Scarecrow and the Rainbow Solution

It was a beautiful day in Battery City.
Just like every other day in fact. The sun shone down through the near invisible dome of plastic that sheltered the city from latent radiation that still tainted the air outside. Here trees would grow and the sound of water gently trickling from fountains broke the peace as the daily population of workers, mothers, children and armed guards went about their daily business.
The green of the trees and opaque blue of the sky was the only colour amongst the grey and black of people and buildings. Stark white roads and pavements fought with the giant billboards that flashed slogans across the waiting eyes.
BLI slogans, BLI people, BLI drugs that kept the population docile and under control.
It was better this way some would say. Who wouldn’t want a life with no worries, no passionate hate or love to worry the mind and soul. After the last great war, when all but a handful had been wiped out by nuclear and biological war it was only natural for the shell shocked populace to look for an escape, for anything that would take away the pain and BLI had stepped up. Nobody even saw the takeover coming.
Now there was no government but this one faceless corporation, all the residents kept happy and never wanting anything but the daily fix and all the consumer goods that they were told to buy. People were born, lived, loved and died as citizens of the city and most wanted nothing more. They were safe and well cared for.
Not like those outside.
Outside was different. The war still showed itself across the land in pockets of radiation and blast damaged ruins. The people out there either wanted into the city or wanted to destroy it. Sure there was peace and comfort in having no cares but there was no thought, no music, no colour. It was the drugged happiness of the dead.
A different war had come to be fought. One that had its own rules and its now participants that touched on the lives of everyone in the city and in the ramshackle towns and settlements around it in the wastelands known as the Zones. Food and everything else was scarce out there, the desert filled with its own dangers and BLI’s enforcers commonly known as Draculoids. Most people feared them and stayed away even though they were only looking for the rebels.
For the Killjoys.
The name that hid a resistance or terrorists depending on who you were and where your loyalties happened to lay. People that remembered the world before the bombs fell and were not about to let go of art and music and culture just to live in peace. They poked and prodded the great corporation like a thousand buzzing flies. Everything from random graffiti to murder, bombings and any form of chaos that could be managed with limited resources. The outlying zones provided cover and like minds while the radio spread their message. Art Is The Weapon…The Aftermath Is Secondary. It called to the few but resonated with many.
For those in the city there was little fear. They accepted what the news told them and learned to ignore the occasional incursions into the city that resulted in violence. There was nothing to fear, BLI would take care of it all. They had to work, be good citizens and allow the corporation to access their deepest fears, no privacy allowed. All were watched, all were cared for.
So when the little robot first made its way into the main square of Block Four, no one really took notice. Maintenance bots and droids were common, helping the city to run and removing the need for menial labour right down to the sexbots in the red light zone of Block Six. Even happy humans needed a little filth once in a while. They passed silent and unseen, featureless faces and polite voices was the only indication of their presence and this one was no different. The sunlight cast blue haze of its metal shell as it trotted in between the people before stopping by a tree.
It stood there for a half hour, the eternal patience of something inhumane meaning that is passed unnoticed until the great clock that overlooked the square turned twelve and a sound broke from the machine. A sound that wasn’t heard in Battery City and which caused the people passing by to pause and look again at the thin metal creature.
A lullaby. Those who were outside knew the tune well. It belonged to the past, lost to fire and blood but still able to touch the inner ear that even chemicals could not control. As the first bars of the music headed out into the still air the little robot delicately stepped forward and began to dance. There was something hypnotic and beautiful as it twirled and twisted, people stopped and came closer. Hesitant yes but with a smile, such a pretty little thing and such sweet music that they were all sure that this was another gift from their masters. Another way for the corporation to show its appreciation for their servitude and loyalty.
Elsewhere the appearance was clocked on six cameras in under thirty seconds. An alarm was buzzed through to the Scarecrow Unit and soon their were cold eyes watching the scene playing out under the tree in the square. Frivolity meant disorder and this was not allowed. Korse was summoned to the control room, Dracs assembled to go down to the square and move the population on. This would be stopped and the people responsible found before order was broken for the city and its people.
Still the little robot twirled and danced, its tune growing louder as more people gathered to watch. A break from the daily routine was always a little welcomed, the weather kept artificially comfortable so that it felt like a summer day. They were entranced by the spectacle and not mindful of the tannoy reminding them of the time. The call to work and home was unheeded as people continued to come. By the time the first Draculoids appeared garbed in white, their faces hidden behind the horror masks of old, there were numbers in the hundreds.
They moved through the populace easily, commuters falling back as they saw the ray guns and heard the barked commands. Still no fear rippled across and no one made a move to resume their journey. All that could be heard was soft murmerings and even a ripple of smiles as still the gentle tune continued to play.
It was five past twelve.
Finally the Dracs made it to the robot and stopped. It did not heed them, the normal command matrix refused to respond to their metallic demands to stop and desist. Still it danced as the people milled around, those closest trying to see past the hulking soldiers so that they could continue to watch.
“Destroy it. Now.”
The lead Drac nodded curtly to the command that echoed into its malformed brain. Most assumed they were men underneath, only the Killjoys knew they were nothing like alive. Merely remnants of reanimated flesh that lived only to serve and destroy. It reached out, gripping the bot by its spinning arm and pulling it to face him. With a sputter and a click the music stopped and a disappointed sigh went through the crowd. Immediately the other four Dracs turned as one and began pushing the crowd back before a skull piercing whine emanated from the bot and everyone turned back.
“LOOK ALIVE SUNSHINE!”
The clear voice echoed loudly across the square, picked up clearly by the cameras. The paymasters choked and screamed, already fearing what would happen now. Killjoy incursions into the city were rare but usually enough to spread panic as those words sunk into the subconscious of the drugged populace. It was usual practise to use subliminal messaging to strike fear and loathing of those outside and now people stepped back. Far, far too late.
The sun outside was surpassed as a blinding explosion filled the square, the noise following behind in a deafening roar as the space exploded. The bomb was small enough for the robot to conceal but powerful enough to wreak a fearful havoc on flesh, blood and bone. Those closest were vaporised, those further back lacerated by flying glass and heat as the fire bloomed outward into the enclosed place. The whole city jumped and rocked as sirens burst into the air and people flailed and died. It was carnage incarcerated in the most quiet kind of violence.
Four blocks away and deep beneath the street the noise was really only a loud boom that caused the ceiling to shake and a thin layer of dust to fall down. It was pleasantly cool and dark down here and populated only by rats and service droids. On a usual day.
“Fuck, thought the damn thing malfunctioned.”
“Never trust a bot built in Zone Four. Party taught us that.”
Two bottled chinked together. The booze was old but that was the good thing with whiskey, it got better with age. The two women propped happily opposite each other in the pipe that wasn’t full of shit took a moment to appreciate the small but significant victory. They were home and had made the first statement. Rainbow Revolver and Crimson Suicide had been away, far away but now these two Killjoys had come home.
“Party….I miss that bitch.”
“You will see him soon enough, he will recognise the bot trick from the last time.”
Crimson smiled and slugged another shot of whiskey. Her hair was a patchy mix of red and black, the black leather jacket marked by laser holes and bits of string. Bright colours were never gonna be a thing with her but there was one red head she wanted to see.
Rainbow was equally keen to find former friends and lovers. They had run with the most famous of the Killjoys for years and she still had unfinished business with Fun Ghoul that her friends penchant for explosions had just made awkward. Pushing purple streaked hair back she donned the mask that marked them out.
“In other words, he’s gonna be pissed.”
“I like him pissed, he gets violent and its fun. Besides, the radio said make some noise.”
They shared a grin, listening again as sirens continued to rend the air above. Hundreds had died for the cause, their kind and those above. Nobody was innocent, nobody had a clean slate. War was war and they had struck a victory for their side. It would be a long walk back down the sewers and out into the sunlight. Then it was a straight ride to the desert. By then everyone would know that the games had begun again.
Friend and foe.

Notes

So.................Im still writing our mafia tale but this is an idea that wants to get out and this is the taster. Let me know if you think its a good idea to continue with it and see where it runs :)