The distance between them seemed to have hidden the snipers from their jittery target, who appeared none the wiser that their former partner was just a few kilometers away; the partner, who, on the surface, appeared to be drowning in a deluge of thoughts, was actually more focused than ever before.

When Oakley thought to pinch his attention, he was already with his hands over the speaking button, ready to relay more orders.

Chirani- “ F- Target located; like we theorized, it's heading towards the settlement, purpose still unknown. Oakley and I will continue following at a distance. Out.”

While shocked at how calm and collected he seemed, his teammate went on with trust for her Captain; there were a few things still bothering her, though.

Oakley- “ So…you said that it flew-”

Chirani- “ Hovered”

Oakley- “ Sure. Hovered. Why is it…you know…crawling like a giant bug?”, asked the girl, winching at the image she summoned.

Chirani, letting a tired sigh out and polishing his forehead with frustration, was also asking himself the same thing. “ Ugh, I guess multiple purposes. To not be spotted, it can’t fly, it’s carrying something fragile. And then there’s the problem of everyone describing the thief as humanoid, and not some giant, metallic kite being. If the cases are even linked after all.”

Parts of their inquiries were answered when Finer got closer to the outskirts of the settlement. To his hunter’s surprise, the following moves were unexpected even by Chirani. The C.T.D took an upright position and his body started to transform. Starting from the top, his plates folded on themselves, gathering around the face-like bump and small twigs that were the cyborgs' former hands.

In a couple of seconds, the 2 and a half meter long C.T.D. shrunk down to the size of a middle-aged man, with some large, but not out of the ordinary legs. A couple of dirty rags and clothes came out of a compartment in his chest, and the C.T.D. used those to hide his fully-metal body.

Dumbfounded, Chirani didn’t know what else to do but stare at it. “What?”, he posed the question, to no one specific.

…

In the meantime, Billy joined Zarrin and Simo as the late backup, apologizing profusely for his tardiness. “ My apologies; I was caught in the middle of my…oil change,” he lied shamelessly, unsure of how to explain that he drowned his time in a special vegetable drink he discovered that offered a kick to his remaining fleshy bits. Most of his delay was caused by his inability to properly follow his map.

Billy- “ So, what are we doing here?” he asked straight laced, but unprepared to see the confused reactions of the snipers.

Simo-” Ummm, didn’t you get a system briefing?”

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Billy- “ Oh, right. Ughhh…it’s still activating because of some…updates”, replied the C.T.D. nervously, like a red-pimply teen. “I see it now. Uhu, uhu, yes, yes”, he said, shaking his head, causing his disorientation to extend.

Zarrin- “ Well, you’re here just in case something big and scary tries to kebab us, so it doesn’t really matter. Follow our lead, big guy, and keep a scan out for anything hidden.” Her remark dawned at the worst possible moment, as unbeknownst to them, something that could scratch their image from a scanner stalked the group from close by; under the veil of the marsh itself.

…

Chirani and Oakley disembarked the platform, choosing to follow Finer on foot; while a few people were stumbling in the dusty streets at that hour, all of them were either too sleepy or drunk to pay much attention to the stranger covered in rags. The C.T.D. slipped its way through the main streets and the back ones unbothered, following a straight line towards a yet unknown location.

Oakley- “ No offense Cap, but shouldn’t we ask for another C.T.D.?” The girl started to get a bit nervous, mostly fearing a direct confrontation with the cyborg.

Chirani- “ I…don’t know.” Her request and fear were sensible, but he knew that if anyone besides Vivar or Angie (maybe not even her, though) were to respond, the chances of capture dimmed with anyone else. “Sovereign also would go with the least dangerous option…and I can’t exactly trust the new guys yet either…”

Trapped by his thoughts once more, he didn’t notice Oakley, who was in the front, forwarding without him; she took a few steps before having to hide behind a couple of crates as the C.T.D. all of a sudden stopped in the middle of the road. A pair of wing-like extensions appeared on its back while Finer was eyeing a certain wooden window on the top of a three-story building.

In a blink of an eye, the metallic being flown a few meters into the air, on top of the smallest building. Another jump and hover brought him on the roof of a second building, while the last attempt skewered the distance between Finer and the window.

Oakley- “ Cappp….Captainnnn!” The girl tried to bring Chirani into the fold, but a little too late. Right as the sniper snapped out of his turmoiled head, a scream came from the room Finer he just entered.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit”, repeated Oakley, almost losing her composure, unsure of what to do. Chirani wasn’t giving her an order, and whatever was happening on that third floor could become much worse if they do anything now. Driven by that thought, or it was a desperate act, a flash at the moment, but she then turned on her speaker’s volume to the maximum and cried out its name.

Oakley- “FINER!” she shouted at the top of her lungs in the night sky, waking up a swarm of tired, confused and pissed off people. Enough attention to stop the C.T.D. in his tracks, who was cornering a scared woman and child. His scans showed no life signs, or to be precise, heat signatures there; a software error, caused probably by the damped marsh.

The C.T.D. decided on the spot to ravage the room without any concern for making a ruckus, searching for something. After a few seconds of not finding everything but the target, he posed a question to two.

Letting his garbs fall down, each step showed more and more of being’s full metal body; a blue hue shone from the tip of his point shoulders right into the child's eyes. When it blinked back, Finer’s encapsulated face starred an inch away from it.

Finer- “ Superconductive cables. Location”, asked or demanded the being in a friendly, but robotic voice. Terrified, the woman firstly shook her head but after realizing she hadn't responded, she blurted in a barrage of words an explanation. “ Husband…he took them to the market, nigh, da…another market. Failed to sell them once again. He decided to take a night shuttle to the capital, to find a buyer there!”

The door bursts open and a bullet travels along that inch line in between the hostages and the C.T.D. forcing it to take some distance from the terrified people.

The two former partners then look at each other for a second, neither unsure of the situation. Chirani’s trigger finger was shaking, while Finer looked at him as if he recognized the sniper; once it noticed that the captain’s confidence grabbed hold of a steady composure, the C.T.D. jumped out the window before a bullet could pass through the metallic being.

Oakley shot a few more attempts on it, but a field of sorts diverted her snipes around Finer.

Chirani- “ Give me a try”, he ordered while charging his gun. With Finer deadset in his sights, he shot a blue orb of electricity, which became smaller with each distance it covered. The orb succeeded in hitting the C.T.D., which dropped like a brick from three meters above the ground. “I’m still capturing him alive, Oakley”, he added at the end. “ But I’m counting on you to continue the shot to kill incentive. I’m not going to blame you, ok?”

The girl straightened up her back and nodded. After making sure the hostages calmed down a bit, the two jumped the window, from rooftop to rooftop, on the trail of the fallen C.T.D.