Ethan was astounded. [i]"What the? Since when do Cyborgels question their orders?"[/i] he wondered. 

He kept edging back to his bike. [i]"I can't just leave her here, if she falls to rebel hands and Desium OPSEC tracks down who altered her programming... Plus the crazy man wants her. Who knows what sort of weird nefarious purpose they would use her for,"[/i] he thought. [i]"Damn it. Why today! Why did it have to be today!"[/i]

With his right hand behind his back, he opened up his holopanel. He could feel his thumb rest easy over a red button.

He looked at her and then at the crazy man in the raincoat. It was obvious that the crazy wanted the Cyborgel. If he surrendered her he would probably get shot. If he ran he would likely get shot, regardless of what the crazy man said. You couldn't trust crazy men.

Decision points and courses of action raced through his head. [i]"Screw it," [/i]he thought and thumbed down the button. 

The holopanel immediately began to send a distress signal to all nearby police units. [i]"In a few seconds, this place will be crawling with police. Just gotta not get shot until then. And figure out a way to have them not investigate the Cyborgel,"[/i] Ethan thought.

He turned his head to the Cyborgel Lee again. "Look, you need to come with me. That man needs a lot of help. Probably mental help. You shouldn't listen to anything he says," he said.