Speeding in the direction of Akatani…or who I thought was Akatani, was my best option at this point. I wasn’t one for leaving things open-ended, especially for the man that killed my daughter and wife!

I leapt over five fences, and three hedges, whilst I skidded across the pavement, almost running into an Automaton sweeper doing its job.

Each step I made, felt like my bones were ready to flake from the agony of my fatigue, whilst I tried to chase down Akatani.

The bastard skipped three fences and rounded a corner, then disappeared from sights, forcing me to switch back to X-Ray sight. The bastard didn’t disappear, but doubled back, using a ladder to take him across one of the bridges located on the eastern side of Freedom Park, which was close to the sewer system.

I followed Akatani’s trail which led me to another fence. One that I skipped over in three steps. The moment I reached the peak of the fence, it broke beneath my weight, spraying me across the decline tossed me over the side, only to fall five feet down landing on the ground solidly. Shit, I hissed, I almost broke my god damn neck!

Once I’d regained my footing in a second, I fought my deliriousness as best as I could, only to realise that half my body was in the god damn water and tidal of trash was about to hit me.

I rolled to my left, barely avoiding the surging sewage water as I stapled myself against a wall, breathing heavily and feeling jaded. I tried to push myself up, but instead, I shifted my eyes left, only to see that snivelling bastard Akatani standing there with a pistol trained on me.

The bastard fired an entire clip at me, but no bullets came through. My heart was in my god damn mouth

Akatani was doused in sewage water, from head to toe. Someone needed to tell the idiot that a wet gun only fires water. No…I’ll be the one to tell him!

I charged up off the wall chasing after Akatani who ducked under an archway and crossed a board pathway leading to the other side of the sewage way.

As I sped behind Akatani, who seemed to know the path. I realised the deeper went, the darker it got. The haunting feeling of the area pricked my skin, leaving it full of sewage moisture, which no doubt will have me itching in days to come.

That’s fine. Because if I can dig this mother fucker’s eyes out…then all would be well!

“STOP RUNNING AKATANI YOU DON’T DESERVE THOSE LEGS OF YOURS!” I roared.

He didn’t answer, but that was fine…in theory because I was sure to bury his skull between his legs, whilst snapping his back in two!

Each breath I took whilst traversing the dark tunnel the salt and muck of sewage waft into my mouth, filling my lungs with its squalid taste.

I passed under an archway and felt a cold snap penetrate my wet clothes, leaving my blood and clothes cold, but with the anger fueling within me, I simply ignored it.

The dark pathway turned gently, as I made a right, following the trail, skipping across a crossway, then making a left. It led me to a short staircase with a spiralling staircase which I ran up, then I spilt onto the floor, watching as Akatani, scrape against the wall, leaving a giant pool of blood on the wall.

The bastard’s pleading, I thought, lips curling into a smile. A stray bullet must’ve hit him. Hopefully, it was my bullet!

“AKATANI!” I roared, charging towards the bastard, watching as he snap towards me in a pivot, raising his pistol and firing wildly at me.

The bodacious clicks of the pistol reminded the fool that his gunpowder hadn’t dried fast enough but that was fine. Especially after I sunk my cybernetic wrist into his chest, slamming him to the wall whilst he howled a heave which made his lungs sound as though they’d collapsed.

I sent a kick into his chest, but the bastard spat out a mouth of blood, blocking the blow, and used the wall to leverage his weight.

He then stepped into me, trying to sweep me, but I spun, releasing my leg from his grasp, and struck him with the back of my cybernetic arm.

Akatani skid back, the remnant of his chest were exposed. Well, not remnants, but pieces of it. The bastard was fully cyberised, just like the Hannya Boys.

“You didn’t think I’d have my men be cyberised and not do it myself…did you?” He snarled at me.

“I don’t care what you did, you have one job left, and that’s to die by my hand!” I growled

My cybernetic wrist snapped back into place on my arm. I felt it snap through the shock of my arm as I eyed Akatani pensively.

Akatani used that moment, to charge towards me, hitting me in the side, which sent me to my feet. I fell backwards avoiding his wayward kick and swept him off his feet.

The both of us were back in a flash and exchanged a series of blows, with feints, hesitation and reservation between each punch and kick we noosed.

I couldn’t say this battle was of importance because nothing in my mind was more important to me than my daughter and wife. And this bastard took them from me.

The sweet apple-scented shampoo that Hannah always wore, was muffing in the air and forcing its way down my through each time I breathed in the cold wind of the corridor. It was nail been burrowed into my nose, reminding me of what I’d lost…and that was something I couldn’t bear to accept because my mind was already halfway gone with them.

Shin-Lee always told me that she loved me. She showed by taking care of me, and I tried my best to do it to the best of my ability. She never asked to bring me back to Bridge City, but when I asked her to return, she took that opportunity in a heartbeat. I never promised her the life I gave her, but I sure as well made sure she got it.

Despite it all…I failed to protect both of them…like the failure I am. “I’m gonna enjoy this,” I said softly. “You took my BABY! You took my WIFE! YOU TOOK EVERYTHING THAT MADE ME FEEL ALIVE!”

The Black-Chinned bastard released punch rocked my jaw back, whilst I did the same, with my cybernetic arm. I watched his cybernetic eyes almost disconnect from the whomp I gave him, but he recovered too quickly for me to dance back into a roundhouse to kick to the floor one final time.

Instead, the bastard tackled me, punching me in the side ten times before I finally stopped him, by breaking one of his fingers with a squeeze, then I yanked it free whispering it to the little shits ear. “For my wife…” I said coldly

The bastard howled into my ears as if they had no tomorrow. And by the Imbibe, I sure as hell will ensure that it did happen…for him.

Goosebumps run down my back and my legs, fueled by my anger. I dropped Akatani’s finger on the ground, kicking him in the chest, then looked him dead in the eye.

“IS THIS THE BEST AN N9 CAN DO?” Akatani hissed. “ALL THAT TRAINING…AND YET YOU CAN’T EVEN BEAT A CYBERWEAVER!”

“No. We can do far worst” I said calmly. “Do you even understand what an N9 is? It’s a classification for potential…and my potential for violence is high, my resistance to pain is high, but let me tell you something the N9 classification doesn’t have.”

Akatani hicked a laugh, eyeing me from the side, then licked his lips. “DEATH!” He hissed, revealing a knife from my waist slash it across my face. The snivelling howled was like a hyena celebrating its life. My eardrums felt as if they were bleeding from the sound, which made my skin crawl.

I blocked Akatani’s wild slash, grabbed the knife by its blade and snapped it in tow with my cybernetic arm. “Death is close enough sadly.” I said softly “…but it has more to do with what I’m about to do to you now.”

My wrist snaps back, and my short-sword shot out with a snap. The silver sheen blade changed to orange and a whiff of steam hissed within the dark corridor. Akatani snarled trying to move, but with my foot buried into his chest, he couldn’t even if he wanted to.

I waved my cybernetic arm across Akatani’s neck, severing it from his skull in one fell swoop. His head didn’t fall from his body, but a red line appeared around his neck, blood slowly seeping from the wound of my cut.

The bastard’s eyes cybernetic eyes went white with melancholy, a rare sight for cybernetic eyes. The whiteness then shifted yellow-like dullness which made them seem frightful.

Disbelieve was painted on Akatani’s face as he tried to speak. The poor bastard’s brain didn’t even realise that he was deader than a doornail.

I knelt right beside him, watching as his eyes trail towards me, then I eyed him coldly, with my own death-filled eyes. “I’ll you something about N9’s Akatani. It’s not a classification, but a state of mind. When I got my family, I was relegated to an N5 status, because my family would object to my work. Distraction is what they called it. You, however, pushed me back into the N9 status….now you’ve reaped the rewards.”

I slapped the bastard’s head off his shoulders and watch the body fall with a loud thud, dust flaking everywhere. My body wasn’t able to go on…but with all that pent up anger, frustration and pain roiling within me.

My knees sagged to the ground, as I began screaming at the top of my lungs, letting everything out, everything I’d been feeling these past few days but mostly the loss of my wife and daughter.