Not long after, the entire three-story building we took shelter disintegrated in our chaser's all too familiar crimson explosion. Firewall leads the way in long strides— making ripples in each step— though I wasn’t about to be left behind. 

Like a game of tag in the storm, the type when I’d come home and my mom scolded me for actively placing myself in danger I could deal with myself.  

When I seldom had problems besides what I had in the moment and only that— or when I was actively running away from them— Tsk! I wasn’t being myself but the husk of who I should’ve been, if not for my childishness. 

It was a wasted youth of distractions and temporary pleasure, I realized this and burdened myself with the consequence of my recklessness and have only gotten myself out of it recently. 

For two years I spent rebuilding the parts of myself that I’ve lost, the times devoid of any sense of satisfaction nor pain, dulled by the world— where achievement and logic dictate all— there had no use for such throwaway ideals.

I couldn’t even remember the last time these treacherous emotions seeped into me, yet I couldn’t be against it entirely…   

Bzzt Bzzt— 

The radio sounds once more, though a little clearer this time. “Ehem, this is a recorded message, let me repeat, this is a recorded message!” Coming from the same voice as last time, I kept a keen ear on it while my eyes remained on the nearly—flooded alley.     

“I’m Cache, Cache of—Static—and I understand that our situation is dire, but I advise whoever is listening to relax and hear this message—” My eyes narrow, and firewall’s explanation flashes into my mind— surely that’s just coincidence. 

“This disaster is no other, and I urge that all super-typhoon precautions be taken for our safety, we’ve lost access to the rest of the world, meaning that our cooperation must be firmer than ever—”   

My eyes fluttered, I wanted to hear his words again because they couldn’t be real. Firewall overhears this and bats the corner of his helm to me. 

“Told you,” he mutters “Tsk, Not the time—” I scoff back with a frown, though Firewall’s attention would be diverted to our backs. Sensing imminent danger, he yanks me by the arm and we take a strong turn into a dark crevice, a minor alley linked to the one we were on. 

The rain continued to pour in droves, it was a miracle my town hadn’t been submerged entirely. Yet this came to our favor, masking our presence while we heard a looming thruster fire off in the distance. 

“Let them pass,” he whispers, while I turn the radio off— not taking any chances— and wait for his instructions as the thundering noise of a jet thruster approaches from the distance.  

To give credit where it’s due, Firewall was surprisingly in charge of the situation, moreso than me. To say he adjusted easily to all of this is an understatement, practically thriving in the chaos of not knowing anything yet powering through regardless, to say the least, It was enviable. 

I wondered whether his carelessness or stubbornness gave him the will to accept things as they were… even if this world wasn’t as he believed it to be, his way was working… somehow, and I needed to follow. 

ZOOM 

A red blur skips through the main alley, parting the accumulated puddles off to the side as they power through, oblivious of our misdirection. 

Soon after, as the rain returned and the thruster was no longer heard, Firewall nodded and we ran back the way we came, for some reason.

Although I didn’t understand why, I still followed “Why back there?” I asked, “Lightning doesn’t strike in the same place twice.” he remarks.

“Still, that won’t get us anywhere!” I rebut I needed answers, not to live my life here. “Shh! I know, for the time being, this will have to do.” He explains, proving my point.

I refuse, I won’t delude myself to whatever he’s doing, 

“No! We’ll keep spinning in circles, there must be some other solution.” I answer while I tune the radio back on, coincidentally sounding just as I fixed it.

“The Ark— static— It must be fixed to dispel this storm, I sound mad but believe—” He explained with a shaky and urgent demeanor, a presence I could sense through the radio.

As much as I despised the thought of this being real, I chose to leverage my thoughts and tried to immerse myself in this madness. On the off chance that there’s truth in his words, I sighed and approached Firewall with a question. 

“Ever heard of that?” He shook his head, “No, that’s new to me.” he states. I furrow my brows and investigate further, hoping to find any clue. 

Our initial sprint had slowed to a jog, as we both tuned our thoughts into the radio’s message. It continues to sound, “Together, we’ll find that Ark— Static— Evacuate, to the Radio-tower, I repeat, any survivor, come to the radio tower!— THUD” 

His message ends there, cut short by the slam of a door. As expected, this entire recording had only brought us more questions than answers, it didn’t seem to disprove either of our thoughts, just moreso that it favored Firewall’s initial beliefs… 

I blinked and that final image of that night again flashed in my mind, cold, and the night sky. I heard the sirens but how come I’ve woken inside the office and here? I pressed my lips and furrowed my brows, 

It itches my mind to lack an answer. 

I elude to Firewall for now, distancing myself from my problems with him “Not familiar too, I assume?” I sigh with a lowered head.  

He reaffirmed with a nod, I paused in the rain, glaring with a pair of nasty eyes, If it hadn’t been clear to him yet, I only had one destination and one destination. He wouldn’t change that from my mind, not that he'd not known it already.

“Then what? Is this all that you could do?” I demand with a frown on my face. 

He doesn’t pause nor show signs of annoyance, did he even register my words? 

“Hold it” He rebuts without even turning his head to me, “We’re not going back,” He remarks— sighing while shaking his head— leaving me puzzled.  

“Huh?”

The rain continues to pour, roaring endlessly as it clashes with the ground, it must’ve dropped sheer tons now for how nearly deafening it’d been going for. I’ve been drenched in the rain way longer than I could tolerate, It’s certain I’ll be sick after all this.

Firewall and I have already passed our temporary shelter— reduced to meager rubble, pluming with smoke— long ago, yet this alley seems to stretch on for ages, further exasperated by the rain fogging our way forward. I clutch my shoulders, sensing chills growing on me.

“Are we close?’ I ask, he points a finger at a device nearly invisible in the rain shroud.

I place a hand over my squinted eyes, to merely glimpse its silhouette. A tall thin metallic frame that hosts a light at the center.

“Over there, sorry for not telling you ahead of time.” he sighs “I’m just not as used to having someone with me as I thought”  

“Apologizing is unnecessary, As long as I get to where I need to be.” I scoffed while we reached our destination, the device was way closer than I’d thought, and the rain was undeniably obscuring my perception.  

Standing at roughly about as tall as me, it had a top and a bottom plate, supported by three pillars keeping it upright. It hosted an open chamber of sorts inside and a power box on the back. 

I pace back and forth with keen eyes and furrowed brows “And this is?” I ask 

Firewall inspected at the back, looking for power “A teleporter.” he replied without bother like this was just your regular day at work.  

I couldn’t stop smiling, ridiculing the absurdity of his nonchalant approach, “How is that possible?” I retort with a mused look, though he’d remain stiffened in his expression. 

He prompts himself up against it, eyeing the power box, obscuring his head from view “Why not? It’s just another add on your list isn’t it?” He rebuts while he tinkered with the device on the back, further proving his expertise, despite being as new to this place as I was… though, not that he’d told me yet... when did he wake up? 

I raise my digit while recounting all my morning escapades, which didn’t exceed a hand thankfully… “I can overlook the mechs, the system, that thing chasing us just now, and everything else but a functioning teleporter is outright impossible,” I remark with firm bold words. 

To propose a means by which someone is transported atom by atom instantaneously by replicating them without flaw is guaranteed to fail. 

Firstly, would that still even be me? If I walk through that and emerge on the other side, I’ve technically died, living on in a different body, right? Meaning that the one who walked out is not the one who came in.   

Second, what about the margin of error? Something built for and only for perfection won’t account for its flaws— worse yet— actively ignore it. Where would I be if an error happened while teleporting and I never reached the other side? Could I even get myself out of the teleporter I was stuck in? How could the outside world intervene to fix that? 

Zummnnn—

The “teleporter” would spark to life, pulsing energy throughout its pillars and plates, etching strange patterns after having been tinkered with by Firewall, who believed otherwise. 

Pulling himself back from the powerbox, exuding an unimpressed aura.   

“But, doesn’t that just prove your point?” He argues, flicking a nonexistent light bulb inside my head.   

“Wait…” I mutter while he approaches a stack of wooden pallets parallel to the teleporter. 

“If none of this was real, how else are you here now?” He scoffs with crossed arms, presumably rolling his eyes past that helm too, and sitting down.  

“You mean this could take us back?—” I question with unfitting gusto, though he cuts in short after, making sure to off the shortly-lived spark. 

“Don’t ask me, I don’t even know where this will take us.” He retorts, Tsk— of course, by virtue of being himself, he didn’t hesitate to pull back. 

Disappointed, though it wasn’t worth dabbling about, “And how is this supposed to work?” I sigh with furrowed brows, eyeing him from his makeshift bench. 

“Look there, see that charge on the bottom” He points towards a segmented bar split into three indicators, like those you’d find on vintage phones with buttons. “It’ll have to charge fully before it works.” 

I briefly glanced at it— which hadn’t even accumulated a bar’s worth of power— looking back at him, I understood why he suddenly made himself comfortable close by.  

Guess I’ll do the same, and I walk my way toward the pile of pallets. 

Minutes passed and rain fell— without signs of stopping—, for once not knowing the time didn’t mean I was lacking nor missing short on deadlines or anything, but it’d be foolish to think I'd relax because of it.  

My hands kept fidgeting and I couldn’t keep my body straight, none of my ways of sitting down was the right one, I’d already distanced myself as far from Firewall as I could’ve— nearly tipping off the pallet’s other edge— I wanted to scratch something but I wasn’t itchy. . not in a physical way, no. 

I couldn’t keep sitting down, not when my life remained frozen and left to rot in reality. I wanted to move, I needed to move. 

But, the bar was halfway empty, still a far outcry to the three bars,

I glanced at Firewall, looking lifeless behind that helm he’s always wearing. Blaring red light laser-focused on the teleporter, he hadn’t observed my uneasiness thankfully, but it wasn’t like I’d been relieved of it. 

“That reminds me, what was your life like?” His voice suddenly spoke making me jump, while my thoughts buffered a second to respond.

“Hm?’ My, life?” I parrot, hopefully getting the question right. “You keep bringing it up so it must be important, right?” He points out, while his view remained firm on the teleporter.

Obviously, well not that he knew the end of it, If push comes to shove I’d kill just to get it back. 

“Yes… I’ve spent years striving the best I could to make my life the best.” I answer, “And by best, you mean?” He asks, “Success, it’s the only thing that’ll make me happy,” I add.  

THUD— THUD

Something large shook the ground roaming off into the distance, though I’d been in this song and dance before, I shifted my eyes towards both directions, becoming vigilant of my surroundings. Firewall was much the same, openly informing me through his body gestures.  

“That’s it?” He says, seemingly unimpressed with my direction in life, “What more does it need?” I ask with profound confusion.  

“Forget I asked—” He grits before tossing himself off his seat and tackling me off the pallets. 

PUNCH— 

The shadowy visage of a large mechanical fist sinks into our prior position, exhausting immense pressure through smoke exhaling through its arms. I wiped my sight and immediately stood my ground with Firewall beside me.  

It was another sentinel— another ranged variant with the arm cannon— kneeled, clinging to the flat midrise roof with one hand while the other aimed to crush us into a thin paste. It was strange enough as is, yet unlike all I’ve encountered up to this point which had red or yellow lights— indicating behavior— this one was glowing bright turquoise, and the rider on it might just be the reason why.

Merely looking at her hurt my eyes. A lady, whose face I could see… for once. Bob-cut white hair with neon turquoise—like her eyes— underneath, oversized blue sweater intersected with fishnet stockings and leather boots.

“One and Two were sitting on a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G—” She yells before being abruptly cut off by an explosion and red smoke. 

BOOM

The sentinel shielded her from the blast, albeit costing them their arm cannon being torn off completely with a horrendous scar.  

“Rude, y’know your rockets hurt right?” She whines while the familiar whirling of thrusters pulls the perpetrator into view.

My eye twitches as the cloaked figure we thought we’d lost re-emerge into view. They hover over us like the harbinger of death itself— If the buildings and enemies they've mercilessly demolished didn’t prove that already— they contrast her otherwise childish demeanor.      

She’d push herself upright and point her entire arm at us, exaggerating her movements like she’s on television ”It seems like we have ourselves a couple this time around!” she sighed, pinching the ridge of her nose and shaking her head. “Tsk— You guys hurt my eyes! How about we make this quick ‘n painless, hm?” She gleefully remarks, her switch of tone jarring to anyone with functioning ears.