“I think we should run,” Victor said and slowly took a step back.

  “Yeah,” Andrea replied. She knew that running was the way to go but she still hadn’t caught her breath. “Victor, you go. I’m right behind you.”

  Andrea tried to stay close to Victor’s side but was immediately falling behind. She definitely regretted not working out more. The closest Andrea had gotten to a workout was when she still was in school, although she most often than not didn’t participate. 

  Sounds of metallic footsteps that came from behind her were getting louder and louder. 

  “Stop where you are,” the droid commanded.

  Victor looked back to see that the droid was only a few meters away from his mom and it moved closer by the second. Andrea stood bent over, supporting herself with both of her hands on her knees, breathing heavily in an attempt to get enough oxygen pumping through her veins. 

  “Go,” Andrea waved to her son when she saw that he had stopped.

  Victor looked back and forth a couple of times, shook his head and then ran straight towards the droid that was almost hovering over his mom at this point. 

  “Get away from her!” He shouted. And as the scrawny boy reached the metal man, he started punching and kicking it as hard as he could. 

  The police officer droid looked down at the boy seemingly unbothered about the punches and kicks. It then took a firm grip of the collar of the boy’s red hoodie and lifted him up. 

  “This behavior is not acceptable. You have assaulted a police officer,” the droid said, letting the sensors on his robot head inspect the boy closer. “I will take you in for questioning, Victor Andersson.”

  Fighting against the dizziness, Andrea took a deep breath and stood up straight to face the droid. 

  “Do not touch my son.” She walked up to the droid and tried to pull Victor out of the it’s grip.

  The officer droid shifted his attention from the boy to Andrea, still maintaining a firm grip around the boy’s collar. 

  “Andrea Andersson, previously convicted of possession of-”

  Pew. A bolt of intense plasma hit the elbow of the droid which made it drop Victor to the ground. Gem came running towards them, firing another bolt at the droid. This time she aimed for the head. Bang, bang. The droid managed to fire two shots towards Gem before its entire head got blasted off.

  “Run, there will be more coming any second,” Gem said and took the lead once again. 

This time they ran as fast as they could, unconcerned about whether being detected or not. Gem had taken a hold of Andrea’s right hand so that she could help pull some of the weight as Andrea was falling behind. With her free hand, Gem fired bolts at droids that were trying to stop them. 

  The last four hundred meters were clear from any patrolling officers and for a moment they could take a breather as they arrived at Gem's apartment.