Bullets flew and windows shattered all around as Damien and Marcus desperately dashed around the street corner toward the safe haven of the big pirate’s truck.

They’d only made it a few paces out of the hideout before drawing the attention and gunfire of the new Skull reinforcements. Thanks to Kat’s warning however, they’d gained the initiative in their escape, saving them from the ambush that was coming their way.

As Damien approached the allied vehicle, a volley of bullets zipped narrowly past his shoulder, one of them clanging into the passenger side window in front of him. He yanked the door handle open, threw himself into the truck, and slammed the door shut. Marcus followed one step behind on the other side, letting out a mad laugh the moment he entered the safety of the metal cabin.

The decision to flee was one that they’d swiftly agreed upon with nothing more than a knowing nod. They’d depleted their resources holding off the gang members inside the warehouse, and they had nothing left to deal with enemies at range. Not to mention, the fabled ex-military were likely mixed in with these fresh Skull members. This left them with only one viable option: running away.

Damien had briefly considered going deeper into the hideout and joining forces with Kat, but without a layout of the warehouse they’d be operating blind on the enemy’s home turf. She’d have to escape on her own; an easy feat for her since the enemy’s attention was centered on the two young men.

Marcus slammed the ignition button and the engine instantly came to life. Less than a second later, they were in motion, tires shrieking as the truck violently took off. Through the cracked side view mirror, Damien could see the goons rushing back to their own vehicles. They clearly had no intention of letting their targets get away without a fight.

The transmission jumped up a gear and the severe acceleration pushed Damien back into the leather seat. Kat’s voice suddenly came to life in his head soon after. “All done over here. Did you guys make it out?”

“Yeah, just barely,” Damien answered out loud, his gaze turning to the rear view mirror where a pair of black trucks suddenly appeared, swerving furiously to join them on the same road. “But it looks like we didn’t lose them. They’re on our tail.”

The pursuing vehicles quickly picked up speed despite Marcus’ best efforts to shake them off. When they’d closed the gap to only a few meters, guns peered through their side windows, bringing with them the familiar song of gunshots and pelted metal. A few bullets thumped into the rear window, fracturing the glass but somehow failing to break through.

“Do you guys need help?” Kat said. “Tell me your location and I’ll come take them out.”

“Nah, we got this.” Marcus replied with an enthusiastic smile, his voice reaching Damien twice; once in person and another through the three-way channel in his head. “Just go to the river point. I can take care of these guys. There’s a reason why they call me the best driver in Neopolis.”

“Uhh, no one calls you that.”

“Oh come on, Kat. I was trying to sound cool.”

Kat snorted. “Whatever. Just don’t keep me waiting.” A sharp click ended the communication line.

Marcus glanced at the rear view mirror, his smile growing wider. “Hold tight, this might get a little rocky.”

The truck let out another mechanical growl as they barreled down the mostly-empty streets, trying to lose the pursuers. Every winding road caused Damien to shift in his seat as his partner tried his best to keep on course. With the Skulls on their tail, the traffic lights quickly lost their meaning, and Damien’s stomach clenched every time they rushed through an intersection. Thankfully, there were few vehicles sharing these industrial roads, and they’d avoided any collisions.

“This should lose ‘em,” Marcus muttered under his breath as they approached a wide intersection—the connecting road much larger than the ones they’d traversed so far. He swerved to the right then sharply cut the wheel to the left, pushing the vehicle to its absolute limits and causing the tires to let out a painful screech as they fought to keep from toppling over.

Damien’s body pressed up against the window before shifting back in place at the completion of the wild left turn. This is getting too turbulent, he thought to himself as he checked the rear view mirror once again. Both enemy trucks were still somehow on their trail.

Marcus let out an impressed whistle. “These bastards are pretty good. Guess we gotta lose ‘em the old fashioned way. Here, you take the wheel.”

Damien’s eyes sprang open as the enemy gunshots started up once again. “What? Are you serious?” He was starting to regret coming along on this job.

“Dead serious. This model doesn’t have autopilot but it does have cruise control. Just steer and don’t hit anything.”

Damien cursed under his breath as he reluctantly reached across with his left hand and gripped the wheel. There were only a few vehicles on the wide road before him, but their current speed made it feel like he was trying to steer a raging bull with only one hand on the harness. A single mistake would surely cost them their lives.

Beside him, Marcus stretched toward the back seat and pulled out a long, cylindrical, metal cartridge. From the corner of his eye, Damien watched as his partner ripped an identical cartridge from the top of his shotgun and replaced it with the new one. The optical scanner revealed that it was an extended magazine—an ammo capacity attachment.

Marcus grunted as he turned around in his seat, his back now facing the windshield. He lowered his window and stuck the weapon out, aiming it at the chasers.

The blasts from the allied shotgun only added to the chaos, but Damien did his best to ignore everything except the task at hand. He steered around a small coupe then around a bend in the road, until he spotted a massive intersection up ahead. They were rapidly approaching a junction with what must’ve been a major road; a decent number of cars flowing perpendicular to them.

Damien’s heart sank when he noticed the red traffic light ahead.

Oh, shit…

Holding his breath, he prayed for the light to change, but his prayers stood unanswered as the red lights drew nearer. They had no choice but to barge through.

The firefight faded out of Damien’s mind and he clutched the wheel harder as they approached the intersection. Spotting a modest gap between two sedans up ahead, he kept his eyes on the clearing and aimed to cross through; more out of hope than anything else.

Every muscle in Damien’s body tightened as they zoomed through the intersection, his tense and fearful grip guiding them through the opening between the two sedans and clear on to the other side.

A second later, a thundering crash of metal sounded from behind. In the rear view mirror, he could see two vehicles were mended together; the aftermath of a collision. One of them was the second sedan they nearly avoided, the other was one of the pursuing black trucks. The second enemy slid through untouched.

Marcus resumed firing at the remaining pursuer as Damien’s grip loosened slightly, his breath returning at the realization that they’d actually made it through unharmed.

Only a few seconds later, tires screeched once again and another loud mechanical crash blared from behind.

“Boom!” Marcus yelled out in jubilation. “Got ‘em!”

From the rear view mirror, Damien could see the Skulls’ vehicle lodged into the side of a building, smoke coming out the top. The chase had ended as abruptly as it had started.

Once Marcus slid himself back into the driver’s seat, Damien relinquished control of the vehicle to the wide-smiling pirate who was now glowing with a mixture of excitement and pride.

“Told you I’m the best driver in the city. If anyone matches my moves, I just shoot them down!”

Damien chuckled then let out a long sigh of relief. It was finally over. They’d finished the job and somehow gotten out alive. While he couldn’t deny the thrill that all the action brought, he’d had more than enough for a single day. These confrontations with gang members were starting to take their toll, and he was wanting for some peace and quiet. And much to his relief, that’s exactly what followed.

Ten minutes of peaceful driving later, they arrived at a small riverbank where sparse streetlights lit the calm water and surrounding lush grass with a delicate yellow glow. One other car was parked nearby, and Damien immediately recognized Kat’s figure leaning on the front hood, a device glowing in her hand.

After parking beside her, they exited to the back where Marcus inspected the damage. Cracks covered the entirety of the rear window like an ice rink ready to collapse, and the rear fender was riddled with bullet holes. The damage looked serious to Damien, but Marcus laughed it off. “And this is why you spend the big bucks on vehicle armor,” he said, ”especially if you’re in the business of getting shot at.”

“Don’t let Marcus fool you.” Kat interrupted. “He spent a fortune on the rear armor but the front and sides are pretty much plastic in comparison.”

“Hey, now, don’t ruin my image. Why would I spend funds on front and sides when my enemies are always eating my dust?”

Damien smiled then felt a heavy arm around his shoulder.

“By the way, Kat. You totally missed out.” Marcus said. “Should’ve seen Dame back at the warehouse, he’s fucking crazy. Jumped straight into a storm of bullets and came out unscathed. He’s totally nuts, but he’s my kinda nuts.” He paused for a moment then yanked his arm from Damien’s shoulder. “Hold up, that sounded sexual. Totally didn’t mean it like that.”

Kat eye’s narrowed at him, and a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “Doesn’t help your case when you’ve already given him a nickname, does it?”

“Hey, it’s not like that. His swordsmanship was so impressive that it earned him a nickname, nothing more.” He turned to face Damien. “My nicknames come with a lot of prestige. They mean a lot on these streets.”

“I’m honored.” Damien said half jokingly.

Kat turned her gaze back to the bright screen in her hand. “So all it took was one little battle and a chase for you guys to become best friends, huh?”

“Ehh, you’re just jealous ‘cause we got all the action.” Marcus said with a shrug. ”What happened on your end? Tell me you found something interesting.”

Kat pointed to a Mind Chip that was inserted into her temple. “Same situation I found Damien in; the room and equipment inside were virtually identical. But Zero didn’t want the body, just some information held within the target. I’m sending that info to her right now.”

Marcus’ voice turned uncharacteristically soft. “So he wasn’t there, huh?”

Kat shook her head. “It was a woman. Without Lana’s help I had no way of waking the target up from that comatose state. I thought about taking her with me, but what’s the point? If Damien didn’t have any useful information, what are the chances that she would? We don’t have the time and resources to save everyone we come across.”

“I guess you’re right. Still, it’s a shame…”

“The real shame is that we’re in this position in the first place.” Kat said coldly as she flicked her finger across the device. “All of this doesn’t sit right with me. How could some unknown information broker have this kind of intel?”

Marcus shrugged as he took out a pack of cigarettes from the inside of his jacket and peeled out a single white stick. “She’s well connected, I guess. What’s wrong with that?”

“What’s wrong is the fact that some outsider knows all this about Trilltech and the Skulls. Did you forget how hard we worked to learn about Damien’s whereabouts? Not to mention Lana’s fee.” She removed the Mind Chip from her head and slipped it into her pocket. “Something strange is going on here, and I don’t like it one bit.”

“Hmm, I gues you’re right…” Marcus said as he lit up the cigarette. “But look on the bright side, at least we found someone good with a sword.”

Kat raised an eyebrow and her eyes flashed with a sudden blue pulse. “Well, at least she's quick with her payments. Mine just came through.”

“Same here.” Marcus added.

Kat stood up and turned to face Damien. “Congrats. You’re debt’s payed off and you’re officially off the hook. And in a way so am I. Now I don’t have to babysit you anymore.” She made her way to the driver’s side of her car and opened the door. “Keep the katana. And try not to die before regaining your memories.”

“Hold on, Kat,” Marcus said after exhaling a cloud of smoke. “You’re just gonna leave? In a way this is his first night in the city. We should show him around. At the very least, I owe him a drink for his help back there.”

“No thanks,” Kat said bluntly. “I got stuff to do.” She slammed the door shut and her car engine grumbled to life.

Marcus waved at her dismissively. “Ahh, she’s no fun. What do you say, Dame? I dunno about you, but I need me a drink after all that action.”

Before Damien could answer, a notification popped up before his eyes.

Quest Complete!

You have completed the quest: Repay Your Debt!

A second notification swiftly followed underneath.

Level Up!

You have reached Level 3!

You have gained 1 Skill Point!