The flames dance graciously around the entire area of the explosion, burning bright and covering the sparkling stars above it with its thick and dark smoke. Zaine looks at the glowing fiery of light miles away in the distance as he sits in the back of the vehicle driven by the strange mysterious machine, along with Fe and the others. As the hovering car takes off to the sky, Zaine, Fe and Cu all look down at the red illuminated field of destruction caused by the explosion.

Mysterious machine: "Lucky you five are, that explosion would have melted you all to nothing but liquids."

The car continues to ascend into the air until it merges into the clouds, disguising itself among the large sheet of cumulonimbus perched in the sky. Zaine then looks forward at the strange machine with his hand firmly clasped to his weapon. While Fe and Cu, who clearly are starstruck, from seeing the fluffy floating substance up close and personal for the first time, continue to stare out the windows of the flying vehicle. They both then shift their gaze to the dazzling white moon, fixed in place just above the clouds with its mesmerizing glow.

***

Back in the city, The Primordial sits before an army of newly remodelled Ti9000s, now brandished with the title of Ti1million where the Ti9000 engraving once was. The Ti1millions stand at an astounding sixteen feet, in the air, twice the size of what they once were, their metallic arms now the size of cannons, and legs pumping of red fluids through the creases and around the joints, with their chest and head largely reinforced with layers of dazzling pure titanium steel. Their glowing red eyes even more menacing than the last. Suddenly one approaches The Primordial.

Ti1million: "The reconstruction of the Ti9000s is almost complete, we shall all be prepared for deployment within the hour"

The Primordial: "Good, the bomb decimated the last known location of that human child who escaped this city, but I will be sure that no human is left. Have the army expand into all the cities across the country, and have patrols do thorough scans for any humans and eliminate them on sight"

Ti1million: "Understood"

The Ti1million returns to the army of machines, with its large heavy feet, pounding the floor loudly like a blacksmith moulding a weapon with his hammer, with every step the sound echoes all through the hall.

The Primordial: "Then we will move on to the rest of the world, searching and destroying all remaining humans country by country."

The Primordial stands up as he receives a call,

The Primordial: "Report, have you found the old droids?"

Elite Squadron Leader: "Negative, we have lost all trace of their fragment trails and cannot detect any metals belonging to them, they've gone completely offline"

The Primordial: "Forget the droids, just destroy any you come across outside of the city as your team returns. I have bigger plans to execute in the coming weeks"

Elite Squadron Leader: "Understood, returning to base now"

***

Back with Fe and others after hours of flight, Zaine sleeps heavily in the back of the vehicle, while Cu and Fe are still glued to the windows, staring at the night sky. The car then begins to descend from the sea of clouds, flying over a clustered field of tumbled buildings and streets filled with old and rusted vehicles. The mysterious machine looks back to witness Zaine asleep and Fe and Cu distracted, and proceeds to type on the strange device again "I am here, fire the signal when you see me".

R3D notices the message from a quick glance over at the mysterious machine and nudges Zaine awake.

Zaine: "Uhh, I fell asleep?"

Zaine looks out of the window to see the strange land below,

Zaine: "Where are we?"

Zaine notices R3D nudging him constantly and pointing towards the mysterious machine

R3D: " Breee oooop"

Zaine: " I would say I told you so, but now's not the time"

Zaine then reaches for his revolver and quickly grabs the mysterious machine's thin neck from behind as he aims his revolver at its head. Alerting Fe and Cu immediately from gazing out of the window.

Zaine: "You're gonna tell me where you're taking us now! Or I blow a hole in your little metal skull bot!"

The mysterious machine then stomps his metallic foot to the pedal, sending the car thrusting into a downward spiral. Knocking Fe, Cu and R3D side to side in the back of the car causing them to bump into Zaine, forcing Zaine to let loose of his grip. The mysterious machine then disarms Zaine by prying the gun from his hand amidst the chaos and throws it out of the window. "BAM!" The car smashes into the ground, "SCREEEEECCCHHHHH!" scraping across the rocky terrain as it approaches a road filled with abandoned cars.

"THUD! THUD! BAM!" The car ricochets off the cars in the street, Zaine tries reaching for the door.

Zaine: "We gotta jump out of this car!"

The mysterious machine then yanks the steering wheel launching them into the air again, forcing Zaine back from the door. Fe holds on tight to Axel, who's now awake and screaming with tears from all the commotion, while Cu tries to reach for the mysterious machine's arm.

R3D: "BREEEEEE OOOOOOOP!"

Zaine thrust himself towards the door and looks down below.

Zaine: "We have to jump before we get too high into the air, this machine is gonna kill us if we don't get out of this car"

Just then, Zaine notices a figure amongst the flooded street, "POOF!". A blinding red light launches into the air, followed by immense smoke.

Zaine: "A flare?!"

The car then dives down once again from the air, rocketing towards to origin of the flare. Zaine manages to get the door open but the quick acceleration rocks him back away from the opening and causes R3D to fly out of the door.

R3D: "BREEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Zaine: "R3!"

"SCREEEEEECCCHHHH!" the car grazes across the street flinging Zaine and Cu out of the car. "THUD! THUD!" the car then crashes into a sea of old abandoned vehicles "SMASH!"

Cu: "Wait, Fe and Axel are still in the car!"

Zaine jumps to his feet, drawing his blade from his back and rushes towards the car. "Creak" the door of the vehicle slowly opens and out steps the mysterious machine, with its skinny pole-like structure, long rods of metal for arms, same for its legs but slightly bigger with large brick shape sheets of metal for feet, and a reinforced chest plate, strapped with metal pigments and a faceless head, covered with multiple holes, glowing with orange light. The machine then reaches into the car and yanks Fe from the vehicle, holding her at gunpoint.

Zaine stops in his tracks dropping his blade to the ground,

Zaine: "Ok... Take it easy, I dropped my weapon"

As Zaine slowly reaches behind his back for his folded long rifle, "BLAM!"... "Hold it right there, sly guy!" A gunshot echoes out, as a voice shouts across to Zaine from behind him. Zaine looks back to see a woman standing a few feet away from him on top of the roof of a car, dressed in metal gear and a painted silver face, with wires wrapped around her hair and metallic machine skulls around her waist, chewing what seems to be gum loudly and arrogantly, blowing a large bubble... "POP!"

Strange woman: "Just what do you think you're gonna do with that rifle honey?"

Zaine grunts as he raises his hands to the air, noticing that the woman has a rusted shotgun pointed at him.

Strange woman: "Go ahead and toss that little sword and gun over to the gentleman machine in front of you"

Zaine throws his rifle and large blade over to the machine holding Fe at gunpoint.

Zaine: "Who are you?!"

The woman lowers her gun and hangs it around her neck, jamming her hands into her pockets with her head tilted high. "POP!"

Strange woman: "We're bounty hunters"

Zaine: "Bounty hunters?!"

Strange woman: "That's right, now tie yourselves up with this rope and be good little boys and machines and don't give my partner Big C any more trouble"

She tosses rope over to Zaine, and then jumps down from the car and walks towards them.

Strange woman: "Make sure to tie up those machines of yours real good, extra knots and everything"

Zaine: "You... You're a human... Where did you come from?"

"POP!"

Strange woman: "Enough questions young man, you ain't even bought me a drink yet"

Cu: "Yes Zaine, she's the one with the gun... She asks the questions"

Zaine: "Really?! Sass from a bot?!"

Strange woman: "HAHA, see he gets it, now start tying them up!"

Zaine walks over to Cu and wraps the rope around his arms tightly, the strange woman makes her way over to Fe.

Strange woman: "I'll take the kid off your hands, head over to your friend, you're next"

Fe holds Axel in her arms firmly as she refuses to hand him over but the woman proceeds to pry him from her arms with just a few words...

Strange woman: "The kid now, or I blow his tiny little brains all over your metal body"

Axel begins to cry, reaching for Fe with open arms as he is exchanged over to the strange woman.

Strange woman: "Awww it thinks you're it's mom or something? Wow, what circus do we have here?"

Fe walks on over to Zaine, as he stands straight and stiff as a nail, clearly tense and aggravated with the current situation he is in. Zaine begins to tie the rope around Fe's arm, eyes glued to the woman holding Axel.

Suddenly Zaine notices something and whispers over to Cu

Zaine: "Cu... You know how you said I'm not the one asking the questions because I don't have the gun? Well..."

R3D: "BRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE OOOOOOOOOOP!"

The woman and machine both turn their heads immediately to the loud noise heading towards them. While distracted for that brief second, Zaine takes the rope from around Fe's hands and lasso's the bounty hunter machine, yanking him to the ground. Zaine signals to Cu to get Axel, Cu then leaps forward, with his rope undone with the tug of one end and grabs Axel out of the woman's hands,

Zaine simultaneously dashes over to the woman before she can react and kicks her to the ground, catching his rifle as it falls from around her shoulder. Zaine then pulls the machine closer to him and stomps down on its skinny metal neck, pinning it to the ground and unfolds his rifle aiming it at the machine's head at point-blank range. The woman frantically tries to get up wielding her shotgun in hand "BLAM!".

The shotgun goes off as Zaine kicks the barrel down to the ground away from himself, the blast sends dirt and dust flying up into the woman's face, staggering her. Zaine then instantly grabs the shotgun away from her, reloading it with one arm and points it towards her. R3D rolls on up next to Zaine,

Zaine: "Now I'm the one with the guns..."

R3D: "Breee ooop?"

The bounty hunter machine tries to break free from the rope, "BLAM!" Zaine fires a shot into the ground right next to the machine's head.

Zaine: "The next one will be in that metal skull of yours, and I don't hesitate bot, try me"

Strange woman: "Don't move ....."

The woman on her knees raises her hands to the air and glares up at Zaine.

Zaine: "Now... Who are you two and why are you after us?!"

Strange woman: "I told you already we're bounty hunters, ain't it obvious why we're after you?"

Zaine: "Don't play smart with me, your name and reason now!"

Strange woman: "POP! Well, I'm Judy, and that's Big C as I mentioned before. And the obvious million-dollar answer to your dumbass question is the kid and those two bots u got. There's word that the big Primordial ain't too happy with the escape of two rogue bots and rumours said it was because they escaped with a human child."

Zaine: "Then why save us when his army would've had us dead?"

Judy: "Well we didn't want to give up after coming all this way, we split up to search for you fools and when Big C radioed me and told me that a whole fleet of the big guy's top bots was really out there trying to kill you guys then I knew we couldn't just give up"

"POP!"

Judy: "We had to snatch that from them. Imagine, bringing you in when even his top guys couldn't manage to kill you, especially if we bring you in alive. The reward would be one we can't even imagine with other bounties"

Zaine: "But you're plan wasn't quite thought out was it because The Prime dude would know you're a human too and kill you on the spot"

Judy: "Don't think I know that dummy? That's why Big C would've been the one to deliver you to him. Once he got our reward then he would have met up with me outside of that dead city"

Zaine: "Hmm, Where did you guys come from? I've travelled all across this land and never heard of a human bounty hunter, or even come across another human."

Judy: "That's because there is no human bounty hunter, most don't realize I am a human, the painted face? wires in my hair? heat resistant leathering in my clothes? Come on now, how slow are you dude?"

Zaine: "Have you come across others?"

Judy: "Other what? Humans? Oh hell no, I try my best to avoid coming in contact with any others and I'm glad I haven't, only reason I messed with this bounty, is because we only heard of a human child, not a grown-ass dumb one... Then again maybe they meant two human children, cause I can see you being mistaken for a kid"

Zaine: "Ok that's enough from you Ju-di. Get to your feet and tie yourself up real good, you know with all the knots and shit"

Judy gets up smirking, chewing her gum "POP!" popping it right in Zaine's face,

Judy: "Ok tough guy"

A few moments later after Judy and Big C are both tied up, Zaine pulls them along as they walk the lonely highway flooded with rusted old cars.

Zaine: "So you two must have had another car, where is it cause the one your bot flew us in is clearly totalled"

Judy: "No we don't have two cars dumbass, and we can fix it. Big C here just need the parts and he can fix anything"

Zaine: "He's been... and I can't believe I'm saying this, but he's been annoyingly quiet since the little car ride, you ain't got nothing to say bot? These ones here with me never shut up"

Judy: "Maybe because he doesn't reply to 'bot', it's degrading, he has a name"

Zaine: "Pffffftt, he's a bot so I'm just calling it by what it is. I'm sure all he refers to me as is human"

Big C: "It's ok Judy, I don't mind the talks of an unintelligent being"

Zaine: "Well you're gonna fix that car of yours for this unintelligent being, so tell me what parts we gotta look for"

Fe: "I can help look, just tell me what you need Big C and I'll know just where to find it. I use to search for salvageable parts for years in The Iron City"

Big C: "I don't see why I would fix the car, just so you could take our only vehicle away and abandon us stranded in the middle of nowhere"

Zaine: "Because if you don't, I'll blow your damn head off! You got memory issues or do you need to set reminders?"

Fe: "What my friend means to say is, you can accompany us, I'm sure you no longer seek the bounty yes? Because I can assure you your plan was very flawed"

Zaine: "Accomany uuusss...?!"

Big C: "Elaborate"

Fe: "Well for one, The Primordial is smart enough to know that if his elite fleet didn't manage to capture let alone kill us. How could one measly machine do it, by himself? He would either feel insulted and destroy you or called your bluff and again... Destroy you, either way, he would destroy you no matter the outcome. There would be no reward because after he has you destroyed, he would have searched your memory board and saw that you also travelled with a human, and hunt her down as well. And you both would have been eliminated within the day."

Cu: "That is correct, you wouldn't even have the chance to reach The Primordial because his foot soldiers who guard the entrance would have shot you down and eliminate us long before you could explain what you were doing. He's a relentless machine, and so is his army. If he sends one of his personal machines to do something, he wants no other... But them to do it."

Zaine: "Hold on..."

Big C: "I see, Judy I told you this was a bad idea... I stand corrected"

Judy: " Oh come on Big C! Are you really gonna listen to a couple of wanted machines? They'll say anything to get us off their tail."

Big C: "What they are saying is very much true, they have no reason to lie"

Judy: "Of course they do!"

Zaine: "I'm talking over here!"

Big C: "The risk is too great, I can not take the chance of putting you in danger so we will retract this bounty. Effective immediately"

Judy: "Psshhhh!"

"Blam!"

Zaine: "Do I have your attention now? I was asking... know what don't even bother. These guys are not coming with us after we fix that car Fe"

Fe: "But they are not hunting us anymore, didn't you hear just now?"

Zaine: "They're bounty hunters Fe, they already tried to capture or kill us earlier, they can't be trusted, I knew from the get-go not to trust that bot. And I was right, so let's find those parts, fix up that car and get moving out of this area"

Fe: "We can not leave them Zaine, let's give them a second chance. They did save our lives first before they tried to kill us"

R3D: "Breeee oop"

Zaine looks over to Axel staring at him with his big brown eyes and his tiny little smile. And then sighs with his shoulders dropped and arms on his hip as he glances up to the sky.

Zaine: "Alright, I guess they can be useful. Like be bait if those deadly machines show up again"

R3D: "Breeeeeeee oop"

Zaine: "You know you were thinking the same thing"

And they all continued down the road in search for parts, as the bright sun rises up above, evicting the darkness of the night.