Walking through the streets of downtown District 50, Kazuki was reminded of how bright the cityscape was. Endless adverts, neon lights and a sparkling facade that he always wanted to forget, not like he could though. Eliza simply looked through her notes as she walked, ignoring the sounds of a metro train that whizzed by overhead.

Snow continued to fall down. It created a wonderful facade, Kazuki thought. Arriving at the restaurants, they quickly took up their reservation. Though it was at one of the outside tables, Eliza confessed to the two of them that the inside reservations were too expensive. Even as a member of the 'aristocracy', her family was far from all riches.

But he didn't care about that. Nor did he care about the food. To him, a dead mor-rat would taste the same as a five-star Kasté restaurant's forte meal. Archius commented, acting as if he hadn't been off-world for the past year, "Finally, I get to splurge out on my friend's money!"

"Hey!" Eliza interjected, then paused, "You know what? Fine!"

The open street view was nice, the cool night breeze ran up the roads, and the atmosphere was… decent, he guessed. Dozens of cultures were present on every street were such a banal thing that intrigued him. The mixture of colours, tradition and cultures made the planet into a melting pot of ideas; from honourable Anagoran, savvy Lautrasian, opulent Theos and the colourful chaos of Jinirab.

Approaching the table, a waitress dressed in the most professional of clothes asked, "May I have the honour of taking your orders?"

Archius skimmed through the menu for a second. Kazuki glanced at the window of the store, seeing two Kasté stars on it. He silently snickered at the thought of Archius not being able to understand the menu because of how posh it was. He was correct for the most part.

"Uh…" Archius squinted at the menu. Kaz took a glance at his own menu, seeing many dishes that even he didn't know existed… or maybe that was just because he was never into food. "I'll have whatever the dish of the day is."

The waitress paused for a moment. "Sir, we don't have a dish of the day. But if you are having trouble, I cannot help but recommend the Laéfea steak loins with Cárakas sauce."

She leaned over the table, pointing at the item on the menu whilst slipping Archius a holo note. Kazuki took note of it. It had a hiccup code on it… He hasn't touched the app in years, and the logo seemed to have changed. Even so, he still remembers the thirty-digit long codes they gave out.

"I'd love that, thank you, madame" said Archius, acting nonchalant as if he didn't embarrassingly mess up his order in front of his friend. Said friend will remember this incident for the rest of time and will bring it up in front of everyone.

He gave the waitress a smirking grin. Eliza didn't notice it. Probably for the best. Archius always was the sly one. Looking at it objectively, as much as Kazuki would hate to admit it verbally, Archius was handsome.

"I'll have the same," stated Kazuki, learning from Archius' failure.

The waitress nodded at the two of them, before turning to Eliza. "How about you, madame?"

"The Persuarí, please," said Eliza, looking up from the menu to the waitress. Of course, she chose something more splendid.

"Ah, wonderful choice." She nodded and turned to walk away as Kazuki placed his menu down, deactivating the holographic projection as he slid the slab into a small tray in the centre of the table.

"Archius, what've you been doing, then?" asked Kazuki. After what Archius did, he had no choice but to keep up the lie.

But before he could respond with another lie of his own, the waitress turned back to them. Eliza was the first to take note as she glanced up at her from a massive compilation of notes.

Archius' dull emerald green eyes slid to look at the waitress, forming a strained personality. She cleared her throat, "Ah, sorry monsieurs, it's just that I thought the name sounded familiar to a star of... similar resemlance…" One of Archius' rare pressure points: his career in the film industry. Short it was.

Kazuki shot a look at Archius. Maybe she was just one of Archius' associates he knew back in university… or maybe she was just one of his many unknowing informants, he doubted that anyone would've remembered him, Archius was old news. Eliza shot a look at Archius as he scratched the back of his head.

"Uh… you probably just misheard…" Archius trailed off. Kazuki's eyes glanced over at him, noting down a sense of genuine discomfort.

"Well, I apologise." She nodded before walking away. But before the whole situation could be resolved, Eliza's curiosity got the better of her.

"Now that I think about it, didn't you used to be in the entertainment industry?" asked Eliza. "Before you transferred over to Sarimba High." Of all times Eliza decides to analyse the situation now?

Kazuki remembered Archius' time in that hell all too well back during their high school years. Luckily, it seems like Eliza was too busy with studying and getting lines on her CV than paying close attention to him.

But to his surprise, Archius nodded. He placed his hands together as he leaned forward towards Eliza. "Yeah, I don't want to talk about it…"

The 'normally' bright Archius faltered as Kazuki patted him on the back for a second as Eliza withdrew her curiosity. It wasn't his true face, but it was far from friendly, with hints of regret in it. The perfect concoction for sympathies. Maybe Jas' memory was still fresh in Archius, Kazuki thought.

"Ah, sorry if I—"

"No, no, it's only natural for you to be curious," interjected Archius, putting on a fake smile that fooled Eliza. Kazuki remained still as he looked over towards Eliza's hologram notepad. It was first-year material.

She slowly nodded, "Well, I won't pry any further, if you so desire."

"I appreciate that," stated Archius, his voice slowly decaying away into his normal, blank, hollow husk of a being.

He solemnly closed his eyes for a moment. After all they went through, nothing they do will ever wipe away the past. He tried to throw the conversation in a different direction.

"Eliza, I thought you were in your second year," said Kazuki.

Eliza's face lit up as he took interest. "Well, I took a break from uni after what happened. But I've been trying to catch up."

She showed Kazuki a section of her notes, flipping through the mass of pages and documents quickly. He read it all in the blink of a moment. She knew he'd remember it.

"You're losing a lot of time by being here," said Kazuki. Either way, Kazuki knew Eliza would be on top of this. She was an unrivalled student. Lacking in her political skills, but no one is perfect.

She shook her head and said, "I can put time aside for studying later."

"Then why are you looking over your notes?" asked Kazuki.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

She scratched her head, then looked down at the extensive amount of study material she had lying on her docu-pad. She quickly slid it into her pocket as its projection came off. "Ah, force of habit. My apologies, Kaz."

"There's nothing to be sorry for," said Kazuki.

He felt a prick come to his back as his head started to roll. He squinted slightly as he rummaged through his left pocket, taking out a pill and swallowing it full. The Halolazil felt smooth.

Whilst it stopped the pain in his exospine, his headache only grew in intensity. He always had headaches, ever since the Ptolemy Incident. His father told him that erratic headaches run in the family, but he always warned him to pay attention when it does.

Apparently, his uncle and aunt had headaches shortly before their deaths. His aunt was killed by the Imperials and his uncle was during the Incident. But as he tried to ignore the pain, it grew. Even harder. To the point that Archius and Eliza glanced over, wondering.

"Kaz?" asked Archius, preparing for the worst.

"Is something wrong?" Eliza tilted her head to the side. "I can get you some water if you'd like."

Something snapped. As he looked up, his golden eyes shot to look beyond the fenced area of the restaurant's outside seating area next to Archius. He could feel the vibrations of a stress-filled heart beating, the aching of sweat in the air. His senses all crashed. His experimental exospine flooded adrenaline into his system. A figure turned towards him - his aug-glasses lit up with threat warnings. A hooded figure within the crowd was all it showed.

∗ ∗ ∗

A second of silence murmured in the air; Archius watched as without a single nanosecond of hesitation, Kazuki's eyes flickered on with a gold hue. His hand shot down into his hidden holster as he saw two steel objects slowly push out both parties.

Realising what was about to go down, he leaned backwards. Kazuki pulled out his pistol and fired a shot directly into a hooded man.

They fell, but a stray round narrowly missed Kazuki; Archius felt the heat from the plasma round as it passed by. Blood splattered out as Kazuki stood up. Both Archius and Eliza got up as silence filled the air. Everyone around glanced at Kazuki, then at the hooded corpse. Archius silently berated the dead man for ruining a free meal but thought that he should have seen that coming.

"Good grief…" mumbled Archius, under his breath. His mind raced with possibilities… were they tracked? Was there an insider? He'll have to contact Martinez and Sato. Internal security was her strong point, even if he'd hate to admit it.

But mumbling broke into full-blown chaos as a hover-van veered onto the pavement and blew up, sending flames, fragments and heat all around. Kazuki threw the table up. Fragments streaked through its surface and into Kazuki's muscles. Archius grabbed hold of Eliza and threw himself with her behind Kazuki, shit, this was far from preferable, he thought. But it'll be more of an annoyance, he thought.

Fragments struck the table as the smell of death filled the air. Eliza was the first to look out from cover. Blood, corpses and flames filled the street as those unprotected from the explosion covered the pavement floor. Kazuki dropped the table as he took fragmentation to his torso and arms, with a cut visible on his unburnt cheek. The sight didn't phase the two experienced killers.

The streets quickly cleared as the flow of traffic halted. But that didn't stop several more vans from rushing through the pavement, crashing into civilians and swerving past cars. Their doors opened and before Eliza could even take note of them, bullets started to fly. Archius immediately grabbed onto her, tugging her away from Kazuki as a mass firefight broke out. The Contract-breaker ducked behind cover to avoid the spray of frantic bullets.

"FUCKING RUN DAMNIT," Archius exclaimed with a shout, gripping hard on Eliza's arm as they ran into the now-emptied restaurant. A stray bullet smacked into his shoulder.

He gritted his teeth as he dragged Eliza behind the bar counter within the fancy establishment. This situation was far from ideal. Archius felt the pain ooze. What the fuck is going on? He asked himself that question as he realised that he was now stuck with Eliza.

'Get Eliza as far away from here as possible,' said Kazuki over uplink, communicating across distance.

'Dammit… don't die. Or I'll see you in hell personally,' replied Archius, feeling responsible now that Kazuki gave him a new objective. Still... It was Eliza. Eliza of all people, ugh! She was a liability, Archius thought.

Archius glanced over the counter to see Kazuki firing at an approaching group of attackers before he started to flee. As the group passed by the windows, many of them fell onto the ground. He watched, emotionlessly, as the sting of iron from blood filled the air from their corpses.

How annoying, Archius thought. He turned to Eliza. She was struck with panic and fear as her eyes were wide open. Her lips quivered as she let off a squeal, trying to hold back tears. "T—those people, what just happened?!" asked Eliza, holding back a shriek of fear as she continued to squeal.

He rolled his eyes. Annoying. Was this really the person that Kazuki did all of this for? None of that mattered, for now, he has a mission to uphold. He shook her shoulders, remembering to stay focused and composed "Liz. Eliza. Wake up - stick with me. You can do that, right?"

She violently nodded her head as Archius stood up, walking into the back of the store as Eliza followed. Blood seeped through his shirt and stained his thin jacket.

"Archius… are you alright? Your back—"

"I'm good," said Archius, "Look. Don't worry about me. Worry about yourself—"

He pushed through the back door and entered into an alleyway. He turned to his left, seeing the way out into the streets. Too open. Not much cover. To his right lay the way deeper into the alleys. Wires, holographic posters and trash littered the way as he took the right path.

"—Come. We need to get as far as possible."

"What about Kazuki?!"

"He'll… live." said Archius, "We can't do anything to help him, let's not burden him with protecting us as well."

She followed as the distant wail of sirens filled the backdrop. Though the constant firing of bullets was by far the loudest. Walking through the twisting alleys, Archius eventually stopped at an intersection. Eliza was about to walk past him as he grabbed hold of her.

"What?"

Archius placed a finger to his lips as he dragged her behind the corner. A moment passed as bullets whizzed through the alleyways nearby. Peeking out from the corner, he saw Kazuki run further down the intersection, followed by several figures.

"Shit…" Archius lightly tapped his waist. Of course, this had to be the day that he didn't bring his toys and tools. He activated his ICAPAD and a map of the alleys popped up.

"Hey, why don't we just hide out here?" asked Eliza. "There must be some buildings here that we can use."

"We don't know how many there are… we need to get as far away from here as we can. Kaz is buying us time, let's not waste it."

Sirens hailed from the distance as they got further and further away. She slowly nodded, agreeing with his logic as he sighed. He once again started to walk past the intersecting alleys as one of the stragglers running by turned to see Archius and Eliza.

"There they are!" shouted the straggler as they aimed their rifle up at Archius.

In a split second, he grabbed onto Eliza as he broke into a run. Bullets soared. Luckily they weren't explosive, he thought. But they were definitely high calibre, the bolt in his shoulder blade stung to hell. He gave it a tense glance, he had forgot how painful being shot was.

For once, he wasn't in control of the situation. But he removed any sense of panic in his face for Eliza's sake. Twisting and turning through the alleys, Archius ran for what felt like a kilometre as Eliza's breathing became ragged.

The two slowed down as they exited out into a large industrial sector within the district. He tapped his ICAPAD, but nothing shot out, then realised that it had taken a stray bolt to its projector whilst he was running. It flickered for a moment before dying.

"Eliza, you know this area?" asked Archius, calming his breathing as he placed one hand onto his waist, scrambling through his pockets with the other.

"Not particularly…" Eliza trailed off, the distant wail of gunfire etched closer and closer with each passing second. "I stuck more to the roads and rail lines more than anything. Dark alleys aren't exactly my taste."

Just as Archius was beginning to regather his breath, figures emerged around the corner of the alleyway, their exospines colour illuminated them. He immediately interposed with Eliza as a bullet meant for her dug into his torso. He fell onto the ground from the pain.

"FUCKING RUN!" shouted Archius, glaring at Eliza. He'll take them on, but he doesn't know if he could. But he was given a mission by Kazuki, and for his own sake, he'll accomplish it.

Eliza faltered and refused, she grabbed onto Archius, dragging him with her as bullets whizzed by. Pure determination glistened in her crimson eyes. Archius looked towards the hooded attackers, three of them in total. He gripped hold of his bobble, untying his hair as its nanobots core morphed into a throwing knife. He lobbed it blindly.

It wasn't an elegant throw, but it landed. Through dumb luck alone, the metal shard dug into the neck of the first attacker. They fell quickly as he slowly watched them die of blood loss. One of the two tried to save their dying friend as the other tried to encourage the previous man onwards. Using this precious time, Eliza dragged herself and Archius around a corner.

A shot whizzed past them as Eliza opened a door into one of the many industrial complexes. Grunting in exhaustion, Eliza dragged Archius into it as she locked the door behind her.