“That is not a chicken nugget.” I said to Paris as she shoved the deep-fried meat chunk into her mouth.

“Ye-th it iss!” she shouted back, little pieces of faux meat flying out of her mouth.

“That was disgusting, and no, it isn't, I don’t know what it is, but it’s not chicken.” I replied.

Paris swallowed, “You’re just jealous you can't have any.”

I looked Paris in the eyes, “Trust me, I am not at all jealous of your ‘chicken nuggets’.”

Paris rolled her eyes and bit into another nugget; I shuddered as she did so.

We had been hanging around the mall’s food court for the past few hours. Having stayed there as an attempt at laying low momentarily, not wanting to find ourselves in another run in with who attacked us.

During that time though, my missing eyes slowly snapped back together and restored themselves. Paris said that it looked like little pieces of sand swirling around then melting into solid chunks.

It supposedly wasn’t that cool, I sincerely doubted that.

Despite my disdain for Paris’s chosen meal, she seemed to be enjoying herself. The memory of my outburst already faded from her mind, perhaps food is the way to get my way.

I will have to remember that.

I felt my phone ring. I had set the device to send the audio directly into my head.

It was Kassidy. I answered.

“Hey Mr. Cee, glad to see your still kickin’, that was a pretty good show!” She shot out.

Directing my voice directly through the device, an attempt at keeping out eavesdroppers, I responded.

“You better explain what that whole, ‘can you fight’ thing was. We almost got smashed into pieces!” My voice leaking irritation.

The attack on the café had better not have been orchestrated. I was prepared to find a end Kassidy if needed, my trust for her wearing thin.

“Geez, calm down tin man.” Kassidy said defensively, “In all honesty I said that for dramatic effect, I picked up the dispatch right then, needed you to buy me time to lock up the armor. Remember, or did your little reboot mess you up?”

I rubbed the back of my head, frustrated at the fact I could not say anything against her retort. I still didn’t like how she handled it though.

“Well maybe don’t be so cryptic next time.”, I spat back, “Also, no, I did not get ‘messed up’, I just... needed a second after the fight is all.”

“Sure. Anyways! I found where your boy Tom is.” She casually responded.

“What! Really? Where?” I asked, happy at the thought of finally reuniting Paris with her lost befriend.

“Don’t sound so excited bud,”, She answered, “He is not in the most ideal position.”

“What do you mean?”

“Read this.” She said, an file appearing on my phone.

I opened the file.

It was a data packet on a test facility for Red Door, an official briefing within it on the layout and work done within the facility.

The facility itself was rather well known and publicly accessible, at least the floors the public knew about. The building held a massive underground laboratory and disease center, the facility was designed to create and test newly developed medicines, treatments, and drugs.

The building proper was positioned adjacent to the Vegas strip, but the underground crawled into the strip itself. The lower levels were able to be easily accessed from certain hotels and casinos, a fast way to display products to potential big investors or buyers.

For the case of Tom though, I could see how his particular situation was not the best. For him, or for us.

Tom was currently being held in one of the lower level testing bays. The file was sparse on what was being done down there, but it described the testing of general stimulants and adaptation tests. I could only make guesses at what either of the experiments meant, but the idea of any of the kids being tested on made me sick to my metaphorical stomach.

I closed the file, the information on layout and security burnt into my mind. The file deleted itself.

“I can see a few issues getting to him, yeah.” I said.

“No kidding Mr. Cee,” Kassidy replied, “I think I have figured something out though... it's not going to be very clean unfortunately.”

Her last statement sounded more like a question.

“I know, I’m ready... and they deserve it.” I muttered.

“Well, in that case Dr. Stone-Cold, here’s what I have cooking.” Kassidy shot out, a clap of her hand could be heard through the phone.

“In the next two days there will be a party at the strip, a real one.” Kassidy said.

“What do you mean a ‘real’ one.” I interrupted.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

“I mean, it is going to be a no holds barred absolute city wrecking festival. The type of party that Red Door has to break out a couple behemoth suits to keep under control, it’s going to be epic.” She said, almost in awe.

“More security is bad?” I asked, unsure.

“Good for us, bad for everyone else. Less eyes looking down, more looking out.”, Kassidy replied.

I nodded affirmatively. If this party was going to be as ‘earth shaking’ as Kassidy claims it will be, it could be a good distraction for my little smash and grab.

“Sounds fun.” I said.

“You bet it does,” Kassidy replied, “That’s why we need to get to party central, the Strip.”

“The hotel and casino access?” I asked, an educated guess.

“Wow! You get smarter every time we talk,” Kassidy replied sarcastically, “But yeah, our best bet is the Rilo, one of the many high-class hotel casinos.”

“The building has an underground access closest to where Tommy boy is stashed. Should make our life easier.” She finished.

Being able to drop right in on Tom would make things easier, I thought. Now the issue was getting in and dealing with who or what was underground, I voiced as much.

“How do we get in?” I asked.

“Great question! You will have to get invited to stay.”

“Kassidy, be honest, has that wire jack fried your brain?” I asked the woman.

“Probably, but that’s besides the point.” Kassidy responded, “Now it won’t actually be you being invited, it will be Paris van der Reu, daughter of the great water baron of East Sudan!”

“No, Paris is not coming, you have to be joking, she’s a kid.” I immediately snapped out.

I may be a hypocrite and lier denying Paris again. But putting her at risk when I didn’t need to, that was something I still wasn’t okay with.

“Chill out Mr. Ceerious , it’s perfectly safe, besides, it’s our only and best shot.” Kassidy retorted.

“How is this safe?” I asked incredulously.

“You'll be with her of course! Her trusty mechanical guard!” Kassidy replied with fanfare.

“If we die, I will have Paris haunt you forever.” I said, fed up with her, but unable to justify not bringing Paris with me, having been reminded of my promise.

“So she can come? Sweet. Anyways, after that, I just need a hard connection to the access chute and I can send you in.” She said.

“Once you are down there though, you are on your own. The only thing I could possibly do for you is swing open a few doors, but don’t count on it.” Kassidy said.

“If we get that far,” I muttered, “Say I get in, get Tom and any other kids, how do I get out?”

“Back the way you came, then you run like hell.”

“That’s your escape plan?” I asked, dumbstruck.

“Hey! I made the rest of the plan, you can figure out that part, I’m not gonna make the whole presentation myself.” She shot back.

Presentation? What is she talking about? Whatever...

“Fine, I’ll figure something out.” I replied to the crazy woman.

“Great, I will send you the invites and the dress code.” she responded.

“Thanks Kassidy, I’ll talk to you later.” I said my goodbyes.

“Have fun Mr. Cee! Also there is a bounty on your head bye!” She hung up the phone.

What.

I pulled up the news on my phone, videos of the attack on the café broadcast on every news site. Outrage was being generated at the wanton damage and disregard for life, but ultimately overshadowed by the bounty placed on my head.

I was a kidnapper apparently, some sort of dangerous rouge A.I. in an experimental combat robot made by one of Red Door’s rivals. The media was slandering my name, I wouldn’t stand for it.

I saw the bounty amount.

I would have to wait to restore my reputation.

I called Hank, informing him of our situation. We wouldn’t be able to come back to the Club anymore, he understood.

Hank told me that he would pack all of our stuff up in the truck and send it to a storage facility not too far away. I thanked him and hung up the phone.

“Hey Paris.” I said.

“Yeah?” The little girl replied, her face now spotted with ketchup.

“First, clean up your face.” I handed her a napkin, “Secondly, I think it’s time to head out, we got a little bit of shopping to do. I have a plan to save Tom, you got a pretty big role.”

She wiped her face, simply smearing the ketchup, “Really! What do I get to do?!” she asked, her face lit up in excitement.

“You get to be a water baron, Miss Reu.” I said, bowing to her in a mock butler pose.

“Wait! So, I'm gonna get to be a spy?! That’s awesome!” The girl cheered.

She made smoking gestures and finger guns all the way to our first purchase.

----------------------------------------

In the end we ended up having to spend quite a bit on what we would need for the party.

My shopping list ended with me purchasing a stretchy ivory tuxedo with black dress pants and shoes. I also ended up buying a few dozen knives which I secretly stashed inside the suit.

Paris’s outfit though, that put a hole in our pocket, a custom tailoring being needed for her excessively glamourous dress. We would need to pick it up the day of the raid. Paris was not happy that I got my outfit first, I was more concerned about being mugged on the way out.

After our shopping spree, we ended up buying some more food and heading out into the city streets once more. This time the goal was finding a place to ride out our wait until the day of the party

The streets were littered with small pieces of trash and debris, the constant confetti rain still falling slowly to the ground. I watched as the little street bots swept up the trash and threw it down a chute. They were kind of cute little guys.

I went to point them out to Paris and found she had flipped one of them on its back. A frustrated beeping coming from the distressed machine.

“Paris no!” I scolded her, flipping the bot right side up.

It looked at us and turned away in a huff, the sassy little robot done with our antics.

Paris laughed as we walked, finding my proceeding lecture on robot ethics rather humorous.

We walked several blocks before we found a place I deemed safe enough to stay at.

The building in question was an 80-story hotel building, the front lacking graffiti, the only differing aspect of this building compared to others like it. In fact, the lack of graffiti was the only reason I chose it, a clean front hopefully meant a clean inside.

We approached the building, finding an automated clerk booth, the prices were reasonable. I purchased a room and was given a temporary keycode. Holding Paris’s hand we walked into the hotel, taking the elevator to the eightieth floor, the little girl’s preference.

Our room was not very spacious, a simple twin bed and a lone chair making up the entirety of the room. A fold out bathroom attached itself to the wall.

Paris tried to throw herself on the bed, I grabbed her by the back of her hoodie before she hit it.

“No way trash monkey, you need to clean yourself up.” I told her. She was caked in various dirt and grime, faint splatters of blood as well.

An ‘ugh’ was all I got in response; I handed her a change of clothes from our recent shopping trip.

Paris grabbed them and turned to pull the shower out of the wall, turning it on.

I walked to the room’s window. I slid it open and sat myself on the windowsill. I gazed out over the city.

The room was positioned over the artificial cloud, not by much, but enough. The view showing the tops of various skyscrapers and a glimpse into the Strip, glowing lights and gold plated everything.

The city felt calm above the clouds, no confetti falling from the sky, no dirtied streets, no junkies, no incessant rush of traffic. I closed my eyes and breathed deep, or I pretended to at least.

I imagine the air tasted fresher up here than down below, possibly sweeter. I knew in my heart that this was probably not the case, but even something bad looks better when compared to something worse.

I leaned out the window a bit farther, the wind rushing past me, blowing through my core.

I stayed like that awhile, enjoying being above the city.

Chattering teeth broke my stupor, “Cee! Close the window! The wind is freezing!”

I took a final faux breath and fell backwards into the room with a loud ‘thump’.

Paris slid the window shut and then looked down at me from above, her face and outfit clean of the speckled blood and grime.

“Come on Cee, let’s plug you in.” An amused smile on her face.