"NDS: Book 12—Neon: Chapter 87: To Be Machine…"

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Within the cold and gray corridors of Hawthorne raced two people to meet up with Clive Winslet. "We have to get to the roof!" Sakura shouted with determination as exhaustion began to take her. She was growing far too tired, but that would not stop her now. Not even her loss of breath. "My father has to be up there."

"Sakura!" Adven shouted but was ignored as he sped up his sprint. "Sakura!" He shouts even louder only to be ignored. In aggravation he vaults her body and cuts her off. Catching his breath he stared right into her. "Sakura."

"I…" She shook her head. "Adven?"

"Sakura, calm down." He suggested. "I'm just as anxious to save Clive…but we can't just charge into this blindly."

"Right." She nodded and was about to move around him, but he caught her wrist and she looked at him again.

"Sakura, I don't want you to get hurt." He sternly said.

"I'm sorry." She lowered her head. Suddenly she looked up at him. "Adven?"

"What is it?"

"There's…I mean…my stomach…"

"Are you hurt?"

"No, it's…listen, just…protect me."

"I always do." He grinned as he ran his head through his hair. "Now…we should go. C'mon." Taking her hand the duo began to run onward at a decent pace. Suddenly in the dark halls with no lights, Adven caught a glimpse of something too familiar and pulled Sakura into his arms as he jumped aside and to the wall. It was good timing because a cannon ball shattered the wall just behind where he had been running.

"A drone?" Sakura questioned.

"Doubtful. All of the other ones were shut off. This must be run on it's own and used for emergency security backup." Adven observed as he let go of the woman. "Negative Cannon, Blast!" The beam causes the cannon to miss them with it's next shot as Adven gets a glimpse of the tank-like drone that stood ahead of them. It held a cannon and a gattling cannon on it's body. Adven looked to Sakura and his eyes lingered for a moment. "I'm going in." Adven began a wild charge for the mecha, jumping to the air and pulling back his right fist in anticipation. "Surging Punch!" Doing little aside from pushing the automaton back, Adven is flung by the drone's arm and Adven hits the wall hard.

"I have your back!" Sakura declared as she fired off rounds at the drone, only for it to turn it's attention for her.

"Sakura, no!" Adven barked as the drone fired it's gattling cannon at Sakura, but instead Adven came from the air to strike the ground with a Surging Punch to create a Negative Shield that blocked the bullets from hitting Sakura or him. "Don't get involved because it will only kill you." Adven muttered as he turned his attention to the tank who was ready for another round of bullets. The shots fired off, but Adven with little time to think on how to save Sakura from this attack simply threw his body in the way of the attack and took the ten bullets that were fired. The attacks however became too much and threw him to the ground in a slide that left a trail of blood behind.

"Adven!" Sakura cried as she went to move, but Adven waved her off as he stood. "I'm sorry." She muttered. She told him to protect her, but she forgot how serious Adven would take that remark. It was her fault now that he lied on the floor.

"No," Adven slowly stood as the light blue eye-camera of the tank drone flashed. "This is my fault. So don't think anything less of me. I gave my word, and I'm ready to accept the outcome."

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Ken Ninomara landed upon the roof as it buckled from the weight of his metal body. With his left eye shattered by glass it was no longer usable and a very dark blood red covered his left side of the face. Still, He came back from the attack dealt to him by Clive.

Ken laughed. "You have taken my eye…but it can be replaced." The cyborg paused as he gave off a smug grin to Clive's stern features. "That is the world you helped to create. One in which it doesn't matter how shot-up your body is, as long as you still live there can be a chance. Little by little our bodies can be fixed. Upgraded. In the end…humans too will become lifeless shells of what they used to be. Where will be your humanity then, Clive?"

"My humanity is in my name!" Clive roared as he threw his shoulder into Ken's metal body. The Cyborg staggered backwards out of surprise. "I will show you the power a human can have!" Clive pushed off of Ken and jumped away, throwing his coat open mini-missiles fired off from his coat, and the explosions flung Ken off the roof once more. Ken did not think that Clive himself would have hidden weapons on his body.

Just as Ken had been flung off, his vernier lit up and he was just as soon on his way back to the roof. "Weak!" He bellowed before firing off his Hammer Fist that Clive dodges. The ex-partner of Clive grinned as he let the Hammer Fist make a second attack, but Clive deflected it with his own metal replacement leg, and soon the Fist was returning to Ken's arm. As this went on, Clive made a charge for Ken, and threw a strong blow to his enemy's face and then latched his fingers around the Hammer Fist attachment on Ken's right arm.

"It is not me who is weak!" Clive declared, using all his might to rip off the Hammer Fist and sent sparks to the air as the wires were ripped from the cyborg with a scream. "You're the one who is too weak!" As Clive tossed the weapon aside he sent his head forward in a headbutt and caused Ken to touch the ledge of the roof. "My own leg of metal is more human than you."

"And that is why it fails…"

With a growl Clive twirled and sent his right metal leg through the chest of Ken, as well as causing the cyborg to stagger and slip off the roof. Ken's body fell from the roof and left Clive with his leg extended as Ken's chest sputtered with sparks and smoke. The portion of Clive's pants that covered his metal leg was now cut up and showed his beige metal leg to the world. Ken's body however, let gravity hold onto it, and it plummeted downwards, but halfway down it erupted and the explosion shattered the windows around it into shards. The flaming mass and the glass showered the empty streets below.

Slowly Clive made his way to the Hammer Fist he had torn off, and lifted it up with his free hand. "I suppose this hand will do for now." He observed as he prepared to install it to his arm. He disliked the notion, but it would be best now to place it on his own right arm, because he had a bad feeling within his gut.