The two let off ragged breaths, eyes wide open - their appendages shook with adrenaline. Of all days to not have his arsenal... Fuck!

"Archius!" Eliza shouted, looking down at him as she slumped against the door, "Can you walk?"

Archius coughed as blood seeped out from him. "You should've run."

"And leave you for dead? Absolutely not," said Eliza.

Archius slowly got himself up. Using the adrenaline in his body, Archius pulled himself up with the help of some of the pipes and railings near him. Seems like Eliza was just as dumb as Kazuki when it comes to loyalty, but in this case, he was thankful for that.

Blasts smacked into the door from the other side. A cacophony of gunfire filled their ears as Eliza staggered over to him. "What do we do now?!"

"Keep running," Archius said calmly.

In his current state, it might be hard. They were dead lucky that she wasn't hit. Blood trickled down his skin as he started to walk deeper into the factory.

"They'll bust through that door," continued Archius, "We need to make as much distance as possible."

Eliza huffed as she followed him. They went deeper and deeper into the complex, through chambers, past unlocked doors and deactivated drone racks with their broken machinery. He gave them a second glance, if he had just brought some tools, he might have been able to convert them into suicide bombs.

As they continued making distance, a loud crash noise was heard back where they came from. Had to be the door, Archius thought. "Fuck… Fuck…"

Approaching an exit door on the opposite end of the facility, the door flew off its hinges. His green eyes lit up as he grabbed onto Eliza, throwing her behind one of the half-walls lined with drones.

One of the attackers walked into the room. A flashlight shone at Archius for a split moment. Seeing the light, Archius slidded behind one of the machines, opposite Eliza. A string of bullets smacked into the ground where he was. Eliza remained silent as the hooded man tried to cut Archius off.

Archius started to crawl through the mass of equipment. Grabbing a broken drone blade, he continued sneaking through the maze of machines, closer and closer towards the bright light. He could feel his heart pump with each step he took. He hid around a corner as he felt his limbs tingle. He gripped hard on the makeshift knife as the man slowly walked past him.

He didn't know if this was the one that landed the hit on him, but he didn't care. In a moment of fury, he grappled with the hooded man as he used one hand to knock the rifle down onto the ground, whilst he stabbed into their chest. They immediately struggled back. They were stronger. His knife wasn't sinking in. Armour. A kick came to his thigh as he staggered back.

They charged at him with their own knife. But mistimed their swing as it narrowly missed Archius' neck. With an opening provided, Archius gripped his drone blade backwards, stabbing it into the neck of the attacker - pinning them to the machine behind them.

It felt good. Amazing, even. A smile crept onto his face as he stared into the eyes of the attacker, under the hood. He kept stabbing, fully aware that the man was about to die a horrifically just death. This was what they got for ruining dinner! Fucking assholes! They tried to fight back, stabbing into his abdomen with whatever was left of them as their strength faltered. Slowly, their movements became sluggish, and they couldn't even grab hold of the blade for another jab.

They dropped their knife onto the floor, slowly dying and coughing. They mumbled out a prayer... Erudian? Whatever. They were going to die and that was a good thing, Archius thought.

Eventually, he was just stabbing a corpse. Blood and cybernetic energy flowed out from it, the gruesome sight filled him with a sense of purpose. Eliza got out of cover as she staggered over to him.

"Uh… Archius?" Eliza's voice broke his stream of hate as he dropped the knife. He let the corpse fall down as he turned to face her. Blood covered his jacket and shirt as the adrenaline wore off. "I think they're dead."

"No shit." He made a pained expression as he realised how he took not bleeding for granted. She immediately rushed to his side, helping him up as she placed a hand over the wound at his side. "Sorry, I got carried away a bit…"

Looking back at the corpse, he noted how annoying fighting augments was. Even this far away, they could still hear the wail of sirens and gunshots as they started to walk towards the exit. But just as they turned out to face the exit, Archius and Eliza were both knocked to the ground. Pain and blood seeped into Archius' view as he fell directly onto his open wound with a blood-curdling cry.

He turned to face a hooded woman. Eliza was on the floor beside her, but the woman ignored her. She turned to see the dead corpse of her comrade and sighed, shaking her head.

The light armour underneath her cloak was familiar… He didn't know, but she definitely knew who he was. "What a shame. You don't have your Contract-Breaker to save you now."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

His eyes drifted towards Eliza. She was staggering up as she was badly bruised from the fall. As the woman raised her muzzle to Archius' head, Eliza charged at them, taking out something from her duffle coat and pressing down on a button.

A yellow charge consumed the woman as Eliza tased her. She fell onto the floor, unconscious. Eliza fell onto her knees as she dropped her taser. Archius was still bleeding, but he tried his best to congratulate her. He gave her a small thumbs-up as she crawled over to him.

"Friend of yours?" inquired Eliza.

"No. But they know me…" Archius trailed off as Eliza helped him up again. The two exited out of the industrial complex, walking through the district as he was slowly losing blood. "Damnit… maybe you were right about Kazuki protecting me…"

"Ugh… let's keep going." Eliza brushed the dust off her clothes.

He could feel her heart's explosive rhythm as she could see more and more blood gush out from his wound. But she kept her eyes forward, continuing to walk as they turned the corner - straight into a patrol of hooded men.

They raised their rifles at the two as Eliza used all her remaining strength to throw the two of them behind a nearby dumpster. But a blaring light filled the air. ANCHOR fields deviated as a figure teleported forth, Kazuki had arrived.

None of them were able to match the swift rounds sent through their skulls as he made short work of them. Round after round, blade clash after blade clash, Kazuki dealt with them efficiently - and brutally, but there was no sense of joy in his eyes. Archius could faintly see circular markings on the vest-plates of the hooded attackers.

As the final one fell, Kazuki turned to look at them, reloading his pistol's chamber as the empty plasma cartridge shot into the air with steam, revealing the interior of Kazuki's pistol.

"Kaz!" Eliza shouted, "Archius is—"

"I'm fine!" Archius cut her off as Kazuki walked over.

Glancing at Kazuki, he could see that he was even more injured than him. A bullet had skimmed his cheek, a section of one of his ears was missing, and his shirt was stained red. But Archius knew this was just a normal Saturday night for the fourth of the seven mercenaries, another day for one of the most vicious people in the galaxy. Archius had to remind himself of what Kazuki is, a ticking, emotionless time bomb.

"Kaz…" Eliza trailed off upon closer inspection of them.

"Shut up," said Kazuki, steam exiting his mouth, "Keep going. They're persistent. I'm running low on magazines."

Just as he finished, the sound of footsteps filled his ears as they flickered. He twisted around to see even more attackers turning the corner. Archius looked up at Eliza, who hid behind Kazuki as he prepared to make a final stand, loading a new magazine into his pistol — end of the road. Kazuki's right hand slowly reached to the back of his exospine, readying to activate his overclock… one last stand.

What was it even all for? The only survivor of a virus-bombed world… He watched his baby sister's face melt in front of him. He watched as his family's bodies slowly shrivelled up and decayed… He endured years of CRIS training: all for a chance of vengeance in any and all capacities… but revenge was impossible. Those responsible are long gone.

Reflecting on himself, he wasn't sure what motivated him. Then it slowly clicked: he bled, lied, manipulated and suffered because what else could he do? Someone with nothing to live for, that's who he was. Seeing Kazuki's objectives through was the only motivation he had and needed, it didn't matter if he had to torture a thousand prisoners. Because after all these long years, he's the only one he has left…

He let go of his wound as he slowly closed his eyes, content in knowing that he had a good run and that now he'd join his family. But none of that came to pass.

A loud thundering roar shredded overheard as his eyes shot open. A shuttle passed by over them, gunning down the group of attackers in a split second as men rushed out from it, killing whatever remained. Tens of hovering drones followed suit, helping the operatives as police and AGENTs finally arrived.

Heavily armoured, exoskeletal powered contractors. They had thermal, combat suits underneath their armour; flak-pads lined in their vest-plates. Kazuki's men. One of them turned to Kazuki and lifted their reaper-painted helm-mask off. Martinez, one of Kazuki's Loyalists and an ex-general, golden-marking on his armour. The two exchanged nods.

"Seems like we got here just in time, Arbiter," said Martinez.

"Be faster next time… Medivac us to the hospital," ordered Kazuki.

"Hey!" Claire shouted, pulling her graffiti-painted helm-mask off as she shot one of them dead. Her gold-trimmed pauldron had the symbol of Heimfall, a firework display on a shield of gold alongside Martinez - ensuring it was a closed casket, "Traffic control are a bunch of arseholes."

Kazuki shrugged, giving them the benefit of the doubt. He understood why most of all. "Don't worry Claire, you'll eventually love the mind-numbing traffic."

Just then, someone clambered out of the shuttle. It was Amyé. She hadn't even had her helm-mask on and her face was as red as the trim of her crimson armour, she was holding onto a beer can.

"Now why the FUCK did ya call us now?!" asked Amyé, absolutely hammered.

Claire immediately apologised on her behalf, "Sorry, Arbiter! She snuck some cans onto the shuttles…"

"This wouldn't have happened if you didn't stuff your liver full of alcohol the moment we got home!" rebuked Claire.

Kazuki had no expression on his face, but Archius could tell that it was an absolute disappointment. Quinn and Riharia rushed out of another shuttle, grabbing onto Archius as he was bleeding out, he saw a merge of red and turquoise beside him.

"No? FUCKING WAY! I COULDN'T TELL." interjected Quinn, "We need some epinephrine!"

"The fuck are you all doing?!" another voice shouted, Claire, pushed through towards Archius, unwrapping her medical gear. Archius could barely make the red cross on her vest-plate armour set, he was losing it; but even so, her overbearing nature still bled onto him. "Dammit, if you guys brought actual fucking gear and prepared we wouldn't have this problem!"

"Well sorry. I didn't know there'd be a mass fucking shooting this fine evening," Quinn snapped back. "It's almost as if we were all on off duty drinking and partying because we thought this was all over!"

"For fuck's sake..."

"Hah…" coughed Archius, feeling his mind slowly slip away. He can't keep running from death, after all, he was supposed to die on that forsaken, bombed-out husk of a planet all those years ago. But for now, he'll continue to serve, because what else can he do? "Not today…"

As he took in another breath, he slipped out of consciousness.