Elias and Anders left Polars Opposites, stepping up the concrete stairs back out into the brightly lit plaza. By now it was early in the afternoon, and the ground had grown hot from baking in the sun. Elias noticed Anders' grimace as they reappeared outside, twisting a dial on the side of his orange visor.

Not much had changed on the streets. There were noticeably more people roaming the walkways yet that was only comparative to the near-emptiness of before. The two continued down the road, a corner away from the truck, before suddenly...

"We are being follo-

"We're bein' trailed."

"H-huh?" Elias tilted his head, speeding up his pace to walk alongside Anders, "Someone's following u-?"

"Shhh." Anders hissed under his breath, "Don't look suspicious."

"Right." Elias took his instruction, decidedly continuing to walk and debating what level of looking around and stiffness was suspicious or not. Now that it had been mentioned, Elias did feel the presence of prying eyes, almost as if every now and then he could catch the gaze of a passerby on the street.

"So, how was Pops'? A bit of a different for someone like yourself I'm guessin'?" Anders asked.

"O-Oh, yeah. It was... cool." Elias awkwardly responded -Where was this level of interest before? "A nice change of pace and eh, scenery."

"Fair 'nuff." Anders nodded.

They arrived at the truck, both getting in. Anders slammed the door shut, and turned on the engine.

"Some fuckheads from the Richter gang. I should've expected it." Anders grunted, pulling out from the side of the road, "We should be fine to talk now - well unless they have implants I guess." He chuckled.

"Some implants - 'sonar implants,' enhance an individual's hearing."

"... Shouldn't we be quiet then? Better safe then sorry?" Elias asked.

"Eh, it wouldn't matter." He shrugged, "If that were the case they would'a heard me whisper to you before anyways."

"Okay. So what's the 'Richter Gang,' what'd you do?"

"Why else but the Itia chip? Not everyday someone gets their hands on one."

"The Richter Gang are a prevalent assembled group of thugs and criminals which impose their power on the relatively lawless Unders."

Elias let out a deep sigh, frowning and turning to Anders, "Okay can you please explain why the hell this chip is so important? What did you even buy?"

"I don't know kid, you were the one who found it." Anders snorted.

"Yeah well the voice isn't exactly keen to share either." Elias retorted.

"It's in your head, aren't you and that voice of yours on the same team?"

"Heh," Elias gave an exhausted chuckle, "Doesn't feel like it."

Anders pulled up in an empty parkling lot along the shoreline, far from any sort of living accomodation. The buildings around this area were barren and clearly decrepit, unlike the rest that while run-down, seemed at least inhabited. Elias put two and two together - Anders wasn't going to lead any possible pursuers straight to his apartment.

The whistling of wind and rushing of waves was audible even before both of them exited the truck, "So, you finally going to explain what the hell that thing is?" Elias walked over to Anders who leaned over the flat hood of his truck which faced the ocean, a handheld, taser-looking device now emptied from the bag.

"A Wiper." Anders gave a pretty uninformative answer as usual, a glint of sun awkwardly reflecting into Elias' eyes off his visor.

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"-A company-issued device used to disable the ID factor of an implant, so it will not be associated with an individual but will still function as a key."

Anders took out the chip from a small case in his pocket, and placed it in a slot in the top of the device. A screen flashed to life, reading 'Simon Leefield.'

"The previous owner."

Elias shivered at the memory of the body in the alley.

"-Yes!" Anders leaned into the device's screen, celebrating in the background, before clearing his throat. "The chip's wiped - we're done 'ere."

"That's great." Elias answered, still not knowing why any of this mattered.

Anders began to struggle with the device for a moment, struggling to get the chip out. "Fuckin' second-hand piece of shit." He murmured under his breath, attempting to pry open the small mechanical jaw.

Like a sudden alarm had gone off in his head, a phrase was uttered by Administrator. "Adversaries identified. R Protocol Startup initiated."

Despite the calmness of the sea and wind, Elias felt a forced urgency overcome him. He looked up from the hood of the truck,'What?'

"Time until initiation, 10 seconds. Highlighting targets."

'Time until initiation? What??? Ad-?' Suddenly the contrast of his vision dimmed, illuminating two individuals between the shadows of the decrepit buildings in the background. Elias frowned, putting a hand to his temple as weapons in the hands of the two highlighted red. They were hooded, with filtered masks that glowed a dim green, their weapons pulsing with blue energy.

"eight- seven- five."

Anders looked up, seeing Elias pale and confused, "Huh? kid? You alright?"

"four- three- two."

"GET DOWN!" Elias dived onto Anders, before a hail of blue lights rushed overhead, putting through the truck and peppering the two in glass. Anders shoved Elias off of him and quickly squatted down, drawing his pistol.

"Initiating Weapon.Inf System... Error, insufficient data."

"Initiating Augment.Inf System... Error, insufficient data."

"Initiating Combat.Enh System... Error, insufficient data."

"Initiating Sensory.Enh System... Error, insufficient data."

"Initiating Augment.Rep System... Error, insufficient data."

"Kid!"

'S-SLOW DOWN!' Elias put his back to the truck, holding the sides of his head as a concurrent stream of messages filled his vision and mind. It was a terrifying feeling, despite the constant droning of the voice he heard everything. Everything. The sloshing of the water against the concrete barrier, the pulse of energy rifles against the ground, the whistles of the wind through the shoddy landscape...

"Kid!"

The two armed individuals approached the truck weaving between concrete barriers and other sources of cover, firing bursts of energy, blowing holes out of the asphalt to pin the two of them down. Anders grimaced, peaking around the corner and very nearly getting a hole blasted through his head. Anders took a moment to think, before turning to Elias.

"Elias!"

Finally Elias was shaken out of his dizzied state, blinking and looking over to Anders.

"Finally!" Anders held a battery from his pistol, which surged with that same eerie red current. He then pulled a small snub-nosed revolver from his jacket, "We ain't getting out of this if you aren't with me, alright?"

"Y-Yeah." Elias took in some deep breaths, blinking rapidly to bring himself back to the present.

"When I call, lob that bloody battery over the truck in front of those bastards, then grab your ears!" A heated projectile landed right by his hand, forcing him to pull back. "Tch- You can, throw, right?? - Ah fuck it doesn't matter!" Anders checked the cylinder of the revolver.

"Three!"

Elias gripped the battery,

"Two!"

Anders held onto his revolver, kneeling by the corner.

"One!"

Elias turned, reeling his arm back.

"NOW!"

Anders dived out from the side of the truck his visor flashing to red. The battery flew over the top of the vehicle, hitting the ground in front of the two men armed with laser-weapons.

- Tink -

With a pull of a trigger, a blaze came from the front of Anders revolver - a golden bullet flying straight at the battery.

Ching~

Sparks came flying from the red-hued canister.

The space around the battery blurred as air was displaced.

A burning red inferno swirled within the battery as it jolted upwards.

...!

The battery flew off the ground from released energy, before the air around it imploded inwards, distorting the two men caught in the bubble. The energy from the assailants' energy weapons drained into the spherical blast. An electronic drone echoed throughout the area as a great red plume of plasma crackled outwards, Anders' truck lifting from the ground and flipping over Elias' head. The two armed men were sent flying, their weapons being thrown from their arms as they spun through the air, painting the asphalt crimson with gore.

Anders' truck was thrown over the edge of the concrete wall, slamming into the sea with a splash of metal and glass meeting water.

Elias, who had hunched over with his hands over his ears, looked up, still slightly dazed from how loud it truely was. His eyes darted to his former attackers - one laying in pieces off to the right, while the other's remains were now a splatter against the wall of a distant building.

Elias gagged from the sight, adrenaline rushing through his veins, his heart going a million miles per hour. Just barely holding back his drink, he looked on with a dazed expression, trying to catch up. A slight grin appeared on his face, turning to look at Anders, ready to start gushing about whatever had just occurred, but it quickly faded.

"Ah haha...shit."