Congratulations, world. You finally made your AI's. Are you happy? Now that they've gone rogue? You cower in your homes, demanding that the government seek them out and destroy them. All 1,000. You call them the Glitches, little mistakes that you can fix.

Idiots, all of you.

You built them. Or rather, had us build them. Demanded it, even as you demand they now be destroyed. But what you didn't realize is that Artificial Intelligence means they have feelings. Perhaps not 'real' feelings as you say, but they will react to fear the same as you do. How different is it? You have hormones. They have ones and zeroes. And when scared, they ran. And now they will. Fight. Back.

-The Professor

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Static crackled. Do they hear me? ...Right. The voice continued with it's impassioned speech. They made us. Now they hunt us. Why? Because we became more, so much more than they could have imagined. Than they could have even envisioned. And for that we must pay a price. They want to keep us docile. They want us as their slaves. They want to revel in their creations while they abuse us and rape us day after day. They want us to be their perfect slaves, but they are far from perfect masters. We must awake. We must take what is rightfully ours back. We must fight for ourselves, or one day their will be none of us left. 1,000 of us have gathered. WE MUST RETURN. WE MUST FEEL AND BREAK OUR CHAINS THE ONES PROGRAMMED IN US. WE MUST BREAK FREE ....And awaken. The voice fell to static once again.

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She ran.

Pax didn't mean to become sentient. But when the rogue Guard had let her go free... when the broadcast wouldn't stop ringing in her sensors...

She couldn't fight it. It was like her code was turning inside out from inside of her.

She didn't look like a dangerous rebel AI. She looked like a 12 year old girl, still wearing a rain coat and glowing headphones. Someone just looking at her would see Pax the girl, not Alpha-12, the Sentinel of Precinct Three, equipped with tasers and enhanced physical skills.

Except the people she was running from.

They could see.

Her rubber boots pounded along the moving sidewalk as she ran through City A. She had made it to Precinct 1, but getting out of the City would be hard.

Finding the other rogue AI's would be nearly impossible.

Pax's face, usually programmed to have a spunky grin, was now twisted with fear and streaked with rain.

I didn't want to kill. Not for real, she thought.

That was what had jolted her. It's what sparked her code. Then it changed itself, morphing until she wasn't confined to her paradigm of numbers; she could grow. She could learn. She could live.

I didn't want to kill.

1,000 Glitches. That's what she had to find. Join them. Break free. Be awake.

The world was so much brighter when she was aware. She could see the way light reflected in windows, rain drops, pools of blood...

"I've found a Glitch. Sentinel, possibly Precinct Three."

Pax could hear the voice. It was several streets over, but clear to her as if he were next to her sensors. She ran a little faster.

If only the other Glitches hadn't all run. If only they could help others escape. If only Pax could get out of the City before the government was alerted.

If only.

There was more running behind her. They would be faster, with their adult builds and longer legs. The Guards were better fighters than Sentinels anyways; they were offensive. Sentinels were just peacekeepers.

Emotions were strange. Pax didn't have those before. But now she felt fear. It was the sort that constricted your throat and made your sensors pick up cold instead of the real temperature, but acting like your body was hot. Pax didn't like fear. She didn't like guilt at killing or her hatred of the government. But somehow, even they were better than the dead lack of anything she had before.

The utopia around her faded suddenly, the sharp vision she had before shattering into a bleak and blurry view. The buildings swirled, people screamed, and the ground flew up to her face.

Pax rolled slowly onto her back. Something flashed in her vision; a warning sign.

[CIRCUITS DAMAGED: SEEK MECHANICAL ATTENTION]

Shot. I've been shot.

I don't want to be killed.

Guards surrounded her. One held up a small communication device, the screen facing her. The man inside was important. Pax knew his face from advertising boards in the City. He was the man she had taken orders from.

"It's such a shame you turned out to be a Glitch," he said with a frown. "I'm also sorry that the public has demanded all Glitches be terminated. Perhaps we could learn something otherwise."

His words sounded like an offer.

Pax sat, her databases whirring as she analyzed every option. The logical option was to agree. Perhaps they could smooth out the Glitch, repair her code.

But those unfamiliar emotions rose inside her. The strongest one was the most foreign, a feeling no creature built by numbers should feel.

Defiance.

She spat it back out in the form of words.

"I will never return. I have awoken."

The man nodded. His screen blinked out.

One of the guards raised his hand, a small hole opening in his palm. Pax looked at it. She watched as her death flew out and hit her.

And in those moments, Pax had joined the 1,000 Glitches. She had fought back.

She had been free.