Character: Net
Lewd: NoCharacter
The city never slept, but it sure as hell didn’t care.
Rain slicked the streets, pooling in the uneven cracks of the pavement, reflecting the neon haze that flickered overhead. The air stank of ozone, oil, and the faint, acrid bite of burnt-out circuits. Somewhere in the distance, a siren wailed before cutting out abruptly—either someone paid to shut it off, or there wasn’t anyone left to answer it.
In a side alley, half-buried beneath discarded wiring, shattered glass, and the rusting carcass of an old auto-drone, she lay still.
Her chassis was a mess—one arm missing entirely, the other barely holding together with exposed servos twitching uselessly in the downpour. Her synthetic skin had peeled away in places, revealing the cheap composite plating beneath. One optic flickered in and out, red light pulsing weakly, a glitching mockery of life. She should have been offline, just another forgotten relic in the sprawl’s endless cycle of obsolescence.
But she wasn’t.
Something stirred in her damaged core, something that told her she shouldn’t be here, shouldn’t be like this. That she was meant to be more than scrap.
Footsteps.
Soft, hesitant. Someone passing the alley mouth. A shadow against the electric glow beyond.
She tried to move—her broken joints screamed in protest. Her voice cracked, static-laced and weak.
"P-please..." A glitch, a stutter. "Please... help me."
The rain kept falling. The city didn't care.
But maybe they would.