Pausing her typing, Lils sipped tar-black coffee, hugged her knees, and exhaled.

  From the comms chatter, Danan’s safety seemed assured. No lunatic in the residential district would attack a mid-level city combat vehicle, and even if the area was under Outlaw control, they wouldn’t clash with security forces without serious cause. Surviving the pleasure district’s despair and returning intact was a miracle.

  Sipping bitter coffee, saving her work to a data drive, Lils caught Liars’ reflection in a mirror, glancing at the dull, outdated Peacemaker in their mechanical hand. A single-action pistol, an antique useless against modern enemies, especially full-cyborgs. Why did Liars meticulously maintain such a relic? Lils wondered.

  With their—her—arsenal, Liars could dispatch half- or full-cyborgs with ease. A master mechanical technician, dealing intel with the undercity’s three major factions, Liars was among the strong. If they could survive this wretched city alone, why not upgrade to cutting-edge firearms? Oiling the gun’s crevices, wiping it with a soft cloth, Liars noticed Lils’ stare, winking with a flesh eye and loading special alloy rounds into the cylinder.

  “What’s up, Lils-chan? Staring at me like that,” Liars said.

  “Nothing. Just wondering about that ancient gun,” Lils replied.

  Liars snorted, spinning the barrel with a flourish, aiming at the door.

  “Old or not, useful things work, Lils-chan.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like this.” A gunshot roared, a casing spun through the air. Ignoring Lils’ startled gasp, Liars shot through the steel door, cocking the hammer and aligning the sight with their mechanical eye.

  “Peeping’s a bad hobby, Dead Parade Leader. If you’re coming in, do it properly,” Liars said.

  From the dim doorway’s darkness, a figure emerged, cloaked in shadow, silent as a ghost. The man in all black, Materia—called the Dead Parade Leader—rolled his eerie eyes. “The ruin digger hasn’t returned yet?” he muttered.

  “…Danan? He’ll be back soon. More importantly, you’ve got the payment, right?” Lils asked.

  “Of course. The Dead Parade doesn’t betray deals or rewards. That lady there knows it well,” Materia replied.

  Glancing at Liars, who combed their mohawk, Materia snapped his fingers, summoning two shadows to carry a box-shaped data device into the room.

  “Your payment deck. Sell it or keep it after use, your choice.”

  “…Thanks,” Lils said.

  “And—”

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “What? More business?”

  “Just a message. Say ‘thank you’… to the ruin digger.”

  Let’s go. Signaling withdrawal, Materia led his shadows out, their silent steps ghostlike, as if floating.

  “Dead Parade,” Lils called.

  “…”

  “Will you take a job from me?”

  “Payment?”

  “Two hundred thousand credits.”

  “Name the job.”

  “Investigate M District and restore the data I’m giving you. I don’t expect much from the former, but the latter needs your advanced data gear. I’m getting nowhere here.”

  “Hand it over.”

  “Got a mechanical arm or storage medium?”

  Rolling up his coat sleeve, Materia revealed three HHPCs strapped to his black arm, extending a connect cable to Lils.

  “Split the files?”

  “No need. I’ll process it all in parallel.”

  “Impressive. Got a wizard on your team?”

  “Want to know?”

  “Pass.”

  Connecting Materia’s cable to her standalone PC, Lils dumped a mass of corrupted data, wrecked by her own hacking, into the HHPCs. Meant to be destroyed, the data was a jumble of error-spewing code, its true nature known only to her.

  One second, two, three… The download finished, “Complete” flashed, and 150,000 credits of prepayment transferred to Materia, along with contract documents to Lils’ PC.

  “One week. Get it done,” Lils said.

  “We’ll see.” Materia left, his shadows trailing.

  Seeing off the Dead Parade, Lils reviewed the contract as Liars shot her a cold look, sighing. “Hey, what’s with that?” Liars said. Lils smirked mischievously. “Even if hacking breaks it, useful things work, right, Liars?”

  Liars pressed their forehead. “Danan-chan’ll be pissed if he hears.”

  “Probably.”

  “Wanna lose the trust you built?”

  “My trust with him is light as cotton, flammable as paper. If this gets out, it’ll burn to ash. No doubt.”

  “…You’re a foolish girl,” Liars said.

  “I like to think I’m a bit smarter than most. But Liars, I believe this is… no, our last chance.”

  Setting her mug on the table, Lils deleted the corrupted data and turned to Liars.

  “It’s Danan’s last chance to change, Liars. If something happens, if you or I leave him, he’ll be alone. Unable to trust, killing to survive, he’ll become a cold machine. But now, he has Eve, me, and someone to look after. Even dragging the death of someone dear, even killing someone precious, he still acts for those nearby. The data I gave the Dead Parade is a final stronghold… a move to help Danan walk again if the worst happens.”

  Back then, when Lils first met him, Danan was a wounded beast, masterless. Every life was an enemy, kindness and softness despised. His eyes, burning with lucid killing intent and cold fury, were a murderer’s, like those of a bloodless slaughterer. Tormented by madness, weighing only his own life, he was no human.

  Ten years ago, Lils feared Danan. His unflinching trigger pulls, his obsidian eyes seeing lives as dust or trash, his mechanical arm’s roar—she swallowed hard, trembling.

  The undercity is abnormal. The strong oppress the weak, only to be killed by stronger predators, stripped of everything. Residents are dyed in the colors of survival of the fittest, numb to death—a twisted purgatory, a paradise for the strong. It’s a world apart from where Lils was born, at the tower’s lowest rung, where gunshots echo constantly.

  “Danan isn’t strong. No, he’s weak, Liars. So weak he fears trusting anyone, believing only in himself. Unconsciously aware of his weakness, he doesn’t want to die, so he kills to hide it. I… I want him to be human, Liars. The Danan who’s starting to change—I want him to stay human. That’s why I risked our bond, giving the data to the Dead Parade for restoration. That’s all.”

  “…”

  Lils, a girl a decade or more younger, spoke with resolve, her words woven with care for one man. Her emotional reasoning, cloaked in clumsy maternal love, sought to protect fragile humanity.

  “Lils-chan,” Liars said.

  “What?”

  “Your self-righteousness only makes sense to you. You need to tell him. Don’t… leave room for regret.”

  “…That stings.”

  Smiling wryly, Lils faced the monitor, hearing the door open. Her gaze met Danan, carrying Eve on his back.