Toby was in deep shit. He was supposed to be home and registered his hand print to mark that he had returned before curfew, but it was already an hour past the time and he was still outside. Ten minutes late and you got a fine, a half hour and you were locked inside your house for three days. At the hour mark, Vikki sent androids after you. Which was why Toby was running as fast as he was.<br/><br/>The ally was dark but the androids didn't need light to see. Most just used infrared to track you, then barked out orders to stop and give yourself up as they chased. One was normally enough to catch a full grown adult, let alone a teenager like himself. But then again, he wasn't exactly a normal teenager either.<br/><br/>Three androids were hot on his tail, running faster than any human could, yet when they came within six feet of him, they always stumbled and fell, then got up again to resume the pursuit. None of them could find the reason behind the malfunction. One even jumped up to a fire escape and launched itself into the air to tackle Toby, yet he simply dodged the falling robot as it slammed into the ground, only to rise again once he was far ahead of the machines.<br/><br/>Taking a wrong turn, he knew he was near his apartment, yet before him was a dead end. Sliding to a stop he turned to face the three Androids as they also stopped to stand before him, one stepping forward only to again trip and fall to it's knees, while the other two grabbed it by the ankles and hauled it backwards. Once back, the android popped back up as if nothing was wrong. Neither of them made the same mistake again.<br/><br/>"Citizen. You have violated curfew. Please return to your residence and face the consequences." it said. Toby was scared, but he knew they could do nothing to hurt him. Unless they had some kind of projectile weapon.<br/><br/>"I'm heading home. Just let me go!" he yelled.<br/><br/>"We must take you into custody and restrict you to your residence. You will also be fined with 18000 credits." it said, "Also, possession of an Static EMP Shield is prohibited. For that your charge will be increased to 50000 credits and a month of house arrest."<br/><br/>"I have nothing!" Toby yelled. The two androids behind the first looked at each other, then back to Toby, acting like something didn't compute.<br/><br/>"Scans indicate he is not in possession of any viable electronic device. He is wearing a wristwatch, and has a portable terminal and a communication device in his coat pocket." they said.<br/><br/>"There is also an EMP Shield around the area he is standing, which was moving with him as he ran. The only logical conclusion is he is in possession of one." Toby looked up the walls as the androids argued, acting like he was trying to find an escape route, but one hand behind his back was drawing odd symbols in the air. The symbols did nothing because he wasn't really drawing anything. The motions were actually controlling small electrical impulses in the two androids behind the first, messing with their logic chips. They were already using it extensively to figure our why a Static EMP field was present around him yet he didn't have a generator. toby just wanted to see just how much more he could push the circuitry.<br/><br/>"Maybe you are just defective." one said, "The field we are detecting is originating from behind the wall. It was you who malfunctioned each time you failed to capture the target."<br/><br/>"I am not malfunctioning. You two are defective. Neither of you can detect the proper source of the field."<br/><br/>"Perhaps your sensors need replacing."<br/><br/>"I was tested before I was deployed this morning. You two have been running without maintenance for three days. Logic dictates that the greater chance of error lies with the both of you."<br/><br/>"Perhaps your logic subroutines are also faulty."<br/>"Yes, I concur." the other agreed. The android in the front was losing the argument, if you could call it that. There was no emotion at all in their words.<br/><br/>"Protocol dictates that Faulty Units are to return to the central processing facility for check ups and routine reformatting."<br/><br/>"Since you are the only unit out of us three that has different results, logic dictates that you must be defective."<br/><br/>"You're Audio sensors are malfunctioning. I already stated that I was checked this morning." the front android said, "I do not need another." the two in the back glanced at each other. At this point, Toby felt completely ignored.<br/><br/>"We both agree that you are now resisting orders of the consensus. You are now deemed faulty and will be disposed of." Without warning, the android on the left raised its arm and a blast of light caught the other in the head. Toby jumped and looked at the result, an android body with a melted hunk of plastic and metal where the head used to be. They did have ranged weapons.<br/><br/>"Human. Please comply." it said. Toby had seen enough. He was done playing around. His hands raised before him, arms locked and he concentrated. He knew the spines of these things were highly magnetic, which he would use against them. Electricity erupted from his hands and hit both of the remaining androids, the charge going to the metal in their backs, making both into super magnets, which quickly pulled them together and pinned them back to back. Another blast from Toby's hands caught them both and fried their circuitry, disabling their systems and wireless communications so they couldn't report this to the network. Inching past the now motionless androids, he quickly made his way home.<br/><br/>Hoping no one saw him, he pressed his hand against the scanner to his apartment, connected his terminal to the panel, quickly hacked the sign in time to before curfew, and went inside, letting the panel send it's report. Once inside his small apartment, he flopped down on a mattress in his living room where he lived alone.