She couldn’t hold it back any longer. It had felt wrong from the start. But a voice within had told her it would be alright. It was just a year; then school would be done with. And everything else that would make it sound okay. That she wasn’t going to hurt anyone, that this was the right thing to do to protect herself.

  But she never knew it would come to this. She never even wanted to help them gather information on the other girls. They never liked her anyway. They had always been jealous of her, of how close she was to the princess of the High Houses, and that only fueled her private justification for doing it. This was payback, that was the final thing that kept her mouth shut.

  Until it was her turn to start paying, and then it all turned serious… dead serious.

  Ally balled her eyes out. Months of keeping things from the only friend she ever considered real in her school life had eaten at her inside as her tears streamed down her cheeks, wetting the shoulder and dress of the redhead hugging her and trying to keep her steady.

  Anya shooed away anyone who tried to enter the large kitchen, slightly annoyed at having to do it repeatedly while Ally let it all out.

  She had told her friend about what she knew, sharing only the information she felt was relevant. But it was more than enough for Ally to break. It wasn’t hard, and it definitely didn’t take at all that long; she was itching to tell. And Anya was inwardly glad she had decided to take this path. She can save this girl after all.

  She gently pulled away from a sniffling Ally, who was gasping deeply and sobbing, her breathing in hitches, as Anya gently stroked her hair and smiled.

  “It's okay; we have people on this. You’ll see. When have I not done what needed to be done? Hmm?”

  She smiled as she tilted her head, trying to get a better angle of Ally’s face.

  Her blonde friend smiled weakly at you; her lips opened, but nothing came out. She wanted to warn Anya about how, if things didn’t go well tonight for the CPs there, things would get bloody.

  “Now, after we rein those wayward petons in, my advisors have told me that they would require you to make a statement…” She paused as she pressed a pristinely manicured finger on Ally’s lips as she was about to interrupt. “...It will be kept safe. Trust me. No other record of this will be found. Any incriminating recording involving you will be expunged” ‘and kept in Essedar House records,’ Anya’s mind chimed in.

  She smiled assuringly, her eyes looking at Ally, expectant.

  Ally looked at her and slowly nodded. Anya didn’t do favors like this just out of the kindness of her heart, and she had an inkling of what life for the High Houses was like. Deep inside, she knew what that meant.

  She knew that if her type of offenses were revealed, they would fall on her and her family, who would join her in paying the price. Children in High Rise were the responsibility of their families, those that were deemed worthy to live within its compounds. Any minor breach was more than frowned upon, and something like what she had done would have beyond grave consequences.

  But she would gladly do this; she didn’t care if it meant she owed Anya more than she already owed her.

  “What’s this? Some girl time?”

  A gruff voice suddenly broke their private world, and the blare of the music returned rudely to the both of them.

  Anya looked up and saw the older, creepy man standing at the kitchen's entrance, a grin on his lips.

  “Go away, this is none of your concern.” She barked at him.

  Ally turned and froze. She immediately backed up as if she were recoiling from the sight of him. Inside, her other senses fired up, and she could feel the craving for the sweet, sweet euphoria of what he had been feeding her.

  “J…Joe, what are you doing here? I thought…” She looked around; he was alone, and a sense of relief joined her, conflicting against the pull she was feeling toward him as she leaned back against Anya as if she could protect her taller friend from harm.

  “I wanted to pass you the rest of our load. It's been good here; you should invite us to more of your High Rise shindings.” He replied, his voice low, almost like a growl, but it seemed so loud.

  Anya stepped aside and pulled Ally to her side. She stood up straight, defiant, but she didn’t face him; she stood at an angle as if ready to strike.

  His left eye faintly lit up as he tried to scan her and frowned.

  Anya smirked. She knew the additional soft that they had included in her ear communicator had blocked his attempt at reading her ID.

  “Something… wrong, peton?” she almost purred in satisfaction. Her left arm had guided Ally to her side and behind as her other hand slid to the hem of her short dress.

  There was no time to call. Anya cursed inwardly, wishing she had had a communicator implant installed.

  The man took a step closer, and Anya almost growled in response.

  “Stay away. If you come any closer, you won’t like it, and don’t think I have any second thoughts about petons like you.”

  The man scoffed dismissively; his mind raced. Recognizing who this was. It was Ally’s redheaded friend that she had accidentally told him while she was on one of her drug-fueled

  trips.

  His eyes squinted. “Anya?”

  “You may address me as Anastasiya… if you’re lucky.” Anya retorted, slowly rolling out each word, disgust in her voice; the whole room could feel the coldness of her tone.

  He lunged suddenly, but it was nothing that Anya didn’t anticipate as she dodged smoothly before she pushed Ally, who stumbled back and away.

  She didn’t anticipate the other swing, and it caught her square on her side, rudely knocking the breath from her as the force threw her toward a large refrigerator.

  He pressed as he stepped closer.

  Anya screamed out; instead of stepping away, she took a step toward him, closing the distance immediately before her hand shot up. Her palm caught his jaw square before it sent him reeling back.

  In that split moment, she had pushed her hem up and drew her pistol from its holster.

  “Down!” She snarled at him as if he were a wild stray dog that was to be commandeered.

  Joe shook his head, surprised at Anya's precise strike, and slipped an expendable baton from his jacket. His eyes were lit with anger now. No one makes a fool of him, especially not some High Rise high-schooler.

  “You don’t have the balls.” He growled back and stepped forward, his baton-armed hand swung back.

  What happened that came next shocked Ally as she slinked down, hugging her own knees.

  Anya had shot him squarely between his legs, and he crumbled immediately to the floor, screaming. The pistol didn’t emit a loud bang as it discharged; with the overly loud music that played in the background, it had only seemed the pistol rocked slightly in Anya’s hand. The only indication she had fired was the spent case that flew to the side.

  A call immediately came over her communicator.

  “Miss Essedar? Where are you? Are you alright? Our sensors picked up a projectile launch akin to a shot.”

  “The kitchen facing the sea. I have one wounded peton with me.”

  “Copy, will send someone.”

  “You better hurry, or this one won’t make it.”

  The call ended, and Anya turned to a cowering Ally.

  “You okay?”

  “Yes… but…”

  Anya’s raised hand stopped her.

  “I’ll get back to you.”

  She took a step back, then took a step toward a groaning and writhing Joe. Blood was pooling under him as Anya squatted down next to him, the barrel pointed at him.

  “Who has the balls now?”

  —-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Her ears rang, deafening her to the loud booms echoing through the corridor.

  She turned and saw Turner sitting back; he seemed to stare blankly into space. Her vision was blurred; she could feel herself move, but it felt like she had just woken up from a deep sleep as her body lethargically responded.

  She crawled over the bits and pieces of material strewn throughout the room until she reached him and tugged at his arm.

  Cold.

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  That was when she noticed the gaping hole at his side and the blood generously pouring out from the hole where his liver should have been. His tattered armor on the side was as torn as he was.

  “Noa? Noa!” her ringing retreated as the voice came over her communicator, and everything came all at once.

  Her eyes adjusted before she looked up. Lefevbre was firing down the corridor while Rogers tended to some minor wounds of his own.

  Lefevbre shot her a look and gave her a nod.

  “Glad to see you back up.”

  She gave him a weak smile and massaged her head. Before another explosion rocked the whole floor.

  They had entered the building via the roof entrance. Everything had gone smoothly until they found out they had taken the digger’s trap hook, line, and sinker.

  Her mind raced as she recalled everything while her hands absentmindedly searched and found her automatic rifle.

  As soon as their team arrived at the floor where the digger was supposed to be, steel bags appeared and started firing. When they retreated to cover afforded by the many rooms along the corridor, that’s when the pre-planted charges went off.

  The explosives, Noa’s mind recalled as she looked around again. Her eyes blinked as she checked on her ammo count before they floated to her right.

  There was a gaping hole where the floor was supposed to be and a long drop through premade holes all the way to the ground.

  The only thing that saved them was the armor plating they had worn for this mission, and Noa’s good fortune was Turner’s end when the weakest point of his armor caught the chunk of shrapnel that flew his way instead of her.

  She peeked at the side of her cover, and her eyes quickly picked out the targets within view before she let out a couple of rounds and retreated behind the cover just as the shooting died down.

  Lefevbre smirked and slid down behind his cover. His hand moved and tapped on Noa’s shoulder. They were using direct voice and touch comms; anything else risked compromising themselves to the digger.

  “We’re tied down for now. We can hold the steel bags off, but he’s gonna use this time to slip away. I need you to circumvent this and get him. You remember the exits? Overt and potential?”

  Noa responded affirmatively.

  “Good. Go through every one of them; when you find him, take him out. Retrieve what shards you can from him, will do search after everything has quietened down.”

  Noa nodded hesitantly.

  “You can do this, Noa. These people don’t know what's at stake for us in High Rise. They think we have it easy. Especially a High Houser like you and your sister.”

  She inhaled deeply and nodded again.

  “You don’t have to tell me. No one lives when they threaten my family…What about CP?”

  “CP? No CP. Civil Authorities have been informed of this mission and they won’t even try to lay a shadow over this. High House sanctioned mission, ‘member?” He winked at her before he jerked his head toward the direction where she was to head.

  She shrugged at him in reply.

  “Good hunting, Noa.”

  She smiled and winked back before moving hurriedly on her belly toward one of the rooms.

  She got up and ran toward the room's window, smashing it and looking out. Noting her location, she ran through the building plan that each of them had to study and memorize before departure.

  She sighed heavily. The only way out to the other side of the floor was through the steel bags, and she knew they didn’t have the time to fight it out with those. The one solution that came to mind was doubling back, but that meant going through a hail of fire unless…

  She nodded to herself and hurried back to where Lefevbre and Rogers were taking turns pinning down the steel bags on the other side of the corridor.

  “What are you doing back? We don’t have time.”

  Lefevbre snapped at her.

  Noa took a deep breath.

  “Need to double back, only way is via roof to other side.”

  He nodded, comprehension on his face. An unknown number of steel bags blocked the way back, and they didnt have time nor resources to attempt a hurried assault.

  “So, what do you need then?”

  “Roger’s shotgun, need it to punch some holes in the walls, or better yet, the floor.”

  Lefevbre’s eyes darted to Rogers, who dipped his chin curtly before he slid behind cover and pulled out his backup rifle. He unslung his shotgun from his shoulder and tossed it to Noa, who nodded at him as a thank you.

  “You won’t be able to punch through the floors, but walls should be fine. Only have two mags left of the explosive rounds, though.” He added matter-of-factly as he returned to aiming down his rifle.

  “More than enough.”

  Noa started to back away before she paused.

  “You guys not coming with?”

  Lefevbre shook his head as he kept his aim down range.

  “Neg. As long as he thinks we’re pinned here, he won’t be too hurried, but it won’t be long ‘fore he disappears.”

  “Okay, am gonna use our comms. Short messages?” she looked at Lefevbre questioningly.

  He nodded in reply.

  “Daze. I’m goin’.”

  She slinked away to the room she was in, then tapped her communicator, connecting her to Lefebvre.

  “Going on the count of three.”

  “Copy,” Lefevbre responded before he counted down slowly.

  On three, he and Rogers poured fire as Noa used up a couple of rounds from the shotgun to punch a hole in the wall that she felt was enough for her to go through

  She made it through the third room and entered, only to discover that two damaged robots were occupying it, taking cover from the fire. Her eyes flashed at two, aiming down the corridor, and two more lying inert on the floor.

  “Busted.” She announced on her communicator, and the two men on the team tossed a grenade each. Both grenades started dispensing smoke mid-arc, and one landed at a robot’s feet while another clanged against a naked steel body.

  Almost simultaneously, she emptied what remained of the shotgun into the wall she was facing and burst through, cursing out loud as she discovered it was a stairwell that was behind the now broken wall, and only her reflexes allowed her to land relatively well. The momentum of the landing carried her to the edge of the stairwell, the railing absorbing the impact as she crashed into it.

  Her body hung over the railing, and her hands reflexively moved and gripped at it, keeping her steady as movement flashed from under her. She looked down.

  A man whose head was cleanly shaven, wearing a dark jumpsuit with ports all over it, looked up at her. His face immediately changed to a dreaded fear when he saw her looking down at him. His eyes seemed to study the markings exposed on her body and shoulder armors, and they widened as if they wanted to pop out; then, he broke into a run.

  She knew what that jumpsuit was. She had seen it on the diggers who worked in Intel and in Security. This had to be her man.

  “I see him. Kerb’s running.”

  He was two flights below her, and she jumped down the stairs to the landing before sprinting down.

  She noted him limping as he tried to go as fast as he could.

  As Noa reached the stair landing just above him, he turned and raised a pistol at her.

  Her knife hit him square in his shoulder before she leaped toward him, her foot landing on his chest and knocking him back against the wall.

  “Wait, wait! You don’t, you don’t!” He started shouting through hard, wheezing coughs.

  She hesitated, her brows frowning.

  “I don’t?”

  “You don’t know what you’re doing! I know things, things about you!”

  Noa scoffed and smirked. Her mind let out a small laugh at what seemed to her a fantastical claim. People will say anything to save themselves, her mind recalled what her Father would always tell her and Anya. She stepped toward him, gripped the knife handle that stuck out from his shoulder, and twisted it. Eliciting a pained cry from him.

  “Petons shouldn’t play where they don’t belong.” Anya’s words echoed in her mind.

  “No, no, no, please. You don’t understand.”

  She twisted the knife again, eliciting another pained cry from him.

  “Info shards, where.”

  His bloodshot eyes looked at her. Her clear green eyes seemed aglow in the little light that was in the stairwell. His lips trembled.

  “Please, I kno…”

  She twisted the knife again, and he squealed out; she was getting impatient.

  “Info shards.” She repeated, slower this time and with more insistence.

  He whimpered, his left hand patted one of the many pockets on his leg.

  “I have more in my room, but these are the key ones.”

  She nodded while her free hand dug into the pocket, finding a few of the shards he mentioned.

  Pulling them out, she placed all the ones she had found into her own pouch before she patted his cheek.

  “Good boy.”

  She pulled out the knife as her knee rose and landed between his legs, pushing out his breath before he crumbled to the ground and leaned back, gripping the wound on his shoulder as he looked up.

  “Please… don’t do this.” He croaked, desperation in his voice.

  She took a deep breath, and her mind retreated to thoughts of Anya and her family. His voice drowned in the background as she unholstered her pistol.

  She held it up, the barrel of her pistol pointing down at him as he slinked back against the corner of the staircase, one hand raised to cover his face as he visibly started shaking. Noa’s face cringed, disgusted at the display in front of her.

  She huffed and kicked at his feet. “Get on your knees, face away.”

  The man whimpered; his lips moved, but his words didn’t register in her mind as she watched coldly detached while he turned and got on his knees.

  She hesitated, her finger caressing the trigger but not squeezing it. This was wasteful. The kerb probably has tons of things that could help Essedar.

  “Noa, we’ve settled the steel bags. Prog?” Lefevbre ‘s voice suddenly came through her communicator.

  “I have him.” Her trigger finger caressed the trigger on her pistol as if she was waiting.

  “You got him alive?”

  “One.”

  Lefevbre chuckled dryly, his tone clearly impressed.

  “Well damn, that’s even better.”

  Noa’s head did a double-take as her brows frowned.

  “Orders?” His words confused her, yet her mind immediately scolded her after she asked the question aloud. This was a kill mission, and here was the target.

  “Belay the kill. We’ll bring him back. Intel will be more than happy to learn how this kerb got through their security measures. This is above and beyond, Noa; I’ll be sure to praise you in my report.”

  Noa frowned, her thoughts confused as she held her gun steadily aimed at the digger’s head. His complimentary words slid off of her.

  “Say again?”

  “Belay kill order. Subdue and capture. There’s a knockout shot in your medkit; use that. Don’t want any damage to this guy’s head. Then meet us at street level. Got word from Intel that they are joining us.”

  “Copy.”

  Her free hand moved to the pouch on her equipment belt, where the aforementioned medkit had been packed away. Her fingers searched for it, and she pulled a small tube out.

  The shaven-headed man let out a long exhale when Noa didn’t pull the trigger and started to fidget, only for Noa to slam the grip of her pistol against his shoulder.

  “Don’t move.” She hissed, pressing the barrel of her pistol against the back of his skull.

  “I’m sorry… I…”

  Noa cringed at his whining; she hated the tone; she hated the sound. She nudged the back of his head with her pistol, immediately shutting him up before she plunged the syringe at the side of his neck. The drug within worked immediately as he weakened and slumped forward.