"Nice plan, Mike. Reminds me of old times. But I wonder how willing your friend would have been if he knew your part in all of this?"
"I don't know," I gasped, reaching for the Mean Ol' Broad. "Guess we'll never find out, will we?"
Kilgore's hand shot out, grabbing my wrist with crushing force. It took him little effort to force my arm up, my hand trembling in front of my face. A wide grin creased his cheeks when he seized my trigger finger and yanked with brutal force. The popping sound seemed unnaturally loud, drowned out only by my startled yell as the pain instantly exploded across my entire hand and upper arm.
"That's for wasting time instead of following orders." He grabbed the next finger and repeated the action, doubling the agony. "And that's for showing up here trying to kill me."
I collapsed to the ground when he released his death grip on my collar, clutching my injured hand to my chest, jaw trembling as free-flowing water rushed over my legs, soaking my pants. To my relief, the sounds of sirens grew louder as police vehicles approached from the air and the street. I figured I'd use the distraction of the ensuing gunfight to crawl into the nearest sewer and float away with the rest of the city's useless waste.
Kilgore glanced at the rising waters. "I gotta say, flooding the Haven was quite the bold plan. I'm glad I was able to get my hands on an operation already set up in place. You know how the rest goes, Mike. The question is: will you deliver Faraday before it's too late? The clock is ticking, so stop wasting time trying to track me down. The only reason you're alive is that you know this place better than anyone, and Faraday was fixated on you. The two of you are connected. So focus on the mission, Agent Trudo. A lot of lives depend on it."
Dropping to one knee, he planted a fist against the ground. Electric arcs flashed around him, and in an instant, he vanished in a flash of sizzling energy, leaving sparks dancing across the waters to mark his passing. In the background, the building across the street still burned, the flames ignoring the downpour as they gnawed on steel and concrete.
Groaning, I sank back against the building wall, extracting a gasper from the deck and placing it between my bleeding lips. I managed to light it but started hacking after the first drag. When the police floaters dropped from the sky and unloaded troops of black-armored street sweepers, they found me choking with laughter like a madman under the harsh glare of red and blue lights.
"Your hand is injured," the robot officer said.
I sat under the awning of a police van, watching the androids work with the warm-blooded officers in securing the scene and inspecting the damaged building where I expected to hear the worst about Poddar's condition. I brushed off the copper's concern with a dismissive gesture.
"No kidding, Mack. With those keen observational skills, it's no wonder you're showing up late at crime scenes. What was your name again?"
His eyed flashed. "Officer Link 3022 at your service."
"Leave him alone, Mick," Natasha said, dabbing at my face with some nanocream from her medimech kit. One of the first on the scene, she immediately fell into her familiar role of nurse to her favorite Troubleshooter. "He's a great partner and a top-notch officer."
Link's inexpressive face somehow looked pleased. "Thank you, Officer Luzzatti."
I glanced at Natasha from the corner of my eye. "You wanna tell me what this is all about?"
"What do you mean?"
"This police officer business. I turn my back for a few months, and you enlist in the Academy?"
"Graduated top of the class."
"Congrats and all, but why?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Why not?"
"Why not? Because you can get in the way of a stray bullet if you're not careful."
"I almost died minding my own business when the Red-Eyed Killer killed my parents, Mick. I can catch a bullet walking down the sidewalk at any moment in this place. I can’t stop that, and neither can you. But what I can do is choose to try to make a difference."
I grunted as Link examined my fingers. "You wanna make a difference, go run for office like your boyfriend."
Her stare turned challenging. "You think politics are any safer than police work? Do you know how many death threats Matt gets every time he tries to change something that doesn't want to be changed around here?"
I paused, thinking about what I knew about the system, how easily Hunter had greased palms, worked through loopholes and dirty suits, then used intimidation and blackmail to accomplish anything he wanted to on the legislative level. "You got me there, kiddo. But that doesn't mean—"
"Do you know what being helpless feels like, Mick?"
I gazed into her dark eyes, seeing the anguish glimmer for a few seconds before she hardened her face. I clenched my jaw and nodded. "Yeah, Natasha. I know what it feels like."
"Then you know that it's a vice on your chest. Fingers wound tightly around your throat. It's being terrified at shadows, glancing over your shoulder every time you walk out the door. That's not how I want to live my life. So, I decided to do something about it. This is my choice, Mick. It's like I told you once — you can't protect me. And I can't expect you to. I have to protect myself. That's why I chose this job — for myself. You might not like it, but you should respect the choice."
I nodded, feeling a surge of pride despite myself. "Okay, Natasha. Sometimes I forget that—"
I cut off in mid-sentence, standing up as a pair of androids emerged from the ruined tenement, bearing an injured Poddar on their shoulders. Dark blood fanned across half his face, his suit was singed, one leg dragged, and a bandage covered one eye. He was alive, though — which was the only thing that mattered.
I raised a hand and was about to call out, but right at that second Link popped my fingers back into the sockets, resulting in an unmanly scream ripping from my throat instead.
"I'm sorry, Mick. I thought I had a shot."
With the blood cleaned away, Poddar looked a little better than half-dead. A medical patch covered one eye, and his burned suit and shirt were stripped away, leaving his enhancer skin, which gleamed like scales in rainbow hues. His burns were mainly superficial, tended to by the white-and-blue medical androids. But it was the expression on his face that concerned me. For the first time, he looked defeated.
His next words confirmed it. "I don't think we can beat this guy. He's too fast. Never seen anyone move like that. Had a clean shot and still missed. This enhancer skin might have saved my life, but I don't think both of us together can be half a match for him. He's … not human."
I sighed, watching the hosers douse Maxine's remains with dry chemicals. Nothing recognizable remained of her — just a smoking, skeletal chassis of what once was the smoothest ride in the city. She'd been a part of my life nearly the entire time in New Haven, and losing her damn near felt like losing a partner. My teeth grit together. "He's human, all right. I'll prove it when I put a bullet in his brain."
A derisive snort made him wince in pain. "You're still running off of delusional fuel, Mick? The only reason we're still alive is that he's been toying with us. We're not even worth the effort of finishing off."
"His mistake, not mine." I gave Poddar a critical glance, not liking what I saw. His gaze was downcast, his shoulders slumped. It was the posture of a broken man. I gave him a friendly slap on the back. "Look, you gotta shake this off. Take a minute and get yourself together. I got an appointment across town."
He didn’t even glance up. "Yeah, okay."
"The safe box in Maxine's trunk with our extra weapons and gear should still be in one piece. Make sure you get it, okay? I'll meet up later."
"Safe box. Yeah, whatever."
Sighing, I tapped the datcom in my ear. "You there, LT?"