Haydee - Free Will

by AlexanderMugetsu

Through the walls and doors, past the machines and foes, and beyond what they didn't know, two unlikely people find themselves having to stick together to escape, and understand, this place, and what it all meant. Collab idea with Celfwrdderwydd.

6. Red Zone - Part 1

While the gynoid was not completely dead set on the idea the next room would be so radically different, as she thought Dale had somewhat stated it would be; she couldn't help but feel, upon her marches forward, that perhaps there were strange oddities to be seen as she made time to study her surroundings.

Firstly, it was a rather small and compact room - not thin, or even really that cramped of a place - but there still was very little room for them both to occupy in. It reminded Haydee of a room of earliest encounter; not just by the small square of a housing it was; but also the pedestal centered right in the middle of everything. And like the earliest encounter, indeed was there something sitting right on the counter. Not something so small it could be held between the spaces of fingers, rather, what the two pairs of eyes were now focused on was a large blackened box sitting still and silent right on the counter.

Though the way forward was unblocked, Haydee did not let her tension fall, at least until she recognised all there was to exist in this area; and the black chest before her was not something she particularly understood. Especially when considering it looked to be almost. . . presented to her, as it faced the door in.

With a hand pulled straight, she told him to stay close, before she hovered the hand over the pistol for good measure. Dale did not need to be told twice, nodding in confirmation that he held no reason to testify against her commands. Stepping forward, Haydee made sure her gate was solid and prepared, her hidden vision scanning the tight walls around ensuring no surprise would await either. She was hesitant, believing it may very well be a trap, but also dared to step forth as she also was aware such a thing would not exist without reason. Taking a second to look it down, she noticed it was actually unashamedly unlocked, not ajar but only a simple clip was keeping it fastened in place as if it wanted others to open it up without delay. No sign on the armored box at all, nor any such offering to suggest it was tampered with in any such. Her hand still floating above her pistol's grip, she made her tentative move in grasping at the hem, clicking it open, and with her body prepared alongside a long, steady gaze, quickly pushed the top open to peer onto whatever was waiting for her inside.

No other movements were made, which the gynoid saw as relieving over as she peculiarly observed the item inside. To her surprise, what it looked to be for the female was no keycard, tool or even a pure ammo, but instead something that looked to be gear, more. an upgrade: for the very weapon her hand still hovered over.

Pulling it out slowly, making switching looks between the gun and the curious gift cradled inside, Haydee began to understand more and more to what it was meant towards; and what was needed for her to do. She now saw there was no trap in place for them, but a delivery for purposes she knew would soon be shown. Whatever they were, they must be done alongside her newly refurbished firearm, and making a grab for said upgrade she quickly got to work.

Though no instructions were presented for her, the machine did not need to be given any as her hidden resource of an athenaeum mind got to work before even her fingers could: First, upon grasping the pistol with one hand Haydee removed the magazine with ease, following it up by pulling the slide to eject the chambered round. Next, she locked the slide back, and rotated down the take-down lever on the right side, gently skating the slide off the top of the gun. After, she pressed in the plunger to remove the backplate of the slide, before sliding in the, aptly labelled on the side of the upgrade, Burst module, sticking it firmly in place as the process was now completed. Now fully abled, Haydee simply proceeded after reassembling the whole thing by reversing the process, putting it all back in place but this time with the handy new attachment on her firearm. With a final click of the magazine locking in place, held the gun firmly in her hand, fingers wound around the grip and held it afloat in the open air to see it in all its glory.

"What's that, Haydee?" The curious voice of the one she almost forgot was still in this room came forth. Watching her all the while, his inquisitive mind could not stay back any longer. In turn, she saw no reason for him to not see the newly refurbished tool of hers, and holding it in front of them both allowed a clear view onto what was newly gained. Her pistol, almost oversized to the human, was now sporting a fancy new obvious side module, extended magazine and even a red-dot sight right beneath the barrel, all making it look all the more extravagant in features. Though, it seemed, the human was not the most fondest when it came to weaponry, his eyes still lit up a little upon seeing the newly upgraded firearm.

Though she doubted it was down to any realization she was now given a stronger weapon. Moreover, his curiosity seemed almost insatiable. Endearing, in a way.

"What does it do?" She answered him easily by pointing to the pistol, then shoving three fingers forward, into a firing position, before 'Firing them off', one after the other in quick motion. Her innate knowledge already seemed to grasp the purpose of this contraption, so speaking its reason for existing to the talkative one seemed a simple motion.

"I see." His voice didn't tail away, but Haydee did begin to wonder what his full mind was internally thinking of her new firearm. Still, a forward way is easy to meet, and with nothing else left for them both to accomplish she ushered him away as she closed the box down and holstered her new improved gun.

Yet. . . if this was all there is for them; she did feel to wonder, and start to worry, over what its intended purpose was for. It would not likely be some sort of selfless gift, more, it's purpose for allowing her to hold must entirely be for some sort of further use that has to be completed.

If this was here for them to gain; then whatever came next was not something she was not looking forward to. Out in the open, no tricks; all her mind could continuously repeat was 'there is trouble ahead; so ensuring Dale is sticking close, she proceeded forward, caution with every step.

---

It was a good reflection that Haydee decided to not only keep Dale so close behind her but also keep her gun on standby when she first entered the next room. The similar, almost natural to her sight of white walls and layers of grid meshing strewn about the place, guiding her to her next exit that were practically a given by this point, allowed her to focus quite clearly on the present danger in front.

A Walker, standing not too far off, blocked their exit forward, with it's head facing their way as if challenging the two to a stand off. Or her, more preferably, as her grip on her gun tightened before she whipped the firearm free from its holster. She knew what was going to come, and making a step forward, she offered no chance of a clinging fear to linger over her as she positioned her gun up - just in time to meet the Walker dead on as it too suddenly began it's amassing charge-

Bang-Bang-Bang!

Three shots. All fired in quick, sequent succession. Her finger was itching to move, yet it only needed to be pulled back once for the three bullets to fire out the barrel and zoom onward, towards its target: It's faceplate. Upon her firing, her finger swayed from the trigger. Her inaction, almost idiotic by some standards, did not occur down to lethargy nor tire, but rather a smug confidence; one that dutifully found itself implacable in reasoning to exist as by the seconds that followed: The Walker's faceplate soon found itself with three new holes wedged into it. Three bullets, three marks, all sharp pieces of lead alloy lodged perfectly onto the machine's lenses, all making direct contact.

It barely knew what hit it, as scarcely a second was allowed to pass between the spaces of turning around to meet its advisory and getting it's two lenses shattered by the forthcoming solid chunks of rifled metal. With little left running through its mind but the advancement of crushing alloy, the machine flopped down into scrap before it could even hit the floor, leaving nothing but a pile of metal components in its wake, and the confident feeling bared on the gynoids posture.

She could get used to this new upgrade.

But the way now clear, Haydee made sure not to waste idle time as she and her human companion pressed forward, over the carcass of the annihilated machine and out into the main opening of the room, all bared for her to observe.

Though hidden behind some spaced walls of meshing; far off on the other side of the room laid the unblocked exit out. Walls of meshing, that is, as it was no straight shoot out. Rather, the pathway laid bare to them was composed of winding meshed fencing, with what appeared to be a pit situated in the middle of the path. Besides that, the pit stretched out from the pathway on the right and to the end on the left, with the walls blocking any such access through. The way on seemed obvious to her, to the right laid the line forward, while the way right. . . where did it lead? An inlet where a pipe happened to travel into was obscured to her, and though it did not seem to lead the way forward, Haydee did not feel cocksure in letting it stay unseen. Almost unnecessarily so.

Gun still on the ready, Haydee kept Dale close by as she tentatively made steps forward, neither truly left or right, but her focus favoring eastwards as the corner was turned by her sight, the inlet opening up, and allowing to see that inside the dip laid hidden a-

Slasher! One that immediately began making a charge as soon she saw it too, arms dangerously poised to slash the gynoid into pieces-

Three shots, one pull of a trigger, and a single mark; the machine's torso. Within but a matter of a singular moment, the once full-steam-ahead robot turned to scrap as the three bullets lodged into its chest and obliterated the electronics inside, shutting it down before it landed face first on the overly-pristine tiles.

Besides this, the tiles that sprouted out from earlier led to nothing more, a dead end that housed little more than a now deceased machine. With zero reason to stay focused on that particular way, Haydee turned around, grabbing the attention of the human as she ushered him to follow her. He nodded in return, quickly returning to behind her side as she walked onto the pathway around.

The meshed fencing, blocking her path linear and instead forcing them both to take long swerving trails around, did at least let her see some level of detail beyond the obscuring grating. Not just the exiting door, the savour of withdrawing from this unsavory room found at the end was seen to her; but also, alas, another menacing machine standing at the ready between the two desirable parables. Not that she felt too concerned about said robot; since with another turn, out from the encroaching meshed corridors, the two exited the shadows and into the open space. This revealed to them both the railed pit that forced them to make a trek around; but also themselves to that Slasher: who immediately set itself upon them.

Pillars stuck to the corners of the pit, not inside but on the edges of the abyss, in turn giving the speedy foe a solid shield as it made its round over to the pair with unkind intent. But even with the shields blocking her aim, Haydee did not falter with her gun. Finger over trigger, the gynoid bated her time, following the machinery footsteps with the barrel aimed rightly, and did not dare take the chance of firing too early. Instead, her body prepared itself for when the machine swept past the second pillar, being but a few meters before them, before she opened fire!

She disliked how close it was made to them both, though her shots not missing their mark in the slightest, it still left her frozen in place when the machine fell down, it's inactive head dropping within inches to her boot. She knew to not give any reason to tap at the felled machines head with the toe of her boot, but even when having known the plan ahead for it she still disliked how unnerving it made her feel to get so close to the machine she could feel its innate presence right in front of her. Her pistol was still raised, and only the finger loosened off from the gun as she knew now at least the danger had passed.

"That new upgrade;" she turned her head to meet with the meek sight of Dale looking her way, "it seems really useful, doesn't it?" Turning back to her firearm in hand, she gave another look at the newly refurbished weapon of hers, and pondered how it changed how she fought now. With a longer magazine; it would surely let her shoot longer, while the laser sight below the barrel did grant stronger accuracy, at least for mid-distance. Above all, the three-burst mode was a boon in all manners of the term. No doubt, without such an upgrade she would have had to take her chances at shooting at the machine as immediately as she could, the pillars and sparse movement did not allow her an easy target until up close, too close for pure semi-auto.

She still did not like these foes, not just for herself but how the human was just as easy, if not more so, than a target like herself. She would, above all, choose the option of never having to come across another of these dregs again, even when such an option was but a pipe dream. Not that she had access to dreams, only the function to obey commands and ensure they are completed, and right now her only command was ensuring Dale achieved safe passage to a secure destination, even if such an ideal was enigmatic at the best of times.

So with a nod, she showed her agreement to the human, with that part as truthful an answer there was, before she moved on, him in tow as they traveled around the pit and towards the exit, where now nothing laid in wait for them. She was still prepared for anything, her gun unholstered, but as the two made a beeline to the door she generally preferred to think that perhaps any more danger had truly passed them by.

---

Entering into the next room completely shattered any such hope of her preference being allowed to come true.

Even with only one foot entering in, gun at the ready, the first glimpses of what she saw quickly dissipated any such chance her inclination would be allowed to come valid. In fact, it was almost as if her preferences were heard and forcibly became the exact opposite of what she requested.

As within this large room, rows and rows of meshed fencing, reaching to the ceiling, were trailing around every which way, snaking all around this room and leaving nothing but a complicated mess of cramped, almost congested looking pathways: filled with what appeared to be a dozen or so of those very robots she had wished to never meet again. Or at least, what she had to assume as such. With all these obsidian meshing going in every direction, it was hard to make out just how many they truly were in this presented shadowy maze of twists and turns. She couldn't even see the exit out itself, so much of this fencing obscured her vision the far-by wall was shrouded away in darkness.

"You hear that, Haydee?" Oh, she heard it, all right. That clunking and clanking, electrical projects skulking about: machines were moving. She could barely, just about, see that through the many layers of mesh fencing more of the robots were moving. Making rounds, likely turnabout ways of moving back and around or forth, completely lacking cognizant thought of their own.

Too many were here, too many that made her challenge the safety of the human beside her. Even staying here, having him wait here as she gets lost in the endless-seeming maze unable to save him if something went awry. . . her body tensed by that thought. To imagine worse seemed unviable, and she knew the best solution was to have him right by her side as they traversed on through. She would always try and prefer a different approach; but with such a choice not able to be given, all these twists around were entered by a single ominous entryway, she knew the only way out was forward. With a final check beside her, she pressed forth, entering the labyrinth with him in tow.

She knew she was moving slowly before she even was within the maze's silent grasp of darkness, and she made no intent to change otherwise. With barely anything but meshed fencing in front, left and right, the shadows approached from all covers, curtaining any long distance away to ensure her head never stopped looking in every direction. Even when they approached the first turn, a way both only left or right, Haydee could not help but have every synthetic nerve stand on end as she peeked out, her head peering forward to spot any dangers before they did it first. To her luck, no machines lurked in either direction, though the fear of any could be around every singular corner did not dissipate in the slightest. The steps were getting louder, and though it didn't seem as if they truly were all heading towards their very direction, she did not feel completely safe in believing that wasn't the final case. Ensuring Dale was still close, she made a move, turning left with cautious steps with her gun drawn and ready.

A corner, to what end and where it lead but a mystery to the gynoid, the ever present clanking of metallic steps not of her own where a gnawing fever of dread, one that was only downplayed by the constant sound of bare skin hitting the floor behind, keeping as an audible reminder he is still safe. Weapon at the ready, Haydee approached forward to the corner to a quick turn that-

A Walker came charging. In no time flat she fired, the bullets hitting their easy mark on its crimson lens and ceasing its function as quickly as it suddenly saw its enemy. Though no more seemed to threaten either, at least not for this particular moment. This was but one of many, a corpse now, and likely one she would have to ensure would not stay the only one by the time that leave. Chance would not be so highly in their favor, likely couldn't be, so pressing forth she made no remark to the body that she stepped over as they both continued forward.

There was another corner at the end, a sharp right, but before that was an opening to the meshing on the left, one whose existence she regarded with suspensions of relief. Same as the corner before, she made only slow steps towards it as she could just vaguely make out the space that resided in, beyond the few layers of fencing, mixed with the sudden appearance of a pipe staying safe behind the maze itself, disallowed the favourably task of easy viewing, and forced her to take the safer approach as she kept her back to the wall with her gun aimed as she turned to the passage to find-

Nothing but a dead end. Well, not entirely nothing. On the floor by the end of the passage laid bare a filled magazine, lying helplessly in the darkness of the passage. Wasting no time, she eagerly picked it up and placed it away in her backpack. At least for now, she felt at least some form of reprieve come, albeit one she knew could only last a moment.

Moving forward, she didn't allow forgetfulness to persist in any way over her head; she swayed back towards the end corner with caution riding atop every step. Gun raised, she clipped by the other side wall with Dale following her step, as she slowly spied around the corner. . .

Bare. Sighing a metaphorically sigh of relief Haydee moved on forward, the sounds of heavy footsteps were a war drum to her senses as she did not try and let the noises overwhelm her ingrained focus. For that, as they moved onward she made sure to take the moment to spy onto the shadowed face of the human behind him.

Despite the heavy darkness that was curtained over his face, his face itself was not plastered with a darkened look. Far from letting a smile be drawn over him, instead his mouth was worn in mild discomfort, eyes quickly swapping from left to right as he looked all around himself. Nervous was an understatement, but it was also an understandable one. In the least, he seemed attentive and cautious like her, so turning back she spied her attention to the X-Crossing coming up sharply. Attention raised, once she came forward to the twin openings she immediately raised her gun one way; then the other!

Nothing seemed to burst forth on either side, yet both seemed to continue forward to new pathways. "Where do we go now, Haydee?" Good question. No doubt, she expected something like this to happen sooner or later - with as many twists this maze seemed to have, she correctly guessed that multiple directions would eventually be presented to them. Without a clear direction for them to choose, Haydee could not deduce the best course of action by logic alone. Her head was trying to become all muddled, and while keeping track of their routes was easy, it gave no aid in finding the true passage out.

For that, she could only determine they try going on forward, for at least this place never seemed to disallow more than one-way travel. Dale nodded to her point, following close behind as they surged onward, albeit with alertness adorning their form. Catching up to the end, Haydee made a tentative swerve around by the corner, gun raised for her to see-

A Slasher mere feet from her position.

On instinct she fired, blasting three bullets straight into the chest of the approaching robot. The ballistics did their job near immediately, and as it fell Haydee in reflux jumped back, hitting the wall with an audible crashing.

"Haydee!" The shout of the human drowned out the noise of the deceased machine dropping to the floor, or perhaps her attention only pertained to one over the other. Looking his way she noticed how distressed he was, likely in regards to having come so close to a Slasher's activity. "You okay?" Staring him in the face, she gave a slow look to the deactivated machine below her, before returning her gaze back to him with a nod. At least it helped to alleviate his fears, at least somewhat somewhat.

Worse still; the way forward, around this corner, was but a dead end, a long hallway leading to nowhere, which only ensured her hatred more to this place. Huffing mutely in anger, Haydee pressed off from the wall and pressed on her gun, letting the empty magazine fall and clutter to the ground, albeit after knocking onto the cranium of the fallen, before she loaded up a new magazine. With an usher far more forcibly than she'd usually give she moved them both along, hoping to steer clear of that moment both in sight and in memory.

Stopping by the crossroads as either expected, they both looked in either direction as if seeing it again would clue them in to where is needed to trek through. "Where do we go now?" That was the question she would not let be answered so feverishly again. She held no interest in repeating mistakes, especially ones that resulted in as close a call as before, so with slow stares the gynoid gave both ways out an inspecting glance.

Though the meshing was still hard to make clear details through, to what she found, heading down on her left appeared to lead towards two of the machines, a Walker and Slasher, facing the way of the narrowed corridor. It was heavily estimated on her part, but without anything better for her to determine, by all accounts was it not her preferred first choice. Thus, she had to go by her true first choice; pointing right.

"Lead the way." She was glad to have one as agreeable as him for a companion, even if purely for ensuring his life finds a safe haven. Following on behind, Dale watched her back as she lead the way; through the passage and round the corner to meet:

A Walker heading their way-

She fired her rounds, and with each shot landing perfectly in its face the automation dropped like a stone. It wasn't as if she hadn't spotted the machine on the other side either. On the contrary she had decided the Walker would be there to meet them without fail. However, with only one machine to deal with it was easy for her to deduce which path to take. Said path also continued on, so she felt some gratitude in believing this was the correct way to go.

Moving forward, Haydee had swiftly spotted another opening gear to her left side coming up; one whose end was also obscured by some combination of darkness, meshing, and gated over conduits. With the memory of what the last kind brought, she eagerly stepped forward to meet with the opening, albeit without letting her guard lower in the slightest.

More than what could be said for the human trailing behind. Though he too was on a fair edge, with the feeling of safety about him, all breathed out by the powerhouse of the gynoid before him, he never felt too on edge to look around himself with purely nervous devotion. Even letting himself get a little distracted by trying to find what he could recognize through the shadows and fencing.

Not including where Haydee was about to look around. Her hidden eyes peering through, she steadied her aim as she brought her foot forward to reach around the beginning of the aperture before she swung her whole body out to see-

Oh.

Oh. . . dear. . .

On the floor, by the end of the wall within this maze of darkness and loathing, laid not an extra magazine for her to ogle over. Nor was it something else she thought could aid both on their unnamed journey. It was something far different, far unexpected, far. . . of anything she had hoped to see.

It was a body.

Not a Walker. Or Slasher. Or even another of her kind lying prone and destroyed on the now dirty tiled floor. It was, by the evidence presented; of dried blood, of sticking out shards of bone, flesh mangled and torn in such a twisted contortion it exposed the organic red innards one would have:

It was a corpse. A human corpse, one that laid prone to her and anyone else to see on this unfeeling floor. One her internal scanning system suddenly finished inspecting.

Scan complete.

Subject: Unidentified human male. Approximately eighteen to twenty years of age.

Status: Deceased.

Cause of Death: Severe trauma to upper skull, destruction of brain.

Subject died instantly.

. . . At least he died not in anguish. With the blood splattered on the wall behind him, and the mangled skull he ended up with, it was easy to deduce what kind of force killed him. With how badly his upper head was smashed against the wall behind, evident by the dried browning blood coating the stone, with one intact eye dangling down to his neck, upper teeth barely there at all, barely hanging on from the agape lower jaw, bits of blood and brain tissue scattered to the four winds. . . crushed to a pulp. She had doubts even this man's family would have been able to identify him, his skin having already turned an unhealthy pale and gray, let alone would a third party like her be able to deduce. Silent, unmoving, blood no longer spurting out, this one's life until this point looked as bleak as it's death - alone, unattended, no one to bury the body. . . when she had wished to meet with more humans for Dale to meet, this was never how she imagined it, how any would have wanted it.

Only dark forebodings were tossed to her with a sad lethargy. Of what end happened here, and where were all the rest of the people. Strangely, even as she continued staring, a weird resurgence of familiarity began to seep in like rainwater through cracks on the pavement. . .

"Haydee; what did you. . . oh." He was why. A human as, or was, much the same as he is. "Oh. . . God. . ." The first human he was able to meet after the amnesia had befallen him; and this is what was presented to him? Fate was a discord of possibilities, chaotic ramblings where any choice was just as likely. For that was why she hated it, leaving anything up to chance.

"I. . . " Sounds of human retching echoed round the meshed walls as Haydee could only stand and watch the human turn away and cover his mouth as he heaved out only haggard sounds of disgust. Looking at his reaction, how his body tried to induce vomit from having seen the scene of the utterly obliterated human head, she cursed herself for not stopping him viewing it sooner. His mental state would surely be fizzled by the sight, and the only thing stopping her from pushing him away was the fact his turn back ensured he could see it no longer.

"How," he tried to speak out from retching breaths, his head turning just enough to see her and only her while his body looked to almost fall forward. "How long. . . were they dead for?"

She held up three fingers for indication, at least for the maximum she surmised. Though she lacked the nostrils to smell, she knew it would be too early for any disgusting scent to originate from the corpse. Add that into the relatively low temperature of the lab, controlled air flow and low humidity, the remains if stayed here would likely mummify over the chance of rotting. For the least, she suspected his haggard coughs were not drawn out from a repulsive smell. That said, as she paid more attention to the living man than the dead, she still felt an ache at seeing his mental state worsen by the second.

This was never how she wanted him to meet another. And no longer should he have to see it any longer.

An arm wrapped around Dale's eyeline, and with a heave his feet just about was able to keep himself from tripping over as his body was forcibly pushed away. Haydee had seen enough, and more importantly so had he, as she refused to cease her hugging of her body against his until she pushed him away. And when, and only when, he could call the sight of the corpse only a memory did she relent in her forceful ushering. Letting him see again, she did not try and move him any more forward than she needed to be, even if she still pertained towards keeping an eye out in case he did dare to look back. Thankfully, not once did he even look to try to, his eyes only pertained forward, if complacent with what she desired.

She had no grievance in letting him hold choices of his own, it was not in her administration to sway his mind only towards her personalized supervision, quite the opposite in fact, but she still was glad to see the human comply and not stare any longer at the deceased. Not out of disrespect, but she knew, and hoped he did too, in understanding they needed better places to be. Places where an end would not occur in the same way

Moving finally around the corner, Haydee took easy note of the next way onward. Far end laid another corner, bearing to her right, while on her left halfway down was another open passage. Though she had some strong inclination towards the open passageway, when she walked on forward with Dale in tow she instead gave it but a passing glance. A little check through in ensuring no danger laid present, while her finger twitched by the trigger as she carefully made her way towards the end, sneaking onto a wall as she carefully spied around the corner to see-

Exactly what she had suspected. Standing tall in the middle of the hallway stayed an unflinching duo of a Slasher and Walker, both with their backs garnered towards her. Ignorant to the prying eyes upon them, Haydee contemplated shooting them both in quick succession; before coming to the conclusion if they stayed that way, they would not offer either a danger. At least towards saving on ammo, in case the gift of more ammunition would not be as graceful like before.

Peeling back, she ushered him to follow her, as she led around the corner and through the dark tunnels of this ever-stretching realm, listening in to the sounds of heavy footsteps not caused by her own. They were getting close, as if encircling them both and just keeping at the right distance to be hidden but ready to ambush at the exact right moment. She knew it sounded ludicrous to ponder over, but the unsettling feeling every corner laid an ambush could not be diminished so easily. In turn, she knew all she could do was stay cautious and prepared. without worry of the unspeaking evil as she led the way.

She aimed forward her firearm to fire three solid bullets into the chest of a blade-armed unthinking machine. It cluttered to the ground like the rest, that is, many more robots were laying about in this suddenly wider section of the maze, no longer a present danger to the silent one. All were inactive, strewn about without a care to bury the bodies, just lazily dropped in place, haphazardly with as much dignity as the very same extra body that Haydee was responsible for feeling. She had proven herself far stronger than any machine so far. . . stronger than he. . . stronger than. . .

Another machine charging forward out her line of sight.

"Haydee! Watch out!"

She barely had the seconds necessary to react and understand what came right after. Just before she felt a push on her body, before she even heard the frightened clamor of one such human, a figure of white and black in body appeared out of the blackness of the shadows to assault her form. Yet before her body had the chance to fully turn around and aim her pistol, to subsequently notice that not all the robotic bodies laying here were as inactive as she first believed, a sudden force, of a hand of purely human origin, pressed itself down on her back to shove her body forward and unceremoniously to the ground.

And when, and only when, as she quickly recalibrated her body to allow, did she manage to push her head up off the floor was she able understand the presented visual scene of what had occurred, and to see, a pure second after, a Walker that appeared from nowhere suddenly lash out to where she had just stood seconds before - and clip it's heavy fist into the side of Dale's cheek!

Time itself felt to stop the moment she saw Dale be forced to a fall; and only advanced forward the moment Haydee's motions overtook her own thoughts! Her body practically relayed that information to her within milliseconds, the sight of the human being hit square in the side of her face, and each time, her servo's began to click all the louder, her fingers over the trigger began to tremble more and more, and while barely a few second had passed since the scene first happened, the amount of times she was laid to witness the scene in her head, brought forth upon her actions that she could not even try, not that she even did, attempt to suppress.

Her gun raised forward, and like hellfire did she fire her load into the machine's unwanted body. Accurate aim was not present in her plan of action, as the bullets that burst through, three in each quick succession, first slammed hard into the robotics thinned legs, with the second second burst ripped into the sides of its torso, undeniably tearing it's frame to shreds in the process. The third pull of the trigger barely even scratched the Walker's paint job, the bullets wildly hitting onto the fences behind it, her finger still clicking over the trigger as if she dared herself to fire again

When it fell, when the sound of the Walker hitting the floor with a painful crash smash into her ears, only then did she remember who had caused her original fall from the start; and where he is now.

In an instant, she was up; in one swift motion her whole body slammed it's soles to the floor as her frame arched upwards to stand to attention. Not even so much as giving the malicious contraption a second chance, her whole focus pertained purely towards where the human now sat. His body still functioned, his mind still awake, that she could see as he was sat up, sandwiched between the bodies of two non moving machines. However, any such thoughts of relief were cut short as she heard him hiss through his teeth, as his face scrunched up in obvious pain - when he moved his cupped hands away from his face did she observe the bruise forming on his cheek.

When the sounds of machine parts still moving echoed into the gynoids mechanical ears, the sound of an evil reasoning still trying to think it should be allowed to continue existing, did Haydee finally look away from the human - and swiftly holstered her pistol away, before making a turn.

The machine knew its body was damaged, but without any hardware implemented in beforehand to feel pain, nor to think onto what's its next course of action should need to be because of it, it barely paid attention to it's wrecked frame and instead all it could do was try to stand and proceed onward with its attempts at murdering any deemed its foe. Though such a task was barely allowed to go anywhere, as with it's internal destroyed and it's leg blown practically off, all it could do beside trying to force itself into a rickety standing-up position was to watch with its red lenses the gynoid, after hearing it still functioned, whirl around in place and stride forward with her bare hands pried open.

On basic instinct it tried to attack, to swing it's thick fists around in the notion to do any kind of inclined damage, but with its body failing not only was their too little chance to even clip the female android with a single swing. Its strength so thoroughly depleted, it could do little when the gynoid grabbed one of it's swinging arms with the vaguest of efforts, when it was still trying to decimate her, and only watch in sedated sight as the gynoid proceeded to slam her boot into its chest for balance, before ripping its entire arm clear off.

To that, it could then do little else but watch as the faceless machine held the appendage over her head, and slammed it right down on its lens, cracking the glass, and shutting off it's only source of outside information. At least so seconds later, as the gynoid, void of words or suppression, kept slamming the arm down into the machine's head. Over and over, the fist kept crashing down onto the head, each time more sparks flew out, each time more wires pushed out like water from a pressured sponge, never once did she relent in her attacks as more and more did the already destroyed machine kept getting pulverized, the gynoid never once relenting in her actions, in her efforts.

"Haydee. . . " She finally stopped, head slowly swirling around to look into the eyes of the only organic one here. "I'm okay. . . really. . . "

It was only once she looked into the face of the human, his eyes staring back as he still cupped his swelling cheek in continued pain, did her frozen body let the ripped-away arm just drop for good out her hands, and her attention be paid to nothing else except the human once more.

Not even a passing glance was given to the machine below, it's existence unwarranted by the gynoid any longer, but she did not do so silently, as when she looked at the injured human sitting alone her servo's scraped out a slow whine, almost sadly so, as Haydee felt her form begin to droop. With a swift stride she returned to his side, this time crouching down to his level as she took a stronger look to the injury upon him that made her tremble in worry.

Thoughts of worry would not override her logic, however, as with gentle touches she cupped the human under his chin to examine the injury that was upon him. Scanning him, she quickly determined the deep bruise was a hematoma on his cheekbone. It was far, far from anything detrimental to his life, yet. . . when she turned to her face, she not only detected an increase in heart rate, his body still racing despite the danger no longer present, but also his eyes were watering, his hand still hovered over his cheek as the pain, and injury would not be gone so easily on its own.

She didn't even ask to do what happened next. Letting his cheek go free, while ignoring his statement of "It's not that bad. Honest." Haydee gently reached under the stationary man's position, because so with gentle heave, lifted him off the ground with only the limited of confusion from him. Holding him close, careful of what happens to his cheek, Haydee lifted him away, past the dropped machines below them both, and as Dale quickly realized, she walked them back into the thinned hallway from before.

"Haydee, why are we-" His comment was as ignored as it was forcibly shut up, done so by the gynoid gently dropping them down to the floor, her back to the open hallway behind them.

"Am I. . . in your lap right now?" He asked, only doing so when he felt an unnatural softness on where he sat, his skin touching something far from the cold, soulless tiles his feet have now gotten used to. Indeed, Dale was positioned over her thighs as she sat on her knees, holding him close by one hand, while the other, with inhuman moves, reached into her back to pull out something she knew would help more than anything else.

Ensuring he does not fall, Haydee pulled him onto her, letting her take his weight as she used her hands to open up the med-gel product and-

"I'm sorry; for what I had done, Haydee." She stopped, her fingers mid-paused as they were just about to pull free one of the vials, and the gynoid slowly turned to see him fidget in place. His eyes barely attempted to look up to her. "I shouldn't have. . . pushed you like that."

If this was some belief that she now hates him for what he had done; it couldn't be far from the truth. In reality, she couldn't be more proud of him. If he hadn't done what he had, then it was she that could have taken the hit. And yes, under other circumstances she would have preferred it to happen to herself, but by doing so she had suffered no critical injury himself, while him only a fractured cheek. In truth, such a hit at that level could have decimated her greatly, and in turn, he would be defenseless, her own body too weakened to save him. It was a risky move, but one that had better endings than otherwise. And to think; even though he saved her, and put himself at risk, he is still polite and kind enough to feel apologetic over.

She would not let him feel doubts any longer, and with one finger peeling away; Haydee began delicately stroking his hair. He almost jumped from the sudden feeling of a finger brushing along his scalp, but a deep exhale later he settled for letting it do what it wants. Not to say he was against the feeling, if anything else, it helped distract him from the pain, and for the least of it he suspected she was silently telling her everything was fine. If that were true, he felt it best to shut up and let her lead the way.

Placing a blob of gel on her finger, Haydee cautiously began to drift it towards the center of his injury. Keeping him held steady as she could, she hovered the gel-tipped finger closer to his face, gentle as she could, her fingers remaining unshaken as they made the most softest of contacts to his cheek. Despite that, even when her finger made no true contact to his skin, when only the bead of medical creation slowly was pressed to his body, his body still let out a reflexive flinch that dampened what she was trying to do. She would not blame him, but the sight still disgusted her, even worse when she had to press it on or else it may not work as well as intended.

Seeming him like this, silently taking on the pain as he spoke no words of resistance edgewise, left her to think over something else, to at least not her trembling finger waver too hard. She knew his able body could not be broken over something as non-emergency in tone as a bruise, but she knew a broken cheekbone would impair his ability to function and see as well as needed, the pain would likely be too hard to smoothly ignore for long. So at least she knew her doing this was necessary, yet. . . at the same time, watching him squirm and hiss out in pain, what really was helping her distract from worrying too hard was the repeating factoid that it was him that got hurt. Only him, not any other she knew she could treat just as well.

She does not like the idea of him getting injured in any way, even if it was from his own selfless and logical reasonings. . . no, even if such a chance like this were to occur again, no matter if it benefited them both she would not allow him to put himself at risk or be hurt again. The chances were too high a risk.

With the final dab, the rest of the gel had been absorbed. Her finger drifted back, no longer so much as a dribble of pink left on her mechanical digit, so with a sturdy but gentle grab Haydee tilted his head her way to better examine the sprain, or now, lack thereof. No bruise or hematoma was present, as she had believed would come true, and no longer was the human in viable pain. No longer flinching from her touches, his face waited patiently as she kept his head held by her hands as they guided around. . . checking it was hurting him no longer, and noting. . . how much softer it had become. . .

She examined further, moving his hand up from his jawline and back to his tuft of hair like before, almost captivated by how soft and silky and smooth each strand together makes for the bigger picture. . .

She pressed forward without throughout continuation holding him even closer as she inspected him all around, her chest pressing against him even more as if she was holding him dearly-

"Okay!" - He practically flew out of her arms - "We- we-we should get moving on," he spoke with his back turned to her. "I-I am fine now. No pain at all, nope. See?" He rubbed at his cheek vehemently, though with his front facing away she was not able to see his cheek at all. "My cheek feels perfectly fine. Shall we be off then?" Though a tiny bit aggravated he sprung from her arms like an oversized spring, she could not deny he was right. His cheek had healed quite quickly. . . a good few seconds before she examined the rest of his face, but still, there was technically little reason for them to stay here any longer; even when she had grown a liking to looking him over so closely.

Standing up, Haydee echoed a clap for his attention, him in return finally turning around to look at her, and with a nudge urged him to follow behind, which he gladly did so without complaint. A turn and they both walked off. . . albeit slightly slower than normal for the Haydee; as every second inside this widened hallway was met with careful observation of ensuring none more would rise up. Once they were out the room of sorts, they both preceded forth, checking around every corner, her gun unholstered as she kept Dale as close to her as possible, but by some relief upon turning one corner she found it to be her last one; the exist she so desperately craved stood aligned on the bricked wall.

With no enemies, or places for them to cower behind, Haydee moved with a metaphorical spring in her step as she and her companion commenced forth towards the door, feeling a sense of relief that this wretched room was about to come to an end.

Not to say nothing else resided by the door alone; as away and past from the door sat an older Haydee model, lying prone on the ground with a, open slashed wound, the sight giving her suspicions a mechanical assassin was behind her demise. Though she cared little for her fallen kind she did begin to ponder as she walked forward how the model had gotten so close to the exit; and yet died not only when she was not right by the exit, but actually after the doorway. There was no foe, dead or not, right here, so how did her end come to befall her in such a manner.

Regardless, she pressed forward, the deceased not able to give her aid in any way, and standing right by the door she was ready to move onward with her organic companion-

Who had a forlorn expression written on his face. And true, by all accounts was she not at all surprised by seeing his face fall upon seeing the cadaver of her kind, as it was not the first time he had shown melancholy over the fallen, yet she could not help but note that, despite all improbabilities about it; his face looked. . . just as sad as when he had seen the human corpse from before.

Quickly, she moved him on.

---

Well the first good news upon entering the next room was the exit out was clear and visible to them. Past the distance away, mirroring their end the door was perfectly visible for them to ogle over. What bad news that expeditiously followed was also in line with what was visible for them to see; said door was barred close. She barely needed to take a few steps closer to understand what the necessary steps were in unlocking the barricade and allowing them entry: right by the gate stood a screen-pad, one that showed off a crimson-glowing symbol.

She nor him had any keycard about their person, so without a doubt it was obvious there was more to this room than a locked entryway. To their left proudly stood a long, straight wall of solid stone, reaching from one end to the other. What garnered her notability of it, however, was the truth two doors stood far apart onto the wall. One the farther end, near the exit out, was locked up, with no obvious way to unlock it from their side; while closer to her laid a door spread wide open. . .

At least, for the moment it was. Unlike the other doors, here was presented something both familiar and unfavorable: a metal detector. Shaped and looking exactly the same as the one from before, only this time a little sign seemed to hang from the side; of a basically designed android with a red line crossed diagonally over it. . . she shouldn't know if she was to be muffed by its appearance or not. Besides that, it left her to pay attention to the also oddly yet widely different sight pivoted to her right.

High up along the wall a small room peered out from the stone. As if to look down, such an outcrop of a balcony was not only open for them to look into, but also gave no hassle to how to get in; a long ladder dribbled all the way down. From where it looked, it was almost enticing to them, as if calling for them to reach up to it as quickly as can be. And to Haydee, such an allurement was only working since it appeared to be the only being she could walk through.

Her mind made up, she ushered her companion to follow on up. Taking a good look at it while she stood at the base of the ladder, Haydee couldn't help but see the large darkened windows of the room, ones that looked out to the enigmatic hallway, observing the rooms across from her as if mocking her of where she cannot go. Jives would not affect her, and taking a hold Haydee began to climb up, Dale in tow.

As she climbed, she let her attention peer out to where she cannot go. Climbing higher, every second the more her range of view improved the more she noticed how much more winding and, well, maze-like the area left looked to be. Twisting corridors and closed off sections, the thought of another maze twisted her servo's metaphorically, as she wished for there to no longer be another reminder of the moments that happened prior. While she thought on this, looking out to the left, Dale was also doing the same. . . attempting to look anywhere but up.

With one final pull Haydee hauled her body to the darkened room. No lights shone down from the ceiling above, only the outside lights highlight the room within. Though the darkness was plentiful, it did not disallow her from seeing what laid within this room. Or rather; lack thereof. Very little littered this room; save for only one thing: by the front of the windows, peering down to the realm below was a set of buttons on a board, all lined up neatly on a desk.

Giving her chin a little few taps in remedial instinct Haydee moved forward and looked to the enigmatic buttons below, before staring out through the glass panes before her - and slightly tensed at what she thought she wouldn't have to see; more robot foes, all standing still within that clutter of a labyrinth. And she held doubts any were as inactive as she preferred for them to be. Beside that she noticed how, many closed doors aside, the twisting pathway led all around the area before it ended to the locked door far on the other side.

While that all was clear to her, what was, however, were the set of five buttons spread all out on the table before her. With absolute zero indication given, Haydee knew looking at them would serve no results, but also giving a wonder was not the only option she could try. She needed no hesitation, and with an affirmative hold on her senses she pressed down on the farthest leftmost button with swift push.

When she pushed down, no call or other sound rang out to her as for ab affirmation of her contact, besides some vaguely audible vibration. Rather, what Haydee noticed for all it could deliver was not any sound breach into her ears, but instead the sight of a number of doors both opening and closing within the maze before her. Curious, she pushed down again, and as she quickly suspected to be once her hand pressed the switch, the very doors within that maze moved, that is, those that had been closed the first time now are open, and vice versa. Understanding it a little more, her mind remembering and jotting down what she had seen before.

In the least, she understood more and more of the solutions needed to bypass the closed off section. Though she could not see the actual keycard needed to progress through, no doubt she had no tribulations in suggesting that within the very maze lay their key to salvation, or at least the next room on. With four more buttons before her, she swiftly began to understand more and more what was needed to do. . . never once realizing her mental gears were not the only ones stirring.

"I think. . . I need to go into this maze myself. Only myself."

Absolutely not! She silently replied with only the shakes of her head. She could have said a lot more if she had a mouth to speak, but without it only a sufficient swivel of her head would do as she stood him down.

"Is there a better way to do it then?" She. . . could not find the answer to that. "I've seen the metal detector out there, I know we both have. I don't see any other way forward." She did not like. . . his tone he was using? No, it was how exasperated he was getting she was starting to dislike. His face was drawing a concerned look about him, that she could see even under these shadows. Even he looked surprised by what he had said.

"I'm . . .sorry." His mannerisms lowered, the humans anger, or what there could be, dissipated quickly as he looked away in earnest apology. "But. . .unless you have a better idea; I do not see another solution."

She hated that idea. The human, not just because the human was alone; but because he would be alone with those things surrounding him on all sides. He would be lacking her protection, her shielding, while she, as she already theorized, stayed up top to guide his way. Worse still, without a speech synthesiser hardwired onto her, she could not call out to warm him, could not tell him where the danger lay before it could be too late. She. . . she truly hated this idea.

Above all, she hated it because it was the only logical conclusion there was to forge. She could not pass through; that damn metal detector in front surely ensuing that thought was quickly quenched. With no other option left, it was clear his way was the only way.

She tried not to bang the console, but her fist still slammed the board anyway. He only briefly jumped as he watched her, keeping silent and still as he waited for her answer.

There was no other way, that she knew, no other way is present for them to continue, lest she decides to stay here and wait for others to come and save him. That is; if any were to come: Within nothing at all suggesting that option, she couldn't take the risk and let him stay here until his body grows cold and weak.

With an internal sigh, she slowly nodded. Reluctant it may be for her, as she looked down to the way below while her hands rested on the console, spying on the windy corridors littered with random instances of devilish drudges of cruel intent, she knew that, deep down, there was no other way. She hated to say it; but he had to go in alone. Without any form of protection by her.

"I've. . . memorised the path for myself." She slowly tilted her head back up to meet his attention, his face looking. . . stalwart in tone. Serious, even. "I know the way, I am sure of it. I trust you, Haydee, I trust you won't let me die. In turn; I shall promise you I won't let myself die down there. For you, I won't be killed." No, she did not want him to think she relied slowly on him to survive. It was the other way around; it was HER that was meant to protect him, she was sure by now. Or at least according to her basic programming, that should be her predetermined task for continued moments.

She straightened her back, not letting her reluctance wash over her when she finally turned to face him. There was no going back once they had committed, so in all her knowledge she knew trying to prolong the inevitable was a fruitless endeavor. All the gynoid could do now was suck it up, understand she must trust in him as he seemingly trusted her, and guide him through the maze without further delay. So with that; there was only one last thing to settle on.

Turning to him she whipped out her firearm and presented it formally for the human, seeing it fit if she cannot be beside him, then a piece of her armory shall do in her wake

"I. . . I trust you Haydee with keeping me safe. I do." He almost seemed to back away once he noticed the gift she was trying to hand to him, his hand arc out in some kind of defensive styled manner.

She could not force his hand. Not like last time she did, and not now. That said she knew how widely different it was from last time. There WAS a present danger here, one she could not save him from behind this walled and glassed chamber, so for the very least, she would, at least motion to him one final time to reconsider.

"I'm. . . sure, Haydee. I'll be fine; I promise." Nodding, she holstered her weapon back away, knowing full well even so much as forcing his hands to hold it would not aid his mental state.

"I'll be fine." She nodded with one final, drawn out motion, taking the quietest of moments to give him a once over check. His heartbeat and temperature was nominal, nor was there an abundance of sweat over his skin. Any such evidence he was scared was either falsely exaggerated, or well hidden, but either way led her to see he was not letting fear take over him. Such a cause could result in him making poor choices, shaking about in fear when he should be moving, and practically making himself an easier target than what already he would be. His words rang true; she did need to trust him, more now than anytime else, and the only way she could help was by not discouraging his trust, and let him walk off, to do what must be done for them both.

As she watched him go, heading to the opening and down the ladder, a sense of loss was weirdly strung about her. For all she has said, understood, and agreed, as she stood in place and watched him leave, her body was pleading for her to rush out and grab, stopping him going into firm danger. Her fingers were twitching in dread, an ocean wave of regret seeping through her as she knew just how deadly a place that maze down below was obviously going to be.

But. . .she must not stop him. The inevitable is exactly that, and desisting would surely only make it worse. Forcing him to stop would not aid him, rather, what she concluded to be the more she showed her trust to him, the more he would move forward with needed courage and affirmation upon his brow. All she could do was to help him the best way she could; and that detail was purely aligned to the console still waiting patiently for her to fully grasp.

For herself, for him, she would ensure time would not go to waste. There was more for her to do, and with fingers twitching, out of anticipation over worry, Haydee moved back to the console and quickly pressed down to the second one along.

The human had his task, his plan of action, and she had one to do as well; checking what each and every of these buttons had to do. Haydee pressed down on each of the buttons twice, in turn, her eyesight meticulously noted down each, and every door that opened then closed. Her CPU efficiently put a mental claim to every single door, every little pop-up that happened within that maze, hardwiring into her instinct to what every little, single incident was happening within that area whenever an action by her was commanded. Steps could be taken to ensure his safety is prioritized; and she were to ensure it all would occur.

Once she saw him standing by the front of the door, waving up to her as he stood firm and ready, or how she believed him to be, Haydee waved back, nodding to her little friend she too was ready. Ready as can be, as the least of any option.

A firm nod back was all she received, before he turned in silent motion, staring straight at the passageway in front, before, with a shake of his shoulders, he marched on into the hate filled place before them. Walking past the metal detector, she felt only a slip of a slither run through her as the door closed behind him. She had her doubts it would be so easy to run back out, fairness was not something she thought this Godforsaken place would give to them, but she also knew never to let it distress her. Less so than the human, who she noticed did jump at the doors slamming close behind him.

Even seeing him jump already from the mild scare trembled her more than lockdown did, already that slithering fear was trying to wriggle itself into her circuits and lather her inside with shivers and frights, but no matter how hard it tried to slip into her cracks she refused to give it an inch in. Her mind should only focus forward, and she will refuse to complain about this notion.

Now in, he could only travel forward, a notion she could see all too well as a door blocked his access through. Neither she nor him needed to wait long for the resolution to occur, as a push on the leftmost button opened the door right up, and Dale swiftly proceeded on the way through. A few meters on, another roadblock occurred for him. However, he was not alone. Beside him, behind another closed door laid an enemy she would have glared daggers too if she had the physical functions to be able to; a Walker, hiding within the cramped room. It stood there, waiting, plotting, it's arms getting ready to crunch down on any it desires to be its next victim.

But it would not come, if she so willed it to be. She had the power to do so, but not in any circumstances would she ever try to. Hovering her hands over the buttons, her appendage floated past the second until it met the third button along, and firmly pressing down she opened the next way forward, that Walker never once getting the allowed chance to walk out.

Third closed door for Dale; and this was where she needed a second to stop and take a breather. She knew what was about to come, and she dreaded the moment it would. Like before another Walker hid behind a door, but unlike last time, said door responded in kind to the next exit out. And he looked to be none the wiser. The words of Dale asking her to trust him repeated in her mind, playing back as if her innate mind was trying to remind her, almost demanding her to finally hold faith in her little companion. For all she could actually do; trusting Dale on his certitude was all that had to be needed now. With her hand hovering over the correct button; she could only think over one thing for Dale: Move!

Once pressed down, the way opened, but as expected, the Walker stopped fourth, marching out its little hidey-hole and into the open, into the area of the unprotected human behind his back. She would shout, she would call, but lacking the abilities of advanced communication she could but pray Dale moved on, quickly.

But luck, chance, or by Dale being as aware of his surroundings as she wished for him to hold once entering into the irreligious place, he turned around on the spot, and with eyes widening and body looking to shout and shake in fear, Dale immediately sprang forward, running straight forward with understandable terror upon him as he made sure to gain distance between him and the advancing machine.

He was not alone, never to be alone. And once the man passed through the threshold, pressed down on the button she did as the door quickly closed behind him, trapping the machinery from getting any closer to Dale for much longer. Upon witnessing the robot could not advance any longer, Dale stopped, crouching forward for what, she hoped, was a brother himself. She could not nor did not blame. Fear is an innate feeling, natural and needed within humans. It is what lets them know a danger is present, give them the offering of fight or flight, allows them to understand the caution before, and how best to approach them.

That said, sometimes the emotion of fear was too encompassing. Fear was a strength for their safety but also a weakness to many. Not all cases for feeling fear alerted the response in the same way, whether it by person or the danger itself, and instances of said person locking up their body and staying a unmoving target was a response she knew happened, and one she knew was far from anything grateful for. What she could be grateful, at least, her human knew to keep on moving, to escape any chance he could get. And above all, not let fear overtake him. As within a few lingering moments longer he looked ready to press on forward.

So was she then; with a press of the right button the next door opened wide for him to continue forth. Moving on, Dale entered a corner the human securely made ground as headed towards the next door as. . . hold on. . . what was. . .

Doors opened up suddenly. Two of them by the wall, allowing her to see exit on out. . . Walkers! Two of them!

Dale! Move!

He noticed it quickly as well, and with an immediate sprint he ran! Not giving them ground, Dale took off, his legs carrying him as far from them as he could as he rounded around, creating distance from the machines as he moved towards the next door. With a push on the console it opened up, allowing him swift access inward before she pressed down again, pausing the duo of deadly identities from entering through. However; this was not what could halt them: The way for them was still open, a small detour that swiftly they made haste onto, and worse still, the place the man found himself standing in was what eluded her into calling this place a maze. Many twists and turns were about the place below, and with her stationed firmly upon here, words not able to be verbally put across. Guiding him was purely a matter of when he noticed her actions. That was her only weapon, and like hell would she slip up in using them even once.

He moved, onward. He twisted around the corner, ignoring a passageway as he moved around and down. A split in the end decided his next action and to him he chose his right. . .wait, no! A Walker was already coming around the way, coming forward to greet him if he made the choice to get going - hold on; he stopped. By either chance, or gained experience, Dale seemed to understand the danger that awaited him further on, and turning tail he sprinted to the opposite direction.

Such cause of cheer was not allowed, as turning he quickly saw another Walker heading his way. With no option left, he swiftly made haste to the only pathway easy for him, the Walkers pursuing in tow. His head was but one of many within this maze: though the only organic within this dimension many more of the machineries were appearing out the so-labelled woodwork and continued to march on their enigmatic pathways. For that she could only guide his way as best authorized; which as it turned out was of a door she quickly opened for him. Once through, she swiftly closed it behind him, disallowing those to greet the human with another arc of their fists.

Dale continued on, what kind of disturbance he surely would be feeling had yet to weigh him down as the spring in his step didn't cease. Many different paths were opened to him leading every which way from dead ends to encircling pavements, and with little directions as to where he chose one way. . . only for the door to clamp up right before.

She would guide him, both to protect, and to steer him in the correct destination. If he may be lost inside these metallic hedgerows, she shall be his guardian angel.

Dale in turn did not sigh towards the door but quickly understood the meaning behind it, or at least enough, as he quickly scampered along. Good thing, too, as more of those drone machines were heading his way. Before him, she pressed down and let another door closing, halting him from moving to a dead end as he sprinted on. Around. More were walking his way, their pathways almost illogical to the gynoid as she pressed forward and herself and helped him on, stopping him from reaching a bad end as closer and closer he navigated around the maze, forward towards-

No! A Walker was walking his way, and no gateway to close it off. Worse, another was hot on his heels, following him like heat-seeking missile, ready to pounce the moment his back his turned like some baleful predator! He - he immediately noticed it as well, having turned the corner and grinding his feet to a halt. When he turned to look back, the sight of another sandwiching him almost tripped him on his feet, as he too promptly realized the major dilemma he was now having to face. She could see his face swerve back and forth rapidly, his posture shaking in his metaphorical boots, not too unlike her own.

There was no way out for him - except for one possibility. Arcing her arm, she slammed her hand down onto a specific button, where indeed a door among many opened up for him. However, despite her best preference it was not a new pathway that opened up for him - but a dead end, a room so small barely a Walker would have fit in that. And it did. Yet; even with him noticing that as well, with little hesitation did he sprung in - almost slamming his body into the wall as he instinctively turned away, his body almost molding into the meshing as if to be one to the wall.

And when those robots were just about to trap him, did she react to it first. The door closed the moment the first sightings of black and white appeared before him, swiftly blocking off as access out, and in, was disbarred for any. He was stuck, she knew, within that confirmed janitors closet of a rooming, seeing the pair of malignant machines pausing in their steps one their way was barred, and as he stood there, facing out with eyes that surely would be tied to their appearance she was sure he was praying, pleading for them to move. She assumed that; because so was she.

Her fingers tensed, clamored up, her attention unable to pried off from the scene down there even if a crowbar was attempted. There was no sound, not even a heartbeat to echo off these unwanted walls that confided her in this forsaken chamber. She could not know what was running through his mind, only assumptions, but he hoped that like she he was waiting for a scene to transpire now, of movement any, something that would stop these unmoving, unthinking machines from staying still before and trapping him endlessly in that cramped compartment.

And by luck, by relative hope did the two machines suddenly take turn and leave. As if mirrored projections the two walked around and off from the corner, whether or not they had given up hope themselves for trying to decimate the kind fellow or their programming disallowing them from staying in one place for too long. Dale looked to notice it too, as with slow pry's did he un-glue himself to the meshing.

He had to move on, that she wouldn't forget. And though safe in that little hidey-hole, he had to get going. Her hand almost trembled, when it hovered over the button. The button to release, not from the chamber but to the open where the enemy lied. . . it would not move. Her hand was clamoring up, the joints locking, her body was failing her. No, not now, she would not allow it! Her over hand now moved, and with a push on the other the hammer came down; the button was pressed. Once the door sprang open, and Dale tentatively peering out before making steps her creaking arm returned to normal. Demonstrated to herself as she retracted each finger one-by-one. It no longer locked up in place, questioning her internal mechanism of what had just occurred moments ago.

If she was failing, then she would have to worry about it another time, as Dale did not waste time on moving on as the way opened up. Neither would she then, her fingers twitching normally as she watched him move. He kept going on, up where he was trying while aware of what was coming up. Turning the corner, indeed the Walker was there - albeit with its back turned to him. Not letting the opportunity go to waste he took tail and ran up the other passageway, hoping the machine would not notice his skid on the tile as he scampered up, around the twisting fencing once more - and to a closed doorway. Not for long, however, and when it opened wide he nearly jumped his entirety in, letting it close behind him. As the human stopped trying to make a move she figured he noticed the brick wall in front, the open space next, and correctly assumed the trials and tribulations had passed him by, that was he was finally safe.

She saw no enemy lay in wait, no suspicious shadow hiding behind any corner. More, as it seemed, the end of the maze had been found, and the place next looked free of both danger and dangerous curves. Dale pressed forth, as she had hoped, and though still tentative and cautious in his step his bare feet did not cease in dragging him forward.

Around the bend, Haydee stood proud with a vigilant watch as she spied the human carefully looking around himself from out the corner, slowly peeking around himself as he stepped onward with the slow, methodical stride she preferred him to take - he immediately sprinted forward to an area she couldn't see. With her placement so high up yet so far, a wall in front covered whatever it was Dale was looking onto, yet she could see, with what limited vision was spared, Dale seemed eagerly interested onto it, almost enamored so, but to what end she could not say. Stuck here in this soulless cabin, Haydee could only wait and determine what had taken the humans' heedless interest so.

Whatever it was; Dale's face seemed to brighten up more by the second as his undivided attention did not sway onto anything else. Tilting her head, the gynoid watched the human suddenly step away from where he was, his unexpectedly cheered expression not ceasing as he suddenly turned to her, holding up what she assumed was a black bag of sorts, before with an expressive jump he waved to her with his hand - which she quickly realized held a red keycard within his fingers!

Yes! The way onward can now be opened up! And above all, Dale was still safe and sound, even at a distance like so. Least now, all he needed to do was return to her side and. . . wait. . .

Doors behind him suddenly appeared, breaching into existence with an action created by herself. Opening away, Haydee's once confusion found itself immediately beset upon by a raging fear and almost explosion of dread coursing through her cables when she saw what laid behind - Slashers! Three of them!

Move Dale! Stop trying to casually palace away the keycard into your bag, look behind you and. . . he turned. He noticed! And he jittered in place the moment the lenses of three blade-welding machinery all focused onto the organic, trembling body before him. With clean blades they charged forward - but so did he, the human forcing the bag to his chest as he immediately moved away, from them and to the door.

Many doors. All waiting in line, and Haydee knew one false move and the worst could happen. But the gynoid was ready; she remembered each position of the buttons, what each press would react with and which doors they could either open or close. She would not forget this knowledge, as it is now Dale needed her more than ever. Hand ready she watched him reach the end of the corridor - until she pressed the forth button along.

It opened, and Dale marched through. But so did the Slashers.

No time to stop them; as he ran she quickly pressed down the buttons in order. No time to think of anything else while the machines gave chase she immediately pressed down, the doors swinging open mere seconds before Dale was to meet headfirst into the gate. One after the other, the Slashers gave no heed to slow down as Haydee pressed down to open the final gate, leaving but one more door in the human's wake - one her buttons did not open.

Yet before she fried her own circuits in stress the door opened on it's own; to what end she had to assume a switch was on Dale's side, by such an assumption mattered little once she saw the human finally jump out of the maze - and the Slashers gaining heed as well!

She could not wait and see any longer, and with the power granted to her internal pistons Haydee made a leap out; literally out the opening. The power in her boost boots granted her a safe journey down - one fire off and her momentum slowed, enough for her to suffer no damage on her fall. Yet it was not herself that brought her anxiety out, because with a turn and look, a grasp of her gun, she took right off to the direction of the human.

To her relief; when she looked as she ran towards him; she saw no Slashers were coming out the gate to meet him head on. Rather, as he laid with his rear to the ground, eyes pertaining only to the door itself, the actual body remained fully closed, disallowing any others to exit on through. He slowly brought himself up to his knees as he staggered himself to a stand. His breathing was paced, his body sweaty, but all she could understand as she was upon him.

He had only a second to react to see the body of a gynoid charge to him, and though he smiled upon seeing her sight, any such attempt to show her the bag still held tightly in his grasp dissipated the moment she forcibly grabbed at his body. Hands on his shoulders, the strangely up jerked Haydee frantically looked him all over, his skin, clothes, internal damage, she ensured that no matter what he was not hurt in any way.

"I. . . I'm fine, Haydee." A verbal statement may not be the end all to her, but without significant evidence to suggest otherwise she had to conclude her eyes did not lie to her - though he gained a significant amount of fright during the maze: his body remained completely intact. She had to concede the truth that he was fine, thus by a nod she let go, straightening out her back as she stared down at him.

"I-eh," he quickly rummaged into the backpack with a little fever about his person "Here you. Um. . . yes . I found this in the backpack." She took the crimson keycard that was offered to her with a gracious gratitude. With this they both can finally leave this horrible place and see it as nothing more than a bad memory.

"And, also," she looked back to find him presenting something more to him. "There was also this, which had the card in it." The black bag she presented to him looked oddly similar. In fact, on quick inspection she found it to not just be a bag but in reality a backpack, one looking suspiciously close to the same one residing behind her very shoulders, albeit a little smaller. "Here, it's yours, after all. I hope you like it."

Well. . . having extra pockets on hand was not a situation to have for a gynoid such as herself. Granted, she still had tons of room, so to speak, but with what laid ahead still as enigmatic as ever it was hard for her to confidently say she would always have extra room. Moreover, this backpack did not connect to hers in any way, and her shoulders were already busy. Meanwhile, before her stood a man that seemed eager to hand her a gift, one that deserved to hold praise. . .

Gently, as both palms pressed onto the black bag, Haydee pushed the backpack back to his chest, earning a blink from him. "What's wrong, Haydee?" She pointed to herself, then with a twist of her body pointed to the better seen backpack behind her. But before he could ask anything more; she pointed to the other, smaller backpack held in the man's arms, before pointing straight at him.

It took a quick moment, but when he blinked rapidly she saw he had it figured out.

"You. . . you want me to carry it?" She nodded. "I. . . you're sure of this?" Very much, both for a practical sense, and for her to believe he had earned it. It was he that faced the trials before, not her, so she had no reason to deny him his reward. One far more deserving than a simple rub on his scalp, as satisfying she sought that to be.

"I. . . thank you, Haydee." She liked the way his face lit up as he slowly placed it on his shoulders. It almost beamed with real shine. Or maybe that was just his sweat. Still, he twirled about on the spot regardless, stifling his new backpack with casual flare.

"How do I look?" Like a human with a backpack on. If he meant how does he look in regards to their survivability; then she gave that idea a thumbs up. "Thank you." His smile seemed to beam even more, if that was actually possible.

"Shall we be off them." Huh, how strange that is he who was trying to usher them both on. Still, he was not wrong, with the keycard now taken they could now proceed. She walked him off, both gaining momentum forward as they proceeded towards their next destination.

Though, even with the way onward a breeze for them both now, Haydee still felt a nagging feeling at the back of her head. Why did her hand freeze up like that? Was there a bug in her system? A glitch? Were her machinery failing her now, despite coming fresh off the line barely an hour ago. What had caused that delay in her robotics - and would it affect them in later times?

"Haydee?" She looked up from her hand to spot a discerned man looking at her. "Are you okay?" She looked back at her hand, and as she stretched out her fingertips she discerned no foreseen problem within herself, hardware or software wise. To answer, she simply nodded. She didn't believe it to be a lie, but she still held some discern.

Whatever the case was; she could not find the answers here, and she lacked the proper tools to perform robotic surgery on herself. So for the moment, she believed it best to keep it at the back of her mind, as she used said 'glitched' hand to unlock the gate for them, so they can proceed on through.

---

She didn't see a maze, so a least that was a good first sign to her. Though; because she didn't see much at all she still had to take it as less of a good sign as well. A long hallway stretched in front of them now, tall black gratings she was now used to getting clogged in, albeit with only one exit for them to go through. Though as she quickly found out to be, it was not just a single stretch before them.

A dip on both sides laid before her, and more importantly on side sitting atop a lone crate stood something of noteworthy significance: a filled magazine. Alone, unprotected, and not, seemingly, within a describe suspicious place, she found herself wondering why it was left all in its lonesome - but with a shrug she figured it may have just been misplaced there, and taking it she readied herself to place it away with the others. . . until she remembered she had more than enough in her very own backpack. But Dale, meanwhile. . .

When she offered it to the human, his eyes lit up like a fire in the darkness, and with an affirmative nod and thanks he placed it away in his own backpack. She found it a little satisfying; him having to twirl the backpack around to place it in. Far different than she, far less practical. . . yet much more captivating, as it reminded her how vulnerable humans can be. Not to disvalue their worth as individuals, more, it reminded her of the charm that humans hold, ones lost in the kind such as hers. At least, she thought that when she saw the smile he wore, with any sense of ineffectiveness not latched onto him.

She found no reason to deny his smile, so she ushered him on regardless, making steps through this cramped, encroaching passageway. Grates that reached to the ceiling, various implements held inside like they were behind kept bars, a thought that travelled into her mind by how closely it seemed similar to them.

"Do you think they'll ever stop using these grates to trap us in? Honestly; I think I'm getting a little tired of it myself." In the very least, Dale's charmingly innocuous statement allowed her to not feign too closely towards the less optimistic results. "Black, black, black. At least try and give us a pinch of grey or something to spread a little colour to this place." She nodded, agreeing that this palace indeed looked as lifeless as it truly was. "Honestly, this whole place could do with a vast splash of-" A sudden shot out and pressed into his chest, knocking both the wind out of him and the words from his throat. It was Haydee's own, obviously, done so to keep him still the moment she felt something was off.

She couldn't pinpoint to what, but as her vision pertained to the end of the hallway she felt something strange up ahead. Something odd, something. . . new.

Something she wasn't sure she liked. Gun drawn, she used the spare hand to keep Dale nearby and close while her senses remained on full alert over something ahead. The grating as shadowed as ever, what little she could see, what bizarre noises she could hear, all remained as foggy as droplets in the clouds. Something was moving, that she knew, something making clacking noises on the tiles, but steps not likened to either of the machines she fought before, nor anywhere close to the sounds either she or the human makes. It sounded smaller, quicker, lighter even, and with her inorganic nerves on edge Haydee with still silence saw a shadow suddenly appear from around the bend. It approached, the click-clacking noise getting louder, movement was seen behind the bars, and finally when the strange, mysterious figure began to appear out in the open did Haydee feel it right that she had stayed on high alert.

Every single step it made was slowed, drawn out as if its mechanical body was sniffing the air, every tick of its foot on the tile echoed around the very grating that sealed them in, and every jagged pulse of movement allowed her to finally see more and more. That is, until it paused, right in the center of the exit. Frozen as silent as the shadow it casts. It allowed the gynoid just enough time to dispute what kind of thing she was staring at with incredulously suspicious observation.

It was smaller, not just in height, but in size, at least compared to the other two kinds of automations from before. The main reason she related this unknown robot to those before as it seemed to have the same contrasting black and white metallic color scheme. Beside that, it seemed almost entirely different to the other two enemies: it's body did not walk on two long legs, but rather its gate was formed from that of a quadruped; four identical legs kept it's torso from having to drag along the ground. Of the torso, that two was quite different: slim, like a Slasher, but also was it's length drawn horizontal as it housed it's four robotic legs, as opposed to the humanized body type of vertical. Even more, this kind had both a pronounced neck as well as an elongated head, one that housed a set of piercing red lenses. Again, that led her to believe it was a robot like the others, and yet. . . it almost didn't seem to be. Lacking the humanoid shape of the others, this one seemed almost animalistic in vision. It's head deforming forward as if it were a muzzle, it's ocular hardware forced back like a common creature, and did it have a. . . tail on the other end?

It did not move, and neither did they, as the unknown machine just paused their, blocking their way, yet its sight staying only to its forward-

One crimson eye spun round. The lens' sudden, unexpected spin got a rise out of her as the still silent, unflinching metal being just looked at her, looked at them. Quiet, unmoving for anything else, it was as if it were scanning, thinking. . . plotting onto what it's next step was to be. Almost casual did it looked to be standing there, investigating the pair before them with unchanging shape.

A foe or not, she was unfazed by its existence; its body was not immune to bullets - and by her authority would she hold no trouble in putting this creature if it ever dares-

A hand, one with a shaky grip suddenly latched onto her shoulder. She was not put off by the unexpected grip, nor did she have to wonder why it happened; however, the moment her head slowly looked around, her focus pertaining largely onto the man behind her, did she almost drop her gun in shock by what she was seeing.

"Haydee. . ." Sudden heart palpations, flushed cheeks, quivering legs, choked, shortened breath, iris's decreased to the size of mere pinpricks. "Please. . . stop it. . . "

She barely saw when the machine's muzzle opened wide to show a set of sharpened spikes within its maw; nor recognized the stance it was suddenly taking, before it was too late to realize.

The walls echoed with hate and clamor as the mix of heavy stride on the tiles was drowned out by increasingly vociferous animalistic howls the unknown machine sparked out as it drive it's body right towards them.

"AAAAAHHH!" The scream of the biological one almost bricked her, but by her senses kept on high alert did she refuse to let these sounds go on any longer. Speed or not, Haydee sharply raised up her gun and blasted away, one bullet swiftly lodging into the robot's cranium before it had a chance to attack; instantly knocking it down just as it's maw opened as wide as it could. One bullet to its head was all it took, it seemed, as the other two bullets barely needed to hit their mark, despite the second having been drilled to its back. The third never even got the chance to hit.

Once the first bullet had lodged in, the automation slammed down hard; sliding, rolling on the floor before it came to a grinding halt just inches from her toes, as it let out a screeching howl of pain before dropping like a stone. It's limbs flopped to the floor with a pathetic thud, and she hesitantly thought to give its unflinching head a condescending tap; until she remembered the state of the human still clutching at her with a primal grip.

His state did not cease the moment after she put down this different automation. In fact, it looked to have gotten unexpectedly worse: his finger shivered as if facing a raging cold snap, while his head sweated as if trying to trek through a scorching desert. It's eyes did not pertain to her, in fact, they almost seemed tremble as well as she saw the only thing he could focus on was the lying mechanical corpse in front. It was as if his eyes were forcibly affixed, even the machine he clung to like a child barely seemed to register in his mind now as all he was allowed to look upon was the still, unresponsive machine dropped by her feet.

Haydee did not hold the need to ask what was wrong with this once perky human. Her database understood all the signs, saw all the problems he faced. Obviously, she could understand why; the smaller machine looked more than capable of instilling fear into anyone. A quick scan later, and Haydee identified more to this machine than first observation: it was speedy, even a Slasher would be outrun in mere moments. Adding onto that, it's muzzle now opened to a slit, showing lines of False Edge teeth within its maw. Said teeth looked to be it's main prose of attack, far more than the small triple blades along each of its flat-footed feet. Coupling its teeth with it's supposed speed and agility she quickly deduced this kind of machine had its primary purpose set towards human targets, almost solely so its bladed teeth would render any human tissue to sunder in a matter of moments. Adding to that, it did not pass on her this thing howled as it charged, the first and only time any machine had made a vocalised noise. It's sounds, of barks and howls, she firmly decided was meant for Physiological Warfare, meant to intimidate and scare, and she noted that the tone, decibels and even Hertz range is optimized to cause fear in humans. There is no other reason for robots to make sounds like that. If her database was to find a correct source, she perceived this machine closely resembled domesticated canines, medium-sized at that.

Yet. . . with all that said, she felt surprised that Dale of all humans would be so frightened of it. He was reasonably scared of the machines before, but nothing as serious to this degree, and if anything, his time alone with the machines surely would have at least enforced his mental state to be better used, or at least more guarded when faced with these foes. Instead, it almost seemed to have garnered a more opposite look; his face twisted to disagreeable horror. He was terrified, truly, however to why this degree of conniptions was what garnered an increasingly worried amount of unanswered questions from the gynoid. . . but that mattered not.

Dale's mental state was falling, sharply at that, and she could not let it go. True, logically him being overridden by fear would ensure he would not be able to fully function if he's scared and shaking, but that felt surface level at best; as seeing him shake, stutter and sound so vulnerable, her primary instinct was to hold his hand and pull him close. Seeing him starting to reduce himself to a babbling mess almost made her shake, to quiver alongside him as she felt to be hurt herself.

He should not, ever, be forced to a mental state of babbling goo, sprouting incomprehensible language as his teeth chattered in his jaw. He was a helpful human, a kind one, one that smiled with joy, that offered her no ill will, one willing to risk his life to allow needed entry on. He deserves none of this, none of this fear and terror. . . none of this weak state. She felt no anger, only pity for the man, as he needed some aid. Needed some help. Needed her.

Logically, if Dale knows she will be there to protect him whenever he needs, he will be less afraid. That was the belief she summarized, the assumption she recognized as most appropriate. And if he needed her aid: she would show as much as she could. Gently, still keeping an eye on his mental state, Haydee slowly with her free hand manoeuvred it around his waist. He nearly jumped from the touch, but truly did soften when he recognised it was not a mechanical device of evil intent that was touching around him. With a little push, she pulled his torso to his chest as tightly as it could without causing discomfort, pressing him to her body to ensure he recognizes she would always keep him safe. With her fingers she tapped at his side, draping them along, symbolising an usher from him. Tentatively, or at least from the instinctual side of him, his hand slowly trailed down, sliding below as it unseemly floated towards her ushering hand. The moment he garnered it close to, her hand firmly grasped his own with a forceful grip, her fingers trapping his own from ever escaping from their grasp without permission. But in turn, her thumb slowly drew circles on his still shaking hand, rubbing, massaging his knuckles and dorsal side. She would not let him go, but she would also make sure he recognizes above all that she was not his kidnapper, but someone looking out for his well being. One who had his best interests at heart, so to speak by human terms, and one who was trying to tell him he was not nor ever would be alone.

And in turn, finally as she had hoped above all, he seemed to recognise her concern for him. As his breathing slowed down and his heart rate gently decreased, Haydee felt him slowly lose his tension as he let himself stay close to her.

But not entirely, and she knew it would not vanish as quickly as she wished it to be. They should not stay here, linger between these walls any longer less she desires to see him break down again. Holding him close, she pulled him on. Her steps tentative, she ensured in donating little pushes of her hand to his body to silently tell him to keep moving. She was not made to force him; but she refused to do anything little other than help him in any which way.

Moving forward with him, she firmly kicked the corpse of the canid creation into the wall, slamming the metal machine with an unceremonious clang as she refused to give the deceased robot any respect from its conjecture. She would not allow him any chance to see any more of the machine now; it was gone, out of sight, so she proceeded forth with him. Moving past, she urged him along and out this tunnel of venom, as in the least, once they finally breached the shadows and basked in the light Dale can finally. . . finally. . .

Oh. . . no. . .

Upon the gynoids first departure out the enclosing hallway, taking her first step into the widened, bright place, any such thought to give Dale the space and peace he requires instantly vanished when she found what awaited them with surrounding inspection .

One of those machines was more than enough. Far more than enough. But upon looking left and right from where she first stood, she nearly refused to try count how many pairs of ocular lenses were garnering their attention on the duo. All around them were they being watched, observed, paid attention to while Haydee could only shiver with resentment by what was forced upon them. Around them, cooped up in kennels that piled high while also piled along where sets of metal cages went along both walls. Inside, staring towards them with stoic glances were more of these four-legged contraptions that seem designed purely to rid Dale of his smiles and cheer. She hated them all, even when they made no move, she already looked at them all with animosity, all held up, hiding behind metal bars that she felt some form of thankfulness were not open; save for one that thankfully didn't house any such deranged drudge.

Behind, she could feel Dale truly shiver as he practically wedged himself into her back. She didn't have to see to know how utterly terrified Dale would be right now. One was too much, but so many, so many eyes staring at him, so many players of teeth that could be bared, the fingers that Dale squeezed onto her shoulder she yearned to hold instead. . .

She made a step forward, and immediately after did it all set off. Instantly was this near deathly silence of a room suddenly filled with the echoed howls and barks by a choir of corrupting parasites. Barking, screaming, from the cages the machines all began to bare their teeth and furiously snarl loudly to the two. Vehemently did the numerous sets of caged animalistic inciters of Dale's fears growl with deranged spite, weakening the poor man's mentality even further as he feverishly trembled from behind her grasp, crying out in frantic terror; and leaving Haydee to shake herself.

But not out of any fears. At least, a fear of these machines.

Working furiously herself, Haydee swiftly grabbed onto the crying man's hand, and with a swift pull hastily dragged him along. She pulled him close, pressuring his body onto hers as she marched on with anger fueling her steps. Her gun drawn, the gynoid swayed it left and right as if to dare these machines to try anything, her finger itching to pull the trigger and blast the machines to smithereens if one so dared to pull so much of a toe out their cages.

None looked to do so, and with her march never ceasing she pulled him to the exit, and promptly left.

---

Once the door closed, the sounds of unnatural shrieking's and deathly clamors ceased to be. As if the room before was no longer on the same dimension as theirs, peace reigned above all as they entered the next room. And thusly, Haydee felt to finally stop worrying so vehemently over Dale's mindset worsening. A weight felt to lift off her shoulders now, and the gynoid moved to continue on if not for a sudden pull at her grasped hand.

"Haydee. . . I'm sorry. . . " Dale suddenly spoke through garbled mutterings. "I shouldn't have to be. . . the one that brings you down." No no no, that wasn't the case at all. Slowly peering around, Haydee saw the guilt in his face. She hated that expression, she wished to not have him wear it again. And more importantly, she did not like to have Dale ever think that. She saw him as anything but.

"I'm sorry, I. . . " He muttered on through shaky breaths while Haydee spun around so her body faced his, before crouching down to be at eye level. "I shouldn't cower behind you. . . using you like a shield. . . I'm such a coward. . . " Poor sweetie, no. His babbling continued on, and his mutterings were about to say something completely false moreover if not for her hands reaching up and cupping his face. The moment they pressed contact Dale blinked his eyes open in shock, his tears almost going to fall if not for the touch keeping them at bay.

Haydee had nor could hold no expressions on her visage, but that would not stop her from expressing her thoughts by shaking her head to deny his confession he was using her, or that he was a coward in any shape. She never thinks nor would think to call Dale a coward; as he has proven time and time again how strong of heart he is, how much he could accomplish when determination is drilled in his mind. Logically, Haydee saw little problem in being used as a shield for him anyway: as a human, Dale knows he is far more vulnerable, cannot be backed up in programs, and cannot simply be rebuilt either. She would not die due to fear or stress, but Dale, a human with a heart, could have his organ beat so fast it doesn't actually pump blood. He was far weaker than she, so why should he ever think there was a problem of keeping safe behind her? He had every right to worry; and she will be there to protect him as necessary.

She deemed no apology necessary, and with a hand trailing up it began to stroke at his hair, hoping the reminiscent sensation would in turn calm him down. The other, meanwhile, found itself back to his hand, as her metallic fingers upped his organic own, grasping around the digits while simultaneously never demanding he keep them there. She did this not to keep him still, but to tell him she is there for him, that she's fine with everything, and he should not have to worry.

It's all okay.

As she wordlessly told him, she made sure to scan him every second, check that everything is going fine as internally as he should be externally. Check his heart rate and blood pressure, his temperature and his breathing. Check everything about him that she felt was deemed fundamental in keeping Dale's mental state both healthy and happy. So far, it seems, the human did not look to be getting closer to anything resembling a panic attack of any kind, and though visibly distressed, he looked more than able to keep his wits about him and press forth with her; mainly away from the room behind.

With a gentle nudge she urged him along, her hand still holding onto his as she did not deem it unnecessary to stop until he gave the word. He did not retaliate, his mind still in a funk, but not enough for him to refuse understanding of the current situation, that is, they must continue on. Holding his hand firmly; the gynoid led them off through this room as commanded.

In the present, there was little to see, being the room led off to a corner. Though her gun holstered, not at all needed when trying to comfort the scared human, she was still on guard as she led him on. Turning the corner with suspicion laden in her stride, she felt no hate when confronted with a locked grate door, coming up before her. Not so much because she was worried over how to open such a door, a big hard-to-miss obviously button placed almost perfectly nearby, but simply because she spotted no danger between. Taking the opportunity when presented, Haydee promptly opened the door before her, noting the human railing placed around the front confusingly for, as she pressed on.

That said, her gun was drawn before she even stepped out the opening. Wishes were but a single-minded desire, and any wishes she called out for were denied the moment she saw what laid before her in the next area.

Those machines, looking with their scarlet ocular hardware, stayed still and silent with those barred cages. Almost like a repeat as before, almost akin to them having traveled in time to mere minutes ago were lines of cages stacked up against the wall. She barely noticed when her hand near-forcefully gripped the mans own; she knew how he would likely react, so pulling him close she marched forth, into the next room with knowledge over what was about to occur from him next.

He shivered, she could feel him tremble, almost hear his knees shake when his eyes first caught a glance onto what it was they had to cross by. But she knew not to deny him the reality, so in the least she knew to keep him close and let him know she was there for him. These machines, numerous they may be, were at least kept behind metal cages stopping even one from coming forth. At least, he could take some solace in that. . .

"Ha-Haydee. . . is that what I think it is?" In that singular moment her vision was not focused on what he saw. Her eyes had taken sight of the exit, one that, thanklessly, was barred from them. But before she could find the way to actively unlock their passage through, it was by Dale's statement that led her attention away, to the other side, and found what gave even one like her a chill up her inorganic spine.

A pile. It was a pile, over to the other side that gave the human fight. Not of mechanical wires and components, but instead, surrounded by a pool of dried red liquid, forcibly disfigured to what was now a mess of barely readable appendages: a human corpse lying on the floor. At least, what even she had to assume; the little finger that was ripped off and now laid a part away from the main mass was the only discernible part she had to go on; it was indeed an ex-person. Torn up, ravaged beyond discernable appearance, it was not impossible to make out who the offenders were for this body that likely did not deserve such a punishment:

Surrounding the corpse, littering the site of what was already a mess, three of those disgusting mauling machines finally stopped paying their attention to their proudly deceased victim and, with sow creaks of their necks, turned their heads up to stare around at the watchers of their finished operation.

A small sound suddenly breached her ears, and even upon hearing the human call "The door behind just closed?" to her, she barely even tried to register that in her mind. Rather, the gynoid simply proceeded to ready her gun, and use her other hand to wrap Dale all the more closer to hate; her trigger finger almost twitching over anticipation for what was about to come.

Mighty howls, a choir of malice and terror echoed out all around them, enveloping their senses and thoughts with nothing except the threat before them. Once the three before them made their calls for war, the chain reaction that ensured almost shivered poor Dale into a quivering mess of goo as the housed machines had joined in with the war cry. Left and right, the caged monstrosity joined in on the needless shrieks, their reverberating growls having no purpose to exist except other than to tear the singular human's mind apart; and Haydee was having none of it.

She kept him close, held him steady and made sure to not let go, as she aimed her pistol true. Like a flash; they charged, jaws agape with sharpened alloy lined up as their quadruple legs shot them forward with sudden attempt. Speed was their strength; but Haydee was undeterred - by their acceleration or their fangs - because with righteous call she blasted forth, sending triple bullets into each of the malicious machines, obliterating their insides to pieces as they quickly fell as suddenly as they charged.

Throughout the continuous sounds of howl and barking, unnaturally screeched noises derived from once natural origins, one particular sound, not of herself or from Dale's quivering mess of a state, but what sounded of a buzz breached into her already filled mind. Such a noise she held dire importance over: a thought quickly seen as the absolute truth, as to the horror of both suddenly the cages began to spring wide open - and the Maulers leaped out with suspected unkind intention.

Immediately did they gain momentum, not even so much as taking the moment to stop and adjust from their jump to their floor as the sudden group of these machines began to make leeway to their position. Haydee wasted no time in delivering payloads to their inorganic organs; her three-shot firearm fired twice onto any that dared to step too close.

A third stepped close, yet to her surprise the Mauler did not make an full attempt at plausible velocity towards their space, but instead it made a turn, around. . . encircling them from the back. As she felt Dale's body push into her even more, she felt at least some gratitude the humans sees herself as the best protection for him right now. She quickly deduce the plan for them here; and in a blink flicked a switch on her upgraded pistol before aiming true and firing but one bullet into it's mechanically-charged brain. Her ammo was not infinite and three bullets at once was a existence she deemed too risky, at least when one could do the job by itself.

More began to claw out the woodwork by the second; the cages opened wide to allow more of these unsavory robots to make stride to their position.

"Haydee. . . " And worst of all; each second she was forced to keep them at bay only seemed to worsen the human's already fracturing mind. She was having enough difficulty judging when they'd strike; the increasing number of Maulers by the second only wasn't as badly expanded too greatly due to her whittling down her number as best she could. Currently seated within the middle of this room the encircling machines began to leap at random intervals, their drive to surround only changed at any random interval, their acceleration pausing as they turned tail and made a charge towards her - with a bullet ready to fire back when she could. All this, and she had to deal with both Dale's safe body and his deteriorating mental state, being but a fresh piece of meat under a spotlight for these canine creations to salivate over.

Yet all this did not stop her from shooting point-blank to any that dared to cross the invisible they had set for themselves. Left and right, forward and back, they came at an angle, at every angle, leaping out with the villainous intention to take a chunk out of either. But undeterred, she could not lose focus, and more and more did her bullets shoot onward, blasting into the heads of any that she saw as the immediate threat, or just happened to get in her line of sight. Three went down some more, just as three more leaped out their hidey-holes. Another shot fired to one that got too close. . . just grazing the head as the bullet landed in it's torso. Refusing to stop now, Haydee fired again, unleashing another bullet properly into its side, destroying the machine for good.

With one more shot to the head of another Mauler, another pain-filled shriek by the emotionless automation, her biggest current problem became clear - her magazine was dry. Empty, but the machines enclosing around would not care to wait for her to reload; if anything that may only spur them on further. She had to rearm, and quickly - buy with both hands busy that seemed a near impossible chance.

Except, that is, in one way she hated to let be. But without a second option in play, she knew she had to act on it - and quick! All she could do beforehand was hope Dale would understand the current situation.

She felt him almost shiver, when she let him go. Not a push away, but instead she let her hand trailing up his shirt and to his own upper arm; where she quickly pushed it to a curl around her own neck. She saw it tighten in practically instinctual response, and letting go, a thought she did not like, immediately she twisted it around and swiftly pulled out the fresh filled magazine from her backpack and reload her magazine, letting the empty casing drop on the floor with a resounding clang as she prepared to continue her onslaught.

With the sounds of Dale's shaky breath against the back of her neck spurring her on, immediately she let loose once again with newfound vigor. Again and again, they leaped from any angle, and again did she unleash a tsunami of bullets at any daring enough to oppose her declaration of safety to the scared human. A leap, and a bullet came barreling to meet them head on. A flick of the switch, and three bullets later an encircling Mauler found three new pieces of alloy stuck in it's torso. Left and right they came, and left and right she fired, taking two down that tried to flank her.

She was having none of it as she fired some more, more that tried to encompass them, more that who's howls shivered Dale to the core, and more did she let loose her hellfire onto those that dared to worsen his fragile state. She did not stop, they kept on coming and bullet after bullet, metal clashed against metal as they still tried to surround the duo for an easy kill. They kept coming, she kept firing, and payload after payload kept barreling on until finally, amongst the howls, screams and gunfire - did silence suddenly prevail.

She almost thought about rebooting her system, when she found herself unable to do much more now. All the sounds of shrieks, of projectile sparking once they hit solid metal, and pain-riddled howls of death, to even Dale's own depressing screams did everything cease to just be. Or rather, as she quickly took the second to look around herself to see that, indeed, she had finally killed them all.

No more charged, because no more now stood. Surrounding them now were not ever-increasing bodies of sharp-toothed Maulers with intention to hurt the human, but instead what was strewn about the place was bundled of wires and circuits jotting out the holes of casually laid inactive machinery. Littering the floor like rubble after a building imploded, they made sound no more, save for the randomised clicking of some gears still attempting to turn. The room became as silent and lifeless as it was once before - and finally did Haydee feel it safe to rest now. All were dead.

But Dale still shivered. He barely even seemed to acknowledge the danger was no longer present, his eyelids flickering out as if stuck in a tandem of wanting to close his eyes and not see the horrors that were before him and keep them wide open to never be caught off guard by their existence. Despite it all, she still felt nothing but sorrow over him, understanding all for why he was this way. With the way safe, they should continue on. Even if only to help the human's still fractured attitude.

She knew leaving him be while death seemed to surround him was not the best case to act on, nor was having him carry on behind her, the bloodied mess was still a presence in this room trying to blanket out would not wash off. Rather as she was ready to tap her chin, she quickly found the solution.

Through his shivering, he managed to find her presence grasping for his attention, at least when a clap registered in his mind. Looking up at her, and only her, Haydee motioned she was to turn herself around, holstering her gun while she made sure Dale could see only what she wanted him to see. Her hand grasped at his still curled up arm, gently holding with an affirm grasp to let him know she was not about to leave him, before she pulled it up and slowly placed it over his own eyes.

"Hey. . . Haydee what are you. . . " His trembling voice simply stopped by itself, his mental state still looking to hold difficulty in fully processing his surroundings. She knew he was not okay, she could not criticize him for it, but she could at least silently try and persuade him she was doing this solely for him. With his palm over his eyes, he could see nothing but black, which she saw to believe the best solution for his predicament. All the while her other hand came round to grab at his right hand, pressing her fingers into the back of his to remind him to grasp back in return. He did, and now blind to the outside world, holding onto him she slowly moved.

He did not relent, his footsteps kept up with hers as she slowly led the way. With force did she kick at any lying piece of junk by her feet, sending them to any corner while she kept a watchful gaze over the human behind her. He did not look to try to see through the slits of his fingers, and more to that, his breathing calmed, albeit still in slow, shaky breaths. She understood, at least, not letting him see the outside world may be best for him now if he acknowledges a danger is no longer present, and in the least a reassuring rub of her thumb on his hand may aid for that.

With the press of her other hand, that big obvious button was activated and the barricade slid away, blocking their exit no longer. Thus, she advanced him on, making sure her steps were slow so as not to make him feel that there was a need to rush. Her boots marched against the floor, clearing the way as she made leeway past the deceased body. One she. . . she could not bring herself to slander, it's demise was never an intentional factor for Dale's mental state. She quickly could only pass it by before the living one got the accidental chance to stare at it again, the gynoid preferring the human not to think how his end could become like that. She barely realized her thumb was doubling the efforts of a massage on his hand.

Actually she barely realized how normal it felt. His hand, organic, warm, fleshy. Hers, unnatural, cold, solid. Two vastly different creations. . . yet feeling perfectly normal when intertwined like so. The gynoid never felt it strange, just. . . a perfectly normal occurrence to her. Completely fine. . . how it should be. . .

Practically natural. How it should be, as she finally led him out.

---

Upon their entry in, the first thing Haydee did above all was turn to him and look him up and down. Holding him close, Haydee grasped at his shoulders and gently rubbed, staring at him with her blank visage while she checked him all over. There was a light shiver on his figure, his body and mind still obviously disturbed by the moments that preceded, and she feared for how deeply it would affect him now, and for further moments to come.

She hated it; this state of being unable to cure his ails. Sure, her database suggested that even if she was purely human, it would not offer her much added aid in knowing how best to help him. His mind was a complex organ, even a machine such as she could hold no hope in truly ciphering his entire mindset. She was not able to tap into his mind, find which disease is pestering his emotions and send a cure-all to eradicate its existence for good. All the gynoid could really do for him now was hold him close and help him any way she could find.

Grasping his attention, perception continued to keep track of his heart rate, his stability, Haydee made sure he looked only to her to ensure his attention was focused on herself, before she asked:

She pointed to him, then to her head and shrugged.

". . . We're away from those rooms. That's what matters most." His answer was lethargic, barely an escaping breath. She could see his eyes swerve as if trying to look away, to anything that wouldn't form guilt appearing over his face. He twitched in place, nervous, over something now instead of something past.

He was pushing her away, pushing himself away. "We. . . should get going." He refused to look her in the eye. He tried to move, but the gentle grasp Haydee had over his shoulders would not budge, at least by the minor force he attempted to use.

"I. . . Haydee I. . . " He shivered again, though with his snuffles coming through and his darkening expression she saw it was not fear he was feeling.

"I. . . I am sorry, Haydee, I don't-" His hands came out to grasp at his head, but a sudden shift of movement found them hanging in the air by two other pairs of appendages. "I don't know what came over me. I. . . when I see those things I, I can only. . . just freeze up. I can hardly move, hardly breathe. It's like just thinking about them just racks my idiotic brain and forces into into a shutdown. I cannot explain why I do it, I. . . maybe I am just too weak."

A sudden hand shot forward and slammed onto his scalp, fingers pinching into his hair as if to grab and hold on for dear life, and with a shove forced his eyes to fixate on the stoic machine before him.

She pointed to him, then with the same hand bicep curled it up from the side, before slowly placing said hand over her chest. . . over the heart.

"You. . . really think that of me?" She nodded enthusiastically, believing every word she meant. The human mind was a complex thing, and she knew she would not know everything about him, much less than he knows himself, but there was one thing she knew of him; he was not weak.

". . . Thank you Haydee. I. . . I think I really needed that." The grip on his scalp had ceased before he even answered back, but at least with her hand hovering so close it in turn allowed her to quickly rub his hair in the way he seemed to favor.

It did the job, and the small smile that adorned his way alleviated her worries over his mentality. Still, as she looked on she couldn't help but sense his smile not be as genuine as first let on. It wasn't big or huge of a beam, and it looked to even lessen seconds after, with his shoulders not dropping in stiff feeling. She understood; his fears would not be brushed away with something as simple as a rousing speech, but she half-expected this manner to happen anyway, so at least for now she believed time and patience was the key for him to return to the stability she preferred.

"We really. . . should get going, though." She nodded in agreement, and turning around she finally recognized the rest of this place for what if fully contained. And strangely; she was surprised by how familiar this place looked to be.

It actively reminded her of that human area the two found themselves in before; save for shards of shattered glass not littering the floor before them: She made sure none of those were strewn about here.

Rather, this place looked highly well-kempt. Shadows were not an ever present scenario, as full lights shining below allowed her to take a good long look at this place at large. All around various human miscellaneous objects and designs were scattered about with as much care as a raging tornado, with random papers, pens and pencil, among other common office equipment laying about with none to clean it up. In fact, that alone let her know that there were once actual humans that used to work here. . . except none she could find. Not a single trace of a human having been here recently stained at all, but that fact did not stop her from taking a grander look at what this place had to offer.

Moving on, Haydee looked to the walls, and mainly, looked to the interesting racks on display. Within glass chambers held rows of racks hinges of metal sticking out from behind the panels, locked up tight, but strangely keeping out nothing of value at all. It seemed obvious they were meant to house something, and many duplicates of it, as the rack displays held repeated fashions of the hinges in permanent sets. Whatever they were, they were obviously gone now, and she held doubts she would see them anytime soon. Moving, Haydee looked down to the desks before her, flicking along random pieces of papers and notes, idly reading along them as they offered little in the way of answers, just random statistics and notes.

Looking around some more, she randomly picked up a large post-it note hanging to the side of one defective computer and read it though with frivolous examination:

Jenkins, I saw you bullying the Head of Robotics. Do it again, and you'll end up on the firing range . . . as a target! KNOCK IT THE FUCK OFF!

Love - Eva, Chief of Security (In case you had forgotten)

P.S. Stop passing around your security cards with Harold, we only have the two, and we need both of those. . . unless you do want to be demoted to Kennel Duty and cleanup.

Security? So then this place. . . was like a Security office of some kind? In the very least, some of the random scribbles and notes she had casually looked upon had suggested some details of security measures and criminal prevention, so in the least she began to understand this palace a little better. That said, with nothing more to go on she felt these facts useless to keep up on, and placing the memo back where she found it she continued on.

To her luck, by the side of the desks, among the random objects and papers she found something of actual note. Magazines! Two of them in fact. Grasping at them with an almost feverish clutch she found them both perfectly fitting for her firearm, but completely filled as well. She wasted no time placing them away, glad to find something of real note in this place. Along with that, her search did not end there as placed right nearby looked to be an obvious shell casing box. However, upon picking it up she immediately found it to be utterly empty inside, the weight barely tangible from the cardboard box. Well that was disappointing to find. . .

"Hey, Haydee." She turned to see the human look her way, eyes not fixated on her but past herself, growing more obvious from the point he held up. "Might that. . . be of some use to you." And turning around the other way, the gynoid let her hidden eyes settle onto something of more note than an actual note.

Right at the end of this small hallway, spread dead centre between two sets of empty racks, was there something hung up for the two to gawk at. Shining in pristine white, sitting alone with nothing more to protect itself, Haydee walked forward to meet face-to-face with what she had seen.

To her eyes, and her hands once she had walked herself over, slowly as she picked it up from the racks did she see that before her looked to be nothing over than actual chest armor. Wide, round and solid, this armor vest before her, one that dangled down plastic buckles, seemed almost fitting to be in here if this place was indeed a Security Office.

"Well. . . " She turned to Dale. "Aren't you going to. . . try it on?" He seemed almost. . . . Giddy, as if suppressing his excitement. Turning back to the armor in her hands, she had to admit there was a part of her that wondered what this vest would be like on her. After all, it made sense for her to want to, armor being something that could help save her life, and in turn continue to aid Dale in searching for safety. Seeing no reason to wait any longer, with quick understanding how it should go Haydee proceeded to place the vest upon her and buckle it up, fastening the vest to her like it was a true part of her.

Trailing her fingers down her, she couldn't hold back on thinking how useful this will be to her now. . . and how interesting it felt. Beside the white ceramic design, the outer side looked to hold a carbon fiber outer layer, giving it an almost fiberglass kind of look and feel when first touched. Along with that, she could feel the inner side had firm padding, one that pressed against her without providing discomfort. The black quick release buckles were a decent touch, and looked great against the bleached armor, almost shining against the ebony fasteners.

"Wow, Haydee, that looks great on you." She thought so to. . . until she realized where this armor could be greater used for. Pointing to her new vest, she then pointed to the human before.

"What, me? No no no, it fits you much better - I mean, suits you more than me. I-I don't think it would suit me at all. It looks almost tailor made for you." Looking down upon her she began to see where the human was getting at. It's design was not bulky, but still comparatively big, more suited for someone of her size. It almost looked to be made for someone with a female body as well, fitting against her curves. With its size and weight, she had doubts that though it would provide the human with better protection, in the end it may slow him down and constrict his movements. What good would a vest do against a fall in a chasm?

Beside that; as she thought she strongly believed the armor would look better on her then the human. It was her that would always try and face the enemies head on, after all.

"It really does look good on you." She nodded, agreeing that the vest does suit her now. That said though, hearing him essay that to her made her feel. . . nice. More than she had said that otherwise herself. She was not entirely sure why, though. . .

Regardless, they had to move on. There was still more to see here in this room, and though the door onward held no barricade, she didn't deem it right to discount this room so casually, especially when it has already proven quite fruitful thus far.

Moving on, Haydee trailed around the place some more, looking over any nook and cranny to find any form of beneficial reward for her adventuring. Under papers and inside drawers she looked, but to no avail did she find anything of worthy note to them. Not so much as a lone bullet hidden in the shadows was gifted to her person.

"I can't seem to make heads nor tails of these papers." The human idly announced, flicking through some papers with abandoned care. "I think I can vaguely understand what these mean, but. . . nothing comes to my mind. Nothing that I can remember." Beside herself, as she watched the human grow frustrated with his fruitless search for his gainable memories, Haydee sagged her shoulders in discomfort for him. She could understand where his dissatisfaction lied, his mind that by his supposed age, should be filled with happy, cheerful memories, was completely blank, the human knowing little else but this unforgiving place and the perils that kept taunting and petrifying him. She did not dare to think of how his mind would be if she by chance hadn't found him even so soon ago. That wasn't an idea she liked to formulate over.

Shaking her head in some attempt to cloud up these foggy, unbearable thoughts, her neck instantly froze on it's awkward spot once she had spotted something of queer interest; sandwiched between two papers laid an electronical, physical machine she knew of from previous times before. Not caring for when the two A4's unceremoniously were pushed to the ground, Haydee held up the Digital Entry with heavy focus as she found something that may, hopefully, prove to hold some intrinsic value between the texts.

"What you got there, Haydee?" Dale inquisitively asked, he too having noticed the strange device that now laid between her fingers. Looking to the man, and back to her device, she realised that, perhaps, such a device, as enigmatic as it were, could perhaps hold something of important value for the human's lost memories. Yes, that sounded quite plausible, if harmless by the worst of outcomes. So quickly, she ushered him over, pointing to the journal in her hands as Dale scampered on over with his bare feet. As he approached, Haydee reading it in her hands for him to read with her, the human looked down to the device with curious looks as he soundly mumbled out. "Oh, is that a digital journal?"

It was, and holding him close for them both to have a read through; Haydee made sure the human could read it alongside her as they both flickered through the entries with astound interest:

Entry 001

I have made a new, personal journal. This one I am keeping secret, separate from my research notes.

We moved into the facility, and today I had a small tour. The research they are doing here is amazing! Everything from next-gen alloys, to cybernetics, to even genetics. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. They can afford the best of everything. And I'm now part of it.

Tomorrow is orientation, and I will be meeting the other researchers. I admit, I'm a bit nervous, but Hadie is with me. That helps a lot.

Entry 002

Well, first day was . . . not the best, but not a total disaster. I did a presentation about my work on Hadie's AI for the others. At first, they looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears. Especially the woman who heads the Advanced Materials research. I don't mind being made fun of myself, but when she started deriding Hadie, it took a lot to keep my temper in check. But, Hadie gladly wiped their smug sneers off their faces, especially when I let her use my laptop to type. I wish I'd had a camera.

Entry 004

I have been working with the Robotics Division. I kept all my blueprints for Hadie and some initial ideas I didn't use. They like some of my early designs for Hadie, and want to use them for robot designs. They have more than the right facilities to build them, so they will be among the various projects.

Mostly, I am working on AI. When I saw where they had gotten to, I have to say I was NOT impressed. No wonder they brought me on board.

Entry 012

I'm surrounded by morons. Here I thought these people, the so-called 'nation's brightest', would be above things like High School cliques and such juvenile things. I was wrong. The head of the Advanced Materials research chided me that I hadn't even been to a university. Well excuse me! Some people were not born with a silver spoon in their mouth, like her. And the facility director is not much better. He was gloating about how he's a member of MENSA. I resisted the urge to retort that I was smart enough not to waste the money on them to gloat about my so-called intelligence.

However, work has been progressing. I have some up with a basic AI I am confident will serve as a good base for future work.

Entry 020

Today, I saw them doing testing for a new type of combat boot. They are trying something with small booster jets to enhance the jumping capability of soldiers. That's actually very interesting. Was also a bit fun to watch the jarheads faceplant. Their design is flawed, but for a change, I like to watch and see how long it takes them to realize how simple the fixes are. Sometimes idiocy is entertaining.

Entry 028

Today, I visited the Biological Lab. I was able to really see what they have been able to do, and I have to say, it is amazing.

They are working on advanced gene-editing. For once, I am impressed. And their research in cybernetics and advanced nanomaterials and nanotech is really amazing. I asked about synthetic muscles, and they actually ARE working on that! Oh, I would love to use them for Hadie! Then she would have even greater range of motion than she already does. I had a long talk with one of the techs there, and he thinks they could be viable, with a few more years of development. This is very good. While Hadie is wonderful, there is so much I can improve on.

Entry 035

Today was actually not bad. I showed them how agile Hadie can be with one of their training courses. The General seemed impressed. The facility director, not as much. I'm certain he was against the idea of me being hired. The General asked me if I could make robots as agile as Hadie is and with the same ability to traverse terrain. I told him I could make it even better, that Hadie was only my first try. Oh, the look on the director's face! He looked like he was going to have an aneurysm. But it's true. Hadie was my proof of concept. But she will always be near and dear to me. I am also working on plans to upgrade her as part of my tests.

Entry 037

I am continuing to work on plans for upgrading Hadie. Both her body, and her AI. I work on her as much as I do my lab work.

I am looking at the designs for the synthetic muscle tissues, and am positive I can make them work along with pistons, servos and other mechanics. Hadie would be even more agile, stronger and faster than she already is.

Entry 041

I am livid. I have been making great leaps and bounds with AI, and applying everything I have learned about new materials to Hadie's design.

And today, they dropped the ball on me: They want me to design a new version of Hadie. But, what has me seeing red is they want her to be a PLEASURE model! I almost lost it right then and there. They want to make a "femme fatale". A unit that can operate as an assassin, as well as bodyguard, but also a pleasure robot. It took a lot of cold water to cool me down. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I should have expected this.

I told them it would take me a while, but I could do it. I could hear the snickers of the other researchers. Oh, just you wait and see. You think it's so funny? You won't when you see what I can do when I set my mind to it.

And I have the perfect name for their new 'pleasure' models: Haydee.

Entry 048

Once again, I am surrounded by morons. Those idiots were just a joke! The designs they were coming up with for the 'new' version of Hadie were such a travesty, I got involved. If they want a pleasure model, I'll give them the best damn one there is! I took the design, plotted the directions of the muscles, placed the servos, pistons, and had a complete schematic by the end of the day. The director's jaw was on the floor. If I wasn't so tired, I would have rubbed his face in it.
I guess that's just another day in the life of Dale Marshall: government researcher."

Of all the statements she had read, of all the confessions, facts, disclosures and sentences that had been written out within this still enigmatic journal entries, nothing, and the gynoid truly meant nothing, had thrown her through a loop more then having read that final sentence within these paragraph of someone's self-published story.

By now, her interest in these journals, while vague and more lightheartedly casual in approach, were done less so in necessity and more out of general curiosity. Not to say she did so purely out of her own amusement, as she had hoped to find some clue or inkling of this palace at large hidden within these ever-growing walls of texts, but more often than not did she find little of importance spurting out to her from these Digital Entry's. Random ramblings, babblings of some unknown person retelling his life story, a person Haydee had never once even thought she'd meet, but at least for curiosity's, and harmlessness, sake did she persist in reading through these entry's. Yet for all she had thought they were learning towards, for all she had little to work on except assumptions to their existence and whose life they focused on; never did she think to find a sentence such as that to be read to her.

No: to them both, after all. Dale was still right beside her, having read through, and very likely, jotted his eyes along that very line that no doubt had forced his mind to a halt as quickly as hers did. Such a fact seemed. . . unfathomable, almost, if not for nothing insinuating that perhaps this was actually false either. Such a revelation, numerous revelations, came so fast so suddenly Haydee felt as if her heels were going to trip, and she had to suspect Dale, the amnesiac, the blank-memorised human beside her, was also drawing the same variety of conclusions.

To that, just before his slow blinking, almost devoid staring outward gradually turned her way, to finally burst out numerous questions she knew she could not answer, she cursed herself for not letting him read the few journals previously; even if she could not have foreseen this scene happening before her.

"But. . . Haydee, I'm Dale, I'm Dale. . . is that my last name? Is that. . . me?" She had no mouth to speak, but right now such a possibility was meaningless to her, as she had no answer to give. "Is this. . . me?" What do you reply in return? A shrug, an act to indicate a lack of knowledge or answers to give to another. One that, though honest, would in turn offer no help for this matter. A nod, to agree to the statement, but to give a lie that though raised his happiness higher, could surely come crashing down if found true. Or a shake instead, letting him down gently, but could later confuse more if it instead is found true. No, she had no answer to give but a tilt, an indication of her own confusion, as she, in a way that mirrored the incredibly different person that was him, was as lost and memoryless on this subject as he was.

"Is my last name Marshall? Is this who I am? Did I write these? Did I go through these experiences? Did I. . . Hadie. . . is that somehow related?" She tilted her head again, this time in a more obvious manner to state her utter bewilderment, her finger tapping her chin as she mindfully processed all these questions herself. "Did I also. . . Haydee: if this is me, if this is who I was, then did I. . . was I the one that original designed you?" The tapping ceased, and so did almost every piston in her body. Once the question had reached her internal operating system, it was as if every electrical part in her body was suddenly devoid of electrons, as her whole body froze in place upon the human uttering that unexpected inquiry.

"Haydee. . . Was I the one that made you?" She did not move, though not from a lack of trying. Her inside could barely even shake as the thought of such a barely noticed adumbration was highlighted within her very muddled mind. Dale, despite his own bewildered, flabbergasted state, quickly picked up on Haydee's lack of answer, allowing him to quickly digest she held no answer in return. In turn, he was able to swiftly deduce she likely held no answer at all to give, her mind as blank on this situation as he was.

"If I created you, then. . . why can't I remember?" He mused aloud, her attention still on him as any such thoughts of keeping frozen were quickly thawed. "Did someone kidnap me, maybe? Was I drugged? Did I get a. . . nasty blow, on the back of me noggin? What made my memories disappear like this?" Haydee tilted her head in reply, hearing his theories as she too began to wonder.

". . . Well it's not like there will be a box laying around with my memories in it." As he mindlessly mused, looking around himself as if doing so would grant him the mercy of returned recollections, Haydee took the moment to look him over with deep thought. Her sensors do not detect any head trauma or any kind of injury that would cause memory loss. She knows there are certain kinds of drugs that can cause memory loss as a side-effect, most of them anesthetics and related ones. Though, thinking back to where she found him she did not find his delirious state looking to be caused by any drugs in his system, nor were any found around in the tiny room. To that end, she couldn't help but feel a little amused by what he said; as while partially true, they may yet find something to help him remember, even when she had doubts such an 'item' would be found anytime soon.

"Yet. . . " When Dale turned to her, with a shockingly calm smile on his features, Haydee could not help but have her gears all pause momentarily as she listened to his unexpected cheerful statement. "Maybe I'm not the same person in these texts. Maybe this isn't about me. But if I am, then I am very proud of you, Haydee! You're very smart and strong, and caring above all else. I'd be more than happy to know I made someone as wonderful of a person as you."

She. . . how does she respond to that? How does one. . . a machine respond to being called that? Granted, his praise isn't entirely unjustified, she does acknowledge her own strength and power as being superior, but how does one analyze wonderful-ness as a concept? It does not hold intrinsic meaning, it is but a word to describe something of personal praise, a synonym for highly laudable credit based purely on one's own perspective. She - that, was not what she was built for. To be praised and called a person. . . was she? How does she. . . find the reply both necessary and deserving to respond to his confession of trust and gratitude? How does a machine respond to such a proclamation that was so. . . nice?

A nod. Without even realizing how prolonged her frozen state of self-questioning was going on, including barely noticing when her index fingers were poking against each other, Haydee finally responded with a short, barely energetic nod, one that was almost slurred by how lethargic it moved.

. . . Now what? She had responded, he was still smiling, and now it felt like there was something more to add. The world, their world felt silent, not even calm but unmoving, unchanging, like there was something missing here, a noise to escape the silence, a move to escape the inactivity.

When she noticed the pad still in her hand, her mind flashed, and suddenly she felt a bright idea come to her mind. Pointing at her Digital Entry, she then waved around, gesturing to him to look around before finally pointing to the device again.

"Wha? Oh; you're telling me to take a look out for more of those! Great plan, maybe the next one might even tell us what happened to me. I'm glad to think that someone as amazing as you could have been invented by me." She could only nod again, barely even reacting when Dale's focus looked away and to this place as a whole again. That left her feeling alone. . . and her shoulders sagged because of it. To more, when she peeled her eyes away from the human, and to the device still held in her hands, she couldn't help but thank back on all the journals from before. . . and what had laid within.

If Dale is her creator, then that must mean he was also the same boy that got bullied by Caleb all that time ago. Not to say it made her hate the bully more, but rather it made her deduce that some development started to make sense to her now; why he is so skittish, acting like he had taken abuse in his past. He never deserved it, even more now when she realized all the good actions he had undertaken in his past. If Dale truly is her creator, the one who wrote those entries, he has been through enough already. Enough of this place, enough of his fractured mind.

They needed to leave. To go find the real end.

Placing the Digital Entry down, when she moved over to the still wanderlust one she grasped his attention by a tap on his shoulders. He still wore that smile, albeit more placid now, but his high-energy gave her a sense of relief when thinking back to rooms prior. With a point she gestured to him to the next door; open right at the end for them. He understood, answering as so while he began to take a step forward, acknowledging this room held nothing more of importance for them now.

Yet. . .the moment he did so Haydee was already there by his side. Right by his side, her footsteps matching his, she kept right against him as she led him out.

He spoke nothing about it in return.

---

Well. . . any such hope the next room would hold anything of useful value to his memories were quickly pushed out the door the moment they first stepped inside. In fact, all things considered it was less a leave of the room, and more of a continued hop out anytime they so much as peaked towards the next area.

To better evaluate, upon her first steps in the sudden sight of this large room, far bigger than anything she had seen yet, almost made her double take upon noticing there was too much to take in all at once. Far wider, far longer, maybe even far taller than any room she had previously seen before, the gynoid almost had to slam both herself and Dale into the wall as she felt suddenly threatened by this huge chasm of a room. Thankfully, she opted to simply wave a hand out and halt Dale in his tracks, refusing him access any further before she scoped out this room as a whole.

This place felt. . . strange. 'Feeling strange' was not a common phrase in her logistical vocabulary, but those two words pinned together seemed to be the most viable phrase to call the bubbling sensation running through her now. Odd, different really, was what she felt to call this place as a whole. Besides it's large size, something that can only best be demonstrated by there being no active pit in this void of a room. Such a term seemed fitting, as this room was littered with shadows and darkness. Around every corner. From the tiles below to the very walls that reached all around, black littered every slit of space within these walls.

And yet. . . she wouldn't think to call it dark. She could see quite far, no abundant darkness shrouded over her vision, allowing her to see as beyond as physically feasible. Despite the inky blackness that seemed to drip down from every crook and cranny, her own metallic pearl covering was not at all affected by the lack of colour in this realm. Neither was Dale, as though he looked a little off by this room's presence, did not seem to be fully installed with any fear around him either.

Taking the moment to study this room more clearly, now that she noticed no danger was currently presented, she couldn't help but give a wander to the large columns that raised to the roof. Many seemed to be present here, all the same colour and size, placed at sparse intervals to each other, yet what also looked to be connecting them all were gratings high above, guarded over by railings going all along the sides. That said, said pathways were noticeably high, too high up for her boots even at full blast. At the current moment, she found no possible way to reach the railings up above.

But such a reason for doing so was left currently unspoken about. She had yet to see any indication either had to find a pathway onto the platforms above, so when she ushered him along with her she made a mental note to keep an eye out for any such access up.

finally moving forward, the gynoid couldn't shake off the feeling something was amiss here. She did not let her guard down, especially after the previous rooms, with the civilized one unchanging even that aspect, and though she felt some giddy, confusing thoughts over that possible revelation, this room looked to try and erase any such affirmative outlooks over her unknown creation. As she dragged him along without force, body tensed in anticipation her audio sensors were on high alert as they kept hearing strange echoes bouncing around the place. Sounds of heavy footing on grated pathways, reflected noises of something moving, something making headway to places she could not pinpoint. They sounded distant, far, unspeaking for their roles of existence as they moved without concern over who happened to be listening. Dale, as it seemed when she carried an eye his way, looked to be hearing similar sounds himself, best exemplified when he quietly mumbled out "Do you hear that?"

She nodded, whipping out her firearm at the ready as she led him towards the end of a wide column by the front, by the corner, planting herself against the solid wall as she slithered around to the end. A check back to ensure Dale was comfortably sticking close, Haydee held her gun at the ready as she slowly tilted her head out the side of the corner. . .

Nothing. To the left. To the right. Forward. This place still as darkly lit here as anywhere, but beside seeing more columns and walls. . . Haydee saw neither hide nor hair of anything of present danger. To a side she looked, yet when she thought something was peeking out from her peripheral vision a look over made clear nothing is there. . . or was there? Keeping still, she gripped her gun tightly when she heard more of that noise echo out from everywhere. Bouncing off all the walls, her innate sensors could not pick up on where they originating from. Clanking metal grates, something stomping about, it seemed to come out like a ghost, appearing and disappearing without a trace. And Haydee, high alert looking around herself with near abandon, trying to pinpoint, trying to find where this mysterious noise was originating from-

Up above, she found something was pointing at her. . .

Like a gun!

Like lightning she surged; her whole body blasting itself away out from the open just in time to not only hear the familiar crack of a ballistic ammunition being fired out a barrel, but to see the remnants of an object whizz right past her face and lodge itself into the floor before her. Upon that, both her, and the human behind her, almost jumped from where they stood when the tiles garnered a newly-created crater right before them. With shocked eyes they looked, with muscles they tensed, and with heavy heartbeats was Dale now suddenly bereft of cheerful emotions as they both nearly tripped and slammed themselves hard into the concrete wall.

For a few seconds, everything was silent. No more cracks of gunfire, no more sounds of metal gratings being rocked on, not even Dale's breathing had changed, as it took but a quick moment for them both it finally recognized what it was that just occurred.

"What?" He sputtered with a slurred, overexerted call. "What was - that was not you, was it?" She could only quickly shake her head denying him his chance of a more preferable outcome. Realizing what just happened, and how it had affected the human, Haydee quickly took back her hold of the situation as she made sure her grip on the firearm was correct before she swung herself around the corner and aimed-

It had gone. Disappeared during their perturbed realization.

Damn. Turning herself back away to keep under cover she transferred her priority back to the human, not wanting him to return to that state as seen before. With careful hands she held him, kept him steady as she looked him all over, checked his pulse and his temperature, ensuring he did not turn towards shock.

Surprisingly, he almost seemed to push her away after a brief moment, as if demanding she let him go.

"I'm fine." He exasperated, eyes still a tad wide as he fingered under her grasp. "I'm. . . was only surprised." Though she first thought he was being defensive, she found his body, pulse, heat, even his muscles, slowly returned to normality far quicker than she anticipated. Had she estimated wrong? With all the information in her database she was sure Dale would have been far more agitated and worrisome given the circumstances, if not from rooms prior than from the history of his younger self.

Yet he seemed back to usual now, albeit still looking understandably on edge. Slowly letting go, her arms going back to her own sides, she wondered how her estimation was proven incorrect. Perhaps she had gotten used to Dale being so skittish? Or maybe he had become desensitized to gunfire by being around her by now?

Regardless, he was mentally fine now, and that was what mattered most. Second, only to them getting out of this horrible place. She could still hear it, sounds of marching going on above them, pacing around to its next vantage point. Whatever it was, the sight too dark and sudden to really tell, it was obvious that this unknown entity was not something she could take lightly: it had range on its side, something she quickly noted was not something either have came up against during their partnered trails. Not to discredit her own range as well; but looking to the empty gratings up above she saw how the distance was far from preferable given her current armory.

This was not to be an easy fight, one-sided in a direction she did not like, and if they both were to get on through she could see they needed to avoid getting in the sights of whatever it was that fired back.

Gun at the ready, attention heightened onto the heights above, she ushered him to stay close and follow before she wandered out; into the open, albeit keeping them both close to a wall as they traversed forward.

Since surrounded by the tall columns around every corner, each one housing a circling grating that connected to the next closest columns, Haydee felt unable to sense an inkling of safety towards any corner of the rising walls. Her senses kept shape, they looked every which way as every direction felt laden with danger, all angles looked to house a spot for easy targeting by the still unknown adversary hidden here. To that, as she maneuvered on with Dale right in tow, she made sure he was able to be safely guarded no matter by which direction the mysterious foe would appear.

That thought, however, was the idea that aghast her the most. No where seemed safe for him, no place where he could calm down lest he suddenly break by all these dangerous sensory overload. Though seemingly only on edge at the current moment, while they tried to move on forward, keeping close to the nearest column that occupied their physical space, Haydee couldn't help but be given fearing ideas of him suddenly breaking down out in the open like this, like before. To that, the gynoid knew to keep a watchful eye on both him and the way above their heads while she held her firearm securely.

Haydee couldn't tell what was worse; perhaps hearing the sounds of devious footwork up above her head - or hearing nothing more now except the sounds of their own footwork clacking of the walls and ways, bouncing to the far end walls before jumping back into her head. With the darkness of this room's veil, Haydee could only feel unease as they walked underneath a grating above them, even after checking there was no villain hiding a distance away. Staying by a wall she sneaked on forward, carefully looking around herself with weapon in hand while Dale-

Was not right by her side.

Instantly she snapped around; only to find him just by the other end of the column. Unhurt and unchanged, his reason for keeping away from her safe range of arms was down to his attention heavily focused on something above. Something her look didn't get to see.

"You hear that?" His voice but a whisper, keeping his voice low. Upon his inquiry she too turned her attention over to her audible sensors, now focusing on the muffled, yet echoing sound of gratings being trampled over. The noises began to confuse her, sounding somehow near and far, hitting the pathways above with uneven steps, of multiple clangs. . . of more than one of those things around here. Two, three maybe? She couldn't tell, almost didn't want to tell, but even when she forced herself to listen intensely she could only vaguely make assumptions about the possible number over the adversaries circling above.

Trying to swarm her? Or just rambling around like lost puppies? That was not the question she felt right in sticking around and finding out. Even when she couldn't see any of the foes moving about, she knew if they stayed then surely they would be upon them in no time. Grasping at the hem of his shirt, Haydee swiftly tugged him along, keeping a firm hold of his side as she ushered him on.

The moment they stepped within the hidden shadow of the next column did Haydee push both into the wall. An audible "squeak" was lightly emitted from the human, but otherwise the human spoke of little else. A smart decision, Haydee thought over, as she continued to listen intently for the sounds of grate gaiting once more.

They had stopped, even if just for the moment, and without being able to see any looking down currently she scurried him off with her, dredging him along with hurried speed as she kept a sharp eye out for any barrel that happened to point their way.

Bricking his body to the wall, she kept low and silent as she tentatively looked out to the next space on. A farther distance away, she made sure to look around, even behind to the realm up top; where still it seemed no shown access to was existing. At least on the ground, despite being out in the open, she assumed she did not have to face one of the things head-on, as at least the floor below did not. . . not. . .

Oh. . . how unfortunate. . .

Slowly crawling back into the comfort of the wall, she barely registered the concerned look on Dale's face until he tentatively spoke out "Is the way clear? Did you see something?"

How? How does one explain to him about what she just saw? How does she explain the sight of two bodies lying about behind the corner: one, an older model Haydee, had taken a shot in her stomach, likely before the shot in her head ceased her operations permanently, while the other, a human corpse, had taken a round to his legs, before a final bullet pierced his skull. How does she explain the image of them looking to be reaching out towards each other, fingers but inches apart, seemingly crawling to another. How does she. . . even so much as begin in trying to explain any of that?

She would not let his mind see it, and quickly grasping around his shirt once again, Haydee changed the formula around via her hand coming over and hiding his eyes behind her palm. He must be seeing nothing but black now, which to her meant a good situation, as he would not see the old scene over the side she was not taking him to.

He nearly tripped on his feet as she scurried him over, the human unable to identify what was going on before him until she finally relented, allowing him to only the see trek after.

"I know you," he paused to blink, "have you reasons, but could you please warn me before you do that? I. . . I can't really say I like that very much." She turned her head swiftly to him. Perhaps a little too swiftly, as he immediately shut his mouth instantly after, with the human looking away a little, shoulder sinking. Though as much as she did not want to see him upset, there were far more important circumstances surrounding him than comfort. She needed him safe, both mentally and physically, so having to use force with him was not something out of the cards for her.

Except. . . was this the right way to help him? Surely keeping him moving would ensure they get this place over with quicker, but what if her snap judgement and treatment were in fact an ail to the human, not a boon? Had she been getting him wrong. . . like her estimate from before. . . had she been-

A barrel was pointing down from above!

Instantly she grabbed the human and dropped to her knees, just barely having the bullet that fired out brush past her head and create a hole in the column behind her. Wasting no time, Haydee swiped up her gun and fired frantically, but alas only after the unseen advisory had turned to high tail it out. Her bullets fired, but with the still formless figure having immediately moved on only sparks of useless exit were created from her firing. Her fingers twitched when she clicked some more, and upon her understanding her magazine was now empty she swiftly reloaded her firearm before waving it about herself frantically. Wherever it moved now, out of sight, at least it meant it could now fire again right now; and taking the opportunity Haydee quickly pulled the man to his feet, ignoring the peep of sorry that happened to escape his lips before she moved then promptly on.

When they moved to the open, she huddled over him with his body low to the ground; her body his shield, should he so require it. She would not take the chance, and quickly she reigned him over to the next column, keeping him still low like herself as she listened, heard the clattering of footwork over metal, before she expeditiously carried them on. Those sounds, of unknown feet slamming once more unto the grating with echoed effect kept her mechanical nerves on end as she moved him forward. They seemed to be getting louder, their echo bouncing right into her head as the gynoid twitched every which way to ensure no more barrels were aimed down.

To the next, she carried on. Right towards the column as she looked around and up to see-

With a heave she pulled them both around, behind the wall, as she was sure a shadow perched above looked down on them. Firearm ready, she made a quick scan around before turning the corner and faced-

Coast was clear. Now, or before, unimportant, as swiftly onward she led. More and more the footsteps felt to be closing in, more and more did she lead him on with steps getting faster herself. She could hear the human pant hear his feet slapping to the tiles with heaving steps, but she would not stop. Could not stop, not to any place that left them sitting ducks; and the noises kept on escalating. Along walls behind and around the gigantic pillars, she barely gave a moment's rest, she had to, as they had to keep moving, keep on going away from the adversaries line of sight even when she felt that soon, it could be too late, too many around them too many to take aim and-

With a heave she pulled the human to the side of a wall, then herself, and for a brief moment time stood still as everything just paused for her. The only sound she could hear, besides the descending noise of metal grates, was of the humans breathing catching up to him.

Their backs to a column, the only thing the two faced now was a wall. A solid wall, one that stretched all the way along with a high-up pathway in sight. Nothing to come from in front, or the sides, and especially not the back. . . for the moment, Haydee was sure she had found a safe spot. A place for her. . . to finally lower her guard. . .

"Is that why we stopped?" Dale sprouted out, pointing over to his left. "You found the exit?" To her shock; when she did turn her head she found that indeed there was a door over to their side, one that looked to be unbarred as well. She. . . hadn't even realized there was a door nearby. Had she not been looking out for one?

No, she. . . she had put that in the back-burner, surely, as most likely she had assumed said exit onward would appear on the farthest end. Most likely, at least, she was sure. For the moment now, it meant they could in fact travel on, and holding her firearm carefully she placed a hand tentatively over the human still backed into the wall before she peeked back out.

She knew there was still movement, up above in the rafters, but for now she spotted not a hide of any of those enemies; and with the exit out looking as different as it did, steps leading up that came out by the walls, not in front, with even a strong barricading in front that would provide grand cover, this meant their exit out was but a hop away.

Ushering him to follow, she made quick steps towards the exit, an eye still watching the ways above, before she walked up the steps and came face to face with this reprise of a barrier. She didn't think to give this place a solid look back, glad be done with this tall, overtly compensating room. The only thing left to be said, was done via the mouth of the human stood graciously behind her:

"Do you think; we'll have to come across those. . . whatever they were, again?"

She was sure of it. Oh yes, she was unfortunately quite sure of that.

---

Coming forth, Haydee didn't think to feel any displeasure at what she was being forced to regard. Rather she thought it would be more surprising to not notice the obvious similarities this room had with one previous.

Yep, again the room was blanketed over with a veil of black, the ebony colouring seeping into every corner, showering the place with unending shadows. And again, this room was huge; except. . . perhaps, not as large as the room prior? Taking the moment to observe, she found that this room looked to be lacking a lot of those tall columns like before. Not to say none were present, but those that were seemed sparse. And more, in contrast to the intricately woven walkways that stretched around the columns like the web of a predator; the gratings themselves seemed far less abundant now, even after concluding the lessened columns would already hold far less in them.

However, what clued her into believing this room was going to be something different was the layers of walls that slivered all around. Even as she looked from her perch, the small set of stairs that led down called for her to start to find the next exit through, she could see more winding pathways on the ground floor. She would have been more miffed for seeing yet another maze presented before her, if not for her noticing the trails ahead seemed more expansive in distance, far less constricting or even winding when compared to rooms previous.

It was not only her eyes that did the searching; her other now sharpened sense, her audible sensors, also picked out the sounds of rambling going on within the sounds of this place. Steps were faintly heard, clanking around with perceived malicious intent, yet the bodies of which she still found hidden away. Strangely, however, as she continued to stay back and listen in, she was sure the echoing sounds of cluttering were not purely originating from the high rise above. . .

If that meant that perhaps she'll have to face these enigmatic foes head on, then so be it. She was starting to have an interest in having not yet put a full round of bullets into these ranged, enigmatic foes.

Though, doing so would require her to actually search through this jungle of corners if that were to be the case. Case or not, they should move on without delay.

Stepping down the stairs with her firearm at the ready, Haydee gave quick glances around to ensure no ambushes were awaiting their presence. Along with this, she made sure to give a decent glance to the human trailing behind, finding it satisfying that he seemed in better spirits, at least when given the current situation. His eyes glinted towards the higher sections, no doubt wandering in that direction in case more of those ranged adversaries happened to appear. With her own direction laying on forward, she moved herself into this maze, entering into the labyrinth with cautious steps.

Quickly, they were surrounded by the veil of black walls. Curtaining around them, towering over to halt their view, Haydee refused to flinch by the recurring thoughts of casualty that could come forth. She knew danger could occur around any corner, could show its ugly head with a misplaced stand in the open, but with her gun raised she would not allow such an instance to materialize. Walking through, turning a corner into a next stretched hallway, Haydee made note of how different of a vibe this place seemed to give her. Before; with the stretched around meshed labyrinths, Haydee knew that though danger could lurk around every corner, the light that shined through the multiple gaps lit up against her body as she allowed her to see the figures standing nearby. Here, the walls were solid, and though darkness did not shine down from above as fluently, she felt it didn't help by how much more she stood out. Her body was white, pristine, and though she knew one could take pride by how clean she let it be kept, now; she felt it almost a hindrance when she realized how it stood against the midnight cloak that painted every wall, ceiling and floor tiles; standing out like an easy target.

White contrasting against black, a duality of colours. And not the first instance of this ever happening, as she was not the only kind to hold such a contrast of shades. Why, light against darkness was a distinction reminiscent to her of the other machines labelled-

Slasher!

Upon her turn of the corner; this was the word that instantly slammed into her head. One step out around the corner presented to her a situation most dire - a bladed foe, one swiftly sprinting her way. She may have had little time to react to the sight of a charging foe, but her reaction speed was more than sufficient to understand the threat presented to her. With a raise of her gun she fired out a burst of her pistol, all three bullets instantly landing into its body before it promptly fell without grace.

Taking a moment to understand the situation that had just occurred, it took Haydee a solid second to realize what she had just taken down was not one that could have attacked from afar. And a solid second later, her pistol still gripped in her hand, did she start to realize the true dangers that this skein of black screens may now hold-

"Haydee - Up above!" A flick of her neck upwards was immediately met with a grab of the human behind before she whipped them both forward and into the safety of behind cover - just in time to witness a bullet shoot into the tiles before them.

The sounds of footsteps upon grating knocked their sense back to reality and with her gun raised the gynoid spun around back to the open and up. . . to see no adversary present at all. Whipping back into cover, Haydee took a moment to be still as she could only huff at the now blatant realization.

"I wish I hadn't asked that question." Inquiry spoken or nah; it wouldn't change the fact both disliked being right exactly now. Above and on the ground floor; nowhere was safe for them now. They had walls for cover; but out here they were still sitting ducks. And they're only option was to keep moving forward.

With a clap she garnered his attention, and with a point she ushered him to follow closely behind. Dale made no attempt to either question or resist her command, and moving off from the wall before he did she gave the column up above one solitarily look before swiftly moving onward. As she moved forward, the creeping feeling she was being watched did not lessen while her eyes pertained now to not only every corner they came across but every column they could see from above these walls. If they could see the walkways - those upon could see them. Haydee's gun did not falter in the slightest.

The persistent echoes still clambered towards her mind, the noises of malicious footsteps almost taunted her while she kept her attention both on the way forward and above. By the time she reached the next corner she kept to the wall, taking a second gander to the realms above, before peeking around.

A Slasher, one the immediately walked forward from its short distance over upon noticing it was not alone. Haydee did not react as sharply this time, she was more prepared now, and with a twitch onto her pistol switch she now fired two consecutive shots towards the target; both ending up in the machine's head. It fell without grace, and before she moved on she made a head count to the realms above them before pressing onward.

Every time she heard the sound of rambling gratings it put Haydee on edge right the moment after. It wasn't the sounds that jittered her weapon arm, but the quiet solace that came after. As it was then, she believed, they had stopped moving and began to search. When they finally stayed quiet, their presence was cloaked in shadows while their barrels aimed out towards targets to form new holes in.

She had them both stay close to a wall as they slithered along. Creeping along like a vine, Haydee kept her sight on the rises above as she crawled along. Whether or not she would have preferred this maze stay or not she saw to not matter now, as all the two needed to do was keep creeping forward until they found the next exit out. Inching along the wall, as she met with a corner she slowly pulled up her pistol while she tentatively looked around it. To the front, for any Slashers or such other kin lurking about, before she looked up to meet with a-

She twisted back around the moment she saw a single barrel stretching outwards, searching for it's next target. Either by luck or her internal power moving her at top speed, any such gunfire rang out, giving her indication that no such aim had been carried out towards her position. For a few moments longer, Haydee felt to reign still, awaiting, listening for that tell-tale sign.

A mere moment of darkness had passed, seconds of a complete deathly silence, before the sounds of crunched gratings came like music to her ears. Though still tentative as she looked outward, upon the noticing of no enemies in her sights quickly she moved them both along.

The next area led two options out; to her right and forward. To her forward looked to lead nearby that very column she knew a hidden foe still laid, but to her right would mean going back the way they came from: and she had her doubts it would lead to any exit. If they needed to return, then they must, but for the moment she saw fit that the way onward looked more clear, danger present or not. At least she knew where the danger may arrive from. Swiftly, she trudged him along.

Keeping her eye out, she made sure to keep close to the wall adjacent to that column while she moved. She would take no chances, not with the likes of that around, and any moment she was sure the danger was too great she plugged them both to the wall. She didn't care that she had to do exactly that a few times as she maneuvered around, the gynoid saw absolutely no reason to change such a repeated action if it meant a lowered risk of danger. The only secondary motion she made sure to keep was on Dale's mental state. Which, while certainly not exactly looking the best whenever she had to quickly press him to the wall, the little wheeze he gave every time was not the most pleasant of sounds for her to hear, he still looked to be in satisfactory spirits with little notion of suspicion that threats of weakening his fragile mind were present. For that, she continued onward for moments longer until they were out of sight of the column behind.

Longer she continued on, rounding around the bend and to the next corner. How much longer on she did not know, but even if it was miles down the way she knew not to let the idea of rushing get to her. Tentatively again, she spied around the bend, holding her gun at the ready as she looked around to spot:

A Slasher. One that had spotted her as soon as she did it. No matter to her; Haydee was more than ready deal with the likes of something as simple as a -

Barrel!

Immediately, Haydee shoved them both away, just in time to hear a gunshot ring out as a bullet whizzed out into the open, shattering the unlucky tile that decided to belong in its warpath. Having little time to react to what was about to proceed, Haydee immediately dragged Dale along behind her, not reacting to the sounds of the human's confused babbles before they shut up the moment the killer machine came into frame. Swiftly she fired out her gun, forcing the robot to take two bullets to its jaw before it collapsed to a useless heap right before her eyes.

Dale said nothing more, she perceiving that likely he had grasped the situation at hand. A mere second later the sounds of movement leaped into her ears, and when Haydee quickly slithered along, peeping back around the corner she saw no foe in her sight. Knowing it meant no foe had their sights on them both she immediately had them spring forward, keeping a delicate watch as they moved along.

The sounds of movement kept gnawing at her head. The sounds of ranged death by rounds she feared could be of armor-piercing quality were an omnipresent bubble in her smoothened mind, one caused by the fizzing carbonation of many other factors swimming around her logical inorganic brain. Yet still; as they twisted around the turns, she prepared herself for any unwanted advancement to their position, she found the sound of movement to be getting. . . quieter. Distant.

As if they were coming towards an ending.

The thought, as technically optimistic albeit vague of an idea it may be, spurred her on as she knew she was more than ready to leave this place. She still kept herself on high alert, however, as such a revelation was merely more towards an inclination than any truth. Her weapon arm still cocked to attention, Haydee led them on towards the final pillar before them. Stepping towards it, her senses ensuring no surprises were forthcoming from up above, the gynoid made note how the walls began to finally trail off; stopping just sort of after the way. With what appeared to be the end of the room in sight, Haydee slithered around the side of the column with feverish eagerness, approaching around the bend with focused eyes as she turned her head around the corner to found-

An exit! The way out, the way away from this place, the way to finally escape from this nightmare-promoted realm. One that was only a few leaps away and guarded solely by a lone figure with an elongated barrel-

Like lightning she guttered her body into the edge of the column with instant haste, a mere second before the roaring sounds of a firing round blasted right past them - one that though never physically had touched the duo, the noise blasted right into their ears and instantly reinstated their feelings of dread.

She saw how Dale nearly jumped out of his skin, metaphorically speaking, upon the unexpected clashing of a large round against the more sombre, silent backdrop that was now upon them. She was more than ready to help calm him, though upon seeing him instantly know what the situation before them was, she believed her assistance was not presently required. Rather, with that quickly settled she was able to focus more onto the current situation at hand; what her next action must be.

She waited for a few moments to move, not making an inch of a move as she listened in. As she readily thought; this foe was not moving from its spot; making it the guardian to their linear exit out. This was not an enemy she knew they could avoid, rather, now they have no choice but defeating this adversary before them if they hope to cross the threshold.

Good, she thought firmly. She had a bone to pick with these enigmatic enemies, and she felt more than ready to insert a hail of bullets into these antagonists' skulls. For the danger they possessed, their misguided actions over trying to kill Dale. . . one was not enough to her, she wanted them all destroyed. But if she could only procure one elimination for now, then she would take it gladly.

The problem therein, though, was exactly how such an action would occur. Said guard seemed more than ready to put a bullet in her head first, and with its seemingly accurate aim and fast firing no doubt her gun, no matter how powerful it is in its own right, would not be perfectly sufficient at striking it down first. More so, with it looking to be standing up on that podium that housed the only entry out, one that held high enough cover to keep its lower half out of danger, she knew a battle of attrition of any kind would not do. No, she needed a plan here. A strategy.

But what kind, she could only leave up to empty thoughts to emerge with. With taps of her chin she began to formulate a draft in her mind. Yet even with the world gone still like this her undistracted mind was having trouble trying to formulate what her next course of action would be. Her head a blank, her mind near-instantly shutting down any new plan that came as she found the risks outweigh the chances. No matter the angle or speed, with what she knew of this foe it would not take long for it to burrow a bullet into her head if given the second, a second she could not utilize to her full potential given her current line up.

Her ideas were futile and useless. She wouldn't be too surprised if Dale had a better idea than her.

The very Dale that looked to be currently trying to peek his head out the other corner-

Without giving any audible que Haydee pulled her arm forward and dragged Dale back into the wall, squishing his fleshy frame into the surface as her force almost came close to hurting him. When his attention finally overcame the shock and focused itself onto the gynoid beside him Haydee swiftly announced her reaction with a deep shake of her head.

"S. . . sorry." He replied slowly as he dropped his head in shame. "I was only trying to. . . make sure the coast was clear." Well: good intentions for it or not, that still was too risky for one such as him to do. If any one were to take the risk it should be her. Especially when that still unknown foe had its sights aimed they're way, even when it was looking in the wrong direction.

Hold on. . . that might be it!

Tapping her chin in thought, Haydee began to rewind her memories and think over the past minutes that came before. Not on her slinking around nor on those Slashers, but the ranged foe's behaviour - how they think, how they react. All that she had compiled into her database about these mysterious entities was starting to make her think and learn.

Not forgetting her human companion in mind, she calmly pointed to him, then the floor, earring a nod in return for her command before reading her gun again and began to take steps. Not back the way she looked out before; instead Haydee began to move to the place Dale was once trying to peek out of. Carefully so, she turned the corner before hunkering herself right to the end; to the corner that edge towards where the ranged one would be. And reading her pistol Haydee gently peeked around the wall. . . letting her vision slowly see more around the bend as her head peered out from the column to see:

The fiend, the very same one that guarded the exit out, was peering through the scope of it's weapon: in the direction she had once peeked out but moments earlier. For a split second longer did she not move. Her head was dangerously peeking out from the pillar, almost vulnerable so as she quickly observed the actions of the guard before her; making important note of how it readied its weapon, how it stayed unmoving like a stature as it took its guard stance very well: and how it took almost a second for it too realize it was being observed at a different angle.

The moment it realized a target was observing its very movement, it swerved its gun around to face the new direction; yet it did not know the one doing had not only suspected this outcome to occur, but had already planned for it. Like the air she vanished, and like the wind she sprinted around the column like a gale, just barely grazing past the human still standing in place like she issued as didn't stop her run until she leaped past the corner out into the open - and aimed her gun with deadly intent.

It took just a moment for the enemy to realize it's target was in the open, vulnerable to a sharp round to her head, but the moment it took was just long enough for Haydee to not only prepare her aim, but also for her to truly understand now the biggest weakness that these ranged foes had laden into their bodies:

That is; their greatest strength was their greatest weakness: these enemies suffered from tunnel vision.

With the split moment the sniping foe took to recalibrate its aim was the moment that cemented its own ending; because with a single three-round burst with an aim meant to rival the opponents own her trio of projectile rocketed forward and hit the assailant square in its body - causing a ruckus of cracks and sparks of electricity to come forth as shrapnel blasted out from it's chest. Instantly she prepared her next volley; yet she made no attempt to fire them out. That is because quickly, right after her three-point barrage had inserted themselves into the enemy was it clear it needed not a bullet more.

As within the seconds that followed, of it arching backwards and its gun dropping down, its balance was clear to be lost when it finally fell to the floor in an audibly slump.

Haydee offered no condolences to the defeated foe, nor did she feel any need to celebrate one's final thrashing, since now, finally, they can escape. Moving forward without trying to offer even a smidgen of remorse for her actions she made her unrelenting steps towards the exit. Clapping her hands twice as she moved, she peeked around to spot the human peering his head out the corner before quickly joining by her side, sporting out a little praise for her end that made her feel thankful he was always nearby.

But such praise did not take the edge out from knowing such a foe was nearby, even as a corpse, and with her pistol still unholstered carefully she trudged up the steps, ensuring Dale is always right behind her, before she took a move on the podium and preemptively attained all her focus onto the cadaver lying empty in this place.

Stepping right before the carcass, she felt little surprise in seeing what it was; another machine like all before. White and black like the others, stocky, completely solid in structure, it was as unfeeling, inorganic, completely insentient as the other of its kind, like the Slashers that had inherited this entire room before them.

Actually, such a relation seems fitting to the gynoid while she looked at the machine's corpse some more. It's body was thin, thinner than the Walkers, so much so it actively reminded her quite strongly of the Slashers in shape and build, as if they were both built from the same design. Moreover, its head resembled those close-range combatants as well, albeit it's singular ocular lens was far more extended out. Fitting, for a ranged variant.

And speaking of ranged variant, it was never lost on her what kind of weapon this adversary had used. And seeing it finally up close, Haydee felt instantly relieved she had taken every precaution she could in ensuring Dale not so much as get graze by a bullet round. Though the exact model was lost on her, no doubt considering its full length, bulky body, the main weapon of this machine was of a high-caliber sniping rifle kind. Composed of the same materials as the users main body, such a weapon seemed more than capable of blasting a full round into her torso should she let the chance be allowed.

"Hey Haydee? Bit of a long shot, but do you think it's weapon might at all be useful to you?" Alas, she shook her head in sad reply. Despite its perceived power, the thought this rifle looked to be a part of the machine was not just an idle speculation, but a full unabashed truth. The rifle on hand was actually built into the robot's frame; it's supposed 'hand' around the grip would be better be called the entire grip itself. If she had to suspect, without the machine's power the rifle could not be used either.

Shame, but what more could she do about it. Like on the other hand, she guessed.

She did just that, and found something of important note as well. Tied to the other arm, along the forearm to be precise, she found yet another weapon on the corpse figure. Jutting out the side she found the machine carrying another new weapon of note. This one smaller and lighter, lacking the calibre of the rifle, it looked far simpler than the bigger variant. In fact, if she had to make educated assumptions, this side weapon seemed more akin to a submachine gun, but lacking in range and accuracy. A backup weapon for close quarters, she had to assume.

Speaking of the arm, looking farther down she found that at the end of the appendage a set of fingers were poking out the end. Well, fingers was a bit of a kind way to call them, as they seemed far more primitive than her own. With only three of them, two on one side, one on the other, they seemed more like claws to her than fingers, lacking specific dexterity, or even much melee capabilities. Claws was perhaps a more faithful way to consider them comparatively, because upon looking farther down, down to its spindly legs she found that more of those claws, bigger length appeared out both ends of the leg, giving these machines actual feet. For better stability, she considered, though, why curling hooks for digits was lost on her. Still, it mattered not now, as she at least knew what they were up against now.

If more were to come, then she felt more prepared now. More ready to blast each, and every one, to tiny pieces if they dared to stand in their way.

Nothing more left to say, Haydee ushered Dale along as they exited.

---

Stepping forth, she didn't know whether she should perceive herself leaning more onto disappointment or annoyance.

Disappointment; over swiftly finding out that, yet again, was this another room filled with tall columns along an obsidian state of shade, with tints of blue lights the only colouring this place wanted to offer. Little change in that regard.

Annoyance, over the fact she instantly knew what this room was laden with; and what she had to do thereafter.

Inwardly sighing, she knew delaying the inevitable was not a useful or necessary action, so disallowing herself to take the moment to form a complaint she looked hard at the scene presented to her.

The way looked as wide and large as the others, though inwardly already having known this Haydee instead picked apart the little details that gave this place reason to exist. For a start, there were no walls down below along the floor, all attentive details seemed to only exist in the realm above. And up above, as she could gather, more of those pathways lead around the imposing columns. Though, taking a further look onward she quickly noticed there were more than one level within the network of pathways up above. How curious.

Yet above, what stood out the most to her was perhaps the most simplest and smallest detail of all: A ladder, one that dropped all the way down from an open section of the pathways above. It stood there silent as can be, yet having been placed so obviously to them, slap dab right on the middle column before them, it was impossible to ever miss. So blatant from where they stood, so distinct of a sight when thinking of the rooms prior it led Haydee to believe the obvious conclusions:

They were to finally go up.

Oh, she knew what danger should be lurking in the ways above, previous moments had quickly drilled that reaction clean into her, but with nothing of note around the bare floor below she had to admit that their only way out had to pertain along the pathways above; pathways were more of those Sniping robots lied.

Pathways that allowed her to hopefully turn the tide on these advancing machines she started to despise.

Pathways that. . . hopefully, will keep Dale safe.

Best they get on moving. Ushering him along with her, Haydee led her human companion onward towards the imposing columns before them. Well, to the gynoid she felt 'imposing' was a little too unwarranted of a word. What she once thought towards 'caution' she now saw more objectively as a grievance to her now, an irritating itch she wished to ignore. Perhaps, more sooner than later, she would finally come to the end of these kinds of rooms, but for now she knew their best course of action was to keep on going.

Staring at the ladder, all senses of height were starting to advance on her as she stopped her stride once she came face to face with the metal ladder. It was fairly high, too high to ever land safely down if one was to drop. Course, she had her Boost Boots on, but there was one individual here that hadn't. . .

Hmmm. . . perhaps leaving Dale behind might be a decent solution. There was no danger present she could see, and being on the ground floor ensured he would take no damage from any fall, since there would be one. Right?

. . . No. . . no, Dale is. . . would always be safer next to her, having an eye kept watching on. No, she should not leave Dale behind unless the choice was obvious. She. . . If Dale was her creator, then that would mean those confessions from before would hang true. That is, his mental abuse, a kind he may not even be consciously aware of himself, but it may still affect his general behavior and demeanor. In turn, being left alone may worsen his state, not aid. No they must carry on together, right by her side is where he would be safest.

Nothing can be accomplished by standing around, and with a wave of her hand to signify the must follow, Haydee stepped forward and began to ascend up.

"Great." She suddenly heard Dale huff. "More ladders." She. . . did not know Dale's reasoning for deposing the ascendance up the vertical steps, but she quickly assured herself it wasn't for anything specific to herself, so she best not worry about it. For now, at least.

Climbing up, not once did Haydee let herself be off her guard. She had her educated assumptions to what will be awaiting her atop this ladder, and with Dale close by she cannot let anything happen to either here. As such, her senses were kept clean and sharp, focused out, and allowed her to hear sounds of movement up above. On programmed instinct she paused, her body keeping still as she listened intently to what was going on.

She could not see, but she could tell it was not too far off, though sounding too distant to await them upon stepping first foot up there. She could not prepare herself fully right now, but she knows she should be once her arms are free. Onto that remark, Haydee kept her sight pertaining upwards as she prepared herself for what may be to come.

Onto the final step up, Haydee ensured to give the area in front a good look-around first, and upon noticing no ambush laid in front, she allowed herself to smoothly transition up onto the rafters before swiftly whipping out her firearm and preparing herself for the worst that is too come.

Dale casually followed on by, coming up alongside the prepared and readied gynoid with a lighthearted "Glad that's over."

"Where to now?" She ushered him to follow behind with a wave as she darted towards the edge of the column. The pillar still reached up high, she was glad the ladder was placed directly in the center of the gratings, as it allowed easy cover for right in front. The only way onward was left and right, and unsure to what end would be safest she chose that which pertained to her dominant hand, as per her internal programming, and the gynoid slowly creeped her way to the corner.

That which lies beyond she did not know, only assumed, but chances relied on by luck were not what her programming told to rely herself on. As she pushed her body itnothe wall, going the same to the human trailing on by, she slowly but surely peeked her head around to finally get a good luck to what was presented to her.

For a few short seconds, she stood still, her artificial muscles on high-alert in case their need was immediate. Staring out, peering all over she made sure she listened in as much as she looked onward to make sure no moving foes, no Slashers or Sniping robots, were making routes along the paths. Seeing no visible enemies did not ease her edge; as staring more deeply allowed her concentration to hear it; movement upon these rafters, upon the grating she now stood upon as well. Yet it wasn't so nearby, so close to their position. At least for this short area in front; it seemed all vacant. Naturally, she was now able to finally see what else this place had to offer.

Compared to the dual rooms previous, the columns in this room seemed less sparse in distance to one another, as if trying to keep up close and cramped. In return, Haydee noted this led the web of connected pathways to hold more corners and shorter linear routes. Above all, when adding in the notion a second stretch of pathways hanged above, that too protected on all sides by plain railings, it did not help furthering the undesirable thought that this stretch of floor was like a true web of silver lines, ready to entrap its victim in a maze of hazy tracks. Yet, if that was the way they must go, then so be it. She was ready to face them head on if she had too.

The only thing that halted her current progression for the singular moment was the sight that Haydee saw of those climbable gratings, those for which only the human standing behind her could hope to maneuver around. Internally, Haydee hoped he would not have to cross them in this kind of place.

But such a threshold could not be crossed by staying here, she knew. Her gun still armed and ready, Haydee let it lead the way as she stepped away from the confines of the cover and proceeded forth towards the winding ways, with Dale following closely behind.

Dale as per his usual kept silent as she walked them inwardly. Whether or not this was his natural state she could only make complicated guesses on, but for the moment she considered it a fair boon. True, if it meant his mental state was falling she was fine with him trying to chat her ear off, by human measures of the term, as she was not one that could experience prolonged annoyance over indifferent repeating noises. However, if Dale preferred to keep silent now then she saw little reason to change it. Either because he knew keeping silent would allow her greater focus on the dangers around, or simply down to him normally keeping sentence unspoken when little reason to do so was present, it mattered not, as it in turn allowed her to pick up even the more subtle of sounds; including the kind that made her double take due to its difference.

Stepping onward, approaching the entrance to these cramped levels, Haydee began to notice a new sound starting to approach her in mirrored return. As she strode on through the sandwiching space of two columns, her audible sensors picked up on the sounds of not just normal movement of the machines but something else, something. . . that kept her on edge.

Not helped by how cramped the current move around felt. With shadows painted on every wall, the packed pathways seemed more narrow than they should be, the footsteps of the two hitting the metal flooring echoing off each individual wall of the column kept up an image of the unknown laden around every unseen corner. Her stance did not falter however, and only by ensuring Dale is kept close at all times, doing so now with a hand on his shoulder as she ushered him just a little closer, did she assure herself not to falter with what may come.

The corners seemed relentless, even though she knew barely enough she had passed measured up to the double digits. The linear trails barely lasted a number of seconds, and more time seemed focused around ensuring the next corner is free of danger over actively walking along them. That noticed or not, she refused to see it otherwise, as each check around, each peek ensured the highest calibre of safety towards the human. . . and herself, since it ensured the best state of reaction when turning around a corner and seeing it in the line of sights of a-

Sniping robot!

With motion she was sure she had repeated before Haydee slammed herself back around the corner of the end, doing the same to her male companion a mere second before the sound of gunfire, the kind both new to come only from the barrel of an elongated rifle, erupted from around the bend. Finger over the trigger held her ready and prepared for the short moment to follow; that is, absolute quiet, before the identifiable sounds of movement cracked into her head.

She knew what must follow, and pointing finger at the ready she whipped herself back around the bend to aim her gun and see-

The Sniping machine retreating. That alone didn't surprise her, she had noticed by now those on these levels rarely stayed put for long, even if it was on a higher level then what she herself was, but what did shock her, however, was seeing the machine suddenly begin to maneuver over those climbable grates with almost natural ease! The circular holes she once believed only the man beside her could traverse over was suddenly now allowing the claws of the machine to move across from without resistance.

She did not like the idea these machines could traverse over the gratings while she could not. Yet still, the machine was both a threat and a sitting duck upon those holed plaques, so without delay Haydee re-aimed her pistol towards the foe and readied the trigger to. . . what was that buzzing sound?

Suddenly, without warning given to any, sparks began to break out! Bursts of electricity, shocks that highlighted the very rifled adversary trying to escape her wrath unexpectedly began to shoot off from the climbing enemy before her! Lightning zapped all around it, causing it to quiver and tremble, shiver like it was having a seizure as puffs of smoke began to rise out it's sockets and free into the open air. Haydee stood still and silent, barely able to do little more than watch on as the ranged foe was pelted by volts of energy.

And then, just like that, it was all over. The electricity stopped, the sparks deceased and the smoking Sniper did not move an inch afterwards. That is, until but a silent moment after, interlude with the subtle sounds of burning hardware, did the machine arc its back away from gratings; and drop down like a stone. The silent second after, interrupted by the crunching of metal hitting solid floor at gaining speed, left the gynoid utterly speechless, so to speak.

"Did. . . I don't like to think my sight is betraying me, but did that just happen?" Not the human, it seemed however. One who, as she looked behind, was leaning over the bend with his arms sprawled over the railing, as if to catch his fall.

Had he tripped at some point? Wait, was he hurt? Quickly, she pushed herself to gripping the human by his shoulders and pulling him back up. Ignoring his confused inquiries Haydee dragged her fingers over the hair of his scalp as she inspected the human all over, looking over any bare skin for signs of visible damage. None found, she let her hands be free, and the human to stand back up straight, albeit a little bit shaken for ware.

"Okay, so, uh. . . yeah, so like I asked, did the gratings just. . . electrocute that machine?" Turning back over to face said plaque in the columns, Haydee inspected the climbing grates with serious analysis.

What just happened wasn't normal. True, what was normal to her made less and less sense by the next room after next; by the time she thinks she has come to a conclusion that's starting to sink in, something unexpected threw her through a loop with about as much subtlety and care as a salmon slapping against her face! Yet still, what had happened just mere seconds ago was not something she would ever have suspected could, or would, happen during their travels.

Disregarding the thought these snipers could scramble over the plaques she was sure were meant for humans like Dale, that will be left in the backburner for later remembrance, what concerned her now was these unique gratings left in front for her to fully inspect. On first glance, these gratings seemed rather identical to the very same kind the human had traversed over multiple times in the past. That was a thought that made her fearful, the gynoid not taken by the idea Dale could have passed over this kind at any time in their travels. It made her. . . uneasy.

Shaking her head to try and stop the thoughts from appearing, Haydee steeled herself into furthering her inspection if she was to ensure the path of least danger was to be found. Yet the sudden moment new sparks jolted out from the metal plating's, little flicks of electricity that almost mocked her by acting so harmless on their lonesome while she knew just how powerful such full volts would be, almost caused her to fully jolt herself as the sparks ignited only her fears.

"Haydee?" The tentative, rather soothing voice of the human managed to pry her eyes off the hypnotising plates across from her and over to her behind, seeing the human look at herself with a worried expression. "Are. . . a-are you doing okay?"

She had to be. For his own sake, did she have to be. Upon nodding her head in reply, her head whipped back around to those plates, this time with a stern sense about her as she refused to be humiliated by a bunch of sparking plates. Looking them over once again, this time all around itself, to spot any and every little tiny detail she must not miss, she swiftly found something of important note came forth to her: Around these squared plating's were borders, lightly blue ones at that. Seemingly innocuous, almost a part of the scenario considering the area they were currently in, Haydee noted that these were not something common the plaques from before, she was sure of. Actually, not just blue, but glowing even. . . brighter?

Surges of pulsing electrifying jolted through the plaques, flickering out little glitters of miniature lightning bolts as it glowed out against the obsidian walls. Yet Haydee, this time, did not jolt, flinch or so much as tilt her head; because now, she believed, she was starting to see it. The pattern, mere seconds long. Every time.

Upon the realization, Haydee knew that now, she felt she had seen all there was to see. As prepared as she could be, she sought it right to not feel threatened by this state of traversal any longer, and with a signal of two claps of her hands she let him know it was time to move onward. She led the way onward, away from those awful plaques.

"Hey, Haydee?" The human delicately asked as he followed on behind her. "Do you think I might have to go on those. . . filigree, sometime soon?" A sudden burst of electricity shot out in sparks from the plaques.

Haydee led the way a little bit faster.

Though their walk away was unburdened, only the sound of cracking lightning managed to breach their ears, Haydee felt no trust towards letting up in this place. Though one of the Snipers had been taken care of, she knew there was always more somewhere, waiting around any corner to commence their strike, ready to put a bullet in either from their approach.

Why her, she did not know, and in a way she didn't fully care to finalize the answer for. She was a target for reasons yet unexplained, but even the simple, casual question for why that barely bothered her, it was in her programming to fight them, much the same way is in the other robots programming to fight her. In a sense, she could not hate them for that, acting according to what has been dictated for them.

But trying to attack Dale; that was something entirely unforgivable. For other humans was bad enough, it goes against their ingrained code to never willingly harm or kill a human unless specifics dictate otherwise. But for Dale, one as harmless, inoffensive, unselfish as they could come, to be seen as readily a target as a gynoid like herself? That. . . that she could hate them for. Willingly, she would destroy every machine that tried to harm him if she was given the chance, and enough bullets.

What reason did they have to attack him? He means no harm, yet he is a target all the same. Why? What had he done, what was he responsible for that ensured these unthinking machines regard him as a designated target? Even if, and she had her doubts, that he had done something intentionally malicious before he had his memories locked, she had trouble believing that Dale here was to be held accountable, as it was not the actions of the current person before her that desired such unknown evil acts. That was not fair for one like him, it is not. . . .right

". . . Haydee; is everything alright? You look like you are. . .trembling." Hearing this, Haydee paused all steps as she looked behind herself to the human looking at her with a cautious face. Understanding he had an inquiry to ask of her, the gynoid read what he had said and applied it to herself.

Looking over that herself, she found that, indeed, her trigger hand was trembling a smidgen. Yet upon her own conscious force being applied, the quiver ceased to be. Her hand returned to normal, but Haydee's worry lingered: It had been the second time something like this had happened lately, and she had dreaded suspicion something was wrong with her dominant hand.

But they had to continue forth, Dale needed to find his safe shelter, and any lingering problems with herself had to be rendered secondary to Dale's safety. Only until it started to become detrimental to his safety would she have to consider finding the problem. More important matters were present.

Winding around the twisted hallways, trying not to consider the consequences of falling down to the floor below, Haydee met every fresh corner with suspicious scrutiny. Anywhere looked like an easy set up for an ambush, and at least with her leading the way any chance of getting hurt would be applied only to her. So spinning around the bend, continuously re-aiming her pistol in the chance something was to surprise them, Haydee charged around each turn of the pathway before leading up to the turn against a column before her and leapt to see a-

Walker and Sniper! Both facing her way before she even had a chance to see their backs. She knew by instinct what to do, and with a zip she shoved herself backwards, using her free hand to nudge the human far back as well just in time for a bullet to come whizzing past. Barely a jump from the human, but a larger leap for the gynoid as immediately after did Haydee suddenly kick herself back forward into the fray again.

Sure, she could have had Dale and her back away to give room for when the Walker eventually appears in front of their eyes, but the twisting, narrow paths that hovered securely above the ground did not allow much space to move or shoot, making it far more risky than a Slasher in this circumstance, she was sure. Above all, she preferred these machines to be destroyed immediately.

So when back out, she turned her barrel to the sight of the Walker closing, firing three full shots that obliterated it's face with ease and turning into a sparking corpse barely standing nearby. Yet before she had a chance to even see it drop, she aimed her gun over where the Sniper once stood before it even got the chance to re-fire. It didn't try, however, as instead the Sniper took to retreating away.

After taking the chances to see Dale as a target she would not let up even for a second. Even if her target had its back to her, an enemy must be defeated all the same, and with steady aim Haydee quickly unloaded two bullets in the back of the abandoning Snipers head. It dropped like a coward, even though she figured it likely moved to simply find a better vantage point, yet whatever the circumstances for its retreat were, it was destroyed all the same.

At least the danger had passed, a quick check assured that, and with the way onward clear, she made steps forward to clear the way through. . . only to stop when standing aside the Walker carcass. Something was off in this scene before her, a color not frequently found among this ashy tiles and lead gratings. Colour found on the Walkers lifeless, though that always goes without saying, body lying before her.

She has known by now not to leave out little details when she could, so as she dropped to her knees to hold her hands on the out of place colour before, so too did a human suddenly pop out from the corner behind her.

"What have you got there, Haydee?" The gynoid swiveled her head around to look at the man behind her, seeing his head pop out from the column with curious examination. In return, she held the new item aloft, brandishing it in full view for him to see.

"Oh, it's those keycards. I. . . well I didn't know we'd need one, but it is good that we have it now, at least. Right?" She nodded in agreement. If not for this room then a later one. She dreaded the thought of having to return to this room for later presented reasons.

"Though. . . " He mumbled loudly as he entered the space with her, scratching at his cheeks while his eyes pertained to focus on one singular spot. "Is it me, or does that card look a little different than the others?" Pausing, to blink if she could, Haydee slowly pulled up the keycard in her hand, finding quite quickly that, yes, something off about this keycard was about.

Not by any drastic measures, the crimson colour with a key in the centre hadn't changed by much. Rather, what differentiate this item alongside it's consorts, is this device had a set of two identical symbols attached beside the key. Two, neatly written out, 'I''s standing alongside the main symbol.

"I I? 11? Is that it?" Haydee, in all her internal knowledge and data, of her brain processing power and intellectual capabilities, just shrugged at his question. Evidence for anything else was not afoot here, and she did the barest sweep around herself to check and make sure. Zero indication for its purpose could be seen in this liminal, web of a place.

The only indication she had for its purpose was that they had to move on, hopefully sooner than later finding out it's reason for distinction. Standing back up, and placing the keycard away for later, she ushered for the human to follow as she led the way onward. Aside from the Walker corpse, and over the Sniper's prone body, Haydee moved them away from this place and to the next, into another set of overtly unnecessary curves.

Albeit, ones that kept her on a continuous edge. Even before entering, the sound of continuous movement, of robotic steps clunking over metal, and distant cracks of likely electrified holed plaques kept her body prepared for whatever may come. Turning the corner with fervent leaps, the gynoid made no shivers of fear when she spun the corner, trailing around the columns with anger from the overabundance of twists in this hole of a place.

She felt only disdain over it. Disliked for it's length, it randomly reaches out like a labyrinth, trying to confuse her onward journey. Only pure, ensnared aversion and-

Walker! A Three round swiftly burst forth, right into its head as she turned the corner of the column, before moving on after it's shortened appearance, caring little for its entry or exit to her sight as it offered little more for her now.

She was armed and more than ready to present danger to any hostile even thinking of trying to get in close, but in turn she would much prefer the danger not be present at all. The only thing her stable mind was wanting to reach out on was looking out in the distance not clogged up be winding paths and ascending columns and instead come out to-

See the exit! In the distance, unobscured by any obstacles in her way was the entry out, topped up high on a podium surrounded by safety railings, was the way out of this place finally in her sights. Though a stated distance away, getting to was never an issue to discuss at all; a ladder led down, onto some tall, narrow runway, still too high up for her boost boots, albeit not that she will be needing to utilize them now.

Feeling a little bit more alert now, her steps no longer feeling as unwilling to move as moments prior, Haydee quickly ushered the human to smoothly follow as she led them both down the ladder. Listening in to the sound of the human giving praise to the sight of the way out before him, Haydee made short work down the ladder, along the elongated walkway and to the front of the doors before her, almost awed at the sight of them before taken her steps forward and walked onto the widened stage that housed it.

In fact, she almost dropped her composure upon noticing the way the doors looked on sight. They seemed big, way bigger than the normal doors they roamed through before. Not the largest, the two other doors she had come across before, those that separated the pristine white zone to the connecting green miffed area, seemed still far larger in comparison, but that didn't diminish how different these were to be. Easily allowing both her and Dale to walk in side by side, the sideways toothed entrance as well as combined with the semicircle shape of the door led her to start to ponder on why the differences were abundant like so. It was almost as if something strange was about to commence. . .

But such eccentricities were unimportant unless she found a genuine reason to think them. She could not deny the hopeful ideas that maybe the place onward would lead to Dale's safety, but that did not hold water when she found little belief over this besides blind optimism. Even still, she knew such an answer would only be found the moment they stepped in, and to step in one must unlock the door first. That she was ready to do, ready to commit to as she pulled at her freshly picked keycard and faced the pad before her.

One of them, anyway. Yes, there was a pad by the side of this. . . and another over the other side. Identical in every sense of the term, Haydee paused briefly as she looked over both of the pads just hanging there, spaced from each other and lacking indication over what their own personal purpose was for. To say it was a little confusing for the gynoid could not be understated, and idly tapping at her chin in hopes that would somehow grant an answer was quickly to be found ineffective.

Moving on from that, she knew dawdling here won't serve to help, so facing herself forward, Haydee marched towards the box nearest. With her keycard on hand, Haydee made solid steps with her boots onward to the gate, to the tiny box that obstructed her entryway in, and with a valiant push down she injected the keycard into the box's insert and-

Bzzz!

The keycard was outright rejected. Staring firstly before anything else, Haydee slowly grasped at the keycard in the insert, held it firmly, and promptly pushed it right back into the slot, ensuring an applied force would not allow the keycard to spring back.

She let go after a few seconds longer.

Bzzz!

With a huff the gynoid pulled the keycard straight back out and inspected the non-functioning item with miffed anger. Holding with both hands, she almost frantically turned the card up and over as she attempted to unravel the active reason why this card was rejected with inconsiderate consideration. So close to the exit out of here, only to find themselves at an impasse like this. She was starting to get rather infuriated. . .

"Hey Haydee!"

Knocking her head around, she was surprised to see the human behind her looking at her; or at least attempting to. His eyes were wandering, despite being the one that grabbed her attention independently. "I. . . think I might have figured it out. The deal with the keycard; I mean."

Curious, and altogether intrigued by the humans sudden speech of, the gynoid held out the keycard for him to take. "No. . .no, I don't mean I need it, but thank you. What I mean is. . . eh. . . " He searched away, looking as confused as she just was. Did he suddenly forget; or did he start to back down. Throughout the last few rooms any feelings of becoming upbeat were never permanently found, chances constantly washed away by becoming visitors in these darkened, merciless rooms. She had no doubt in believing that, even after the possible revelation, the human was still on edge, still wracked in some way by all the barbarous machinery that stepped onto their march. He may have perked up, but such chances were vastly overshadowed by the events both following and preceded. Altogether, the gynoid began to think he was constantly belittling himself, something she knew she had to take a stance onto.

Marching towards, seeing him jerk a little by her unrelenting stride, Haydee, in doing her best to not threaten or dissuade him, slowly held forward the card for him to take. Presenting her palm, she motioned as best she could for him to continue. She wanted him to know his opinion is always valid.

"I was just. . . had a mildly thought about the symbols, those strange new ones on this keycard." She nodded, telling him she was listening. "Well, I suddenly had this dumb random idea that. . . well, you can reject it all you want, if you so wish, but It suddenly came to me that. . . maybe, those symbols don't mean eleven. What if they mean two; like in roman numerals!" For a second, the following pause allowed a cold sweat to form upon the human's brow.

Upon the unchanging seconds after, did the human suddenly find himself assaulted with the gentle praise of an impassive robot. Haydee liked to see him smile, especially at moments like this. She was sure that was because praise given over figuring out a problem from another would undeniably bring one's peace of mind back.

Now believing there was more to do here, Haydee promptly placed away her currently-unusable keycard and looked forward to where they once came. Though she wished the road they traveled on was not as long as it truly was to be, she at least kept her state focused with the knowledge the road will end once they cross the hurdle that is the hill. Ushering the human to follow, Haydee led them on, back along the path and towards the ladder that rose up to the heights.

Like a guard it stood, ever vigilant for the approach for those that wish to ascend. The way it stood felt as if it were a portal to another realm, a lane that connected the safe, open place that was behind her to the dark, twisted, unforgiving machinations that likely still existed above. But she felt no discouragement in realizing that, not out of a desire to seek new grounds, but instead knowing that in the end, the outcome would be worth all the trouble. She was ready to get going.

"Oh yeah," she suddenly heard him mumble out, "I forget we had to go back up the ladders. . . " As it seemed, Dale was far less enthusiastic about this as she expected him to be, even if not by much. Again, Dale seemed distasteful to the notion of going up these ladders. To why, she still did not know of. She first thought down to some fear of heights, yet if that were true he never showed it going down the steps. So long as it didn't cause any major problems, Haydee thought best to leave it in the rear for where his problem lay.

First foot on the ladder, Haydee began her ascension. The sounds of climbing bounced around her as the area fell silent in turn. As if passing into a new realm, all around everything almost froze in place, existence itself grinding to a halt as they made their way back into the unforgiven world. When she finally grasped the first step, Haydee readily whipped out her firearm as she awaited the dangers to come.

From beyond she could hear it, sounds of movements and changes beyond her sight, existence continuing forth without her input. She knew what she had to do, and where to go, as even before gaining holds on the ladder she remembered well where else this place went, where they should advance next. With the human coming up promptly behind her, Haydee led the way forward.

Where exactly, she did not know. She knew, at least, what it is they were looking for, and she knew that with those that they passed, she did not see any shades of crimson strewn to their bodies - saving for the ocular lenses they used to signify the human as an unwarranted target. So the obvious conclusion was drawn to what path they must roll into.

Around the winding paths they went, along the bend of the columns twist. Confined to the pathways of this web, Haydee let every step linger as she studied each and every next turn with immediate inspection. Every corner could, and had at numerous occasions, mean danger laid beyond the bend, and though Haydee wished to not dawdle here for longer than necessary, she knew better than to force herself into the fray.

Notably exemplified as Haydee came up to the next corner in their linear journey. A pass, or at least a check-up, onwards was an almost instinctive action of her by now, but such tendencies were quickly halted when a hunch ran through her. Or a sound, more likely, as Haydee's subsequent pause for them to to stop moving were credited down to her audible sensors picking up something coming from around the bend. Movement, metallic footsteps on steel flooring.

She knew what she had to do. Gun at the ready, she motioned for the human to stay back before she slithered up to the side and listened in to the sounds coming from the beyond. The telltale call of cracking electricity suddenly jolted out, another sound Haydee new to remember, before the sounds of more footsteps crawled its way into her head. Nodding to herself in agreement, Haydee readied up her gun before spinning out into the beyond before her-

Immediately retreated back around the corner. A sudden shot of gunfire came forth, as expected by the gynoid, and immediately after did Haydee swivel back around the edge. Gun raised out, she prepared to fire at the retreating Sniper, who she knew would instantly make ground after it fired. To her lack of shock, the machine began its retreat, swiftly seen going over the holed plaques injecting to the wall behind.

She let her gun sway, her innate sensors telling to save her bullets as she instead expected its demise to not form from her intervention; the electrified gratings would do its job for her. The gratings that. . . lacked those glowing borders the other gratings held. . .

Which meant-

Almost jumping to attention Haydee raised up her pistol and took solid aim before firing out, landing three solid hits into the Snipers back before it had the chance to grasp off the gratings. The moment the third bullet landed, the machine stopped shaking in place, grasping with unflinching movement upon the gratings; before its tension stopped holding its strength and it fell down to the high level it was seconds from reaching with it's talon-like legs.

A moment's silence, even one so brief, did not last as the sounds of crackling energized matter burst into her eardrums. The sight of miniature lightning did not originate from the plaques connecting the two separate levels as she had first suspected, but a little sideways inspection showed her the electrified metal came from gratings off to the side. Ones that connected this level to the higher one above.

Understanding the situation better now, she gave one final look to the now destroyed body up above before signaling the human to follow. No time like the present, she waited for the human to rejoin her side before she swerved on again. Though, despite her own best interest to move quickly again, the man before her seemed to have other ideas scattered in his mind as he too inspected the space before him.

Staring around, he seemed to give a full, albeit somewhat brief look at the scene present to him before coming up right behind her. Whatever he was thinking, whatever his mind was running with as he happened to understand the situation before him, allowed a question to be formed and spoken by the man which made her skin crawl by the utter thought of such an occurrence.

"Are. . . Are you going to need me to climb up there, Haydee?" She barely registered his voice sounding so quiet when he muttered out such an undesirable inquiry. With an almost forceful push she instead grasped around his face, over the side of his eyes to compel Dale to stare only forward. The less he saw of those gratings the less he had to quiz about them, she readily believed, and with a little usher she walked him forward.

She still stared at him all the while as she walked him on; keeping an eye on him and seeing his face contort from a confused surprise look to a more modest tranquil in turn. Tranquil, she assumed, though his eyes looked more down than forward, if anything.

"Right, you're. . . right. You are here to protect me, as you always do. . . " Very right. Her reason for awakening without explained tasks is still a mystery to her, if it was an accident at all, but in the meantime, she felt it reasonable to believe her current duty was keeping the human safe until shelter is found. No other duty sounded more feasible to her than that.

They pressed forth, advancing away from the portion of time before them and to where else this place was leading to. She guessed for one thing, but the shadowy walls allowed a perfect symbolism to what may come. Another twist around the side, another walk onward to the next bend where she came up to the corner and looked over to see a-

Sniper! As she readied up her pistol, so too did the enemy rose up its own arm for an act of defiance, but too little too late for the robot as two bullet holes in its head ensured an attempt at opposition was swiftly rendered obsolete. As obsolete as its purpose, as with no additive about its person meant it offered no reason for Haydee to care at all for its appearance, and move on to their next dilemma to overcome.

Over and under a level they went, Haydee's internal engines picking up any small sounds that may float into her attention. Sounds were slight, but she did not let that lower her guard. Turning the corner with caution, as always, Haydee made a pause to see something up ahead.

The way was clear, that she knew of, but the way the trail led gave her feelings of caution. The light trip forward was open and void of dangers, face forward swiftly coming to a screeching halt by the berth of a wide column. It led to the side, to her left, going further around the bend and into another open section out back; one, she could see, had both a second level and a set of plaques leading up to it. All else was left vague, the zone that connected the two areas sandwiched into a narrow space.

She felt no relief upon seeing an open territory. If anything, it was the more open liminal zones that placed her on edge, carrying more than enough spots to feature multiple adversaries inside its cage. Fearing the kinds of worst she has met with before, Haydee gestured the human to follow closely behind as she made careful footing towards the corner.

Though she heard no noises, her edge did not lift. She could not figure why, but she was sure something lurked behind the way. Something that would not be best pleased to see her faceless head. Gun raised, she stuck to the solid wall like a creeping vine as she slowly slithered her way to the side.

"I hope these mazes end soon enough." She heard him mindlessly utter. "This foreboding atmosphere has overstayed its welcome." Eloquently put, she had to agree.

But for this moment he needed to stay silent, to let her focus be strained not to anyway that wasn't around the bend. Sneakily, Haydee gently floated her head out, popping out and searching all around. Ground level and above, she slowly observed every passing second as the sides around slowly came into view, slowly allowed her to see more, to see a black and white fixture over along the higher ground-

Immediately she spun back around - just in time to be spared from the assault of a hail of bullets raining where her way was; ripping into the gratings and smacking into the sides of a column that prevented its descent any further.

"You okay?" She heard him shout, his face starting to flush as she swiftly presumed the shock of the sudden rounds got to him. Nodding in full response, she quickly held up her thumb in human reaction for saying all is well, before turning away and back to the danger that now silently laid behind the corner. That was no rifle that was fired at her, the bullets coming out were notably way too successive in timing. If there was but one, and the distance as close as it was. . . the only answer she could find was that it was using its closer range weapon.

She wasn't sure how to think about that. Sure the submachine gun is likely far less accurate, penetrating and obviously far weaker in comparison, but with that many bullets firing in quick succession even her armored vest could only take so much. She looked back around, and to her dismay she saw the pathway did not lead around the other side of the column, ensuring the tactic from before was made null. There was only one way into the space before her, and very low chances to come out of it unscathed. She could not be eliminated here, not when Dale still hasn't found his safe haven yet, so the dangerous risks needed to be kept to a minimum.

But in turn, that leaves her wondering how to bypass it's attacks and destroy it before it has a chance to rain metallic pins into her body. Looking down to her gun, she saw that, even upgraded like so, it could only do so much. She was running low on magazines as well, so the thought of blind fire was not a first resort for her. If only. . . if only she had more weapons at her disposal. . .

Wait a minute!

Diving her hand into her backpack, Haydee rummaged around for a moment before slowly pulling something out; something that made the wandering man's eyes widen slightly:

A floating mine. She still had two kept in her backpack saved up for later moments, moments she hadn't thought about until this point. Granted, looking at it in her hands, Haydee did wonder if she were to save these up for more important matters pertaining to later down the line, but in turn she figured that little matters were more important than getting Dale safely to the next way. The chances of another time for this need were there, but it could not outweigh the need for immediate usage. This was her best hope for getting Dale to safety; and it would not have to need the hands of her inorganic own to even transpire.

She handed the mine to Dale.

Or at least; she would have, if not for the male looking at her with a worried, almost shaking look. She hadn't even tried anything as of yet, but the human started to almost back away at the sight of the explosive in her hand. Like it could explode on them at any moment.

Except: that wouldn't be the case, these mines only explode after the timer has gone off, at the least. He knew this, surely, he knew how these devices operate, as he actively utilized them himself at one point. So why did he seem so afraid of the mine, as if he was deathly allergic to its mere presence? It was as if he had innately known she wanted him to be the one to throw them, being his marksmanship from early times suggested his aim was as great, or could even exceed her own.

Did he. . . not want to? Suddenly now, was he possibly afraid of using the mine in her open hand? To why, was it because the space was so narrow, or because there was an internal struggle with his mind? Could it be because what she wanted him to destroy was not an immovable simple button but a moving, automated machine so far?

No, that one sounded so ridiculous. . . except; perhaps? The machine had a ranged weapon on its body, perfectly able to land a round into the human fleshy skin if the opportunity arose for it. Now, he could easily float it behind the cover; but he couldn't exactly know where to properly aim without knowing where the enemy is, and to do that, he would need to look out and see. . . to see the robot looking back.

No, she knew now. Too risky, the chances too high to simply wave it off. It was she that had to fire the explosive. And to think; it was the human that realized the danger present for him.

Very smart, Dale. Very smart.

Slowly pulling the mine away, Haydee used her other hand to freely ruffle up the human's hair in fair thanks. Dale, in return, only blinked at the sudden assault on his head follicles, but otherwise seemed to relax a tad upon noticing the explosive being dragged away from his line of sight. With that problem having settled now, Haydee turned her attention to the open passage beside her.

She, at least, knew where the machine stood. She had to take her time, to focus and think over all her net possibilities. She had only two of these to go with, she could not afford to risk it by rushing through, even if she wanted the human to leave this place as soon as possible. She calculated the distance, the angle, the acceleration and impending deceleration. The radius of the explosion, the height of the high level. All these need to be incorporated into her estimation, predictions towards what move of hands would allow for the best chance to decimate the machine in one go.

The numbers and formulas, all swimming around in her head, all so many a mortal's head would go insane trying to figure it all out; just suddenly stopped. She had believed she came to her conclusion.

Gently, slowly, her hands raised upward, her form aiming at a tilt to the narrow passage. Her angle, position, even her form had all been computed and estimated, laid out and fully covered to get the best result. With nothing more left to do, Haydee swiftly activated the floating mine, and flung it forward.

She saw it move, it headed to the wall before bouncing away. She could only see so far; the Sniper still at large, ensured only so much of her could see out - perhaps ironically, the very same Sniper this mine was being thrown towards. Once the explosive was out of sight, Haydee waited. That was all she could do now; wait. Not even watch and see, but silently stay back and await the inevitable sound.

The seconds had passed, but Haydee felt no inclusion by the delay of deathly noiseless time. Everything fell deathly noiseless, as not even the human stood behind her so much as shuffled in place as she listened to nought but the sound of the mine getting farther and farther.

Until. . .

Kaboom! The explosion came, something she felt no reason to tremble over. Rather, instead the gynoid moved herself in the exact opposite way; heading face first towards the explosion. Gun at the ready, her other hand clutching the edge of the column as she darted forward, Haydee swung right round over the side with gun at the ready, to see:

The machine a broken mess on the level it had stood upon. As she expected. Lowering her firearm, Haydee let her tension be eased as she walked forward into the narrow passage, ushering Dale to come in tow. Not completely off the edge, at least, as she walked forward towards the new area, her eyes had not once left the very interesting sight that piqued her interest from the very start: that shining bolt of crimson tied to the waist of the Sniping machine.

Finally, she believed she had found the second keycard for the exit! With the Sniper defeated, she now knew that the way out was but a step away now, a length not even a leap, as all that was left to do was to head up there and-

She couldn't get up there. When she stopped and looked around; she noticed that there were in fact no ladders or other open sources that allowed her to climb upwards. Nothing, that is, except those meshed plaques off to the side. The kind she could not clamber onto, but not one that another had problems with, one already seeing the meshing to and was making a stride over towards it-

"Allow me, Haydee." Such a passive, almost positive statement of action was quite immediately rebutted by Haydee's interruption. A hand of hers, shooting out and grasping him sharply on the arm, with a force that almost pulled him back by her strength stopped him short as he looked to her with an unflinching smile.

"Don't worry, Haydee. These ones are not electrified." She knew that, but. . . why did she suddenly stop him if that were the case?

She knew from the start those gratings weren't electrified, the sight and sounds of jolting currents never once picked up on by her. Even taking a look at it now; not a single plaque shown here had those signature borders for the electrified. This should, in turn, have alleviated her worries over the danger that was not present. Yet still, racking inside her mind was the flowing thought to not let the human take the risk.

A risk that had to be called futile. She could not grab that keycard, it was his doing that was necessary for their escape. He had to go solo, to at least be watched over by herself. Still, the stern part of her kept repeating it was dangerous for him to go up the plaques.

A part of her that she did not wish to waver to. There was no danger, and above all, the sooner he gets the card the sooner they can leave. She had to relent, and with force she did, pulling her hand away and letting him go. He gave but a small smile and nod in turn, swiftly turning back to the meshing and began climbing it with as little effort as any monkey would do.

He is no monkey, he is a human, and her companion at that. Even when knowing full well the meshing was not going to turn on him, the lingering, sickly worry that at any point it would not fully overriding her logical senses. Perhaps, with all these traps they had gone through, it may be very well possible that these meshing could activate at any moment, but the lack of evidence truly supporting this quenched her persistent unease. That noted, it did not stop her from standing right below the human, just in case he. . . slips up? That's technically possible.

A possibility that did not occur, thankfully enough, as with ease did she see him drop down from the plaque and onto the higher level. To her relief he did not care to dawdle upon the level she could not get to, as quickly did he take his feet over to the blasted corpse and swoop up the keycard without delay, before placing it away in his backpack and immediately heading back her way.

She nodded, glad to see he had his head in the game. With the second keycard in their possession, there was little to do now for them both but to see him return to her side so they could go back together. Dale swiftly made a leeway on the meshing, and as before, Haydee stood in front of the entrance to the plaques for the slightest chance a trip could occur.

He didn't, and relenting her outstretched arms Haydee gave a step back to allow him fair space to come down.

"Here," he proclaimed as he began to rummage through his backpack, "I'll get the keycard for you." A hand, a robotic one, suddenly grasped at his searching arm. Freezing it in place, the owner of the scouring limb looked up to see the gynoid shaking her head at him.

"You. . . don't want it back?" That time she nodded at him, and letting go she pointed to the way out, tilting her head to give him ushering for them to head on off now. "Oh. . . well if you insist." He pulled the backpack back on his person, before catching up with the striding Haydee as she led the way out.

The path to the ladders was a silent affair. In a sense, it was likely because Haydee gave no time to even allow the human to ask for anything. Her stride was practically a sprint, let alone a valiant jog. Granted, she still kept on edge, but with the knowledge all dangers on there had been dealt with Haydee's fast steps suggested she wished to get out of here as soon as possible. No doubt, though, that Dale likely held the same wishes.

Down the ladder, along the narrow, unobscured pathway and back to the large door that separated this room from the next. Again, the creeping feeling that the next way forward would not be normal reappeared as the gate got within range, but no less did that desecrate her stride. If anything, she let it push her further towards it.

With a clap to ensure she got his attention, Haydee pointed quickly to him, then to the other pad over the other side. Dale understood immediately, evident by his beam and nod, as he quickly got into place, while she in turn did the same. Both getting out their identical keycards, Haydee looked over to Dale's way, with the human returning the look with a nod as to await the gynoids' leading action like always, Haydee turned back to the pad before her. Readying the card, hovering it over the insert with anticipation, she would not let grievances stop her now as she firmly shoved it right in.

Dale did so in replicate order.

And just one second later, a buzz was heard. A buzz that, catching her whole attention, was followed swiftly by the lights turning a soft green. To then follow it up by thunder suddenly erupting.

Not like lightning, sparks that came from the plaques of before, but a rumbling that at first felt to almost be an earthquake, a quaver right below their very feet. A thought; that was quickly dropped as she watched the wide gate suddenly burst open. Like a jaw its teeth parted, giving way to the sights inside for them to gawk at. If this were a fictionalised film, smoke would be piling out the unknown way, darkness would have filled the insides to keep the area a long secret.

But this was no film, this was reality. This was their way forward. And whatever may come, she believed, she had hopes, towards a new, more soothing realm. For the human, at least.

Or that was left for her to do, was grasp the human to her side; and walk on through-

"Hey, um. . . Haydee?" A walk that would have to wait. The chance to move on forward, a statement where the only physical truth to it was a few short steps of herself when she stared at the front of the large door, was immediately halted as the soft-speaking question pierced her ears like a spear. Not so much did it make her flinch, but the way it was mumbled out, almost hesitantly so ensured Haydee's remembrance of his mindset made her pause to turn around and look at him.

Though he was a few feet away, the distance he seemed to make them look could have been spread miles. He was not looking her way, fully, but more down, barely to her boots. His face showed not a creep of a smile, and though he appeared in normal health the lethargic form he chose to take could have been easily mistaken with him coming down with an illness of some kind. There was something on his mind that she knew of, and though she still would have likened them to continue forth, if doing so came at the cross of his mentality straining then it would always have to be taken as less important. With a nod, she wordlessly told him to continue, to ask his question, of which he did, still as whispered as previous words.

"I. . . I just want to apologise. To you. About you. . . having to protect me and all."

Huh? Why would he feel the need to apologise about that? That is what she is programmed to do, as innate in her as an instinct is for him. It would be like him feeling sorry for needing to eat and sleep. Why is admitting it like a fault?

"I. . . I know I'm not useless. . . per say, but I also know I am practically dead weight in a fight. I can't. . . do much but stay back and watch you keep me safe, or t best just run away. That. . . that alone is enough, but the fact that I, I just let myself clam up and cry in a corner, leaving you to keep me safe as I can't so much as run away, let alone protect myself like I should be capable of, I cannot forgive that about myself. It. . . it makes me feel like I'm truly little more than a bother, a bur-"

He needed to stop. Not with active force, but still he needed to stop. Both his confessions: and his current way of thinking. It was thankful, at least, that through his consistent blabbering he barely noticed her walk forward his way, looking at him deep in his face; and bring a hand out to gently grasp at his shoulder. That, even as placid as it could be, was still more than enough for him to cease his bubbling self-flagellation and make him look up to her vision-less face; in time for him to see her slowly shake her head to him.

He is not a bother, as she finds his cheerful chattering and optimistic outlook very appealing against this lifeless background of a place. He was not useless, he has proven himself time and time again that with him all challenges she has faced, starting right from the pressure pad of the door until this very room cramped with Sniping machines and electrified gratings, could be overcome together, if not outright unnecessary when going alone. And he, definitely, was not a burden: she wanted him to come along with her, not just out of innate necessity of finding him a true exit out of this, but more because she saw it as more preferable if he simply came along. Him always beside her, talking, smiling. . . it simply made this lifeless, boring, and above all merciless place they are still seemingly trapped within. . . just appear far less barbarous by some default.

And above all, all that she believes, thinks and confers to; Dale needs her as much as she needs him. She would not abandon this man for anything that comes their way, not until there is legitimate reason to. Even now, she would not go without him, a thought she sought to be much better in mutual appreciation than not.

She would not leave him be alone here, nor would she want him to think she ever would. Not now, not until safety is met. When her hand slowly raised, she saw it grand that he, even when tepidly, grasped it in turn. She was taciturn by nature, but that would not stop her from letting him know she was not to leave him here. With a nod from her, and a return one from the human, she began to pull, to tear him away from the stand he was on and guide his body into the unknown. Into the new place, the exit from here, but an entry to a new realm where Dale's mindset rebuilds for the better. Of that, with nothing left to discuss, say or confess, they took their first step in.

Whatever next this place leads to, whatever room, realm or world that they confront for their search for safe passage; she hoped it would fare far better than these rooms prior.

What Haydee was soon going to find out, however, that she would come to regret those words very soon.