[ BTLOC-VERSE ]

Buzzing echoed throughout a small garage inside the bustling city of New York. Inside was a blonde-haired man tinkering away at a robot. It appeared to be hand-crafted, with rough edges and scuff marks scattered across its body. But the man, Grant Best, loved it all the same. No matter the flaws, they were perfect in his eyes. Always perfect.

A few other robots were tinkering in the garage as well. Some were welding new parts, some were sharpening tools, and some were just organizing the shelves. But soon enough, Grant had finished his work, and clapped softly to get all of the robots' attention.

"It's time to go to work, everyone. Are you all ready?" He stood from his desk and patted the robot he had been working on with a warm smile. The rest of the robots responded with various forms of confirmation, from small bleeps and bloops to an entire sentence to say they were ready. "Alright, then. Let me suit up, and we'll be on our way!" Grant's steps thudded quietly against the concrete floor while he ran to grab all of his supplies. He put on a full-body suit, a pair of night vision goggles, a chest-plate, elbow pads, knee pads, and some pieces of custom tech.

With that-- they were off. The robots and their creator rushed into the busy night with bright grins and focused eyes. Leaping across rooftops, they made their way across the city with precise motions, never faltering in their strides. But soon, a commotion made Grant stop in his tracks. The sound of metal trashcans toppling over and some sort of... Inhuman screeching caught his attention. "What was that?" He paused, peeking down into a narrow, shaded alleyway. There he saw a short-looking man with a group of strange creatures. They were facing off against a gang of superpowered humans, which had backed them into a corner, leaving the creatures feeling frightened.

He knew exactly what happened here.

The man signaled his robots to go down into the alley and followed them shortly after. Their mechanical limbs tapped against the concrete floor while they shielded the alien lifeforms from the humans, contrasting the loud crash of Grant landing on top of a trash can and nearly slipping. He then carefully positioned himself between the two groups. "Do you mind?" He questioned in an oddly sweet tone. "If I observed correctly, these people want to be left alone. So..." Grant trailed off, gesturing for to the predatory group to leave.

Of course, they didn't take it well, with one of the humans sneering and asking, 'do you really think we're that stupid?' Before trying to jab at one of his robot children. The mechanical lifeform responded by swiftly stealing their weapon and pointing it back at them. "I could ask you the same question," A bubble of lighthearted laughter rose from Grant's throat. The gang's posture then stiffened. Another one of them attempted to attack, but he was much faster than them. A piece of thick metal swooped in front of their knife and hovered there, blocking the hit entirely. "I would never come to a fight unprepared."