Metropolis

K4, looking in the train, saw the old back carriage filled with dust now; the still air from inside gave a sense of nostalgia. This was basically their home at this point. K4 walked to the front carriage, ignoring Hino's calls.

The front was completely destroyed; there was no working piece of equipment. The only thing that remained was her memories of the past.

'Thank you, Ox, for giving us this. I doubt I will be able to explain to you why we're back on foot, though...'

K4 walks towards the back carriage once more; she takes a left towards the exit and jumps out to the cold metal tracks, the stillness being replaced by the fresh air of the outside. It wasn't just fresh but rather a mixture of freshness and smog; the air wasn't the concern of the people here after all.

Hino is seen through her lens, climbing up the tunnel, scaling the slope to see the megapolis city; his eyes shine with bewilderment. This scene was completely different from anything nowadays.

The huge skyscrapers in the distance, the flashing lights hanging on their sides or even the flying cars that seem to navigate the city streets – waiting for a while, K4 walks over, scaling the concrete slope as well, her lens catching the cityscape as well.

"This isn't something I imagined Shilo to be..." Her face drops, and the lens reflects the sun in excitement, the warmth of the air embracing them like a piece of clothing welcoming them into the city.

"It's more developed than I thought, but more in the street." His uncertainty about this style of building was pretty normal for a person who spent their life in a lab or within the option of pure white society.

"No point in waiting here, is there?" K4 gives a smile to Hino; their eyes meet, and without saying much more, they start walking towards the city centre. They step over the slope into an industrial area.

There were factory belts in the open producing some type of synthetic food; the machinery was working at full capacity, and there were slight amounts of workers around making sure the operation works smoothly.

They both analyse the area, ducking down behind the slope, making sure not to get spotted. "Hino, do you see that machine on the right?" She points at a machine which moves the conveyor belts; it was certainly massive enough to cover both of them.

"I will go first while you try to find an exit point from around there." Hino starts to move towards the right behind the slope; he looks over to the left towards K4, who gives the thumbs up for him to move out of his covering. Under precise timing, he rushes out.

His heartbeat accelerates and his steps quicken hitting the concrete factory floor; the sound of machines covers the sound of his footsteps while the warm factory air makes him start panting a bit. After running for three metres, he hides on the side of the conveyor machine; it was roasting in heat, causing him to start to sweat.

Under the sunlight, K4 gazes down at Hino, who is hiding; nobody noticed him sneaking behind the machine. Now with an escape plan thought out, it was her time to run behind the conveyor machine.

She moves towards the right as well, making sure there was as little distance as possible between her and Hino's cover. She peeks over, looking at the workers who are distracted with work, and uses her metallic body to blitz past the three meters in under a second.

"Hino, I found a way out of here; do you see that fence?" She once again points at a metallic fence straight across the factory; it was around double the length this time, which was tricky for Hino.

After looking at the fence, Hino's face turns to K4. "I can't make that; there's no way." The fear of failure and getting caught overwhelmed his emotions to get out of this place; the heat of the machine was also causing a slight dizziness to form.

"This isn't time for you to be a baby like before; you can do it!" Her motivating words gave a bit of courage to Hino. He turned back to the fence looking at the run; he didn't want to disappoint K4 anymore with anything; this was his moment to shine.

Using a burst of speed to gain momentum, he instantly jumps out of the machinery and towards the metal fence, which leads them out of the factory into the industrial estate; he thuds the floor and trips over due to his dizziness.

"Hey!" A worker called out towards Hino, who instantly got up and continued his running. He reached past the view of anyone else and started to climb over the fence; the worker behind him started to grab his shirt, pulling him down.

"Sorry," a female voice rang behind his ear. The next moment, he toppled over cold onto the concrete flooring, causing him to bleed out slightly. Hino jumped over the metal fence out of the factory floor, seeing K4 knock out the worker.

K4 then jumps over the fence towards Hino, and they both run out to get greeted by a two-way driving lane for trucks and cars to enter and exit the industrial estate.

Hino takes a look in front, seeing a massive wall made of metal. "We have to jump over that wall; there should be either flat terrain or more tracks." K4 blitzes over to the metal wall, noticing its impressive size towering over four meters.

"Hino, you will have to get on my back!" Hino starts rushing over the two-lane road towards K4, who is waiting, kneeling down for him to jump onto her back; behind them they hear multiple people, most likely workers, chasing them.

Jumping onto K4's back, she looks back as the workers are about to catch up; she leaps up five metres into the air, twisting herself over while looking down at the workers below, all with shocked expressions. Hino holds on for his life as they cross the wall and start their descent.

"You should've seen their faces!" K4 starts laughing while falling down and then hits a metal plane. All the way towards the Shilo Centre, it seemed to be covered by just a straight sheet of metal; they were at least another couple of kilometres away.

Hino, looking up from K4's shoulder, looks at the metal sheet. "This might take all day..." Hino gets off her back, hitting the metal sheet lightly and walking towards the centre without saying a word.

"Wait, where are you going?" K4 asks in confusion.

Hino turns around quickly before continuing, "No point in waiting after all."

"You're right." K4 follows behind him as they both continue their walk towards the Shilo Centre.

. . .

"they got away" A man in factory clothing and a hardcase helmet exclaims. On his chest it says Oplia Production. He was a person who saw the incredible jump by K4, and he wasn't ready to risk his entire life to chase her.

He instantly starts to issue orders: "You all get back to work; I will report them to the SRD agency for immediate capture." He runs back into his factory towards the managerial office, which states the name of Josh Toqu,

The fine, refurbished office was pretty basic but elegant; a single desk with a chair and tonnes of paperwork gives off good impressions. He starts to sit on his moving chair, the black chair contrasting his white clothing.

He starts dialling numbers into the phone connected to his desk. "Hello, this is Josh Toqu from Oplia Production. We have a possible robotic threat just outside the industrial estate."

The man behind the phone replies, "Do you have details?" He was definitely speaking with precise and quick business.

"It was a girl with white hair and a smaller boy with black hair; the boy has a backpack, and they both leaped over the four-metre wall installed for the industrial estate with ease."

The man replies, "Do you know where they are heading?"

"They jumped the wall towards the Shilo centre; they are currently at the metal sheet."

"Understood." The phone hangs up without another word, and he puts down the phone back onto his desk and leans against his chair in relief that he did it for the greater good.

Now with the SRD agency on K4s and Hinos journey, they will have a tough time reaching the Shilo centre without killing a couple or two people.