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By the way, credits to favoritesaltybleach for her amazing cover. I really love it. Can't even bear to delete it from my phone even though I have copies XD.

~3rd Person~

"Hey, what's that?"

Murmurs filled the air, and the civilians had confusion written all over their faces as they stared at the podium that was supposed to be for the election happening later that day.

"What the?" Ilsu blinked, confusion written all over his face. 

His sister, Yujin, otherwise known as Layla to the Tobot Pilots, was much more responsive than her brother, proven by calling her friend Dingyo from her house, "Dingyo! There's something wrong with the podium!" 

"What podium?" Dingyo's voice wafted out of the phone, sounding as lazy as one could get after waking up. The Pilots had been preventing attacks for the past few days, so it was natural that she was exhausted with all the data she had to insert. 

Yujin knew her, however, and waited patiently for a few minutes to remember the situation. 

It only took a few seconds, because she heard a loud thump. Probably Dingyo hitting the ground, "Wait what?!" 

"Yeah, Eomma, Oppa and I came to cast our votes, but we saw this instead. I'll send you a photo, if you want." 

"Please do! I'll go round up the other Pilots!" 

"Okay," she quickly disconnected the call, changing it to camera mode to take photos, making sure to get every detail. 

Honestly, it WAS the usual podium. It had the usual banners with Kim Taewoo and Kang Taeman on it, the place for the newly elected mayor to make their opening speech, and the projector to show the tallies. 

However, it looked empty now. 

And Yujin knew what it was. 

"Is that a computer connected to the projector? And how is there a video cam already filming this?" Ilsu spoke up, frowning all the while. 

Well, his observation was spot on. A lot of things had been pushed away so the projector could be in the middle of the podium. Everything seemed like a business meeting. One out in the open. Like some sort of announcement. 

"Nuna!" another voice made them turn to see Dingyo's dongsaeng, Inoma, running over to them. He tripped a few times, but he eventually made it to them, "What's going on, Yujin-nuna?"

"We don't know either," She shook her head. "Did you just get here?" 

"Yeah... Eomma's over there, trying to put in her vote," the youngest answered, innocently pointing her out in the crowd of people trying to cast their votes one by one. It was not working out, however, what with the confused government officials looking for some sanity in the chaos. 

"This is ridiculous," Ilsu frowned, crossing his arms in suspicion. "Who would do something like this out of nowhere? Is there something wrong?" 

"Seems that way," Yujin nodded, eyes narrowed as well. "What does this mean?" 

"I wish I knew, Yujin. I wish I knew," Ilsu mumbled. 

"Well, looks like it'll be explained soon," Inoma finally stopped the conversation as he pointed to the two figures moving silently through the crowds towards the podium.

Everyone couldn't say anything. They couldn't even get their own phones out.

The two got up, and the hoods were soon let down, revealing the masked heroes who had helped the Tobots.

A ripple once more.

"Programmer and Ark?!"

There were murmurs in the crowd. Just what was going on? Did they actually set this up? 

Ilsu's eyes narrowed. Now that he saw the hair that had been hidden so far, he felt like he had seen those shades of brown and pink before. But where? 

Yujin felt the same way. Looking at it, she felt the same deja vu she usually did when she was meeting someone she saw before, be it from face-to-face confrontations, photos, or even brief encounters on the streets. 

Inoma scratched his head. He knew that shade... If only he knew where it came from. 

"Hello," Programmer's masked voice echoed from the microphone in front of him. "It's nice to meet you all today." 

From her home, Acnee's eyes widened as the TV was hurriedly turned on, showing the breaking news around the country. After all, how often did this happen? 

"Those... Pathetic weaklings..." she hissed, lime green eyes glowing dangerously. "How dare they...." 

"What do we do now, Wang-sshi?" her new secretary questioned her, feeling a bit worried over the fury she was displaying. "It appears that none of us can stop this broadcast. They must have hacked into everything." 

"Tch.... If this is what I think it is, I can't let them destroy my work. No matter what," she got up from her chair. Her tone was quiet, but it spoke of her feelings. The plain rage she had in her mind. "Get the car ready." 

"Yes Madame," the secretary nodded compliantly. At this rate, she just wanted to get out of the room before SHE became the object of her boss' rage, so she ran off as soon as she was given the sign to leave. 

The moment she did, the vases in the room were grabbed and thrown across the room. 

"Those brats..." she hissed, unable to hold in her anger no longer. Her eyes were aimed at the two on the TV, promising nothing but pain. 

In a town nearby, a certain family was ready to kick back and relax. It was a Sunday, after all. The perfect time to have some family fun. They had even invited their friends over, and they were now in the living room, having finished their breakfast. 

"This is so much fun!" Tak Haeil grinned, swinging his legs back and forth. "We've been planning this for a long while already!" 

"I can tell," Gangpung smiled at him, comfortably seated on the couch opposite of him. 

"Well, as long as it's good, I won't critique your poor taste in other things," Suri teased playfully. 

"Let's not do that," Haeil's mom Goun shook her head sheepishly. 

"Anyway, ready for this?" His dad Wonman asked the younger kids. 

"Yeah!" his younger brother Daeil bobbed his head up and down. He always looked forward to this kind of family bonding. 

"Alright then, count down in three!" 

"Two!" 

"ONE!" 

The remote was pressed, opening the TV for Team Typhoon. 

Their expectations went down for a while when they saw the breaking news, but their interest peaked after seeing the headline. 

"The Truth of Daedo City's Kim Taewoo?" Gangpung blinked. 

"That's a new one," Suri agreed. "But the subtitle..." 

"Who is the Mastermind behind the Corruption in the Robot Racing Games?" Goun's eyes slowly grew wide. 

"The one behind Mopak and Lullaby," Wonman whispered it out. 

"I do hope that Ogong and Ondol are okay..." Haeil looked worried. "They're at Daedo now." 

A few towns away, another Pilot and his friends were listening to the radio. 

"The person behind the Robot Racing Corruption Case... Did they finally find who it was?" Chanoeul asked the others. 

"Sounds like it," Opuleun nodded, letting her blue hair lie on the chair. 

"B-But how did they find out?" Hankyeol adjusted his glasses nervously. 

"I guess we'll never know," Nam Moksae sighed. "Look on the bright side, though. We'll find out who it is AND not die of boredom today." 

The other three could only nod in agreement. They definitely didn't want the boredom to consume them.

Back in Daedo City's election podium, Programmer took in a deep breath before he spoke up again, "You may be wondering, what are we doing here? Why are we standing here when we're supposed to be doing whatever?" 

"Well, the answer, is that this is what our work is about," Ark slid to another one nearby. "For an entire year, we've been looking for evidence. Trying to find a way to bring someone behind bars." 

"Us standing here, means that we've found that evidence," Programmer let go of his masker, revealing a smile on his face. "And we've assembled all this, in order to unravel the entire thing, from the surface to its roots." 

"Thank you for coming. Now, please, I hope you don't have much urgency, because this is the conspiracy that runs deep into robots. Starting from a long time ago, only now is it being released to the public," Ark smiled, doing the same as his friend to show that. 

This was it. This was the climax. 

And they knew that. 

So they got serious and began. 

"It all began a few years back. It was a fire which supposedly killed two females, both wives of scientists Cha Doun and Kwon Limo respectively," Programmer opened a slide filled with photos of the newspaper articles. "However, police said that the cause of the fire had been a car crash from outside the house. The driver died as well, but despite that the public condemned the poor man, calling him cruel and evil." 

"The wife of this man, who was at that time working at a newspaper company, couldn't believe the slander her husband was getting. She firmly believed that he was innocent. The insults and complaints her family got... It made her begin to see the world.... Differently," Ark's eyes softened at this part. "Returing to her evil roots, the ones she had abandoned for her now-deceased husband, she decided that she had to make sure that her family was never slandered ever again. And so she hid, training herself until it was time to return to destroy." 

"But then she realised something. Why rip things from the outside when she could do it from the inside?" Programmer inhaled once more. He seemed a bit... Emotional about this. Ark put his hand on the other's shoulder,  making him smile a bit at the older male before coughing and returning to the talk. "And so, she decided... To get into politics." 

"In order to make her plan work, she had to change her name. She couldn't use her real name, so she chose a fake name that must have meant a lot to her. That name... Was Kim Taewoo," Ark admitted. 

Gasps rang around the crowd. Inoma, Yujin and Ilsu all looked faint. 

Their parents had wanted to vote for them. 

The entire city, no, country was in shock. 

Watching from X, Cha Hana took in a deep breath, before looking at the person sitting beside him, "You were right Ondol. It was Kim Taewoo." 

"I may be wrong about other things," Dokgo Ondol shook his head, unable to accept the compliment. "Let's keep listening." 

"Okay then," Hana just sunk back into his seat, trying to keep his nervousness down. To think that the mastermind had been involved with the fire which took his mom away and sent Limo down the despair spiral.... It was unbelievable. 

"She gained influence over the years, and she even took over her father's company. Using that, she chose certain people, certain gaming champions, to be her promoters. If they were ever in trouble or had a rival, their orders were to eliminate them, no matter what," Programmer showed the photos of three people. 

Haeil, Gangpung and Suri all jumped to their feet. Eyes wide. Unable to register who was being shown.

"Mopak, for the Racing Championships," Ark continued. "Lullaby, who could work double-time for her idol position AND for the Robot Dodgeball Championships. And Kaiser Yung, for the Offroad Championships. She was only refered to as the General Manager, since none of them had actually met her." 

Chanoeul began shaking the radio back and forth, trying to get an answer, "WAIT WHAT?!" 

"In the meantime, she decided to make it look like she was the people's saving grace, thus elevating the number of votes she could get. That's why she took on another name, one for a villainess behind the scene. You know her..." Programmer looked at the camera meaningfully. "As Acnee, the person who tried to destroy this city half a year ago." 

More gasps. 

Hana's eyes widened. Semo paled drastically. Ogong gripped his fists so hard they turned white. Dingyo's mouth went open and close again and again. Ondol gasped. Limo gaped. Doun went silent, any future words dying in his mouth. 

"B-But she's dead!" One of the civilians yelled, unable to grasp the situation well. 

"Ah, well, that's a simple trick," another voice, one all too familiar, answered, causing yelps of shock as a helicopter landed on the ground, transforming himself to reveal Y's upgraded form. 

"She was smart, to be honest," Y spoke, crossing his arms. "In order to make the entire thing go on flawlessly, she needed someone fast. Her bots were not fast, no matter how much she tried. She needed someone who SPECIALISED in that." 

The colour drained from Hana and Doun's faces. 

"So that's why she took Y..." Doun whispered, looking down.

"And so, her eyes turned to me, one of the defenders of the city. The one with Stealth Mode installed within me," Y sighed. "The plan needed someone, a hoodwinker, to break one of them apart so they could lure my Pilot to a place where they could kidnap me and turn me against my brother. My family." 

"Y's Mind Core was left untouched, since at that time, she hadn't known about them. Even if she did, she had already corrupted Y, so she didn't feel the need to do it anymore," Programmer spoke once more. 

"Now, you may be wondering, who was the person Acnee or Kim Taewoo used for her devious plan? Who managed to lure my poor Pilot into his doom?" Y asked. 

"That person... Is right here," Ark spoke up, and, with a rip, his mask came off, showing his navy blue eyes. 

Once again, the Pilots were speechless. 

"N-Neon?..." Semo whispered quietly. 

Hana's mouth was open and close. He couldn't believe his eyes. Ark... Had been Neon?

"A few days before meeting Acnee, my mother had... Had passed on. The scars were too fresh. I couldn't bear to return home. I couldn't. And so... I ran away..." 

"Acnee used that to her advantage," Programmer put his hand on the older's shoulder. "None of us can blame him, especially since a good amount of us have had encounters with this kind of thing."

"Anyway, from then on, the conspiracy continued. Acnee had ended up losing, was thought to be dead, but was now working in the shadows as Kim Taewoo AND Dr M, the leader of the villains," Y continued. "She made sure that everyone thought she was dead. I was forced to be her ride whenever she wanted to do Dr M stuff. She couldn't risk letting the Pilots find the connection."

"However, as the elections drew close, all her lackeys had been defeated by the Pilots. Even if some had survived, they would never tell the tale, fearing their families' lives AND their own," Programmer spoke. "She got desperate, and decided a new plan. One that would put everyone in her favour." 

"She had me attack her campaigns, to make it look like I was working for Kang Taeman. It worked, for the best part," Y admitted. 

"But she forgot the two loose ends," Nebok got up, putting his hand on Programmer's shoulder. "It's time, Programmer." 

The masked person took in a deep breath. He seemed hesitant. 

But then he opened his eyes, filled with determination. 

From her car, Wang Sora knew that everything... Everything was going to fall into pieces when he did that. 

"STEP ON IT!" 

She would never make it, though. 

"She forgot about Kim Nebok, or Neon, and she never believed that Y's Pilot, Cha Duri, would come after her," Programmer looked straight at the camera. 

"NO!" 

"The good that did her, because the two loose ends, thought to be dead or evil, are now here to say something," he let his mask fall to the ground, allowing his caramel eyes to shine through. 

"To say that Kim Nebok, and I, Cha Duri, are the missing links to the puzzle. And we testify, swearing that this is the truth, that Kim Taewoo is actually Wang Sora AND Acnee!" he declared boldly, finishing their entire presentation. 

.....................................

No one could speak. It was silent. Shocked silence. 

Hana's tears fell, but it was full of happiness. His baby brother, his twin, he was alive! And he had done what he had to do. So had Nebok. Even if he had caused this, it wasn't his fault. Hana knew just how painful a mother's death could be, and thus could relate to the pinkette. 

All that was left, after the anger, grief and shock, was happiness. Relief. 

Cha Duri... Was alive. 

The Pilots arrived at the podium, and Hana literally jumped out of the car, trying to wipe all the tears away as he tried to push his way through the crowd. Semo, Doun, Dingyo and Limo were the same, as were Ogong and Ondol. They wanted to hug Duri, to get mad at him, to cry in relief. 

Their emotions swirled in their hearts, ready to pounce out at him. 

However, they were stopped by the roar of an engine as a limo swerved straight into the park, running some people over and stopping straight in front of the podium. 

Wang Sora got out of the car, brandishing a gun as she aimed it straight to Duri's head. Fury was written all over her face. 

Shouts of alarm rang out once more. What was she doing?!

Nebok was about to stand in front of Duri, ready to protect him, when the said dongsaeng shook his head, instead moving to jump from the podium to face her, "Looks like you finally came out of hiding, Wang Sora." 

"I could say the same for you, Cha Duri," she all but hissed at him. "How dare you do this? How dare you stomp on all my hard work?"

"Well, I could say the same thing to you," he shot back. "You hurt my family and friends more times than I can count. And I can't tolerate that at all." 

"I was doing this for my husband, you-" 

"And he would be so mad seeing you now," Duri's eyes narrowed. "You stomped on HIS feelings. I get wanting to keep your family safe, but this? You're literally in your own fantasy world. You think that you're making him happy. But all you're doing is hurting others, just like how they hurt your husband." 

"You think you can get away with this?" her anger was heard loud and clear. "Well, if everything I've worked for is gone now, then I can still salvage something." 

"What exactly can you salvage?" His hand moved to get his knife-

BANG!

It was too close. His hand had been too close to death. 

Her eyes were dark. 

"Let's fight. Gun versus knife. Whose conviction will win in the end, I wonder?" she challenged.

Silence reigned. The other looked contemplative.  

"Fine," Duri accepted, shrugging his black jacket off to let his own clothes show. 

Nebok and Y shared a glance. They were not happy with this idea, but they trusted Duri enough to let him deal with this.

Hana's eyes showed worry, but he could only follow his dad as Doun began praying for Duri's survival, begging for his child's safety. Limo followed Doun, while Semo and Dingyo looked at each other, their concern clear. 

But they could do nothing. They could only watch as Duri got into a battle stance. 

Suho, Nokwon and Pyodol looked at the others, knowing that they needed comfort, and so walked over, starting to comfort them the best they could. 

The battle was about to start, though, so they had to stop it. 

They could only watch helplessly as the two stared into the other's eyes.

Then, with a loud roar, Acnee shot at Duri.

Thus began the ultimate showdown of Wang Sora versus Cha Duri.