Chapter Two

They walked wary, weapons tucked against their shoulders, fingers steady on the trigger. "How many more bots are out there, you think?" Khaleel asked, scanning the side street to the left of them. No one answered. "I mean, we've been taking them out for all of two years, and there's no end to them. It's not like they can, you know, reproduce" he coughed, then laughed.

"Kal, seriously" Ezra muttered, his focus laser like on the path in front of him.

"Wait, they can?" he asked, widening his eyes.

"Don't be daft" Taka added over the coms.

"Too late for that" Lina chuckled, and the others joined in.

"They could, you know, have a factory where they make more of themselves. I mean, we were made in a lab" Khaleel pondered, disregarding the laughter.

"Can I shoot him?" Petra offered, aiming her weapon at Khaleel. The others snickered despite the seriousness of the situation.

Ezra was silent. He held a fist up, motioning for them to stop. The fine hairs on his arms bristled, alerting him of possible danger. He gave a low whistle, indicating that they should be silent from here on.

They ran slower, almost creeping, keeping close to the buildings, in case they needed cover. Sweat trickled across their faces and down their backs, the sun waging a war of its own. The clothing they wore, was designed to withstand extreme weather. But, black and grey was not a good choice given the midday blaze. It didn't help that each of them had several things attached to their person.

Strapped to their thighs were knives; each member having one of a varying size. On the outer vest was a smoke bomb, a flash bomb, and several hand EMP discs. These could be used similar to hand grenades. When thrown, they magnetised and attached to a target, releasing a pulse. Also attached to their person was a larger one that emitted a pulse up to a ten meter radius. Strapped to their belts was a handheld EMP device, which was only effective at close range. Each had a pouch full of miniature tools, and a small amount of medical aids. Also attached to the belt was a handgun. Handguns were never used, and were very much a last resort. They were after all not chasing humans, but robots. And handguns were not as effective on the bots. Each member wore standard issue black cargos, with black and grey t's. Over that they wore a black and grey safety vest that had a reverse pyramid. This was the insignia of the Veritas Foundation.

Although confrontation had been imminent, Ezra, Petra and Khaleel were taken aback by the sudden appearance of the bots. The bots seemed to appear out of nowhere. There were six that Petra counted, and she didn't wait for an invitation to open fire. They were sleek, chiseled metal robots that resembled mannequins, except that they had eyes. They were designed to resemble humans, so that they'd be easy to accept, and that people would not see them as a threat. Now though, there was more than enough reason to fear them.

The three soldiers, or Martinets, had spread out, and were firing disc after disc, but the bots were fast. They dodged this way and that, discs missing their targets.

One ran at Ezra, arm extended, ready to grab his weapon.

Petra kept it in her sights, and fired. The disc hit the bot, it jerked for a moment, its body mimicking a shiver, and fell to the ground. Another had grabbed and pushed Khaleel against a glass window. He'd dropped his weapon, and was unable to defend himself. It forced Khaleel into the glass over and over, until cracks began to show. Ezra fired this time, but another bot got in the way and fell to the ground. Petra took aim, but couldn't get a clear shot from the angle she was at, then she saw Khaleel laugh.

A moment later, the bot was on the ground. Khaleel had used one of the hand EMP's and diabled the bot. His dark hair was messier than usual, and wet from the perspiration. Victorious, Khaleel grinned. He picked up his blaster, ready for more.

Even though she found Khaleel to be annoying, loud, and obnoxious, Petra secretly admired his resilience. She would of course never say as such to him or anyone else. Two more bots appeared, almost as though materializing from thin air. Two charged at Khaleel, the other two at Petra, and the fifth at Ezra. They fired erratically, missing their targets each time. It was near impossible to keep up with the bot's speed.

Thebots had a plan, and Ezra understood what was happening. Though the blasters were beyond efficient, they fired only 75 discs. The bots were toying with them. They wanted them to run out of ammunition. They couldn't use the larger EMP disc, because it would end up disabling their enhancements too. There was only one hope left, and as if divined, they arrived.

Shea, Kai and Sophia finally arrived, taking out three of the bots in quick succession. A desperate look passed between the last two, and they immediately attacked those closest to them, Khaleel and Petra.

Khaleel took his out quick enough, but just as Petra had her sights on the last one, Sophia brought it down. Petra scowled at her. She looked down at the bot, watching it writhe, the look of defeat clear on its face.

Bots don't have emotions, she reminded herself.

"You… You're making a mistake, you shouldn't" the bot was saying.

But before it could finish, Petra brought her boot down with such force, it crushed its face…