Blinding fluorescent light assaulted Rei’s senses as she gradually clawed her way back to consciousness, her eyelids fluttering sluggishly. A soft, rhythmic beeping filled her ears–the unmistakable tone of a hospital monitor.
As she blinked groggily, a striped, equine face swam into focus above her, the zebra hybrid nurse offering a placating smile.
“Easy there, Miss Young. You’re safe now. Just try to relax.”
Instinctively, Rei attempted to heave herself upright–only for a searing lance of pain to shoot through her skull. A strangled groan escaped her as she crumpled back against the starched sheets, one hand rising to gingerly probe the throbbing knot along her brow.
“Don’t try to move too much yet,” the nurse chided softly. “You took quite a nasty blow to the head.”
Fragments of memory tricked back through the fog - the docks...the ambush...Baby Shark’s monstrous, unstoppable form as he battered them aside like rag dolls...
Rei’s ears flattened against her skull as dread coiled in the pit of her stomach. “L-Luna...where’s my sister?”
As if summoned by her desperate plea, the tattered curtain parted, revealing Luna stood rigid beside Rally’s hulking frame. Relief and chagrin warred across her delicate features as their eyes met.
Then, without preamble, she crossed the room in two strides and laid Rei out with a stinging slap across the cheek.
“You idiot!” Luna’s words dripped with venom as she towered over Rei, ears pinned back, and tail lashing furiously. “We almost died because of your idiocy! That walking shark tank was going to splatter our brains across the docks!”
Rei recoiled as if struck again, her ears folding in shame and bruised jaw throbbing. “I... I underestimated him, I know...” she rasped, unable to meet her twin’s blazing glare. “But you agreed to the plan, Luna! We had to act!”
“And look where acting got us!” Luna flung an accusing hand towards the myriad of monitors and IV lines snaking from Rei’s battered form. “You in traction, and me thinking we were fish food...”
Pushing herself upright with gritted teeth, Rei fixed her sister with an anguished look. “So what? We just quit? Give up on the debt and our whole career?”
Luna seemed to deflate, shoulders slumping as resignation crept into her voice. “If that’s the price we have to pay to stay alive...” She shook her head slowly, clasping Rei’s trembling paw between both of hers. “I’d rather lose the spotlight than my life, sis.”
Their eyes bored into each other, years of memories and unspoken emotions passing between them in that fraught gaze. Rei opened her mouth to protest–to plead, to bargain...
But Rally cleared his throat, the gravelly rumble putting an abrupt halt to the charged moment. “Easy there, kittens. Claws away.”
He moved to stand beside the bed, his expression uncharacteristically somber as he regarded them. “Luna’s got a point, Rei. You took one helluva beating, pulling that crazy stunt.”
One massive hand settled on Rei’s shoulder with surprising tenderness. “Mistakes are gonna happen in this line of work. Cost of doin’ business and all that.” He shrugged, the simple motion betraying the truth of too many past brushes with mortality.
“But she’s right–you gotta know when to cut bait, too. Ain’t no bounty worth your lives.”
Rei’s throat tightened. “I don’t care. I whether die than live on the street without a future.”
Luna’s blue eyes widened. “Seriously, sis? Is that all you care about? Not even me?”
Rei glared at the marble floor below her bed, only giving her sister silence.
Luna slowly rose, untangling her fingers from her twin’s with a lingering, mournful squeeze. “Then I guess this is goodbye for now.”
Panic surged through Rei, white-hot and cloying as she struggled upright. “L-Luna, wait! Don’t do this...don’t leave me!”
But Luna’s eyes shone with resolve, her chin lifted and jaw set in that stubborn, immovable way Rei knew all too well. “I’m done, sis,” she said, so quietly that the words damn near broke Rei’s heart. “With all of it–K-pop, bounties... all of it.”
As she swept from the room, Rei could only gape after her, mute and stricken as the fragments of their shared life crumbled to ash around her. Her throat constricted until she could scarcely breathe, the vise of her world unraveling squeezing the air from her lungs.
A solitary, ragged sob escaped as Rally moved to perch on the edge of the bed, one meaty arm encircling her quivering shoulders. “Hey...I’m here, kitty. Just breathe, alright?”
But the words seemed tinny and distant, a mere whisper against the roaring torrent that threatened to drown her utterly. Her chest felt hollowed out, a raw, gaping wound where Luna’s presence had been–the twin flame that flickered at her core slowly guttering.
As the blackness encroached once more, a single thought echoed through the void, deafening in its stark simplicity:
What was she without her sister by her side?
*****
The neon haze of the Laser Blast bar seemed to pulse in time with the throbbing ache behind Rei’s eyes as she nursed her third soda of the evening. Slouched alone at the battered counter, she stared morosely into the depths of her glass, watching the ice cubes slowly dissolve into watery oblivion.
Just like her dreams...her future... her whole damn life was melting away without Luna by her side.
A week had crawled by in a numbing fog since that disastrous night at the docks–since her own reckless gambit had cost them so dearly. Seven endless days of scouring their empty suite, calling Luna’s holo phone until the battery died, hoping against fading hope that her twin would reappear.
But that’s the thing about hope–it has an infuriatingly dogged way of persisting, no matter how much cold reality tries to extinguish its stubborn flame.
And so Rei carried on, drinking alone and haunting their familiar old haunts, tormented by the phantom echoes of better times.
“You look like gehenna warmed over, gatita.”
The gruff, tinny voice startled her from her morose reverie. Chico lean across the countertop, his salt-and-pepper muzzle crinkled in a mixture of concern and sardonic amusement.
Sighing, Rei traced condensation patterns through the puddle beneath her empty glass. “Just... lot on my mind lately, Chico.”
One cat ear flicked upwards in a silent question, and she found the words tumbling unbidden from her lips.
“I...we had a falling out. Luna and me.” Her throat tightened around her estranged sister’s name. “After the whole Baby Shark ambush, she...she said this life was too dangerous. That she was done - with the bounties, the whole idol dream...”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
She trailed off, hand clenching around the cool, damp glass until her knuckles turned white. “She just up and left, Chico. Walked out on me, on everything we’ve worked for...”
Chico made a soft tutting sound, reaching across to pat her paw with one gnarled metal digit. “Kid, you listen here, airight? I been tendin’ this dive long enough to have seen more bounty crews than I can count come blazin’ through those doors. The good runs, the bad jobs... the real tight-knit packs that were thicker’n thieves.”
His rheumy gaze softened as he leaned in closer. “But even the closest hunters go through rough patches now an’ again. Get split up, go solo for a while till they get their heads screwed on straight.”
A ragged breath shuddered through Rei’s slender frame. “But... Luna was more than just my crew,” she rasped. “She’s my other half, Chico. Without her, I’m... I’m just half a person.”
With surprising tenderness, the grizzled bartender reached up to grasp her chin, tilting her downcast face until their eyes met. “Now you listen to me, gatita. You’re one of the fiercest, most stubborn young bucks to ever darken my cantina’s doors. Way too much moxie and fire in you to let a little split up knock you on your ass like this.”
A wry grin split his jowls as he nodded towards the battered chronometer mounted above the bar. “You still got a hot bounty dancin’ around, last I checked? Only a few cycles left before that debt comes callin’, don’t it?”
Rei’s ears flattened at the unpleasant reminder of the looming deadline, dogging her every step.
“You want my advice?” Chico continued, his tone leaving no room for argument. “Dust yourself off, get back in the saddle, and go bag that scaled sonuvabitch once and for all. Prove to that hard-headed sister of yours that you still got what it takes.”
His cybernetic paw gave her shoulder an encouraging squeeze. “Ain’t nothin’ that’ll snap her back around quicker than a big, fat pay windfall and your pretty mug plastered across every newsfeed, I’ll wager.”
For what felt like the first time in cycles, the ghost of a smile tugged at the corners of Rei’s mouth as she nodded slowly. The prospect of facing Baby Shark again sent a frisson of dread lancing through her – but Chico was right. She couldn’t wallow in despair and inaction, not with the debt collector’s crosshairs trained squarely on their backs.
Drawing a steadying breath, she met the wily old barkeep’s knowing gaze. “You’re right, Chico. As usual...”
Pushing herself up from the counter with renewed determination, Rei squared her shoulders and bared her fangs at a future suddenly awash with possibilities once more.
“I’ll start digging for that slippery bastard in the morning,” she declared, the taste of the words like ash and iron on her tongue. “He’s got another thing coming if he reckons little old me is gonna roll over and quit.”
Chico chittered an approving laugh as he swept Rei’s drained glass into the recycler. “That’s my girl!” he crowed. “You go get ‘em, gatita. But try to keep those nine lives intact this time, eh? I like having you young hooligans around to keep an old ‘borg on his toes.”
As Rei strode from the cantina, a renewed swagger in her step, she couldn’t help but chuckle ruefully at Chico’s parting words.
“Yeah...no kidding. Thank the Ancestors you don’t have any teenage daughters yourself, old-timer.”
The doors hissed closed behind her, sealing her off from the neon-lit refuge as she ventured out into the gleaming labyrinth of the HUB.
One way or another, she’d drag her and Luna’s future back from the brink of oblivion–even if she had to claw through the rotten guts of every lowlife on this rock to do it.
As always, failure simply wasn’t an option.
Not for a Kat-X.
*****
The familiar whir and clang of Hiro’s ramshackle workshop greeted Rei as she stepped through the battered door, sidestepping the haphazard piles of half-built gadgets and gutted spare parts littering the floor. The pungent aroma of solder and ozone hung thick in the air, curling her sensitive nostrils.
“Yo, Hiro!” she called over the cacophony of buzzing tools and whirring machinery. “You’re burning another motherboard in here or what?”
“Quiet down, would ya?” the young norm tech groused, not looking up from the tangle of wiring and circuitry spread across his cluttered workbench. “Delicate work here needs my full attention.”
Rolling her eyes good-naturedly, Rei picked her way towards him, having to hop over a pile of gutted security drones. “Well, if it isn’t too much trouble, I could use some of that famous full-attention myself for a hot minute.”
That got his ears perking up as he finally swiveled around on his stool, visor flipped up to fix her with an appraising look. “Now what kinda trouble has my best little wildcat gotten herself into this time?”
Rei took a steadying breath, suddenly hesitant to give voice to her predicament. “It’s... a bit of a situation, Hiro. You heard about the docks fiasco last cycle?”
His brows knitted together in a scowl. “With that slippery shark-punk Baby Shark? Who hasn’t - damn near every bounty crew in the sector’s been burning cycles trying to track that guy down ever since.”
“Well...” Rei swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. “Turned out me and Luna were two of the lucky saps who damn near got ourselves laqued going up against that walking megalodon.”
Understanding flickered across Hiro’s weathered features as he studied her diminished frame, seeming to take in the haunted look in her eyes for the first time. “I see...so that’s why your excitable shadow ain’t here hollering her fool head off at me.”
He let out a low whistle. “Luna finally reached the end of her rope with this life, eh? Damn shame. You two were one of the few hunter squads I actually had hopes for in this pit.”
Rei ducked her head, ears folding back in a mixture of shame and grief. “She, uh... she decided this wasn’t the dream she signed up for after all,” she admitted in a small voice. “Nearly getting our tails handed to us by that shark was the final straw.”
She shook her head bitterly, fuming more at her own recklessness than her sister’s choice. “Luna’s gone - left Moreau or crawled under some rock to live out the rest of her days with all her pieces intact. Can’t say I blame her...”
Hiro watched her through narrowed eyes for a long moment before sighing, roughly raking his hand through his short black hair.
“You stubborn little furball... lemme guess - you’re here because you still wanna have one more crack at bagging that oversized guppy, ain’tcha?”
A tremulous grin tugged at Rei’s lips as she nodded. “Has to be done, Hiro. If we - ... if I don’t bring him in soon, we’ll lose everything we’ve worked for. The debt’s still gotta get paid.”
The young human huffed out a gruff chuckle that might’ve been grudging respect. “Of course it does...yer damn fool hunter’s pride wouldn’t let you turn tail and run from that oversized mackerel even if you wanted to, would it?”
Their eyes met, and Rei drew herself up straighter - managing to dredge up some semblance of her usual cocky swagger.
“You know me too well, norm. So are you gonna lend a hand here, or do I gotta find a new tech guy to pimp me out with that sweet, sweet intel?”
Grumbling something uncomplimentary about dumb cats and their perpetual death wishes, Hiro swung back around to his multi-screened computer rig, his fingers already flying across the haptic interfaces.
“I still got a few hooks in some of the scummier data-streams around here,” he rumbled, eyes narrowing behind his visor as window after window began flickering open. “Let’s see if old Sharkface has left any little breadcrumbs for us to follow...”
For several tense minutes, the only sounds were the clacking of keys and the low thrum of the computer tower’s fans as line after line of coded gibberish scrolled across the displays. Just when Rei started to feel that sinking sense of despair creeping back in, Hiro let out a grunt of satisfaction.
“Got him - a little whisper buried deep in the dark streams about some kinda illicit deal going down.” He jabbed a finger towards one of the auxiliary screens, where a map of the city’s industrial sector shimmered into view - a pulsating crimson dot indicating their mark’s location.
Rei leaned in eagerly, hope flaring in her chest once more. “Lay it on me, Hiro - where’s that finned freak holed up this time?”
The wizened old tech flashed her a toothy grin, looking almost as jacked as she felt. “Remember those old chemical refineries down by the rail yards? Seems our boy’s got himself a nice, cozy little smuggler’s den nestled right inside their toxic squalor.”
His expression sobered as his rheumy eyes bored into hers with unusual intensity. “But if you’re still jonesing to throw down with him one more time...you’d better have a plan, that’s more buttoned down than just strolling in through the front door.”
Rei snorted, already feeling the thrill of the hunt coursing through her veins and banishing the lingering tendrils of despair.
“What, and take all the fun out of it for the big lug?” Her grin widened to show fangs. “Nah, I think I’ll take it nice and easy on ole Sharkbait - save all the brutal trickery for whoever inevitably comes to collect your sorry carcass once this is all over.”
Chuckling dryly, Hiro stooped to rummage in a battered tool crate before straightening, with two metallic objects clenched in his fist.
“Then at least take these as a little... insurance policy, seeing as how you got no cooler head alongside to balance out your terminal case of stupid heroics these days.”
He dropped the objects into her outstretched palm - a pair of wicked-looking shock gloves, their knuckle casings bristling with crackling discharge nodes.
“Got a charge potent enough to drop a full-grown alpha tusker at ten paces,” Hiro grunted. “Should be enough juice to give that walking marine tank of yours a decent zap on the snout.”
Awestruck, Rei turned the gloves over in her hands, admiring the faint molecular etchings, giving evidence to countless miniaturized circuit pathways woven into the gleaming alloy.
She met Hiro’s watchful gaze and grinned, genuine hope and determination blazing in her ruby eyes. “Don’t worry, tech-brain. With these sweet little numbers, I’ll make sure that sharktaur gets a taste of live current he won’t soon forget.”
As she strode from the workshop, shock gloves already adorning her hands and glinting with restrained potential, Rei felt the fire truly reignite in her soul once more. Baby Shark’s days of eluding her grasp were swiftly drawing to a close.
Whether he realized it or not, their reckoning was nigh - and this time, there’d be no escape from the Kat-X hellcat’s wrath.