It was odd not having Shock by my side as I rode through the same dusty desert as before.

Following Lavil was just as challenging as I expected it to be. He didn't need a vehicle; he skated around the sand faster than I could ever go, as if he knew it by nature. Whenever he needed to slow down and wait for me to catch up, he'd whirl around some nearby dunes, performing all sorts of stunts and tricks in the air. Flips, spins, grabs, you name it. Sometimes he'd even toss his missile launcher in the air and catch it after landing. It took a lot of focus to watch where I was going while also making sure I was still following him, and something told me he wouldn't listen if I told him to slow down just a bit.

The shadows on the dunes were growing longer the further I rode. Night was quickly approaching, meaning I'd definitely be missing my performance at the club tonight. It didn't bother me nearly as much as before, though. Rescuing a captive robot was much more important than that. I'd make an announcement about my absence when I had a break from all this action.

Eventually, Lavil did an extra high jump way in front of me, pointing over slightly to my right with both arms extended. Assuming that was where he wanted me to go, I changed my headings just a touch east.

Then, as soon as he landed, he immediately skid to a halt, kicking up a huge cloud of dust. I slowed down as much as I could, but still ended up driving a wide circle around him as I crawled down to a stop.

“Kill that,” he shouted.

I parked the bike and turned it off. “Why here?” I asked.

“We're going on foot from here on.”

“What? Why?”

“Shit, kid, we'll be seen as soon as we roll up if we don't take it easy from here.”

“Seen? Lavil, what kind of place are we dealing with?” I took a long, hard look at his weaponry, still trying to deny the answer I fully expected him to give me.

He sighed. “We're coming up to a spot with a big metal door in the side of a big-ass dune. There's normally a vehicle or two there, two guards lined up outside, three more inside. I'm not so dumb as to throw away my stealth advantage.”

“Guards?! We're going to be fighting?”

“No shit.”

I reflected back on the moment I stood up and said “yeah, I'll do it.” Retrospect is 20-20, they say.

“Hope you like explosions,” Lavil added.

Couldn't deny it anymore. He laid it out, plain as day. He was going to be blowing people up.

“So.” I suddenly started feeling a bit overwhelmed. “How... do you know all this?”

“Already told you. Done this a hundred times. Same thing every time. C'mon – leave your bike and let's get moving.”

I did as that rude bot told me, quickly figuring out he wasn't going to give me any sort of reassurance or guidance with this. But, if he said he'd done this many times, maybe I could take a back seat.

I could tell it was driving him crazy walking through the sand at my pace rather than getting to where he needed to be in the blink of an eye. I tried not to give his attitude much consideration, knowing I wouldn't get much back. Didn't make him any less unpleasant, though.

“Hot damn, here we go,” Lavil whispered as we reached the top of a dune, immediately dropping prone onto the powdery desert floor. I crouched down rather than opting to get covered in sand again.

Instead of bothering to reply, I waited for him to continue.

Lavil pointed just over the dune; I took a peek over. About a hundred feet away, the place he'd described moments ago was just visible in a fairly wide-open clearing. A huge metal door was lodged in the side of an extra large hill, a black truck the size of a tanker was parked just outside the door, and...

Dark grey plating. LED faces with angry eyes and a little frown. Stationed just beside the door with a weapon in its hands was one of the robots that kidnapped Trivo back in the tunnel at Verdin. Lavil was right. Trivo must be here.

At least the mystery of the chunk of metal from the bot in the tunnel was solving itself.

“Lavil, that's one of the bots we encountered near Verdin. One of the bots who kidnapped Trivo,” I explained quietly but with utmost urgency.

“Yeah, I know. It's the same model of robot every time.” Lavil perched his missile launcher near the edge of the dune, pointing it in the direction of the distant structure.

“Y-you're not seriously planning on...” I stammered, even though I knew what was going to do.

“No, I brought this thing for show. What do you think?” His tone was as condescending as ever.

“You're really going to kill that guy.” I just couldn't wrap my head around it.

Lavil aimed his weaponry carefully before slowly turning his head to face me. “No.” Then, with the click of the trigger and a loud pop-FWOOSH, a giant glowing projectile flew out the missile launcher, straight towards the bot in the distance.

I couldn't look away. I knew exactly what was about to happen, and as the glow of the rocket shrunk into the distance, it felt like time was slowing to a crawl. Sure, this guy kidnapped someone, but to be killed for it...?

Boom. Without enough time to move away from the incoming projectile, the robot flew apart in a fiery explosion of smoke and metal. It took me a moment to fully process the fact that I just watched a murder.

I wanted to say something, but didn't. Lavil wouldn't care if I complained.

“Don't look so rattled,” he said as if he could read my mind. “They're mass produced.”

Most mass produced robots have limited sentience, I reminded myself. If we were doing this to save Trivo, and these guys were simply clones of one another...

“Lead the way,” I grumbled.

Lavil hopped to his feet from the sand. “C'mon. They're going to know we're here. Let's make our move.”

So, as he started skating down the peak of the dune, I ran down the sandy hill, growing indifferent to his unmatchable pace.

“I only had three shots loaded in this when we left,” he shouted back at me. “Better make yourself useful when we get in there.”

Why don't you cool it, you overrated showboat, I almost said aloud. Damn, did I want to say it. No, instead, I kept silent and just kept running forward.

By the time I reached the structure, Lavil had skated behind the big truck, and-

Another explosion, much louder and closer than before. Huge chunks of debris and flames flew up in the air from the other side of the truck, leaving me to assume what Lavil had just done. I watched the air for a moment, ensuring no meteorites were about to crash down on me.

While it wasn't much compared to Lavil's loadout, I swung my guitar bag off my shoulder and grabbed its neck, once again wincing at how this was my only real weapon.

I'll get a new guitar after all this is over, I resolved.

I walked around the truck to see Lavil standing beside the big door in the sand, with smouldering pieces of what used to be one of our adversaries strewn behind him.

“You wanna take point in here?” Lavil asked, without a hint of sarcasm.

“No?” I answered, loading my reply with as much condescension as he did earlier.

“You'll probably have to if I have to use my last rocket.”

“Haven't you done this a hundred times? How come you need me to do anything at all?”

“Don't sweat the small stuff, okay? Get in here while we still have the upper hand.” Lavil tapped his fingers on a panel just on the left side of the door, and the huge gate slowly opened up, revealing a thick, dark fog. I couldn't see anything inside there.

Just as I was beginning to doubt my only ally, we were about to enter some dungeon in the middle of nowhere. Good.

“I don't want to spend long in here. We go in, get Trivo, get out.”

“Yeah, no argument there.” Against any scrap of good judgment I had left in me, I walked into through the doorway into the overwhelming cloud of darkness, Lavil just in front of me.

As my optics slowly grew accustomed to the low light, I got a better idea of where we were. We found ourselves in a somewhat long, effectively empty room (save for a locker on the far end of the room and some bits and pieces of metal here and there), covered in rust and a powerful aura of decay. There was certainly a lot of activity here, but it looked like it hadn't been touched in years.

Clang, clang. Loud metal footsteps echoed somewhere inside the facility.

Looking forward, I could see a small spiral staircase heading down at the end of the room, just behind a small archway. It looked like the only way someone could be coming from.

I bolted over to the side of the doorway right before the stairs, ready to ambush whoever it might be. To my surprise, Lavil followed my lead for once, apparently agreeing with my plan.

The sounds were coming from the stairs. I steeled myself, ready in a position to swing my guitar.

Clang, clang. Louder and closer.

Something walked through the doorway between me and Lavil.

Mass produced, I reminded myself. I swung down with all I had.

Shards of debris hit me in the face as the guitar hit the dark figure's head, quickly followed by a deafening CRACK of electricity. Blue light flashed throughout the room, throwing me off guard split second.

The robot staggered back through the doorway as we both recoiled from the impact. I caught a glimpse of who I just hit – it was one of those kidnappers.

I turned the corner. The bot tripped backwards down the stairs, bouncing down the flight with harsh metallic impacts every step it fell.

Lavil was just behind me. I rapidly glanced back at him and back to the stairs, rendering “!?!?” on my visor beside my face.

“Go!” he yelled. “Finish the job!”

I hopped down the spiral staircase, using the inner railing to help me spin downwards. The machine was crumpled up on the floor at the base of the stairs, trying to stand up.

With an unexpected thrill of exacting revenge, I shoved the bot back down with a thrust of my foot, lining it up for one more blow.

I swung down at the robot's head even harder than before, a wretched crunch piercing the air as I smashed its visor in.

It stopped moving. Sparks flew from its face and light blue fluid started leaking from its neck.

The feeling of “that's what you get for electrocuting me yesterday!” was almost instantly replaced by “what have I just done...?”

Lavil was following close behind me, with his pointed feet making little tap tap noises on the stairs. He looked at the robot I'd just... killed... and followed up with “messy, but not bad.”

“Just go,” I barked at him, pointing down the hall we found ourselves at the end of after descending the stairs. “You take point.”

Lavil shrugged. “Fine.”

Mass produced. Mass produced. Not real people.

I looked around our new location. On the right of the hall was another of the lockers I saw on the floor above, and a long window revealing a slow moving conveyor belt loaded with crates of some sort. Looking to the left, there was a bright doorway with dark alcoves on each side, and at the end was a closed double-door.

I didn't hear any other bots aside from Lavil, so I walked up to the illuminated archway on the left and peered inside.

It was a cramped room without anything too noteworthy. A desk and set of chairs filled the left side, while a big computer terminal and keyboard covered most of the wall in front of me.

No sign of Trivo. I walked back out to the hall.

“This elevator leads to the lowest floor,” Lavil spoke up as I approached him. He tapped the door at the end of the hallway with a knuckle. “When the door opens on the next floor, we're going to be wide open and vulnerable to anyone in the next room, and if history has taught me anything, there will always be three of those brutes stationed inside this complex. So, listen.” He paused to prop his firearm on his shoulder. “I'm going to be ready to fire my last rocket as soon as the door opens. Assuming there will be two of them in plain sight, I'm going to shoot as soon as I can. If I don't fuck up – which I won't – I'll hit one of them, then you go in there all rockstar and do what you just did to the last bot. Got it?”

“There's a lot of “what if” in this plan.”

“So, what are you going to say to me when this is exactly what happens?”

“Doesn't change the fact that I have no way of knowing how reliable you are!”

“Well you're about to find out, kid.”

“Stop calling me kid.”

“Really? We don't have time for you to start bitching about pointless shit. Calm down and hurry up,” he retorted as he pressed the button to call the elevator.

Good thing he looked away. The glare I gave him could kill, and I probably wouldn't have had any qualms doing so right then. So, of course, I was really looking forward to waiting in a cramped room with him.

I walked inside the elevator just behind Lavil. He pressed one of the two buttons on the wall to bring us down a floor. Moments later, the door closed behind us, and we started descending as the floor gently moved beneath us.

Elevator music probably would have made the ride less awkward than it was without. We both sat there in silence, until Lavil crouched down a few seconds later, aiming the rocket launcher at the door.

“Stand back and brace yourself,” he warned me.

Yeah, okay. I scooted over to the back corner of the elevator.

It was then that I realized I wasn't scared of the encounter about to happen when the door opened. Was it anger? The idea of righteous vengeance for their attack on us the day prior? Perhaps the realization that these guys are much more fragile than they look?

The floor bumped to a halt. I readied myself to enact Lavil's plan.

Ding. The door slid open.

The two robots we expected to see were right in front of the elevator door, staring right at us.

BANG. The blinding blue electricity from before crackled before me twice in rapid succession.

...But I could still see and move.

They must've attacked Lavil. He'd fallen backwards, his weapon on the floor.

With the plan ruined and fear suddenly rushing through me, I acted on instinct. While the two bots recovered from their attack, I ran forward and thrust the head of my guitar forward at the robot on the left, shoving him back and giving me enough space to jump into the more spacious room.

I was knocked forward immediately. Something powerful smashed into my back. I fell to the ground just beside the bot I'd hit, my guitar sliding forward just out of my reach.

Another violent impact on my back, stomping me into the floor.

I'm dead, I told myself. At least I can't feel pain.

“You're that bot from Verdin. Trivo's so-called friend,” the overly synthesized voice grumbled.

“What did you do to her?” I shrieked, the floor muffling several of my speakers.

“Trivo is not your concern. You're disrupting affairs you know nothing about.” A pause. “She's the key to purity, and we're not giving her up.”

“K-key to purity?” I couldn't think of anything else to say. “I'm sorry! I don't know what this means!”

“You won't need to know.”

The distinct sound of electricity rapidly sparking from something above me was all suddenly I could hear.

Pop-FWOOSH.

I knew that sound.

A fiery explosion engulfed the room. I faced the floor and covered my head, unable to do much else from my prone position. Debris of some sort pelted me all over, but the piercing weight on my back had been lifted.

As the air quickly cooled down, I looked up just enough to see in front of me. Pieces of those bots were scattered everywhere, and the floors and walls (including my guitar bag!!) looked like they'd been scorched black.

“Holy fuck!” Lavil's unmistakable voice shouted out. Then a loud slam and crunch of metal.

I scrambled to my feet and turned around, pieces of metal falling off me left and right. Lavil had just slammed his rocket launcher down onto the most intact of the two bots we just faced – the one I'd hit. The other was in countless pieces.

I stared at him with a face that screamed “what the hell just happened?” And then I actually did say, “exactly as planned, huh?!”

“Eh. Little rougher than normal, but still got it done.”

“Th... how? They roasted you!”

“You underestimate me.” Lavil struck a gaudy pose. “I'm the fastest robot on the planet. Soon as I saw them ready for us, I put my gun up in front of me. Blocked their zaps nicely, but still sent me flying.”

I wanted to be mad at him for nearly killing me with his last rocket, but I had to be reasonable. He did just save my life.

“Boy, look at you,” he remarked, examining my body.

I looked down at myself. I was more battered than I'd ever been before. Chips in my build, scratches, scuffed paint, even a couple dents...

Lavil burst out in laughter. “No way. Holy shit,” he snickered, looking just behind me. Then he skated right behind me.

“What?” I turned around to see what was so funny, but he told me to turn back around.

“You are covered in blast marks. Grey and black all over. That's amazing,” he explained, wiping my back with a few fingers.

I turned to face him. “So, where's Trivo?” I asked rather bluntly, hoping to get out of here soon. All I could see in this room was a lonely metal table sitting in the centre, a set of various tools on the far wall, and a shattered computer monitor covering the right wall.

“She's behind this door!” Lavil called out, pointing to a small door on the left wall.

“Lavil?” I heard a quiet voice, presumably coming from behind that door. “Lavil!”

“Trivo! I'm here,” he shouted.

Lavil skated over to the door and opened it. My spirits lifted, I eagerly ran behind him, peeking over his shoulder.

In what looked like a cramped and dimly-lit storage room, Trivo was sitting on the floor against a pile of boxes, unharmed.

“Lavil! And... and Aural, too! Y-you both made it,” she squeaked.

Lavil held out his segmented hand and offered it to Trivo. With his help, she stood up. In a show of affection I didn't think Lavil was capable of, they both hugged.

“Please get me out of here. Please,” Trivo pleaded.

“We're gonna bring you back to safety. It's all right.”