Chapter Text
In his fifteen years of service, Sergeant Davis had seen a lot in his law enforcement career-the majority of it bad, of course
From freak accidents like fires and car crashes, to actual crimes ranging in severity, it was a lot for the man to process…especially when it came to the latter.
The violent crimes were the ones that stuck with him the most. Davis bore witness to the aftermath of several crime scenes where someone died, their form covered by a white tarp until the coroner arrived on scene as CSI technicians scoured the area for evidence.
Sometimes it was a homicide stemming from drugs, gang violence or a simple argument-turned deadly. Other times it was self defense, the “victim’s” attempts to hurt someone made clear by the discarded weapon laying nearby.
More often than not, the deceased was a worker drone, its lifeless shell bleeding oil as a result of a targeted robophobic killing, or simply being there at the wrong time along with their owner.
No matter the victim’s background, death was always prevalent in these types of crime scenes. And Davis bore witness to each aftermath he responded to.
It took awhile to get used to, considering his line of work, but he was much better than the rookie he once was all those years ago. Hell, he did well compared to other members of his department who took long trips to the bar every time they saw a covered up corpse, robot or human.
The sergeant knew that even in their modern world, death would always be prevalent, accidental or otherwise. As someone who wore the badge every day, it was his duty to respond to each call no matter the severity, apprehend the suspect if possible, and maintain order to ensure no other lives were lost.
It was a duty Davis took to heart whenever he was called. More than once he was involved in apprehending fleeing or violent criminals, and always ended the situation alongside his comrades with the appropriate response. He was capable of defending himself, and was not afraid to take a life if it meant protecting others around him.
Was he scared? Of course, it was natural.
But would he run away or hide?
Never.
Sergeant Davis would stand his ground, and do the job he did for more than a decade; to protect and serve.
Nothing would ever change that.
-
“Dispatch, come in. What’s the status of that 10-15, over?”
Davis gripped the radio tightly with one hand, the other wrapped around the steering wheel. Above him, his cruiser’s siren wailed nonstop, red-blue lights flashing in sync. The engine roared, and the sergeant kept his eyes on the road, ignoring the light traffic ahead. Sometimes he swerved out of the way, knowing full well that almost every single driver on the road was too distracted to drive properly.
After all, how could they after bearing witness to such an unnatural climate event overhead?
It had been twenty minutes since the sky went from dark blue to crimson red, the sun replaced by a black orb.
Five minutes later, dispatch reported a “civil disturbance” within the downtown area, calling on any available units to respond immediately. Like any other call, Davis did so without hesitation.
Within less than two, he stopped receiving updates from them or any other officer on the net, and he’d been trying to get a hold of someone since.
Davis tried again, gunning through an intersection as the streets became a blur. Around him, traffic became even more erratic with some cars completely stopped, while others sped past well above the speed limit. He wasn’t sure if this was because of the “incident” or something else, but there was no time in pulling anyone over to hand out traffic tickets.
The dull but audible thump of an explosion confirmed this, his eyes snapping towards a fireball rising above the buildings several blocks over…right around the area where he’d been called to.
“All units, I’ve got eyes on an explosion near what looks to be Fargo Ave. Unsure of the cause-send fire and EMS immediately!”
No response.
“Damnit!”
He stomped on the accelerator, the cruiser shuddering forward as the sirens blared, quickly approaching his destination. He barely paid any more attention to his surroundings-arriving on scene was his only priority.
Within a few minutes he turned onto Fargo Avenue, a street decorated with numerous shops and local restaurants. It was normally where most people went on their days off, to shop and dine within a safe and comfortable environment. The buildings and decorations hanging off lampposts reinforced this image, proving to be one of the most scenic places of town.
Right now though…it was anything but scenic.
All around Davis, he saw dozens upon dozens of people running to and fro the street, faces contorted in panic as they screamed in sheer terror. A few cars sat stalled out on the road, their drivers having abandoned them recently. Several feet away was a once-affluent steakhouse completely engulfed in flames, black smoke billowing overhead and blocking out the dark-red sky.
Hands and bodies thumped against his cruiser as he attempted to inch closer to the scene, repeatedly calling for backup without success. Everywhere he looked, there was pure chaos, everyone trying to run directly opposite of the burning restaurant and the rest of the street.
“Dispatch, do you copy?! I’m 10-23, and we’ve got a 10-70 at the steakhouse! I need additional units to close down the street and restore order, over!”
Glaring at his radio, Davis tried one last time, anger and desperation seeping through.
“If anyone hears me, I need assistance on Fargo right fucking now!”
The receiver remained silent, infuriating the man even further.
“Shit!”
Throwing it aside, he put the car in park and opened the door, siren shutting off while the lights flashed brightly.
This allowed Davis to hear the screams and shouts much better, people running past him as he stood in the middle of the street, attempting to analyze the situation.
Never in his career had he seen order break down this badly, or find himself completely alone in the first place. There wasn’t any time to pull anyone back or ask for information as everyone was running away like bats out of hell.
All he knew was that whatever happened, it was bad. And the fire before him was only the beginning.
Davis marched forward, slamming the door shut as he made his way through the rapidly thinning crowd. He yelled at them to get away from the fire, waving his free hand back as he jogged closer, thinking of how to set a perimeter around the building until additional units arrived on-
Crash!
A shop window directly to his right shattered, two figures stumbling onto the sidewalk. One was an elderly man, with a worker drone in a blue uniform directly on top of him. Davis spun around, and upon seeing the violent fall was prepared to move and assist when the drone reared its head…and bit the man directly in the neck.
“AGHHHH!”
The man screamed in pain, blood spurting from the wound and all over the ground as the robot dug in, seemingly growling as its teeth continued gnashing on the broken skin. Its arms pinned down the man’s body, legs kicking with each bite and struggle.
Davis froze in complete shock, the rest of the world fading away as he gazed at the gory scene.
Never in his life had he seen a drone hurt any human, intentionally or not. It…It was impossible! He knew JcJenson kept their failsafes with every machine-there was no way a robot could take a life regardless of the situation!
And yet…this one was hurting-no, eating- a grown man, blood flowing across the concrete as his cries grew weaker, his struggles slackening by the second.
Only then did the sergeant’s police instinct kicked in, right hand falling towards his holster and snapping out his Glock within seconds, aimed squarely at the hunched worker.
“HEY!”
The drone glanced up from the body, visor covered with a neon yellow X as blood streamed down the entirety of its body. Baring its teeth, the robot let out a guttural growl, servos lifting it to its feet.
Bang! Bang!
Two shots rang out, bullets slamming directly into its visors. The screen shattered, and the machine clattered to the ground, sparks flying from the open wound.
Lowering his gun, Davis ran towards the bleeding man, crouching down to see how he could assist…but the empty, unblinking stare and open mouth told him otherwise.
He was dead.
Davis let out another curse, a ragged breath leaving his own mouth as he sat over the corpse despondently. He glanced towards the worker who had killed the man seconds earlier, blood drenched across its uniform and white plating. Although it lay crumpled and dead on the sidewalk, its mouth was still curled into a snarl, droplets of skin clinging onto the teeth within.
“...What the fuck?!”
Putting aside his emotions, Davis gripped his clipped radio with his free hand and spoke into the receiver almost automatically.
“All units, all units, we have a 10-67 at Fargo, repeat a 10-67. White elderly male, bled out prior to arriving. Suspect responsible has been-”
A fresh scream interrupted his call, the officer snapping behind him. Running down the street was a woman, three worker drones behind her.
All of them had the same X plastered on their visors as they ran, teeth gnashing nonstop.
Davis didn’t wait another second, leaping onto his feet and raising his gun towards the lead drone, squeezing the trigger.
Bang!
The drone collapsed to the ground, a bullet within its head. The other two stopped in their tracks, ignoring the fleeing woman in favor of the policeman marching towards him.
He didn’t let them get far, firing off six more shots at the new threats.
One drone was blown back after receiving three bullets to the face, the other stumbling onto all fours with three more holes in its body. Despite this, the machine crawled forward, growling in anger as it rapidly closed the distance.
Bang!
Another round to the head stopped it cold, oil spraying out as it thudded to the ground.
Davis lowered his gun-just in time to hear an inhuman roar to his right. From the other side of the street streamed a mob of worker drones, feet slapping on the ground as they sprinted down the road towards his position.
Each and every drone was covered in varying splatters of blood, Xs glowing in the darkness.
Now Davis understood why everyone was running in the first place.
Raising his Glock, he rapidly squeezed off several rounds, not bothering to aim due to the crowd being packed so tightly together. He saw one of them fall, yet the rest kept charging forth undeterred, bloody arms outstretched.
Turning around, Davis sprinted back to his vehicle, the equipment on his vest clinking with each step. With each second the mob drew closer, their number doubling as more emerged from the street. The roars and growls echoed across the buildings, filling his ears and forcing him to push his body even harder.
The moment he reached the door of his vehicle, the sergeant skidded to a halt, yanking the door open and throwing himself inside. He slammed the gear into reverse and stomped on the pedal, the car backing away from the incoming swarm. Gaining some distance he spun the wheel, pointing himself forward and shifting again, engine roaring in response.
The cruiser sped out of Fargo, leaving the mob behind as Davis attempted to backtrack the way he came, repeatedly glancing at his rearview mirror. However, the road ahead had gotten worse since he last drove on it, now choked with cars across both lanes. People ran between and sometimes on top of the vehicles, their drivers attempting to maneuver around each other in a desperate bid to get away. Slamming on his brakes, Davis turned on his sirens to no avail as the pickup directly ahead reversed into him with a thunk!
Grabbing the microphone, the car’s speaker crackled to life. “GET OUT OF MY WAY!”
The pickup driver responded by opening the door and fleeing his vehicle, looking past the cruiser in fear. Davis turned his head just in time to see the mob of drones charging directly towards his position. Already he could see them leaping at those who lagged behind, dragging their screaming forms to the ground with bloody hands.
Something about the sight sent a surge of anger into Davis, watching as more people were tackled by these feral robots…people he couldn’t save because he was sitting in his car instead of doing his job!
Reaching around, he unlocked the AR-15 mounted near his seat, dragging the rifle out as he stepped outside, five workers rushing directly for him. Lifting the gun, he flipped off the safety and pulled the trigger once more.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
A steady stream of bullets slammed into the workers, causing them to collapse to the ground in writhing heaps. Snapping to his right, he fired more rounds at other drones, some of them missing as they sprinted across the road. Davis began backing up, pulling the trigger until the rifle clicked dry. He’d downed several of them now-and yet more still kept coming.
“Damnit!”
Ejecting the magazine, he slammed a new one in before firing away, the AR shuddering with each shot. The gunfire only served to attract even more feral robots to his location and he was forced to run back into the clogged road, abandoning his cruiser in the process.
Weaving between the abandoned vehicles, he kept his rifle raised as he joined other civilians running alongside him, yelling at them to not stop and keep going. Behind him, some drones leapt on top of the cars and clambered across while others shoved themselves through the gaps, growling without pause. Davis spun around to occasionally fire a few shots, but didn’t stay for more than a few seconds as the horde pursued.
Around him, multiple fires had broken out across the street, both vehicles and buildings burning ferociously. The air was filled with screams and roars as he fled deeper into the city, constantly pushing anyone nearby ahead of him.
“MOVE! DO NOT STOP! KEEP GOING!”
Davis yelled until his voice was hoarse-and continued yelling commands regardless, wondering where the hell was the rest of his department.
His question was answered by multiple reports of gunfire behind him, instantly turning toward the sound. Several feet ahead was an intersection he’d previously passed on his way to downtown, red-blue lights flashing beneath the traffic lights. Craning his neck, he could see several officers discharging their firearms at any incoming drone, standing fast behind their makeshift roadblock of squad cars and covering anyone human fleeing their way.
Breathing a short sigh of relief, Davis sprinted towards the barricades, waving his arms at the officers as his hoarse voice screamed over the commotion.
“FRIENDLY OFFICER, DON'T SHOOT! DON’T SHOOT!”
The nearest policeman grabbed his vest and dragged him behind a cruiser, the man holding a shotgun in the other. Both instantly recognized each other upon eye contact.
“Sergeant Davis?”
“Trooper Morales?”
“Holy shit, I thought you were dead!” Morales exclaimed, pointing at his radio. “I was trying to contact you and a few leads, but the radio’s dead! I can’t get a hold of anyone!"
“Same-I don’t know what’s going on! Comms are fucked and these bots are tearing civvies apart! Ran all the way from Fargo-it’s really bad there!”
The trooper gritted his teeth, turning back towards the street. “Doesn’t matter-we gotta hold these guys off so everyone else can escape! At least till backup arrives!”
“When’s that gonna happen?!”
“Hopefully soon! Someone’s gotta know about this somehow!” Without another word Morales fired his shotgun, red shells ejecting from the side.
Davis knew he didn’t have time to question or argue how they were going to receive any backup when the radios were dead- keeping the residents safe took precedence!
Raising his AR, the sergeant and the rest of the officers unloaded their weapons at the incoming horde, scores of workers falling under continuous volleys. Glass and polymer shattered as the pavement ran with black oil, multiple drone corpses littering the ground or wedged between vehicles. Brass casings littered the ground, alongside the occasional spent magazine with each reload. The streets echoed with gunfire and inhuman screeches, the crimson sky above becoming clouded with rising smoke from dozens of fires across the city.
The officers fought well, inflicting casualties even as the mob of feral robots steadily gained ground.
But in the end, it wasn’t enough.
Davis heard a scream directly to his right, turning just in time to see a worker tackle an officer to the ground. Swinging his rifle around, he shot the drone off his body-only for three more to take its place, swarming the downed officer before he could get up. Even as more bullets poured into their frames, the drones ripped through the man’s vest with their hands and tore his body open with their teeth as he screamed, messily devouring his insides.
Another officer attempted to intervene, but met the same fate as a worker knocked him down, chomping on his head with razor sharp teeth. A few feet away, a parked police cruiser was flipped onto its back by a crowd of workers, the officers nearby stumbling back and exposing themselves to countless others as they became swamped.
Within a matter of minutes, resistance was collapsing as the survivors attempted to back away, low on ammo and with little hope of outrunning the growing bloodthirsty horde
At this point, Davis’s rifle ran dry without any possible reloads. He hurled it at a nearby worker and knocked it down, pulling out his Glock to finish it off.
A loud screech caused to freeze just in time to see a drone leap at him with a gaping bloody maw.
Bang!
The thing’s head exploded in a shower of sparks, body crumpling to the ground. Davis turned to see Morales, the barrel of his raised shotgun smoking.
“Sarge! We gotta get the fuck outta-”
A blur knocked him down, the gun clattering from his grip. Davis attempted to assist, but felt a weight colliding into his body as well, falling onto his back
His eyes met a yellow X and a gaping maw, drooling saliva and blood. The drone giggled manically before lunging right for his neck.
Davis couldn't comprehend the last few moments of his life…mainly because he was in excruciating pain. He couldn’t even scream or whimper as he felt his vocal cords get torn out, a steel head pressed against his. He was pretty sure he heard Morales screaming in the background, despite the din of battle and white noise overtaking his hearing.
Vision growing hazy, he could see shadows of drones moving past him, all heading past the roadblock and to wherever the civilians fled. He watched the crimson sky overhead, black smoke wafting above as he slowly lost the rest of his senses, pain eventually numbing as the drone bit deeper.
He should've been terrified at his situation, yet instead felt… disappointed. He knew the fight was over, and would die any second now, laying here on the bloody pavement with the rest of his comrades while countless drones desecrated their corpses. He figured they wouldn’t stop with them, that they would go on to hurt and kill many more within the city he swore to protect and serve.
And that hurt him more than what he was going through right now.
Losing consciousness, one thought remained inside Sergeant Davis’s head before he closed his eyes one last time.
“I’m sorry…for failing my duty.”