"Why is it that everyone I meet ends up pointing a gun at me." I muttered under my breath.

"One...two..." The kid began counting with a false tone of confidence.

"Three...ten." I replied and spun around quickly and took the gun from him while unloading it before he could even react.

"What? How did you do that?" He asked with a look of confusion. What intrigued me was that he wasn't shocked or scared, simply confused.

"I'm just a little out of your league, kid." I replied and smashed the gun I was holding to pieces.

"Hey! That was mine," He replied, now more angry than confused,
"And I'm not a kid, I'm... Thirteen." He stated, as if that would change my mind.

"I stand corrected. However, either way we must get you out of here. It's not safe now, where's your family?" I asked and began to check the rooms of the house. All of them were empty, and not just of people. Besides for the living room, there were no furniture, household objects, or anything that would indicate this house was occupied.

"Look, I can take care of myself. Just get out of here before you get hurt." He replied, staring into my eyes. The boy was half a head shorter than me, with short brown hair and wore an old, but clean, hoodie and pair of jeans. I stared back into his eyes and it was in that moment I realized what he was doing.

"You're trying to scan me." I stated plainly and checked my tracker.
"Don't try to deny it, I just can't help but wonder why you're so bad at it." I said and paused for a moment. There were now three markers on my radar screen, and one was circling the other two.

"Hey! I'm not-" he replied but was cut off by a wave of my hand.

"Not the time, nor the place. We have to leave now." I said and grabbed his bag and shoved it into his arms. Somehow, I knew his bag was just as important to him as mine was to me.

"Where are we going? I can't just leave my home!" He replied and stood his ground. For a small child, he was surprisingly difficult to move. However, my patience was wearing thin and that fact helped me find the strength to push him along easier than he expected.

"Look, even I don't have all the answers. I just don't we have to get you to a safe place before-" I started before I was unexpectedly and rudely cut off.

"Before what?" Evelyn asked as she approached from the front door. I actually expected a more dramatic entrance from her.
"All I wanted was a chat, isn't that what you want, Eve?" She asked. Somehow, I doubted that was all she wanted, especially since I was able to see she had two guns hidden on the inside of her jacket.

"You murdered all those people earlier, for a chat with a child?" I replied and stepped between her and the boy.

"Maybe I have more than one mission. I really do need to talk with Evan though, so just go home and we won't bother you." She said, her hand going inside her jacket.

"Who are you and how do you know my name?" Evan asked.

"I know many things, but one thing I don't know is where your command key is, and while I'm at it I don't know who has yours either, Eve. Maybe you both should just hand them over."

The fact that she knew about my command key worried me, but not as much as the fact that she seemed to know all about Evan when I had only recently met him. My brain processed many questions at once and I began blinking rapidly. Who was Evan really? What did Evelyn want with our command keys?

"Let me save you the trouble," Evelyn said with a smirk.
"You beginner models have a habit of freezing up when you think too hard. Think of him as our little brother, or older in a way."

"Older? Aren't you EV-0?" I asked, reaching behind me for my own gun hidden under my hoodie. I hated the fact that she said "our", like we were sisters. I knew for certain I had no family.

"Me? The prototype? Think again, Eve. I am the perfected model." She said and started walking closer. I knew I had to act quickly, another step and she could shoot me and take Evan in one move. This time, I struck first.

I spun fast and smacked Evelyn with the butt of my gun and sent her stumbling. Evan put his bag on his back and ran towards us, but I waved him off.

"Go! I can handle this."

"I have nowhere to go, this is my home." He replied.

"How sweet." Evelyn mocked and jumped up to kick me in the face with her front foot. If it didn't hurt so bad she would've impressed me with the power of the kick.

Evan tackled Evelyn down and she seemed shocked that he would try such a thing. She punched him hard in the face and he went rolling off her.

"I don't recommend doing that again, kid." She said and got back on her feet.
"This would be easier if you two told me where your command keys are. Trust me, I just want to help you find the freedom I did." She said, staring at me with her foot on Evan pinning him down. I did not believe her in the slightest.

I let out a yell and charged Evelyn with a drop kick that sent her crashing into the far wall. Evan got up slowly and stood behind me in a fighting stance. This time he heard no argument from me, though the thought of him being a potential liability did cross my mind. Evelyn recovered and lunged at us with several rapid kicks. Her style of fighting was different than mine, though we were probably programmed with the same potential techniques. Hers were more about power and overwhelming an opponent where mine was quick, efficient strikes and not getting hit as much. She swung several hard punches and knocked Evan down and knocked the wind out of me. That's when I saw Evan perform a kip up to get to his feet and get into an animalistic pose, much like a monkey.

He dodged Evelyn's attacks and kicked her in the back several times, which sent her stumbling. He was now standing between Evelyn and myself and looked serious, for a child. She seemed as surprised as I was at his fighting skills, though if he was like myself then he also had several techniques downloaded in his brain. He swept her legs out from under her and was constantly moving to avoid getting hit. She let out a sound somewhere between a growl and a yell and lunged at him. They fell past me and that's when I saw my moment of opportunity.

In the blink of an eye, faster than a human would be able to react, I grabbed Evelyn's guns from in her jacket as she passed me and kicked her to the ground. I debated whether or not to commit further violence in front of Evan, but this debate lasted merely a nanosecond in my head. I emptied the bullets into Evelyn as she was sitting up facing me, her eyes filled with anger until they began to power down. I exhaled slowly and broke the guns, tossing the pieces to the side.

"Is she...dead?" Evan asked, the mix of emotions in his voice strong but hard to decipher.

"No, she is slowly regenerating on a cellular level. Honestly, I am not sure if we can die. That we includes you, doesn't it EV-0?" I asked him and lead him towards the door.

Evan nodded slowly and grabbed his backpack and put it on. I noticed he seemed upset to be leaving his house, despite it not being much to look at. It was his home, although I wasn't sure what else to do at the moment. Evelyn would be coming back.

"I haven't used EV-0 in years." He said as we walked. We both wore our hoods and hid our hands in our pockets. Seeing his eyes dart around to all the faces that passed us almost made me smile, it was something I did myself.
"Please don't call me that. It's Evan Ramos." He added and followed me.

"I see, you have adopted Ricardo Ramos' name." I replied, wondering if taking him to Delilah's home would be appropriate.

"Yeah, I did. Where are we going?" He asked while looking around as if recognizing the streets.

"Well, we must get you somewhere safe. Evelyn is a murderer, something must have been corrupted in her programming. I am bringing you to my employer's home, it will be safe there for now. There we will have a lot to discuss." I replied. Many thoughts were going through my head, my mission had changed suddenly, thought technically Evelyn was stopped. Keeping EV-0 out of Evelyn's hands would also be ensuring Delialh and Miguel were safe. I was so caught up in analyzing my actions that it took me some time to realize Evan was tugging on my arm.

"Before we go to your house, can we get something to eat? I had a long day at school and didn't get to have a snack or anything yet." He said.

"Why do you go to school? Wait, actually there is a more important question. Why do you eat?" I asked while raising an eyebrow, which for me was a look of bewilderment. We may be alike, but school and eating were never things I wanted to do.
"We have much to discuss when we get to Delilah's."

"Delilah? Delilah Ramos?" He asked, his eyes growing wide. Frankly, I was somewhat surprised he figured it out, though I shouldn't have said her name.

"Yes," I replied.
"She is my current employer. Like I said, we have much to discuss."