Austringers
rating: +49+x

Phineas looked at the old photo on the wall, near the dining room table of his apartment. It depicted a young man with a meticulously trimmed beard dressed in a ragged flannel, his arm around an even younger man with dark green eyes, and long black hair tied back in a ponytail. The men in the photo had ear to ear grins. Their troubles had not yet come to pass.

He then turned to the elderly woman sitting next to him at the table who looked at him with a kind, sympathetic smile.

"I have never doubted anything more in my life, 45," he said with a sad grin.

"Phineas," the old woman said softly, "Vince tried to kill you. The kind young man you knew has finally died. What stands in his place is nothing short of a monster."

Phineas simply looked at the picture again. His mind was filled with colliding thoughts, as one may have when deciding it was time to kill your best friend of over 30 years. Phineas closed his eyes.

"I don't have much in the way of life experience," the old woman eventually chimed in. "At least, none that you didn't program into me. However, in my 15 years of service I can safely say that Vincent Anderson has effectively become a tumor on his own company. If he is not stopped soon, his toxicity will metastasize and destroy everything you helped build."

Phineas nodded. He sighed and reached for his phone, then carefully typed in a text message and sent it to a Foundation Agent named Sasha Merlo:

I know how you get him.

Phineas placed the phone back down on the table and looked back up at the picture on his wall.

"Well," he said with a melancholic chuckle, "here goes nothing."


Series Overview:

Since its creation in the late 90's, Anderson Robotics has been a joint venture between the company's two founders, Vincent Anderson and Phineas. However, as time passed, leadership of the company changed both men, mentally and physically. Seeing his company begin to head down a path he cannot follow, Phineas prepares to retire, a move that soon proves easier said than done.

With nowhere else to turn, Phineas is forced to seek aid from the Foundation, resulting in a covert war for the future of Anderson Robotics…



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