Kimiko's shadow stretched out in front of her as she approached the glass skyscraper of Hashimoto Industries. She reviewed Osamu's instructions as she made her way up the steps. She exuded the cool authority of an inspector, a persona carefully crafted with the aid of Osamu's oversight. Reaching the door she hesitated for a moment, still not sure she could trust her life to the man. She took a deep breath before entering.

"Good morning," she greeted the front desk with a practiced smile, flashing her forged credentials. "I'm here for a facility inspection."

The receptionist, a young woman with an impeccable bun and a puzzled frown, scanned her screen. "There's no inspection scheduled today."

"Of course not." Kimiko leaned forward, her voice low and confidential. "It wouldn't be much of a surprise inspection if you were expecting me, now would it?"

There was a moment of hesitation before the receptionist reached for her phone, murmuring into the receiver. Soon, the floor manager—a harried man with a walkie-talkie apparently glued to his hand—arrived to escort Kimiko.

As they navigated through bustling corridors and past humming machinery, Kimiko nodded along to the manager's spiel, her eyes searching for the target of this operation. In the reflection of a polished steel door, she caught sight of herself, her makeup and hair had added at least a decade to her.

"Your security protocols are quite commendable," she observed, walking past the security office. The floor manager turned to talk about the security clearance needed just to get inside, he had her turn before entering the code and showing her inside. Once inside he began to explain their procedures for a breach, Kimiko nodded along as a silver marble slipped from her palm, rolling beneath a console unnoticed.

"It is a one-of-a-kind system," the floor manager puffed with pride. "Now if you follow me—"

"Excuse me," Kimiko interrupted, pointing at a blinking light on a distant wall. "Is that supposed to do that?"

As the man turned, she clicked her pen. The resulting pulse from the metal marble was perfectly timed, and the system sparked before the building shut down completely.

"Damn it!" the manager cursed, suddenly sprinting toward the door. "Stay here, I'll be right back!"

Left alone in the security room, Kimiko wasted no time. She retrieved the patch-like device from her pocket, attaching it to a terminal with a soft beep. "Here we go," she whispered, watching the computer screen fizzle back to life.

The patch began to search for specific keywords; digging through the thousands of files, searching for the data on their brief funding of Kobayashi Labs. Her eyes locked on the screen, praying she had enough time to find it when her phone vibrated against her thigh.

"Osamu?" Her voice was a hiss as she glanced at the door. "What's wrong? Are they on to us?"

"Has the virus found anything yet?" he asked, the urgency clear in his voice.

"Not yet," she retorted, eyes never leaving the screen as files continued to be sorted. "I doubt you would risk calling me though if this was about the files."

"You're right." Osamu's tone was serious even for him. "Something has come up that needs our attention."

"Can it wait? I'm almost done here," Kimiko asked, her mind racing with possible scenarios that Hiro could be in at that moment. She went to remove the patch but that is when a deleted file was restored by the patch.

"No way," she muttered, as the Kobayashi Lab file appeared on the screen. This was what they had been looking for, she reached out and started the download with a tap of the patch.

"I'm afraid not" Osamu's voice crackled through the phone line. "It is about Hiro."

"We just need a few more seconds," Kimiko's voice was barely a whisper, she watched the download bar slowly filling. "Hiro is the best pilot I know, he can handle whatever it is for just a few more seconds. We almost have the file."

"He may not have a few more seconds to wait." Osamu tried to explain, needing Kimiko to understand. "He's dying."

"What? Osamu telling what exactly is happening here." Her demand was sharp, laced with disbelief. How could Osamu possibly know that?

"According to the reading I've been getting from his Mach, he's been poisoned," Osamu confessed, and she could almost hear the hesitation in his voice. "I connected my Mach to both of yours when I retrieved them from the embassy lockup. I did it to protect you both, you're just kids in way over your heads."

"You connected your Mach to ours?" The word left her lips like an accusation, her pride wounded by his lack of trust. "How—"

"I know you have questions and I'm sure you trust me even less now," he interrupted. "But Hiro's vitals are dropping fast. If we don't do something quickly, he won't make it,"

"Do we know anything about the poison?" Kimiko asked as she tried to process all this new information. She could picture Hiro clinging to life as the poison set in.

"Nothing beyond what the scans show." His voice was grim. "If you can get to him then you can get a sample from his blood. Your Mach should be able to analyze it, find a way to cure him."

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Where is he?" Kimiko asked, she could feel her heart beating faster. Hiro couldn't die, not before she could make up for everything she had done to him.

"I am sending you his location now," Osamu directed, "You need to get him as soon as you can."

"I will." She pulled the patch from the terminal, the file upload was complete. She placed it in her pocket before she slipped out of the office.

"The electromagnetic pulse has fried their system, you should be able to leave through any exit without being caught," Osamu suggested.

"Got it," she said, ending the call and peeking around the door to make sure the coast was clear. Her focus was more on not getting caught as she snaked her way back down the hallway, her thoughts were consumed by ideas on how to stop the poison.

The air outside hit her face like a slap, snapping her back to the present. She needed to find a private place to activate her Mach, her fingers wrapped tightly around the Tamagotchi in her pocket.

"Wait for me, Hiro," she whispered, making her way toward the back allies. "I'm coming."

Kimiko's breath caught as she huddled behind the cold metal of the dumpsters. Her fingers fumbled while trying to free the Tamagotchi from her pocket. She pressed her thumb against the screen and the Mach came roaring to life. Armor spiraled around her like petals of a blossoming pink rose.

"Location set" AI informed her as it marked the location Osamu had set. With a surge of propulsion, she was airborne, cutting through the sky with conviction. Kimiko's thoughts raced alongside her as she drew closer to Hiro's location.

---

The shack on the dirt road was barely standing on its own, the wall crumbling under its own weight. Hiro was sprawled out in the uncut grass, his Mach armor retreating into back to its cell phone form. His body heaved, as he threw up blood, no longer able to stop it.

"Looks like I win," Masato taunted, as he powered down his own suit and strided toward Hiro. He removed the vial of antidote from his breast pocket, spinning it between his fingers before letting it slip from them. Glass shattered on impact with the ground, the precious liquid seeping into the dirt.

"How original," Hiro gasped, the world around him blurring into obscurity. He hadn't expected anything less from Masato, his ego would never let him allow Hiro to live.

"Ah, one last jab before you go," Masato chided, circling the fallen hero. "Goodbye, Hiro."

Hiro's hand reached out, fingers clawing at the dirt, his eyes struggling to remain open. In his head, a river of regrets flowed through it with the fading beats of his heart.

"Nori..." He choked, he felt guilty not being able to keep his promise to him—they never would meet again, Rodney would never save him.

"Nori, that animal is the last thought to cross your mind?" Masato sneered, remembering how close Nori had come to ending his life. "Why him?"

Hiro couldn't respond anymore, he didn't have the energy to turn his fading thoughts into words. He felt his body surrender, muscles slackening, the fight seeping out of him like the antidote into the ground.

"Why Nori?" Masato almost demanded, angered by the boy's final words. "Do you wish he killed me back then? Are two plotting something together? Why is he your final thought?" Masato crouched next to Hiro as if he was going to whisper the answers.

Hiro could only muster a weak grin, his eyes bright, knowing this would bother Masato long after he was gone. Masato shook the boy, the anger he felt simmering below the surface escaped him, how could he still lose after this?

Hiro's body went limp just when Masato's Mach's radar began to beep, and Masato's eyes widened just as Kimiko's armored form became a pink streak across the sky, a comet heading directly for him.

"Dammit," he cursed under his breath, allowing his armor to coat him again.

Kimiko collided with Masato, sending him flying backward through the forest. Trees snapped like toothpicks, debris mushrooming upwards, as Masato slammed into a massive boulder.

"Shit." Masato coughed as his armor informed him of several system failures, this was not a part of his plan.

Kimiko stood poised, her armor glinting in the moonlight. "I don't know who you are or what you want. But if you don't leave now, I will be forced to kill you."

Masato's face twisted into a snarl, and with a thought, the Soul Hammer materialized in his grip, its heft a promise of destruction. "You better hope you can live up to those words."

He swung, arcs of kinetic energy trailing the hammer, but Kimiko simply flew backward—easily dodging the hammer's impact.

"I get it now," she said. "This is why you poisoned him? Because you knew you couldn't best Hiro in a fair fight?"

Masato's eyes flashed, he was like a wild animal that had been cornered. With a growl, he pivoted toward the still form of Hiro, raising the hammer high. "Let me just take care of this—"

Kimiko didn't think, she just blasted herself forward. She placed herself between the hammer and Hiro, catching it before it made its mark.

"How?" Masato asked, taking a step back. Kimiko straightened out without a single dent in her armor.

"You're afraid, you're holding yourself back from being a true pilot. The suit can feel you blocking yourself off from it. People like you will always be weak. Kimiko accused. Masato's silhouette, backlit by the full moon, seemed to shrink as he continued to try to slip back into the safety of the shadows. The Soul Hammer, pulsing with a dim glow, rose high against the darkening sky. Kimiko's heart pounded in her chest—he was desperate and she could use that.

"I'm the only one who can save him, you don't even know what I gave him" Masato tried to bargain, taking a defensive stance with his hammer.

"You'd like me to believe that," Kimiko said watching the scared man try to negotiate, she knew better. At her command, the soul bow materialized, its strings formed by her own life energy.

"Without me, he will die! If you spare me I can save him!" Masato's voice cracked with disbelief.

Without another thought, Kimiko drew back the string, her muscles taut. Time seemed to slow, the world shrinking down to the space between her arrow and its target. Her focus was razor-sharp, as she charged the arrow. *You will never be able to do this to anyone ever again,* she pledged silently, the bowstring vibrating under her touch.

"Goodbye," she whispered, and released.

The charged shot blazed through the dimness, a comet tail of florescent pink trailing behind it. It struck the Soul Hammer with a sound like thunder, spiders-web fractures exploding across its surface before it disintegrated into a shower of cybernetic shards.

"Please..." Masato gasped, watching the hammer turn to dust in the wind. His eyes, wide with shock, met Kimiko's—as he accepted his fate. For the first time, he realized he wasn't special or a master manipulator.

Kimiko looked down at the man as another arrow began to form in her hand. "I know what you're thinking, you're looking for an opportunity to escape. Don't bother."

"I won't..." His voice filled with defeat, the bravado drained away as he fell to his knees, he would never be able to see his plans through to the end. He hoped that his successor would carry through and take revenge for his death.

"Soul Bow, full charge." She commanded as she began to hover above the ground. "Lock onto target."

Masato's hand twitched, reaching for a weapon that wasn't there, he squeezed his eyes shut as he waited for the final strike. *How did I lose?* Desperation clawed at him from the inside out, as he tried to piece together how things had gone so wrong.

"A fitting end—" he started, but she cut him off.

"Save your breath. There is nothing left to say." Her gaze was unyielding, she raised her bow and took aim at his heart.

Kimiko knew she could save Hiro if she had time, this needed to end now. Her mind was clear, her mission singular. *Save Hiro.*