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Mastema paused, his mind racing through systems to find an answer to what was going on, when Thanatos shouted out to the others. "This isn't going to hold; get out of here!"

It didn't take a second thought for Sho, with Trilla in hand, and Slayer to move to the right and seek refuge a nearby building. Holding Micha in one arm, Mastema quickly put the other arm behind Nana and hurried her toward the opposite building with a hasty push. No more than a few seconds after Than had told them to move, the two groups would be out of the line of fire, with the children on the ground again.

"Than!" Sho's cry would call everyone's attention back to the center of the street: Thanatos was still crouched down behind his temporary wall, Proto not far from him. Had the boy stood up, his wall would have given way instantly. This technique was meant to reflect energy based attacks; its resistance to solid matter like bullets required much more energy input. The assaulting droids were closing in at varying distances, and in no time the black wall separating Than and the bullets dropped.

At the same moment, Proto stepped in front of Than and crouched down on one knee, putting up his arms to deflect bullets as quickly as possible. If only he could shoot the rifles out of the droids' hands. Proto reached behind him to grab his rifle, only to find the holster empty. He'd left it behind for the party, leaving him completely unarmed. For the moment, Than and Proto were pinned down, with Proto taking the brunt of at least 4 bullets each second.

The wall may not have been the most practical answer, but it worked. Mastema put Micha down on the ground as he stood up to take his place at command. "Sho, Slayer, move over here now. Thanatos, Proto you too!" Sho and Slayer didn't have a problem following the order, Trilla was still held tightly to Sho. Despite being in the midst of gunfire, Than seemed fine as he stood up, Proto doing the same. Some bullets had managed to lodge in his forearms.

"What the hell's happened? Why are our droids shooting at us?" Sho was the first to question.

"I'm not entirely sure," Mastema responded, "Zio's records are showing these droids in the east tower, not here. Unless we're all dreaming--"

"No metaphors!" Than screamed, "we can't just escape, those things have to be stopped before they do much more.

"True. And we don't know if they're the only anamolies in. But this is a poor place to get a grasp of the situation. We're moving out of here." Mastema turned to Nana and the kids first off. "Nana, your portal would be the safest way for us to transport back to the main tower. I doubt they got that far."

The anger on Than's face was visible. He knew Mastema had a point, but still disagreed on how to proceed first.

Fifty-entire seconds, Than thought to himself. What kind of a joke was this anyway? Mastema was asking Nana to get them out of there like it was an urgent situation - ridiculous! Than knew damned well that just about any of the people there could take on all of those bots without any trouble. Why was everyone suddenly being so spineless...... because the children and Nana were there? To Than it seemed nothing but irrational to not fight with their all especially at a time like this. Be damned with destroying the bots; it was just as easy to disarm them. As he thought over this while waiting, it suddenly dawned on him how vulnerable they were.

"fuzakeruna!!" was the only cryptic response the rest of the group would get. As the portal came to completion, Than bolted right past it and toward the entrance to the nearest building.

"What the cr-- Than, don't worry about them right now! We get out of here first!" Sho shouted after the hot headed boy, not knowing what Than already did.

The moment he reached the entrance, the doors suddenly burst open from the inside as what could only be assumed to be the same bots that had been trapped behind the rock wall began to emerge. The 1B first to come out was the least fortunate. As it turned to where it knew the party was, it would be met by a loud 'roar' from Than as he kicked upward as hard as he could, knocking the bot's rifle up and nearly the bot off balance. Keeping with the motion, Than used the downward force of his own strength and gravity to sweep the leg he'd just kicked with down hard on the back of the droid's knee. This caused the first droid to start falling backward as it tried to regain balance. Not allowing it to, Than raised his hand in a sharp upward motion, and a black spike rose out of the ground in its wake. The spike pierced clean through the lightly armored 1B unit's back and crippled its primary power couplings. As quickly as the spike had pierced the bot, it was receded into the ground in tme for Than to roundhouse kick the bot back into the door, momentarily barring those behind it from continuing. All in all, the scene lasted only about 5 seconds.

Sho looked on in almost disbelief at how quickly even the standard droid had been taken down, but his congratulations was cut short by Mastema's voice.

"Thanatos!! Move!!!" As Mastema had begun to shout, the window behind Than, next to the door, smashed open and another 1B leaned out the side of the window, baring its gun down on than. As Than turned toward the bot, by the time he was halfway turned, he knew the gun was leveled on him and he had no time to move. For the instant, Than felt frozen, petrified for a reason beyond his ability to comprehend. It was the end of his life, right here, on a fine winter day, his younger siblings birthday no less. Here on the day he had shared laughs with his family for the first time in months, he was going to die, helpless to the last moment.

The deafening crack of a rifle shot silenced every other noise in the tumultous scene, and the moments after seemed to freeze, until the sound of Than's back hitting the ground broke the silence.

No more than 2 seconds later, the droid that had been leaning out the window collapsed and slumped in the window sill. Its rifle dropped to the ground, molten red and half destroyed, while its body sparked, its entire left half gone.

The scene had literally happened in a flash, which occurred the moment the gunshot was heard. For a moment, it didn't seem any of the generals knew what to do. Several moments seemed to pass where nothing happened, before several loud coughs were heard and Than's body heaved slightly.

Dazed and lightly trembling,Than slowly sat up, not completely able to recall everything that was happening. "W-w-w...." Unable to coherently form a question, Than just lightly wrapped his arm around his gut and lifted his knee. He was trembling not noticably to anyone else but him; his entire body felt racked with illness and uncontrollable nausea.

Another loud clang would be heart not a few feet from Thanatos as V5's massive black form stood up to its full height, moving closer to Thanatos. Than could only barely look up in its direction. "Target intercepted, first target incapacitated." V5 stated as if it was making a report.

"Have..... I been shot.......?" The question barely made it out of the deathly shaken Thanatos as his mind raced to try and calm down. "Negative," the bot replied, "Target was neutralized before any weapon discharge." The vanguard's matter of factly voice replied yet againn. Slowly but surely, Than's wit started to return to him, though he still felt incredibly ill at the moment. The loud shot everyone had heard came from V5's energy powered KARASAWA rifle, and the flash was the shot it had fired. The 1B hadn't known what hit it from the rooftops above. In the nick of time, V5 had probably saved Than's life, while the sound of the rifle coupled with Than's situation had shocked his body so much that he nearly fainted.

"..........You can't die yet........" The vanguard's voice suddenly changed to that which he used when, madly, reciting poetry or singing nursery rhymes. "Wh......what do you--!!!" The sheer terror and shock finally peaked, and Than lurched over, vomiting up whatever he'd eaten at the party. It was a little too much for the boy's stomach.

Than vomitted twice, nearly 3 times before his body started to calm down from the shock of it all. Thinking he wasn't going to feel any better than he was now, Than slowly pushed himself up, realizing there was still a situation to take care of. "There... there are more of them! They need to be stopped one way or another."

"Confirmed. More targets approaching," V5 returned momentarily to its regal voice. "My lord, please seek shelter. I require no assistance in dealing with these enemies. I will disable them as efficiently and quickly as possible. You're in danger without being armed." It was simple really. There was a portal between them and the others, and Vanguard five stood in front of Thanatos, ready for another surprised attack. V5 wasn't needlessly decorated trophy like Griffin's SWAT team; this guard was the real deal. Any attempts made on Thanatos's life would be met with extreme resistance..... though that was likely the result anyway.

"H-hai...." Not arguing, and not fully recovered yet, Than started to trot before running back toward the rest of his family. The moment he was close enough, Proto assumed a position between him and a possible attack position. He could take more damage than the others.

"Vanguard 5," Mastema stated, "I want a full report of what you know on the situation when the immediate threat is neutralized."

"Understood, sir. Please evacuate; preparing to engage target." Once more, the bot began walking toward the building entrance; was it seriously going to face the enemy head on in such a cramped building. Before even entering, V5 raised his KARASAWA and fired off another blinding, blue-white shot, stopping a rifle that had been raised at him from inside the building. The cold and chilling voice came from V5 once again, directed at the assailants. Inside the building, the bots, for one reason or another, were starting to tremble and hesitate as the monsterous V5 closed in on them, crying out its judgment. "Cast in the name of God........ YE GUILTY!!"

Sho and Slayer were the first through, followed by Thanatos. It wouldn't take them long to disperse in the room. Mastema remained on the other side of the portal until Nana was through. Even after the others had gone through, Proto remained for some time more.

It was a wonder what kind of terror the 1Bs would have felt were they human... or was that even an issue anymore. Shots rang out as the half dozen 1Bs inside became 'frantic.' V5 appeared and disappeared without warning. Even if it couldn't fly, its multiple boosters allowed it to quick thrust through any turn with vicious speed. The loud 'FOOM' of its boosters each time it moved became so rapid it felt like it could be closing from any direction. Soon enough, one of the bots was found in half, its torso and legs separated and seemingly molten where it used to be connected. The next victim would be caught from behind. Instead of a clean kill, V5 grabbed its head and lifted it with one arm. The 1B dropped its rifle and started frantically trying to free itself from the monster's grip, only to have its head slowly crushe until it ceased to function. As the others shakingly backed away from the sight of watching one of their own crushed, the timidly raise their rifles and opened fire on V5, who simply held the 'carcass' in front of him as a shield. "You would fire on your own?........ TO OBLIVION WITH YOU!!" The rest of the bots would be shown no mercy.

Thereafter hearing V5's delaration, Proto stepped through the portal to the cafeteria, unable to take much more of the insinuation of what was happening. By the time he came through, everyone else would have been in the room, and Thanatos was sitting at the table under which his siblings were hiding

This high up in the tower, there wasn't much need to be concerned. For the time being, Than no longer showed any signs of what he had just been through, and instead had his arm around Trilla hugging her protectively. Of course, the others probably needed it just as much even though they didn't show it.

Proto took up a stationary position, not seeming to do anything, though as a machine he could probaby do a lot without looking like it. Mastema was probably doing much the same, perhaps even already getting his report from V5, seeing how 'efficient' the bot was at obliterating threats.