Meeki emerged from room A4 to an empty hall. She looked around the nearby corners, but Kinjeur and Braya weren't around. Fear struck her. Were they captured? Were they forced to run off somewhere? To make matters worse, there wasn't a sound other than the distant clanking of robot feet. It didn't feel good to be outnumbered, even if the robots were peaceful.
Meeki unzipped her purse and rested her hand against it, prepared for a reluctant quick draw if it would come to that. She took slow and careful steps through the halls, peering around every corner until making it halfway through the facility. It could be risky to show herself to the robots, especially without knowing what happened to her friends. Meeki felt truly alone without them in such a dreary place.
Just as she pondered walking back toward room A4, a loud raspy voice screeched from behind.
“POSSIBLE TRESS—PASSER, SHOW YOURSELF! FAILURE TO COMPLY WILL BE SEEN AS AN ACT OF AG—GRESSION!”
Meeki turned to face the robot. It must have tailed her from a dead end somewhere, but how it managed to stay so quiet was a mystery.
“UN—RECOGNIZED! SHOW YOUR IDEN—TIFICA—TION!”
“Unrecognized? But I was here less than an hour ago and you guys let me go,” Meeki said.
“IR—RELEVENT,” the robot wailed in artificial defiance. “SHOW YOUR IDEN—TIFICA—TION!”
“Damn it, I told you that a man scanned a card and authorized me! He was wearing black and I was with two other women!” Meeki demanded.
It processed her plea for a moment.
“FINAL WARNING, SHOW YOUR IDEN—TIFICA—TION IMME—DIATE—LY!”
Meeki gritted her teeth and presented the card. It was hopeless, of course, but she had to cooperate as much as possible. Angering these mechanical guards wouldn't lead to any good.
The robot leaned down on its knee while the little brown eye scanned the card. It then looked up and scanned Meeki's face. She trembled, hoping that this wouldn't go as badly as she expected. It took several seconds for the assessment, then it stumbled back and announced the verdict.
“FALSE IDEN—TIFICA—TION IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE! CONDITIONS OF YOUR PRESENCE MATCH RECORDS OF RECENT CRIMINAL ACTIVITY! YOU WILL BE DETAINED, FORCE IS REQUIRED!”
The robot swung its arm up and aimed the pistol at her chest. Meeki panicked and gave up the thought of cooperation. She backed away and prepared to run, but then there was a quiet little squealing noise from the gun. It was actually still charging up, which would allow her a few seconds to fight back. With all of her strength she forced the robot against the wall and tried to grab at the gun, but as much as she yanked, the gun wouldn't tear off. Seeing that it was futile, she shoved the robot to the floor and charged down the hall to escape.
Meeki threw herself around the corner and wondered what she could do. They would probably just check the rooms if she entered any of the storage areas. Running back to Payne would only lead to a dead end, but it was the only thing that she could think to do. Maybe he would even help out.
The robot lunged around the corner. Meeki fired a wild shot and skipped away into the next series of halls to continue her escape. She stopped on occasion to try ambushes, but every one of her assaults failed. Most of her shots missed because she was so nervous, but even her good shots had no effect on the robot's gun. The situation became increasingly hopeless as she approached those final set of halls.
Once she returned to A4, she tried to open the door but an emergency lock kept her out, likely thanks to her pursuer. This was truly the end of the line for her. The robot turned that last corner and held its charred gun at the ready.
“NO MORE ESCAPE, PEACEFUL SURR—ENDER?”
It lurched forward in slow and deliberate steps. Meeki backed into the wall and slid down to the floor in defeat. As long as it had a clear shot like this, she couldn't do anything. There was no hope of a novice like her out-performing a machine's timing and accuracy.
Then something truly unexpected happened. The door of A4 exploded. It flew out and crushed the robot against the wall, forcing the helpless machine to fall onto the ground. The door then tumbled over to fall onto the robot's legs with a resounding crunch.
“Damn bots,” Payne muttered as he emerged from the evidence room. He spat on the struggling machine and kicked it in the face to knock it back down. After showing Meeki a toothy grin, he waved and turned the corner to leave.
Meeki climbed to her feet and took advantage of her unusual luck by running, but she hadn't even reached the corner before the machine jerked itself into a sitting position and turned its torso around.
“Meeki!” Braya shouted from behind.
Meeki turned to see the robot aiming at her, but a bolt of energy sliced through its metallic wrist. Sparks flew everywhere as the severed hand clanged against the floor. The loss seemed too much for the robot, fell prostrate to the ground.
Meeki sank against the wall and sighed in relief. Braya and Kinjeur came out from a door down the hall and ran to her.
“Are you okay?” Braya asked. “I'm so sorry we weren't around to help.”
Kinjeur on the other hand only glared. Meeki felt too exhausted and irritable to ignore the girl's harsh attitude.
“I went down the hall to look for you guys. the robot thought I was a criminal or something,” Meeki said.
Kinjeur seemed angry to hear that. “What the hell is your problem? You didn't find us here, so you just went away without checking?”
“What the hell happened to you two, anyway?” Meeki asked.
“We heard an announcement about a breakout at the police station,” Braya explained. “That robot came by and started shooting us, so we lured it away and hid in a storage room. We weren't sure when to come out, that robot might've been waiting for us, you know? We only came out now because I was leaning and felt this door hit the wall.”
“So, were you going to just leave us here?” Kinjeur hissed.
“I just went to check out if something happened, I was going to come back!” Meeki insisted.
Kinjeur scoffed. “Whatever. Let's get the hell out, you remember what that Elian guy said about the cops.”
They agreed and jogged through the corridors once again. Meeki was getting tired of the place and looked very forward to stepping outside, even to the air of Newhope. But one obstacle was in their way. The second robot was still at large monitoring the facility. They stopped just out of sight and huddled together to discuss their options.
“What'll we do? It probably knows the other one is down and we're the ones who did it,” Meeki reminded.
“I took one down, I can do another,” Kinjeur said.
“That first one was on the floor, this is different,” Braya added.
Kinjeur kept quiet for a few seconds before she looked to Braya. “Are you willing to risk getting shot again?”
“No,” Meeki answered on Braya's behalf.
This was hardly fair. Meeki wouldn't have her taking such risks. “You shouldn't just throw yourself out there. You might have some kind of a resistance to guns or whatever, but you could still get seriously hurt.”
“Will you shut up?” Kinjeur groaned. “Nobody's asking you. Besides, we need someone to run and hold that thing down so we can have a good clear shot. Braya's the only one of us who probably won't die if it gets her.”
“I'll do it,” Braya said.
“Good. Go ahead.” Kinjeur waved for her to go.
Meeki took a deep breath and tried to calm herself, seeing that her concern meant nothing. Braya crept toward the corner, and then charged around. Like a true cat, her feet were light on the ground as she bounded across to pounce the enemy.
“I've got him! Hurry!” Braya shouted.
Meeki and Kinjeur stepped in with their guns ready. Braya was on the ground near the robot, doing her best to hold the gun arm. Kinjeur fired at the arm, but it twisted out of Braya's grip and avoided the attack just in time.
The robot returned fire and hit Meeki's arm, nearly incinerating a small portion of her arm just below the shoulder. The pain was so overwhelming that her entire body quaked in agony. Her senses faded and she fell back against the wall.
Braya cried out and reached to grab the robot's arm again. Kinjeur fired again and cut the the robot's arm off with ease this time. Just like its brother, it fell to the ground in defeat.
Meeki wasn't much aware of the success, she was too busy trying to stifle the urge to curse and shout. The pain of a gunshot wound exceeded her expectations by far.
Braya ran to Meeki and dropped to her knees. She seemed frantic with fear and trembled. “I'm so sorry!”
“Treat the injury, we don't have time to waste,” Kinjeur muttered.
“My purse's got some stuff,” Meeki groaned.
Braya tore through it until she found a small batch of medical supplies. There was an ointment for burns and a large bandage. It was hardly enough to heal the injury, but she applied it to Meeki's arm the best of her ability.
“Thanks,” Meeki sighed.
“It feels worse than it is. We'll patch you up at home,” Kinjeur said.
Meeki still felt beyond awful, but some mental preparation and a reminder of her daughter allowed her to get to her feet. With some help from Braya, she elected to continue the escape, albeit at a slower pace than she wished. Kinjeur took the lead and made sure their path was clear while Braya helped Meeki. Thanks to the pain, Meeki felt foolish and morose. She clearly wasn't cut out for this kind of work and considered denying any further “errands” from Kiluana.
Elian's warning about the police response seemed to be false. There wasn't anyone in their way through the rest of the facility, even the guard was missing when they passed by his desk. They almost made it to the elevator when someone with a deep voice suddenly shouted behind them, killing their good luck.
“Freeze, pal!”