I woke up in the middle of night because of nightmare. I relived council meeting, but in my dream I was too late and everyone was already dead. I got up and washed my face. Next I checked Norman. He was still sleeping, so I moved to living room and sat on the sofa. I thought about what to do now. I hoped that police will get information from mercenaries, but I doubted it. If it were up to me, I would hire them anonymously and pay them in cash.

This night I was lucky that I survived. If I didn’t have this body, I would be dead. I was taking my time this last month and one councilman died because of it. I didn’t train seriously with Liray and I didn’t work on my gear as I should. I told myself that my new body would be enough and luckily it was.

I thought about all people I killed yesterday. I should have been devastated but I was glad it was them and not me. They knew what they were getting into when they agreed on this job.

I started to write list in my head about what I needed to prepare for future.

First thing, I need to build better armor. It would have to be something light that could take some beating. I didn’t want to be hindered by it, but I wanted from it to take some beating. Also I would like to make some light shield for Norman, because we could be split once more like in this attack.

Second thing, would be to prepare more gadgets. I needed to broaden my options while in combat. Sword proved to be good addition, but I needed more. I needed some grenades and maybe something for quick door breaking. It would be some small explosive that I could stick on door.

Third thing on my list was, to found out what happened in city hall. They knew too much about what was happening in there. They knew where we will be going and they were prepared for it. They even infiltrated police and someone had to hired bodyguards. That would be place to start.

Lastly I have to find out more about this offer to buy spaceport. I didn’t trust a councilman who was presenting it to us. I still couldn’t remember where I saw sign that was on his clothes, but I had feeling it wasn’t connected to anything good.

I worked on my plans till morning when I heard Norman getting up. I went to the kitchen and started prepare a breakfast. He had to hear me, because he came downstairs with laser pistol. He stared at me as I roasted vegetable with some meat.

“Good morning, have a seat. It’ll be in a minute.” I said.

“What are you doing in my house and how did you even get here?” he asked.

I frowned at him. “Don’t you remember what happened yesterday, council meeting and attack?”

I could see moment when he remembered. He went to chair and sat heavily on it. He stared at wall with empty eyes. I let him process yesterday events and I could see him slowly returning to reality.

“You saved us.” He said.

“Yes, it’s what you hired me to do.” I said and continued to prepare breakfast. “Now that you remember, can you place plates on the table.”

He stared at me blankly for a second, then moved to cupboard and placed two plates on table.

“We should talk about what happened yesterday and about your offer to help rebuild spaceport.” He said.

“What is there to talk about. Offer still stands and I just did what you pay me for.” I said.

He sighed. “I mean more about how you saved me. I remember that we went into apartment and that Gilroy closed the door. One of the bodyguards yelled at him for closing them too soon and that someone didn’t get inside. I looked for you and I couldn’t find you. Then I started to get sleepy and I don’t remember anything until I woke up in hospital car.”

He rubbed his face with hand, “Police asked me what happened and I told them little that I knew. They asked me a lot of questions about you. I told them, I just hired you and didn’t know anything about you. Then you came covered in blood and after you showered we went home. I’d like to know what happened while I was unconscious.”

He looked really stress. Mainly, when he told me that he couldn’t find me. I told him short version of what happened and how I get to them. Of course I told it to him without all the gory details

I finished roasting as I finished telling him about yesterday attack and loaded our plates full. We didn’t speak as we ate. Both of us had things to think about. I was interrupted by call from someone. I looked at caller ID and it was local police department.

“Sorry I have to take this.” I went to living room and accepted call, “Good morning. How can I help you officer?”

“Good morning miss Leya. We would like to speak with you about yesterday’s attack.” I heard man’s voice from speaker.

I thought about it and I should probably first speak with Liray and Harr before I go to station.

“Ok, I’ll come this afternoon. I hope it’s not problem.” I said.

“No it’s ok. We’ll be waiting for you miss Leya.” He said.

I went back to kitchen where Norman was looking expectably at me.

“It was police. They want to talk to me about yesterdays attack.” I said.

“Didn’t they spoke to you after attack?” he asked.

“Yes, but it’s normal to talk on second day with witnesses. After some time, we people tend to remember some new information. They could also uncover new information and want to ask question about it.” I said.

“What do you plan to do? He asked.

“First I’d like to speak with Liray and Harr. They called me seconds before attack and warned me about it. I would like to find out where they found out about attack. Depending on what they tel me, I’ll plan my next move.”

He nodded, “That looks like good plan. Now go I need to prepare for opening my shop.”

“Yes, but before that I’d like to ask some question about yesterday.” I said.

“Come after I close shop. Now go, I need to prepare myself.” He said.

“But ...” I started, but was interrupted by him, “No, no, come after I close shop.”

He was back to his normal self. I sighed and let myself out. My coat was crumpled and it wasn’t still dry. I went to my room and hanged it there. I didn’t see Harr anywhere in shop and he wasn’t responding to my calls.

I changed my clothes to one I bought in city. They weren’t nice, but I bought them for my work for Harr. It was simple white shirt and black pants that were pretty sturdy. I went to Liray’s house and I found both of them there sitting on ground and drinking tea.

“Hi, so you finally decided to talk to us?” said Harr angrily.

“Don’t be so hard on her. I remember how raw I felt after each action. You don’t want to talk to anyone. You want to be alone.” Said Liray and pointed on free space near them. “Come sit and tell us what happened.”

Liray poured me a tea. “Now you can tell us what happened yesterday?”

I sipped from tea and told them about what happened yesterday. I spoke with Liray so I told him everything. Even details which were pretty gory, but I told him even why I did them. When I explained to him why I did it, he understood and nodded. Harr was horrified, but one look from Liray shut him up.

When I finished telling them about yesterday’s events, I asked my own question. “How did you found out about attack?”

“I heard it from one of the local thugs while walking on street. They were telling about some new group of people that came here on ship. One of them wasted himself in one of our bars and told them about attack. I think local thugs knew I was listening, but they had order to get us know.” Said Harr. He still looked shaken by my story, but at least he wasn’t angry at me.

“Yes, that would make sense. No one wants full-fledged war between us and humans. It would be bad for business.” Said Liray.

“However it is, we have to prepare for next attack.” I said.

“Why would they attack once more when they failed?” asked Harr with surprise written all over his face.

“Because they invested too much money into it already. They could scrap it whole, but they would lose all money they already poured into it. It would depend probably on whenever they think they can pull it off.” I said.

What would be their next move? They could move out and write it off as bad investment or they could continue with their plan. I thought about, but I didn’t have enough information to predict what they’re going to do. I hope police will share information with me.

“So it’s like that.” Said Harr with thoughtful expression. “What are we going to do about it?”

“First we have to find out more about attack and what they wanted to achieve with it.” Said Liray looking at me.

“Yes that’s our priority, but we should also prepare for option that we would have to go after them.” I said.

“What do you mean by that?” asked Liray.

“Let’s say that we found out they kidnapped Norman. Can we rescue him now? I don’t think so. We have training, but we don’t have much of equipment.” I said to him.

“I have some weapons and old armor. That should be enough.” Said Liray.

“Leya I think you’re coming from community where technology was more advanced. Here what you’re already carrying is as high-end as you can get. It’s about better then things you can get here.” Said Harr.

“I know, but I can build us something better. We don’t have to use only what we can get here. I’m already making some upgrades for me.” I said.

“What do you want to build?” asked Liray.

“For now, I need to build some armor, something light that wouldn’t hinder me. Next I’d like to build some grenades and gadgets.” I said.

Harr stared at me like I was insane. “We don’t have enough money to buy materials.”

“We don’t need money. We can build them from scrap. If you have scrapyard in city, we can use it.” I said.

Harr stayed silent and looked at Liray. “Can you do it?” asked Liray.

“Yes, if I have materials, I can build them.” I said.

“Ok, I’ll get you material, but I’d like some armor and weapon too.” He said.

“No problem, but I’d like to pick materials, if it’s not problem.” I said.

“That shouldn’t be problem. Maybe it would be even easier. City scrapyard is owned by human, so he’ll be more receptive of you then us. Tell owner that you know me and he’ll give you discount. We made a deal long time ago. He’ll give me materials with discount and I’ll help him repair things when he’ll need it.” Said Harr.

“Thanks. I’ll go look at it.” I said and get up.

“You don’t have to be in so much hurry.” Said Liray.

I smiled. “I was taking my time till now. I need to start working normally.”

Both of them looked at me like I was weird. “You work more than any other person I know.” Said Harr.

“Maybe in time I worked long, but I wasn’t giving it my all. To tell the truth, I wasn’t giving even my half.” I said.

Liray started laughing. “What is laughable about it.” Asked Harr.

“Nothing, but I thought that you were always hiding your true strength in our fight.”

I laughed, “No, that’s one of activities where I was giving my all. Here I thought, I could take you down one day.”

Liray patted me on my knee, “Don’t worry you’ll get me one day. Just train every day and you’ll defeat me.”

“One day I’ll get you, but for now I have to go. I need to get to police station. It’s across whole city so I have to go.” I said and stood up.

“Try to get as much information as you could from them.” Said Liray.

“Don’t let them stonewall you. Try to bargain with them. You’re much more skilled then they are. Use these skills.” Said Harr.

“I won’t, don’t worry.” I said and bid them farewell. I went back to my apartment and put on my clothes. They were little wet, but they were far better then what I had on me.

I had no problem on my way to police station. I thought that it would be bigger building and that it would resemble police station from the Earth. It was flat building with large yard on side that was circled by fence. It reassembled more prison then police station, but in this small city it was probably both at same time. I didn’t think it was good to merge those two institutions, but it was their decision.

I walked inside and I could see desk with policeman before me. Behind him I could see offices for policemen and detectives. They looked at me as I walked inside. I had my visor up so I was attracting a lot of attention.

I walk up towards policeman behind desk, “Good day, I was asked to come here for additional interview about yesterday’s attack.”

Policeman was startled, but he recovered quickly. “You have to be Miss Leya. They are already expecting you. I’ll take you to them.” He said and moved left towards door with morgue plate.

“Who’s expecting me?” I asked and followed him.

“Lead detective on this case and one of the bodyguards which came to add some details about last night.” He said.

Behind door were stairs down and at the bottom of them were another door. We walked through and I could smell chemicals in air. It was smell you would never forget, dead people, blood and ammonia. We stopped in waiting room and I had to put on coveralls. I even got my own bag, in case it was too much for my stomach.

My policeman checked me over and showed me thumbs up. He pointed me towards morgue. I’d really like to know why we had to talk in morgue. As I walked inside smell hit me even worse. Luckily I evidently didn’t have gagging reflex or I would already throw up. I would have to upgrade my visor and add air filter.

“Good day miss Leya. My name is Detective Kirkland. You’re probably curious why we are meeting in morgue.” Said Detective.

He was wearing same coveralls as me, but beneath them I could see long brown coat. He was about forty years old with mustache above his mouth. He had long brown hair which were unkempt and greasy. From his looks, I would guest he didn’t sleep much.

Next to him was standing Greg who looked ready to fall. He too couldn’t close his eyes this night. Only other person was alien who looked like troll. I was surprised to see him there with problems in city. His race weren’t known for its intelligence so I was surprised to see him there. At least he couldn’t see my surprised expression through visor.

“No, to tell the truth, I didn’t expect to meet you in morgue. Maybe in detention room, but not here.” I said.

“We have problem and here detective Johnson told me you could help us with it.” Said Detective Kirkland.

So Greg was detective. I wondered, if other bodyguards were too policemen. Funny thing that his colleague introduced him as bodyguard, not as policeman.

“What’s the problem?” I asked.

“Every single one of our prisoners died in his cell and we don’t have a clue how.” Said Greg.

They are raising stakes. That meant they will continue with their plan and they also sent message to other mercenaries. Failure meant death.

“Can I see corpses?” I asked.

“Yes, that’s why we’re here. Come here, doctor Gregory already made autopsy. He didn’t find anything weird in their bodies.” Said Detective Kirkland.

“It looks like they died from heart attack. I tried to find out if they were poisoned, but I just can find anything in their bodies that could cause it.” Said Doctor.

I frowned, “Let me look at them. Maybe I’ll find something.”

I walked to first body and did quick scan. I didn’t found anything, but if it was this easy Doctor would found it already. I put my hand over body and slowly moved it along it. I closed my eyes and concentrated on body. I used full range of scans. I wasn’t doctor, but my interface or something in me was comparing results.

This body was fine at least for corpse, I couldn’t find anything until I came to stomach. There were some weird readings. There was too much metal and other trace elements that shouldn’t be there. It was just trace elements that could be left after nano device. This was far beyond anything that they could make on this planet. I started to fear, if we had chance against whoever was doing it.

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“There’s trace elements in his stomach. It’s probably from some nano device. When it killed him, it probably traveled to stomach and destroyed there.” I said and moved to another body. Every single one of them had same elements in their stomach. Someone made sure they won’t tell us anything.

“I’m not sure what this nano device is.” Said doctor.

“It’s small device nanometers big that was injected into him. It was done before attack probably as insurance against them talking to you.” I said.

“I never knew that such things could exist.” Said Greg.

“Yes and more. Did you get anything from them before they died?” I asked.

“No, they didn’t know who hired them. They get anonymous message and half the money beforehand. Other half they would get, after they finished mission. Only information we got from them, was that they were after all councilmen. They were hired to kill them all not just one.” Said Detective Kirkland.

“Why would they target everyone. That doesn’t make sense. What would happen, if they succeed? ” I said.

“There would be new elections and we would choose new councilmen.” Said doctor.

“Who would be candidates?” I asked.

They looked at themselves. “We don’t know. It could be anyone. Most of councilmen currently on council get there through luck. Our system works like this. Every citizen could give their vote to whoever they want. It’s not great, but this is small city and it works for us.” Said Greg.

“So you’re telling it’s hard to predict who’ll get into council. Why would someone wanted them killed?” I said.

“Maybe they were going after one person.” Said Detective Kirkland.

“Why kill everyone when they went after one person?” asked doctor.

“They wanted to hide it. We can’t tell after which councilman they went.” I said.

“Exactly, it was insurance. Question is after which one they were?” said Detective Kirkland.

“Yes and another is, why they didn’t kill them with nano injection into water or vine. You don’t have scanners that could find them.” I said.

“What if it’s two different groups?” asked doctor.

“How can it be two groups? It was one team that attacked city hall.” Said Greg.

I thought back to city hall and what happened there. “No, he could be right. There were guards who help them, but they evidently didn’t belong to them. Second thing is that this nano device is too different from this crude attack. We’re missing something.”

“Hmm… but what?” said Detective Kirkland.

“Take your time. Go and sleep. You won’t be help like this. Both of you are barely standing.” I said.

I saw them starting to protest. “We’ll met tomorrow and talk more. What do you say?” I asked.

Detective Kirkland look ready to argue, but after one look at Greg he slumped his shoulders. “Ok, come here tomorrow and we can go for lunch.”

“Ok, I’ll be here.” I said.

We went back upstairs. I asked them for direction towards the scrapyard. After they pointed me at it, I started walking towards it. As I was walking, I thought about what happened in city hall. They could have killed them with Nanobots any time they wanted. Why use mercenaries when they could just kill them any time they want and with Nanobots they wouldn’t even be able to find out what happened.

Our theory about killing everyone to hide something was wrong. It has to be something else. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t think about reason to kill them all.

From my musings I was brought out by something I sensed. I sensed someone on my sensors. He was following me for some time now and now that I knew about him, I spotted two others who followed my every move.

I moved towards alley and as I turned the corner, I sprinted forward. I turned about three corners in time they got toward entrance to first alley. I knew they lost me, so I climbed on small building with flat roof. I waited for them to walk under me. Funny thing, even when spying on someone most people don’t look up.

They stopped near me and talked between themselves.

“Where did she go? She was just before us.” Said one of them.

“I don’t know, but Boss will be pissed. He told us to find out who she is. She came out of nowhere and beat three of our guys.” Said another.

“Don’t talk and find her.” Said Last one and after that they split and tried to find me.

I waited another twenty minutes on roof until I couldn’t see them anymore. I jumped down and continued on my way to the scrapyard. They were thugs working for local kingpin that Harr and Liray told me about. He obviously didn’t want to let go of his revenge.

I couldn’t do anything about for now. I’ll tell Liray about it. I could pay visit to this kingpin and explain to him why it’s bad idea to mess with me. For now I’ll go to scrapyard and pick things I would need to makes my upgrades.

When I finally came to scrapyard, I was disappointed because it was small scrapyard. It didn’t have many things I wanted to get. I walked around looking at things when one of employees approached me. She was small girl around fifteen years old with freckles on face. She had short red hair that were sticking in every direction.

“Good day. Can I help you?” she asked.

“Good day. No I’m just looking around for now.” I said.

“You look little disappointed. Is our scrapyard lacking?” She said.

“Yes, a little. I thought this scrapyard would be bigger or have more things that I could look at. Most of the things here are house accessories.”

“What do you need?” she looked at me curiously.

“I work as bodyguard and I need to build armor, shields and other gadgets. Problem is that I can’t build it with what I see here.”

She looked me over. “Maybe we have something on side that could help you.”

“What would it take to get you show it to me?” I asked.

“Well if you can build something like that, I want to see you build it. I want you to show me how it’s done.” She said and looked at me with eager expression.

I thought about it. It would be good to teach someone who wants to learn, but it could be dangerous for her. “There are some people after me. It could be dangerous for you.”

“I don’t care. I can’t stand it here. I’ll learn how to do that and then I’ll join some crew on spaceship.” She said.

I sighed, “Ok, but you’ll have to ask your father first.”

She looked down on ground and dug my toe on a ground. “I’m orphan. I never knew them. They left me before scrapyard and run away.”

I stepped back as if someone hit me. She was almost same as old me. I looked at her and she was ashamed of it. I could see pain behind her eyes that she tried to hide from everyone.

“Is there someone who’s looking after you? I’ll talk to him.” I said.

Immediately I saw fear in her eyes. “No, no, don’t talk to him. He won’t let me go.”

“Don’t worry, you can come, but I need to tell him that you’re going.” I said.

“You don’t understand, he …” she started to say and stopped when she saw someone behind me.

“Is she bothering you? Hush Lany and go bother someone else.” Said man behind me. Lany started to go away, but I caught her hand.

“No, she not bothering me. She was just going to show me things I was looking for.” I said and turned to man who was speaking at her. He was small man with greasy hair and filth on his clothes. It would be normal for this kind of work, but I could see he probably never clean his overall. It was dirty from oil, dirt and other substances. I couldn’t tell his age precisely, but I would guess around twenty years old.

“You shouldn’t listen to her, she doesn’t know much about this scrapyard. She’s little touched in head.” He said and did small circle with finger near head.

“Really, I didn’t notice. To tell the truth she looks far more intelligent then you. You should go away, because you smell terribly. I wouldn’t want to upset my stomach looking at you.” I said and turned to Lany.

“So Lany, can we look at my things.” I said cheerfully.

She stared at me then smiled and pulled me toward one of buildings on scrapyard. Before I could move I felt hand on my shoulder. “Look here, I don’t know who you think you are, but get out of my scrapyard.”

“It’s not your scrapyard. It belongs to your granddad.” Said Lany.

“Yes and it will be mine when he dies so you should act more respectfully towards me.” He said.

“Get your hand from my shoulder or you’ll lose it. And one more thing, if I hear you did something to her, I’ll find you and make sure you’ll never bother anyone else.” I said with cold voice.

His hand vanished from my shoulder like it was on fire. I turned to him and I saw him back away. “Go away and bother someone else.”

He turned and run away. Before he was too far he turned and shouted. “I’ll tell it to my granddad and we’ll see whose going to be in pain.”

I turned back to Lany, “Can we continue? Now that we don’t have distraction.”

She stared at me with open mouth. “You have to get away. His granddad will go after you. He doesn’t know what he’s doing to others. He’s always protecting him.”

I smiled under my visor. “Don’t worry, I can protect myself and someone should tell his granddad what his grandson is doing behind his back.”

“He won’t listen to you. After his son died, he started to dote on his grandson. Some people tried to tell him the truth about him, but he didn’t listen to them.” She said.

“Like I told you, let me worry about him. I’ll make him listen.” I said.

She shook her head. “You know, he’ll probably fire me for helping you.” Then she sighed, “Come I’ll show you what we have here.”

“If he fires you, I’ll take you as an apprentice. Of course, only if you’re interested. ” I said and moved after her.

“What does apprentice mean?”

“It’s person who’s learning from other while working for them for small wage.” I said.

“Why would I work for small wage?” she asked.

“Because I can teach you something that others can’t.” I said.

“I’ll think about it.” She said as we arrived to the building.

I chuckled, “Yes, think about it.”

I whistled when she opened door. There were broken armor and weapons stacked along walls. In another section they had stacked grenades and shield emitters. It would take me some time to get through it, but I should find here everything I need.

First I looked at armors. They were outdated, but finally at the bottom of pile I found what I was looking for. It was elite scout armor that was used on the Earth. If it was here that meant Earth was somewhere nearby at least I hope so. It was devastated and I could see someone pulled parts from it, but with some work I could breathe new life into it.

As I was pulled it out I heard someone coming from outside. It should be granddad she was talking about. I activated shield and waited for him. He came all red in face and furious beyond reason.

“Who do you think you are?” He shouted at me.

I smiled behind my visor. I looked at him and my smile changed to frown when I saw rifle in his hand. It was outdated laser rifle, but it still could deal some damage.

“We should talk about your grandson. I heard he’s bully that terrorizes everyone around him. What’s worse you are protecting him even thought you have to know who he is.” I said.

He was evidently pissed and didn’t listen to a word I said. “You don’t know what you’re telling about. My grandson would never do something like that. Now tell me why shouldn’t I shot you where you stand.”

I patted my weapons. “You wouldn’t like outcome. I can see you know what he’s doing around. I can tell you one thing. What you’re doing isn’t helping him? I would guess that he wasn’t always like this,” I turned to Lany who nodded reluctantly. “but with dead of his father he started to lash out at others. You should have stopped it there and talk to him, but you supported him.”

“I don’t need to hear that from you. You don’t know anything about him.” He said.

“No and I don’t need to. I only have to see here Lany when she saw him. She had fear in eyes. Do you think it’s normal to have fear in eyes when you look at someone?” I said.

He turned to her and I could see it fear in his eyes. She was someone he considered a family. He didn’t want to hear it from her. “Is it true Lany? Is my grandson bully?”

She looked everywhere but him. Finally she looked him in the eye and nodded. He looked back at his grandson. “Jerry is it true? I promised your father on his death bed that I would trust you and protect you. So I ask you. Is it true?”

Jerry looked around with fear in eyes. “No they’re lying. I wouldn’t do something like that.”

“Look me in the eye and not on ground. Think about what would your father want you to do.”

Jerry looked around than something in him snapped. He looked down sadly and started trembling. “Yes, it’s true. Half the time I don’t even know why I do it. It started after daddy died. I lashed out and no one stopped me. After some time I just did it, because I didn’t know what else to do.”

Jerry’s granddad looked stricken and started to cry when he heard him. “I failed you. I should have helped you, but I thought I needed to trust you no matter what. Go in the house and I’ll come in a minute.”

After Jerry went away he turned to us. “Sorry I knew about it for a while, but I promised and I hold my word. Now where do I go from here?”

“One step at a time. Go to him and make him apologize to everyone.” I said.

“I will. Thanks. Now how can I help you?” he said.

“I’d like to buy some parts from you. For example this armor here.” I said. If he wanted to talk business, we’ll talk business.

“It’s broken. It’ll be useless to you. There are better pieces here.” He said.

I smiled. “I don’t think so. This is best armor you have here and after I repair it, it would be probably best in this town.”

He frowned and looked at armor I picked. “If you think so. Tell Lany what you want. I’ll go talk to my grandson.”

When he left Lany came to me and hugged me. “Thank you.”

I hugged her back. “Don’t worry about it. Now come and help me look for some weapons.”

We looked through pile and picked some pistols and rifles. I took parts from others that I could use. Scope, additional clips, magnetic accelerator and so on. All grenades were empty, but I could fill them up. What made my day were two small drones that were almost in perfect condition. When I had everything placed outside, Lany started to calculate price for it.

In the end, it was almost all money I saved in my time here. I transferred them to her and with additional small payment, they would deliver it to Harr’s shop. As I was leaving I turned to her.

“Think about my offer. You can come anytime.“ I said.

She smiled. “I will, but you should at least show me your face.” She said.

I retracted my visor and smiled at her. “Now you saw it.”

“Why are you wearing it? You’re pretty, you don’t need it.” She said confused.

“I have many enemies and it’s better to hide my face for now.” I said and pulled up visor. “I hope, I’ll see you when you deliver my things.”

“We’ll see. Maybe.” She said.

“Bye.” I said and went back towards shop.

“Bye.” She said and returned to scrapyard.