//ANGELs: Fight As One

4-HN jumped first, using his ranged impact shields as stepping stones on the way down. 5-AE caught up quickly; she was sliding down the building, stabbing her fingers into the side of it to slow down. They hit the ground at almost the same time, now facing the small army of EDGE "Enforcers" surrounding them.

These Enforcers weren't augmented, but each bore heavy layers of armor, and had weapons ranging from heat blades to railguns. Accompanying them were a force of about ten combat androids, none of which were as advanced or experienced as the two ANGELs they were pursuing, but were bigger threats than most physically enhanced humans.

"Welcome back!" Dr. Samuel exclaimed, though there was no joy in his eyes. "I look forward to your cooperation and our continued success together!" he continued. He gestured to a couple of the nearby Enforcers.

"If you could just let these gentlemen escort you back to EDGE, we'll forget what happened today. Or I suppose it was yesterday. You've delayed a lot of people's sleep schedules," he laughed dryly.

One enforcer went over to put handcuffs on 5-AE, and another to 4-HN. One fell over, now with one less hand, the other an entirely shattered arm. Both yelled in agony.

Dr. Samuel sighed. "So be it," he said. "Engage with lethal force!" Despite his facade of unwillingness to give this order, he appeared to be smiling as he lowered his head in feigned regret. This was, of course, the very man who carefully plotted and carried out countless forms of torture for 5-AE. He had insisted that he be the one to personally administer the "treatment" to the subject. He was the only one who worked in that chamber that never so much as gave an "I'm sorry".

This man now observed as 5-AE and 4-HN stood back to back, looking at the large number of Enforcers closing in on them. 4-HN was blocking the incoming shots with his RIS while 5-AE dodged the incoming fire he couldn't intercept. It was impressive, Dr. Samuel thought, to see for the first time in person. But they couldn't hold out like that forever. One of them would slip up eventually.

That was when one of the Enforcers made the mistake of pulling out a thermite grenade. 4-HN saw the opportunity and took it, quickly drawing his custom rail pistol and shooting the grenade out of the man's hand, consequently showering the surrounding Enforcers and a combat android in a torrent of fire. Their screams lasted for only five seconds. EDGE's thermite grenades had unparalleled heat output, and one had just detonated at point-blank range. This spelt death for over twenty nearby men.

5-AE, in the midst of the mass confusion, charged into the broken crowd. One Enforcer, who clearly didn't understand what he was up against, tried to take a swing at her with his heat blade, surely confident in his equipment. This mistake was the last he ever made. He realized this now as blood spewed from the deep stab wound left by 5-AE's blade, looking in shock at his armor that had been penetrated as if it were a tin can.

"Now, we can't have that, can we?" Dr. Samuel muttered under his breath. "Use the magnets!"

5-AE's blades were made of a custom metal that was attracted to a magnet that EDGE developed for disarming in cases exactly like this one. 5-AE was taken along with the force that was pulling her swords away. She gave up on them, knowing that even she couldn't break free of such a strong magnet with brute force. She preferred to fight with them, but didn't necessarily need them to do so. A group of unfortunate Enforcers, who were unaware of this, approached her with confident looks on their faces.

In the chaos caused by the thermite grenade, 4-HN was finally able to go on the offensive, focusing now on the two pistols in his hands more than his [RIS]. A squad of eight Enforcers were creeping up behind him now. He knew this, and they still believed he remained oblivious of their presence, giving him an easy chance to dispose of them. He turned, quickly ending four of the men before they had the chance to raise their weapons. He needed to reload now. 'Unfortunate timing,' he thought.

The remaining four all wielded melee weapons of some sort. They took advantage of the pause in 4-HN's onslaught to charge him. 4-HN flicked his wrist, using his [RIS] as a weapon now, utilizing the outward force it produced to send two of the approaching Enforcers flying into the building behind them; the cracking of their bones could be heard even from the distance of one hundred feet away that 4-HN was. He watched as their badly disfigured corpses collapsed to the ground, then turned to the remaining two, who now were swinging at him with thermal blades. He simply grabbed one in each hand, then squeezed, shattering them. The two men turned to each other as 4-HN grabbed each of them by the neck, producing a similar effect with their throats.

He then turned to 5-AE to see how she was faring in the skirmish. She was no longer holding her swords and had instead opted for swinging her sharpened fingers on carbon fiber threads, shredding anyone foolish enough to get close to shreds. A tank-class Enforcer approached her, and this method of attack proved ineffective, and the man rushed her, to which she responded by retracting her fingers, then morphing her entire arm into a blade and impaling him to a nearby wall. She saw another similarly heavily armored Enforcer approaching, and leapt through the air with an inhuman grace only she was capable of, coming down and nailing him to the concrete ground below, a web of cracks and a pool of blood spreading through the already poorly kempt sidewalk.

Now, however, she was being overwhelmed; three of the combat androids had started attacking her. 4-HN rushed over, blocking one of the vicious blades aimed at 5-AE's throat. The android whipped around in frustration, searching for the source of its slash being interrupted. 4-HN fired a shot aimed between its eyes, but this one was particularly troublesome; it had a carbon fiber shield in one hand, a thermal blade in the other. More accurately, it didn't have hands, but the two weapons instead. It roared mechanically, then charged at 4-HN. These androids were nowhere near as mentally or physically developed as the ANGELs were, or even as much as the social working androids. They were simply mindless killing machines, serving no other purpose than to attack. 4-HN ducked under its blade, narrowly avoiding decapitation. They didn't have much in the way of intellect, but they were strong. They also had a benefit due to their mindlessness: they couldn't feel pain, or even understand the concept that dying was a possibility. They would keep on fighting even if they had been torn in two. They stopped attacking only when they were physically unable to do so, making them incredibly hard to deal with.

4-HN took a shot at its leg, knowing there was no way it would be able to block the low bullet. It hit its mark, taking a large chunk out of its calf, but it kept charging at him. He tried to use his [RIS] to stall the frenzied droid, but it was able to push through in a matter of seconds.

'Now,' 5-AE's voice rang in his head.

He smiled, shifting the [RIS] field to 5-AE, who was now running full speed towards him, two outraged androids following her, each missing a few limbs. He then brought the shield towards himself, propelling 5-AE even faster than her already ridiculous speed. The impact of her now blade-shaped arm on the android's shield shattered it like glass, along with the torso it was attempting to protect. They weren't done.

4-HN was holding one of 5-AE's hands, which she had left with him, attached to the nearly unbreakable wire. He swung this hand now, using 5-AE, who was holding her sharpened arm out, like a deadly flail, further increasing the speed by allowing her to push off of an [RIS] as he released her hand. She plummeted toward the remaining two androids at speeds faster than the human eye could follow, quickly and precisely cutting them in half. The mindless robots paid no heed to this, propelling their torsos forward by dragging themselves along the ground with their arms. 4-HN met them with rail pistols raised, finishing the job.

"No wonder they work together so damn well," Dr. Samuel noted, chewing on his thumbnail. "We need to get them separated."

"STOP!" He yelled. Everything came to a halt, save 5-AE tossing an android's arm at a nearby Enforcer hard enough that it broke a few ribs. "We can negotiate this," he said more calmly, an amicable smile on his face.

'Don't take the bait,' 5-AE warned her partner. When it came to this man, even when they still worked at EDGE, the usually levelheaded 4-HN struggled to refrain from strangling him. It was too late.

4-HN had already started an all-out sprint toward Dr. Samuel.

5-AE tried to follow, but felt an impact on her right side that threw her into an adjacent building with enough force that she went through the first layer of wall. The building's security systems activated, having detected the exterior breach, lowering metal reinforcements over the glass and stone structure. This formed an air-tight seal, intended to keep burglars, which were all too common in District 5, trapped inside the building until they were apprehended. Since the police force was very unlikely to respond, the building owners were left to deal with it, often resulting in the intruders being found in a ditch the next morning.

5-AE now found herself caught in this trap, attempting to think of a way out. This metal was too thick for her to simply punch her way through. She was startled by an all too familiar voice. "Reminds you of the days we spent at EDGE, doesn't it?"

Dr. Samuel.