Lavil took off in front of us with Shock and me trailing behind. The tunnel had a slight curve to it – I pushed myself to get around the bend before those machines could fill the tunnel with bullets.

The minigun fire coming from the hideout stopped. They must've been moving out. I glanced behind my shoulder, but wasn't able to see any of them in the tunnel yet. With the next few steps I took, the small door to our hideout disappeared around the curve in the tunnel.

Up at the tunnel entrance, Lavil was frantically swinging his head around, presumably checking for danger outside the tunnel.

“C'mon! C'mon!” he ushered us, despite us moving at top speed already.

“Nōne!?” Shock called out, looking behind us.

Just as we caught up to Lavil at the entrance, I realized that Nōne wasn't with us. I couldn't help but fear the worst, but I couldn't stop and concern myself with him right now.

“No time! Go left!” Lavil guided us, skating down the alley to the left. We were back in the zigzagging alleyways behind Packet Park, where we'd first met Trivo.

The alleys were seemingly free of danger, but we didn't stop hustling.

“Where are we going?” Shock shouted.

“Uh, dunno! Just– just chill!” Lavil stammered as he approached the back door to Packet Park. “I'll figure it out!”

Oh boy. When he lost his confidence, so did I.

He peeked behind us then slowly started opening the door, carefully peering inside.

“Safe, I think,” he whispered, opening the door a bit wider for us to enter.

“Better be,” I muttered.

We crept into Packet Park. A few other robots were sitting around at tables and booths, but most of them were looking out the windows.

I looked outside too.

A huge machine – at least four times my size – along with two more of those minigun-toting bots, were standing ready in the middle of Verdin Square.

That machine had similar looking guns in lieu of its arms, a fierce, spiked visage with ammunition belts hanging off it, and... a massive weapon of some sort on its back. If it was hanging out with those other bots, I wanted nothing to do with it.

“Down, get down,” Lavil whispered as he crouched down, slowly sliding across the floor, his hands in a “praying” pose.

I crouched down as low as I could, following Lavil through the shop. Shock did the same just behind me, but the beam on her back definitely hindered her stealth rating. At least I was able to keep my guitar bag down.

The robots around us murmured quietly, and I could see a couple giving us awkward and unsure glances in the corner of my vision.

“Ssshh,” I instructed everyone, hoping they all got the hint.

Lavil was coasting over in front of the main counter, heading towards the entrance closest to the edge of the plaza.

“Let's go to Zynima's main road,” Lavil began, still keeping his voice low. “If these bolt heads are hunting us, we'll blend into the crowds and... and we'll escape into the desert.”

“And then?” I replied.

“That Duke guy, you'll jack his rides and we'll ride out to safety so we can think of what to do next.”

“Are you kidding me?” Shock growled under her breath. “You want us to steal his vehicles, genius?!”

“Fuck if I care right now!” Lavil growled back. “He's a hack anyway.”

Those bots outside hadn't noticed us yet. It gave me a bit of time to prioritize my thoughts: stealing vehicles to escape into the desert? Or... risk being hunted and eviscerated by a flurry of bullets in the city?

Lavil pointed to a road outside the glass door, still hidden under the windows of the front wall. “If we sneak into that alley there, we should have enough time to hide before they rev up their guns.”

“Should? And if we don't?!” Shock retorted.

“Well, I definitely won't be having any problems getting there! So? You got any better ideas? 'Cause those assholes are going to come up behind us and riddle us with holes if we don't do something!”

Lavil peeked out from the hiding spot just enough to get a look at the robots patrolling the plaza through the glass door.

“Fuck... okay... okay...” he rhythmically whispered. “When I say go, we do this, okay?”

Shock exhaled sharply. I know, Shock. I know.

We waited and watched Lavil in perfect silence, ready to charge at any moment.

...

...

Lavil flinched forward.

I almost lunged towards him, barely stopping myself in time.

...

...

...

“Go.” Lavil rushed out the doorway, carelessly shoving the door open in his charge.

I pushed my circuitry into overdrive, sprinting like I was in Lavil's Death Race. I focused solely on the alley Lavil was guiding us to, my body whirring more and more as it drew nearer.

The air around me shook. A voice – or, some kind of incredible synthesizer – blasted through the air, coming from the direction of that huge mech in the middle of the plaza. It was so deep that I couldn't understand a word of it.

The alley was only a few steps away. The unmistakable sound of those gatling guns spinning pushed me to go faster, faster!

We ducked into the alley, Lavil already far ahead of us. I scanned the immediate area – two doors on our left, and narrow door with a dumpster beside it just to our right! I swung around it and crouched down behind it.

“Shock! Down here!” I cried.

A deafening BVVVVVVV rattled out from the plaza as bullets rained down through the alley, sending shrapnel from the nearby walls everywhere. Shock followed me behind the dumpster, screaming as she ducked beside me.

She cussed, grabbing onto her wrist.

My spirit sank. Dark red fluid leaked from her hand, dripping onto the concrete. She'd been hit.

The guns stopped firing, and that massive synthesized voice shouted something out again.

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“Can you move? We gotta go!” I ushered her.

“The door,” she hissed.

I reached over to the door just beside us and tried the handle. Locked. Of course.

No, wait – I pulled on it again. It wasn't locked, it was just a bit stuck! I gave it one hard yank, flinging the door open, sending myself tumbling onto the ground.

Spinning miniguns. I scrambled back behind the dumpster.

“In! Now!” I shouted to Shock, crawling inside. She was right behind me.

As soon as she was inside and I rose to my feet again, I slammed the door behind us.

We were in a small, plain storage room of some sort. Metal shelves lined the room, all of them with cardboard boxes neatly arranged on them. There were only two doors: the one we came in through, and one the led to the rest of the building.

That machine (as well as its sidekicks, for that matter) were probably too big to fit through this door. We spared a few seconds of respite.

“Zippy ditched us!” Shock growled, still holding on to her hand. “Now what?!”

“Dukes,” I replied, “it's where we agreed to go.”

“Agreed my ass! And– shit! My hand!”

“Y-you know what I mean! That's where he expects us to go. And...”

I looked at Shock's hand. It was a pretty severe puncture. She was dripping red fluid everywhere, and she didn't have her medical purse on her.

“Boxes,” I told her, looking over some of the shelves. Most didn't have obvious labels, but the ones that did...

Tools, tools, papers, tools, toys, toys, boots, umbrellas...

“Umbrellas?” I took the box down, placed it on the floor, and tore the top open. I could tear the fabric off and Shock could use it as a–

“Thieves! THIEVES!!” A pissed off, feminine voice called out from doorway. I looked up – a stocky, cyan, polygonal robot with an angry expression on her visor (which was shaped not unlike my own) was staring at us.

“Wha– boss? Shock?!” she suddenly called out. “What are you–”

“This is an emergency! Can't you hear the machine guns out there?” Shock held up her injured hand at the lady, her face almost as fierce as the other robot's. “Do you have any bandages?!”

“Those were machine guns?!” She stammered, her anger quickly changing to panic. “I have cloth! Will that help?”

“Yes, need it right now!”

“Okay!” The cyan bot ran off into the adjacent room with Shock in tow.

...I sheepishly closed the umbrella box. Thank goodness we ran into someone who apparently knew who Shock was. A coworker, maybe?

Clang, stomp outside the door we just came through. Oh shit. I skipped into the room, closely following Shock.

This next room seemed like a lobby entrance for a shop of some sort. Bright, pale blue colours decorated the walls with a long brown desk on one side. The bot we just intruded on was rummaging around behind the desk with Shock waiting on the other side, still clutching her wrist.

There was a glass double-door that led to the street only a few feet away – that should get us some distance if we exit through there.

The bot pulled out a roll of cloth and started unravelling it.

“No time, no time!” I told them, pointing to the door we came through.

Shock snatched it from her hands. “Make it up to you next shift!” She started running to the double-door.

“A-am I in danger?!” The cyan robot shrieked.

“Just stay low! Stay low!” Shock pushed the front doors open without even checking the street for threats.

I had no choice but to follow her. A wave of relief flowed through me – no minigun bots in sight.

Shock ran to the right without hesitation, wrapping the roll of cloth around her hand, growling and swearing all the while.

“We're not that far from the main road; it's bound to be packed, right?” I asked, trying to keep up with her.

Shock started with a sharp inhale. “Here's hoping!”

Even as she wrapped the fabric around her hand, it quickly stained dark red even through multiple layers of cloth.

“Your hand, are you–”

“Forget about that,” Shock interrupted. “I'll be fine. Just keep moving!”

Another intersection just ahead of us. I hopped ahead of Shock and took the initiative to check for danger before charging out blindly this time.

Far off, on the street to the right the led towards Verdin, two minigun bots were patrolling the block next to us. From this distance, there was no way they could mow us down in time if we were quick.

“Go, go!” I ran straight across the intersection, focusing strictly on my destination.

Just ahead of us was a narrow road we'd been through before. Music shops, bangin' tunes playing from the storefronts – this was one of the blocks just before Zynima's main road.

This road was packed last time. However, this time, it was empty. Shock and I were the only two people in sight. The tracks blasting from the shops would've pumped me up real quick, but this was too unnerving for me to appreciate it at all.

The booming, synthesized voice from that mech in the plaza vibrated through the air, coming from somewhere in the distance. I checked behind me – one of those minigun bots was in the middle of the intersection we'd just run from!

And it was running at us!

“Fuck, Shock, they're on to us!” I smacked her in the back and charged ahead of her.

“Just keep running!” She broke into a sprint with me.

Thankfully, we were too far away for that bot to start firing on us. If it was the same as those other minigun bots we encountered, then we wouldn't have much issue outrunning it.

“T-t-t-techy! Aura-a-al– Autooo!”

?!

The voice was coming from above us.

I looked up and almost jumped in surprise from what I saw.

A huge, solid cloud of vibrating blackness flying right above us, with the outline of a light blue, half-open eye looking down at us.

“Y-you! You're SCAN?” I stammered.

“CITE! CITE! CITE!” The cloud chanted as I ran.

“Can you help us?!” I begged.“We're being attacked! Can you help autooo and the techy?” I tried speaking its language in hopes of getting its favour.

“Lavil s-s-says help t-techy! CITE w-w-will help!”

Yes! CITE was on our side!

“Great! Okay, good!” I didn't know exactly what a massive swarm of nanomachines was really capable of. “Guard us as we get to the desert!”

“Th-th-that i-is Lavil's o-o-order! CITE will h-h-h-help!”

Zynima's huge, main road was only a few dozen feet ahead of us. We'd be out in the open, but with CITE here, I felt hopeful.

“Where's Lavil?” Shock shouted into the air.

“Lavil i-i-is g-going C-R-T Siphon Yard!”

“What?!”

“Lavil w-w-w-was attacked! F-f-forced t-to take d-d-detour!”

“Fuck, how did those robots get so ubiquitous?! Aural! My short range sensors don't work with that thing above us. It's going crazy!”

But we didn't need Shock's sensors to tell that the main road was empty, except for maybe one or two robots standing around, just as freaked out as us.

We ran out onto the road and checked our directions. One minigun bot to our right, but the path to the left – to the desert – was clear!

“CITE! Get that robot!!” I screamed as I ran to the left, pointing at the machine to our right. It was already spinning its guns!

CITE didn't say anything. It quickly swarmed the minigun bot with a small cloud of jittering darkness, leaving most of itself hovering above us. As the guns began firing with a deafening grind, CITE moved its main “body” between us and the robot, acting as a barrier!

“Yes! Fantastic! Keep doing that!!” I cheered it on, glancing backwards, ensuring Shock was still with me. The terrifying ricochet of dozens of bullets just behind us sent me into hyper panic mode.

The two bystanders were even more startled by all this chaos, and they scrambled off to the sides of the road, leaving us plenty of room to keep running down to the desert.

Another glance back. CITE had formed a pitch black wall shape just behind us with its light blue eye looking down at us.

“CITE w-will p-p-protect!”

The ground shook again, rattling my body, just like earlier. It sounded like it was coming from the bottom of the road we were running down.

Turns out, it was.

Something huge was at the bottom of the main street. Enormous, jagged metal parts were barely visible just behind one of the buildings at the end of the road. It was walking into view with lumbering steps that shook the ground, and as it took each step forward, it became clear it was one of those giant mechs we'd seen in Verdin Square.

“Shock–!”

“I... I see it!”

“CITE! G-get that thing!!” I cried in desperation.

“Go! I-I-I go!” it replied, and seconds later, another huge portion of its mass flew off towards the bottom of the road.

The booming, unintelligible voice from the mech echoed through the street as it turned to face us. It was armed to the teeth, exactly like the last, and the huge gun on its back was glowing.

It started bending down, aiming the glowing weapon at us.

We kept running towards it, away from the machine gun rounds still pelting CITE behind us. We must've had a death wish, charging towards a weapon that terrifying.

Seconds later, CITE's attack cloud smothered the front of its face and guns, surrounding its head in what looked like a huge swarm of locusts. The machine wobbled and took a step back, trying to keep its footing, with the huge gun on its back bobbing up and down.

“To the side!” Shock called out as she ran to the side of the road. I followed her – if the mech was distracted, hopefully it couldn't aim properly!

The minigun rounds behind us stopped. We must've been too far away for–

I flew across the street, deafened by the BANG of the explosion beside me. The next moment, I dropped to the ground, completely stunned as stony debris fell from the air around and on top of me.

The weapon on the mech's back – it'd fired a huge flash of cyan light before punching a wide-open hole straight through the ground, causing the concrete to erupt from the street like a geyser.

I couldn't lift my head. I couldn't see Shock. I could barely hear anything.

CITE was still chirping around, still attacking the mech judging from the shadows around me.

Finally, I moved my head up. I could lift it just enough–

–to see Shock fall down the hole in the ground.

She didn't just fall in. It looked like she was thrown. Thrown by a cloudy figure of some kind. I couldn't see clearly enough to see who it was. CITE??

Seconds later, I was lifted off the ground. My chest had been surrounded by something, holding on to me tightly as I floated into the air.

I struggled and kicked, but I was far too stunned for my futile wriggles to be of any use.

The... thing holding on to me brought me over to the hole Shock had just fallen into.

And it carelessly tossed me in.

I bounced off the concrete a few times as I fell, falling for way longer than I expected to.

I didn't see Shock anywhere.

I was just falling into darkness.

Just falling.

Falling.

Falling.

Falling.