“Breaking news! One of our reporters was killed while interviewing an important subject! This is only one of the latest deaths in a string of many as the gang wars in the area have flared up between the small and medium gangs. The special M1 officers are dragging their feet as usual,” said a sanctimonious Fela as Arron watched the morning news and sipped on a warmed-up synth-energy jelly-pouch.

  Standing next to him was Kix who was inspecting his new prototype light exoskeleton that the Office of Reason researchers had dropped off this morning.

  “What number is this one?” asked Arron.

  “Version 3. They said it is made out of A7 Parasteel... it may be sturdier but it is nothing like the armor Spike and Chewy have.”

  At the mention of their names, the two retired prototype robo-dogs looked up at Kix with their glowing robotic eyes.

  They had not been on many missions since the official end of their prototype testing. But when they were taken out all of the information was still recorded and sent back to the Office of Reason researchers so that they could add it to the data they had already gathered just in case there was something they had missed before.

  “Why are they having you test it with such a minor parasteel upgrade? Shouldn't it be easy for them to get the results on their own?”

  “That's not all that's changed... they have some new synthetic ligament material to help move the arms and legs. Apparently, it is an important project that they rushed to have tested as soon as possible. Rumors that I heard say it has to do with the stalled project from before.”

  “And your old model?” asked Arron.

  “Stored in the warehouse armory with the other prototypes. If we need it again we can get it back.”

  “Are you ready for today's fun?” asked Arron with a dry laugh.

  “As ready as I'll ever be...” said Kix, slapping the light exoskeleton. He navigated through the familiar menu and pressed several options and confirmations to return the exoskeleton to its large metal suitcase.

  “Let's do this!”

  Both Spike and Chewy let out happy robotic barks since the Chief had permitted them to join this mission.

  ***

  Sector 2, zone 3.

  “131... 133... 135... ah there it is apartment 137!” said Kix as he led the way down the dim hallway which was a result of the flickering lights in the grubby ceiling above them.

  As Arron and Chewy walked up to the door ready to knock, the door opened with a loud screech.

  “... I said before that I'm busy with something so I can't meet with you right now,” said a young weasel-like man who was so occupied with talking to someone on a holo-call that he did not see Arron or Kix.

  Both Arron's helmet and his right eye zoomed in on the man's face to scan it and identify who he was.

  [Ralph Weasly, SCS: C, Black mark on record (former D rank)]

  Only when he bumped into Arron and fell back into his room did he notice there were others outside his apartment.

  “EEP!” cried Ralph as he swiped his hand ending the call and pressed an emergency lock button on his wrist-datapad causing the door to slam shut.

  Neither Arron nor Kix was able to stop the door from closing, so Arron pulled an extendable cord out from the back of his helmet and plugged it into the door's holo-lock.

  Kix and Spike tensed up ready to react to any threats.

  With the cracking program activated Arron watched as various images sped past at a speed that his bionic right eye could barely keep up with. As for his left eye, there was nothing but a bright flashing blur.

  Click! The holo-lock turned green and the door slid open.

  Arron stepped aside allowing Kix and Spike to enter the apartment first.

  The floodlights on Kix's light exoskeleton lit up the dark apartment leaving no shadows for anyone to hide in. As he and Arron searched the sparsely furnished apartment they were unable to find their target.

  He did not escape from the window as it was locked shut and had several bars on the outside defeating the purpose of the escape hatch attached to the building. Arron could see no Bobbie traps or signs of the target...

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “Arf!” Chewy started to scratch on a parasteel panel that was seamlessly attached to the wall and floor.

  Arron walked over and lightly tapped the part that had caught Chewy's attention. A light hollow echo could be heard coming from underneath him. Still, he could not tell what was below or how to get there...

  “Step aside,” said Kix as he walked over and knelt. He formed his metal hands into jackknifes and stabbed them down piercing the thin metal. With both hands able to grab hold of the floor he managed to pull the parasteel off of the hole that it was covering.

  Arron used his helmet's floodlights to look into the hole only to see a deep tunnel system connected to the building's maintenance tunnels.

  “Great... more tunnels,” huffed Arron as he looked at Chewy and Spike.

  “I'll go down first and secure the tunnel, then you can lower them down one at a time,” said Kix as he pointed at the two large robotic dogs.

  Kix didn't bother with using the ladder and just hopped in the hole shooting down and landing with a loud CLANG!

  After scanning both directions of the maintenance tunnel with his weapon out ready to shoot, Kix waved to Arron and said, “Send them down.”

  Arron pulled on the thick wire from his work belt and tied it around Spike who stood still and allowed him to slowly lower him down the shaft landing on the ground with Kix who swiftly untied the wire allowing it to quickly shoot back up to Arron.

  Chewy seeing what had just happened was rather excited and was hopping around making it harder for Arron to tie her up in a sling to lower her down.

  “Stay still Chewy!” said Arron as he tried to lower her steadily, but with all her squirming she caused the wire to swing, making her scrape the wall several times which led to her trying to bite the ladder rungs as she brushed past them.

  With both of the robotic dogs lowered, Arron used the metal ladder to climb down to them. He did not have the proper armor to do the acrobatic jumps similar to Kix.

  “Chewy find the target's scent!” said Arron as he hopped off the last rung of the ladder.

  “You too Spike!” said Kix.

  The two robotic dogs got to sniffing the ground, Chewy started on the south side while Spike was on the north.

  “ARF!” “GRRR!” at the same time both of them confirmed they had locked onto the target's scent!

  “Wait, which way is it?” asked Arron. “Chewy check over there by Spike.”

  “Arf?” said an uncertain Chewy after she also picked up the same scent going north as well.

  “Looks like the target has been using these tunnels a lot... so their tracking system is getting confused... we'll have to add this to the reports when we get back.”

  “I'll take the north, you can get the south,” said Kix.

  Arron nodded, although they were not supposed to separate, Chewy and Spike were with them so technically they were following the rules.

  “Chewy, follow the scent south! We have a target that needs to be captured!” said Akira as he pointed to the southern tunnel.

  Hearing this, Chewy bolted off down the tunnel with loud robotic sniffing as she went. Arron had to run at full speed just to keep up with her.

  Through the winding tunnels, they ran for several minutes before coming to a hole in the wall.

  Chewy leaped inside the hole and...

  “OWWWW! GET OFF ME!” Came the pained cries of Ralph as he was bit by Chewy and dragged out of the hole and into the main tunnel.

  “Kix, the target has been captured in the south tunnel. No resistance yet,” said Arron over the helmet-secure comms before turning to the struggling man in front of him.

  “Ralph Weasly, we have been ordered to pick you up so that you can have a chat with some people who want you to answer a few questions,” said Arron as he pulled the hyper Chewy away from the man.

  “What the heck is this all about? You know that we are in the middle of the task you gave us! The captain is still gathering forces. We told you we needed more time!” said a pained Ralph.

  “What?” asked a confused Arron, “What task?”

  “Huh? Aren't you from ...” Ralph immediately shut up as he took a closer look at Arron's armor and the glowing badge on his chest.

  The sound of Kix's footsteps grew louder as the speeding exoskeleton came into view and skidded to a halt as he slid a short distance stopping right next to Arron.

  “This new prototype is quite nice. I need to ask for a break system in the next version,” said Kix as he rotated his arms and legs. “It's quite springy but also a bit uncomfortable with how stiff it can get. Oh right... Troubled suspect Ralph Weasley, we have some questions for you... and you will answer them!”

  Both Chewy and Spike began to growl at the troubled suspect. Chewy snapped her metal jaws right in front of his face menacingly.

  “EEP!” said a frightened Ralph as a puddle began to form on the ground.

  Arron and Kix both recorded the quivering Ralph's confessions as spilled the beans on everything that they asked. Even so, he only gave them one name to work with. The Righteous Front.

  “This won't hurt my SCS will it? I only just got out of the D rank hell...” asked Ralph.

  “Who knows...” said Kix. He honestly had no idea after what they had been told.

  Arron tapped on a few options of his wrist-datapad and started a call to M1 HQ.

  “Lexa, we have stumbled onto something big. We will not be returning for some time as we have to track down some leads and see if we can get to the bottom of this!”

  “You know the Chief is not going to like you starting more trouble which he is going to have to clean up,” said Lexa as she continued to work on other paperwork and pushed her glasses back up her nose.

  “Tell him this, 'If we don't do this, there is a possibility that an even bigger mess than anything before will have to be cleaned up if we ignore it. ' I'm sure he would agree that stopping something like that would be part of our jobs,” said Arron with a serious face.

  Hearing this Lexa's attention was pulled away from her paperwork and she looked at Arron's face inspecting it for a few seconds.

  “I'll tell him that. But that doesn't change the fact that you are asking for trouble.”