It was late at night, and everyone inside the ship was either sleeping or in sleep mode, except of course, for Security System. It had already been five hours and Steamlord was screaming violently in pain. Sunrise was awoken by his screams of agony and torture as he mumbled nonsense in his sleep, occasionally grabbing the wounded parts of his body. Trying to help her new father out, the little dragon struggled on the bed and held on tightly to the human's chest. But, what exactly was he dreaming about? Let us start at the beginning of his nightmare, where he had just unveiled his Loptimum metal discovery and everything he had built with it:
It was a bright, sunny day, and Steamlord was still dressed up in a white lab coat. Here, his hair was short and perfectly groomed. He had both his eyes and looked quite happy. He was even shaking hands with the mayor of the city he was in. If his invention worked, soon, he would be part of the High-Class Engineering and Robotics Institute. Something he aspired to work in all his life. Standing in front of a podium, he thanked the mayor of the city. This city was of a bright white. A bit normal, seeing as in 2075 new energies for transport had been discovered and several cleaning drones had been invented. In the four corners of the area were skyscrapers as high as the eye could see. A massive group of people had come to witness the unveiling of this prodigee, and they were very eager to see what he had created.
Clearing his throat, he went towards the mic:
"People of Earth, yes , Earth! I have created marvels of technology that took me a very long time to create. Why did I not give up? Because I wanted to help you all have better lives! Now, I know you are all nervous and anxious to see it, but here is just a small fragment of the Loptimum metal my co-workers and I have managed to engineer. This metal is ten times more sturdy than diamond, and, unfortunately, still has the drawback of weight, but where there is science and engineering, there is always a solution! So I present to you, the new and improved static car."
One of the covers behind Steamlord dropped to show a magnificently crafted car with strange wheels not made of rubber or anything. These cars, in fact, used static electricity generated from the specially created roads which allowed for a more advanced solution to travel. The energy would go from the hollow wheels through a conducting cable which led directly into the engine, allowing for the pistons to move. Using the theory that no energies are lost, just transformed, the pistons themselves produce static electricity by friction in their tubes. This new static is then sent through a different cable back into the streets, where the car before this vehicle would receive said new produce, and the cycle restarts all over again.
"A new airplane! Hell, why am I stopping here...a new everything!"
Almost all of the sheets dropped to reveal different helicopters, boats, and such 'n 'such. But Steamlord was not finished there, oh no, he had three more surprises.
"And finally, as my greatest robotic creations, my Crusader Knights!"
Three distinct beings flung out from behind the curtains and revealed themselves. These Knights seemed less advanced than their actual counter-parts.
"Using the best in robotics and memory cores, they are the most powerful AND the most advanced robots in the world. Like Security System, they are semi-sentient, and can learn from their mistakes as well as learn other things. They are my finest creations!"
Everyone started to cheer and shout at these marvels. Better security? Faster traveling which saved up money? Of course everyone was glad. It was mainly the new energy he had discovered. There was a single generator in every capitol of every country, and these were tightly guarded and controlled. They gave out enough power to energize entire countries, and more! Of course, this made them highly dangerous, but at least there would be no radioactive fallout if they exploded...
As Steamlord waved and cheered in joy, he felt a hand touch his left shoulder. This hand was militaristic and the person at the other end was quite old, although he had many decorations on his suit. This is when the nightmare started to turn awry.
The city started to crumble and the sky turned dark and red. Everyone was screaming and there were many dead around. The next thing Steamlord knew, he was wearing a brown-leather suit and pants, as well as leather shoes. He was holding several electronical devices while his Knights were holding their claymores like never before. There were two groups of soldiers fighting to get to him, and a third army could be seen not too far away. The first two had one group in orange and sky-blue, while the other one was completely black. The ones in the distance were wearing green. Either way, Steamlord was horrified by what he had done. By selling his blue-prints (although less performant versions) to other companies in hopes that his creations could be better produced and in greater quantities, the military got a hold of them as well and started to develop everything into weapons. Even simple mining lasers were turned into weapons of mass destruction. Gigantic mechs derived from the Construction bots were literally walking through buildings and shooting at each other while helicopters and other various airborne creations hovered above. Some flew right above, dropping bombs somewhere in the destroyed city, while others fell down in flames. Ultimately, Steamlord had to use his electronics to short circuit everything derived from his mind, or destroy it and everybody in it before it was too late.
Running through the cross-fire, Templar and Hospitaller protected his sides with their blades as Teutonic sliced through the soldiers, much to the horror of the creator. Seeing two tanks arriving, the man activated his devices, causing the engines to explode and thus, deactivating the machines. Even when there was so much more to see, the nightmare went directly to where Steamlord paid the price of creating his inventions and handing them out carelessly to the world.
He had just deactivated one of the mecha, who came crashing down to Earth. Unfortunately, a huge shard of metal came flying down and tore off Steamlord's arm, causing him to scream in pain and agony. Knowing that it would be for naught if he didn't stop this madness at least here in the world, he would never be able to see anyone ever again. He forced himself to run while his bodyguards continued to literally cut through armored vehicles and armored battle suits. How did all these things be created from construction and mining equipment? These questions tortured the human evermore as he deactivated an aerial aircraft carrier, sending it plummeting to the ground and collapsing in a torrent of flame and metal. Even though, on his own, he was beating the two opposing armies back, the green one had just arrived, and they were fresh.
Trying his best, Steamlord also cut swaths through their vehicles, although, unfortunately, he was caught by surprise by an unexploded bomb. This one, though, was a shrapnel bomb and was made to explode after a time. As he stood there with his mouth open, Teutonic hopped in front of its creator and placed it's claymore in front of the man. Once the bomb went off, it tore through the bodyguard, but barely wounded Steamlord, save for an eye carved out by a piece of metal. He could barely take anymore of these pains. First an arm, now an eye?! He would stop this insanity, but was stopped by troops who shot at him, ignoring the struggling, heavily damaged robot beside him.
They shot his right foot, burning it off, and did the same for his left leg, but at the knee. After a few moments of increased suffering, the guards fell to the ground, in two pieces each. Steamlord could hear a voice speaking, one he was familiar to. It was Security System. She had ordered the two remaining bodyguards to bring back Teutonic and the creator to his ship.
It was hidden under tons of debris and the carcasses of vehicles. Once inside, Teutonic was taken to the repair bay, while Steamlord was taken to the medical area. He was near death, and he was in great pain, literally clutching every part of his body that was lost. He was shown on a screen, the damages still happening outside. As SS found that everyone was heading towards the main generator core, the ship took off into the air, much to the protests of the creator. The medical arms started to mess with the man's wounded parts. They had to cut off his lower left leg, which sent him screaming in pain. It was literally like he was reliving everything.
The mechanical pieces were starting to be put into his body, while the nerves were being connected to very small cables and were, themselves, being arranged by nano bots of the latest design. As the man stared at the monitor, he saw a stray shot coming from one of the giant walkers going directly towards the generator, causing a massive blue explosion which disintegrated everything around it and sent the ashes high into the air, along with some other by-product Steamlord didn't recognize. He suddenly realized what it was and slammed his left hand onto the table as he continued to scream in pain.
"N-no! Those idiots! They used the ancient blue-prints and didn't even follow basic regulations! Now they're all going to go off!"
And indeed, he was right. The cores were made by using the prototype blue-prints, but built to look exactly like the better version created by Steamlord, just to save on money! These ones had a nasty habit of created an ash-like by-product that was more toxic to anything than radioactive fallout. During his workings, he had developed an immunity that was furthered by a serum created by SS. While he and his robots would get nothing, everyone else would die by poisoning and, if any were to survive, by lack of food and water. The fatal error with these generators is that they were all linked directly to provided an all-time surveillance and perfecting of the generators in-case a problem arose. The cores could be taken care of by people who were literally in another country. This created its own problems, and thus, the Ash Fall had happened.
The man could do nothing but feel an immense form of regret and sadness as he screamed "No!" to everything being destroyed and dying. He screamed even more as his mechanical parts were being built directly into his body. The physical pain was nothing compared to his mental pains. By his fault, everyone had died. By his fault, everything was dying. By his fault, the planet in its entirety had been destroyed. Everything, gone, in the blink of an eye. This did not render him insane, no, just disgusted of himself as he stared at the monitor which showed that the skies had now become gray, and that the sun would never be seen again until all life was gone. Trillions of lives gone because of his creations. The animals, the people, the insects, the plants, there was nothing left.
As Steamlord's nightmare intensified the pains, he quickly found that they had dissappeared. He was now in a completely dark area, sitting on some type of machine joint. There, he looked at his new extensions which clicketed in the manner of his old creations. He preferred the old ones and their appearance. After all, his ship, even if it was upgraded, was left with the old clockwork look as that suited his tastes more than just plain old flat metal plating. He touched his eye which was also clockwork. His body now had a miniature energy generator which was further modified by SS to fit him perfectly.
Looking at himself in the mirror, he grabbed an invisible hammer and started to hit something, throwing sparks up in the air as they soon disappeared in the deathly coldness and quiet of the dark room. All his creations were starting to show. All the new versions of his bodyguards, the ship being enhanced even further. The quantum gateway, the surfer, even the scanners. Everything was showing up whenever he hit a hammer onto his anvil of shame, forever cursed with the ability to live for a lengthy amount of time. Every hit reminded him of his lost family. Every hit reminded him of the lives lost by his fault. Every hit reminded him of something that caused his downfall and loss of heart and hope. Yet, after trying to hit the anvil yet again, the hammer made the sound of shattering into a thousand pieces.
Steamlord was blinded by a light at the far end of the room, only to see something yellow yelling out for him:
".....a........a.....d!.....uikly.....ere.....!"
He couldn't remember who that was, but as he stood up, the three armies appeared suddenly in front of him. Their masks frightening him more than anything. They represented everything he hated and feared about himself. They were his inner demons. He was about to sit back down and start hammering again after taking another one, but the little yellow thing at the far end screamed out for him, and, this time, he heard it:
"Dad! Come here! Quickly! Get away from them! You don't need to suffer anymore!"
Steamlord tried to say something, but only ash left his mouth. He was furious, and now, he was going to charge through everything. As he did so, the three armies opened fire at him, but he ran straight through, ignoring the bullets and lasers whizzing past his face. He needed to make it...he HAD to make it! Coming closer to the light, the giant walker that destroyed the core and caused the chain-reaction was there. It was tall and towering, and was aiming at him with its gigantic rail-guns. Unfortunately for it, the Crusader Knights appeared in a totally new form. They ripped the beast apart and charged at the armies standing behind their creator. These ones didn't give off a feeling of shame like the ones he currently had. No, they gave off a feeling of hope and happiness. They were the next upgrade for his bodyguards. They saluted their creator and ran off as the man ran closer to the light. He immediately recognized Sunrise who was waiting for him with open arms. The dream, unfortunately, wanted to take another dire turn of events as the same bomb that took away the inventor's eye was falling directly at Sunrise's spot.
"NO! I will not have another life destroyed by my inventions. They are MINE! And I COMMAND THEM!"
He sprinted like a mad man and caught Sunrise in a roll and hugged her like mad when the bomb exploded. The man suddenly found himself awake with the little dragon clutching his chest tightly and crying. Steamlord looked around in gasping as the situation became clearer. He pat Sunrise on the head, who looked up at him with watery eyes.
"It's okay now. I was just having a nightmare."
"But I thought*sniff* that you were going to go away like my first dad. I didn't want*sniff* to lose my new one now that I just got him." she hugged Steamlord's chest tightly again as she started to wallow out all of her fear currently stocked up.
Steamlord looked at her while rubbing her head in an effort to comfort her and thought:
"If everything created for the people is always changed into warfare, then I will never reveal the blueprints of my creations upon this world. Nothing will force me to do it.! The Assmiltive generators will only be within me and this ship. This world will remain clean and Ash free!"