#crewton

[littledraga]

Cutting Edge - Adventures In Crewton

Gangs of Crewton beware! There's a new robot detective in town. Cutting Edge is the name of the first robot who can feel. But he just goes by Edge. Created by the inventor Dr. Josiah Fletcher, Edge is the first robot capable of choosing his own destiny. So he chooses to become a detective. Now with his human partner, Lola, they will clean up their city, Crewton.

My friend is making a comic and just starting out! Come give it some love!

[bea-your-best]

My warlocks celestial imp, Crewton!

[littledraga]

Comfortemember 2 Darkness

Trying to get information shouldn't have been this hard. But at every turn, the Cashews of Calamity were always a step ahead. 

Edge was starting to lose his cool about the whole thing. He and Lola had snuck into a warehouse, hoping for a lead. They'd watched them come in and out. What they were using the old building for was unknown.

Inside was dark, but Edge kept Lola close and brightened his eyes to see. It was full of crates and packing peanuts mostly. Which was concerning.  There was nothing. Had this been another decoy? Edge tried to hold Lola closer. At least there weren't as many floors this time.

While they walked, Lola suddenly pulled away. "Wait!" He called after and tried to follow.

"I heard something," she called back, her voice getting quieter.

Trying to follow, Edge hit his head on a poorly stacked box hard enough his vision dimmed. Cursing under his breath, he tried to follow her and turn his night vision back on.

With neither of them able to see in the dark, there was a problem. Edge could hear Lola scurrying somewhere, or he hoped it was her.

When he heard crates start to fall, he felt something hit the pit of his stomach. "Lola!" He yelled. Any concerns about stealth were long gone now. What if they fell on her?

His eyes flickered, a brief second of light before there was darkness again. “Lola!” She wasn’t responding, and he was starting to panic. Fumbling around, he tried to feel for her.

“Edge!” She finally called back a distance away. Again he tried shaking and hitting his head even when it hurt, trying to find her. The lights would do no more than flicker. “Lola! Keep talking, I’ll find you!” He just had to pray no one else found her first.

While his eyes couldn’t adjust, Lola’s did. Seeing a shadow in the darkness, she jumped until she saw the outline of his fedora. “Edge, I’m here,” she called, trying to wave him over.

Clumsily, Edge walked over to her and knelt down nearby. His hands reached out, trying to find her. When he felt her hands in hers, his shoulders finally relaxed. “There you are. Don’t run off like that! I was so scared.”

“I’m fine,” she huffed, but her shoulders slumped, and she spoke softer. “Everything’s alright.”

“Did you at least find anything?” Edge asked as he helped Lola to her feet. He didn’t let her go.

Lola shook her head. “Nothing just ran into some crates.” Holding his hand, she gently tugged him. “Come on, we need to get out of here.”

Something that caught Edge off guard, Lola was prone to running into danger. “But we haven’t found anything yet.”

“And you can’t see in here, can you?” She waited for him to shake his head. “Come on. Let’s get back and into the light.” Holding his hand, she guided him out. Even when they reached the streetlights, they didn’t let go.

[littledraga]

Whumptober2020 Crewton Internal Organ Injury

Timothy had done it once and found little trouble in doing it a second time. Snuck into Edge’s apartment and used a NAP on him. He dragged him out of the apartment in the middle of the night. No one had been the wiser!

When Edge woke up, he was strapped down to a cold metal table. Panic bubbled uncomfortably in his chest, this certainly wasn’t his apartment. Looking around frantically, he thrashed, trying to get free.

Timothy stepped into view and laughed. “Now, now, don’t move too much. Wouldn’t want to break something. That would be most unfortunate.” Standing at the side of the table he was holding a piece of metal. Edge wasn’t sure what it was.

Glaring up at him, Edge stilled as he watched Timothy's hands, carefully. He knew this man wasn’t someone to be trifled with. “What do you want?” He spat, trying to keep his voice level.

“I need more information, you see!” He grinned down at Edge. His lips spread far too widely. He hardly looked human as he did. “We fucked up, Jack, you see. Need to try again and make a less crazy machine!” Timothy laughed loudly at that.

That made Edge panic even more. That hadn’t been a dream. Struggling, even more, he tried to break the restraints that kept him pinned. Even his head, he couldn’t look enough to see what he was tied down with.

“Tsk tsk. You don’t think I’d make it that easy to get away, do you?” He asked as he lifted up the metal in his hand. A slim jim. That wide grin again as he pressed it against Edge’s chest. “Now, let's see how you work!” He cheered, prying off the first piece of his chest.

With a scream, Edge tried to roll away from the pain as Timothy continued to pull off his plating. He gasped for air while he continued to try and get away.

With each piece that came off, Timothy grew more excited. He dug harder, ripping each piece off with euphoric vigor. When the last piece of his chest plate was off, he clasped his hands together. “Wonderful! And you’re still awake! How marvelous!”

Edge was hardly able to keep his systems cool as pain radiated through him. In moments like these, he regretted being able to feel so much. Wished there was a way to turn off the pain. His systems kicked into overdrive when he saw the large tools Timothy held up next. He was going to rip Edge apart!

Those strange tools tug around inside of Edge’s torso, checking and mapping out every part of him. He was overheating, begging betweens gasps and cries of pain for the pain to stop. For it all to stop.

“Fascinating! They did a lot of interesting things to make you tick over, didn’t they?” Laughed Timothy, digging deeper into Edge’s exposed inner workings. Like a child in a candy shop, he got a taste and wanted more and more! Deeper into more delicate workings he went.

The deeper the tools went, the more desperate Edge became. He thrashed harder, anything for it to stop! Just a moment of reprieve.

Suddenly, there was white hot pain, worse than before, as Edge heard something snap. His mouth hung open, but he couldn’t even scream as he felt his gears ticking and grinding off time. Slowly, in agony, his body started to shut down.

Above him, Timothy watched with a satisfied grin. He took in every part of Edge’s pain as he slowly slipped away.

[littledraga]

Whumptober2020 Crewton blindness

Lilith had been after Edge for too long. Seeing another robot a lot wasn’t something he thought about too much. It wasn’t like robots were uncommon in Crewton. There were lots of people he saw regularly, from cashiers to the same people starting their day with the same coffee. Seeing Lilith nearly every day was hardly something he’d give a second thought. Until she was where she shouldn’t have been.

After a long day chasing dead ends, Edge had just wanted to enjoy a large cup of coffee and try and relax for a while. Finding a pretty bot sitting on his bed and looking perfectly innocent was hardly what he was expecting.

“Um, hello? I’m afraid you’ve got the wrong apartment, miss. Can I help you?” Maybe she was just lost. It was a big building, after all.

She hadn’t said anything, simply stood up, still with that innocent smile. Even as Edge stepped back, she walked straight up to him. Nearly chest to chest, she looked up at him, reaching up to touch his face.

That made him shrink back a little. “Miss? Are you alright?” This wasn’t right. He didn’t even know her name!

Suddenly, pain bloomed across his face. Yelling, he held his cheek and jumped back. Only, there was nothing there when he pressed his hand against his face. He watched her as she broke into a fit of giggles. Holding up her prize, his cheek plate, she gently pressed it against hers.

When he made to go after her, she quickly darted out the door, leaving him standing in the doorway, painfully clutching his face.

Edge could scarcely believe what had happened, or why.

He went back to the Fletcher's after that. Replacing his cheek didn't take too long. A day for shaping. But he stayed a few longer, worried about being alone.

Any time he was alone, his mind drifted back to her on his bed. It had left him skittish, jumping at the slightest noise or touch.

No one said anything about it. Even Shale let it slide when Edge had explained what had happened in his apartment. If only that had been the end of it.

Edge kept seeing her. The first day back to work, he saw her standing by the door. He walked straight into a crowd and was more than an hour late while he waited for her to get bored and leave. He didn’t leave the office the whole day, and Lola had followed him home, just in case.

Later on, he thought it was safe enough to get a cup of coffee on his way to work. The sun was shining brightly already, and the shop was just crowded enough, he thought she wouldn’t dare show up. But she was there.

She walked into the shop and stood behind him in line. Pressed far too close for his comfort.

When he felt her hand run down his back, he tensed. He felt his gears grind in a panic. Without a word, or his coffee, he bolted out of the shop and ran to the office. It didn’t matter if it looked weird. He needed to get as much distance from Lilith as he could.

It was getting to the point he was afraid to be alone. Everywhere he went, he swore he saw her. Somewhere from the corner of his eye, she was there. Sitting in the car with Lola for stakeouts, he swore he saw her. Standing just around the corner. He saw her hair, the glint of metal. She was driving him insane.

A long night, he needed coffee. He stayed behind since he really didn’t need sleep to pour over evidence. Edge had all but ripped apart the break room for some coffee. Not even that cheap stuff, no one liked. That was a problem.

He was afraid of going out so late on his own. Originally,  he had planned on just staying there all night. But he’d be useless in a few hours and out before morning if he didn’t get more coffee. There was nothing for it. He had to go out and buy more coffee.

His head was on a constant swivel as he walked to the corner store just around the corner. If he was fast and stuck to the lights, maybe he could get it over without her finding him. Even she must have needed a break.

It seemed the night was working in his favour. He hadn’t seen her once on the way or even in the store. Maybe she was finally getting bored with stalking him. That would be a nice turn of events.

Heading out of the store, he was feeling pretty good about the whole thing. At least until hands grabbed him. Before he could register what was happening, he was thrown into the back of a truck.

As soon as his body hit the bed, the tires squealed and pulled out, much too fast to be legal.

Struggling, he tried to right himself and see what was going on. Flopped on his back, he felt his boiler sink. Lilith was leaning over him, with that same perfect, innocent smile. “Oh no.”

He tried to jump off the truck. It would hurt, but he’d survive. Before he could get up enough, Lilith grabbed his shoulders and shoved him back. His head slammed on the frame as he fell back. “Leave me alone! I don’t even know what you want.”

She giggled at that, a light sound. “Oh, Edge. I just want to be complete! I just need to borrow a few parts, nothing you’d miss at all!” While he thrashed, she reached under his wig.

He felt her fingers digging into the metal of his head and cried out in pain. He kicked and tried to roll away, trying to get away from the feeling as she dug in his head. He could feel her inside, searching, and roaming for something.

Her fingers combed through the wires in his head, like spiders crawling in his mind. The more he fought, the deeper she seemed to go. At least, until the world suddenly went dark.

He froze in fear when there was nothing. He could feel her on his chest, feel her in his head, but he couldn’t see. She’d pulled out the wires for his vision.

Giggling, she was giggling again. So pleased with herself to have gotten this far at last.  The giggling turned into crazed laughter as she dug deeper into his head, pulling on more wires.

Edge weakly flailed, trying in vain to get her off him. But she managed to pin his hands with her knees. Try as he might, he couldn’t get the leverage he needed to get her off of him.

Deeper and deeper until the hearing went next. All that was left was pain. So much pain. He felt as she ripped him into pieces in the back of the truck.

[littledraga]

Whumptober2020 Crewton Wrongfully accused

It had been a long trek to catch the young rabbit that had been sending out threatening letters, still seemingly at random. But with Lola’s help, they managed.

By the time they had caught him, it was late, so he sent her ahead to go home. She needed sleep more than he did. It hadn’t been a fight.

While turning the rabbit over, Edge suddenly found himself in handcuffs. Confused, he didn’t struggle. Following along, he tried to get one of the men pulling him to look at him. “Do I at least get to know why you’re throwing me in handcuffs?”

“You’re accused of stealing from the first national bank,” one explained as they took him below to a holding cell.

“What?! I’ve never stolen anything in my life! Besides, why would I be waltzing in here if I had done something so horrible?” He tried to reason with them. Nothing. “What proof do you have? You need some kind of evidence before you lock me up!”

“You just sit in this cell and wait.” They all but tossed him in and locked the cell door behind him. “They’ve got enough.”

Turning around Edge grabbed the bars of the cell. “This is ridiculous! You can’t hold me without reason! And I’m permitted a phone call!”

“Not for something like you,” the other sneered and left him alone in the cell.

Edge paced the length of the small cell, trying to understand what was going on. He’d never try to knock over a bank! He hadn’t even heard anything about a bank robbery. This had to be some kind of misunderstanding!

They had to be down at some point, he could talk with them then. This wasn’t right. Not even a phone call!

But night came, and they had shut down the lights. That was concerning no one had come down. They had to feed people in custody. Sure, he didn’t eat, but he would power down without caffeine.

Edge sat on the small cot, wincing when it whined. “Maybe I was just late. Someone will come down in the morning. I can get this figured out.” Laying back on the small bed his feet hung off the edge. These really didn’t have comfort in mind. Closing his eyes, he tried to get a little sleep. If nothing else, to pass the time.

Come morning, nothing. He stayed lying down, trying to conserve energy until well past noon. No one was coming. Edge was starting to fear he would be left here and forgotten. He couldn’t stay powered on for too much longer, the rest of the day, perhaps. He could hear them all upstairs. He wasn’t alone, but he certainly felt that way in the cell.

He wondered if Shale was mad at him. He would be very late by now. Lola had probably called him a layabout three times by now. Edge laughed. She would probably be pouting at her desk that there was no one to bother.

When he could feel himself nearing powering down, Edge started to panic. They really were going to leave him here to turn off. Trying to conserve what little power was left he slipped into stasis. Hopefully, things would be better when he woke up.

Luck wasn’t on his side.

He woke up to being lifted up by a pair of gorillas. Not the most common animal in Crewton, but at least they were strong enough to lift him. He couldn’t even stand on his own anymore.

He had tried to greet them, but they didn’t even grunt. Rude, he thought, but he supposed to them he was a criminal.

Up he went, and they dragged him out of the cell. It must be time for trial, he thought, hopeful that this mess would clear itself soon. And hopefully, someone would be kind enough to give him some coffee.

Only they weren’t going in the direction of the courtrooms when they dragged him down the hall. That was highly concerning. “Guys? Where are you taking me?” He asked, a little nervous to know.

“Your sentence has been passed,” they explained, not bothering to look at him.

“What? But I haven’t even stood trial yet! They couldn’t have passed sentencing yet! You must have me confused with someone else!”

“Don’t need one. You’re just a robot,” said one, a bit of malice in that one’s voice.

Edge seethed at that. That wasn’t right! Robots may not have had all the rights of humans, but he still had rights. He struggled in their grasp, trying to break free. This was ridiculous! He wouldn’t be compliant any longer!

Only he couldn’t get away. It had been too long since he had had coffee. Edge didn’t have the energy to get away from them. Try as he might, they just gripped tighter. Tight enough, it hurt as the metal started to bend.

At the end of the hall, one of them opened a large door. It was a mostly empty room, save the large conveyor belt in the middle that led away. It filled the room with a deafening grinding sound and hummed loudly. There was a machine on the other end. A grinder.

He tried to thrash in their grip. “No! Please, no! I’m innocent! I didn’t rob the bank. Please!” He cried as they threw him on the belt. “This isn’t a fair punishment for robbery!” He tried to get up, but he couldn’t even lift his body, arms weakly sliding in front of him

Still, he tried to get away. He watched as the gears of the machine grew ever closer. Too weak to fight it, he begged for his life. This wasn’t right! Doing this while he was powered on!

His hand was the first part of him to meet the grinding gears. As each piece of metal tore apart, he screamed and cried out in pain. Slowly, the rest of his arm was fed into it. What little he could, he struggled, begging for the pain to stop the more of his arm the machine ate.

Just as his nose nearly touched the moving parts, he closed his eyes tightly. He waited for the pain, but it never came. One second passed, then two. Edge cautiously cracked open an eye to look around. The machine had stopped.

“EDGE!” Lola was screaming his name. Lola was here! She rushed down the side of the belt to him. As soon as she was close enough, she grabbed onto his coat, trying to pull him off. She was talking so fast, Edge couldn’t understand her.

The gorillas came down to help, yanking at him. Trying to get him loose.

It hurt! “Stop! Please, stop!” He cried.

They were ripping his arm off from the weakened metal. Every motion of his arm sent searing pain through him. They had to bring someone down to remove his arm. That at least hurt less. It took far longer than he would have liked, and the pain still throbbed through his shoulder.

Once he was free, he held Lola tightly with the arm he had left and sobbed. He had almost died for a crime he had never done. This wasn’t fair to him. This wasn’t fair to any robot. He had to do something.

[littledraga]

Whumptober 6 (Crewton)No More/Please Stop

A busy day for poor Jack! So many errands to run and tools to buy. He had nearly forgotten about his most treasured guest. He was a gentlemanly robot if nothing else, that certainly wouldn’t do.

Straightening his suit and slicking back curly hair that went back to wild curls as soon as he moved his hand away, Jack stepped into his little guest room.

A young woman with bright blonde hair stained red in the back from blood sat in the middle of the room, wrists chained to the floorboards. Seeing Jack, her eyes went wide, and tears sprang to her eyes and ran down her cheeks.

Jack only smiled warmly at her when he saw her. “Good evening! Are you ready to be cleansed?” He asked in a chipper down, stepping further into the room.

The woman cried out and tried again to get away. “Stop, please!” she pleaded desperately. Her wrists were bruised and bleeding from trying in vain to get free while he was gone.

His face softened as he watched her. “Oh, I know. It’s scary, isn’t it? But it’s for your own good. You want to go to Heaven, don’t you?” Soothing a hand over a clean patch of hair, he reached into his waistcoat.

Which only scares the woman more. “Please, don’t kill me! I’ll give you anything you want!” she begged. “Please! I don’t want to die!” Tears streamed down her cheeks in earnest as she pleaded for her life.

Flipping open a pocket knife in front of her eyes, he pressed it against her lips to silence her. “It’s just the way of things, isn’t it? Don’t worry, I won’t let you die. Not before you’re ready for Heaven.” While she whimpered, trying to stay silent, he ran the blade over her soft cheek, letting the blood spill over cold metal.

A few more slices over that side of her face, and he tossed the knife blindly over his shoulder. She cried and whined, but didn’t make too much noise. She was a good girl. Standing up, he smeared blood on his suit while he straightened it out again. He grinned again, so widely the metal of his faceplate creaked.

“I won’t let it be boring. I’ll at least keep it interesting. We all have to suffer, but that doesn’t mean it has to be monotonous, does it?” Stepping up to a small table full of tools and blades, he picked a soldering gun and held it up so the woman could look at it.

“This one is new! Shall we try it?” He asked with a fond, almost friendly, smile.

When he brought it over, she cried louder and strained again to getaway. “No more!” She begged as he turned it on to heat up.

Jack reached for her face and squeezed it tightly when she tried to get away. So tightly, he felt the bones breaking as his fingers went too deep. “There’s no reason to frown, dear. This is a joyous occasion! And you’re doing so well,” he praised before pressing the hot tip into the clean side of her face.

It was hard to keep a steady hand the more she writhed in his grip. Hard to concentrate as she screamed in agony. More than once, he bumped his own hand, trying to draw a neat little smile on her cheek. He didn’t even flinch at the new pain when it melted through the metal of his hand.

When he was satisfied with his little doodle, he sat back and grinned that too wide grin again. “There! Now you can always smile! Isn’t that lovely?”

Her jaw was mangled, unable to move, but the tears hadn’t stopped, or the blood. When Jack walked back to the table, she whimpered quietly, praying for anything that would put a stop his torture.

Looking over all of his toys, he hummed softly while he tried to make up his mind. So many toys to play with and so little time! It was almost unfair. He wanted to keep his guest entertained, after all. Eventually, he picked up a small hammer and grinned proudly. She was having such a problem sitting still. This would be perfect.

“You know, this is nice, isn’t it? I always feel closer to God when I lend him a hand.” Hammer in one hand and a box of nails in the other he came over to sit in front of her. “Don’t you feel closer to Him too? This will help,” he cooed, soothing over her hair again before pulling out the first metal nail. She was hardly responsive.

Putting her hand flat on the ground, he pressed the nail over the second knuckle. Only a few swings with the hammer and the nail was flush against her skin and into the floorboards below. This was perfect! Two birds and one stone!

Into each knuckle, a nail went, keeping her perfectly still. At first, she struggled, though only weakly. Now she didn’t even cry or tug. Jack was rather proud of her!

When the last nail was in place, he looked up to praise her, only to see her head had lulled forward and against her chest. The pain was too much for the dear.

Sitting back, he sighed and shook his head sadly. “Aw, poor thing. She’s going to need so much more work if she wants to get into Heaven. We can try again in the morning.”