We’d just been swindled. I definitely would’ve fallen for it, but Risky was used to the dealer’s shady ways, so she caught on to it in a heartbeat.

She shot out the tire of his panel van and it capsized. I’d bet her hand was sore after slapping the engine grease off his face. “Where’s the core, Terry?!” she asked.

“I, I, just bought it from this guy! I didn’t realise the core was missing!” Terry the mechanic pleaded with her to spare him.

But nope, she shot him in the leg. “I’ve got a lot of bullets remaining,” she said, pressing the hot muzzle of the gun against his cheek.

“A-alright! Alright! Fucking hell, Risky! Look, I got it from this slave trader.”

“You buy slaves?” Risky asked.

“Of course not, you fucking crackhead!” Terry barked. “The trader takes his slaves’ stuff and sells them off for some extra cash. I buy parts and scraps from him, okay? I actually care about human life, unlike you.”

Risky grinded her boot into his bullet wound, “Give me a name.”

“Why don’t you stick that metal hand up your ass and fuck off?” Terry tried fighting her off, only to get shot in the other leg. He yelped in pain and sweated profusely.

“I can’t guarantee I won’t hit an artery, honey. Now, give me a name,” Risky threatened.

After heavy panting, Terry looked at her. “Dammit! I don’t know his name! But he operates next to the museum, okay?! Fuck!”

Risky finally put her gun away, “Thank you, Terry. I hope that’s accurate information,” she gently ruffled his hair, “for your sake.”

We figured, if the slave trader sold Terry the superconductor, then he’d probably have the core it needed. So, we went to the museum and aside it was a mansion. The gate was beautifully designed, the hedges were well-trimmed. In the courtyard was a cherub water fountain surrounded by old-fashioned brick walkways. Those walkways divided the lush green lawn and led further into the premises.

The damn place stuck out like a sore thumb, or perhaps I’d gotten too used to the ragged parts of Alkell City. Guarding the gate were two guards. Sunglasses, suit and tie, earpiece; they were the whole package.

“Hi!” Risky said, blasting her way through without giving the men chance to defend themselves.

I smacked her upside the head, “Do you have to do everything like that?”

She turned around playfully and nodded, “And you love it, don’t you?” That damned woman was incorrigible.

“No!” I scolded, “I have to keep bailing your ass out from shit situations because you can’t calm your tits.” With my sniper drawn, I peeped through it and made sure there were no snipers atop the mansion.

Despite my efforts to be covert, the bitch just kicked the gate open and paraded through without a care in the world. “That ain’t the only thing you like to do to my ass.”

Why do I even bother? I groaned and unclipped my SMG. Unlike her, I was quite cautious, so I took my time and made sure there were no surprise enemies hidden in the hedges of the expansive yard. Why are there so many goddamn bushes? I grunted.

Risky walked right up to the door, and I went around to the sides of the house and peeked through the windows. “Yeah, okay, figured. Oel, you should probably just let her get shot in the ass a couple times. It’d be a good lesson for her,” I spoke to myself after noticing the dozens of men waiting for the intruder inside the foyer of the mansion.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

I heard the loud banging that was Risky attempting to kick the door down. The guards’ guns were cocked and waiting. Why? I questioned, pulling a couple smoke grenades out. Why do I always have to make up for her dumb ideas? As Risky continued kicking, more men swarmed the area, and most of them were behind cover. How did she live before she met me? Christ.

I used a suppressed pistol to shoot a part of the window that would allow me to entire easily. I made sure to time the shot with the rhythm of Risky’s kicking. Instead of starting with the smoke grenades, I started with a flashbang, then meticulously threw the other two smoke grenades in positions where the smoke would take up most of the gigantic room.

Risky got fed up and shot the door, then busted open, only to find the place cover in smoke. She wasted no time in cussing me out.

I moved to another window the moment that the flashbang went off and entered, using my SMB to mow my way through as many goons as possible. I hid behind a column, and suddenly heard footsteps encroaching. The gunfire made it a little hard to notice at first. It was Risky, madly running in my direction. When she noticed me in her peripheral vision, she drew her gun at me instantly.

“So, you come here often?” she grinned.

I rolled my eyes and pointed my pistol to the side of me. The first footstep that came into my line of sight made me pull the trigger and plant a bullet in the calve of the man. Risky finished him with a shot to the head. I signed at that.

All of my weapons were suppressed so I wouldn’t make unnecessary noise, but not Risky’s. She would constantly give out my location anytime she was close to me, which put me in danger – I didn’t need that. However, I had to deal with it anyway.

After a deep breath, I briskly moved across to another column while shooting at the guards covering behind the second-floor balcony. I took out four of them, and quickly ducked behind the dining table in the centre of the room. It was pretty smoky still, but Risky’s unhinged nature caught their attention, which made them almost forget I was there.

In the midst of the gunfire, I began picking them out one by one. Once they realised that they were being taken out, I moved to the centre staircase to get good aim at those I couldn’t see before.

But we probably had over twenty enemies remaining. Luckily, we had enough ammo to last through the ordeal. Finally, we shot our way through. Sometimes it irked me just how good I became at murder.

We arrived at the big boy running this show. He was hiding in his office, which was a bit reinforced. “Aw, why you playin’ hard-to-get, hon?” Risky shouted and started attaching an explosive on the door.

Y-you had a bomb in your coat during a gunfight? That can’t be a smart move, right?

After I covered my ears and the bomb exploded, Risky was ready to go in guns blazing, but a few bullets made her think otherwise. She quickly backstepped. “Hey, that’s dangerous!” she yelled.

So, the pot calls the kettle black, huh?

She gestured for us to go upstairs. That smug face she had told me a dumb idea was going through her head. “Dip me down,” she said, with a stupid grin on her face. Well, I only allowed it because of a lack of better ideas.

I held onto her ankles and wherever her toes pointed, I would direct her. So, she slowly descended whilst hanging upside-down with my SMG ready. With two shots, she took out the couple of security guards that our target had with him.

I swung her and she landed deftly, then strolled inside the office. I jumped down right after and entered as well. The man was furious, so much so that we could see the vein in the middle of his forehead.

“We lookin’ for a supercon core. Wouldn’t happen to know where that might be, would ya?” Risky sat on his desk with her gun pointed at him.

He grumbled and began opening a safe in the wall. I kept my gun pointed at him, just in case, whilst Risky got distracted and began going through a big log book on his desk. When he came back with the core, Risky held him by the tie and brought his face down to the book. “These your slaves, right? Where’s Marcus T’lano?”

“In the cells,” the slave trader choked because of Risky’s hand gripping around his neck. “He’s in the damn cells.”

“Kindly escort us,” she said, releasing him.

We walked through a sea of dead guards and out into the courtyard. There was a container there, quite a strange thing in an estate like that. However, it led underground. There were dozens upon dozens of small cells with a bunch of people in them. Most were women. Sex trafficking I guess.

“Hey you, how you been? I’m here to rescue ya,” Risky eyed a scrawny man.

His eyes bulged in fear, “Oh, god, no! Someone help me! Keep her away from me!”