NOS-4A-2 sucked another robot dry, not even stopping to listen to his cries for mercy. The rush of power to his system was addicting, and he sighed with pleasure every time. He dropped the now dead robot, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"It's still not enough..." he mumbled angrily, "I need more..."

"See you guys later!"

"Sh! Not so loud!"

"Oh please. Who do you think stands a chance against this!?"

Nos peeked around a corner to find four white robots and one black robot, one of which was his escapee. He watched the black one unsheath a rather impressive weapon and felt himself shrink back a little. He didn't want to be on the other end of that piece of machinery.

"Ruby, don't shoot that unless you have to." the white probe with blue eyes was saying, "I don't want to deal with your reckless behavior."

"I'm not stupid." the black one called "Ruby" said, "I'll be sure to destroy that Nos guy for you!"

Is she talking about me?

"Sure, sure..." the blue-eyed one massaged her forehead, "Just get her there and back safely. I won't be able to help should the need arise."

"Of course!" Ruby sheathed her weapon, "Well, have a good one."

"You too..." the blue-eyed probe retreated into the Axiom and Nos hid himself as the black probe and the yellow-eyed probe went past. Their signatures tingled his senses. He had a feeling he could really get a good charge from them.

But not while the black probe was in the way.

He stalked them from the shadows, hidden from view. The yellow-eyed one did most of the talking while the black one kept a sharp eye out. If she would just get out of the way, kidnapping the one who eluded him would be easy. He would have loved to just jump out and attack, but he had learned from hundreds of years of experience that, while his programming forbade it, he could in fact lose a battle. It was so jarring to him every time, though he had to come to terms with it. Defeat was possible. And he could tell, that black probe had very advanced experience in combat. He didn't want to risk getting killed because he couldn't hold still.

No, he had to wait for the black one to get out of the way. As soon as that happened, he would take the opportunity.

"Um...Ruby?"

"Yeah?"

"I feel like we're being watched..."

"Me too. I've been feeling that for awhile now."

Nos blinked. Could they sense him?

"I-I-I don't like it..." Aya huddled close to Ruby, "Whenever I get this feeling it means the author is trying to tell me something..."

"Normally, I would tell you that that is complete bull scrap, but I don't want to argue with you this time..." Ruby spun around and around, "Which shadow are they hiding in!?"

Aya's yellow eyes brushed over Nos, but she didn't see him, "Let's go faster..."

"Okay..." Ruby took Aya's hand and pulled her along, "Don't worry. If that Nos-4-A2 is dumb enough to jump out at us, I'll be sure he never bothers anyone again!"

The yellow-eyed one seemed calmed, which worried Nos. He knew the black probe would be a problem, but he didn't know she was...crazy. How long would it take to find an opening?

The sun was beginning to come out, but he ignored the tiredness in his system as he watched the two probes reach their destination. He would have to bite something soon to keep himself awake. He rolled his optic as he reached into his coat and grabbed a battery, drilling his teeth into it absently. He didn't want to lose sight of the probes, so he didn't want to hunt for energy, therefore he had no choice but to take the energy from batteries. He shriveled in disgust, tossing the empty battery case behind him. Hopefully, this wouldn't take too much longer.

"Ahhh..." Aya stretched, "We're finally here..."

"Don't let your guard down, Aya." Ruby looked all around, "I still feel like we're being watched."

"I know, but hey. Whoever is watching us decided not to attack!"

"Right..." Ruby's red eyes lingered near Nos' hiding spot, "I thought I heard something..."

"Ruby! Look!" Aya flew off and Ruby was quick to follow.

"I told you! I built all of this, didn't I?"

"I'm paralyzed! That isn't a fair comparison!"

"Calm down, you guys!" Aya got to the squabbling humans, "What's going on?"

Ruby looked back into the shadows one last time before moving on.

What actually happened during the course of the rest of the day wasn't very interesting. Nos kept watching as Aya became the voice of reason for the community of humans, Ruby keeping watch the whole time. Nos plotted everything in his head. Once Ruby's attention was averted, he would grab Aya and fly away with her. He hoped he would be able to bite her before he actually got her there, but it was likely he would have to bypass that entirely before she had a chance to escape. He also thought about taking control of her, but he decided against it until he could discern what made her so resistant to his mind control. She didn't call him master even once.

It took a lot of willpower to do that.

Anyway, once he figured out that little bit, he would drain her of her energy and leave her carcass in the street. Maybe she would make it back to the Axiom after that, but he didn't care. He just wanted squeeze every last drop of her energy as slowly as possible until she was screaming and crying, begging for him to stop.

Finally, Nos had gone through fifteen disgusting batteries before the sun finally set again. Aya finished up what she was doing and stretched her arms. Ruby had been on high alert the whole time.

Any time now.

"Well...I think I'll get to sleep..." Aya said.

"Be careful, Aya." Ruby told her, not dropping her guard even once, "Where do you stay when you're in this town?"

"I usually stay at Captain Bob's house. He's a nice guy."

"Where's that?"

"Over there." Aya pointed to the biggest house in the center of the town, "He and his wife Melissa are kind enough to lend me the basement when I stay."

"That's nice of them." Ruby replied, "You'll have to introduce me."

"Sure thing, Sis!" Aya giggled, "Come on!"

Great. They were going inside. Not that he was surprised about that, but he didn't even see any basement windows. This was becoming more and more complicated. Luckily, his senses were heightened enough that he could hear through the walls, so he wouldn't miss anything at least.

"Aya!" the man called Bob laughed. He had a small black beard and a round belly, "Welcome back!"

"Hey, Bob! Staying out of trouble?"

"Well, you know me!" he said to her, "It's hard to stay away from great opportunities!"

"Oh my!" the woman called Melissa said, "Aya, you didn't tell us you'd bring one of your sisters!"

"Yeah. I'll have to tell you about that." Aya took Ruby's left arm, "This is my sister Ruby!"

"Nice to meet you, Ruby!" Melissa replied.

"Yes, welcome!" Bob added.

"Shhh..." Ruby said, "I still feel like we're being watched..."

"Hm? By who?"

"Let's go inside, Ruby." Aya said, "Maybe you'll feel better then."

"I don't know..." she let herself be lead inside.

Nos felt his agitation grow as the door shut behind them, Just get out already!

Ruby flinched, "No...he's still here..."

Nos tensed. She felt that!?

"He's definitely still here..." Ruby's eyes glowed, "...I can't go to sleep..."

"What?" Aya placed a hand on her shoulder, "That's a bad idea! Your short-term memory could overflow!"

"I don't care! I almost lost you once! I'm not going to lose you today!"

Aya frowned, glancing at Bob and Melissa for help.

"Ruby..." Bob was kind of at a loss for words, "I understand your paranoia, but I can post stewards outside. Would that make you feel better?"

"I-I don't know...that'll just make him stronger, won't it? Even WALL-E can overpower them!"

"Calm down." Aya said, "We still haven't seen him at all today."

"Because he knows I'm a threat!" Ruby replied angrily, "Come out, you coward! I know you can hear me!"

Nos shrunk back. He hated being insulted, but no, he had to be patient.

"NOS-4A-2! I KNOW YOU'RE THERE! GET OUT HERE AND FACE ME LIKE A REAL MAN!"

"Ruby!" Aya tried to calm her sister down, "Okay, we'll let you stay up all night, but wake me up when you're too tired, okay? I'll scream if I'm getting kidnapped."

Nos could feel Ruby relax just slightly, "Promise?"

"Of course! I can scream so loud that Rio starts throwing things at me."

"You tease her far too much..." Ruby replied, "Fine. We'll do that. And Bob, don't put any robots outside. I don't want Nos to be too strong."

Nos smiled, doing his best to hide his pleasure at that. It was true that he got stronger the more electricity he consumed, but being denied electricity made him desperate, meaning he'd do anything to get more energy. He could use that to his advantage.

"Well, goodnight, Bob, Melissa." Aya said, going downstairs with Ruby close behind.

"Goodnight, girls!" Melissa replied.