A man was stabbed. In front of everyone, in the center of the plaza, a man was killed. The culprit was the same machine that Decha encountered days before.

He went rigid and grabbed onto Rory. She saw the entire thing and was stunned by the scene.

The machine croaked loudly before scanning the entire area. "Shite." Decha flinched away from the glowing green graph that went across his skin.

"30 Generals. Initiate Annihilation."

The machine was looking to kill all Generals present.

As if on cue, one of the Generals stationed by the entrance grabbed onto his blaster and aimed at it. In one swift movement, the bot rolled away from the energy beam and raised its glowing metallic blade.

Decha moved in front of Rory, shielding her from what was to occur. Although he blocked her vision, she heard it. The sound of death. The sound of murder.

Everyone in the Plaza panicked and ran in all directions. Decha looked to his left and right. He needed to get Rory to a safer area and radio for help. There was no way he could fight that thing on his own.

Without hesitation, he scooped Rory into his arms. "Decha!" She whined. There was so much havoc. The amount of fear welling inside of her began to overflow.

Decha climbed up a ladder leading to the top of the apartment building. He realized it was too open. He needed to find a place to hide Rory. "Close your eyes." He commanded her and sprinted toward the edge of the building.

"We have to help them!" Rory whimpered.

"You need to let me find a safe place to take shelter. I'll go back and help once you are safe."

"Decha I—" The air left her body when Decha jumped off the building, with her in his arms. Instead of screaming, she clutched her arms around his body and pressed her face into his chest.

Decha landed on his feet and clenched his fists to disregard the pain he felt. The two were on top of the next building, a safer distance away from the action.

There was a stack of wooden crates nearby. He figured that Rory could hide behind them. "Let's go." Decha placed her down and took a step forward.

But the moment his foot grazed the concrete, the machine dropped in front of the two and kicked Decha into the stack. Rory let out a blood-curdling scream and fell onto her behind.

Decha grumbled and pushed himself up. "I should've known..." He almost forgot how fast this murderous bot was. Before he could react, the robot stomped over to Rory.

Decha ran to stop it, but it tossed him aside. He landed on his stomach with a hard thud.

"Decha! Ah—" The robot yanked Rory by her leg and scanned her. Her heart was pounding so hard she could barely breathe. Tears formed in her eyes as the machine leaned its sharp-edged face closer to hers.

"Rory Clarke..." The Robot buzzed. "Bracketer. All clear." The robot released her and turned to Decha.

"Rory! Get out of here!" Decha hollered, and felt himself getting slammed into the concrete wall nearby.

Rory crawled onto her feet and stumbled away, but she stopped when she noticed the familiarity in the design of the machine. It swung its blade at Decha's throat but he dodged it as quickly as possible.

He tried to pass the machine, but it grabbed onto his shirt and flung him up before slamming him back down. Decha snarled when his sprained wrist scraped against the solid.

Hearing the sounds of his pain made Rory feel sick. The robot didn't kill her for a reason. With this theory in mind, she grabbed a piece of the broken wood and threw the material at the robot. "Let him go!" Rory huffed angrily.

Decha struggled to get out of the machine's hold, but with it distracted by Rory's taunts, he was able to set himself free.

"Initiating..." The bot raised its blade at Decha again, but he rolled out of the way once more.

"Decha!" Rory panicked, worrying that the robot was going to kill him.

"Go!" He barked. But Rory refused to budge. She was more focused on the machine. She wondered what she could do to turn it off. Decha kicked the robot as hard as he could, using its body to propel himself toward Rory.

He calculated it in his mind. To grab her and go. But there was no safe way down to get to the alley below. "Screw it." He tackled Rory and threw him and her off the roof. Rory felt his arms tighten around her back as they plummeted down.

She screamed the whole way down. The machine followed and swung its blade again, this time making an impact. The sharp knife cut Decha's skin on his back, and blood began to drip into Rory's jacket.

Suddenly, Decha flipped around and positioned himself to hit the ground instead of Rory, and grabbed onto a hidden pistol in his pockets. He shot the robot before it could touch Rory's cloth, sending it in the opposite direction.

The two landed in a pile of trash bags and Decha shielded Rory's head and body from touching any solid ground as they tumbled on top of each other.

When gravity let the two rest, Rory landed on top of Decha, and he allowed his back to collide with the sidewalk. Rory took heavy breaths, and Decha groaned softly.

"Decha!" Rory panicked. "You're bleeding!"

"I'll be fine," Decha swore and forced himself to sit up. The position was awkward, as Rory was sitting on top of him.

"It cut you!"

The sound of the machine croaking, caused Decha to go back into combat mode. He grabbed Rory and rolled on top of her. Then he covered her mouth with his hand.

Decha was too tired to continue the fight. The last thing he needed was that thing following them. Protecting Rory was a priority.

The sound of the croaking went away after a moment and Decha released Rory. "You okay?"

"Your back! You're hurt!" Rory whimpered. "There's so much blood!"

Decha allowed Rory to ramble as he dialed for the Agency. He only pressed the chip on his wrist. It was a ping only used for emergencies.

Rory took off her jacket and failed at attempting to place it on his cut. Half of his shirt was missing. All she saw was a large gash that ran down his shoulders to above his posterior.

"Rory, calm down." Decha was in pain, but hearing Rory trying to catch her breath as if she ran a marathon made him uneasy. "Rory, listen," He grabbed onto her arm and changed his tone with her.

"I can't calm down!" She screeched in response. "I'm terrified, okay? You're bleeding! I don't know if you're gonna pass out from blood loss! What if that robot decides to come back and—"

Decha was in a lot of pain, but the last thing he needed was to have Rory worry herself to death. He covered her mouth and pulled himself up to stand. His back ached excruciatingly, but he forced a straight face to hide the emotion from Rory.

He hated vulnerability. He was not going to display his reaction to the pain around her. He forced himself to take a step forward and bit his tongue to stifle a grunt.

He needed to stand against a wall.

In the distance, there was constant screaming. The sound of metal and blasters going off delivered a heavy amount of fear in Rory. She felt that this was her fault somehow.

She wanted to help him. There was nothing she could do. Her mind went blank after being attacked. She didn't know if he was going to collapse on her, so she grabbed onto his arm and stuck to his side like glue.

After a long 15 minutes, help finally arrived. A little more than 5 helicopters and 10 Emergency Shuttles arrived. Plenty of heavily armed men hopped out of the shuttles and raced toward the scene, while some stayed behind to attend to people who escaped.

It didn't take long for Jax to catch sight of Decha standing not too far from them. He saw Rory and eyed her strangely. "Who are you?"

Jax noticed a mark on her neck and realized she was a Bracketer. Jax shifted his gaze to Decha and observed his slow breathing. He was hurt.

Jax wondered if the Bracket woman had anything to do with it. "N96–"

"Take Rory," Decha panted and nudged her away from him.

"I don't want to go." Rory clutched his arm tighter.

"Take her back." Decha ignored her.

"N96. Are you okay?" Jax worried.

"Fine." Decha snapped. "Have her transported back to uptown where my family stays. We'll scout the area while she's on her way." Decha stepped forward slowly and used much of his strength to shove Rory forward.

"I'll have one of the shuttles take you back. Let's go." Jax gestured for her to follow him.

"He's hurt." Rory shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere—"

"It is a command." Jax hushed her. "Failure to comply with direct orders from a General will result in your arrest. And failure to comply with an order from N96 will not look good on your record. I suggest you move away from him and leave on the shuttle." Jax was giving her a warning. Whatever was going on between the two was their business, but her refusal to leave was a sign of disrespect to N96's position.

Jax was well aware that Decha was in pain. Oddly, he felt reassured that Rory wasn't the threat. He felt more threatened by the death glare Decha was giving him.

"Take her away." Jax signaled to two Generals behind him. The two nodded and led Rory to one of the shuttles. Rory glanced over her shoulder one last time before following orders and getting into the shuttle.

When it departed, Decha finally dropped to his knee and struggled to stand.

"N96!" Jax ran over to him but stopped when Decha extended his palm.

"The machine... is hunting Generals."

"We know, the Agency received a massive ping. Every general within the perimeter has requested backup. What happened to you?"

"The usual near-death experience," Decha grunted and Jax grabbed onto his arm to support him.

"You're heavily wounded!"

"I'm aware."

"What did it do to you?" Jax hissed.

"We can worry about that after I get stitches. I want you to command the others to search but not to engage with it. Someone sent that machine to hunt. I'll look into the culprit."

"Decha, you're seriously hurt," Jax called him by name, emphasizing how seriously injured he was. "You can't continue in this condition."

"I'm fine."

"You can barely walk!"

Decha groaned.

"I'll take you to the Agency to be treated first." Jax wasn't going to allow Decha to fight with injuries. Astell needed him to be in great shape. An injured Decha meant doom for most of Astell.

Decha allowed Jax to help him hobble over to one of the treatment shuttles, despite his disagreement.

~~~

"There's something you need to see." Theodore tossed a stack of papers onto his desk, right in front of Decha. Days went by, and the Agency has been busier than ever.

After getting stitches in his back, Decha chose to go back to work on his terms. Resting was simply not an option. The council had been behind on paperwork and the Agency was hounded with calls from Generals all across Astell about the assassin machine.

"The bot that killed my Agents, we looked into it. There's a serial code we were able to find in one of our tapes. The thing was programmed and coded by the woman staying in our house."

Decha felt his muscles tense. "I know."

"You knew? And yet you brought her into our home!? Are you trying to have your family killed?" Theodore spat. "I want her out of my house by tonight. She'll be executed for her crimes."

"If you touch her, or even think about harming her, you're gonna regret it." Decha spat. "The original AI she created wasn't intended to cause harm. Someone stole it, reprogrammed it, and changed its original mechanics. Rory may have been the original creator but the culprit behind the assassinations is still out there."

"How do you know all of this information?"

"Keep up. I've been on the culprit's tail ever since you forced me to take days off."

"Why haven't you told me?"

"You never asked." Decha shrugged.

"We need to bring that Bracketer in for questioning. She knows how it's programmed. She may know how to shut it off—"

"Already ahead of you. Rory doesn't remember any of it. Her notes are probably somewhere back in Sector B. With the border situation, we can't go back that easily. When Rory was in the hospital, the culprit attacked her and stole the AI. I tried looking into their license plate but it came up invalid."

"Invalid?"

"Since the AI was stolen after the walls collapsed, I believe that the culprit may be an Astellian who's very great at hiding or a Bracketer who got trapped on our side. Either way, they don't want to be found."

"Any suggestions on what more we can do?"

"First we need to find the person responsible for the bombings. I have an odd feeling that this machine and the bombs are connected." Decha paced. "By the way, I'm gonna need a raise."

"A raise!?"

"I agreed to help you track down the people responsible for the bombs. But this is an Outside type of mission. This machine can outpace me. If you want me to give it my all, for the right price, I'll put my life on the line."

"How much do you want?" Theodore grumbled.

"700,000 Tekels."

"7– Decha! That's nearly robbery!"

"I'm not bound by a contract with the Agency anymore, so I set my own price. Take it or leave it." He shrugged.

"I'll give you another 500,000..."

"650,000." Decha shook his head.

"550,000." Theodore pleaded with his eyes.

"600,000, final offer." Decha narrowed his eyes.

"Fine," Theodore grumbled.

"Deposit the money into my account by tomorrow." Decha brushed his hair out of his face.

"Let me ask you one more thing before you leave, Decha."

"What?"

"What is your deal with Rory? You come to her defense quicker than I've ever experienced."

"I'm doing my job," Decha answered. "My job is to protect her."

"Is it only a sense of duty?" Theodore sighed. He knew Decha was overly ambitious. Whenever he said he was going to do something, he gave it his all. He wanted Decha to be honest with himself. "Or is it because of something else?"

Decha couldn't explain why he felt a strong need to keep Rory safe. But deep down, he knew it had something to do with Chai. He trained excessively hard and wanted to protect her. But a fierce battle on the Outside prevented him from doing so.

He lost the woman he loved. To this day, he has no clear memory of where her body is. He doesn't know if she's still alive. He failed her.

If he couldn't do something as simple as protecting the person he loved the most, then what good of a General was he?

He felt that with Rory, he was given a second chance. The difference was that Rory had more resources to stay safe. He had already made up his mind that even her sickness wasn't going to stop him from doing his job.

"The law requires us to serve and protect." Decha balled his fists. "You know how much I hate failing."

"But she's dying."

"She won't." Decha cracked his knuckles slowly. "Not while I'm around. There's a cure for IDS."

"Does she know that?"

"Nope. She doesn't know that we know her condition is getting worse. She's hiding it from us. Mom says we can't operate on her until she trusts us enough to be honest."

Theodore shook his head, disappointed. His son was oblivious. There was no easy way to help Decha understand himself. "Decha, how do you feel about joining the Generals Bachelor's Program?"

"Not interested." Decha spat in disgust. "I'm not looking to settle down any time soon. Work is more important. This case has to be solved and finished before I'd ever consider it."

"Well, applying and waiting for placement on the program while working on the case doesn't sound so bad."

"Are you trying to marry me off?"

"Not exactly. But one of the Council members has a daughter who's recently shown interest in you."

Decha thought he was going to puke in his mouth after hearing that. "Interest in me, or my position?"

"Why don't you meet with her and find out?"

"No thanks." Decha refused immediately. He wasn't interested in forming that type of relationship with a prissy council member's daughter. Decha knew himself well.

He wasn't the type of guy to open up or display sappy affection.

And he knew that courting involved doing a lot of that. There was only one woman who ever showed genuine interest in who he was, and that was Chai. And without her, there was no one else. Except for maybe Rory, but Rory wasn't an option.

He didn't think Rory would be interested. Her lack of trust in him was more than evident to see.

"Why don't you try it?"

"Because I'm too busy." Decha yawned. "I'm going to head back home. There are some documents I need to review. I'll come back tomorrow and start looking into Kilos."

"Take it easy. You're still wounded."

"Don't worry about it. I'll be fine." Decha waved and left. He walked out of the Agency and walked toward the shuttle that would take him back.

~~~

The first thing to welcome his ears when Decha walked into the mansion was Rory's coughing. It seemed as if her coughing had gotten a lot worse. His mother wasn't at the entrance, so he assumed she must have gone out to buy groceries. Probably to buy more herbs for Rory.

Decha followed the sound of Rory's coughing, down one of the halls and toward her bedroom. The door was open, so he didn't bother to knock.

He saw Rory, hunched over the desk and fiddling with something in her hands. Her attention was solely on the cloth she was holding despite her constant coughing.

"Rory,"

She jerked up and whipped her head around at the sound of his voice. Just to see him standing there made her uneasy. "N96! What are you doing here!?"

"I live here." Decha shook his head, unamused by her reaction. He thought she'd at least smile. He remembered watching her act helpless and scared about his injury.

"Mrs. Chen told me you were getting treatment for your injury. I wasn't expecting you to be back so soon! Are you okay?" Rory was more concerned about his well-being. How in the world was he able to walk as if nothing happened? The cut to his spine should've made him limp.

"Don't worry about me. What are you doing?" Decha watched her fidget uncomfortably.

"Um... well..." Rory grabbed the cloth she was working on and held it up for Decha to see. They were two black fingerless mitts with padding on the palms. On the back of one of them was a small screen to adjust settings. "I made these for you. These pads will help you firm your grip on brick, wood, and magnetic metals. It's great for battle, but better for defense. If it can help you, I hope you'll use it."

"Where did you get the parts—"

"Mrs. Chen bought them for me." Rory coughed. She covered her mouth with her arm.

"Why are you coughing so much?"

"It's a cold I caught." Rory lied, and Decha saw right through it. The lack of trust she had in him was starting to make him irritated. How long was she planning on hiding it? Until she died?

"When I brought you here, the expectation was for you to rest. Not work."

"Sitting around doing nothing isn't going to get me anywhere." Rory frowned. "At some point, I have to start repaying you. I may not have any money, but I can use my head to make equipment that will help you."

"That's not your job to do."