What the hell… I got caught off my guard a little. Cennet showed no signs of realising I bugged their rendezvous point, yet he knew somehow. Whatever. I flew out, my TK at the sides. By the time I got there, the young man Cennet called Stan was already gone, but he remained.

“I trust you don’t believe that flash drive makes us friends…” I greeted, brandishing the handgun and aiming it at him.

“Oh Jared,” he smiled, “I wouldn’t count on it.”

My TK’s cannons pointed at him, firing only after I did. Cennet was hit in the shoulder from my shot. It almost seemed like his skin and muscle dematerialised, leaving only a carmine opening atop the shoulder. He was able to dodge the TK’s blasts after, which only proved he simply wanted to test me.

“That’s an interesting toy!” He ran around one of the columns and one of his TS picked him up, flying off with him. Immediately, we gave chase, but his head-start in front of us put him near a building under construction. The TS released him when they got close to the building and he landed on one of the concrete floors, rolling and skating until he found his balance again. I flew in, Z-21 in hand and swung sideways once I got close enough. In reflex, he put a hand up and it was cut clean off. He flinched, giving me the perfect opportunity to then aim for his neck, unfortunately, the speed was going at didn’t allow such a convenience. I had to make a hard brake and turn around, but he was already running away from me. Like a madman, he leapt–putting Olympic long-jumpers to shame–and sled down a crane. Shooting after him would only result in property damage, so would Z-21 if I tried to decollate whilst he scaled down the jib.

I followed along with Grav, flying around him but he kept putting the crane between both of us as he kept jumping downwards. His TS flew to me, tackling me and going straight to the ground. Instead, I redirected our nosedive and we slammed into the crane, keeping me somewhat close to Cennet. I was about to stick Z-21 into the android, but figured that would be a waste of time. “TS, stand down!” I commanded and it obeyed without fail. “Power down! TK, hit the manual kill switch and carry it. Follow and do not engage!”

At that point, Cennet already landed on the ground safely. I flew towards him again, gaining on him quickly. Z-21 was aimed right at his neck this time, but he simply ducked, then stuck his hand up and gripped me by the ankle, making me smash into the ground face-first. I turned around, ready to slice his other hand off, but he stamped down on my wrist, totally breaking it and forcing my release of Z-21. I yelped in pain, but didn’t let it stop me from drawing the pistol and shooting two blasts of Ugo energy at him. The first one missed, the second hit him right in the sternum but he batted the gun away before I could release a third shot. He coughed blood right onto me, but didn’t afford me the luxury of fighting back. Despite the very damaged sternum and ribs, he kicked the living daylights out of me. Dammit! Not again! Fuck this! I rammed my elbow into his shin with all my might, breaking it. Oh, I forgot I have White now. He hopped back on his good leg, but I clipped his ankle with my feet, making him fall over. Right there, I made Grav power up to simulate a blast of UGO energy. It ruined it other feet, the ankle barely hanging on in its grotesque state. However, it blasted be back a few metres, making me flip over on my stomach. I stood up and grabbed Z-21, levitating towards him. “Die!” I yelled, coming down from the levitation to end him.

Just then, another TS tackled me, sending me airborne then smashing a bottle of some type of liquid in my face. It sprayed out, as if the contents were pressurised. In reflex, I inhaled, then blacked out.

When I came to, there were some bystanders surrounding me, but refusing to help. The TK stood over me like a guardian angel, the powered-off TS still slung over its shoulder. I figured that’s the reason they didn’t attempt to help me. And the TS probably couldn’t relieve my TK of the android it captured without Cennet’s help anyway, so it was left for dead.

By the time I awoke, my body was already fully healed. My TK gave me back my pistol. Without hesitation, I returned to the place under the bridge where Cennet’s little drop-off was held. Too bad I didn’t grab that damn file, I rued, but at least the devices are still here. Without wasting any time, I phoned Mr Andino, but no one answered. After this repeated a few times, I called his brother, Ferris, to ask for his home address.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

I sent the TK to the lab to wait, then flew over to Mr Andino’s neighbourhood. Once I was close enough to his residence, I switched off Grav’s boosters in favour of simply walking. My blood-stained shirt wouldn’t have been something I wanted seen, so I steered clear of street lights. Sneaking around his backyard, I couldn’t see any activity inside. Suddenly, I heard a scream. Cindy?! I thought, judging from the shrillness of it. I cut open the window’s burglar proofing then jumped inside, unsheathing Z-21, but not turning it on. Cutting Cindy by mistake would be no joke. I opened a bedroom, but there was nothing going on there. Another scream pierced the air and I rushed towards the living room, not minding my footsteps. Considering the size of the living room, I opted for my pistol instead. Just before I hit the corner, I stopped, then suddenly broke the corner and aimed my pistol only to see a pistol aimed right back at me.

Mr Andino was lodged behind his couch, expecting company. We froze in our positions, guns pointed, and that’s when I noticed he was watching a horror movie. “Are you kidding me?”

“Ugo?” His eyes squinted trying to discern that it was actually me with only the television’s light working in service of him. We both put our weapons down.

“Hey,” I waved awkwardly and pointed back, “I’ll pay for your window. Anyway, is Cindy safe?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t she be?” she shrugged, a hint of suspicion buried in his eyes.

“She called me to… Well I thought she called me to… Who the hell called me?”

“Slow down, Ugo. Take a seat.” He offered, but I refused on the notion I’d be out of there quickly.

“Got a call from your number this evening. There was a conversation between you and Cennet to meet up under the big bridge. I thought Cennet forced you into something and figured Cindy called my phone so I could hear what was going on. But after that I never got through to you. You weren’t even at the scene.”

“H-hold up right there, mister. What are you, a detective? You can’t jus–”

“Mr Andino!” I raised my voice just a little bit, enough to stop what he was saying but not enough to sound disrespectful. I still had respect for the man. “Please understand, I’ve been past the lecture stage ever since my parents died. So tell me, do you know who ‘Stan’ is or am I wasting my time?”

Mr Andino’s mouth gaped open. His knees buckled and he dropped his gun, following it onto his couch afterward. “He’s…” Samuel muttered so I moved in closer to hear him, “Stan’s my son. Or was. I don’t know!”

“Oh!” I placed the pistol back into my makeshift holster and laughed at myself, “That’s why he sounded just like you.” I borrowed his computer and showed him the video. “Does that look like him?”

“That’s him! What the fuck’s going on! My son…” he went through some emotions that night. From anger to anxiety, touching the surface of morose and running along the paths of curiosity. But, one thing that didn’t change, was his newfound resolve to find out what the hell really happened to his son and get him back.

“Today’s been a wild day,” I leaned back, then suddenly stood up after gathering my thoughts. “Okay, I gotta head home. Anna’s probably worried. Listen, uh, your son’s case, was it under investigation by the police or TEO?”

“Us, the TEO,” he replied a bit despondent.

“Okay, good. I don’t know what Cennet has to do with your son, but more than likely he has an inside man in the TEO. Otherwise the false reports of his death wouldn’t have been planted like that. I’ll need you to send me everything you have on the case, but be careful. Trust no one. One other thing… I’ll need you to get those files in a way that would leave a trace to you. Well,” I pocketed my hands, “that’s if you even want to know who the inside man is at this point.”

He nodded, getting a little quieter. I worried that he would show that side of him to Cindy, but it’s not like I knew anything about being a father so I didn’t open my mouth about it. Instead, I just quietly left for the night, making a mental note to pay him back for the window.

When I got home, Anna was already in sleepwear, but peering out the balcony. I wouldn’t have noticed if the light wasn’t on. I landed next to her and she hugged me immediately. “Wait!” I tried to push her off, “The blood will get on you!”

“Blood?!” She took a step back. “Jared… whose is that?”

“Cennet’s.” I stretched my arms upward and rubbed my eyes into a yawn. “There’s so much to tell you, but, uh,” I looked at her up and down, “looks like you’re ready for bed.”

“You mean there’s more after the big shootout which you clearly shouldn’t have been involved in?”

I nodded my head and she simply sighed. “Go freshen up and tell me everything.”

That’s all I wanted to hear, really. When I came back to her room, she was reading some emails on her laptop. CEO work never seemed to slow down. She patted the side of her bed. “From the top. I want to know how grounded you should be.”

I chuckled nervously. But in truth, telling her this felt like a big weight off my shoulder. We talked until I fell asleep.