“You're right, Aural, I sure as hell wouldn't believe you if this was any other time,” Shock responded after I finished explaining exactly what I was doing between when we split up and met here again. “But these are some pretty trying times. Something tells me you wouldn't lie about something like that right now.”

“No, even I can tell it's time to be serious, like when I'm being hunted,” I groaned.

“No more going out alone,” Shock demanded as she leaned back in her seat. “These last few days have been utter mayhem and I'm really not interested in losing anyone else. Especially you.”

...Ah. Shock's delicate side was hard to find sometimes, but it was nice when it showed.

“You won't find me disagreeing with that.” I turned away from Shock, briefly running through my thoughts again. “But there was something about Historical that bothered me a bit.”

“What's that?”

“I introduced myself to him as Aural, but when we parted ways, he called me Aural Automaton. How did he know that?”

Shock pursed her lips for a moment. “You are a renowned musician.”

“R-right.” I didn't want to admit I'd forgotten about that. “But the way he said it... just... agh. I don't know. It rubbed me the wrong way.”

“I think we've all been a little tense lately. Don't sweat the small stuff, okay? He did save you from Tan.”

“Yeah, okay, yeah.” I knew better than to grumble back at logical reasoning like that, but I still felt uneasy nonetheless.

I aimlessly looked around our base's main room. Trivo was sitting beside Shock, rhythmically tapping her pointed feet on the floor, and Lavil was still typing away at the computer on the opposite side of the room, hardly even acknowledging our presence.

“Lavil, find anything good?” Worth a shot.

“Mate, it's been like... an hour. Tragically, my magnificent speed doesn't apply to computer operation.”

“It's taking that long to look up some information in Zynima's network?” I mumbled.

He turned and shot me down with a sharp glare. “This is not some everyday “oh, who's topping the charts today” search, this is “let's actually dig around for something secretive and meaningful that is going to help us save this city,” miss musician.”

“Oh, cut the snark,” Shock sneered. Trivo stopped bouncing her legs after Shock spoke up.

I wasn't in the mood for dealing with mister high-and-mighty either. I turned away without a word, side-eyeing him with an expression similar to the one I'd just received. I missed drunk Lavil more with every passing minute.

“We were going to give a factory on the far side of town a visit, last I heard.” I brought our conversation back on track as I walked over beside Shock.

“You're damn certain,” she answered, cluing in to my desire to leave Lavil's vicinity. “That said, are you ready to go back out there after that fiasco with Tangent? I wouldn't fault you for wanting a few minutes to cool off.”

“I... I'm pretty sure I'll be fine. You'll be with me when we go out again, right? And there should be plenty of people out and about by now. I don't think we'll have to worry about Tangent for now, as long as we stay out in the open.”

Shock nodded, raising her LED eyebrows.

I sighed. “We'll be fine.” Instinctively, I went to pick up my guitar as a sign that I was good to go... but it wasn't on my shoulder, and a brief glance around the room told me it wasn't in our hideout either.

“My guitar,” I thought aloud as I started pacing around the room, checking each potential hiding spot. “Did I put it somewhere? No... did I lose it when Historical took flight with me...?”

“You had it with you when you left,” Shock told me. “Did you set it down when you got yourself cleaned up?”

“No, I'm sure I...” I stopped myself, thinking really hard. “I don't know...”

Shock playfully rolled her eyes. “Let's go get your guitar, and then visit that factory.”

“Fuck, I hope nobody stole it...”

“You'll be fine, Aural. Take a breather.” Shock stood up and rubbed her hands together, prompting Trivo to stand up and walk over to the stairs in preparation for our departure. “You going to come with us, Lavil?” she asked him, testing the waters once again.

He turned and gave her the same glare as I'd just received moments ago, to which Shock responded with a glare of her own. Once Lavil had turned back to the computer, I frustratedly flicked my hand at him as I stepped towards the stairs. Snobby little f–

“We're off, then,” Shock announced. Good timing.

(Just for the record, my guitar was at Silver Wash. Shock was right, I was wrong, yadda yadda, let's move on.)

The street lights caught my attention every time. Glowing signs on the sides of buildings, artificial palm trees made from radiant lights... I really did live in a cool city. I still looked around from time to time, diligently checking my six to ensure our favourite trigonometry bot wasn't around, but the company of my pals relaxed me into a pretty strong sense of security.

That said...

“Days and days of walking and travelling about... when is this going to end?” I huffed.

“You're not the only one who's tired of this,” Shock remarked.

“Me too...” Trivo added as well.

Yeah... yeah, that was fair. “I'm just not built for this detective work, man.”

We had a decently long trek ahead of us. The factory we were after was off at the other end of the city, and we were only just exiting the commercial district now. I estimated it to be about 20 minutes away at this point.

I looked at Trivo. “So, let's say there really is a way we can upgrade our processors to go super fast. Do you know how to make anything like that? If so, would it even be compatible with our current hardware?”

“I don't know, sorry. It's just a theory... a long shot at that, too. I just don't have anything else to go off right now. I apologize.”

“Here's hoping Lavil finds something before long...”

Nods from both Trivo and Shock.

Even though the robots occupying the streets were thinning out by the minute as we walked towards the industrial district of Zynima City, someone on the other side of the block started approaching us.

It was an adorable, boxy, blue robot rolling towards us on a singular wheel. It had a pointed LED visor not too different from mine, with an armful of thin little tablets.

“News! For you,” it chirped, happily handing us one of its electronic tablets.

“Uh, sure, thanks,” I awkwardly answered, taking the tablet. I wasn't ready for such a sudden handout, but no harm in going with the flow. As quickly as it rolled up to us, it scooted away, humming a peepy little song as it left.

Shock looked at me. I could tell by her face that she was waiting for an explanation of some sort.

“Might as well, if we're going to be walking for a while.” I shrugged.

She smiled, squinting just a bit. “Good thinking.”

I held out the tablet in front of me, allowing Trivo and Shock to read along if they desired. Of course the headline was about the serial killings. “Is Zynima safe? Serial murders continue,” it read. Skimming over it... no helpful information we didn't already know. Trivo was still the public's suspect, which was starting to bother me a bit. No, you nut-heads, she's not the one you want.

I carelessly flicked my finger up the page, scrolling the screen down a bunch. Some minor articles here and there that didn't strike me as terribly important, a few little comics–

“Death race,” Shock pointed out. I looked down at the page to see those exact words written on a big headline.

“Death race,” I quietly repeated, my mind flashing back to my conversation with Historical. Was this the thing with Lavil II and III over at Grilith yesterday?

I started reading. Within seconds, Lavil's name popped up, perfectly matching the context I expected. Confirmed.

“So Historical was serious...” I muttered.

“Hmm? What did he say?” Shock asked. Trivo also leaned in close, listening in.

“He told me about this,” I began, poking the headline on the tablet. “You know when we went to Grilith and there was a race of some sort ending on the top of the tower? That's what this “death race” was. It was between Lavil II and III, and whichever one of them lost would've been dismantled. If II lost, he'd be junked, but if III lost, he'd be reconstructed to be faster and better until he finally beat II.”

“Seriously?” Shock creased her brow.

“It's true,” Trivo spoke up before I could reply. “Lavil II told me about it a while ago. He won by mere seconds this time around.”

“What the hell is this planet coming to?” Shock moaned, turning away from us.

“...What do you mean?” I slowed my pace a bit. I mean, I had a feeling I knew what she meant, but I couldn't think of anything else to say.

“Someone's rampaging around the city killing robots every day. Robots are racing for their lives off in the desert. The only people who rent out vehicles for the desert are con artists who almost killed me. You,” Shock pointed at Trivo, “you've been kidnapped more than once, and you and Lavil are being manipulated by some underworld dipshit! And Lavil is also a dipshit, as a matter of fact!” She paused for a breath, raising a hand to her side. “What the fuck has this planet come to? This place was supposed to be a great robot civilization where machinery could thrive. What happened?” She looked back and forth between Trivo and me.

I waited for a moment before saying anything. “One thing at a time” was the message I wanted to convey to her, but... when she's that agitated?

“We're going to take care of the murders, right? That's what's really plaguing the city right now. The rest... it can get sorted out on its own time. It's just–”

“I know! We're going to equip ourselves for combat, and we're going to kill Tangent if it's the last thing we do.”

“Shh, not so loud,” I whispered, perhaps a bit too quietly.

“That's the bottom line. I'll just... I'll just have to deal with the rest, I guess! Can't save the whole city from turning to a cesspool, I guess!” she shouted, finishing her vent.

Trivo and I went totally silent, unsure if we should have kept walking, or taken a small break, or... what. Clearly, I wasn't very good with my words. Instead, I reached over and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Sorry.” Shock shook her head. “Sorry. I shouldn't be taking this out on you two.”

“I know the feeling all too well, Shock.” Trivo's voice hit an unexpectedly solemn note. “It's not easy to come to peace with the fact that you can't fix everything, is it?”

If there was one thing I'd learned, it's that when Trivo took up such a somber tone, it was time to listen.

Shock hummed rather pensively, her head still tilted towards the ground, her eyes in a droopy semi-circle shape.

Trivo continued. “It was something I was starting to accept, until you two came along.”

“What?” Shock looked over to Trivo.

“I-I mean... my whole situation. And Lavil's situation. With a little initiative and a bit of risk-taking... well, you guys made me realize that maybe we can change things for the better... m-maybe.”

“For real?” I... never considered myself to be an influence on her. Or anyone, for that matter.

“Yes. And I can tell Lavil feels this way, too. He's always been an abrasive robot, but behind closed doors, he's actually rather... quiet. Perhaps you could say depressed, almost. But since we started working together, working towards stopping Tangent, he's had so much more energy. But... I know Lavil hardly cares about Tangent, aside from the ploy to destroy the robots I liked. He's a free bird living his own life out in the desert; it's not the idea of saving the city that's got him hopeful. I think it's the idea that we can actually do something to change things. Like, maybe even get our freedom back, one day. M-maybe.” She paused for a moment, locking eyes with Shock. “I know you don't like me, Shock. Or Lavil. But–”

“That's not true,” Shock interrupted. “...You're all right, Trivo. I'd love to smash zippy-dick's head in, but you're all right.”

We both chuckled.

“I-I'm glad, Shock... that you feel that way. About me, at least.” She smiled at Shock with cheerful – or, perhaps, amused – eyes. “Our first impression in that tunnel was poor, I know that. But... I was scared. Desperate. Like I said, I was just beginning to accept that my life didn't belong to me. But maybe, just maybe, if I got a hold of Aural Automaton before Tangent got to her... and she listened to the instructions in the message I sent... there might be just a tiny sliver of hope left. A long shot, right?”

“I guess so, yeah.” I put a hand on my chin. Reflecting on that day was bizarre, especially hearing about it from Trivo's perspective.

We could see the factory in the distance, billowing huge plumes of smoke from the massive chimneys. It was pretty obvious that this was the place we were headed to, since there was only one major factory in Zynima City, and this thing looked big.

“Maybe this factory trip will work out too. And... if it doesn't, maybe something else will.” She giggled. “Sorry you guys, I don't usually ramble like this.”

“It's fine,” Shock said, “and I'm happy you found a bit of hope with us, but I have to be honest with you, Trivo. My goal is to destroy Tangent; I didn't plan on going on an adventure to save you and Lavil from whoever is controlling you.”

“Shock...!” I couldn't believe how inconsiderately blunt she was.

Trivo giggled again. “It's okay. I didn't expect you to. My point is... you've made me realize that we might not need the help of other people to take our lives back.”

Thinking hard, I... I did feel the same way as Shock. I just wanted to make sure our robot kind wasn't getting murdered daily. But how could I ditch Trivo and Lavil when they had some unfortunate connection to a bot that's making their lives a living hell...?

“I think,” Trivo continued, rather slowly and quietly, “you'll find that Tangent is closely connected to the machine manipulating us. M-maybe it'll work itself out.”

That sounded awfully similar to what Lavil said to Shock a while ago in the hideout regarding their situation.

Shock raised her head up a bit. “Elaborate.”

“I... I can't. Or... well... you know how there might be an EMP inside me?”

Oh, shit. Yeah. That.

“I... don't want to risk that. I'm sorry...”

“It's okay. Don't worry about it.” I was beginning to understand why Lavil and Trivo had been so cryptic about “the situation working itself out.” Maybe eliminating Tangent would solve more problems than we expected...?

We were finally approaching the factory. The rumble of machinery clanging and shifting around was clearly audible from outside the chain-link front gate, which was wide open for daylight hours. Just beyond that, the huge archway into the black and yellow factory was also wide open, lots of stocky factory workers were scattered about, a tall figure–

“You. No way. It's you...” Shock spoke under her breath, pulling ahead of us, speed-walking towards the factory entrance.

“Uh, Shock?” I sped up my pace a bit, trying to match hers, but she launched into a sprint without warning.

“Hey! Wait!” she yelled, reaching out towards the tall figure walking into the factory.

Keeping up with her with a jog, I looked at the robot walking inside. It was a TV-head draped in a long, navy blue coat.

Was that...? No. It couldn't be. Was it the same ominous TV-head I saw outside Grilith when we were riding back to the city?

“Shock, wait up!” I cried out, but my words fell on deaf ears. “Shock!”

She continued running. The TV-head turned a corner as soon as it walked inside the factory; Shock pursued him until she was just inside the entrance where the TV bot had just left eyesight.

Then, she stopped.

“Where did you go?!” she bellowed, drawing the attention of a few nearby hardhat workers. “What... where did you...”

Trivo and I finally caught up to her. “What are you doing?” I shouted. “Who was that?!”

“I-it's nothing! That's just, u-uhh... it's a personal thing, okay?” Shock stammered. “Don't worry about it. It's... it's fine.” She looked side to side between every word, presumably looking for that robot. “Don't... worry about it. Let's keep on our mission...” She sighed.

“...Sure...” I awkwardly answered. A glance at Trivo told me she was equally as puzzled. “Then let's find that theoretical processor?”

“Let's do that.” Shock took a deep breath, straightening out her vest.