TSHOO. Lavil fired a rocket at Tangent with no warning, its sound amplified by the tunnel's reverberation.

Tangent jumped to the side, letting the missile sail off down the tunnel. His eyes lit up bright blue, and the tunnel was filled with a blinding flash a moment later.

“Gained.” The first time I'd ever heard Tangent speak.

The flash itself affect me, but an explosion rocked the tunnel as the rocket detonated against the wall down the tunnel. Just as I was rocked off balance, Tangent lunged at Shock with blinding speed, who was recoiling from the blue flash.

“No you fucking DON'T,” I screamed, swinging the guitar sideways in front of Shock. I missed – Tangent jumped over my swing and slammed into Shock feet first, sending her plummeting into the wall behind us in a thick cloud of dust!

“Shock!” I yelled.

“Get clear!” Lavil shouted from behind me. “One shot left!”

Unable to clearly see Tangent or Shock behind the dust, I blindly cleaved down at Tangent's general location. My attack was blocked by a long, blue beam. The dust scattered just enough to reveal Tangent wielding the beam, already in a perfect defensive stance. H-how?!

“Get him off!” Shock yelled. I glanced down for a split second – Tangent was standing on Shock. Just as I looked back up, something smashed me in my side, and I was tumbling against the ground before I could brace myself.

Tangent was so fast. I couldn't understand it. This was nothing like when he was chasing me before.

The screech of Lavil's final missile echoed through the tunnel just before another enormous blast of debris and smoke. From what I could see... it missed Tangent and hit the wall beside Shock.

I picked up my guitar and scrambled to my feet.

“Oh SHIT–” Lavil yelped. Tangent was going after him now, still wielding the metal beam with all four arms. But Lavil had accelerated down the tunnel, barely keeping ahead of Tangent.

“Sh... damnit!” Shock cried, trying to prop herself up against the wall. I ran over to her and helped her to her feet, only to notice Shock was missing one of the beams on her back. “That motherfucker!”

“Get ready, Shock, I don't know if he's coming back or not!”

I couldn't explain what happened next. Lavil and Tangent were zipping back down the tunnel in our direction, closely followed by a wall of pitch black darkness completely blocking access to the rest of the tunnel. Tangent had trapped us in here? What was that wall?!

“Fucking do something!” Lavil screamed as he zoomed towards us.

“Go, Aural!” Shock cried, audibly charging up electricity with the remaining beam on her back. A jolt–

–of energy energized me just like those times before! She powered me up! I rushed in front of Lavil, an idea buzzing in my circuitry. I prepared myself to lunge my guitar at Lavil, and just as I readied myself to attack, he skated around me at the last possible moment. With Tangent now rushing straight at me, I thrust my guitar at the fiend, hitting him directly in the abdomen.

As he fell, he swung Shock's beam at me again, striking my ankles. We were both on the ground, weapons still in hand.

A SNAP of electricity flashed across my optics, starting from Shock's hand, ending on Tangent's face. But with one swift motion, Tangent brushed off the bolt of electricity and crawled on top of me, leaving the beam behind. He stared down at me only inches away with those empty, soulless eyes.

He grabbed both of my arms before I even had a chance to move, and with his two free hands, he–

–bumped into my chest with his head? Just behind him, Lavil was smashing his rocket launcher down on the back of Tangent's head! But Tangent still didn't relent!

“Let! The! Fuck! Go!” Lavil chanted between every hit, locking Tangent into a seemingly stunned state. “Fuck! Ing! Die!” Despite Lavil's repeated attacks, I couldn't shove Tangent off me. He was still holding onto my arms way too tight, even with Shock's overcharge.

“Keep doing it! Keep doing it!!” Shock screamed, running over with her saw out.

Lavil raised his weapon for a huge blow, but Tangent took the opportunity to roll over with me still in his grasp, tossing me into Shock's legs. She let out a gasp as she stumbled backwards, barely managing to keep her footing.

Tangent bounced up from the ground with ease, but was immediately met with a missile launcher to the face as Lavil swung down, striking Tangent right back to the ground.

“Ya-hah! Damn yes!” Lavil yelled.

Shock grabbed my hand and yanked me to my feet, and we both took a couple steps away from Tangent while he was on his back. His right eye was broken open and some grey shrapnel from his face was scattered on the tunnel floor.

Tangent rolled to the side away from us, and hopped to his feet like nothing had happened, dodging Lavil's next attack. As soon as he was on his feet, his left eye and the fissure where his right eye used to be glowed bright blue again. He was going to flash again.

“Shock! Watch out!” The light didn't seem to affect Lavil or me, but it blinded Shock the first time. I lifted a hand to block her eyes, just in case.

The blue flash pierced the air again, but we emerged unaffected.

I stood ready, guitar in hand, with Shock by my side. Lavil was half a dozen feet to our right, and Tangent stood just about as far away from us.

I couldn't feel pain, but I knew Shock could. She was showing symptoms of the battering she'd taken.

“Stay back,” I whispered to her, not taking my eyes off Tangent for a second. “Use your electricity. Don't let him hurt you.”

No reply, but I knew she heard me.

The tension in the air was physically weighing me down. Nobody was moving. We were locked in a stare-down with Zynima's one-eyed serial killer.

Then, a deep, reverberated rumble echoed from our left, from the inexplicable wall of darkness blocking the tunnel's entrance.

I didn't look. I was too afraid to look away from Tangent. But as the seconds passed, I started to realize I couldn't hear anything anymore. No whirring circuitry, no ambiance from the streets above, not even Shock breathing right beside me.

Nothing. Either my aural sensors had suddenly failed, or something else happened.

I wasn't ready for what happened next. I only saw it in the corner of my vision, but amid our standoff...

Nōne emerged from the pitch black wall on the far side of the tunnel, scythe in hand. He was casually walking up behind Tangent, who didn't seem to notice him.

I tightened my grip on my guitar just to confirm time was still moving in this surreal scene. Could anyone else hear anything? I assumed not, seeing as Tangent would have ripped Nōne to shreds by now. What was he doing here? What was going on?

Please, Mr. TV-Head, please just cut him down and be done with this, I prayed. Let this shitty game of tag end right here, right now.

As if he heard me, Nōne stepped right behind Tangent and raised his scythe up to his neck. Just as Nōne was about to decapitate Tangent, he spun around and decked the TV-head in the screen just a second too late.

With a brief shower of sparks, Tangent fell to the ground face first, his neck cut open. Nōne staggered against the wall behind him, using it to support himself from the blow.

Tangent was dead? At least that's what I could gather from what I was looking at. Turns out, suddenly becoming deaf drastically changes your perspective on the world around you. At least, for a robot.

No, no, he wasn't dead. He wasn't dead...!? He crawled to his feet, albeit not as quickly as before, with his head dangling from his neck by a few loose cords. He shouldn't still be alive, he shouldn't be alive, yet, he was.

Nōne spun his scythe around and went for another attack, but Tangent blocked it with his top-right arm, cutting his hand off in the process. But it didn't stop him from grabbing Nōne with his other arms and throwing him against the ground. Lavil tried to get a swing in while Tangent was tossing Nōne around, but it was effortlessly blocked by a flick of the arm.

And I... did nothing.

I only realized just then that the lack of sound had paralysed me with a familiar sense of fear. It was just like before in those weird “auras” on the city's surface. But if I succumbed to it, Tangent would kill us. End of story.

Everyone was here. Shock was by my side. Lavil was here. I wasn't about to let them down now. I couldn't.

I took a step forward. Tangent was still distracted by Lavil and Nōne as they traded more attacks; the TV-head was incredibly skilled with that scythe. He was able to block most of Tangent's jabs, even with the killer's unreal speed.

Another step. Lavil's bulky weapon was far too unwieldy for him to effectively hit Tangent with, but it didn't stop him from trying.

I could do this. If we all jumped at him at once, we could do it. Surely.

Shock was approaching the brawl by my side, electricity arcing from her remaining beam. I glanced over at her. Her mouth was moving, but all I heard was more eerie silence.

“I can't hear anything,” I spoke. Shock showed no signs of acknowledgement.

“–ral! Come on!!” Shock screamed. My audio was back!? And the fear, gone!?

I didn't question it. Without delay, I charged at Tangent, guitar at the ready!

“Aural, overcharge!” Shock called out before I felt–

–another surge of electricity, pumping energy through my body at maximum speed!

Lavil was between Tangent and me, but he was quick enough to step out of the way just as I rushed into my target. I didn't even have time to use my guitar; I rammed into Tangent shoulder-first, forcing him to fall onto Nōne just behind him.

“Now!” Nōne shouted, locking his arm around Tangent's open neck. “Get his head!”

Lavil and I both attacked Tangent with an overhead attack. Lavil's missile launcher hit Tangent on the head, but he was already prying Nōne's arm off his neck when my blow connected. Tangent used Nōne's arm to block my guitar, who grunted in pain from the hit.

Tangent was getting sluggish. His movements were slower and less refined. Were we... winning...?

He broke out of Nōne's grasp with a powerful struggle, coming straight for me, his head dangling around from the rest of his body with just a few wires.

He ran at me with a punch, but he was far too slow – I smacked his fist away easily and hit him with a kick square in the abdomen. He managed to keep his footing, but Nōne was ready right behind him, slashing his scythe down on his neck.

And with that slash...

...Tangent's head rolled to the floor, spraying light blue liquid on the ground as the last wires connecting his head to the rest of his body were severed. His body collapsed to the floor, totally limp.

I stood back, staring at his body. His lights started fading.

“You– ahah, is he fuckin' dead?” Lavil said, cautiously sliding over towards Tangent.

Behind me, Shock was panting quite heavily. “No... no way. No way.” Her breaths gradually changed into quiet giggles, which erupted into the scariest, nigh-maniacal laughter I'd ever heard, especially from her.

I turned to face her. She was beaming with excitement, her LED eyes “open” wide as she laughed wholeheartedly. Then she ran over to Tangent's body and kicked his head against the wall, flinging more of the light blue liquid through the air.

“Tangent's dead,” I plainly stated, this whole thing still sinking in. “He's dead!” I couldn't help but fist pump.

“HE'S DEAD!” Shock roared, throwing her saw across the tunnel in elation. “YES!!”

“BAM, baby!” Lavil shrieked along with us. “WOO!”

Nōne remained silent, standing against the tunnel wall. Whatever – I was too happy to be weirded out by his sudden appearance and enigmatic nature. I didn't even know how he got here so quickly, but that was a question for another time.

Ah, and another thing I hadn't realized until just then was that eerie wall of darkness was gone. I still didn't have an explanation for it, or that sudden bout of crippling fear I had during our battle... but they were both gone, and that's what mattered. Once again: too happy to care.

I still couldn't believe it. Days of adventuring, sleuthing... and we succeeded. Zynima's serial killer was dead! I kept staring down at his defunct body, still trying to process his death. It actually happened.

I was safe now. Shock wouldn't have to deal with murders every day. Trivo and Lavil... neither of them would be in danger anymore–

...Ah, maybe not quite, I reminded myself. Those two... they still had some dark situation going on, didn't they...? I'd forgotten in my celebration. My cheer kinda subsided a bit as I remembered that it wasn't all happy times yet.

And what about Trivo?! She was still... well, unconscious, I guess. I was about to go see her–

And then Tangent's lights turned on again.

No. No fucking way.

“AAY!!” I shouted in panic, trying to get everyone's attention.

I was just about to smash his body in when a quiet voice spoke up from Tangent's head.

“...It's time for Zynima's most exciting and dangerous event! The death race of Grilith Tower!!” announced the unfamiliar voice. “Two Lavil models heading face to face against one another in a race for their lives! Now, why are you hearing this announcement, might you ask? Simply put: the last race from mere days ago was interrupted near its denouement, leaving us without a victor!”

I looked at Lavil. He tilted his head up at the ceiling, muttering “what? Nah, nah, Fuck off. Fuck offfffffffff.”

The announcement continued. “The race will be taking place in just five hours, so make your way to Grilith now to see the show of a lifetime!”

We all looked at Lavil as the voice quit blabbing.

He skated around in a couple small circles. “Hahaha. Oh my goodness gracious. Why did this happen...? They tried to kill us,” he mumbled. “And they still are.”

Shock looked up as she inspected the beam that Tangent had ripped from her back. She shook her head at Lavil with the most dumbfounded look on her face. “No shit?”

“Nah, listen, I don't mean Tangent. Remember how there's a dude who “owns” us? Like, Trivo and me. The one who can control Tangent at will. I'm talking about them. You all remember, ya?”

I nodded. Shock hummed in agreement.

“I'm listening.” Nōne finally said something.

Lavil looked between all of us as he explained. “You know why Tangent was so elusive and “impossible” to stop, right? Because he was calculated. Maybe he had some cool parts that let him wreck other robots easier than someone else could. But, ultimately, he would fuck off at the sight of any actual danger and never get into anything he couldn't handle. That sounds about right to you guys, right? Makes sense, as, like, his general strategy?”

“Sure” was the general response.

Lavil swung his arms out to the side. “So why did he just let us kill him?”

...Nothing but silence. He... had a point?

Lavil looked at me. “Trivo told you about how this guy sent Tangent after you, Aural, because she liked your music, ya? Remember that? It's the same thing. They sent Tangent after us because they didn't like what we were doing.” Lavil pinched his fingers together in the air, stepping towards me. “We got too close to the truth.”

“Wait,” I interrupted, sharing Shock's bewilderment. “What truth? What were we doing aside from ridding the city of Tangent?”

Lavil looked away again, taking his sweet time before answering me. “I think... I think the machine manipulating us is scared. They're scared that you're going to figure out their identity, with how close Trivo and I have become with you two. They're scared we're going to put an end to their shitty little reign. So they had Tangent come and try to kill us... even if it cost Tangent his life. And now they want me to redo the death race even though it was crystal clear that I won. They're doing whatever they can to kill us off.”

I put a hand on the bottom of my visor. “I mean, uh... I still don't have any idea who this person is...”

“Can't you just write his name down or give us a clue of who he is?” Shock sighed, waving her hands to her side. “I'm tired of this.”

“You already know damn well why I can't do that,” Lavil barked.

“Well, have we seen him at any point? Do we know him?!” Shock asked.

“Not that I know of! Believe me, lady, I'd love nothing more than to give you subtle hand gestures towards the fucker if I saw them.”

With this whole realization... Shock and I looked at each other as she huffed again. Without saying anything, we seemed to come to a mutual understanding that this big adventure wasn't ending with Tangent. If there was someone able to control a robot as dangerous and powerful as Tangent, it was clear that the serial killer was just a symptom of a much bigger problem.

At least I hoped she felt the same. I could read her body language decently well... but not her mind.

Lavil clapped his hands together, skating over to Tangent's corpse, looking down at his face. “How about this: you can take your death race and shove it. We're gonna come to Grilith... and we're gonna end your miserable life. You hear me?”

...The announcer voice in Tangent's head spoke again, perfectly on cue. “Then it's time for Zynima's #1 ranked skill robot to fall into stasis. Permanently.”

“What?!” Lavil and I shouted. Shock and I stepped away from Tangent, and Lavil followed suit seconds later. Even Nōne readied his scythe.

That announcer speaking through Tangent's body could hear us?!

Outside, somewhere on the surface, a deep boom shook the ground around us, almost making me lose my footing.

“Lavil, what's going on?” I yelped.

“Hell if I know what that was! Don't look at me!” He shouted back.

Tangent's lights shut off again. We all just stood there, glancing around between his body and the tunnel, waiting for something to happen. But... nothing did.

“I don't like this,” I broke the silence. “We're not safe here anymore.”

“No kidding – we're not safe anywhere anymore,” Shock added.

“Then let's move,” Lavil commanded. “We can't stay here. We need to get Trivo and–”

A sudden crash exploded from our hideout. All of us, excluding Nōne, ran over to the door and looked inside.

Three of those machines we'd encountered before in this tunnel – the ones who kidnapped Trivo a while back – had busted into our already-ruined base. Except they weren't just the regular bots from before.

Their arms had been replaced with miniguns.

Oh no.

They all let out heavily synthesized shouts as they spotted us, immediately revving up their guns.

“Fuck!” Lavil yelled, skating away from the hideout door, down the tunnel. “Come on! GO!!”

Without hesitation, we bolted down the tunnel with Lavil, shouting and cussing as the deafening grind of the miniguns blasted through the tunnel, bullets eating at the walls just as we got out of the way.

“What do we do?!” I screamed, barely loud enough for the others to hear over those robots' heavy weapons.

“Fucking run!” Shock screamed back.