Filth lined the city streets. Garbage stunk up homes and buildings alike. For years, there was no solution. Two furry scientists proposed a fix which would not only solve the crisis, but also pave the way for advancing technology.

Its name was simple, ‘Trash Collector’, though T.C. was the colloquial name. Breakthroughs in many fields allowed them to perfectly fuse biology and computation. These scientists had programmed an adaptive robot with an acidic, removable stomach, able to break down organic as well as inorganic compounds insanely fast.

T.C. units were anything but perfect.

Quickly, problems arose with this creation. Many of the models began to recognize too many things as refuse. They were found devouring non-trash items regularly. They were found with animals and even people hanging out of their mouths, half of their bodies dissolving.

B-tier heroes were called in to eliminate the threat, but were unsuccessful. Hefto and Donkey Crunch made good progress ridding the world of the T.C. units, but were gravely injured in doing so.

Citizens turned to the scientists once more for a solution, ignoring the fact that they were the ones responsible. And so began theorizing and experimentation.

 

 

The true solution was obvious… cannibalism. It was the only way.

On an unreleased upgrade of the T.C, the scientists tested. They knew the machine would never betray its brethren, but its biology would. The furry scientists hunted down a cannibalistic cult on a remote island and convinced them to return with them to the lab. There, the T.C. model awaited.

As if in a cartoon, the cannibals walked in a line and fell one after another into the mouth of the T.C. Hundreds of cannibals were dissolved in the hopes that this model would replicate some of their DNA.

It did not work.

Scrambling, the two scientists removed a panel on the back of the unit and realized a couple of wire swaps would achieve their goal. True facepalm moment.

What was born would eat every single trash can it saw and rid the world of every single T.C. What was born was not a Trash Collector, but with an upgraded, more powerful acid and a hunger for all things dumpy, it was the one and only Trashcannibal.