-1-

“Alan fucked up. The plan is off and we have to go now!," Minnow Dory yells, throwing open the door of the safehouse, tears streaming down her face.

For the first time Minnow doesn’t bask in all the attention off the room suddenly being directed towards her.

“He killed that Mjollber synthesizer and he’s holding the drugs hostage,” she says.  “He’s going after the Rektor. I think he might kill her-- ”

She is surprised by how quickly the room reacts. What had looked like a relaxed social gathering when she walked in now like a command center.

Sara bolts up the stairs to get her tablets, Jean immediately braces himself with  knives and Ivy opens her Syndicate speaking in quick harried Italian. Even Saint, who usually sat quietly in the corner watching Ivy, bolted up to open a small drawer and arm himself with a series of firearms.

“Call Rayne!,” Sara shouts from upstairs to no one in particular. “Jean meet Rayne at MKC and follow us on the tracker , Ivy take the Maybach and get El. Tell him to bring every weapon hidden in the distillery.”

Sara comes does the stairs with a glock on her thigh and her tablet case strapped on her back. When she gets outside she is taken aback for a moment by the Mjollner car, but quickly gets to her sense and slides into the front seat.

“Whose Syndicate is Alan using ?,” Sara demands as Minnow starts the car.

“The synthesizer's,” Minnow responds.

“Perfect,” Sara smiles. "It will be unencrypted."

Minnow can’t help but to notice the zeal in Sara’s face as she opened her screen to start hacking. She loved this.

Sara hacks effortlessly into Dr. Markov’s Syndicate and  then patches Minnow, El, Ivy and Jean in a backdoor network.

“When we arrive we are acting as back up. We’re laying low unless something happens,” Sara says. “Alan…can you hear me ?”

***

I distantly hear Sara’s voice in my ear, but I don’t respond. I hadn’t expected any back up and I wanted Bishop to think it’s just me and him. I make an affirmative grunting sound.

With the stolen machine  gun to his back, I follow Bishop up a short staircase and to a private penthouse elevator.

“It didn’t have to come to this,” Bishop tell me as he hits the top floor.

“It did,” I tell him. “Would you have told  me anything if I wasn’t holding M44 hostage ?"

“I never trusted you,” he said.

“Like hell,” I said. “You trusted me too much.”

“At first,” he said. “But I'll give it to Ilena. She never liked you. After you left the Board meeting so quickly she tailed you.  We thought you may have been tying up loose ends with the Shy but once we questioned the whore you practically revealed yourself. You two should have had a better backstory.”

The doors buzzes open up to a large pristine office with multiple suites in clear glass. I let the machine gun hang at a casual angle. Two armed guards stand outside the office entrance, they simply nod to Bishop as we go inside.

The office space is draped in red and gold and the view looks all the way out to the clear sphere of Ft. Perch. The Rektor is sitting in a deep red reclining chair, her oversized  scythe still at her side. She’s flipping diligently through a projected report and drinking out of a crystal tumbler and the shiny diamond crown is still sitting on her head.

“Mother,” Bishop says his voice unnaturally nervous.

The Rektor turns and her pale face turns to a pleasant smile when she sees me. She stands and walks around the chair towards us.

“I don’t recall having a meeting with one of our fighters on my schedule--”

“This isn’t a social call,” I interrupt her and her expression goes icy. “I want to talk to you alone--”

“Guards--,” she calls, but Bishop shakes his head.

“He has M44,” Bishop tells her. “He’s threatened to destroy it if we harm him.”

Her terse expression rests on me like she wants to see through me.

“Who are you ?,” she asks.

“You can call me Alan Gray,” I tell her. “I just want to talk to you. Alone.”

Her eyes rest on  the blades in my arm and she stands up taller but seems resigned.

“There is a private balcony,” she tells me. “It has clear windows. If you so much as take a swing at me with those things in your arm I  will give Gideon the call to  send every one of my street fighters after you.”

I nod my head in agreement and follow across the marble floor to a connecting suite where clear French doors open up to a balcony. 

The Rektor had exchanged her floor length dress for a red stiff collar business suit with a short cape and black lace up boots that go up her thigh. The heel on the boots is high and  she moves in practiced careful steps. Her neck is adorned in small gold chains and a pair of stars hang from her ears.She jingles everytime she walks.

She swings open the balcony doors with a wave of her hand. The balcony is wide and expansive-- when we are both outside she she sits primly on an ottoman and somehow manages to stare me down.

“Zacharias Washington,” I start and she nods. “You stole him from his christening in Mojave. I want to know where he is.”

She gives a short laugh before going back to her usual still face. She sits quietly and observes the many rings on her hand before looking back up at me.

“I may be a monster,” she says almost proudly. “But I’m no fool.”

“Did you take him ?”

“No, I did not.” she says in a clipped voice. “As you know the Mjollner recruit off the street. My son Gideon has created a reward system among new recruits. They must  prove themselves to become full members and move up the ranks. A few months ago a rambunctious group of new recruits went rouge and tried to impress Gideon with their little....stolen cradle stunt.”

“What did you do with the baby ?,” I ask

“I told them they had to get rid of it,” she says matter of factly.  “I don’t  condone any crimes involving  my enemies’ heirs, but those fools had already taken the baby.”

“Get rid of it ?,” I repeat. “Like an orphanage ?”

“Before I tell you,” she says with a hint of humor. “I have to know. How did you connect it back to us ? Those boys weren't even full Mjollner yet.”

“You don’t know ? They drove your cars and wore your colors.” I tell her.

“What an idiotic shame,” she says. “Well, I suppose it’s all for the best they’re all dead now--”

“Where is the baby ?,” I ask. “We can end this. No hard feelings and I give back M44.”

She stands and closes her eyes.

“As I said, I told them to get rid of it. I advised the young men to take the baby to the Tempus Harvest Center. Donating babies is illegal but I have a contact there who does it off the books,” The Rektor said slowly. “We received $800,000 for the donation and I am willing to give that to Mr. Washington if he so desperately seeks retribution.”

The last part comes out of her mouth quickly and my chest feels like it’s folded flat.

None of this shit mattered.

Nothing matters.

She had sold him for parts.

 He’d been dead this whole time.

“Alan,” I hear Rayne’s voice suddenly in my Syndicate. “Kill her.”

***

-2-

I don’t hesitate to follow the order,  I fake right  with my right hook and then  swing my left elbow at the Rektor’s throat, but she sees it coming and ducks low. She moves quickly for a woman her age and rolls away from me and with quick reflexes crawls back inside the penthouse and locks me inside the balcony.

I pick up the large ottoman and throw it through the glass door. Glass tinkles and falls into the penthouse. I step inside as glass dusts my body. I expect to see her guards surrounding me but it’s still  just me and her in the lavish foyer.

She’s grabbed the giant scythe she was holding at the Board meeting. It isn’t just her show prop—it her  weapon. The Rektor sweeps the scythe across my body, but I’m able to stop it with the thick blade in my forearm. It sends a tingling vibration down to my bones. She pulls the scythe away and  I make a defensive circle around the room, letting the adrenaline fuel me on. She’ll eventually tire, but I never will.

She tries to strike again and I lift my arm and ducking under I move in closer,  running my blade into  the pole of the scythe and the gilded wood splinters. I try to hit it again, to dislodge the blade from it's base, but she heaves the scythe back and with a grunt  hurls the entire thing at me. The side of the blade catches my shoulder and blood seeps down my arm.

"Fuck!," I wince.

When I look up she has two guns in her hands, I have no idea where she got them. She starts shooting in rapid fire succession and I duck and deflect where I can.  I try and make a move for the machine gun I’d abandoned, but she sees that I want it and guards it.

“Stand down!” she shouts at me. “I was a street fighter before you were even born!”

Behind me I hear footsteps coming from the hall and I know her backup must be finally  coming—I’m surprised they hadn’t appeared earlier, but I don’t dare turn my back on the Rektor. Two gun shots sound off behind me and I slide to the side. The Rektor makes an agonizing sound and  when I look up her  guns have clattered to the ground.

I spin around to see Minnow and Saint coming through the hall; they’re both covered in blood.  Saint is dragging along Ilena and Bishop—both of them are in handcuffs and bruised like they put up a fight. Minnow tosses her pistol to me and I catch it on instinct.

“Do it now,” Minnow yells at me. “Kill her.”

I look down at the Rektor. Minnow’s bullets had gone through the Rektor’s hands and the woman is lying on the floor, her body shaking in agony. Somehow that damn crown is still on her head.

 I’m suddenly relieved of all my rage. All I see is a defenseless woman who can’t do anything to bring back what we’ve lost. Killing her solves nothing and would only piss the Mjollner off more.

“No,” I said.

“We all heard Rayne’s order,” Minnow tells me. “She sold Rias  for parts to a Harvest Center. His life for hers, it’s only fair.”

I shake my head and I hear a soft clink behind me. I turn to see Bishop had somehow freed himself from the handcuffs and he is holding his hand palm out.  I feel the pull in my chest I’d felt when I first met him. The pull is harder and I hear a spark as our Syndicates go down.

“Embedded cybernetic detector and micro-EMP,”  Saint says grimly looking at Bishop's palm.

His EMP had blanked out all of the tech, including the magnetic handcuffs. 

 “Now, let’s discuss this like adults--,” Bishop stops mid-sentence.  

The Rektor screams and Bishop looks down to where the blunt blade of the scythe is now protruding through his  stomach.

The hilt of the blade is held by Ilena and Bishop falls on it with a sickening sound.

Before I can react  to Ilena  murdering her husband she picks up one of the Rektor’s abandoned guns and shoots the Rektor in the forehead. The woman falls back dead.

“Get out!” Ilena growls at Minnow, Saint and I.

“What did you do ?,” Minnow screams  her gun now trained on Ilena. “That wasn’t your kill--”

“Yes it was. I was sold into this family only to be bossed around by that bitch every hour of every day and playing a prop to that idiotic man.”

“You’re insane--,” I begin

“And you’re wasting time,” Ilena says. "Harvest Centers don’t always use infants right away. Your missing baby could still be there.”

“Why the hell are you helping us ?” Minnow shoots at her.

“I’m not,” Ilena says. She leans down and  picks up splintered scythe and  Rektor's fallen crown. “I’m taking what should be mine and getting you out of my way. You don’t want the Mjollner, you want your baby. Go get him.”

-3-

Minnow motions for  me to follow as she  heads for the shattered balcony windows and heaves her body over the edge of the balcony.  Saint follows after her. I peer down to see they’ve started scaling down the balconies of the hotel.

“Can’t we take the elevator,” I say, flinging my body over the railing and climbing down with them.

“We can’t.” she says. “There’s a dick measuring contest going on out front between the Mjollner street fighters and the Cavalcotti. It’s why Sara and Rayne couldn’t get up here. Too risky.”

We speed up, jumping from balcony by balcony until we reach the bottom of the Stratosphere. When we reach the sidewalk I can hear a cacophony of agonized shouts and gunfire. But  we we’re still completely tuned out  because of the EMP and can’t hear any chatter on the lines.

We run away from the fight, up towards the Strip and find a Jeep we can hack into.  

Saint remains on the sidewalk as we get in the car.

“Go,” Saint says as I get in the driver’s seat and Minnow gets in the passenger. “I have to  protect Ivy,”

I nod my head as he runs off.

We’re silent as we drive out of the Sprawl and towards the Tempus Harvest Center.

“Isn’t this ironic ?,” I ask Minnow.

“What ?,” she asks distressed.

“That Tempus, the company that may have killed Rias, is what gave life to me,”

“It’s not the same,” she tells me. Her voice is terse with none of the usual dark humor.

When the desert finally gives way to civilization we drive through rows  and rows  of  metal and glass townhouses that look eerily identical.  It’s the middle of the day and as we near the Harvest Center people are going about their day; there is a long line of people waiting to donate organs at the center.

I look at Minnow, she covered in blood splatter from whatever the fuck had been going on while I was inside. My shoulder was still bleeding and my clothes were torn and dirty. The bloodied baldes in my arm are on full display.

“Look at us,” I said. “We can’t  go in there. They’ll freak out.”

“Good,” Minnow says. “Follow my lead.”

 She  hands me one of her guns and I follow her inside the Harvest Center. She walks past the line of people waiting and walking through the front door begins shooting rounds in the air.

“EVERYBODY DOWN!” Minnow yells.

Some people in line scramble to get away, most of them listen to her and get down. These people weren't from the Sprawl and  weren’t used to this—they were terrified.

Minnow surveys the small lobby and makes her way to the front desk. I follow behind.

“We are looking for a 9 month old infant,” she tells the woman behind the desk. “Show us where he would be and no one gets hurt.”

The woman behind the desk is shaking and her eyes are shifting to something beyond my shoulder. I spin to see a  guard coming up behind me with a taser. I sweep my leg under the mans legs and when he falls I disarm him and take the taser out of his hand.

The woman yelps.

“Where do you keep the babies ?,” Minnow repeats. "We don't want to hurt anyone."

The woman looks me up and down and then motions for us to follow her into the back.  She takes us through several secure doors. The air in the center is cool and smells like a hospital. As we walk through the facility I see rows and rows of small operating tables and preservation tanks.

We cross through a barrier that is labeled Staff Only. The room beyond is lined with hundreds of thousands of organs connected to artificial pumps and catheters in vats that mimicked the human body enough to keep the organs alive. Most of the organs in here  were grown from samples from the people waiting in line outside.

My parents had Harvest Insurance and there was a chance the heart or lungs or liver they paid for was sitting in this facility somewhere.

There were no people around, which meant the entire building was on lockdown.

Which also meant the blueboys would be here soon to arrest us.

The woman stops in front of a door covered in colorful handprints labeled nursery.

“Please don't hurt them,” the woman begs

“Duh,” Minnow says with only a slight hesitation. “Open it.”

Shaking, the woman  opens the door with a retina scan and steps aside as Minnow and I spill in. There are a dozen little baby incubators lining the room. We both start looking inside.

I immediately notice all of the infants in the incubators had severe birth defects, I didn’t know anything about pediatrics  but from what I could see all the infants in this room were living on very borrowed time.

 “He wouldn’t be in here,” Minnow says. “He’s healthy. Where are the healthy babies ?”

The woman looks confused and then realization crosses her face.

"We don't do that here," the woman cried. "We've never--"

"Someone here does. Where is your boss ?," I demand. "Someone who could smuggle money out of here,"

The woman starts making frantic calls on her Syndicate to her boss that go unanswered.  In the distance I hear the sound of impeding sirens and an emergency alarm blaring. The blueboys were coming and I couldn't kill them all. We had no backup out here with our Syndicates blown out.

“We have go,” I tell Minnow taking her arm

She pulls away.

“Not yet--”

She doesn’t hear what I hear. My hacks have made my hearing better and I know the sirens are close.If we get caught we’re going to prison

“We’ll come back when it's cooled down.” I say and turn to the woman. “Where’s the backdoor ?”

The woman points down a hall and taking Minnow’s hand I have to drag her to the backdoor. When we get outside she snaps back to life and pulls out her gun.

There is only one RLA Police car and it looks like both officers have gone inside the building. With Minnow covering my back we make a break for our stolen Jeep. Citizens start shouting that we are getting away and Minnow shoots out the RLA’s tires and I drive away from the Harvest Center as fast as I can.

“Where should I go ?,” I shout to Minnow as I speed into the desert

“Sprawl,” she says. “We can get lost in the city.”

I make loops and sharp turns  through the desert so our path isn’t obvious.

“Shit,” Minnow says.

“What?”

“Mjollner,” she says

-4-

I look in the mirror and  see two red Mjollner Mustangs, the usually shiny crimson caked in dust. How had they found us ?

I try to outrun them, but the horsepower in those cars is high. The Mustangs gains on us in seconds and shoots out our tires.

“Shit,” I shout as the Jeep rolls to a clunky stop.

Through the rearview mirror I see Sara come out of one  of the Mustangs and Jean come out of the other.

“What the hell ?,” Minnow says, relieved.

Minnow and I both get out  of the car to meet them. They both have intense looks on their face;  Jean doesn’t acknowledge me or his sister. He just flicks open a  knife and starts scraping at the Mustang he was driving---removing the VIN number and Mjollner logo.

“You went offline,” Sara says to me. “I had to follow police blotters to find you.”

“I didn’t go offline. Bishop had an EMP--,” I start to explain.

“Shit is really fucked up,” Sara tells me. “You blew your cover too soon, Alan. You need to go into hiding. Now”

“Me ? Why ?”

“Ilena Knight came out of the Stratosphere as the sole survivor and told the Mjollner you killed the Rektor and Bishop--”

“I didn’t. She did it--”

“It doesn’t matter. She then told Nico you killed those three Cavalcotti Riders. She had a video of you slaughtering them--”

 I should have known the garage was monitored.

“Rayne denied we knew you, but Nico still  turned his Riders on us,” she says. “We can’t have you in the Sprawl or Mojave right now--you need to lay low for a while--”

“Lay low ?, How  the fuck do I do that ?,” I shout at her, referring  to the hacks on my arms.

 “You will lay low  at  Arkham Academy with Luce until we can figure this out. Rayne’s arranging it--”

“Me ? Lay low ? What about Rias ?” I ask. “We’re so close to finding him.”

“...I’ll keep in contact,” Sara tells me.

"I'll circle back with the Harvest Center," Minnow adds.

“Done.” Jean calls coming out from behind the Mustang, where he'd expertly changed the plate and took off the design.

He solemnly hands me the keys to the Mustang.

“This Mustang has been deprogrammed from the Mjollner grid,” Sara tells me. “It’s been gassed up and per-programed to make it to the Neo-Luddite land and then to Arkham. I’ve called Luce, he’ll be waiting for you.”

I look over to Minnow who seems just as confused as I am. This sudden change of events was pissing me off.

“No,” I bark at Sara throwing the keys down. “I did everything you have ever asked of me , I risked my fucking life.  I let them turn me into a freak and now you’re going to ship me off to the middle of nowhere ? Is this how you pay me back for all I did for you ?”

“I’m trying to protect you, Alan!,”  she shouts. “Look, I’m trying to give you a safe place to go but  I don't give that much of a fuck. You can just take this car and go wherever the fuck you want. I’m not holding you to anything but I don’t think you have many options.”

I hate that she is right.

“You know the Mjollner have the city on their payroll," She continues.  "The Mjlloner will have the entire  RLA police force  looking for you, the Cavolcotti will be looking for you. If you go back to the Sprawl you will die…when things cool down you can come--,”

“Fine,” I say through gritted teeth.

Sara bends down into the sand and throws the keys back at me.  I catch them and she pulls me into a hug.

“I failed my son and he may be gone.” she says into my ear. “But I won’t fail you.”

“I fucked up,” I tell her. “ I blew my cover when I went to see you--”

“It doesn’t matter,” Sara says letting me go.

I turn to Minnow who runs into my arms like we were magnetized and her lips connect with mine in a hungry and deep kiss.

“Come with me,” I beg against her mouth.

She pulls away, her devilish smile back on her face. She looks over her shoulder at Jean and I know she’s not going with me.

Jean kisses the side of my head and I get into the Mustang.  Minnow, Jean and Sara get in the other. Jean drives away quickly and I look down at the dashboard.

I could let this car drive me to NeoLuddite land or I could take my chances at the Border. I could use my real identify and claim some kind of  asylum in the East and be free of all this bullshit.

I turn the car on and it flashes me a message:

Would you like to follow the programed route to Arkham School ?

Cornfirm or Deny