"Fear not citizen. Your sneakery remains quite undetectable to unwelcoming eyes."

Manbug says.

"How did you find me?"

I ask.

"You have a very distinct scent. Not many people here smell so, er..."

His voice lowers.

"Natural."

He softly mutters, before puffing his chest out once more.

"And like all night crawlers. I have the ability to see in the dark."

"Did you find my radio?"

I ask.

"Of course. Why else would I have come to find you. Though I have come to suspect by your being here that you've already come to the same conclusions as I have."

"It's in the pile?"

"Quite right."

"So uh, what's going on here exactly? And how will we be getting the radio back?"

I ask.

"I'm not entirely sure what's going on here yet. But I know Botfly is behind it. That dastardly villain is always up to no good. Often with gangs of children in her employ. Heartlessly she exploits them for her own gain."

"Why children? They can't be very good at following instruction."

"The youth of today are incredibly susceptible to suggestion. Almost as if they have no personalities of their own. Just waiting for someone to come along and tell them what to do."

"So what's the plan?"

I ask.

"I do not know yet."

Manbug admits.

"Can't we just walk in, find the radio, and leave?"

"No. I am not here simply to find your radio. We must return all of these electronics to the authorities. So they may be handled properly. Furthermore, we must discover Botfly's whereabouts and uncover her ploy."

"Alright but can't we start by going in there and finding the radio."

"If we go in there we will be swarmed by an army of children. Hardly a threat for someone like myself. But I am not in the business of punching children. And if you are, I fear I may have misjudged you're character."

Reluctantly I admit I don't want to hit children. And ask what Manbug suggests we do first.

"We will do nothing. It is far too dangerous for an average citizen such as yourself to get mixed up with Botfly and her boys. I will go find her and return to you when we have safe access to the pile."

Manbug flies away. What he doesn't know, and I don't intend to tell him. Is MPs are programmed never to hurt normal people. As a survivor I am practically untouchable.

I could use this to my full advantage and barge right into the warehouse. But I don't know how they'll react. If they try to destroy the evidence my radio could be gone forever.

Instead I keep watching through the windows. Trying to figure out how many boys there are. And if there's a way to sneak in.

I make my way around most of the warehouse. Stopping to look through each window. I've counted twenty eight so far. Nearing the end of the third side I spot a ladder leading up to the roof. With a shrug, I figure why not, and climb up.

On the top, I spot a skylight in the middle of the building. One of the panes has been left cracked open. Allowing me to hear whats going on. I look down to see a group of boys standing right beside the pile. I strain to listen as a few of them talk.

"The boss is gonna be real happy when she sees how well we did. We probably got every gadget in the neighbourhood."

One in a purple sweater starts.

"I bet we did better than any of the other gangs she's got set up around the city."

Another in an orange sweater continues.

"Well we ain't gonna find out if she never comes back."

A green haired child adds.

"She'll come, she'll come. Like I already told you. Things have been going crazy in the office."

The purple one continues.

"Yeah, I heard she's been cooped up in there for two weeks."

Orange adds.

"Any idea what's been going on?"

The green haired one asks.

"Something about tryna cover up some unpleasant news or something, I don't know."

Orange says.

A very fat boy comes over and injects himself into the conversation.

"Listen, the ways I sees it. The longer she ain't here the better. Like ya said. We got every gadget in the neighbourhood. Ain't got nothin' to do now but sit back and relax. Take it easy and sip on some soda. The moment she barges back in here it's gonna be all, work work work."

"It's not like you do any work anyways."

The purple one says. Poking the fat one in the belly.

They all burst out into laughter. The green haired one throws his head back in laughter. Catching a glimpse of me in the process.

"Who the hell is that?"

He asks, pointing toward the skylight.

"Get him!"

The one in orange exclaims.

Before I have time to think of an escape plan. A few dozen of these boys are climbing up the ladder towards me. Frantically I look around for a second ladder or any other way down but come up blank.

Trapped I get stuck in a corner. More and more boys piling onto the roof every second. Space becomes scarce as they close in on me. I get backed onto the ledge.

Still more pile on. Pushing to get closer. The ones at the front could grab me easily. If not for their programming forcing them not too. The ones in the back are far enough away, they haven't yet been able to detect my humanity. Their programming still has not kicked in, so they are out for blood.

The crowd is getting aggravated not understanding the delay in action, from the ones closest to me. As they grow to a point where the ones on the ladder need to push to get up and off the ladder. Finally they give one more big push.

The ones at the front tumble forward. Crashing into me. I go backwards off the building. Nothing below but unforgiving cement. Looking up at the ledge as the distance between it and myself grows. I see three boys fall off too I recognize one as the fat boy.

I close my eyes and brace for impact.