A few yards away, Daiyu battled the Scythers. Even with their cybernetics disabled, they were still formidable fighters. But they never faced a Wrath of Ebonhall. Focusing the Rush made her faster and stronger than her slim, lithe frame appeared, and her mastery of fighting styles gave her a formidable advantage. Twin daggers slid from her jacket sleeves into her hands, and she became a stabbing whirlwind, yelling with battle rage as she flowed from one opponent to the next, red mist trailing across the air from the edges of her blades. A few steps away, the Sentry woman staggered, head jerking uncontrollably as her system tried rebooting itself.
I focused on the last four troopers, who approached cautiously — hands on batons and backup handguns that fired conventional rounds. Their apprehension cost them, allowing me to press the attack and hurl my boomstaff into the face of the closest one. While he staggered, I leaped into the air, avoiding a barrage of close-quarter gunfire. Landing behind another soldier, I kicked her legs out, wrapped an arm in a crushing grip across her throat, and seized her gun arm. Using her for a shield, I fanned across her squadmates, squeezing her trigger finger. One, two, three shots, and they dropped from rounds to the kneecaps. I kept the pressure on her neck until she passed out from lack of oxygen before letting her sag to the ground. I turned to see if Daiyu needed help.
Just in time to see her decapitate the Sentry.
She tore the head from the neck, trailing wires and dripping black blood. The Sentry's body crashed to the ground next to the Scythers, who didn't move as the earth darkened around them. Daiyu paid them no attention, crouching as she stabbed her knife into the Sentry's head, slicing cleanly across the brow as if performing brain surgery.
I swallowed, taking a hesitant step closer, trying not to look at the enemies she put down — limp bodies on the ground that would never move again. One of the Scyther's goggles had shattered, exposing wide-open eyes that didn't blink when a bead of blood slid across their surface.
"What are you doing?"
Daiyu's jaw clenched as her fingers dug into the Sentry's skin and pulled it back, exposing the domed circuit lobe underneath, blinking with multicolored lights. "Sentries record everything live, but the surveillance barrier forced it to save the last few minutes onto its own personal databanks." Gritting her teeth, she dug her fingers into a crevice in the cybernetic skull and yanked out a tiny drive. "Now our faces don't go into every intelligence database in the UH."
Grimacing, she stood and glared at the severed head in distaste before turning and hurling it across the street, where it landed a few paces away from the jet chopper. The air was thick with smoke and heat from our home burning to ashes behind us. Daiyu didn't even spare it a glance.
"We have to go. Reinforcements won't be far behind."
I nodded. "The bunker?"
"The bunker. I'll meet you there."
"You're not coming now?"
She glanced at the troopers that I left paralyzed and unconscious a few yards away. "I have to mop this up first."
I stared helplessly, hearing the deadly intent behind her words. "They're not hurting anyone, Daiyu. There's no need to—"
Her mouth tightened. "They saw you. They can describe you perfectly, and each one has recording devices in their helmets, armor, and weapons. I can't allow any footage of your existence leave here."
"Then at least let me—"
She picked up a discarded handgun and checked the cartridge. "Let you what — help me kill them?"
"You trained me to—"
"No."
The word rang in the air as she gazed at me with unexpected tenderness. "This is something you can't help me with. I hope you never have to. You did as I trained you to do — you defended yourself. The rest is my responsibility. I hope against logic that you won't have to become a killer like myself or your father. That somehow you can escape our legacy of violence because you can only go down that path once before it changes you forever. At least this time I can spare you. Go to the bunker and get ready to leave. I'll meet you there when I'm finished."
I knew better than to argue. Biting my lip, I turned and jogged down the street, fleeing the sight of fallen bodies and the sound of gunshots that followed me like phantom footsteps, each one a punctuation point to a life snuffed from existence. Tears blurred my vision as I shoved through the door of a house further down, scrambling to enter and stumble down the basement stairs to the hidden bunker below.
By the time Daiyu entered, I had composed myself and packed everything onto the rumble bikes: weapons, gear, and a five-day stock of provisions. She walked in with a manner of icy calm, but I saw the stress in her eyes and for the first time, I understood the toll that pruning took on her. She gave the bikes an approving nod.
"The neighborhood is burning down. Fire trucks and ambulances on the way, and I'm sure Cyber Corp or the HSSC will have boots on the ground as well. It will take a while to sift through things, which gives us time to get away clean and hopefully without a trace."
I nodded. "Where are we going?"
She barely glanced up from inspecting the supplies on her bike. "You're going to Los Diablos. Your uncle is an ex-HSSC agent and an expert on disappearing. He can help you keep a low profile until I rendezvous there in a few weeks."
My eyes widened. "My uncle? I didn't know you had a brother."
"I don't. He's your father's brother. You've met him — he came by to train you with firearms when you were seven."
My mind raced back to the time: two months of intense training by a man named Blackjack: tall, athletic, firm but good-natured. "That was my uncle? Why didn't you—"
"It was agreed by both of us that you were safer not knowing. You know why."
I sighed. "Right. Enemies high and low. Will it ever end?"
"No."
I took a deep breath and nodded again. "Fine. What will you be doing?"
"Shadow work. Tracing the data trails, working with contacts, making sure no one can cause you harm."
"And if they do, you'll hunt them down and kill them."
Her chin tilted upward. "I make no apologies for what I do."
"I know, Mom. I don't expect you to. I'm … grateful. For everything."
She smiled, and for an instant, her eyes glistened with emotion. The moment of vulnerability vanished quickly, replaced by familiar composure. "Time to be off."
"Okay. I'll see you soon. I love you, Mom."
Not waiting for a response, I leaped on my bike and clicked on a dash button, opening a hidden door that revealed the two-mile underground passageway that would take us underneath the swarms of emergency and military vehicles that converged on our location. Gunning the throttle, I sped into the tunnel, hurtling past the light strips on both sides that whipped by like lasers. The roar of the engine filled the subway, drowning me in the sonic sensation as I sped into the unknown at two hundred-plus miles an hour. I didn't look over my shoulder, didn't check to see if Daiyu followed behind. I knew she'd always be there, watching my back whether I saw her or not. But for the first time, I was free to seek my own fortune.
For the first time, I was on my own.
Merlin Woods will return in her full-length noveclass="underline" Professional Adventurer.