Closed Chapter

The creamy dress girl goes towards Hino, who is preparing to depart. "You should've told me it's time already!"

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware it was so soon." He gives off a flustered expression towards her.

The girl with her deep amber eyes was about to grow into a fume of rage before Jumper came out in a suit down the stairs, interrupting them both.

"Hm, you're leaving already? I checked on K4's room, but it seemed she was gone already." His clean appearance and good posture made him seem like a completely different person now; it seemed he also works on the SRD at a respectable position.

Hino gives a quick turn towards Jumper. "Yeah, I'm leaving. K4 must be packing all the supplies like she said she would. Jumper, don't do anything Jumper would do, if you know what I mean."

"Don't worry about us here; you've done plenty enough for everyone, so leave proud of yourself. The city is safe, and the underground finally has access to a life with the rest of the city; even I got employed." His mixture of positive recollection gives a sense of fulfilment towards Hino leaving the sombreness behind.

He gives a quick scan of the area, taking in the landscape, most under construction but steadily coming back to its former glory. "I left you a present, Jumper."

"What is it?" his eyes brow up as he immediately wonders what could Hino have prepared for him.

Hino gives an apologetic reply: "The witch is your boss now," in a moment. Jumpers' expression falters as he sinks himself down to the ground in an almost fearful moment.

Rising back up, he gives a faked smile. "Thank you!" The mere presence of that word took effort for him to say out loud.

Defeated by the gift, he immediately gives a final wave before walking back up to the HQ building. He closes the doors behind him in a slow manner, like taking in his last moment of freedom.

Turning back to the girl

her deep amber eyes staring back at him "At least I knew this was what would happen one day or another, but I will miss our time." The conversation shifts instantly to a more solemn, sombre atmosphere after she drops the anger of her rage from before.

"K4 isn't the type to waste any time and really do owe her a lot." Hino immediately gives the girl a big hug.

"Don't get me all sad now..." Her eyes teared a bit. In the last months that they were together, it was the best time of her life, especially after the killing of both of her parents due to the corrupted roaming freely all that time.

From the distance, he sees K4 approaching. "It was nice meeting you, Vila." Hino disengages from the hug and pops the doors to the SUV out. He waits near the SUV as K4 walks over to the pair of them.

"Is this what you've been up to, Hino?" The tone was rather smirky and sarcastic, but K4 knew deep down this was a gut-wrenching moment for the both of them.

Vila approaches K4, analysing the robot in front of her, checking out the metal frame and the brown cloak that she wore. "So you are the killer robot that Hino talked so much about, mhm?"

"Killer robot is a bit of an overstatement." K4 gives a glare down to Hino, who immediately turns away, hoping that she would let it brush off this once.

K4 grabs Vilas's hand for a handshake. "It was nice meeting you! But we're running on a tight schedule, so we won't have time to talk about anything. Thank you for caring for Hino; I bet he was a handful." A slight grin appeared on K4's face as Hino seemed a bit disappointed in the bitter attempt at vengeance for her pride.

Hino approaches Vila one last time. "We're going to the wastelands where the missile was originally sent; that's where we're ending our story." His solemn remark definitely makes Vila understand the rush.

"That place is quite far. Will you make it in time?" a genuine form of question

K4 intercepts her words: "We will have around two weeks worth of days left to camp out there before the missile blows up the earth." The casual tone gave the death almost no meaning to any of them.

Vila starts walking off, blowing a kiss towards Hino before vanishing off to the corner. The both of them now alone enter the SUV with a sigh of relief, K4 being the driver like usual in these situations. They pack all their equipment and supplies into the back seats; it was the fastest way, after all.

"Let's go, Hino, to the wasteland site that began it all." K4 turns on the engine and instantly hits the pedal down, causing the car to thrust forwards into the streets. They were very well kept in shape for the amount of damage that was done; all the roads were pretty operational, and there were definitely signs of traffic congestion around the place. Luckily, being in an SRD vehicle made them easily bypass all this.

The SUV goes past all the under-construction skyscrapers towards the huge metal sheet which remains intact; there was rather a lighter coat of paint on it which buzzed a faint signal. "Hino, I'm getting weird signals..." Her disorientation slowly faded as pandemonium and her systems adapted to the frequency.

"We developed a painted layer of grey coating on the metal sheet; this transits faint signals, which helped us get rid of the corrupted for all time." He gives a prideful, smug expression added onto his words.

K4 asks, not knowing the whole situation. "Pandeoium told me that there were those nanomachines in that meatball, and I aimed at the pipe that broke its connection."

"That pipe leaked and caused it to seep into SRD agents and control their bodies to go rampant throughout the city. Once it hit the centre, that's when the city was under nano control."

"That makes a lot of sense, Pandemonium; you've got explaining to do!" She immediately calls upon pandemonium to explain herself.

'The nanomachines were under my control, but since I became a part of you, they broke off separately. I sacrificed a bit of my robot ruling power for you!'

Hino side-eyes K4, who seems to be intently listening. "What did it say?"

"She lost control since she became a part of me, which caused a bit of power to evaporate somehow." K4 gives a calm, simple explanation.

"I noticed something. Why do you refer to it as a she? Isn't Pandeoium a robot after all...?" His intent was malicious, but K4 gives a side-eye glare back before reaching the near sightings of the wall.

"Am I an it as well? Pandeoium took on that child form for those months I was gone, so it was natural for me to adapt."

The wall hangs over them; the reconstruction was going smoothly, as it was only one part that got breached. Hino also marvels at his achievement of securing the city of Shilo within his ruling time. K4 stops the car at Hino's signal.

Hino leans out of the window, catching the attention of two workers. "Hey! Let us out of the city!" The two workers, seeing Hino and knowing the power he holds, immediately drop their tools and radio the barricade to be lowered, the metal instantly falling to the ground, allowing all vehicles to pass through. K4 continues to hit the pedal and drives past the metal barricade as it lifts back up, preventing outsiders.

They enter the great plains outside of Shilo; the environment wasn't anything interesting, but that's what would be seen for the next month's worth of travel. K4 enters her mind space for a split second for directions.

"Haha! Welcome," K4 gets handed a piece of constructed paper by pandemonium.

"This is the most optimal route that I worked on using all your data in the last five rewinds." Her enthusiasm was quite apparent, but it was going to be fine this time, as she had a reason to prove it, at least this time.

"Thank you. K4 leaves the mind space, thanking Pandeouiem before memorising the whole map into her system. Being a robot really had its strong points, which definitely outweighed the negatives.

A sharp turn makes Hino stumble a bit as K4 smiles towards him; the SUV ploughs onto the plains, driving towards the distant horizon, which seemed to promise nothing but flatness. The city of Shilo getting more distant and distant behind them left them with a sense of relief that their chapter was finally finished.