Chapter 3:  Targeted (written by Michael Keens/Exodus)  

Days after the last renegade android was dealt with, and the Hunters, 
currently a group of four, were fully healed from the last line of battles; 
the group were on standby for the next one.  
Their contact Chime had been on the go day and night trying to identify the 
female android that the Hunters had encountered twice recently, but there were 
a lot of androids that could fit the description that was given, and this one 
didn’t seem to have any records on any database he could hack into.  
The Hunters and all that worked for the group were working around the clock to 
locate the girl; two of the explosives from the previous battle had been 
recovered and stored away safely, after Reed managed to calculate their 
strength.  
It didn’t look good, if the red android girl used them in a populated area, 
the damage would be catastrophic, the humans would surely lose morale, and 
disputes between androids and humans could start off again without whatever 
was changing androids even becoming a factor.  

While the others talked, well, mostly Jack and Woo exchanging ideas and 
strategies while Cable sat quietly as always currently practising manipulating 
his wires to perform small careful movements with his mind, Laser, one who’d 
usually be in centre of a conversation, was strangely quiet.  
He was thinking about the red android girl, how could his judgement be so 
wrong?  
When he’d first seen her, she had become a hostage to one of the latest 
renegades, she was a little forceful in getting the Hunters to save her but 
that didn’t change Laser’s idea of her, especially after saving her life once 
again against a renegade that appeared to have been her friend.  
After Laser stayed behind to make sure she was okay, how could she just turn 
on him like that? Render him paralysed, reveal high powered weaponry, blast 
her friend into submission and then run off with a bunch of explosives 
claiming to finish what her defective friend had begun...  
“How could I have been so wrong?...” sighed Laser, “I actually liked that 
android...”  
An unmistakable beeping could be heard in the Control Room and Jack leapt up 
and switched on a monitor.  
“Chime here again.” spoke their contact.  
“So do you have any information on that red renegade?” Jack asked.  
“Afraid not, but there’s another android going haywire in one of Central 
City’s construction areas, I’ve downloaded the co-ordinates to your transport, 
now get going! There’s people trapped by this new one.”  

The group arrived swiftly in a quarry, where a tall building was in the 
process of being made.  
The area was quiet, and only a light wind could be heard, some picking up dust 
off the floor.  
Turning a corner from a thin passage between tall rocky hills they spotted an 
android attacking.  
“Aw, say it ain’t so.” moaned Laser sadly.  
The red android girl was at it again, for the third time she was in the middle 
of a renegade situation, shooting at something that couldn’t be seen yet.  
“Looks like all that contact with infected androids has got to her, she’s 
shooting those innocent people!” shouted Woo, running ahead.  
“She can’t be...” groaned Laser, turning to see the girl staring at a group of 
frightened construction workers caged in a large box made of thick and thin 
metal poles, both human and android alike.  
“HEY!!!” shouted Woo, drawing his pistol and firing.  
The girl was alerted to him by his taunt, and backflipped several times as the 
bullets started firing.  
“She’s not so tough.” Woo stated darkly.  
“Woo! Don’t be reckless!” shouted Jack, “If you’d seen the firepower she has 
in that gun part of hers.”  
“I won’t have to if I don’t give her a chance to-  Urgh!!!” screamed Woo as an 
explosion from under him threw him through the air, he went flying towards the 
building under construction where the hostages were huddling and quickly 
reached out with his prosthetic hand to grab a scaffolding pole, if he’d done 
so with his real hand and arm he might have pulled them out of his socket or 
broken some bones.  
“Help us!” called one of the people below, “Magnum’s gone mad and wants to 
kill us!”  
Under Woo, a wide and huge dark blue male android with lots of bulky armour 
came out of hiding and charged at the red android suddenly, she’d actually 
been shooting at him before getting distracted.  
She’d kept her guard up upon seeing Jack, Cable and Laser, and so taken her 
concentration off Magnum and hadn’t charged her powerful weapon.  
She was barged into hard by the android’s heavy shoulder and slammed into a 
rock wall.  
“No one---leaves!” it bellowed in a hollow metallic voice, “Until 
deconstruction is finished!”  
“He’s talking nonsense!” commented Laser, “He’s the infected, not her!”  
“Still, don’t take your guard off the girl, there’s no proof she’s not 
infected just because she speaks more rationally than the others.” warned 
Jack, “She still has a powerful weapon in her arsenal and let’s not forget the 
explosives she stole.”  
“Speaking of...” Cable pointed out.  
The explosives were littered on the floor not too far away from the Magnum.  
As the girl fell, she spat and shouted at him, “You idiot! You could’ve set 
them off! You could have messed up everything for me!”  
Jack overheard and thought for a moment before ordering to his team, “Take 
care of the blue android first, but don’t take your eyes off the girl, I want 
words with her...”  
“Project will be finished on time!” bellowed Magnum.  
Laser and Woo gave each other a sign with a specific nod and then shot at the 
blue android together, because he was head of the construction zone in that he 
did most of the work, he was built up with thick armour in case of accidents, 
and unfortunately, he of all the androids here had been changed.  
Laser’s small shots and Woo’s bullets weren’t penetrating the armour, but at 
least they served as a distraction.  
A distraction for Jack to stick his shotgun between the armour plating and 
fire.  
A small explosion ripped through the plates in the back and Jack stepped back 
and exhaled as Magnum looked to fall over as a result, at least before the 
hulking android slid around quickly and batted him back some distance.  
A thick wire came hurtling down but Magnum was noticeably alert and raised a 
large arm to catch it in his hand, his other one disappeared into his thick 
wrist and was replaced with a device that looked like a worker’s drill, which 
was pressed down on the cable and activated.  
Like the tremor caused earlier, the cable was split in half and the tearing 
and tremor shot all the way back to Cable, he clutched his head in agony being 
somewhat linked to his extra appendages and his body rattled violently from 
the quakes.  
“How... is it that infected androids always battle harder than free minded 
ones?...” Cable groaned.  
“It must be the nature of the virus; I know for sure it enhances their power.” 
Jack answered.  
“And this guy was probably already butch and powerful to begin with.” added 
Laser.  
“I doubt he’ll fall for your distractions again and that I’ll get close enough 
to take another effective shot, so go for the back, he’s lost his armour 
there.” spoke Jack.  
The drill punched into the floor and sent a rushing tremor at the congregated 
group, who all threw themselves in different directions as the ground 
exploded.  
Laser started firing rapidly, but his shots simply rattled off Magnum’s metal, 
Woo took more time to take his shots, aiming for other areas not covered by 
armour until he got a clear shot at Magnum’s back, he remained where he was, 
not particularly wanting to get closer after what happened earlier unless it 
was absolutely necessary.  
Magnum was currently stomping towards Laser literally, throwing his weight 
around as he moved forward and causing the ground to shake around him.  
Laser fought to keep his balance and then started firing despite the 
shockwaves affecting his aim, he shot from bottom to top, hoping to strike 
lucky or distract Magnum again to get some help.  
Nothing happened, until one shot caught the android’s thick silver jaw and 
caused a reaction that made him step back and the jaw to lock open 
uncontrollably.  
Laser glanced at his allies, Cable was out of this fight while Woo was 
reloading while moving in, but where was Jack? Currently spinning in a circle 
holding out a thick piece of scaffolding and then letting it go so that it was 
hurled forward.  
“Paid hourly, sixty percent com-pllllllete!!!” the android malfunctioned as 
the metal flew through one of its arm parts to render the drill useless.  
Laser scowled and charging forward while he had the chance, “Nutbar, I’m 
taking you-”  
“Down goes this building.” spoke Magnum, his other arm transforming and 
shooting a small wrecking ball forward.  
Laser was caught off guard and was hit dead on in the chest, the ball and 
chain pushed him back until he crashed through a rock wall, Magnum retracted 
the chain to pull back the ball with Laser stuck on it, he lifted them over 
his body and to the floor.  
Woo pounced, punching the android’s back again and again with his prosthetic 
arm, doing so otherwise would easily break his own bones but the consequences 
of pain getting in the way of things didn’t apply for that arm, though Woo’d 
have to replace it yet again.  
He was quickly stopped, as the broken arm of Magnum blocked his, and the other 
one after transforming back into a hand easily wrapped around the entire arm 
and bent it completely out of shape, Woo stepped back, experiencing a couple 
of shocks from it all while Magnum brought the wrecking ball back out and 
swung it in a rising arc towards him.  
The dismantled arm blocked it but Woo was still catapulted into the air, and 
unfortunately landed on Jack, both went crashing into a steel bar.  
Magnum turned back to the fallen Laser and held his entire head in one hand, 
preparing to crush it easily, “Liability.  Take it down and start ag-”  
“Take this down you freak!” said the red android harshly, having jammed one of 
the explosives in its gaping mouth and forcing the jaws closed afterwards.  
A barely audible echoing explosion was heard but the damage was much more 
visible, as several parts of Magnum stretched like several bowls had appeared 
from inside and pushed outwards.  
“Cancel-lation...” muttered Magnum as he collapsed to the floor.  
Laser wrestled free of his grip, finding difficulty since the fingers were 
virtually locked around him and took a lot of effort to move.  
“Guess we’re even.” spoke the girl, looking away from Laser as he managed to 
get up.  
“I’m afraid we need for you to come with us, please give yourself up quietly.” 
spoke Jack to the girl.  
“No.” she replied, “I’ve always been noisy.”  
She made a dash for the explosives but somersaulted to one side as Jack’s 
shotgun was fired between the two.  
“Jack!” complained Laser, “We’ve been through this, she’s not infected.”  
“I’m sorry Laser, I realise you’re smitten with her but she’s trouble, either 
she’s a terrorist-”  
“Or she’s the one who’s been infecting the others!” shouted Woo.  
“Either way, she’s not innocent.” glared Cable.  
“I’m no angel, that’s for sure.” frowned the girl.  
“You soon will be.” glared Woo, “That is if your kind actually goes to 
heaven.”  
“I can’t believe it, I honestly thought you were a victim, but I guess that 
was all a hoax and you’ve been transforming your kind into vicious killers to 
cause destruction with! I’m glad they all turned on you!” shouted Laser having 
accepted the apparent truth.  
“You what?” shouted the girl.  
“Get down Laser!” shouted Cable, on his knees and sending a thick wire at the 
girl, who dived, rolled immediately after, and performed a variety of flips 
and spins to avoid two more attacks from Cable.  
She was slowly heading towards the people cowering in the site, charging her 
gun.  
“I’ll stop her!” shouted Woo.  
“No!” shouted Jack, lifting his arm and the gun up so that the shot completely 
missed the area entirely, “You might harm those innocent.”  
“She’ll harm those innocent anyway! And she’ll harm many more if she 
escapes!”  
“I’m your leader Woo; you will do as I tell you!”  
Laser and Cable had gotten up and weakly chased the girl to the site, but as 
soon as she reached them, she leapt up to a higher level, and fired.  
The shot had targeted one corner of the steel cage and caused enough poles to 
break off as a result, “Leave this place.  NOW!”  
They followed the girl’s orders and began to run, past Jack and Woo, which 
slowed them down in getting to her.  
“How dare they accuse me of being the source, I would never do that after-”  
“We ain’t interested in your life story, at least not until you’re 
interrogated.” said Laser having climbed to her height.  
“You don’t understand Anything!” shouted the girl, suddenly leaping forward 
and being propelled by jets in her feet Laser never knew of, he started firing 
in defence but only a couple of shots hit the girl and they didn’t stop her.  
Laser was rammed and took a fall, but landed safely on the roof of the cage, 
before it came crashing down.  
The red android peered down to see if he was all right but was batted hard by 
one of Cable’s weapons, she somersaulted back and stretched out her feet to 
touch a semi-completed wall, Cable was surprised to see that her feet had 
literally stuck to it and supported her body weight.  
“That’s new.” he spoke, before launching several wires.  
Running up and down the wall while closing in, the girl dodged it all and 
jetted forward to charge into Cable so that he took a fall, he attempted to 
stop this by grabbing onto a couple of support poles with his cables but these 
snapped with the weight and he fell onto his back one level below.  
The girl leapt up two levels, trying to reach the top which was level with one 
of the cliffs in order to escape, but a bullet whizzed past her, inches from 
her face, after that however, Woo’s shots didn’t get so close, as she was 
running on walls, and then the ceiling of this incomplete room.  
“You’re Really pushing my buttons, Kid! I just plain hate all androids but 
you’re at the top of my list!”  
“I’m not the thing you believe me to be!” she shouted back at Woo.  
“I don’t care if you aren’t! You’ve caused a lot of trouble!”  
As the girl dodged, she subtly hid away her gun part under her other arm to 
conceal that fact that her hand had retracted into it.  
Just before she fired, Jack leapt into her and caused them to fall one level.  
The shock caused the stored energy to fire upwards; Woo leapt aside from the 
blast but took a fall, and barely managed to wrap his L shaped arm around a 
thin pole to prevent himself from hitting the ground.  
Jack ended up under the girl, who thinking he was unconscious, got up.  
She was tripped up as both of Jack’s legs swept her off her feet, but before 
he could pin her, her boot jets activated and her body slid back across the 
floor.  
She got up and accepted to fight close range, both threw punches at each other 
but the clear winner here was Jack, either blocking punches or twisting and 
locking her arm in order to get some hits in.  
It was surprising to Jack that she winced at his punches after all she’d done, 
but figured close range fighting wasn’t her strongest skill nor did she have 
particularly good armour, they’d just not noticed since she rarely allowed 
herself to be hit.  
“You’re not bad.” smiled Jack, “But I’ve been doing this for years, before you 
were even born.”  
“What? Hand to hand? Well I don’t have to limit myself to that kind of 
fighting!” she replied.  
She’d been hiding her gun again, and Jack was hit dead on, he fell to the 
floor before realising how little damage had been done.  
“Low setting.” he commented, “Just as you’ve done this whole battle with the 
Hunters, you’re not out to kill us.”  
“I never was.” she replied.  
“Then maybe you aren’t infected, nor responsible for the others, but what of 
those explosives?”  
“Well-”  
She was interrupted as a sudden quake occurred, throwing her back and causing 
Jack to fall, directly down several levels without any floor to break his 
fall, and towards the broken cage where several poles were sticking out to 
impale him.  
Cable rushed forward but wouldn’t make it in time, and the others didn’t have 
any flying or long range abilities other than their weapons.  
Jack stopped inches away from the poles, as the girl lifted him up but dropped 
him soon after a short distance away by use of her boot jets.  
“Thank you.” Jack said.  
“You’re welcome-” spoke the girl before rushing forward to deal with Magnum, 
who’d activated an additional attachment on one of his wrists to fire thick 
nails forward.  
The girl drew in the assault, diverting attention from the others, she dodged 
manually, charging her blaster, as soon her boot jets’ power was restored she 
jetted forward.  
She first aimed to punch the android in its weakened state but an arm rose and 
swatted her upwards, she recovered in mid-air and spun until her feet touched 
the high ceiling of the area they were in, as Magnum stared blankly up at her 
she fired directly down into his mouth on a fairly high setting.  
She leapt down into a roll as most of Magnum’s head exploded and he toppled 
onto his back, she ended up on her knees with her blaster arm holding her up.  
“Nice work...” groaned Laser, walking weakly towards her, “Apart from 
virtually destroying an android that could have been studied on to find a 
cure.”  
“You wouldn’t have gotten this one far without it attacking and killing most 
of you.” she replied weakly.  
“I guess you have a point.” said Laser pleasantly.  
“Good job Laser, now let’s finish her.” said Woo, apparently having missed 
that last battle and revelation.  
Woo’s pistol went flying after Laser blasted it from his hand, “No more 
fighting today.”  
“W, what?!”  
“She saved Jack and showed mercy on us all, plus she really doesn’t know who 
we are, the true source behind the renegades would surely do.” explained 
Laser.  
“Laser’s right, he’s not exaggerating cos he likes her or anything.” added 
Cable, “I’ve seen how powerful that blaster of hers can be.”  
“She’s still a liability.” growled Woo, “You don’t know she can be trusted, 
and saving an enemy is the easiest way to gain our trust only to betray us!”  
“Why don’t you just be honest Woo, you just don’t like androids, I could hear 
the things you said to her so as far as I’m concerned, your judgement is 
clouded by your hate.” Cable accused.  
“Not to take sides Woo, but they’re right.” spoke Jack as he approached the 
group, “You should leave, we’ll take care of things here without you.”  
Woo glared at the girl before retrieving his gun and walking away back to the 
transport.  
“So what now?” she asked, “Are you going to thank me or arrest me?”  
“We probably should arrest you for having those explosives, but you’ve earned 
yourself the chance to explain yourself.” replied Jack.  
The girl remained silent, still on her knees and breathing heavily as the 
battle had finally taken its toll on her.  
“I’m not a terrorist if that’s what this is about, You carry dangerous weapons 
around with you.” challenged the girl.  
“But we’re trained professionals and licensed to use each and every one of 
them.” Jack replied.  
“How about you come back with us and explain things in full at our base?...” 
Laser stated.  
“Looks like I don’t have much of a choice.” groaned the girl, having gotten up 
but fallen on her side, it suddenly became apparent that a couple of fired 
nails from before had hit her and gone deep inside.  
“Will she be okay?” questioned Laser worryingly.  
“She should be, we’ve got some supplies in the transport that can help until 
Reed sees to her.” answered Cable, “You two help her there, I can drag Magnum 
alone...”  
Jack and Laser supported Pixel on their shoulders with Cable and Magnum behind 
them having wrapped several wires around the android.  
“At least answer this for now.” inquired Jack, “What’s your name?”  
“Everyone just calls me...” answered the girl, “Pixel.”  

End  

Chapter 2:  Tricks of the Trade
Chapter 4:  Welcoming
Back to the Pixel Database
Back to the Dream Archive