Chapter 62: Caleb.

  “Over time, we’ve learned that extracting certain children is not advisable. Acquiring the offspring of shareholders and executives can be quite lucrative, but sadly, they are just as likely to pay the bribes as hire their own mercenaries to retake them, no matter the danger or legality of it.

  It is a sad reality that some people are above the government’s law, which is quite a hindrance on our profits. However, we must face the fact that these are unprofitable endeavors.

  We’ve also determined that attempting to place a samurai’s loved ones in our custody is a truly horrible idea. The cost in lost labor force and equipment has been… extreme.”

  – Cassy Cavendish, executive of the privatised Child Protective Services, NUSA, 2047.

  ***

  “Yeah, that’s a trap…” Okay, I couldn’t tell for sure, but the only logical way through being a maintenance area full of heat vents that would hide anyone’s IR signature even without stealth? Yeah, that’s exactly where I‘d plan an ambush.

  Fuck, I’d done it often enough myself. “How are the other ways in looking?”

  Hard to say. According to stealth-drone data, each is filled with large amounts of troops that I do not think you could handle non-lethally, especially if they believe they can encourage you towards this option.

  “Yeah, that’d be my guess…” The whole passage was little more than a walkway between many, many vents, each pumping hot air through the building for heating. There were quite a few problems with that. “Still not detecting anything?”

  Not on this level, no.

  “Still no success with the cameras?”

  That depends on your definition.

  “Cryptic, what’s up?”

  I’ve been able to hack into every single camera we’ve passed. I’ve connected into the hardwired connection physically and each leads into what appears to be a single display devoid of any wireless ports. I believe there is a group of people monitoring them and sending orders in a different and inaccessible fashion.

  “Fuuuuuuuck…” Had to admire that level of information security, but I still fucking hated it… “Any chance of taking out whoever that group of people is?”

  Yes. They are beyond this passage.

  I sighed. Welp, this shit would probably hurt like a goat fucking bitch. Oh well. Had a nephew to rescue. “Alright, I’ll go first, be bait. They’ll attack me for sure. They’ve figured out they can’t take me out from a distance, so this shit is probably the next step”

  “Wait, Panda, I…” Lila started but I didn’t let her finish.

  “Nop! If you die, your son becomes his. Also, you can't take a beating like me. We’ll need this to be convincing. If I just go forward on my own, it’ll look like bait and they might do something stupid. Hmmmm…” I looked around. Who would be best for this job? “Felix, your last augs were reaction speed, right?”

  “Yeah boss, with my auto-shotgun, I’m most likely to duke it out well in close quarters. Coat’s armoured to the tits as well.” Felix had kept his classic cyber-punk look aside from the helmet, which hid even more neon green hair. His coat had a weird alien kevlar and since it billowed out, the force of a projectile would simply pull on the fibers and the force wouldn’t end up in him if it didn’t hit the parts that were flush with his skin. His undersuit also had some damn good armor and he had a few speed focused mods. Yeah, this would do.

  “Alright, we hesitated long enough. Me and Felix first, then if they don’t grab the bait, I’ll come back to act as an escort for Alex and Katy. I’d make another plan but if there’s nothing in there I’ll eat my fucking helmet. All good?” After a few agreeing noises answered and I went to spring a trap… again… Actually, with the antithesis, was this a third time? Whatever.

  The corridor fucked with my nerves. The noise of the vents gave me vague signals, the metal walls’ vibrations disturbing any picture inside. So far, the recon drone didn’t find anything. No explosives or hidden booby traps or something. That didn’t mean nobody was there, just that we couldn’t see them…

  It took until we were three quarters of the way, a good three minutes of agony that fucked with my nerves hard, for something to happen.

  It came in the form of a plasma lance tearing through one of the fucking vents!

  I knew it was a plasma lance because it was a fucking plasma lance! Not the most subtle things in the universe. They were made as a weapon of last resort against foes with insane armour like, well, fucking me! Their name really said it all. They were lances with an extremely, and I mean extremely, hot and sharp plasma enhanced tip.

  Not all elements turned to plasma at the same temperatures, so some asshole decided to figure out what the hottest plasma that wouldn’t melt some kind of alloy with an insane melting point was. They required an entire battery pack within the weapon which burned out really quickly.

  One or maybe two hits each! The amount of power they unleashed in a super short amount of time still impressed me.

  Also, apparently, swine cunts in powered armor could thrust those pretty fucking hard! Especially when falling through a heating vent and using gravity to their advantage!

  The first one got me in the fucking junction between my neck and shoulder, sliding riiiight in and burning every fucking thing in its wake! I could feel the instant cauterizing taking place and the pain was insane! Having your insides burn or melt was quite a fucking awful experience! Zero out of ten, would not recommend.

  Unfortunately for them, I was ready and determined as all fucking hell! The damn thing missed my heart but didn’t just tickle it either…

  I threw myself to the side, dragging the piece of shit out of that vent and taking the opportunity to slash with a gauntlet blade, trying to get their fucking arm off. Sadly, they had good reflexes, so I only got one. Still better than none!

  The fucking thing pierced me from right shoulder to left hip and the feeling of a lance fucking inside me pulling and pushing on my organs was just fucking great! Felix instantly opened fire on the fucker the moment I brought him out at least.

  Most of his buckshot ricocheted off asshole’s armor, but the kinetic force did plenty enough to get the fucker off me! Thank the fucking lords of hell that gaping equine asshole let go…

  Then the second one hit.

  Then the third.

  And even a fourth…

  I clearly fucked up their aim since the second one hit at the bottom of my ribcage, through and through. The third skipped off my spine’s reinforcements and simply fucked up my left lung before exiting as well.

  The fourth had a bit more luck, piercing my scapula and in a similar way as the first, It exited through my fucking stomach…

  I administered the KP-Kicking and just kept moving, bucking and slashing! Not sure how long I could keep that up… Come on, nanites! This shit is why you were so fucking expensive!

  However, while I was a bit preoccupied with the situation, a hole was blasted through the roof and a bunch of heavy machineguns and low-ish powered railguns opened fire at my reinforcements through it.

  Okay, porcupined by assholes, my reinforcements staying behind cover (not for lack of trying, a few of my assailants had the distinct marks of Lila’s rifle) and Felix was busy trying not to die from the fucking ambush, forcing the cow cunts with an angle on him behind cover with a rain of tungsten.

  I could do this… My burned lung was nothing… Every breath hurt but I… I had to…

  Lila… My nephew… Caleb… “Fuck…” The sound was small, torn from a throat choked by the ash that filled my left lungs, aka the remnants of it, but I spat out the words without couching.

  “...YOU!” I said, letting wrath overtake me and my tail loose! The upgrades definitely made it stronger and more responsive! I could feel it better than ever before and it projected my rage in the form of throwing around and piercing through the disoriented morons that fucking dared to get in the way of saving my abused fucking nephew! No! They would NOT stop me!

  “Widden…” I coughed, unable to help it, while my tail went about creating fucking carnage. “... hole… ‘Tany…”

  With the coilgun?

  I nodded, preferring not to speak.

  Of course, you are loaded and I am aiming, please do not move.

  Well, yeah, the fucking four spears through my chest made the concept kind of fucking hard to imagine! They’d burned out their batteries, but that didn’t mean those fucking lances were fucking cold at the moment! Still, blood cooling seemed to work a bit…

  And then I remembered my mother fucking railgun had recoil when it violently shoved those fucking spears in all directions! I don’t know how much I screamed with my lungs being this fucked, but I know I did, KP-Kicking be damned!

  When those fucking assholes fell, I might have been a bit more violent than usual, not gonna lie. Since my tail was the most functional part of my body, “Rainin’... Men… Hallell…” I had to try that joke! I’d been waiting so long for the perfect moment and there it was! Just made sense to try…

  I had to rely on my newly fully connected limb a lot. It shoved assholes at walls and conduits, pierced chests violently enough to launch fuckers off their feet, micro-chainsawed tons of armor and flesh off, and on and on!All the while, I mostly stayed still, but upright! All thanks to a few of the through and throughs touching the ground keeping me on my feet (at the cost of massive pain!).

  My fifth limb also had to bat aside concrete and… marble? Really? Rich fucks… Whatever, it took care of those without much of a struggle, good tail!

  My right arm was a bit fucked with that god damn spear through my shoulder, so no shooting for me. My eyes might have been a bit more wild than usual. Wrath took complete control for some parts there, my recollections later becoming vague as shit.

  Also, now that they didn’t have to worry so much about staying behind cover, Lila and the rest became a LOT more trigger happy. I imagine seeing me as a post-modern statue made them a bit more violent.

  We didn’t have many survivors, but they were quickly ignored in favor of getting the fucking litteral lances of pure fucking PAIN out of my mother fucking chest!

  When the last one was pulled out, the nanites could finally get on with the work of reconstructing destroyed parts of my biology.

  The cauterization of your tissue complicates repairs, but not quite to the extent of doubling the recovery time. You should be able to make repairs to your suit by yourself soon. Your internal organs were somewhat cooked, but that poses no immediate danger and should be remedied quickly, no need to worry.

  After a long coughing fit, I spoke to Lila. “C-Could you… help me repair… my armour.. please?”

  With her assistance, it took a lot less time than we’d feared, which meant a lot less time to mobilize for the enemy.

  I had a nephew to rescue after all. Couldn’t sleep on the job…

  ***

  “He’s… hum… he’s still alive, sir…” The tech assigned to camera 59-17 said, horror in his voice. How… How? Just… fucking HOW?

  His entangled encryption radio crackled. “The attack failed!?” The commander on the other end sounded pissed!

  “Hum… no sir, the… attack succeeded, it just… didn’t stop him…”

  “What the fuck do you mean it ‘succeeded’!?”

  “Hum… Sir, h-he was pierced all the way by four plasma-lances.”

  There was a beat of silence. “His allies extracted them right away?”

  “Uh… No, sir, he killed most of the personnel himself while impaled. I think it mostly just… pissed him off. He’d been mostly non-lethal since then…”

  “W-We hum… pissed him…? I’m sorry, you’re sure? They didn’t just hit his armor at an angle or some shit?”

  “Shoulder to hip through the middle of his torso, bottom of ribcage at the back to the stomach, scapula to stomach, I’m sure, sir.” His tone had gone back to professional for a moment, the routine of protocol calming him down. He reviewed the footage again. “Plus the other hit..”

  The silence stretched for quite a while after that. Plasma lances… Plasma. Fucking. Lances!

  That shit would cook your insides with a fucking light stab for fuck’s sake! How the fuck…

  “Regained visual! He’s… I…” Another tech announced, but then sputtered out.

  “Spit it out!” Their supervisor shouted.

  “I predict he’s heading for this room sir…” The tech announced, and even without looking away from his monitor, he could guess that her face had paled considerably.

  The entire monitoring team grew silent. There were maybe thirty of them, each with quite a few cameras, but they weren’t meant to end up in combat!

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Their supervisors spoke up. “Calm down! There’s no way he can get through that door!... Right?” It had started as a statement, but definitely ended as a fucking question!

  “Sir, he’s a samurai…”

  “The fuck does that mean?” He asked angrily.

  “Hum… it means I have no clue? Hell, if he has points, he can get through that door, it’s just a question of time…”

  “How far away are reinforcements!?” The supervisor practically begged in a panic.

  “Just hold out… fifteen minutes! The closest team just got wiped out but hum…”

  “Everyone, start purge protocol!”

  “Uh, are you sure that’s wise?” The other tech asked, concern in his voice.

  “It’s protocol!”

  “Yeah, but… Well, I…” The unsaid part was clearly ‘I don’t want to piss him off even more, I want to live you fucking dumbass!’

  Before the conversation could continue, the door rang like a gong from a strong impact! The supervisor stared at it in shock. “How fucking strong is this guy?”

  “Th–That was his gun, sir… Incoming!”

  Suddenly, the wall around their reinforced door crumbled inward. The tech would curse lowest bidders until the end of his life, what, a couple seconds from now? The boogeyman emerged from the concrete dust with what appeared to be disinterest.

  “Huh, pretty cheap… Whatever, leave your shit and fuck off.” Welp, better know when to quit! Unlike his fucking supervisor… “Seriously!?” The samurai said as rounds bounced off his armor… 9mm rounds…”I mean, it’s so pathetic I don’t even feel like amputating him...”

  The eyeroll from the woman behind him was obvious even behind a power-armor helmet. Then, she shot the idiot in his shoulder. He didn’t think a rifle could do that much damage to someone, jesus…

  Her voice rang out next. “My brother’s a lot nicer than I am, and I'm losing patience. Exit that way, leave your shit, or I start shooting people.”

  “Yes mam!” Sang the chorus of terrified techs.

  Fuck this!

  ***

  “Alright, Altany, got good news for me?” I asked as we moved to where Caleb was on the cameras.

  Yes, many. With the drone you bought to stay in the observation room, no one can access the camera aside from me and I can transmit using the entangled communication devices to any security forces directly.

  “Entangled?”

  It is a fairly effective method of encryption that relies on physically connecting two devices and assigning a randomized multiplier to their encryption protocol which changes constantly. To make it simpler, imagine your encryption is 2 times 2, then both devices decide on Pi as their randomizer. So, both of them multiply by a digit of Pi every second, exponentially complexifying the encryption.

  This method is somewhat unpopular due to the limitations it places on connecting more than two devices and the fact that any loss of power for any reason disentangles them irrevocably, meaning it needs to be reset physically or else the system becomes unsafe. It can even protect their communications from AIs such as me unless you wish to spend a lot more points into informational warfare.

  “Hey, this is fascinating and shit, but can we get back on task?” Lila asked behind me. I could tell, poor woman was tense as hell! Couldn’t blame her.

  “Right, so, what’s guarding Caleb?”

  He appears to be sitting in his room, surrounded by security officers. Said room is heavily reinforced, and yes, better than the security room. From the communications I’ve picked up, their orders may be to take him hostage, but I am unsure.

  My eyes narrowed. “Connect me.” The drone would essentially pick up the comms device and have me talk through it out loud in that room.

  Ready.

  “Don’t.”

  “What?” The answer came a little garbled with the multiple layers of separation, but not that much.

  “I care about that kid’s well being, not your lives. If you endanger him, I’ll gleefully remove you as a threat.”

  “Who’s this?” The voice of a thirty-something woman answered, at least from what I could tell.

  “I’m his uncle, here to get him away from his piece of shit abusive sperm donor. If you’ve worked with him for more than a week, you know it’s true.” Silence stretched for a few seconds.

  “So, Cole wasn’t blowing smoke up my ass. His mom’s alive?”

  “Yes. Can he hear you?”

  “No, I’m wearing a helmet.”

  “Thanks for that. Think she’d like to introduce herself.”

  “Why should I believe you’ll be any better than that asshole?” The woman sounded a bit suspicious? I could definitely hear some protectiveness though…

  Huh, not what I expected. “The fact that she’s here, in the middle of the action, risking everything to save him.”

  Silence stretched for a few more seconds. Was she hesitating? I decided to push a bit more. “Do you think I’d piss off a shareholder if I didn’t give a shit about him? Do you think I’d get myself shot and stabbed by plasma lances and keep going if I didn’t care about his wellbeing? I’m here because he’s family, and I’ll stop at nothing to protect him. Come on, you know what an asshole your boss is, do you want him to mold that kid into a version of himself?”

  Some more silence. “I’m Georgia, his main security, been on the job for five years. I give a shit about him too… Do you mind if I come with?”

  I blinked, then turned to Lila. This shit? Yeah, her call, not mine. Her helmet turned to me for a few long moments. With the cameras handled, we essentially walked calmly through wide and tall corridors filled with luxury. The paintings on the walls were clearly there due to costs more than quality. “Patch me in.” She said after considering it for a few more moments.

  I did, and she took over. “What’s his favorite color?”

  “Purple.” The answer came fast and without hesitation.

  Lila went on in that vein for a dozen more questions before nodding. “You can come. Open up.”

  Then, a massive wooden looking door opened a dozen meters further in on our right, causing Lila to freeze. She stopped in her tracks, rooted to the spot. I waited on her for a few seconds, but my sister clearly wouldn’t budge for a while.

  Alright, guess I’d have to take care of this one…

  I walked into an eleven years old boy’s dream room, full of models, toys and collectible shit from all over. It was bigger than my old apartment! There was also a bunch of samurai shit, posters, figurines, the works. Huh, might be a good angle?

  Inside, six security officers in heavy armor had their hands away from weapons. I didn’t trust them, but I had a kid to take care of first. If they even twitched towards those guns, I wouldn’t give them the opportunity to be assholes. “Alex, Vincent, guard the door and keep an eye on them.”

  I was still in the doorway, looking at my nephew. On his massive bed, a cute little red headed kid looked at me with confusion. He had his mother’s eyes, hair and nose, clearly. “Hey, can I come in?” I said, my smile hopefully coming across. Poor kid lost some tension at least.

  His eyes were wide, probably worried, but a big gauntlet from who I’d guess was Georgia rested on his shoulder. He nodded and I slowly came closer. “Hi Caleb, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Louis.” My gauntlet retracted and I offered my hand. He took it apprehensively, shaking hands with professionalism his dad might have literally beat into him.

  “Who are you?” He asked with suspicion.

  “I’m your uncle.”

  “I don’t have uncles, father said he eliminated them to prevent su-succession issues…” Wow, great parenting… I knelt in front of him, still not taking my helmet off in front of the suspicious guards. At least the animated eyes helped.

  “I’m your mom’s brother. She sent me to get you.” His eyes became saucers and something like hope and disbelief mixed into them.

  “M-Mom? She’s… No, she’s dead…”

  “I’m sorry Caleb, I thought your father would’ve told you…” Of course the fucking piece of cum drenched garbage wouldn’t… “She’s alive, and she came to get you. She’s been trying to do it for the past eight years, but your father’s very powerful. We went to court, showed them how he treated you and got custody. Do you know what that means?” The boy nodded, so I went on, hoping this would sound right.

  “I’m sorry if you heard some loud scary noises outside. Your father was supposed to hand you over, but since he refused, we had to come ourselves. Would you like to see your mom?” After a bit of hesitation, the kid nodded. “Is there anything you want to bring?”

  “My…” He stopped himself, then braced. “I’d like to bring beaver…” It felt like a sort of test, but he hunched like I was about to smack him. My murderous rage stayed far the fuck away from my animated eyes’ expression.

  “Of course. Anything else? Georgia’s coming with, she can carry some of your stuff.”

  “Georgia’s coming?” He asked, clearly a lot more reassured. The woman’d probably acted as a mother figure in Lila’s absence.

  I smiled. “Of course, she seems very nice. You can hold Beaver while we walk out if it makes you feel better?”

  “Is… is that okay?” He said, quickly retrieving a beaver plushie from under his bed. The thing clearly spent most of its time in there, probably to hide it from his father.

  “Of course, why wouldn’t it be?”

  “Father says plushies are for weak people…” His face looked down, something like self-recrimination in there.

  “Well, he sounds a bit stupid.” Apparently, that little statement shocked him almost as much as hearing that his mother was alive. “Something wrong?”

  “It’s just… no one talks about father like that…”

  “Well, I’m guessing it’s because they’re afraid of him.” I said, getting up and waiting for his head of security (and maybe nanny?) to gather his favorite stuff. She moved with precision, knowing exactly what he’d value. Mostly, she took figurines with care, samurai memorabilia and a few well hidden plushies probably only her and Caleb knew the exact location of.

  “Everyone’s afraid of father…” The boy said, like it was a fact of life.

  “I’m not.”

  “You’re not?”

  “Nop. He’s afraid of me.” The statement was accompanied by a bit of a smile.

  “So… You’re scarier than him?” Apprehension came back with a vengeance, shit.

  “Bad people are always afraid of good people with power, which is why your father ended up afraid of me.” That apparently reassured him. Not surprised I called his dad a bad person, eh?

  I closed my mic as we started moving out. “Altany, got control of the elevators? I don’t want to take the stairs if at all possible.” There could be some nasty surprises in there and I didn’t want to risk getting shot at.

  Yes, and the roof is well secured. You should have a clear path to the Armored Panda Carrier. Follow the arrows on the floor, they’ll lead you to a bank of elevators that should open close to it.

  Right before we left, like the cute as fuck kid he was, Caleb smiled and waved at his security guards. They waved back, clearly a lot nicer and gentler than most in their position. Maybe Georgia selected them.

  The moment we stepped outside, Lila took point. Knowing her, she focused on the mission in order to not lose her shit. She moved with her gun up and pointed, ready to eliminate any threat in milliseconds. I hung back, staying close to Caleb. “I’m sorry, this must be scary. Want to take my hand?” I asked, my armor moving back from it. “Might help a bit.”

  After some more hesitation, he accepted the invitation. In his other, he held his plush beaver close and tight.

  A few moments of obvious internal deliberation later, he asked a question with the bluntness of children. “Why does your armor look weird?”

  I chuckled, hoping it didn’t come off badly. “It’s alien tech, they see things a lot differently.”

  His eyes lit up like crazy! “You have alien tech!?” He asked, almost jumping up and down, his hand squeezing mine for all he was worth.

  “Of course, I’m a samurai.” I said, a small laugh entering my voice.

  “I have a samurai uncle!?” Well, no guessing what he was a fan of!

  “You do. All the people around you? They all use samurai tech.”

  “Really? I thought samurais didn’t give normal people alien stuff usually?”

  “They don’t, but these are my friends. I trust them to use it well.”

  “What’s your gimmick? Can you fly? Are you frontline or are you a cleaner? Do you have a partner? Did you kill a lot of aliens? What’s the biggest model you fought? Oh! Do you have a vehicle? Like a tank or something?”

  I chuckled as we entered an elevator. His hand pulled on mine with excitement, exactly like Alice would. “In order? My gimmick is close-quarters combat, mostly shotguns and strength augmentations. I can’t fly, but I can jump really well and climb walls. My armor moves exactly how I want…” I demonstrated by bringing my other arm near him and making it shift a bunch, even deploying a vibro-blade. “... so I can make claws to grab walls, or add spikes to my feet so I can jump off them.”

  Going from the awestruck look on his face, I was doing a good job! “I do have a samurai partner! I don’t know what you’d consider ‘a lot’ of aliens, but at least a few thousands by this point?” I laughed as his jaw dropped. I used a finger from my other hand to gently close it. “Biggest model I’ve fought? Hmmmmmmmm… In terms of numbers, I’d say model thirteens? Had to deal with an armored variant at one point, nasty f– plants! Biggest physically? Oh, that’s easy, model six’s! They look a lot bigger in person, let me tell you.”

  “As for a vehicle?” The elevator dinged at exactly the right time, which I may or may not have timed. “Well, you’re about to get on it!” Oh man, I loved seeing that kid jump up and down in excitement!

  The roof looked like a god damn warzone! Neither Francis nor the turrets had been subtle or restrained. Thankfully, Caleb only had eyes for the Armored Panda Carrier, its tail deployed in its ‘cover’ configuration. When we got on, I gave the ‘all teams retreat’ order.

  With my mic closed, I asked the important question. “Casualties?”

  Bella, thankfully, reassured me. “Injuries only, no permanent damage. All troops accounted for, moving back.” I took a deep, relieved breath. The moment Francis got on, HMSG pointed outside until the very instant the door closed, we hovered up and away.

  Mission accomplished. Time to go home, with one new addition to our Family.

  ***

  That fucking bitch had his son! Fucking incompetent security and equipment and fucking everybody! He’d fucking fire all those pieces of incompetent shit!

  He told his security forces to go help repel the fucking invaders and shot at them when they gave him some backtalk about his own security!

  He’d have to hire more PMCs, the kind that did inter-corporate wars, yeah, big fucking players! They’d storm that little building of his into dust… It’d get expensive but that shit didn’t matter right now, he had the personal funds. He’d bury them in fucking warships!

  His business calls weren’t going well so far. Apparently, going up against two samurais’ defensive position was unpopular, god damn pussies!

  “You know, there’s a big fucking difference between types of samurais in my experience.” Kevin’s eyes widened as he spun around in his chair, reaching for the gun under his desk. In an instant, some kind of extremely hot machete was planted through the wood and, well, through his emergency gun. Everything around it caught fire…

  “Nice fucking try.” The woman, obviously some kind of samurai, said as she sat in front of his desk. Only then did he realize his security was… decapitated. Blood pooled on the floor in front of their headless bodies. He felt pretty green at that, but wouldn’t show fear! He kept his puke inside with sheer force of will.

  “The fuck’s this about?” He asked, a glare not completely disguising his terror.

  “See, there are more than three or, I don’t know, a thousand different types. Aliens pick weird people with different perspectives and shit, but sometimes, you can get some overall impressions under all the weirdness.” The fuck was this bitch on about? She looked fuckable under the armor but it’s not like he gave a shit at the moment. That armor also had long fucking ears which looked just a bit fucking weird.

  “See, I’ve met a few like Mad Panda, the kind that you get the feeling they’re fucking good people given the power to just keep on keeping on, doing good stuff and shit.” She crossed one leg over the other, somewhat impressive in power armor, before taking a knife out of her bandolier and starting to play with it.

  “I mean, all samurais give somewhat of a fuck about innocent people, but he’s the type that avoids killing whenever possible. I mean, you should see the length he went to not to just massacre his way to your son.” She chuckled darkly. “Although, the people you’d send after his home would not survive a millisecond after getting in range from what I can tell.”

  “You’re trying to convince me not…” The bitch didn’t let him finish.

  “Then there are the righteous types, those like Johnny Law. They’re not necessarily as… nice, they kill a lot easier, feel some fucking satisfaction or even seek out removing shitstains like you, people that they find guilty, which, you’ve fucking been.” A quick look in his augs for reinforcement showed quite a few more headless corpses. Some of them looked less sliced and more… blown up.

  “Then, there are types like me…” The knife in her hand blurred and… he fucking pissed himself… Kevin felt more shame than he could put into words. He’d fucking pissed himself in front of an enemy. If he hadn’t assassinated his dad, the piece of shit would thrash him for hours. He tried to hold it back but… couldn’t?

  “Bad fucking people, vindictive people, given a chance to do something good…”

  Kevin looked down slowly, keeping the enemy in his sight, but soon found something that captured his attention a whole lot more.

  “You hurt the girl I like…” That voice had grown colder than he’d ever heard anyone sound.

  But the pool of blood between his legs stole every ounce of attention he had…

  The few minutes of life he was afforded after that were clearly not for mercy’s sake…