Robin Hood

up towards the robotic officers she stuck up her middle finger.
     “Fuck you, you metal pig squares!” Candy yelled, smiling at her own brave act of rebellion. In the hovering squad car, the two robotic police officers which actually looked quite harmless with their expressionless faces and shiny bodies, exchanged glances as if they were confused.
     On the ground, Candy laughed maniacally, turning and glancing at Piggy and Chux, who both still had their hands up and were now shaking their heads.
     “Your response is unacceptable,” the electronic voice from above finally responded, a whirring sound suddenly wiping the smile off Candy's face.
     The shots came from a cannon under the chassis of the hovering car – an eruption of gunfire so loud it could be heard for miles around. The bullets passed through Candy as her body slumped to the street, collapsing in a pool of blood. Piggy and Chux were frozen as they watched Candy die, exchanging glances and returning their attention upward towards the hovering patrol car.
     “Hold your positions and prepare for arrest and transportation. Failure to comply will result in instant execution," the robotic voice went on as a door slid open in the patrol car and one of the two robotic officers jumped down a hundred feet to the street below. The mechanical officer straightened, marching over to where the two punks stood, handcuffing both of them.
     “We didn’t do nothing! It was all her! She got all Clockwork Orange! We was just here!” Piggy pleaded, the expressionless machine glancing at him.
     “You are under arrest. Have a nice day," the robot said.
                                               ****
     From the towering rooftops, Robin watched. He had observed the criminals for weeks without getting involved. He couldn’t simply jump in and fight crime – he needed to observe. He wanted to learn the difference between crime and the thrill of the chase. Some people wanted to commit criminal acts for pleasure or to be malicious, whilst for others it was simply the means of survival. These were common street thugs, but not all crime in Sherwood was done by people that wanted to see the world burn – some criminals simply had no choice.
     Robin was dressed in a green suit with a hood and a black ski mask over his face beneath it. A quiver of various types of arrows was strapped to his back and a long bow over his shoulder. He wasn’t a young man, maybe late forties, his face weathered beneath his black ski mask. He had seen war, and nothing ages a man like battle, yet he was strong, fast and athletic – able to swiftly leap from rooftop to rooftop with ease and utter fearlessness. War had taught him much, but it was a small child that had taught him to move with such grace. How to hide in both shadows and plain sight and how to steal so quickly that he wouldn’t be seen.
     The child he simply knew as “kid" had lost her family in the crusades on Loxley, and despite the war against monstrous machines, they had been killed when Robin had destroyed one of the Titans; great mechanical beasts with metal legs and fiery red eyes. One such creature had landed on the kid's home, no doubt crushing her parents. Robin had never forgotten Kid. He had promised to take her home to be with her parents, and after all the advice she had given him it was the least he could do. However, upon arriving at her home they found only death and rubble. She had looked at Robin like he was a murderer and fled. He never saw her after that.
     Robin Hood jumped a ship and returned to the planet Sherwood. That was three months ago and since his arrival he had trained, hunted and observed. He had visited his old friend Friar Tuck who had once been a monk, though he was caught stealing and cast out into the cold. Tuck and Robin had been friends before Robin was shanghaied into service by the Catholic knights and sent off to fight in the crusades. Then there was Marion..
     Marion and Robin had met in Sherwood forest, just outside the city. Robin had been walking when he had seen a woman running from a drunken hunter. The drunk man would surely have raped Marion in his stupor, but Robin had thrown him off her and the man had fled.
     Robin and Marion had become friends. She was a simple singer who mostly sang in run down jazz clubs, not to make money or get famous but simply to serve the community by entertaining and cheering people up. She was a sweet girl and when she sang it was as though Robin could feel the planet spin. Marion developed feelings for Robin. They made love on the rooftop of a jazz bar and that was when Robin had decided to tell Marion he was leaving.
     “What? Why?” Marion had asked and Robin had sighed. He always sighed when something was difficult to say or do.
     “I am returning to Loxley with the knights. We are going to fight in the crusades against the machines. I’m sorry Marion, but I have to do this. Loxley was the planet of my birth. I can’t let it be taken over by metal monsters,” Robin had said.
     Marion had pleaded for him not to go, but he had gone. Seven years later he had returned to Sherwood and seen her singing in the Friar's bar. She had always sung so beautifully, but he had not returned to Sherwood simply to get back in Marion's good graces – he had come home to save Sherwood. He had already lost his home planet of Loxley, which now was virtually in ruins. Robin was not about to see the planet Sherwood fall into ruin as well.