“You have a gun on me,” I said. “What good does lying do me here?” I finished, keeping my hands up. “I know my father!” Elhisia said, disgust laced in her tone. “He’d do anything to get back the lineagecube.”

“I was only tasked with your retrieval. He did mention the lineagecube.” I lied. Elhisia broke out into a hysterical laugh, her face changing from cold face to maniacal. “Assassin. If there’s one thing I know, it’s liars. So tread lightly before I end you right here…right now.” She hissed.

“Killing me won’t get you anywhere Princess.”

“I’ve never met a mercenary so happy to die. I’m no killer, but if I have to I’ll send you now!” She said, waving her pistol at me.

“If you have to? Why haven’t you then?” I asked.

“Everyone has a price Mercenary, even you. If your price is too steep, I simply put a bullet in your head and get back to what I was doing.”

“…and what was that?”

Elhisia didn’t answer but gave me a stare that could scare cats. I could tell she was used to getting her way. Heiress usually did, as pompous as they were. Their pockets were as deep as their parent's. They were also careless with it.

“My price is steep Princess,” I said, firmly. “Currently, My father’s offer is null and void. I can pay you… it whether I choose to do so.”

“Is that a threat?” I asked.

“Do I look like I make empty threats!?” Elhisia hissed.

“…fair enough.”

I fired my cybernetic wrist at Elhisia’s shoulder, hitting her with a loud thud. She groaned out from the pain, dropping her pistol. The moment it left her hand, her eyes gapped as if she’d been duped. She wasn’t, but knowing how pompous she was, it could as well be.

I dashed towards her, tackling her against the wall. She made a pained grunt, then head-butted me, only to hit the metal piece of my head, which made her scream from the pain as she tried to hold her head.

I then snapped my short sword free, pressing it against his caramel neck, sweat pouring from her body and onto the blade. “You should’ve killed me when you had a chance,” I said. “I’m sure you were taught that.”

“Kill me and you won’t get a credit!”

“I’m not here to kill you, Princess. I’m here for the cube and you! However, seeing that you’re still alive against what your father advised me this is all the better.”

“If you take me back my father will kill me!”

“That’s bullshit!” I hissed. “He’s your god damn father for Christ's sake, he’d never kill you!”

“YOU DON’T KNOW HIM…HE’S GOING TO KILL ME!” She screamed.

Blood trickled down Elhisia’s neck. The plead she just wailed, had puffed her neck to the point of cutting herself against my knife. Her words though had rocked me to my core. They are men, who’d kill their children?

Hannah’s bubbling smile popped into my head, and I could smell the apple-scented shampoo Shin-Lee used on her. It made my knees weak, but only for a second.

I couldn’t fathom the thought of such a thing, but here I was with a girl screaming her father would kill her. I sheathed the knife back into my arm with a clink and watched as the girl fell to the ground with a thud.

She began whimpering, eyes filled with tears, wallowing on the ground for a few minutes until she finally caught herself out of her self pity.

Elhisia dried her tears with the elbow of her red and black plaid shirt. Stood up, and eyed me as if she’d never cried. Determination, Anger and Frustration…that’s what her face said whilst she stared at me. “Will you take my offer?” she asked, poised.

“Do I have a reason to?”

“Yes…”

“…and that is?”

“Credits and the people outside.”

I burst into laughter and shook my head. Did she just say that ‘the people outside’? I must be dreaming.

“What’s so funny?” Elhisia asked.

“You planned this didn’t you?” I asked stiffly.

“What do you mean?” Elhisia asked, tone indignant. “Planned what?”

“You’re the benefactor for this entire operation. You paid Rikor Haek to kidnap you from the Auction didn’t you?”

“Yes…I did.”

“…then why drag all those people out? are they the protesters from all those months back?”

Elhisia drew her lips into a line and stood prudently as if she was reacting to my words. No doubt, a comping mechanism from being scolded.

“…Yes, they are.”

“FUCK…you’re the one that leaked the Landfill Withdrawal Contingency Ace Bill to the Welkey’s Labour Union President…didn’t you, you’re the reason why Welkey’s Industrial part was on fucking FIRE for twelve days!”

“It seems you’re not just an assassin, mercenary. You thought about what happened, but I wonder. How do you know about the Landfill Withdrawal Contingency Ace Bill.” Elhisia asked.

“…because it’s my job to know.” I lied. “Why did you do it, did you wanna rebel against your father, is this some phase…tantrum, for christ's sake girl. People are dying because of what you did!”

“I have a responsibility to these people Assassin. It was either letting them know what was going on or watching them starve because of my father’s greed. I chose the former.” Elhisia hissed.

I eyed Elhisia, she was her father’s daughter, everywhere. I didn’t know the man, but the man believed his own words, and so did Elhisia.

The one challenge I had now was, which one should I bet on? The man that believed in a god told him to make his ‘business decision’ or the girl, who wants to help her people. It was obvious who I’d choose.

“I need to understand why you made your decision, for me to make a decision. What’s so special about this Landfill Act and the Automatons?”

Elhisia sighed, then sat in the chair light glowing from the lineage blinking on her face. She balled her hands into a fist, then calmed herself, then looked up at me. “The Landfill Withdrawal Contingency Ace Bill is meant to provide jobs throughout the entire Antillean Federation. It’s estimated that to remove all the waste from the Landfill would take us around twenty years or so, which would allow the economy to soar.”

“…this is based on what?”

“Do you know that all the trash that’s been accumulated within the federation equates to roughly two hundred years?

“No. I didn’t know”

“At least three billion tons of trash is scattered throughout the Federation in hundreds of landfills and abandoned cities.”

“So you care about the people,” I said.

“Yes.”

I tried my best to hold in my chuckle, but it came like a bubbling pot of water, set in a cattle for too long. “I don’t believe you,” I said after I finished laughing. “You’re a god damn heiress of a Trillionaire Company…you don’t get to care, you’re a god in The Federation, so don’t give that shit to me.”

“You don’t know me Assasin! If I didn’t care, would I leave those people out there, to die in Bridge City from my father’s wrath?”

“You’re just playing politics with their lives, and there’s nothing more I hate than a politician toying with constituents…just to make a quick buck.”

“If I wanted to toy with them, I wouldn’t have stolen the Lineagecube you piece of shit. If I wanted to toy with them, I wouldn’t have organised their escape, not just from the city but from the raze that took place in the Industrial District…wait a minute, you thought the protest was riots didn’t you?”

“Weren’t they?”

“No. It was a protest, that’s what I told them to do, keep it simple.”

“But?”

“My father put an end to it by hiring a small crew to start firing at the police.”

“Which turned into a riot”

“YES!”

“That’s quite effective,” I said, whistling. I was impressed. Colvolt didn’t seem like the type to think but act. However, I had to admit that the bastard was scrupulous.

“Why go so far to kidnap yourself?”

“My Kidnapping wasn’t important.” The heiress said.

“Then what is.”

“The Lineagecube.”

“What so god damn important about a cube with lines and lights,” I asked, pulling lineagecube free from the wires, holding it in my cybernetic arm.

Elhisia pulled another pistol from behind her, holding it up to take a shot at me. I lurched forward, blocking her aim and sending her to the ground with a punch to the chest.

She swept her feet, bringing me to the ground and scrambled to pick up her dropped pistol. I tossed the lineagecube to her far left and watched as she dropped the pistol after noticing the lineagecube floated in the air.

I leapt over the table, kicking her gun away to the far corner of the cabin. Then, I quarter spun, noticing relief finally flashed across her face when she caught the cube. I dashed towards her, kneeing her stomach, then applying pressure to her chest then. “I’ve spent years training for situations such as this. Just because my guard is down, doesn’t mean it’s down princess. I’m rather pissed, to be honest, I was looking at how I could help you. You pulled a gun on me twice. Yes, you’re prepared but you’re not equipped for a situation such as this.”

“Situation? Do you think my father cares about me? He’s only here for the lineagecube.”

“I can see that. I’ll ask once…so answer me truthfully, what is the lineagecube, and why does your father want it so badly?” I asked firmly.

“Why should I trust you?” The girl snarled, braids untying on the right side of her hair. I relieved my knee from her stomach, then fished into one of my pouches. I pressed the button for the data chip and watched it fizzle into existence.

White light is fed from multiple sources within the small data chip spread across a small circumference above the chip. Shin-Lee was tucking in Hannah-Lee…the feed repeated itself over and over.

I turned to Elhisia, watching her unfazed eyes and domineering sneer. “Unlike your father,” I said gruffly. “I care for my daughter…”

Elhisia didn’t speak, nor did her eyes move from the hologram. She watched with discerning eyes and possibly questioned what I showed her was true. “Why show me this?” Elhisia asked.

“Use that brain up there Princess. You say you did everything to help those people out there, but what would you do if you found out Rikor was killing them one by one?.”

The heiress fell silent, horror written across her face. She tried to speak, but each time she opened her mouth, she closed them contemplating her next words biting her lips.

“You’re lying.” She whispered.

“I am not.”

I pulled the datapad from one of my pouches, tossing it on the table, then retrieved the severed hand, which made Elhisia gawk at the sight of it with a sombre wail. Guess she’s a girl after all I thought. “What the hell are you doing!?” She screamed, in a high pitched tone.

“Work.”