The Receptionist rose once more. “Please place all weapons on the conveyor belt, as no weapons are allowed within The Archion Deposit.”

“You bring us here to get shot Cypher?” Stelig called out.

“You wound me with such harsh words Stel!” I answered. Naedon’s few grew pale when the wall to his right collapsed, and a conveyor belt opened up.

He bridged placed his pistol on the belt, with the rest following suit.

Elhisia stormed towards me, almost hitting the table in the process. I outstretched my hand, stopping her from bumping into me, and gave her a gentle smile. “You can try to kill me afterwards,” I said grimly.

“Bastard!” Elhisia said, pulling her sunglasses from her face. The moment she did, Her as were as red as a crimson moon, bags swollen beneath them. She’s been crying this entire time? I asked myself. Fuck…she does blame for this mess.

I stiffened my body, feeling her eyes trace mine, then I knelt to her, looking her dead in the eye. “I am truly sorry for how things turned out Princess…but I did what I thought was best at the time. If you had gone back out there, we all would’ve died. If this apology isn’t good enough for you, then there’s nothing else I can say that can quell your anger. The anger I understand.”

Elhisia eyed me, lips drawn to a line. The defiance in her features was there, but I could see her softness behind those red eyes of hers.

After two minutes of a staredown, Elhisian finally sank within her hoverchair, gripping the sides and I watched as the veins from her hands pop out.

I placed my hands on top of hers. She flinched for a second but began sobbing incessantly. “You did what you could Princess. I know your heart aches for them, but don’t worry. I killed Rikor and I killed Valeon. It’s not much, but it’s a start.”

The Receptionist coughed, drawing our eyes. She stood by her desk, hands still clasped together as if notifying us it was time to get down to business.

I pushed myself up, heading to her desk, placing my hand on her scanner then typed in my code after the scan. “Is everyone allowed in the room Mr Cypher?” The Receptionist asked.

“Yes, they’re allowed in”

The receptionist nodded, then pressed a button underneath her desk and walked towards a wall, that opened up.

We followed her down the spiral stairs, whilst guiding Elhisia’s hoverchair down the chair. I at least was happy that it didn’t have wheels. The only challenge we had, was angling as we descended due to its egg-like shape.

Once we reached the bottom floor, the shine from the black tiles beamed, like diamonds sparkling across a black sea.

The Receptionist planted her hand on the digital pad, an orange light pulsed, scanning her hand, and the door to the depository room slashed open. We followed her in, she made a right I went left.

The wall to the right opened up, and the digital keyboard popped up, followed by a blurring white screen. The receptionist approached it and began typing in whatever code needed to be typed in. Two cylinders rose from the floor in the middle of the room, they were one meter apart and the lights dimmed.

“Cypher?” Stelig laughed, “You had to do all of this?”

“Of course,” I said, “I know how important the lineagecube is.”

Elhisia eyed me pensively, and placed her hand in front of her, touching a button on her hoverchair. The sides flaps opened and Elhisia stepped out, removing her sunglasses and mask.

The dress she wore was a simple white dress that swayed each step she made towards me. Her haunting eyes eyed me, as a reaper would, full of discontent and rage. “Which one is mine?” She asked, looking past me and at the receptionist.

“It doesn’t matter.” The receptionist answered.

I walked past Elhisia, standing at digital inlay, further from her. She then went to the opposing cylinder, we both placed our hands on the pad and an orange scan pulse, then a needle pricked my finger, taking a sample of my blood. “How did you get my DNA to encode this machine?”

“I took a strand of your hair, nothing malicious. It was the best thing I could do, ensuring, no one could get the lineagecube.”

“Best you could consider?” Elhisia hissed.

“Yes. It was a good thing, if we had failed to rescue you, your cousin would’ve obtained this now wouldn’t she?”

“Not the point.”

“No...that’s exactly the point,” I said firmly. “What more could you want? It's as I said earlier, you can’t have everything. Fine. You want to save everyone, I do too, but you know the risk when you made your plan. You trusted the wrong man to get the job done, he betrayed you, now you’re in this situation. I get it, you’re trying to blame me, but deep down, you truly blame yourself. Listen to me, because after today, you probably won’t ever see me again, take the pain of your loss, marinate it, cook it, do whatever you think is best, but never let it bog you down and swallow you. You won’t ever recover. You said you wanted to help people, you have the power to do, unlike me. I'm just a cog in a shitty machine trying to make a living. Forget about me and my pragmatism. Fix your life, Princess.”

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

Elhisia pulled her hand from the machine not saying a word and I pulled mine free as well. A small box circled between two cylinders, and opened up, showing the DNA Cylinder. The liquid within the cylinder beamed blue, then spun red.

Colvolt told me that the cylinder was filled with his very DNA, whatever that meant. “Why was the lineagecube needed to be placed in this?” I asked.

Elhisia turned to me, watching me from the corner of my eye. “I’m curious.” She released a long sigh and looked at the receptionist. The Receptionist took a short bow and exited the room, leaving us six alone.

Elhisia groaned a cough and swallowed deeply. “The DNA Incubator Cylinder has my father’s DNA within it. It’s to ensure that he doesn’t lose control of the lineagecube.”

“Lose control?”

“The lineagecube is a device that only recognises Weitson’s as the rightful owners.”

“Which means, that only a Weitson can use it.”

“Yes…” She croaked.

I stepped towards the DNA Incubator Cylinder, picking it up, and snapping it open. Hesitation manifested into Elhisia’s eyes. I raised my hand. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to destroy it,” I said, turning the device in my hands, as I watched the fluid drip back into the Cylinder. “I just need it for something.”

Once I finished circling the lineagecube in my hand, I let it slip between my fingertips, dropping into the DNA cylinder with a red splash.

I screwed the cylinder back on, handing it over to Elhisia, who took It from with much reservation. Elhisia looked past me, nodding. Footsteps echoed behind me, making me turn. Tryzer approached me with the silver briefcase he’d been carrying around. “Special delivery,” He told me, which drew a bitter smile from me.

“Are we finished?” Elhisia said.

“We are.”

“Good.

Elhisia clopped back to her hoverchair, taking a seat. Naedon gave me a nod, whilst the rest smiled as if they’d been paid billions.

The moment Naedon got by the door, a thought came to me. Well, more like a plea, but I could only change it if I tried.

“Naedon,” I said firmly. “A word?”

Naedon turned to Elhisia who scoffed at me, then nodded her approval. Tryzer, Stelig and Rynord then went through the door.

The silence of the room was deafening. The rustling tumbleweeds of the Waste were certainly more blissful to my ears, especially from what I was about to ask Naedon.

“I need your help,” I said firmly.

“What do you mean?” Naedon asked confused.

“I need your help. My wife and daughter have been kidnapped.”

“Holy shit…is that why you didn’t make your way back to debrief?”

“Yes. I found out she’d been kidnapped. The kidnapper has a vendetta against me, so they’re holding them hostage.”

“Vendetta?”

“Yeah…it’s nothing major, for me, but for him it was personal. Well…I made it personal not too long ago.”

“Whaddayamean?”

“You remember the case Jix was helping me with?

“Of course.”

“Well, The SOB down that injured Jix took my wife and dog—“ I tried to say, but Naedon cut me off.

“I’ll help,” Naedon said.

“What? You’d what?”

“…Help.”

“Naedon…I…I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t mention it, you said that this bastard was the one that injured Jix right?”

“Yeah…” I whispered hearing echoes of the roof that collapsed onto Jix.

“Then I’m in. I’ll talk to the rest so don’t worry.”

“Appreciated. I’ll contact you when I meet him.”

“You’re meeting him?”

“Yes. I was to acquire an item for him, but failed.”

“What was it?” Naedon asked, curious.

“Something called a serphandias. Ever heard about it?”

“Serphandias? No never heard, Sounds similar”

“To the lineagecube, I thought so as well.”

“You planning on using the lineagecube?”

“I’ve thought about it, but I need the credits from this gig to pay someone.”

“Who?”

“The Mangol.”

“Holy shit…you tried to break into Underwent, didn’t you? The Mangol she owns this serphandias?”

“Yes.”

“Then why the hell are you still alive. No one’s ever made it out alive by crossing her.”

“Credits solves everything.”

“You’re using the credits from Elhisia to pay her off?”

“Yes. If I don’t pay her back. I can’t save my family.” I said, pulling down my turtle neck.”

“Fuck…an EC?”

“Yeah…”

“How you don’t know they won’t kill you regardless.”

“I don’t, but you should see one of her men outside, blinking SMB around the temple. Once you leave, tell me I’m in here. I can trade in here without issue”

“Understood, you need us to back you up?”

“No, I got this.”

“Are you sure?”

“Not really, but it’s not worth the risk, just wait for my call. I’m not sure where Akatani will meet with me, but it’ll probably be remote, I just need someone to tail me for when shit hits the fan. Also, see if you can bring that DNA Incubator Cylinder.”

“Fake out?.” Naedon said nodding.

“Possibly.”

“I’ll talk to the Princess.”

“I appreciate it Naedon,” I said firmly.

“Don’t mention it Cypher, because of you, we gotta a great deal through Elhisia.”

“Great deal?”

“Yeah…we’re Elhisia personal bodyguards, she paid out our contracts whilst, handing new contracts to CSS”

“Everyone’s been paid, nice.”

“Yeah…”

“Good then…we’ll talk,” I said.

Naedon went through the door, and I knelt, snapping open the briefcase. The briefcase had six data cubes stacked throughout the case, which beamed silver and blue. I took snapped up one of the cubes and pocketed it.

I went through the door and was met the Receptionist who still had her clasped. “Does this conduct your business for today Mr Cypher?”

“It does.” I said, “Excellent,” The receptionist said, leading me back upstairs. Once I reached upstairs, I took a seat and awaited the Mangol and her entourage to arrive for their credits.

Unsurprisingly, she arrived after fifteen minutes. Surprisingly, she came alone.

“Well, this is unexpected,” I said.

“I don’t need my husbands to deal with you Cypher.” The Mangol said.

“I see.”

I pushed myself up from my chair, placing the briefcase on the floor between us, then stepped back to my chair. The Mangol picked up the briefcase with her left hand, spinning in her arms, then snapped it up. He pulled something from her sleeve, pressed a button and a yellow light flashed, eight times. “Two Hundred and Forty Million Credits, in cryptocurrency. Well Done.”

“Are we square?”

“We aren’t.” The Mangol said firmly. “But it’s a start.”

She turned around, not saying anything and walked right up to the door, which slashed open.

The moment the Mangol left, my body seeped into the chair, like water does sand. I need to rest I thought for a second, but felt the Crystalline phone, bulging in my pants pocket. I pulled it free and was reminded that there was no rest for the wicked.

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