An hour later and the four killjoys, myself and Neon are sneaking down the alleyways again. Silver had been desperate to come along too, but she's just too ill to be able to make it in and out without holding the rest of us up. She knew this, and so watched us go, saying she'll try and get some rest whilst we're gone and preserve her battery. 

"We'll go around the back of one of the shops, there's a vending machine for batteries near the back of the place" Neon explains as we take an unfamiliar back alley. I can clearly make out the back shop entrances that run along the place, and she leads up behind the first one. "Okay, so remember what we planned?" 

"Me and Jet will take down the cashier, Kobra and Spark will hold any civilians in there hostage and Neon and Party will secure the place" Ghoul nods. "We're all set, let's just go for it." 

"Okay" Neon nods "but follow me okay? I can scope it out first and then if all's good i'll whistle for you guys." For a moment i want to make some comment on how i didn't realise droids could whistle, but by this point she's already disappearing inside whilst the rest of us edge up towards the door. 

"Hey" Party murmurs in my ear "be safe in there, okay?" 

"I always am" i chuckle "just give me a shout if you need a hand sweetheart" i add patronisingly, making him roll his eyes.

"You love destroying my pride, don't you?" i'm about to make some remark on the lines of how he doesn't have much pride anyway when we hear a distinctive whistle, signalling for us to go in. We all run through the doors and quick as a flash overcome the place. 

It's only a small shop, so it takes literally seconds for Neon and Party to pull down the blinds, blocking out the outside world's view and flip the sign to closed. Party even bolts the door whilst he's at it. 

Ghoul and Jet shoot the drac behind the counter, leaving me and Kobra to turn on the civilians in the shop. There's only two - a man and a woman who look to be in their early thirties. They're obviously high on pills, a glazed expression across their faces as he throw our hands over their mouths. They're too relaxed on pills to catch on quick enough, and by the time they start to struggle it's too late - Kobra's already placing tape over their mouths whilst i tie their hands behind their backs with the rope Silver gave to me.

"We secure?" Party asks, to which there is a resounding 'yes' from the rest of us. 

"Okay" Neon glances over at our captives briefly "those two will need to be drugged with this" she holds up a clear bottle of liquid "so that they won't remember our faces, specifically mine. I can't have any dracs kicking us out the city when the batteries we need are here."

"I'll take care of it" Kobra takes the bottle from her and turns back to the captives. 

"Okay, the rest of you come to the vending machine. We're going to need to tip it over and let me tell you it's going to take a lot of man power to do it" the gestures for us to follow and so we all trail after her, reaching a promising machine near the back. I can clearly see the batteries stored within it, fresh rows of them that must have been recently imported. 

"Perfect" Jet grins "okay, now everyone come around the left side and push" we all scrambled to get a hold of the one side of the machine, which ends up with me leaning over Ghoul in order to get a good grip. "Okay, one, two, three!" 

We all push, with a few warrior cries thrown in here and there, gradually tipping the damn thing more and more to the side until eventually, with an almighty crash, it falls to the floor. I nearly fall with it, but Party grabs me by the arm and pulls me back to my feet. 

"What were you saying back there?" He mutters as the others start to unload the batteries, filling up the rucksack Neon brought with her with the small white boxes, marked with different coloured plus signs. 

"I would have totally be able to pull myself back up" i grumble, to which he just laughs. 

"Sure you would, sugar" His hand wraps around my waist "i guess it's just me being unable to keep my hands off you." 

"I'm not complaining" I lean back into his chest just as Ghoul stands up. 

"Can we save the kernoodling for when we're off the mission? Some of us are trying to get in and out of here without getting killed you know" he quips with a raised eyebrow as the others all laugh around him. 

"Kernoodling?" Party chuckles deeply "where the hell did you get that from?" 

"I made it up" He looks kind of proud of his new word too "it's for when couples do that irritating kissing-but-not-kissing thing that makes you wanna barf up your power pup." 

"What? You mean like you and Cyanide?" 

"Oh man, trust me. If i go to kiss Cyanide then i fucking follow through. None of that staring but not actually getting any action crap. No, we just full on make out, and it's a damn sight less sickening than the two of you." 

"So you'd prefer it if we just plain made out? Because i can work with that" Party turns to look down at me suggestively, and i'm about to just lean in and kiss him already when there's a loud bang from the front of the shop. 

"Open up!" A drac's voice yells through the shutters. Kobra, who's near the door, instantly pales, looking from the captives to the door and then to us in a frantic manner. 

"Shit, come on" Jet grabs the rucksack and hands it to Neon "we've gotta get out of here now before they bust down that door. It'll only take them a minute at the most." Just as he says it they start to bang repeatedly, and we all know it's only a matter of moments before they start trying to kick it down. 

"Kobra come on!" Party hisses to his brother. 

"But i haven't finished with these two!" Kobra cries back "this woman'll remember Neon's face!" We're all stumped at that.

"We can't just kill her" Neon rushes "she's drugged up - she's not one of them. Hell, she probably doesn't know what she's doing here anyway. It would be cold blooded murder." We all instantly agree - mainly because we're the ones fighting the murders, and there's no way we ever want to sink to the level that BL/ind operate at. 

"Well what are we going to do?" By now Kobra is at the door with us "we can't take her with us - she'll be dead weight and slow us down. But if we leave her here then Neon will have to leave the city pronto." 

"You'll have to come back with us, there's no other way" Party sighs as they start to kick at the door "we'll split up - Kobra and Jet can run to the bike and ride that back" i chuck them the keys as he talks, not caring anymore who rides it as long as we all get back in one piece "if we travel in smaller groups it'll be easier anyway." 

"What about you?" Kobra asks as we all barrel out the back door and start jogging down the alleyway. 

"Me, Spark, Neon and Ghoul will run back to Silver. We'll go get Sil, get us all to the trans am and leave, meeting you back at the base. We have enough batteries for Sil to keep running on for a while, it'll have to do." Party pants as we run, turning the corner where we divide. 

"See you back there then" Jet nods gravely at us before him and Kobra run off in the opposite direction. As they do we hear cries coming from behind us as the dracs give chase. Party grabs my hands and pulls me down another alley. 

"Run" is all he yells at us before we all take off full sprint, zig-zagging through alleys, tunnels and general backstreets of battery city. It's a good job Neon knows the place like the back of her hand because without her i would have been long since lost, so would Party and Ghoul. Luckily she steers us in the right direction, and we lose the dracs within five minutes. 

When she's sure we've lost them she let's us take a break against some dumpsters. I take long breaths, my hand against the bin for support as the guys do the same. Neon, being a droid, hasn't even broken sweat, and stand there waiting for us. 

"Okay" i sigh "let's go." 

We head off again, but not at a slow pace. 

"We may have lost the dracs but that doesn't mean they won't still be coming for me. And if they find Sil they'll take her too. We were registered together and if one of us has gone rouge then they'll know she'll have turned too" Neon drags us quickly along a backstreet. 

When we do finally turn the corner to the ladder that climbs up to her apartment, we all stop dead in our tracks, frozen in horror. 

The whole building that they had been living in is on fire. And not some sort of cooker gone wrong fire, this is a planned one. You can smell the petrol from where i stand, seeing how they've drenched the bottom half of the building, giving the residence above (aka Silver and Neon) no escape but to burn or jump. 

"No no no" Neon all but trembles from beside me. 

"Neon we have to go" Ghoul looks pained to say it "there's no way we can get up there, we can't risk it... we have to hope she got out..." 

"No we can't just leave i-" her voice trails off as she stares down at the ground. I follow her gaze and spot what i failed to notice before - the female droid lying on the floor, in a state that could only be described as dead. Her green hair tell me that it's not silver though  - but she does look similar to her. 

There are wires spilling out of her stomach which have obviously been cut through, killing her for good. With a gasp i realise that this is Bolt, the other droid that was mentioned before. I turn to see that Neon's face is crumpled up in a mixture of pain and grief. 

"Not Bolt, no oh no" She sobs, as Ghoul runs into the street and grabs Bolt's body, slinging in over his back before running back over to us. 

"Come on!" He yells "we'll take her body and bury it properly but we need to get out of here right now." Party nods as Ghoul runs for the trans am "i'll drive it around!" he yells "and we'll take the road straight out!" 

"Party we can't just leave, what if Silver's still up there?" Neon sobs as he keep a hold on both her arms "i can't let her burn Party. Not after i just lost Bolt. Don't make me lose her too. Just let me go." 

"We can't lose you too" he shakes his head grimly "we need you, Neon." 

I zone out as she continues to protest, my eyes now focused up on the apartment that we had been in just hours beforehand. I'm staring in horror when i see something - or rather, i see Silver's face, just for a moment, through the gap that is a doorway. It's enough for me to realise that she's in there, and that there's no way i'm leaving without her. 

"Spark, what are you -" Party starts to yell, but i'm already running towards the burning building, eyes set on the ladder that will take me up to Silver. 

_________________________________________________________________

Boom. Another cliffhanger. 

Please don't hate me for leaving it there, i'll try and update again soon xD