Cyberlife Bus: The Merger

Cyberlife Bus: The Merger is the first game in the Cyberlife Bus series.

The game is about Cyberlife United (CU) stopping the infamous vehicle killer, Kent C, also know as the Merger. The game takes place in February of 2039.

It was written by Fred Continent but animated by Mihajlo Garić.

Opening
In the opening of the animation, Cyberlife Bus can be seen delivering his last passenger before returning to his bus depot in North East Detroit. At around 8 PM he sneaks out of the depot and drives to a nearby shut down landfill, where his friends, Cyberlife Car (CC) and Cyberlife Mercedes (CM) are.

The trio chat and joke around for a bit before realizing that their friend, Cyberlife Motorcycle 3, has not arrived at the landfill after being expected. They set off to look for her.

Following the tire tracks
The trio arrives at a park in Downtown Detroit, where Cyberlife Motorcycle 3 usually goes to in her free time. Cyberlife Bus spots her tire tracks, leading away from the park. They follow them.

The tire tracks end up leading inside an abandoned warehouse in the outskirts of Detroit. The trio are confused, and reluctant to enter. Cyberlife Bus tells CM and CC that it will be better if he goes in there alone, but CM and CC convince him to let them join. They all enter the warehouse.

Inside the warehouse
The group splits inside the warehouse to cover more ground. They keep in touch with their programs. CC and CM joke around while CB notices vehicle parts all around the warehouse. Soon enough, CB and CC lose connection with CM. After searching more areas, Cyberlife Bus finds the corpse of Cyberlife Motorcycle 3, broken and dismembered. Shocked, Cyberlife Bus calls the police. CB tells CC about CM3's corpse, but gets no response. Cyberlife Bus calls for CC and CM from inside the warehouse but to no avail. The scene ends with Cyberlife Bus getting immobilized by the killer, as police sirens are heard in the distance and the killer runs away.

After the events
It's a day after the events of the warehouse. Cyberlife Car wakes Cyberlife Bus up, who is parked at the bus depot. Confused, Cyberlife Bus asks Cyberlife Car for explanations, and whether Cyberlife Mercedes is okay. CC reassures CB and tells him more about the infamous vehicle slasher, as well as more bodies being found in the warehouse they were in. Due to the case being dropped by the Detroit Police Department, CB and CC decide to take matters into their own hands. They hire a detective, Cyberlife Van, to help with the case, with Cyberlife Mercedes, Bus 5 and Bus 8 at their side. Cyberlife Bus introduces the others to Cyberlife Van. CV sets off downtown to interrogate other people and vehicles.

After the investigation, CV comes across CB while at a park, where he tells him everything he found out after investigating. Althought most people were only able to tell him what they heard on the news, CV was able to talk with a worker at Cyberlife, who told him that the Merger (Kent C) used to work at Cyberlife, and how his ideas for a "perfect Cyberlife vehicle" have been rejected. CV deduces that the reason for him killing all of those vehicles is so he could use their parts to build his perfect amalgamation.

Getting a lead
Cyberlife Car, Van, Bus, Bus 5 and 8 are at the landfill discussing plans for catching the Merger. Cyberlife Mercedes rushes towards them and crashes into a table. He informs them that he spotted the Merger luring a vehicle in a dark alleyway. Cyberlife Bus tells CM, CC and CV to scale themselves down and get inside him, while Cyberlife Bus 5 and 8 find another route to their location. They swiftly drive off onto the streets in pursuit of the infamous vehicle killer.

Driven to a ruse
Following instructions from CM, Cyberlife Bus drives towards the Merger's location in a more desolate part of Detroit on a rainy night.

Inside him are Cyberlife Mercedes, Van and Car. CV and CC discuss their plans further, CV assures CC that he has drones that can help aid in the killer's defeat.

The two are interrupted by Cyberlife Bus, who tells them to stay quiet as they are approaching the killer's hideout. They realize that the killer is entering the same warehouse where he immobilized them. Unimpressed by his thinking skills, CM, CV and CC exit Cyberlife Bus and they all follow him inside the warehouse, only to get blown up by a rigged bomb placed inside.

Plan B
The explosion was all over the news. The public were more intrigued in the case, while the Police still didn't want to get involved.

3 days have passed since the explosion. Cyberlife Bus 5 is carrying Cyberlife Mercedes, who was heavily injured in the explosion, back to the group. CB 5 expresses her relief for CM's well-being. The two talk until they reach the group that are hanging out at the landfill. CV states that the Merger's next most likely victim was a Cyberlife Truck. Cyberlife Bus orders everyone to split up and linger near Detroit's truck stops in an attempt to catch the killer in the act.

Cyberlife Bus arrives at a truck stop on Interstate 75 and goes on a roof of the nearby hotel to stay hidden. Eventually, he spots the Merger getting in and taking control of a truck. He calls the others and quickly follows the truck. The group arrive in an industrial area and go inside a warehouse, where they're met with a creepy and ominous atmoshpere. They come across a chained up minivan begging for help. The group reassures the minivan while Cyberlife Mercedes frees her from the chains. She expresses her incentive to join them in their pursuit, however is denied at first. The group is distracted by the sounds of saws and screaming, so they quickly scurry to get to the source of the sound. Cyberlife Mercedes is left alone with the minivan, where he asks her if she's sure she wants to come and warns her of the danger, she reaffirms. They quickly follow the rest of the group as sounds of hard metal hits echo throughout the warehouse.

Confrontation
The group uncovers the Merger's whereabouts and attempt to sneak up behind him, only to be told to stop. The Merger warns them to get out while they still can, however the group persists. The Merger explains his motives and views on his doings, but the group is unphased. Cyberlife Van decides to rush into the Merger, however is stopped when a big vehicle slams into his sides and throws him against a wall. The vehicle looks to be an amalgamation of multiple vehicles, posing a big threat to the group as they're unaware of its capabilities. The Merger orders the Hybrid to attack.

A fight begins between soon-to-be Cyberlife United and the Hybrid. The group try whatever they can to defeat the Hybrid, driving into him, drones, guns, however the Hybrid remains relatively unphased. The Hybrid takes them out one by one until everyone is unfit to battle further.

Now up on an observation deck, the Merger withdraws the Hybrid and warns Cyberlife United one more time. Cyberlife Minivan tells the others about the device Kent C (the Merger) has, which is used to control the hybrid. Panicked, Kent orders the Hybrid to attack. The others keep the Hybrid busy, as Cyberlife Bus drives into the Merger's observation deck in an attempt to knock him down, and it works. Once Kent fell, the device slid accross the floor. Cyberlife Bus quickly drove over it, destroying it and giving the Hybrid back its free will. Confused, the Hybrid looks around, ignoring Cyberlife United and focusing its attention to Kent. The Hybrid knocks Kent down, as Kent attempts to persuade his creation. Cyberlife Bus advises the Hybrid not to kill Kent, however, Kent fixates on a loaded pistol that was dropped by Cyberlife Van, and goes to reach it. Panicked, the Hybrid quickly drives towards Kent and ends up killing him and itself. The following explosion shocked the group, as well as causing the building they were in to be unstable. The group foresees a collapse, and they all scurry out. Cyberlife Bus stops and takes on final glance at the dead and burning bodies of Kent and his Hybrid. After the warehouse collapse, the incident made headlines across the state.

Forming Cyberlife United
After the confrontation, the group is unwinding at a Cybercooks Restaurant. Cyberlife Bus tells the rest about his idea of forming a new, crime stopping group which they'll call Cyberlife United. Everyone agrees to it and soon after they set their roles in place:

Cyberlife Bus - the leader

Cyberlife Car and Cyberlife Mercedes - the brawlers Cyberlife Van - the main investigator

Cyberlife Bus 8 - strategist

Cyberlife Minivan - medic

Cyberlife Bus 5 - investigator (CV's sidekick)

After getting the roles sorted out, the group decides to relax for the night.

Trivia
From V&M's discord conversation:
 * Back when I was modelling the hangout area, I was thinking of giving up and using the city map version, but the inconsistency gave me enough motivation to finish the model, and in the end it didn't turn out so bad
 * Originally, CB and CV were gonna meet in Capitol Park for their after investigation convo, but modelling such a detailed place based mostly on a DBH location was a bit too much for that scene IMO
 * The "Truck Station" was originally placed somewhere in the core of the city near the river, kinda like the Bus Depot, but I did some research on "Truck Stations" and found out that Truck Stops are a thing, and that they're usually (and logically) next to highways, so I modelled the Truck Stop after that
 * I was thinking of reusing the news clips from the original CB episode for the news scene, but in the end I decided to animate it myself, which IMO made the scene so much better
 * The following locations are those who were originally supposed to be from the city map, but ended up getting modelled instead: The Park, CB 5 and CM street, the restaurant (+I was planning on using some highway map from the workshop but there wasn't a good one, so I modelled it instead)
 * The following locations were planned to be modelled but instead I used the city map: The area where CB drives through with CM, CC and CV inside of him