Year 2030, June 28th, 13:17,

The usually chaotic and busy Skyways of Genotopia are silent. The streets are dotted with drunkards and beggars, with no sight of any citizen. If you look closely enough you'll find a few shops or stalls open, but the majority are closed, even those that are open have no customers. Standing out amongst this pin drop silence was a zooming hoverbike, Alex and Shylia were escaping from Hell's Paradise. They deliberately avoided the skyway to use the lower streets.

Observing the empty streets Alex remarked, "Isn't it weird that the streets are this empty today?"

Shylia didn't say anything. She was clearly in despair. She just hoped that Lucifer was alright. She could not bear looking at Lucifer's bloodied face. Her eyes started to water again, thinking about it.

Alex, taking note of this, decided to cut to the chase, "So where do you wanna go? Ricky's place to wait or right to Bohaty?"

Her sorrow disguised behind a new confusion, Shylia asked, "Bohaty? Why is he there?"

To which Alex replied, "Oh yeah, he went there to tell Osa and Rami the truth."

On hearing Osa and Rami's names, Shy's lost memories slowly come back to her as she remembers the times she had so much fun with the group back in the day. The times they spent in school, their treehouse, the mall in the city where they would go during weekends. It was all so fun. But these memories which were supposed to be cherished for all their life were taken away. Their previous fun lives were snatched away from them.

Alex said, "Oh well, we could stop by Ricky's place for some time and then go to Bohaty. I need to change my clothes too."

Osayed's mansion, Bohaty.

Ratch played the message from Agazed. Everyone was confused as well as shocked.

Ricky said, "Hey but how are we even gonna get out of here?"

A nervous Osa exclaimed,"Getting out? What do you mean? What about Rami? We don't even know where she is! We can't leave without her! Goddammit! This is why I never wanted to tell Rami!"

Farrah said in a higher voice, "Hey calm down! We'll find her first ok?" She went on to ask, "Anyways, So what is all this about you two killing sergeant Danny or whatever?"

Ricky answered, "Yeah about that, So this sergeant Danny we killed wasn't the actual one who was in Alex's squad. The one we killed was a replibot set up by the Bloodbornes to kill Alex."

Farrah, still confused, said, "Huh? Bloodborne? What's that?"

Ricky continued, "Oh yeah right it's like..."

Ricky tells them about the truth of this city and what's going on outside.

Osayed remarked, "Wait, that actually makes a lot of sense."

Ricky: "Right?"

Farrah: "Wait so we're gonna get outside the safe biome into a warzone?"

Ricky: "Don't worry it's not that bad out there. We just need to avoid going into the battlefields."

Sammy, after thinking a lot, said,"But how are we gonna find Rami? And how are we even gonna escape safely? The police are already after us."

Ricky, thinking about it for a while, asks Ratch to contact Agazed.

Ratch connects them with Agazed,

Ricky was about to speak, "Hey we need-"

Agazed interrupted and said, "I know you have a lot of questions and I have your answers. Rami's whereabouts, how to escape safely, what happened to Alex. I know the answers to all of these questions."

He continues to answer the questions, "First off about Rami's whereabouts, she was last seen near Steel Clutter, the black market off limits from the main city."

Osa questioned, "Steel clutter? But why would she be there?"

Agazed: "That I don't know. Anyways, as I was saying next about how you will escape, since you need to find Rami first you need to head to steel clutter avoiding any authorities. After you are inside the market you'll be safe, at least from the cops. I'll suggest laying low and usage of less obvious routes. Now about Alex, he's heading to your location with his sister on a hoverbike."

Ricky let out a sigh of relief and said, "So Alex succeeded, phew."

Agazed: "I'm sending Ratch the routes you can take towards steel clutter and I'll download some update files to add some new features. I've been working on this update for a while. I hope you find Rami quickly."

All the lights emitting from Ratch's body started flickering until they turned off as his body lumps to the ground. It's kind of morbid as for the moment, he's basically dead. A look of concern showed on Ricky's face as he wondered how he was feeling attached to a robot. He stopped these thoughts. A progress bar displaying how much of the update is done appeared on Ratch's face.

"So.... what now?", Farrah asked.

Sam replied, "We wait, I guess."

Streets and roads around Ricky's home were blocked by the police. Some serious looking men were investigating Ricky and Sam's whereabouts. Huge Hologram Billboards were flying over the city with red wanted profiles of Ricky and Sammy. Other holoposters were put up all across Genotopia. All the pre existing billboards now lit red with the faces of Ricky and Sam.

Alex, now concerned, said, "What the hell is happening here? Why's the police all over the place?"

Shy looked around as she read the wanted poster ,"Ricky and Sam are wanted for killing Sergeant Danny and burning down the Eastern Border Patrol headquarters. This is a code red emergency. If anyone has seen these two please contact the police as soon as possible."

Alex said,under his breath, "Fuck this is all my fault."

Shylia, with a look of confusion on her face, said, "What even is happening here Alex? First the gangs attack the bank then Lucifer....... and now Ricky is wanted by the police?"

Alex said, "Dammit I'll tell you everything later. Let's just get away from here before they spot us. The police are all over the city right now. Shit, if it's code red then they might even get the headhunters on this."

Shylia asked, "Headhunters...?"

Alex, "They're a secret group working for the police and government to do all kinds of dirty jobs. If you thought the normal police are corrupted then get ready for these guys. They're the worst type of scum, they are allowed to do anything they want until the job is done. They don't even care about civilians, instead the civilians are the ones who suffer the most when the headhunters are working. This is why the authorities restrict their working until and unless it's a code red emergency."

Shylia said, "Yeah let's go to Bohaty asap."

They headed out for Bohaty, still keeping a low profile. Before they went to Bohaty, they stopped by their own house for a change of clothes. Alex wore a white long coat with grey stripes at the end along with a black turtle neck inside and a black jeans. Shylia changed into a more casual dress, a black buttoned top with a yellow checkered skirt.

Even though most of the city was silent and closed off, Steel Clutter was still bustling with dealers and buyers trading all sorts of stuff. The market came into existence not too long ago, a few unknown businessmen invested in this market to make it the biggest market in the city. They succeeded, but soon it crossed the lines of legality when the gangs started to join in the business. Drugs, illegal weapons, fake contracts, assassins, there's nothing which you can't find here. A big outrage sparked up soon and the government even tried to shut it down but couldn't due to the gang backings. Now it is the largest black market in the city.

At a sector of the Steel Clutter,

A young woman was looking around for something. She had long brown hair with light brown eyes. She was dressed in an oversized purple black shirt and a white skirt with black thigh highs. She had a very concerned and nervous look in her eyes. She had never visited this place before, it was scary for her. So many gangs, thugs, robbers and murderers all around her.

She hesitantly asked a shop owner, "H-hey..uhh can you tell me where I can find a place where I can hire trackers?"

The owner replied with stern eyes, "Ya don't look like a usual customer to me...well anyways if ya want to find trackers ya can go talk with the Hawk's Nest guys. It's right by the next corner. Tell em Poncho sent ya."

She said, "Thanks Mr. Poncho..."

Poncho said, "Also one more thing...this place ain't safe kid...do not trust anyone and trade and hire at your own risk."

She replied, "Thanks...I know."

Osa's banquet,

Ratch finally finished updating. He restarted and jumped up with a bolt of energy, with new interface options and features.

An intrigued Ricky said, "So Ratch what was the update even about?"

Ratch said smugly, "Oh hi Ricky! Missed me?"

Ricky facepalmed and said, "It's barely been like half an hour."

Ratch giggled, "Hehe oops, anyways about the updates yeah. Master Agazed added a lot of features in this update, like more speed!"

He demonstrated as he filed all over the banquet.

"And... a lot more interface updates like this hologram menu. you can check out all the features from here."

Ricky tweaked with the hologram menu. It had options like connect, kill mode, shut down, control etc.

"Interesting, what does the connect feature do?" , asked Ricky.

Ratch replied, "Oh it lets me connect with any form of technology, computers, cameras, drones everything. Though for more complex systems someone needs to manually hack into it first to remove the security. And the kill mode makes me go berserk ain't that wacky!"

Ricky, with an awkward smile, said, "Heh sure buddy."

Ratch continued to talk about his features, "....and the control feature allows my masters to control me or the systems connected to me through an APW."

Ricky said, "Hmm but we don't have any APW with us right now..."

Osa stood up and said, "Don't worry I'll bring one each for all of you. I've made a few changes to the normal APWs in my free time as an experiment so I have a bunch near the store room."

He left to get the APWs from the store room upstairs.

Just outside the mansion a hoverbike parked by the gate, and two individuals entered through the main gate which was opened earlier. The damage done by the bots was noticeable even from outside. The door was broken, a few more signs of struggle on the grass and walls.

Alex spoke, "Jeez what the fuck happened here? Shylia stay behind me."

He took out his Kyro-502 pistol and walked into the mansion with padded steps.

Inside of the mansion was also a wreck. Scratches here and there, ripped carpet, broken furniture and broken bots.

Shylia whispered, "Looks like a huge fight took place here too....."

Alex replied, "Yeah....I hope the guys are fine."

They heard sounds of footsteps, slowly getting louder and louder.

Alex and Shylia quickly took cover behind a ruined sofa.

A man emerged from the darkness and looked around with stern eyes and noticed a hand behind the sofa and said, "Hey! Who's there?"

Shylia was about to get up but Alex jumped out with his pistol aimed at the man's forehead but quickly put it away and asked with an unsure voice, "O-Osa? Is that you?! Holy shit what happened to you dude."

Osa: "Alex?...Ah well it's a long story."

Shylia got up slowly and greeted Osa, "Hi...Osayed."

Osa: "Oh is that Shylia? Hi there, nice to meet you again."

Shylia smiled and said, "Nice to meet you too."

Osa whispered to Alex, "Hey is she...good?"

Alex whispered back, "Yeah...she's a bit down, I'll tell you later."

Osa said, "Ah alright then, come with me I'll take you to the elevator. You need to go to the banquet underground. They are waiting for you both. I'll be back soon, I'm just getting a few things from the store room."

Osa led them to the elevator and left to get the supplies from the store room.

Once inside the elevator, Alex said, "Hey you good? It'll be fine, don't worry. We're all friends so no need to be nervous."

Shylia didn't say anything.

The elevator doors opened with the magnificent view of the banquet. They slowly stepped out.