A.N- First off all, a big thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter. Also, I've been caught up in school lately, as always. But anyways, at least this chapter is long.

Chapter 9- Narrow Escape

Colonel David Hoffman stared blankly at the flashing monitors. He saw carnage, nothing but bloody, gory carnage. The live feed from Shade had turned into a sea of flame and a river of blood, since he began watching two hours ago. He hadn't left the screen since. He was the only man in the room not moving, aside from the soldiers assigned to guard the entrance. All the other soldiers in the HQ's control room were busy monitoring the other cities and going about their alert duties.

"Bloody hell…" he said, his once crisp British accent now dull. Two hours ago, those machines, those monsters, they found Shade and had set it ablaze in less than 45 minutes. They spent the next hour or so finding and killing every last human in the compound. He had watched soldiers fight, or attempt to, and die in the process. He has even witnessed his comrade, Colonel Sean Foley being interrogated for the locations and then murdered by those soulless machines. The images played over and over like a movie in his mind. He had seen people die before, hell, even killed some himself, but never in all his sixty-two years had he seen anything so brutal or heartless. Foley kept refusing, even as the androids broke every bone he had, effectively ending his life with a quick and sharp snap of the neck. The wet crack of bone, especially, repeated in his brain, burned in there forever.

Hoffman's attention shifted when he heard running steps behind him. He turned to find two of his lieutenants, standing straight and saluting. They were sweaty and out of breath.

"Ah. Jackson. Amery. At ease, men." Hoffman told them. Conrad and Suren dropped out of their salute and relaxed their tired muscles.

"You already know why you're here, I assume. Correct?" Hoffman said, beginning their briefing.

"Shade has been compromised, sir." Suren replied, not missing a beat. Hoffman grunted in affirmation and walked to the monitors, pointing at the bloody wreck the city had become.

"Those bastards did this in less than an hour. They're out of the city and, I'm assuming, searching for the next. They were last seen heading south…meaning they're coming straight for us." Hoffman told the men. Suren sighed and crossed his arms.

"Shit." muttered Conrad. Hoffman nodded.

"Shit indeed, Jackson. Look men," he said "I need you two to get Briefs out of here. She's the best damn scientist the Resistance has and we can't have her getting killed. I want her out of here and secured safely in Lenneth, ASAP. Understand?"

"Yes sir," Suren replied, "The tunnels are open, I assume."

"No. Sorry boys, but the tunnels are sealed, as per emergency alert regulations. You'll have to go above ground." replied Hoffman. Suren silently cursed to himself, but joined Conrad in giving a salute and starting to walk away. As they reached the door, Hoffman called out to them.

"Amery!" he yelled as Suren turned, "When you get there, protecting Briefs is your number one concern. I don't want you wandering off because she is there."

The emphasis on the word 'she' made Suren raise an eyebrow. So it was true. She was in Lenneth. Suren made a mental note to find her as soon as he reached Lenneth.

"Of course, sir. I wouldn't think of it." he said, leaving the room without another word.

Hoffman scoffed to himself, turning back to the monitors, leaning on the control panel, and muttered, "Don't fuck this up, boy…"

-Back at the command post-

An explosion shook Gohan from his slumber. Lifting his head and looking around, Gohan once again remembered where and when he was. The demi-Saiyan pushed his chair away from the wooden desk and stood up, arching his back and stretching with a yawn. Another explosion sounded, rumbling and shaking the small concrete room, the hanging lamp swinging back and forth, illuminating the room in a show of swaying shadows. Gohan sighed, vaguely wondering in the back of his mind what had caused the rumbling. Still not fully awake, the possibility of it being an attack was far from his first thought.

"Darn. I need a haircut." he said to himself with a yawn, brushing his shaggy, raven black hair away from his eyes. He opened the door of his room and stepped into the small concrete command center. Bulma was sitting at the dark wooden table, slowly sipping from a clear, plastic water bottle.

"Hello, Gohan" she said with a smile, her gray eyes showing some sparkle again, at least, more than they had when Gohan first arrived. Gohan walked over and pulled out a chair, sitting down opposite the female scientist. Brushing his hair from his eyes again, Gohan looked Bulma in the eyes.

"Hi Bulma. How are things going with the time machine?" he asked, hopeful of a positive answer. Bulma smiled again, weakly and took another sip of water.

"Things are going fine. It's not pretty, but it'll work. Give it a couple weeks." she told him. Gohan smiled at the answer, happy to have some good news. He could finally go home after three years.

"My, my, Gohan. Your hair is getting a little long," she added, almost reading Gohan's mind, "Let me give you a haircut."

She pulled from her lab coat pocket, a Swiss army knife and flicked open the mini-scissors, standing. Gohan nodded and sat still as Bulma began to snip away his long hair, strand by strand.

-Outskirts of Avedis-

Suren and Conrad approached the security gate on the outskirts of Avedis, almost through when the first explosion hit. A deafening bang shook the compound, as concrete and steel freely fell from the ceiling, about 400 yards away. They saw two figures descend into the city and start blasting. The androids.

"SHIT!" Suren cursed, Conrad nodding in agreement, "Let's go!"

Busting through the metal door and into the tunnels, the two sprinted as fast as their legs could desperately pump. They heard the screams and explosions behind them, not wanting to turn and face their possible fate, but kept running as fast as they could. Finally reaching the steel door and busting through in a hurry, they found Bulma cutting Gohan's hair, which was now medium-short in length, but incredibly uneven. Both looked up at Suren and Conrad, obviously very startled.

"We have to go. NOW!" Suren shouted. Conrad was already at the gun case, loading magazines of 5.56 x 45 mm NATO armor piercing rounds into two H&K G36K assault rifles.

"What?" Bulma questioned, still startled. Suren grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the exit.

"They're here." He said, taking a G36K from Conrad and cocking the bolt, "And we need to get you to Avedis. Hoffman's orders. You too Gohan."

"But why the rush? The tunnels are secure, right?" Bulma said. Suren shook his head.

"No. In an emergency like this, the tunnels are sealed to prevent further discovery of the other compounds. We have to go from the outside."

Gohan stood, exchanging a worried look with Bulma, as Suren took a loaded .45 USP handgun from Conrad and holstered it. He then punched a gray button on the keypad of the wall. A hydraulic hiss and a small elevator platform slowly lowered to the ground. Conrad began filling his vest pockets with incendiary and M26 fragmentation grenades and finished his preparation by tying a black bandana on his forehead. He noticed Gohan looking at the bandana.

"It was my grandpa's, from the war. Brings me luck." he said to Gohan. Suren and Conrad then nodded at each other, both making sure the other was ready to go.

"Let's do this." Suren said, as the group of four stepped onto the emergency elevator platform that had opened up. Pressing the small red button on the side, the elevator began to rise up, breaching the surface of the rubble. Looking around, they saw familiar, grave surroundings. The city and world they once knew; destroyed.

"It's ten miles to the Lenneth outpost. Let's get a move on." Conrad said, starting to walk at marching pace west towards Lenneth, unknowing of the dangers that waited…and the costly toll that would be demanded…