Episode 1 · Metallic Rouge

Metallic Rouge

The war against the Usurpers is over, won by androids built to fight it. Now the shooting has stopped, those same androids, the Neans, pour drinks and scrub floors for the humans who own them, kept in line by a daily dose of Nectar only their masters can hand out. One of them is not like the others. Rouge Redstar is a Proto-Nean, able to call up a metal exoskeleton and hit far harder than any human. She works undercover for Aletheia, the agency that keeps Neans on a leash, paired with a human partner named Naomi. Their assignment: hunt down the Immortal Nine, rogue Proto-Neans who have turned on humanity for reasons nobody will explain. Meanwhile a detective is on his way to Mars, following a trail of bodies, and every clue points at Rouge. The deeper she and Naomi dig, the less the official story holds together, about the Immortal Nine and about the people giving the orders. So who is Rouge really working for, and what happens when she finds out?