//5-AE: MEMORY LOG: [YOU'VE LOST]

The two ANGELs had been sitting in the alley for nearly three hours now. It was 04:00, meaning that the nighttime crowds of the city had long since depopulated the streets in favor of sleep, many of which did so with thoughts of the large sums of money they had lost. Neither one of the androids had spoken a word for the duration of these long hours. 5-AE spent the time collecting her thoughts.

Was that what it was to "feel"? While the intense emotions had receded, the duration that she felt them was not pleasant. She did not want to feel anymore.

She felt normal, now. Her own idea of normal, at least. Unfeeling. She took a moment to appreciate the internal state of nothingness that now occupied her, glancing over at 4-HN, whose eyes were still tinted a light blue. How did he deal with these unprecedented emotional responses? They were completely illogical. They had no benefit--all they had brought her was confusion.

4-HN quickly averted his gaze. Was he still mad at her? She now understood all too well how strongly anger could impact one's actions. It terrified her more than any opponent she had faced.

'These thoughts are too complicated. There's no method of calculating the outcome. No benefits will come of them,' she determined.

"Where do you think we should head next?" 4-HN's voice jolted 5-AE out of her deep train of thought. "If we stay here until people come back on the streets, somebody's going to notice us," he continued.

He was right. They needed to move, but at the moment, they had nowhere to go.

Since they didn't know where to start, they decided, the best course of action was to search for somewhere discreet to stay while the streets were temporarily vacant. EDGE's camera systems would shut down from 04:00 to 05:45. These times were when the higher ups in EDGE would schedule weapons exchanges with their allied companies, and the last thing they wanted was one of their competitors gaining access to footage that would reveal their meeting places.

After walking through the dimly lit streets for almost half an hour, occasionally passing a harmless drunk that wasn't in the mental state to walk home, they still hadn't found a suitable temporary hiding place.

"Do you not think it would be easier to search from a higher vantage point?" 5-AE suggested. 4-HN, after brief consideration, agreed. There was a tall business building less than a five minute walk away. They would use that to get a better view of the city.

They had no trouble scaling the building. It was a benign business, unlike EDGE, and likely wouldn't have severe security measures. As for climbing the ninety-degree glass and stone walls, this didn't pose any difficulty for the two androids. Their ability to intake air wasn't just for emotional show. They could also produce a similar effect through pores in their hands and feet, providing the ability to create vacuums in small spaces or generate suction against flat surfaces. This worked particularly well on the mostly glass exterior of the building.

After searching from the top of the building for a short while, 4-HN pointed out an electronics signature that appeared to be coming from the ground. Upon further inspection, he found that it wasn't simply power lines running through the sidewalk, but some form of a larger mass of electric devices. There was most definitely a room down there.

"That place is probably our best bet for now," 4-HN said.

5-AE was about to voice her agreement when a new voice broke the silence.

"Did you really think it was a good idea to go in and slaughter LiFE's agents? How careless could you be?" It was a man's voice. 5-AE whipped around. She and 4-HN had been standing in the center of the rooftop. The man came from the backside of the building. But he was human. How could he have climbed up without a jetboard? 5-AE reengaged her electronics scan, revealing that the man in front of her was almost entirely made from synthetic parts. The only part that remained mostly biological was his head, save his right eye, which was now a thermal optic.

Another voice rang out from the other side of the building.

"Let's just finish them off and head back." A second man, similarly augmented, climbed over the edge of the roof, this one closer to 4-HN. These people, 5-AE realized, didn't know what she and 4-HN were. Then how had they tracked them? Was it by chance?

The source of their being hunted down hit her as she noticed the small round object stuck to her stomach. A tracking device. But when had they put it on her? She thought back to her encounter at LiFE Enterprise's hospital.

'The man with the arm implant,' she remembered. He must have managed to stick it to her just before she had cut his arm off. She crushed the tracking device in her hand, scattering the pieces on the roof at her feet. Two more men of similar modified caliber now reached the rooftop. If it had just been the first two, it would have been an almost unfair fight. But now that there were for heavily augmented LiFE soldiers, she might have to put considerable effort forth to fight them off, as this meant that both she and 4-HN would have to take on two at once.

There were two ranged fighters, armed with plasma rifles, and two melee specialists, each wielding a heat blade. They were seemingly pairing up, giving one of each weapon type to the separate duos. One of these duos now faced 5-AE. They clearly had no intent of negotiation.

5-AE cast a glance back at 4-HN. He nodded. The soldiers didn't know it yet, but they were dead men walking.

Hearing that 4-HN had opened fire, 5-AE now dashed forward, targeting the gunman first. If she could get him out of the way, the rest of the fight wouldn't even be worth mention. She swung, aiming at the man's throat.

To her surprise, the attack didn't connect. The swordsman had managed to block the hit in his squadmate's stead. 5-AE took a step back, reevaluating their capabilities. They were fast.

Before she had time to think of a way to deal with them, the gunner started firing, the swordsman rushing in under the suppressive fire being provided. 5-AE was able to easily dodge the shots. The man firing adopted a shocked expression. What kind of monsters were they dealing with? She was literally dodging bullets.

The swordsman had used the time 5-AE spent dodging to close the gap between them. He swung, attempting to split her in two at the waist. He smiled wickedly - his blade was now only centimeters away from his target. She was finished. His sword made impact.

5-AE watched the man's slack-jawed expression as she flicked her sword downward, easily cutting the one approaching her hip in half, separating the hilt from the blade. He had managed to make it to her much faster than she expected. She followed up with a kick, sending the man flying nearly off the edge of the skyscraper. They were fast, but nowhere near as fast as 5-AE. The gunner, having realized that he was going to be her next target, frantically detached a pair of gravity grenades from his forearm and tossed them at 5-AE's feet. She didn't have any time to react before they exploded.

The man smiled, raising his gun to finish the android in front of him, who was now suspended without direction in the air. He had won. He fired a shot, now aiming for her head. The smile melted off of his face.

'How cheap,' 5-AE thought, tossing the plasma bullet between her fingers aside. She disliked those who relied on hidden tricks for victory. If they wanted to do so, she would follow suit.

The gunman seemingly recovered, trying again to shoot at 5-AE. She dodged, letting the shot hit the swordsman, who had unsuccessfully been trying to sneak up on her, in the chest.

'They're surprisingly resilient,' 5-AE thought. She had kicked the sword-wielding soldier with enough force to shatter a block of concrete. He would not, however, fare so well against the plasma bullet now lodged in his torso.

5-AE turned her attention back to the gunman. He looked on, his face full of fear. He reached for his other forearm; clearly an attempt to grab another form of hidden weapon.

5-AE wasn't going to give him the chance to use it. She ejected the fingers on her right hand, which were connected to carbon fiber threads, aiming at the man in front of her. He dodged, looking proud of himself for having done so. This victory, too, was short lived.

5-AE flicked her hand to the left, causing the fingers to wrap around the man's ankle, then started retracting them, dragging him across the roof towards her. She sheathed the sword in her left hand - he would have survived the initial stab with his augmentations, at least temporarily, and 5-AE had no intent of letting him escape. She focused her heating system into one point. Her hand glowed a blazing orange as she lowered it to the man's terrified face, melting it in a matter of seconds. No augments would recover from being liquified.

She looked over to 4-HN, who was walking over to his own swordsman on the ground. Upon hearing the gunshot she was now so familiar with, she strode over to him.

"There's more," he said, gesturing to the side of the building. 5-AE looked, seeing now that there were more than a hundred armored men surrounding the building.

Among those men was a familiar face.

Dr. Samuel called to them now.

"If you come back now, we don't have to do this. We know what you're capable of. You're not winning this."

This was the man who had orchestrated 5-AE's "experiments" in that dark chamber back at EDGE.

5-AE shared a look with 4-HN.

His eyes were burning crimson.