//ANGELs: System--[RUN]

4-HN fired a shot as soon as he was in range. The shot passed straight through Dr. Samuel. 'A hologram!' he realized, reeling around to find that 5-AE was nowhere to be seen. How could he have been so careless? He called out to her in his mind. No response. He didn't have time to try to find her - he was completely surrounded.

"I never did understand how you managed to bypass the personality we programmed you with so efficiently," Dr. Samuel said, turning to face 5-AE, tilting his head as if he were perplexed. "It took the time of so many researchers and scientists to develop," he continued, pacing around the small enclosed space. "Naturally, you had to be punished for wasting all of our efforts."

5-AE charged at him; he was the only person in the world that she truly was able to feel resentment towards. She was stopped halfway by a blue shield composed of a hexagonal pattern, flashing into existence whenever she tried to cross to the other side of the room. One of Dr. Samuel's personal inventions, the [RIS] system. 5-AE scanned for the source of this field. A small box sat at the doctor's feet. He had been prepared for this. That shield could block any objects or projectiles of any size that didn't exceed a certain force; the only thing able to penetrate it was gas. 5-AE was not capable of producing such a massive amount of force, and was left to helplessly listen to the man she despised continue his monologue on the other side of the shield.

Dr. Samuel kept rambling on, then, realizing that 5-AE was no longer paying attention, said, "let's see how your friend is faring outside, shall we?" He brought up a holographic screen, revealing the scene just outside. 4-HN was firing into hordes of approaching Enforcers, holding them at bay. This was short-lived, as the heavily armored tank-class Enforcers were now closing in, shrugging off the shots, then landing a series of blows to 4-HN, sending him to the pavement.

"It's impressive, really," Dr. Samuel said, grinning as he flicked his eyes to 5-AE's trembling hands. "How much a mere two androids can accomplish together. But, as you can see, your partner isn't suited for melee combat." He gestured to the screen, his grin widening as he watched the android outside being beaten to the ground repeatedly. "He really doesn't seem to want to give up. I wonder what drives him to try so hard? Maybe he's still holding out some hope that his partner he cares so much about will come to save him." Dr. Samuel's eyes flickered with wild delight as 5-AE's trembling hands intensified their sporadic dance. "Your eyes aren't changing color. You never change, do you? It's a shame he won't ever get to see yellow, in your eyes or his own. Did you know that? He'll die, never having felt happy in eleven years. Interesting, isn't--" he stopped, suddenly groping at his throat, falling to the ground as if someone was strangling him.

5-AE looked down at the doctor, who was now convulsing and practically tearing at his face and neck. She smiled coldly, waving her hand, revealing the open pores that had been sucking air into superheated skin, burning the oxygen in the air-tight room. Dr. Samuel had never thought the ANGELs would use their anti-freeze system in such a manner. "And you," she said, replacing the malicious smile with a face of pure murderous intent, "will never feel happy again."

4-HN was taking a beating. He hadn't lost function in any of his limbs, at least, but it wouldn't stay that way for long. Since 5-AE was thrown into that building by a tank-class android, he was struggling to deal with the large number of enemies he now faced. He grabbed onto a nearby Enforcer, shoving a cryo grenade into the unfortunate man's facemask, then tossed the man into a group of approaching combat androids. They dodged, but the grenade blew up, freezing them all in place. These androids did not have countermeasures to such an attack. He finished them all off, leaving their frozen bodies scattered like shards of glass across the ground.

He had to reload after firing so many times, but wasn't given any time to do so as he took a shot to the shoulder and was quickly slammed into a nearby truck by a charging Enforcer with an energy shield. The Enforcer didn't allow him the chance to get up, raising his heat blade to finish the job. 4-HN wasn't fast enough to dodge. The blade came down, almost entirely severing his right arm. 4-HN cried out in pain. This, he realized, was the end of their short-lived rebellion against EDGE. He was going to die there.

The man raised his sword again, ready to claim victory. When he swung again to end the fight, however, there no longer was an arm to swing with. 5-AE retracted her finger as the one-armed man fell, shrieking, to the ground, a spray of blood accompanying him. 5-AE reached her hand out, prompting 4-HN to take it with his still functional left arm. He took it, standing up, now seeing more of EDGE's vehicles coming.

"Reinforcements," 5-AE said. "We need to go."

They sprinted down the street. As long as there were no jet troopers, they could outrun the EDGE operatives, even if they had vehicles. Their legs could produce massive force at unheard of speed allowing them to travel faster than most cars.

"The underground space!" 4-HN shouted. "We need to find our way there before they cut us off!" 5-AE nodded in agreement.

They had made it almost two kilometers when they heard the shrill scream of jet boards closing in behind them. One of them was considerably closer than the others. 5-AE took advantage of this, using her detached finger to hook on to it, swinging it around before sending it, along with its rider, into the two directly behind them. It didn't take long before a new set of high-pitched engines could be heard approaching.

"There!" 4-HN exclaimed, pointing to a small seam in the sidewalk. 5-AE scanned the spot, finding a large amount of electronic devices directly below them. Sure enough, there was a bunker there. 4-HN opened the well-hidden hatch. The two androids scrambled in, hearing the roar of jet boards passing over a few seconds later.

They stood in the dark stairwell they now occupied, collecting themselves. After a few minutes had passed, they decided to see what was in this bunker that put out so many electronic signatures. They padded down the stairs, eventually reaching an open room lined from wall to wall with tools and unfinished projects, ranging from android parts to weapons and augments. Whoever owned this place very clearly knew what they were doing.

4-HN's arm sparked, illuminating the dark room. If he was still injured when they had their next encounter with EDGE, they definitely wouldn't survive.