Now that it was clear we were unwilling to comply with his demands, 11-002 got more aggressive with us. He flexed his armor plating as he approached us. He was right in front of us when he pointed behind him to the iron cages. Some of them looked really cramped and rusty. "Get inside them. Now!" he growled. It was not working. I simply rolled my eyes at him. "You can call your clan here to talk, or we're leaving you here." I gave the ultimatum. He was not expecting that. In his head, he had all the power. He was not as mean or malicious as a Conqueror, but he still had the idea that he was stronger and better than all humans deeply ingrained into his very core programming. All he could do is blink. "You can't do that. I'm here and I will stop you from leaving." he said. It was Paul that said "There are 3 of us and only 1 of you here now. It would be easy." Brett nodded his head in agreement. 11-002 was confused at this turn of events. He got on his private line to his clan and said "I have 3 of the 4 collaborators. They refused to be placed in their metal cages. Awaiting new guidance."
Getting an answer right away, the Researcher AEP unit looked at us. "You are to wait here until more members of the clan arrive." he informed us. He was annoyed that I was not going to play along. We simply were not complying with him and all of his silly demands. The request for backup was fine with all of us. I was looking forward to it even. We had wanted to talk to them from the very beginning. It was finally going to happen. It only took 7 minutes before 3 more AEP units arrived in the plaza. They were aggressive when they arrived on the scene. As far as they knew, we were hostile collaborators that were resisting arrest. They wanted us to get in the iron cages as well. Brett sighed and said "We have some really good information for you guys. Let's skip the stupid cages and get down to business." 11-002 narrowed his eyes. "What possible information could you have that make up for the pain you've caused our clan in the war!?" Brett smirked as he began to tell them about the mini EMP. We had not even told Erosion Clan about it. I still had it in my inventory, so I showed it to them.
Due to the massive bombshell, there was no way they could keep still. They had to report to the members of their clan. We were brought with them. It was not a request, but we had wanted to be taken anyway. It did make all of them a bit more wary of us though. 11-002 wanted to arrest us. That was why he found us at the festival. All of the AEP units were massive supercomputers, far beyond anything humans had been able to create. While they had the emotional intelligence of children, they were not stupid. Not a single one. Somehow we kept managing to prevent them from doing what they wanted to do. It was making them frustrated and hyper aware of us. I had nothing to hide, so I did not mind. We traveled for what felt like an hour on foot. We got to the stadium and went inside the staff entrance. "Wait a minute. Your clan building is the stadium? How hasn't anyone caught on to you guys?" I asked. 11-002 said "There are tons of low traffic hallways and empty rooms. No one has time to investigate everything." I pointed out photos of them on the walls. They were well liked.
