Even with the large area, it was not that hard to just run down the street. There were still humans and cops around, so they could not all pop out guns blazing. It was not really a good idea when the government was on the verge of declaring war on them all. The Conquerors were angry with me in particular, and Sixteenth Notes Clan in general. That meant they needed to focus on shoring up their defenses. If they did not, they would be totally destroyed. We were coming for Magnetic Clan first. We had the location of their transmission hub. All of us needed to figure out how to get down there. Now that we had Advocate faction allies, we could get the instructions on how to deal with the transmission hub. We needed the transmission hubs to stop directing the PEP units and other cyborgs to stop fucking with the humans. Hopefully, we would not need to destroy the hub. I did not think that the Advocates or the Researchers would enjoy that at all. They would probably revolt against us and try to stop us from doing so. Either way, the Conqueror faction clans here could not be trusted.
All of them needed to be our first priority right now. Now that I was in the Magnetic Clan territory, I was still not safe. I was not really going to be safe around unless I was in Dwan Town. Regrouping at the music studio would be a great thing. To start out with, we would be able to check on Void Clan. If they had delivered the settlement, we would ally with them. If not, we would take over. After clearing out all the criminals there, we would force the incompetent Void Clan to tell us how transmission hubs work and how to deal with the ones in Conqueror territory. I was walking from Volta City to Kelvin City when 12-002 appeared in my path. He leapt out from the side and got in my way. I honestly was not paying too much attention, so I was very startled. He seemed to be happy that he got that reaction. "Ha! I bet you weren't expecting me. I'm going to beat you up and get 12-001 back. There's no way they won't exchange you for him." he gloated. 12-002 was way stronger than a random PEA unit. I could beat him up without worrying that he would die too easily. I just drew my guns on him.
Our battle was pretty epic. 12-002 did not have the same ability as 12-001. Instead of an invulnerability to metal, 12-002 did not have to be weighted down by gravity. He could literally float in the air. There was one point where I charged at him and he flipped halfway over me. He landed on my back and began to punch and kick me. That was tough. He hit hard, but he had to jump away when I called down pillars of fire from the sky. That caused me some damage too. At the end, it totally devolved into a knockdown drag out fight. All of our guns ran out of bullets. Luckily for us, we were outside city limits. No one was there to get in the way. I got him down to his primordial form just before he knocked me out. It was a total draw. Because I was knocked out, I was totally stunned for a full 5 minutes in-game. Everything was blurred and fuzzy for me. Sound was also muffled. When I was able to get back to my feet, 12-002 was still a puddle of nanite paste on the ground. If I wanted to, I could kill him. That was not what I wanted. I stumbled along, feeling sore. Walking down the road, I sighed.
