“So, the guy was from District 20, that’s where they use time as a commodity in the most literal way possible.” Emilio said, going on with a story from his past. “He always acts skittish and out of sync with everyone, because he was so use to how things were in T Corp, see. I don’t know where he is today, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he hauled his ass back to T Corp or forced to go back. Pity, I hate that place, you couldn’t pay me to live there.”

  “Agreed, at least here you aren’t living in fastforward. Cannibals and psychos I can put up with.” Heidi laughed.

  “Where did you use to live?” Emilio asked, looking back over to her. He took position up front, while Heidi was in the back. Between them was Huey, whose eyes darted back and forth. Between two Fixers, his safety was more or less guaranteed.

  “District 24’s Backstreets.” She answered.

  Yeah that’s right, they met at the train station here in W Corp.

  “Ah… Never been there, so I can’t say. Anyways, enough about me. Tell me about your little brother, Hugh.” Emilio said, addressing their client for the first time since leaving the Office.

  “It’s Huey,” Huey corrected him, adjusting his combover. “But what more is there to say? Shouldn’t we focus on the job?”

  “It’s your brother! If it was my brother in that situation, I’d be devastated!” Heidi said.

  “He was a bit like me,” Huey said, “Him and I never really saw eye to eye, but I can’t just sit around and let him die in some ditch or be kidnapped by a Syndicate, or worse, a rich Nest dweller!” He said, stuttering out his rebuttal.

  Emilio silently nodded, following Huey’s directions. Eventually, the three of them ended up in an underpass, right below a bridge. Due to the rain from the other day, there was about a quarter inch of stagnant water at their feet. Graffiti was on the wall. No Syndicate symbols that Emilio recognized. Looks like it was just some tagger expressing their artistic skills. “Right,” Emilio said, “This was the last place you said you saw him? Did he make any of these pieces?” He said, pointing at the graffiti tags on the wall.

  “No, he was a good kid.” Huey nodded, looking around.

  “Right.” Heidi nodded, leaning against the wall, lighting a cigarette; her left hand had a built in lighter in the knuckle of her index finger. She offered one to Emilio, but he politely refused. “Emilio, do you think we can stop playing around?”

  “I don’t know, Heidi, maybe we should ask Huey?” Emilio turned to face Huey. “How long were you going to wait before telling us you were leading us into a trap?”

  “Wait, what?!” Huey stepped back, only to back up into Heidi who moved behind him. He gasped in fear and backed away from her. “What are you-” He stopped his lying once he heard the sound of Heidi pushing her thumb up on the guard of her katana.

  “Well?” she said, a grin on her face, as if she was deriving joy from seeing a man so cowardly. “So you were tricking us?”

  Huey paused, his head hung low, his mouth hung open. “How did you know?”

  “You’re a bad actor.” Emilio explained. “You prioritized groceries over your brother, sending out a request for someone to do your shopping for you instead of immediately sending someone to look for your brother. You said you haven’t left the house in days, yet you said you saw him at a place that is several blocks away from your apartment. You have amazing vision if that’s the case.”

  “But you still walked into the trap?” Huey questioned, “Why?”

  “You’re not with a Syndicate and Fixers don’t tend to do such sloppy ambushes like this. So it’s safe to assume that whoever is setting us up ain’t shit.” Heidi laughed, “You guys can come out now, we’re not gonna look for you.”

  As if on cue, several men and women dropped down from the bridge. 5 people on each side of the tunnel. Huey quickly scrambled over to one of the two groups. Emilio recognized 4 of them. They were the Rats from the other day. Angi, the only one he knew the name of, was there, holding his knife; looks like he got it sharpened between then and now!

  “Are you guys really that petty?” Emilio sighed, shaking his head. This was an absolute circus performance. “Still mad about the other day, so you had to get more people?”

  “W don’t like to fight at a disadvantage.” Angi walked forward, a confident grin on his face. “We don’t much like your attitude. We heard rumors about a new Syndicate moving into town, a subsidiary of The Ring. What happens when they hear that we stomped out a Fixer Office before it even got off the ground? They just might ask us to join.”

  “We’re tired of fighting for scraps.” Said another man, staring down Heidi.

  “You know they probably won’t? It’s not that noteworthy to take out a pair of lowly Grade 9s like us.” Heidi scoffed, getting her blade ready. “So, Em, you take 5, I take 5? I always love it when they have a nice even number.” Her eye gleamed with bloodlust.

  “Sounds good to me.” While Heidi acted more cocky, he sounded like this was just another day on the job. “First things first,” he glared passed the 5 that were in front of him, singling out Huey who was behind them, “We’ll talk after this, Huey.” Then, addressing the Rats, Emilio asked them, “So, I’m giving you another chance. You all can walk away from this, just like you did last time. I will forgive and forget.”

  The Rats didn’t say anything, they all began to walk forward. They had low quality weapons, kitchen knives, bats with metal bound around them, pipes. They were better than nothing. Dressed in shoddy garbs that you could buy just about any where, worn away by time and rain.

  “Right then…” Emilio sighed, sounding genuinely disappointed in them. “There is a saying my grandmother said: You don’t piss on hospitality. She was one of the best damn Fixers I’ve ever known and when she said something, she meant it.”

  “Hospitality, what the hell are you talking about?” One of the Rats asked.

  “Well, I wouldn’t say I really showed you hospitality. But I did show you mercy. If you don’t piss on hospitality, then you don’t piss on mercy either.” Emilio took his weapon from his hip, the edge of the blade glowed orange. “I didn’t fight you that day, not because I didn’t want to fight, but because I knew it wasn’t worth the effort.”

  “The hell you on about?!” Another Rat shouted. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying, that the distant between the ten of you and the two of us spans miles. So, one last chance before you don’t get another: Want to walk away?”

  The Rats said nothing, some of them looking to one another.

  Emilio sighed, “Very well.” With no more words, he dashed forward, closing the distant between him and Angi. With a swing of his cleaver, the weapon still in his folded up state, he slashed through the man. Before he could even swing his knife, Angi fell to the ground in two pieces. The cleaver began to unfold, the blade swinging outward, granting it more range. With a second swing, Emilio cut down another one of the Rats. A clean decapitation. The weapon was a favorite of Emilio’s; a cleaver that could switch between two modes, a folded up blade that sacrificed range of brutal cutting power, as well as an unfolded state that gave it more range. With a scowl, Emilio shouted at the remaining Rats, “Now I don’t want to hear any complaints or cries for mercy!”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Heidi on the other hand, didn’t have any of that fancy tech or modular weapons. All she needed was her trusty sword. Despite her shoddy looking prosthetic, her sword and her use of it were anything but, as she cut down her opponents. For such a brash girl, she moved through a fight with violent grace and elegance. It was a simple looking katana, with a tassel on the pommel, resembling a blue wolf’s bane flower that glimmered in the darkness of the underpass. Not only did it provide cutting power, but any attack that tried to reach her would be quickly disarmed, resulting in the attacker’s death soon after. “Sorry, guys, but here’s a lesson for all of you from yours truly. All the numbers in the world aren’t a substitute for pure skill.”

  Huey could only watch as the number of Rats fell from 10 to 8, then 8 to 5, then 5 to 3, then finally, 3 to 0. It wasn’t even a contest. The entire gang of Rats, was cut down in a matter of seconds. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he caused this… Then, once the fight was over, there was no more sound, other than the dripping of blood, running off of Emilio’s cleaver. Who, were these guys… Trembling, he tried to start running, but his legs weren’t moving. He couldn’t move! He couldn’t run away. The feeling of intense fear only grew worse as Emilio turned to face him. “Ah!”

  “Anyways…” Emilio stepped forward, “What to do with you.” He said, as he readied his cleaver, Heidi circling around to keep Huey from running away. “Last words?” He asked.

  “I… I’m sorry…” Huey stammered, pleading for mercy.

  “Sorry isn’t good enough.” Emilio said as he swung his cleaver at the man’s neck.

  Only to stop an inch away. Huey collapsed to his knees in fear.

  “But I won’t kill you. I’ll leave it up to other Fixers to decide what to do with you.” Emilio said, putting his weapon back on his hip, the cleaver folded up once more, the glow of the blade fading. “Just tell me why you did it.”

  “They… Came to my house. They must’ve saw you deliver groceries to me and thought they could use me. So they wanted me to lure you out to a place they could gang up on you.”

  “That’s it? Huh… Didn’t expect them to be that dumb.” Heidi said. “But, guess that’s par for the course with Rats. At least they neighborhood is going to be slightly safer.” She cleaned her blade off and put it back in its sheath. “Come on, let’s get something to eat. You’re paying right?” She said, smiling, walking besides Emilio, who was already walking away. Just another day at the Office. Bother after bother.

  But, before they could leave, Huey shouted to them, “Who are you guys?!”

  The two looked back at him. He looked so pathetic there, in the puddle, teary eyed. They almost felt bad for him if he hadn’t wasted their time like this.

  “Those skills. Those weapons. Those aren’t those of Grade 9 Fixers! Who the hell are you two?!”

  “We can prove it if you want to. We really are Grade 9.” Emilio said.

  “I… Don’t believe you.” Huey said, watching the two walk off. Just like that, he was left alone, to wallow in his sorrow. Was it wrong to leave him there, in the middle of the Backstreets, with no protection? Yes, but after tonight, neither Emilio nor Heidi felt like holding his hand back to his house. All trust had been lost.

  All that was on their minds now was who was paying for dinner tonight; their house of cards never really ended with a loser, right? Sadly, looks like they wouldn’t be paid at all tonight, so it was coming out of their start up money.

  “I could go for some chicken…” Emilio mumbled, rubbing his sore shoulder, having thrown it out in the previous fight.

  1 hour later, Huey began to make his way back home, no more cowering in the street next to a bunch of dismembered corpses. This was the last time that he would leave the house. He also probably lost the trust of any Offices in the immediate area after this stunt.

  He sighed, walking down with his head hung low as usual.

  That was when a trio of men crossed his path. He didn’t see them coming due to his lowered peripheral vision. “Ah, sorry,” He said, almost running into the man in the center.

  “Hm…?” The man hummed. He was a thin man of average height, smelling strongly of cypress. His black suit was decorated in a pattern of green leaves. His shoulders were draped in cypress leaves. There were leaves in his silver, shoulder length hair. His face was calm and gentle, a small smile on his face. Next to him were two incredibly tall men, covered in what resembled gillie suits, there faces obscured by gas masks.

  “I…” Huey took a step back from the trio.

  “Hmmm… Hm… Oh?” The man in the centered gasped in delight. “Oh… Yes… Hm… You look like you’ve had a bad day, yes?”

  “Please, I don’t want any trouble.”

  “I wasn’t going to cause any, haha… Hm… Sorry, let me introduce myself… Hm…” he spoke with a very drowsy tone, like he had just woken up. “Hm… Yeah… I’m Fionnlagh, but you can just call me Fionn… Hah… Sorry, if I’m impolite, but I’m curious… Have you had a bad day? I’m good at telling when someone has.”

  “I… Would rather not answer that.”

  “Boss? Do we really have time for this?” One of the larger men said.

  “Don’t worry, we do.” Fionn said. “Now, mind if I ask you another question… You don’t have to answer… Hm… Who do you think is the luckiest people in The City? The most fortunate? The ones who struggle the least?”

  Huey paused, unsure of how to approach this. He couldn’t run away, so he answered. “That would any member of The Head, since they’re at the top. But if we’re talking citizens, any rich Nest dweller doesn’t have to struggle day to day.”

  “I thought you might say that… Hahah… Everyone does. But I have to… Hah… Disagree.” Fionn laughed, “Who do I think is the most fortunate…? The grass.”

  “The grass?”

  “The grass. The trees. Even that tiny bit of moss growing in that puddle over there…” He said, looking over to a patch of moss on the side of the road.

  “Nothing grows here… I don’t get what you mean.”

  “Nothing grows here? You’re wrong, there’s that moss. There is the tiny bits of grass… The ones that grow through the cracks of the sidewalk… They aren’t actually plants, but there is mold and mushrooms, growing wherever there is rot… They are all so fortunate for what they have… Hahah…” Fionn crouched down next to the moss from before.

  “What makes them so fortunate?”

  “Hm, hm… They don’t have to struggle. They don’t have to worry about anything other than sunlight and water… If they die, well, they can at least spread there seeds and spores… To me, when there is too much happiness… Hm, like those in the Nests… You fall to ennui… Too much sorrow, you fall to unrestrained sorrow… Like those in the Backstreets… Hm…” He finally stood back up and stared at Huey. “That’s why I would love to be a patch of moss on the ground, soaking up rain water from the other day…”

  “That’s nice… Can I go now?” Huey asked.

  “Yes, you may go, but… Hm… First… I have to ask, just one more thing… You’ve had a bad day, yes… Do you want to be free of struggle?”

  What was he suppose to say here. This man was clearly off his rocker, more so than most of the people in this district. But, he did have a point with what he said. Huey lived every day, paycheck to paycheck. He was out of the job at the moment, payment was fast approaching, and even if he were to get a job, he would be back to his old 70 hour work week schedule… But, what would happen if he were to say yes? “I… Yes…” yet, he answered anyways. “Yes I do.”

  “I was hoping you’d say that.” One of the larger men walked up to Fionnlagh and handed him a large gauntlet that looked like it was made of wood; just like the man meant to wield it, it smelled strongly of cypress. Fionnlagh put it on his right hand. “Bare with me, hahah… This will hurt, but the pain will last but a second… After that, your wish will be granted.” He lunged forward and jabbed Huey in the best with his middle, index, and thumb. The fingers of the gauntlet were tipped in large spikes, that glistened as if covered by sap. “Now, sprout.”

  The pain, it hurt like acid was injected directly into his veins, especially intense around the wound. Huey tried to scream, but his throat felt closed up. His eyes welled up… But then, his pain was replaced by a soothing sensation, an immediate reversal of the pain. Wonderful didn’t even begin to describe the feeling…

  “You shall not die… You will become something beautiful.” Fionnlagh hummed.

  Huey looked to his hand with a smile. There were small vines growing out from under his fingernails. Twigs sprouted from under his skin with no pain. His skin began to turn into bark. He fell to his knees. His body warped and twisted, his mind filled with pure bliss. It wasn’t long before he transformed from a human, to a human who looked like a tree, into a tree that looked like a human. Then, he went still. After decades of struggle, his struggle finally came to an end.

  “A beautiful sapling.” Said one of the larger men, clasping his hands together as if to pray. “May you find peace.”

  Removing the gauntlet, Fionn put the device back in his briefcase. “May you find peace.” He repeated, handing the briefcase over to one of his partners. “Now, let’s go home… Hm… Our goal lies right beneath our feet…”

  Fionnlagh, Leader of the Ghillie Dhu, a Ring Subsidiary