Chapter 5:  Cohesion (written by Michael Keens/Exodus)  

The faint dripping of filth could be heard as two Hunters jogged their way 
through sewer water.  
“Why couldn’t Jack or Woo take care of this?” groaned Pixel, “Don’t they 
realise androids’ sense of smell is greater than theirs?”  
“Block it out.” spoke Cable.  
“I can’t! Maybe some of you more enhanced and new androids can just switch off 
your senses but-”  
“I didn’t mean that, just block it out of your mind, and keep quiet, fighting 
here is a severe disadvantage compared to our past battles.”  
Pixel held her breath and muttered “Mmmkay...”  
Jack, Woo and Laser had gone on a separate party to stop a second renegade 
android, it was a standard mission, easier than some of the recent ones 
involving an infected using a radio tower to send out shrill harmful sound 
waves.  
Pixel and Cable had still been navigating the tunnels in silence, which 
bothered Pixel a little, she didn’t truly know Cable, only of his powers and 
how dedicated he was towards stopping the source changing androids into mad 
killers.  
“We’ve been at this for hours, and I can’t stand silence.” whispered 
Pixel, “We should use this as an opportunity to get to know each other.  You 
never really talk to me at Hunter H.Q.”  
Cable grunted lightly, “If you insist, I’ll talk back there but not now.  We 
have a mission.”  
Pixel moaned quietly and bore a saddened expression for a few minutes as she 
followed behind.  
“Bet you won’t.” she scowled lightly.  
“Ha ha ha!” screamed a high pitched voice, before a surge of water hit the two 
from the side.  
They ground their feet into the floor and turned to face the source, it could 
barely be seen through the waves, but the android responsible wore olive green 
and turquoise armour, a protective mask around the lower part of his face, and 
had wires from surrounding areas attached to his two gun arm parts, the reason 
why so much water was being shot out of them without having to stop and 
refill.  
“Sidney Flush will wash you out!” he grinned.  
As Cable leapt out of the water by using his cables to lift/spring himself up, 
Pixel couldn’t stand the toxic in the water and used her boot jets and a half 
flip to touch down on the ceiling and stick there.  
Cable came down on Flush and swung a cord down to slam against him, causing 
his body to spin around and the wires to tangle.  
As he fell back down into the still rushing waves, Flush’s wires unwound and 
spun him back to his previous position, one arm stopped producing water while 
a cable plugged to it shone with activity.  
“Cleanse the system...”  
A surge hit the water and made it all glare with electricity.  
Cable shouted out in pain as he was dealt a lot of damage being drenched in 
fluid, while a small amount of the water splashing up at Pixel caused her a 
tiny shock and for her boot jets to cut activity for a moment.  
She fell next to Cable and inspected him as the waters died, but spindly 
silver claws on sticks rose from Flush’s back, clutching familiar objects.  
“Wash it all away...” grinned the android maniacally before the two bombs were 
lightly thrown.  
“No!” shouted Pixel, throwing herself on Cable to protect him, thinking he 
might not make it through this attack in his weakened state.  
Pixel’s back was burned to a small degree from the blast, the ground around 
them crumbled and the two took a large fall...  

“Uhhh.” groaned Pixel later, regaining consciousness and shaking her head a 
little as she picked herself off a heap of rubble, “Cable!”  
She ran to him, half buried in heavy rubble, she quickly began removing the 
debris piece by piece and tossing them aside but a fairly heavy chunk couldn’t 
simply be picked up, and might damage Cable if Pixel tried anything to do with 
blasting it.  
“I need to lift it right off him...  But I’m not strong enough...”  
Pixel’s eyes lit up as a thought occurred to her; she approached a wall close 
to Cable with a distance matching the rock’s width.  
She then configured her blaster and shot two bowl shaped holes a small 
distance above her in the wall, she then held onto them and pressed her back 
against the wall with her feet hanging off.  
Pixel activated her gravity boot ability on high power by will alone.  
Slight ripples in the atmosphere signified the activation of the devices in 
Pixel’s feet, and suddenly the rock shot towards them and clung, but not for 
long, since Pixel couldn’t support the weight, she dropped from her position 
with the rock which fell between the wall and Cable.  
“Alright.” smiled Pixel, deactivating the boots and crawling down to inspect 
Cable.  
He groaned lightly, seemingly a little better off immediately after the rock 
came off him.  
“Can you move?...”  
“Can’t...  That shock...  It did something.”  
“Okay...  Hold still.  Chip...”  
An echoing squeak among other high pitched sounds were emitted by Pixel’s 
cuboid insect robot as it exited a hidden area in Pixel’s jewelled silver 
necklace.  
Pixel caught it and gently placed it on Cable, “Chip, heal the cracks on 
Cable’s body, and insert a nanoprogram to reverse the effects of a paralysing 
shock.”  
It nodded, emitted more adorable sounds and went to work.  
“This might take a while.  Healing small cuts in androids it can do with ease, 
but the nanoprogram I installed will take some time to get you on your feet.”  
“Is it safe?...” questioned Cable with some concern.  
“Chip’s been with me ever since I was a baby, I don’t tell many people cos the 
less that’s known about it, the less chance they’ll be of anyone ever trying 
to harm it.”  
Cable coughed, “Guess you’ll get that talk here after all...  So what do you 
want to know?”  
“I dunno.” shrugged Pixel, surprised of Cable’s sudden change of heart, “How 
about we start with why you’re a Hunter, and why you talk less than everyone 
else in the group?...”  
Cable sighed, “I lost a lost of family, first during the short lived human-
android war when I lost my parents, and only a few years later I lost a 
brother to the virus.  As for my powers, my brother convinced me to become 
what I am; a deadly weapon fuelled by my emotions.  At first my rage for the 
humans that took what I loved made me extremely dangerous to all around me...  
An innocent died as a result...  A human child who loved androids.  I was 
ashamed that I’d allowed my hatred to do such a thing, and let go of it.”  
“And your brother?...”  
“He turned away from me when I tried to make him see things as I did, but it 
didn’t make it any easier when something changed him into a dying mutation.”  
“And what after?...”  
“I left this city, sought out training to control my emotions so that I might 
be able to find redemption for my mistake and do some good with my powers.  I 
want more than anything to help find a balance, help the world of humans and 
android to live together in peace once again...”  
Pixel had gone surprisingly quiet.  
“And you? After all the accusations I’m surprised you decided to join us.”  
Pixel sighed, the truth had to come out, “All the stuff before the Hunters, I 
was in this solely for revenge, similar to your situation except it was an 
android took from me...  And I haven’t exactly agreed not to kill him when I 
joined.”  
“An infected?”  
Pixel nodded.  
“Maybe we Should spend more time together, after all I’ve been through, maybe 
I could show you how to deal with this in a way that doesn’t involve killing 
and vengeance.”  
“Maybe...” sighed Pixel, not quite convinced despite Cable’s tragic tale.  
“Anyway, if this virus keeps going on, the world of humans will never co-exist 
with androids, and there’ll never be peace between us.  That is why I’m so 
focussed on my role.  So... all those things we saw you do before.  It was all 
for your friend and family and destroying this android?”  
“Yes...  I’ve lived out the recent years of my life solely for revenge, and 
yet Jack thinks I’ve got a gift since I never let innocent people get hurt by 
it all.”  
“If it means anything, I’m starting to see what a good choice he made...”  
Pixel turned to Cable, and lightly smiled before turning away again.  

The two continued to talk for well over an hour, and yet Chip still had work 
to do on Cable’s repairs.  
Cable fell into a temporary sleep as the technology in the nanobots worked his 
insides.  
Pixel stood up as a distant rumbling could be heard, “He’s nearby...” she 
stated, gazing back at her team-mate, “I’ll make sure he doesn’t come here and 
take care of him for you.  You want so much for humans and androids to live 
together... and this loon wants both to suffer...”  
Pixel was letting Cable’s mission and her own feelings towards infected 
androids cloud her judgement, and she stepped towards a hole in the ceiling 
where rocks had fallen through, and blasted upwards with her boot jets.  

Before long, she found him, or rather, he found her first.  
A strong wave of water filled the tunnel and submerged Pixel.  
“Wipe... clean...” muttered Flush at the beginning of the path, several cables 
pumping liquid out his arm parts but standing near several pipes he’d modified 
to send more water into the tunnel.  
“Have to stop this...” groaned Pixel in thought, there was no way she was 
opening her mouth in the situation.  
“Any more of this and the city could flood, lives could be endangered...” she 
groaned while on the move, adding as an afterthought “And it’d just be 
gross...”
“Done...” smiled Flush maniacally.  
“You’re done!” shouted Pixel, bursting through the water using her jets, it 
had taken so long to get to Flush having navigated around several chunks of 
rubble and broken metal in the water.  
A strong punch threw Flush back far into a long thin tunnel.  
“Its over.  You’re going to the deep freeze until a cure is found, but I have 
a feeling that’s going to be a while you freak!”  
“Freeze... No.  Fry.  Yes.”  
Suddenly an explosion from the side sent debris flying and falling into Pixel, 
trapping her in a mess of rock, pipes and wires.  
“Another bomb...” groaned Pixel, “Shoulda known...”  
“Another bomb.” repeated Flush, willing the pipes in his arms to locate 
another water source.  
Soon enough a burst of water headed for Pixel, and although not as high as the 
last one, it was far more dangerous as the spindly attachments role and hurled 
another set of bombs into the water which floated towards Pixel.  
“Ugh...” growled Pixel, “I can barely move...  Urrraagh!”  
Painful as it was, Pixel forced an arm free and charged as much power into her 
gun as she could in the time she had.  
At the last moment she fired a shot, it was smaller than her usual preference 
but just enough to send the durable projectiles back even against the 
current.  
The timed bombs ended up skipping the surface a couple of times before 
exploding.  
Flush wasn’t directly damaged but was hit by rocks and pipes crashing down.  
“Is it over?...” questioned Pixel, “If it is I’ll have to wait for Cable to 
get me out of-”  
“Complete mess.  Must... reroute.” spoke Flush, climbing out of the mess, 
standing on a higher part of the tunnel and tearing a wire out of a silver box 
mounted to the walls.  
“Yeeaaaarrrrggghhh!!!” screamed Pixel as a strong shock hit the water; she was 
completely drenched as Cable had been before and so would probably become 
paralysed and helpless as he had.  
Luckily, before that happened, a long cord stretched forward, past Pixel and 
swooped down, the force strong enough to literally take an arm.  
Flush backed away, holding his shoulder in pain.  
“Cable!” cheered Pixel, “You shouldn’t be up already, you can’t be fully 
healed.”  
“I’m healed enough.  You shouldn’t have gone off alone.” he said lightly.  
With a couple of swift movements, the twisted mess holding Pixel fell apart, 
all but one tight wire, but Chip leapt off Cable, stuck its claws into it, and 
a glow on its underside burned right through it.  
“Impressive.” smirked Cable, “Is there anything that thing cannot do?”  
“Make breakfast I guess.” joked Pixel with a stern gaze at the enemy ahead as 
Chip landed on her chest and climbed into the black sphere in her necklace.  
“Pixel, we have to work together this time, we won’t stand a chance in this 
confined environment otherwise.” warned Cable.  
“Flush!!!” screamed the opponent, the lower part of the tunnel filling up 
again, but from burst pipes this time since Flush was missing an arm.  
“Hurry Pixel, get to higher ground!” shouted Cable, two cables extending from 
his hands and being laid on the floor.  
“Gotcha.” understood Pixel, stepping onto them and being thrown as Cable 
raised the wires upwards.  
Pixel flipped so that her feet touched the ceiling, she reached out to grab 
the same two cables that had assisted her in order to lift Cable out of the 
water as Flush shocked it again.  
“Pixel! Swing me forward!” called Cable, and Pixel complied, swaying back and 
then forward to send Cable ahead.  
He got enough distance to send a long length cable to swat Flush’s hand, the 
electric cord he was holding went spinning out of control and contacted him, 
giving him a powerful jolt.  
“Take it all down!!!” Flush screamed.  
“Pixel! He’s unstable! We have to finish this now!” called Cable.  
Several extra arms clutching bombs were rising and the first two were thrown.  
Cable deflected the first with his cords but the nearby explosion forced him 
to defend himself by swatting away falling rock and metal, leaving him open to 
the second bomb.  
“Cable!” shouted Pixel, jetting down in a diagonal direction and touching down 
against the right hand wall moments after the bomb passed that area.  
With a quick blaster shot, the bomb was propelled over Cable and became caught 
in the mess left from what had bound Pixel.  
It exploded but the blast was too far away to hurt the Hunters, and a now wide 
hole kept any more of the flowing water from rising towards the city and 
simply fell into the abyss.  
“Stand back Cable, I can handle the rest.” nodded Pixel, “Just send the bombs 
forward.”  
“But-” started Cable before deciding not to argue, Pixel obviously knew what 
she was doing.  
Shooting herself in diagonal directions on a forward route, briefly sticking 
to one of the side walls then the other while closing in on Flush, she dodged 
the bombs by jetting to the opposite side whenever necessary.  
Cable meanwhile was indeed swatting the bombs back towards the source.  
Pixel dealt a strong punch to Flush but two spindly arms arced to the sides 
with the intention of slamming against Pixel with the bombs in their grasp, 
but a swift cord wrapped around both and pulled them back, the bombs they held 
falling behind Flush and rolling a small distance away.  
“Thanks Cable.” Pixel called, shooting out what energy she had charged during 
the zigzag route she’d taken to overwhelm Flush with the energy at close 
range.  
“PIXEL!” Cable shouted as all of the deflected bombs were falling towards the 
two.  
Flush had fallen unconscious and Pixel quickly scooped him up and even grabbed 
the fallen arm, jetting around the bombs and landing near Cable as the 
explosion rocked the sewer system.  
“Good work, and we got him more or less intact.  What say we get out of here 
Friend?” smiled Cable.  
This meant a lot to Pixel having been given the cold shoulder today by him so 
she smiled back, “I do say we get outta here.”  
The two swiftly left as water filled the area, but was drained due to the 
holes made in the battle.  

The two made it safely outside and successfully completed their mission 
together, as the rest of the team had done with their target, but the biggest 
success to Pixel was getting Cable to open up to her.  
Now that he had done that, Pixel’s better understanding of her team-mate would 
greaten her ability to work together with him, and she had made another 
friend.  

End  

Chapter 4:  Welcoming
Chapter 6:  Remembrance
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