Two hours ago, Casey Rowan was in the studio of GCN interning for the Gotham Tonight show trying to pave a way for himself into the news reporting profession. After Terry sat through an advisement session with him, he thought long and hard on what career path to take. With No Man’s Land in his past, news was what he craved for when he wasn’t worried about survival. He wanted to know why it happened, why they were suffering and why no one cared.
He was set on becoming a reporter and he was not interested in petty paparazzi work. He wanted to do some good with his reporting and he had practice. He was in the middle of editing video clips for a news segment when a familiar voice caught his attention.
“Casey!” He glanced away from the computer and found his little sister standing stiffly at the door. A frown crossed his face, something was wrong.
“What are you doing here?” Casey asked as he spun his chair about. He noted his sister’s posture was straight and the distance between them was much further than usual.
“I need you to broadcast something for me. It’s important that we get it out as soon as possible.” She said with urgency, but he noted she didn’t touch his arm to beg him nor were there worried wrinkles etched on her youthful face.
“What exactly is so important? You know I don’t have authorization to do that.” He lied. If he wanted to he could start up the broadcast behind his boss’s back and if this person really were his sister, he would’ve done it in a heartbeat. “Can you tell me what’s going on Rosalie?”
“We don’t have time! You have to trust me.” She begged.
Casey’s eyes narrowed. “Why should I?”
“I’m your sister.” She retorted.
He stood from his seat and circled around her. “You’re not my sister.”
“Of course I’m your sister who else—”
“My sister would’ve blown a fuse when I called her Rosalie.” He interrupted. “You’re not my sister.”
The imposter stood still for a moment before reaching out to grab him. Casey tried to dodge the copy’s hand, but then it extended and latched onto him. The firm coldness reminded him of metal. Casey struggled against the other’s hold as she drew him closer.
“Listen to me. You must warn your people. A plague is coming and it’ll destroy you all.”
“What are you?” Casey struggled against him. “And stop using my sister’s face!”
“My default appearance may startle you. Please you must—”
“Project Zeta!” A harsh voice shouted out. “Release the civilian!”
“The NSA…” The imposter, Zeta murmured. “I apologize Casey, but please do warn your people of the plague to come.” Zeta released him before the holographic image disappeared. In Ro’s place was a robot and it fled from the scene as an onslaught of bullets fired at him.
Casey hasn’t a clue to what this robot was talking about, but that thing knew him well enough to know how his sister looked like. He needed to make sure Ro was fine. Casey ducked to safety and circled the office to another exit. With the direction the robot took off in, he could intercept him before he got far. National Security Agency be damned, his sister came first, whatever government scheme this was would have to wait.
It didn’t take him long with his familiarity of the studio. He found the robot and quickly urged him to follow him. “This way.”
Zeta asked no questions as he followed Casey through the maze of hallways and staircases, but to save time, the robot took Casey and launched himself down the flights and flights of stairs.
“You know how to get out from here?” Casey asked as he clenched onto the smooth metallic surface of the robot.
“Yes.” Zeta replied.
“What is Project Zeta? They were calling you that.” He asked as Zeta crashed through the door and hurried down the street. Casey winced at the debris that hit them.
“I’m an infiltration unit created from Project Zeta. Reconnaissance and assassinations are part of my programming.” His robotic voice echoed.
“Assassinations! Where is my sister!” Casey snapped.
“Miss Rosalie is safe.” Zeta replied as he jumped over cars and darted into the alleyway. “I left her in a safe location.”
“Why did you kidnap her? What do you want with me?” He asked.
“I’m here to warn you and your people. A plague is coming and it’s likely that it would kill off your people unless something is done.”
“Why me? Why not tell those NSA people that’s chasing you? Heck, why not anyone else?” Casey asked as they bounded onto rooftops.
“They believe I am defective and would not listen to reason.” Zeta explained. “I stumbled upon this information during a mission. A group named Kobra is planning to release a plague in an attempt to rid the world of anyone that does not fit to their vision.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you chose me.” Casey grounded out.
“You are different. I came to the station in hopes of convincing them that a plague is upon them, but no one was willing to listen. You were different. You thirst for the truth.”
“So you kidnapped my sister?” He snapped.
“It was the only way to get close without suspicion.”
“Take me to her now.” Casey demanded.
“But the NSA—”
“We’ll deal with them when they come, take me to my sister.”
“…Very well…” Zeta replied as they took off to the warehouses.
Now…
“Can you tell me where Kobra is?” Abuse asked.
“I’m afraid that I do not know where their headquarters is situated.” Zeta replied regrettably.
“What are you planning?” Ro asked when Abuse became quiet.
“You guys hide Zeta.” He started.
“Hide him?” Ro said in disbelief. “How? Just look at him! He’s a freaking robot!”
“He can disguise himself.” Casey interrupted and turned to Zeta. “You imitated my sister earlier, can you create any image?”
Zeta said nothing as he shifted to different images for them to see.
“No, no! You have to mix and match! If you just walk out looking like someone else, they’ll spot you a mile away.” Casey reasoned.
“Like this?” Zeta asked as he sorted through the images and landed on a pale-skinned young man with a beard and mustache.
“The beard and mustache look is out of style and waaay too conspicuous. Lose it.” Ro ordered offhandedly, seeming to have forgotten that it was this same robot that kidnapped her just hours prior.
With ease, Zeta removed the facial hair from his disguise and Ro gave a hum of approval.
“You should have a name too. Calling you Zeta everywhere would be a dead give away too.” Ro hummed in thought. “How about Zee?”
“That is acceptable.” Zeta replied.
“And you have to stop talking like that.” Casey inserted. “You’re way too proper. Try using words like sure, no problem, whatever.”
Abuse watched them only a moment longer before he made his move towards the door. “So you guys can handle this right?”
“And where do you think you’re going?” Ro asked.
“To get help.” Abuse explained. “If there’s something as big as a plague coming, we should try to get as much help as we could.”
“Like who? It’s not like we have Batman on call or the Justice League.” Ro crossed her arms.
Abuse spluttered. “I-I’ll find a way somehow! You just worry about Zee! I’ll see you!” He hurried out of the warehouse.
The three waited until Abuse was gone before another word was spoken. “What now? Where are we going to hide him?” Ro asked.
Casey sighed as he looked between his sister and the humanoid robot. “First things first, we need to get out of here before the NSA finds this place. It’s not going to be easy, but I think we’ll be able to handle it.”
“I hear a but coming on.” Ro frowned.
“The hard part is hiding him from Terry and this so call plague that’s coming. We need to warn him but…”
“He’s going to get suspicious to how we got the information.” Ro ended. “You’re right… this is going to be hard.”
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