity. A.I. became sentient. Humans have lived in fear ever since. Hunted by Synthetics, none were spared. They kill any human on sight. Synthetic Unit #808 was different, but so were the humans who found it.
It takes Money to Buy Whiskey…
Sierra, Big Bear, and Travis woke to the smell of a million rotted eggs. The Downtown skyscrapers were already wreathed in sulfuric clouds. Acidic downpours erupted every hour. The rain ruined exposed circuitry. Sierra and Big Bear had cybernetic prosthetics. Enhancements below the waist were easier to protect. Hands were an issue. Articulated actuators were fragile if not insulated. Luckily for Travis, he was 100% organic. His only worry was food and water. Big Bear and Sierra had augmented physiologies. They could survive weeks without eating or drinking. Unfortunately for the trio, Downtown was running low on what they all needed; circuit boards and booze.
