nope, i havent given up on this story yet. i'll finish it even if it kills me!

The shockwave of the blast sent them rolling. Shindou tightened his arms around Kirino, ducking him away from danger. There was a ring in his right ear and the heat on his back almost felt unbearable. He opened his eyes and he looked down quickly to check on Kirino. The pink-haired male seemed fine. At least, his face wasn't contorted in pain or anything.

Shindou immediately felt the relief spread through him. But the moment was short-lived. He remembered the danger that might be behind him and took the risk of glancing over his shoulder.

The smoke and dust were settling down. Where the wall was now had a hole, a gigantic one at that—and in the middle of the hole, someone stood still.

"S-Shindou…?" he heard Kirino cough and he turned his attention back to him.

"I'm here," he said, to assure the other. He pulled Kirino to get him to sit properly and noticed the fox had burrowed itself in his arms in fright. "Are you alright?" the half-robot asked.

Kirino nodded his head. "What happened?" he looked around them and his face fell. "Whoa."

The brunet looked back to the strange figure that made the hole. He narrowed his eyes, getting a clear look of the person. It was a male, probably no older than Shindou was, and he had teal coloured hair that went past his shoulders with golden cat-like eyes. But his face lacked emotion and for that one reason alone Shindou knew this stranger was no human. He didn't even need his robot eye to scan him to know that.

People from behind them were murmuring and making distressed noises. He was sure some were panicking in the background. How did he forget that the residents of the apartment building were still in here? They could possibly be in danger.

No, they were in danger.

Shindou's breath hitched in his throat when the robot assassin locked eyes with him. He froze. He didn't dare move a muscle. Those eyes held no light; not a shine or spark of life in them. They were completely cold.

He had never seen this robot before. It was either new or it had been kept away from him for various reasons. This could prove fatal to him, he realized. He had no idea how to engage combat when lots of innocent lives could be lost in the process, especially with an enemy whose abilities was kept in the dark from him. He'd rather avoid it.

But, how was he going to escape? There had to be a way. He had to protect these people from harm. They didn't deserve to even see a battle between robots, especially the person who saved his life.

To his surprise however, neither he nor the robot assassin made the first move.

It was Kirino.

The pink-haired male stood up abruptly, his face held a look of pure shock and… joy? What? Shindou furrowed his eyebrows. Was Kirino not as sane as he was led to believe or was he… working for his previous master the entire time?

"Kariya!" Kirino said with a grin as he went closer to the offender with quick steps. "You… you're back!"

"No, Kirino, don't—!" Shindou called out, appalled.

There was a click of a gun and Shindou felt his blood run cold when he saw the assassin—Kariya—raise the said weapon into the air, aiming right at Kirino. Not a flicker of emotion betrayed the teal haired person's face.

Shindou expected the worse when the BANG! rang through his ears.

Usually by instinct, a normal person would cringe and shut their eyes at the loud deafening sound of a gunshot from such a close distance. But, Shindou Takuto was far from a normal person and he knew that. He also knew that he forgot he had an ally with him, someone who was probably willing to sacrifice himself all over again like he did all those years ago to save his team.

Tsurugi Kyousuke lunged forward.

He had gotten in front of Kirino and deflected the oncoming bullet with an energy sword that was installed in his right arm.

Without waiting for a reaction from the onlookers, Tsurugi dashed forward with the energy sword raised in the air, aiming to slash at the offender directly. But Kariya had blocked the attack with an instant shield; something that Shindou wasn't sure where he got from. It was a one-time use, apparently, since Kariya dropped it immediately after he jumped away to give him and Tsurugi distance.

That or it was because the shield was melting.

Shindou noticed that Tsurugi's feet moved fast and he spared no time. Where Kariya ran, Tsurugi would give chase. Tables were sliced into two, chairs were thrown into the air and became splinters, and some people were screaming as the two robots fought. It seemed like Kariya would be overtaken at any given moment as he did nothing but dodge and defend against the attacks.

Shindou knew he was wrong to assume.

Tsurugi had caught Kariya in a corner. But just as Tsurugi's sword almost hit the offender, he stopped moving. A look of frustration and confusion spread through Tsurugi's face. When he looked at his arm, he saw it. Pink strings were tightly wrapped around his wrist.

Shindou gasped as he saw what was happening. More and more pink strings were sprouting from the ground, the walls and the splinters of broken furniture. They shot forward and bound the rest of Tsurugi's limbs, rendering him completely unable to move.

The brunet half-robot walked forward and pulled Kirino to stay behind him, who already looked weak in the knees. He glared at the offender, who almost looked bored with his neutral face. Tsurugi struggled to break free from his binds but they were stronger than they looked and completely overpowered the robot. He could barely twitch.

"What do you want?" Shindou heard himself say with much hostility, even though he knew perfectly well what the other robot was here for.

Kariya lifted his head to look at Shindou and once again the cold eyes bore into Shindou's skull. He wanted to hurl. There was not a trace of humanity left in this one.

In the most awkward but fluid way possible, Kariya spoke. "I've come to retrieve you, Shindou Takuto."

He wasn't expecting a direct answer.

"I am not following you anywhere," he said. He felt a hand on his shoulder and knew it was Kirino. The pink-haired male must be wondering what was going on and was feeling confused about the situation at hand. Especially when it seemed like Kirino knew this person—robot—named Kariya.

That was bad news.

Kariya tilted his head to the side, as if contemplating Shindou's defiance. He completely ignored the trapped Tsurugi and walked closer towards Shindou. In the same voice as earlier, he said, "You will come with me. It is the Master's orders."

Shindou grit his teeth and felt himself clench his fists. "He's not my master. I'm not his slave and neither are you. He doesn't have power over any of us," he said, trying to at least get the robot to think for himself and not just follow orders. Maybe he could still wake him up.

The robot was still walking towards him.

This was getting bad. Shindou didn't think he could fight this robot and protect Kirino at the same time. Tsurugi was out of commission—what were those pink strings anyway—and Shindou knew he was alone this time. Like he always was.

Maybe he could distract Kariya with words long enough for Tsurugi to break free—it seemed possible. Or maybe he could continue trying to reason with Kariya, trying to get the robot to have a mind of his own.

He saw Kariya raise his gun.

Maybe a conversation wasn't the best idea anymore.

With a quick step forward, Shindou raised his leg and kicked the gun out of Kariya's grasp. The gun fell to the floorboards and slid under an overturned chair. Shindou grabbed Kariya's arm and twisted them until Kariya fell to the ground and he was sitting on top of him. If the robot was surprised, his face didn't show it.

"Kariya, what are you doing?! What happened to you?!" Kirino shouted as he dropped to his knees next to them. Startled, he looked up to see Kirino's heartbroken face and the tears welling up in his eyes. He was biting his lip.

Shindou felt his own heart hurt at the sight. He decided he never wanted to see that expression on Kirino's face ever again.

Kariya didn't respond, if the silence was any answer to go by. Shindou touched Kirino's arm to calm him down. "Kirino, if you know this person then, I'm sorry. He's… He's not human anymore."

The face that Kirino gave him almost looked angry. "What's that supposed to mean?!" he sounded disbelieving and Shindou couldn't blame him.

It wasn't common knowledge, what science had been able to accomplish. What had saved him and Tsurugi but had… destroyed this Kariya person. But he had to tell Kirino. He couldn't leave his saviour wondering what happened to his friend.

He didn't get a chance to explain however, when something snapped around his neck. His eyes widened and his arms went up to try to get the strings off. He was too slow. The strings pulled him backwards and he was thrown into the wall with a strong force. The brunet slid to the floor and some chunks of rock from the wall fell with him.

Shindou coughed, trying to stand up with the help of the wall. Kariya was already up and he was waving his fingers like he was controlling string puppets. Kirino had scooted back from the surprise attack but Shindou saw the fear in his eyes.

Screw a fight, he needed to protect Kirino.

Thankfully, Kariya ignored the human. He walked towards Shindou. The pink strings—seriously, what were those things—rose into the air like snakes ready to bite. All of them were aimed towards Shindou.

Kariya spoke. "Robots who disobey the Master must be punished. However, if you surrender now, you shall be allowed to serve the Master once more."

Kirino's eyes widened and he turned his gaze from Kariya to Shindou. A look of realization was on his face.

That was not how he wanted Kirino to know.

Shindou coughed again before he aimed a glare at Kariya. He felt the blood rise to his head and his breathing became irregular. "I told you, the Master does not own me."

"Then, Shindou Takuto, you will receive the worst punishment."

The pink strings lunged towards him. Supposedly, he had nowhere to run. The pink strings were everywhere. But that was the thing. They were everywhere but the places where Kariya had been.

He noticed them a while ago. Spheres a quarter the size of ping pong balls were scattered around the area they were in and the area where Kariya and Tsurugi had fought in earlier. Those were the source of the pink strings. Somehow the spheres stuck onto the surfaces they were on, the walls or the wood, it didn't matter. They wouldn't budge unless, as Shindou assumed, Kariya wanted them to. So he knew only one place to run to.

Shindou raised his arms and threw himself against the wall.