"Memories can be preserved? Good, then."
The woman, her husband, and their child exchanged glances. The husband said, "Steve, go save the world. And save us, too."
"Protecting you is my greatest duty."
The home robot saluted the three of them, turned to fetch a kitchen knife, and jumped out the window.
"Why did he take a kitchen knife? And why jump out the window? The elevator isn't broken, is it?"
The woman complained, then thought of something else and asked, "Will Stark Industries reimburse us for that knife? It was a premium kitchen knife—the kind you can't even use to smash garlic."
Her husband rolled his eyes. "Let's hope they don't."
Boston was the capital and largest city of Massachusetts in the United States. Its urban core had nearly a million residents and more than a hundred thousand households.
Ninety percent of those households owned home robots from Stark Industries. Including the stock in warehouses, there were at least a hundred thousand Iron Man home robots in the city.
Faced with a world-ending crisis, half the households agreed to let their home robots join the fight. The robots leaped out of buildings and converged on the deserted streets, racing toward the Federal Building.
Many residents stood by their windows taking pictures. To be honest, the sight of so many robots running together was quite spectacular. Unfortunately, the internet was down, so they couldn't upload their videos.
The home robots weren't the only ones on the move. The ghosts possessing special robots were hurrying along, too. They were stunned when they saw the home robots. Why had all these home robots come out?
"Targets detected. Initiating attack."
The home robots immediately charged at the special robots, hammering them with household weapons such as kitchen knives, frying pans, and axes.
Enraged,