“Are you sure this is a Serphandias?.” Akatani growled.

“Yes. This is what I found!”

“What’s that red and blue liquid?” Akatani asked.

“I don’t know,” I answered, flustered.

“Watch your tone with me! I still have your wife and daughter.”

“Look,” I whispered. “I’ve done everything you’ve asked. I got the serphandias, might I add on my own, because the intel you gave me, was shoddy at best.”

“Shoddy? Yet you took out an entire electrical sector just to get in.”

“Yes. I did because I want my family back!”

“I could appreciate that.”

“Then let me hear my wife and daughter!”

“Humph…you’ve earned it, I can’t lie about that,” Akatani said, grinning through his teeth.

The call went dead for a few seconds, then I heard a voice that was music to my ears. “Hello?” Shin-Lee said.

“Shin-Lee!” I shouted, “are you alright?”

“Yes.” She croaked.

The cracks from her voice sounding like jackhammers to my ears, which forced a tear from my eye. The image of her being hoisted in the air, with bloodstains on her nightgown. “Are you alright Kaiden?” Shin-Lee said.

I took a deep gulp, swallowing my tears and pride, and nodded. "No." I said,

“I know, Hannah’s here, she’s been restless since you last spoke."

“Understood.”

“Kaiden,” Shin-Lee said firmly. “Do what needs to be done…even if we don’t make it. Live your life to the fullest!”

“What do you mean if we don’t make it?” I growled.

“Daddy?” Hannah said.

“Hey, baby,” I said, forcing my tears away. “How are you?”

“Sleepy, it’s noisy all the time and smells bad, I want to go home!”

“Don’t worry baby, daddy’s coming to pick you up, very soon…alright?”

“I want pancakes!”

“Then, Pancakes it is,” I said with a laugh.

The phone went silent for a minute and then the speaker clicked into my ear. “I want pancakes too, daddy!” Akatani said laughing raucously. Bastard…I got a plateful of bullets for you.

“A deals a deal,” Akatani said. “Raz, send the locale. Let’s get this over with.”

A ding chimed off in my ear, and the call went dead. I eyed the phone, and the timer had disappeared, giving me what little reprieved I needed.

A dot pulsed on the screen, drawing my attention and I tapped it. “25.0342°N, 77.3963°W” popped up on the screen. “The stage has been set.” I said, “now I just need to wiggle my way through these fool’s machinations and get my family back.”

◆◆◆

The trip home, was short, just the way I needed it to be. I’d gotten an anaesthetic patch for my left side. The anaesthesia worked wonders to numb the inflammation as it pulsed vigorously at my side.

The other knocks, slashes and bruises I had, were dealt with with an ice pack. All of that though, was for nought, as my body felt like mesh that had been grounded to dust these past few days

I’d hardly gotten any sleep and my body was screaming from the fatigue. It was one the to travel to The Carib Waste and back, but to scuttle around the city like a headless chicken, was way worst, despite the access to cabs. It didn’t help either by the mere fact this bullshit had taken a mental toll on me.

Hannah may have sounded OK, in a sense, but I didn’t know what we were through. She complained of the smell and noise, which made it hard for me to decipher where she was, because Bridge City itself, was noisy and smelly at the time.

Shin-Lee though was another thing. The memories of her life in Latrina kept bubbling up in my mind. I knew her life was hard, but knowing I brought her here…to this is my biggest failure and pain.

So, with a heavy heart, I turned the knob to my apartment and gazed upon the scenery.

A foil stench hit me in my nose, one I couldn’t decipher between rotted vegetables. My eyes water and my throat gagged, apprehensively. Of course…I left here sobbing at the fridge, it’s been open ever since.

The fridge light beamed so brightly, providing luminescence to the dark exterior of a home.

I grit my teeth, as I walked through the kitchen, crunching rotted vegetables beneath my feet, then closed the fridge door.

My knees screamed from exhaustion, forcing me to halt my plans to clean up.

The couch felt like clouds, the moment I sat down, feeling its embrace, I stuck to my right, and the coffee table opened up.

Three bottles appeared from the table, with one singing my name Pirate Eye. It wasn’t the best time to drink, but a whiff would’ve helped no doubt.

I grabbed a glass from the inlay, scooping up two cubes of ice. I snapped open the bottle, feeling its smoothy-coldness and poured three shots worth in the glass.

I lift the cup and spun in it my hand, whilst I did so, something appeared within the reflection of my glass, something that I never thought I’d see, but it was clear as day.

A fucking Sword!

A loud crunch bellowed behind me, making me duck, rolling over the coffee table shattering the three bottles of rum in the process.

I jumped up, skipping back whilst I snatched up a shard in my hand, throwing them at the Reaver, who simply watched them shatter and flake against her armour.

Her lips curled into a devilish smile, then her sword pulsed from silver to orange. Steam waft around the blade as she stepped towards it.

The robotic laugh she hicked sent a shiver down my spine, which didn’t help as my body was truly too tired to fight. “You thought you could pay off The Mangol?” The Reaver hissed.

“No.” I said firmly, “but I thought it would’ve at least bought me time.”

“It did, thirty minutes.”

“I see, so she’s sent you to die.”

“DIE?! You’re measly Cybernetics are no match for a Reaver.”

“Tell that to the one I killed last time.”

The Reaver howled a scream that made furniture within the room shake. The surrounding glass began to vibrate, then shatter from the seismic wail.

I blocked my right ear, then stimulated my SMB to cut the volume from my left ear and watched as the Reaver charged towards me with her outburst, sword directly at my chest.

I pivoted left, ducking her blade, sending all my energy into my left foot, then released a punch into her side, which sent her crashing into the wall.

I might’ve been battered and bruised, but this was not the time for me to die. Not here. Not now.

The Reaver bounced off the wall like a ball, blade still steaming. She made one step towards me and appeared in front of me in a flash, almost claiming my head in retaliation.

The visor may have covered her eyes, but I could see the red within them when I danced back, almost falling from the bottle of rum I almost downed. That saved me though, as I avoided another slash from her sword pointed at my chest.

I sheltered my right side, spinning so that her blade could hit my cybernetic half as she began slashing wildly, missing me at every turn as I avoided them with ease.

Good, I thought, I have her off balance!

I quarter-spun to my right, trying to draw her in, but she skipped back, then stepped in, cutting me off, burying her knee into my side as she couldn’t wave her sword at me.

The groan I howled, made my teeth quiver from the pain, as I felt the oxygen betray me, leaving my lungs in one. I took a quick whiff of wind, bracing myself for another blow, only to see the blade thrust towards me.

I shifted left, avoiding the thrust, then grabbed her with my natural hand, then slapped her in the head five times with my cybernetic arm, before she kicked me off.