The clanking footsteps got louder and louder, finally catching Aoi's attention. "...hold that thought," she told the boy as she lifted her God Arc once more to the ready, turning to view the source of the sound. At a distance she could make out the roughly humanoid form of the suit. However, she could also see the strange shoulder spikes.

As she argued with herself over whether or not it was an Aragami that had evolved into a humanoid form, a shout echoed from another corridor. [b]"Little girl... or boy, I do not know! ...But I DO know you can hear me down there! Impending death approaches you from two sides, but fear not! Escape lies in my direction! To not go this way would be the act of a fearless fool!"[/b] It was an ironic choice of words.

[i]Well, that answers [/i]that[i] question.[/i] No time was wasted questioning the voice's motives. No time was wasted wondering why Aoi hadn't run into the suit or the voice while dashing through the halls. No time was wasted wondering whether she was making a mistake.

Aoi was a God Eater, and God Eaters kill the strong to protect the weak.

The voice didn't sound like it intended to fight the approaching suit. It wanted to run away, to hide in the shadows and scrape by. Obviously, the voice was the weak one of the two options, and so the voice needed protecting. Aoi briefly swapped her God Arc into rifle mode to fire three concussive shots at the suit before returning it to a sword.

"Stay with me and fight or run to the voice to escape, boy! Whatever you do, I'm ordering you to not die!"
[@HHShetland][@Rick Sanchez]