I was giving the last touch-ups to the small SPEAR device I had been working on for the last few hours. I left the screwdriver on the table and closed and opened my mechanical fists a few times. I didn't really have to, as my synthetic limbs didn't go numb, but old habits never die, I guess. I looked at the tiny pieces and parts orderly set on the table. The device was almost ready, but I wanted it to work alright, and then I'd have to install the software and set it up properly according to my antennae's specifications. I frowned; a couple of them had shown some odd data the last time I had run a diagnosis a few hours ago. It was no wonder, even though extremely useful, those damned antennae caused a lot of problems which required me to frequently climb on roofs in order to fix them. However, since I had hurriedly abandoned my flat thanks to Markus' warnings, I hadn't been able to do any maintenance work on them, as that would mean leaving the flat that served me as safehouse, at least for the moment. It was the fourth night I had been in there, and it was even starting to feel a bit like home. Of course, I missed my apartment, having the whole place for myself, without constantly having the feeling that I might be overstaying my welcome. Obviously, my host would never suggest or imply nothing of the sort, he was too polite for that. I wondered how long I would have to stay there; according to Alex, it would probably be a few more days, she couldn't know for sure. She had given asylum to a pair of co-workers and was trying to smuggle them out of the country, but it had proven impossible as of then. Also, I had the impression that Alex and Janus preferred me to stay at Adam's place, as there they would be sure the info I still carried in my USB drive would be constantly protected, at least until we were able to set up a channel safe enough for those data to be transferred. I couldn't help but scowl at the metallic circuits, switches and transistors strewn all over the table, as if they were to be blamed.

Not that I felt uncomfortable or anything with the ex-cop, not at all. Even though rather reserved, he seemed to be a rather easy person to live with. The day before we hadn't really seen much of each other, as he had left for work in the morning and didn't come back until late in the evening, carrying a bag with the supplies I was using now to build the SPEAR device. Like the second night I had been there, we had cooked some dinner together (once again, he insisted on helping me, even though I could have managed perfectly on my own), ate while watching the news, only stopping to comment some thing or another or talking about our plan to infiltrate the General District Police Station. After cleaning, we just sat on the sofa, him watching TV with obvious disinterest and me reading my book, until we had finally decided it was time to turn in. That morning, he had left a bit earlier, leaving me to work on the device, though I had also spared some time for that boring report on logistics for the CNI, it was so tedious that I had trouble keeping my eyes open while rereading it, but it had to be done.

I checked the time, wondering where he might be, it was well past midnight. Before leaving, he had commented that maybe today would be the day they sent him to infiltrate the terrorist attack scenario at the train station, what if they had caught him? If the Czech Police were to arrive and find me there…well, I could always pretend I was his girlfriend, or something of the sort. I couldn't help but scoff at such a ridiculous notion; I mean, objectively speaking, he was rather handsome, augments and all, but he just didn't seem like the girlfriend type.

I finished preparing the software for the SPEAR, connected it to the right port and left it to download. I had dined quite some time ago, so I decided to read a bit more, getting comfortable on that enormous couch; it was so cosy and big, it was clear my host had bought it with the intention of relaxing on it during the few hours he didn't seem to be working on anything. I looked at the picture of a gorgeous Border Collie I had seen the first day; it was a very cute dog, I wondered where he might be. I hadn't dared ask in case something had happened to the poor pet, not wishing to bring back any sad memories. Every time I saw it, I couldn't help but be reminded of my German Shepherd, Rex, back in Spain with my parents. I made a grimace, remembering that I hadn't phoned them after all, but I just felt I couldn't…even if two years had gone by since…

I was snapped out of my musings by a faint beep by the door, I turned around and, through the empty spaces in the dividing wall, saw my companion getting in the flat. I decided to let him have some time until he had hung his coat and turned back to my book, I didn't want to be a nuisance right from the moment he went through that threshold. I heard heavy footsteps getting nearer and turned my head from the couch to acknowledge his presence. He looked a little worse for wear: there were smudges of what looked like soot on his face and his clothes, usually spotless, were caked in mud. Besides, he looked even grimmer than usual, which was saying something, or maybe it was just because his glasses were still activated.

"Hey there," he said in his low, raspy voice when he saw me. "Thought you'd be asleep," he added while he raised one foot to take off his boots, which were muddy as well.

"Not feeling sleepy yet, you alright? I guess they finally sent you to Ruzicka. In case you're hungry, there's some food in the fridge, just some fish, veggies and potatoes," I explained, he nodded.

"You didn't have to, but thanks, really, I would have settled down for a bowl of cereals. First, I'm going to take a shower, I'll tell you about it later…" he walked to his bedroom, I couldn't help but frown in worry at his back. It seemed like he had had a really bad day.

I kept reading and, a while later, I spied him out of the corner of my eye entering the kitchen, opening the fridge and taking out the dish I had left. He put it unceremoniously into the microwave, and then walked to one of the shelves, picked the bottle of whisky and poured himself a generous tumbler, which he downed in just one gulp. He had barely left the glass on the table, when he poured himself another again and kicked it back in quick succession. Taking advantage of him being with his back turned, I raised an eyebrow. Two glasses, really? However, I restrained myself from commenting. The microwave beeped and he picked his dish, I sat on one corner of the couch to give him some more room, he sat with a contented grunt. Now that he had showered (his hair still had a wet sheen) and under the relaxing effects of the alcohol he had just delivered into his system, he seemed a lot calmer. I decided to let him eat in peace, if he wanted to say something about his mission, that was up to him, though I was dying to know more about what had happened. He turned on the TV and I kept reading, patiently waiting, trying to be as less obnoxious as possible.

"Tough day, huh?" I asked after a while, when he was almost done and, by his posture, I could tell he felt more at ease. He sighed, rubbing his eyes with a black mechanical hand.

"You can't imagine how much," he croaked, his voice even raspier than usual, he looked at me, at least now he had retracted those sunglasses and I could see his expression more clearly; his eyes were, by far, the most expressive part of his face, and when he had them hidden I found it almost impossible to guess his mood. "I finally had to go to Ruzicka to get some evidence…the fucking State Police had taken over the whole thing, and despite Miller trying to convince them to leave it to us, they kicked our man there out of the premises…so it was down to me having to retrieve some proof we needed," he explained. "I would have preferred not to go there after that attack, and it should have been just talking to them face to face and claiming back our jurisdiction, but they were in no mood to talk, would have probably shot at me on sight, being an Augment and everything, so I had to go in there unnoticed for the DSD Smiley needed…" he explained, his jaw tensing in anger.

"Are you telling me that, after witnessing the attack and barely getting alive out of it to tell the tale, they've made you go back there? What the fuck are they playing at?" I exclaimed in indignation, his lips quirked upwards for a second at my reaction.

"Well, this is the Task Force 29 we are talking about, if the work needs to be done, it has to be done, no matter what," he said indifferently, he stood up and left his plate on the counter.

"And I suppose the place would be crawling with cops," I ventured while he washed his dish, his face looked slightly more relaxed; a good shower, food (and alcohol in his case) could go a long way toward improving someone's mood.

"Of course, there was even one in an exo-suit, haven't really faced one of those yet and I'm in no hurry to do so. I managed to give most of them the slip, although I had to take care of one of them to get near the table," he explained calmly, I flinched ever so slightly, did he really have to kill a man? Czech cops had been behaving like downright assholes since the last year, especially to Augs, but killing some guy just because he was in the way…apparently guessing what I was thinking, he tried to smile reassuringly.

"It's not what you think, I just used a couple of these," then, he raised his closed fist and four little mechanical bars rose from his knuckles. Unable to contain myself, I got near to take a closer look at them; on the back of his hand there was an open compartment that, apparently, when closed, housed tiny metallic fibers which contained a dancing charge of electricity in them. The geek in me whistled mentally, I had never seen something like that.

"What are those? I guess they're some kind of taser you can throw?" I inquired.

"Yeah, kind of, one of these and the target takes a little nap…" he smirked slightly.

"Well, this will come in handy when you get into the District's…never seen anything like that before," I mused, marvelling at such an invention; I guessed they were experimental augs from Sarif's; after all, working for what used to be one of the most cutting-edge augmentation companies out there had to have its perks.

"Speaking of which…" I remembered, walking back to my computer. "I have good and bad news, which one do you prefer first?" I inquired.

"After such a shitty day, I'd prefer the good ones, thanks," he said, slumping again on the couch, but turning his head to look at me.

"Well, I managed to make the device I told you about," I checked the downloading bar, which had already filled a few seconds ago. "Which, in fact, I just finished programming," he raised an eyebrow, apparently intrigued.

"That was fast, can I take a look?" he stood up and walked to the table, I handed the tiny device to him, and he put it under the light to examine it critically. It was little else but a male PS/2 port with a small motherboard, some circuits and a flimsy housing to protect the whole thing, with another female PS/2 port which allowed it to be connected to the data stream cable and the computer at the same time.

"Curious thing, and where do you say I must plug it?" he said, turning it to and fro.

"On the back of the tower, there's a little round green-coloured port near at the bottom," I explained, he threw me a piercing look.

"Don't worry, it's just colours and shapes, I think I'll manage," he said with a lopsided half-smile. Realizing that I had acted like the typical IT jerk that thinks others have no idea about informatics and feeling a horrible sensation of heat in my face, I countered:

"Anyway, that can wait for a while, tomorrow is Saturday, you should rest a bit," I said hurriedly, he leaned on the table with both hands, looking at me earnestly.

"Come on, it doesn't take a genius to know that you don't really think this is something that can wait, not when a friend of yours is probably being tortured…" he replied. I shook my head despondently.

"Markus is dead, there's nothing we can do for him, even if he were alive right now, we wouldn't be able to find those bastards that fast…it's hard to come to terms with such an idea, but I'm afraid this is it," when I said this, it was more to try and convince myself than him.

"I'm afraid there's a pretty high chance he is…however, even so, you're still in danger, and they will be probably looking for you and the information you have…we need more information about those people in order to know what we are facing, and if we can find them, maybe go for a pre-emptive strike…" he reflected, his eyebrows creasing.

"Guess you're right, you're the expert, after all," I conceded reticently. "Anyway, we can't use the device yet, not with the required level of security…I'll better show it to you."

I turned to my computer again, then sat before it. My host, looking slightly puzzled, walked to the other side of it and stood by my side, leaning so he could see the screen properly. I entered my password and then started going through several folders, until I found the desired icon; then, I executed the software and before us appeared a map of Prague with many blinking red dots.

"What the hell is that?" I heard my companion ask from above my left shoulder.

"This is nothing more nor less than the network that supports the whole Juggernaut Collective's operations here in Prague…each dot pinpoints the location of a makeshift antenna, which helps us gather information, distort networks as we please, hide our trail while hacking anything…practically anything. In fact, if not for this beauty, that whisper chip you planted at your boss' would be a piece of plastic and circuits," I explained, rather solemnly.

"And this impacts our plan how?" he inquired, leaning further to take a better look, I could even feel the heat his body radiated from there, though it struck me it should be rather high if I could feel it. Shouldn't those high-end implants have a better refrigeration system?

"Well, the network must be running properly in order to channel all the frequencies and signals, and it also helps deflect any potential attack trying to localise our whereabouts…so it's basically essential. Some antennas have displayed odd readings the last few days, and one of them stopped working altogether, so I need to physically check on them, do some technical support work, really," I explained, turning my head to look at him. His eyes had an eerie look under the computer's light, and the little golden rim inside kept adjusting and focusing the image.

"I see, and I take you are the only one who can do this, am I wrong?" he asked.

"Yes, a friend of mine from the Collective usually took care of it, but those motherfuckers sent her to Golem City," I said with chagrin, trying not to imagine the hell she must have been going through at the time.

"Hmmmppphhh, I don't think I'd be of much help there, so why are you telling me this?" he inquired, turning his gaze towards me.

"Well, it's basically to tell you that tomorrow I'll need to go out because of this, I should be out for a couple of hours or so, three maximum," I stated, not wanting to sound as if I was requesting his permission.

"So, your plan is casually strolling around the city while unknown foes must be looking for any traces of you, not what I'd call the smartest of moves," he said in a severe tone, his eyes boring down into mine.

"As you said before, if something needs to be done, it must be done, no matter what," I countered, locking my eyes in his, ready for a battle of wills if needed be. He seemed faintly amused by my persistence, I kept looking at him unwaveringly, dead serious.

"Fine, but I'm going with you," he decided in what sounded like a no-nonsense tone, I couldn't help but snort impatiently and roll my eyes.

"For God's sake, I don't need babysitting," I retorted, feeling exasperated.

"Hey, I promised Alex, and Janus by extension, that I'd make sure that you'd come to no harm, and that's precisely what I intend to do," he had straightened up and crossed his arms in front of his chest, his voice even more gravelly than usual.

"And what will you do, chain me to the couch?" I said with a slight sneer, standing up to him. However, he was more than a head taller than me, so the effect I sought was rather lost.

"No need for that, in fact," he said coolly. "If you went through that door and I decided to follow, what could you realistically do to stop me?" he asked. I would have called him a few choice things I had in mind, but, strongheaded as though I might be, I knew when a battle was lost, and he was not going to relent.

"Ok, suit yourself, but I warn you it'll be tedious work…" I sighed in resignation, starting to turn off and close my computer.

"Believe me, after getting back into that shithole, dragging myself through ducts and expecting to be shot at any second, I won't mind some boring task…" he grunted while he rubbed a black sleek hand down his face.

"Well, as you insist on coming, I suggest you get some sleep, tomorrow afternoon should be alright, nightfall would be better, but I need to see those antennas with some light," I concluded, I felt rather tired as well, but I had preferred to wait for him so he would be able to eat something and rest a bit without having to worry about waking me up.

"Roger that," he said, stifling a yawn and turning to leave. "You should go to bed as well, if we're going to climb roofs tomorrow you should have all your wits about yourself…

"Guess I should," I replied, walking to the bathroom to brush my teeth first. "Good night," I called to him before seeing him disappear into his room, he raised an arm and bade me goodnight with a gesture.

...

Flying through that hazy golden light with powerful wings that moved with steady and sure strokes, there was nothing in my mind but going higher and higher, doggedly fighting the constant winds that tried to push me off course. However, I knew beforehand that my insane flight was doomed to fail and, once again, probably for the thousandth time, my wings began to smoulder under the terrible glare of the sun, as I knew they would. Once more, I shouted at the fiery orb above me, full of rage, disappointment and pain and, once more, I hurtled downwards, thinking to myself that there was no possible escape from my fate. I closed my eyes and I was floating face-down in dark blue waters, the indistinct shapes of other people starting to emerge around me, lifeless, dead. My wings had finally burned all the way through, and I was trapped in that place of misery and death, why hadn't I died as well? What was my purpose? What was I doing there? My eyes closed again, and I passed out into oblivion, knowing that Icarus had fallen again.

I sat up immediately, gasping for breath, realising where I was. I looked around myself, my chest rising and falling rapidly, as if I had just run a marathon. I slumped back on the mattress again and groaned, pinching the bridge of my nose. That fucking nightmare again, I had dreamed about flying to the sun since that accident about three years before that, and then Panchaea had added its own little touch to haunt me in my sleep. I was sick and tired of it, really, couldn't my mind find something more productive to be obsessed with? I lay on my side, trying to sleep again, but after a while I saw that it was to no avail, better do something productive, then.

I swung my legs off the bed and stood up, activating my HUD with a voice command. I put on my sweatpants and a T-Shirt and left the room, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes; after a quick visit to the bathroom to take a leak, I walked into the living room. Over the backrest of the couch I spied a dark-haired head; apparently, my guest was already up.

"Morning," I croaked sleepily, her head turned to me, looking startled.

"Morning, hadn't even heard you get out," she said, I walked to the kitchen, she sat cross-legged on the couch, still tousle-haired and looking as if she had woken up not so long ago, her eBook was on her lap.

"Want coffee? I'm gonna make a pot," I offered, starting to prepare it.

"Yeah, thanks. You slept alright? Thought you'd wake up later," she asked, sauntering to the counter and sitting on one of the stools. I poured us both some coffee into two cups and took out both the milk and the sugar, remembering she had preferred the milk over sugar the other day. I put everything on the counter and started adding liberal amounts of sugar into mine (that day I felt like having a something sweeter to start the day), while she poured some milk into her own and started taking a sip, suddenly her light grey eyes alive with mischief.

"What?" I inquired.

"Nah, I think you just forgot to add some sugar…" she teased me, trying to look sober but failing miserably, I was too sleepy to think of any reply, so I just rolled my eyes and sipped my coffee, feeling a much-needed sugar rush coursing through my veins.

We drank our coffee in comfortable silence (if there was something I rather appreciated from her was that she didn't try to fill absolutely every silence with pointless chitchat and seemed to enjoy some tranquillity just as much as I did); when she was done she washed her cup and went back to her book, perched on the couch. I myself was in the mood of paying some attention to my own hobbies, so I went back to my bedroom, commanded the blinds to open all the way up so the room would be full of light, and sat before my desk, where tiny gears, cogs and wristwatches lay about. I had taken to horology during my sick leave after the lab's attack, while I adjusted to my new limbs and body parts. I couldn't refrain from shuddering at the thought, remembering that first time I had seen myself in a mirror. I rapidly shut down those memories, it had been hard enough going through that shit once. However, during that whole process, as a way of regaining my fine motor skills, and following the recommendations of the LIMB Clinic's doctors, I had developed a new hobby, and discovered I quite enjoyed it. It took a lot of patience and precision putting those pieces back were they belonged using a pair of tweezers; as I needed to be very focused to do it, it allowed me to forget the rest of the world, at least for a while. I pulled at my beard thoughtfully, trying to decide where to begin; I picked a watch I had been working on for several days already, a second-hand broken-down piece I had found in a little quaint store downtown. And so, I started with that one, the only audible sounds in the room being my own breath and the faint whirr of my limbs while doing certain movements.

A couple of hours elapsed, I had managed to finish that watch, and now it ticked away again. It was very satisfying bringing things back to life, giving them a second chance of being useful, of having a purpose. I stretched myself and decided it was a good time to grab a smoke; as I didn't like smoking inside my bedroom, I went back to the living room. Aurora was still there, tucked away on the couch, on the corner nearest to the windows. I opened one of them so the smell wouldn't linger there either and lit myself a cigarette, inhaling the smoke while I scanned the streets below with my eyes.

With my guest distracted, I took advantage of the situation to surreptitiously study her out of the corner of my eye. Her dark hair was still rather dishevelled, and she still wore the clothes she used to sleep, some black leggings and a top with thin straps, which displayed her augmented arms. They were rather high-quality, not as good as mine, but still a lot better than what most Augs had to wear. I had already seen Sarif's tiny winged logo on one of them; of course, he used to make highly functional but elegant augmentations. Basically, hers were like a simplified, civil version of mine, white with some details in black instead of mostly black with some golden parts like mine; they seemed to be made mostly of some light alloy, which included myofoam areas mimicking real muscle that helped move the whole thing and also allowed to feel texture, temperature and pressure. Like mine, some myofoam strips helped anchor the whole thing to her shoulders, tightly held by some bolts that fused with the skin creating only some very slight scarring and skin folds. I couldn't help but wonder why she had got them; of course, many Augs had adopted mechanical limbs and organs to replace those too damaged due to accidents or illnesses. However, I knew of many cases of people who voluntarily swapped parts of themselves or added them in order to be stronger, faster, more intelligent, more creative. I myself had witnessed some extreme transformations, even more radical than mine, men and women who were almost but a spinal cord and a head attached to a fully mechanic body: the Tyrants.

The woman, as if alerted by a sixth sense, raised her gaze and looked at me with those pale grey eyes, eyes that usually shone with shrewdness, but in which I had also seen fear, sadness, resolution and mockery in those few days. Our eyes locked for a few instants.

"You really like reading, don't you?" I asked, if only to break the silence.

"Yeah, it feels good travelling to other places, being someone else for a little while," a half‑smile appeared on her lips. "I guess it is escapism at its best, but I just seem to need it from time to time.

"Everyone needs to escape for a while, nothing wrong with that," I mused, twirling the cigarette between my fingers. One of her eyebrows arched almost imperceptibly, as if intrigued by what I had just said. I averted my eyes from her and looked again at the streets, taking a long puff and exhaling through my nostrils. "So, how are we going to do this antenna thing?" I asked her.

"I think we could go after lunch or something like that, but still during the day. I mean, we could do it in the dark of the night, but I don't really fancy climbing around roofs so late, it's already dangerous enough in broad daylight," she said, toying with her fingers distractedly.

"Hmmmmphhh, are those antennas you wanted to check very apart from each other?"

"A bit, but all of them are in downtown Prague, so it won't be a real problem," I nodded to myself and looked again through the window. It was a sunny wintry day, rather cold, although I was rather used to low temperatures, having lived in Detroit most of my life.

"In a while we should start cooking, if we don't want to get out too late," she pointed out, I just grunted in acquiescence.

I decided it was time to go back to my bedroom, I had another, trickier wristwatch I wanted to take apart, some of the cogs were rusty, broken, they needed changing, so it would be of use again, so it could do some good to anyone…quite like what had happened to me, in fact. After all, hadn't Sarif saved me when I was at death's doors, hadn't he improved my ravaged body much far than what was necessary to save my life, so I could serve his own purposes? My mechanical hand tightened around the tweezers, threatening to break them. And, of course, given how hell-bent I had been on discovering the truth about what had happened to Megan and her team, I had accepted, only to find that there were greater plans in motion in which we were nothing but pawns in an immense chessboard, not just me, but also Sarif, and even Taggart, despite them thinking they were the ones pulling the strings.

My jaw clenched at those thoughts; brooding about all that did me no good, it was totally pointless. I tried to remember what that book about letting things go said, though I had read it feeling terribly sceptical, doubting it would help me put some order to the turmoil in my mind. It was rubbish, really, a second-rate book written by some smoke-seller to make some money out of people's naivety. What really worked for me was doing something, whether it was fixing a watch, following some clue about a case I was trying to solve or using all the resources Sarif had given me for something worth-while. Sighing, I focused back on my work, willing all those thoughts to go away.

I heard a smart rap on the door a while later, I cleared my throat and asked: "Yeah?" from the other side of it came Aurora's voice.

"Hey, maybe we should start thinking about cooking or something…but if you're busy I can whip something up myself…" she said. I stretched my neck, stiff after such a long time scrutinizing tiny mechanics.

"Don't worry, I'm coming," I answered, standing up. When I entered the living room, she was checking her computer.

"Fuck, another antenna just went down, looks like it's going to take longer," she grumbled.

"Have anything in mind for lunch?" I didn't mind letting her choose, as if it were up to me, we would eat nothing but cereals, but just because I usually felt too lazy to prepare something for myself, though cooking for two was certainly easier.

"Lentil stew, easy, comforting and full of iron," she replied, walking to the kitchen matter-of-factly. "As if I needed more metal inside me…" I thought to myself wryly.

We started by dicing some vegetables, which she then put into a pot with lentils and water. After setting it on the stove, she asked me for the time.

"That's it, now we wait," she concluded, and went back to the couch to read some more. Deciding it was about time that I picked up some book again (after all, I had brought my whole library from Detroit, as attested the piles of books stashed everywhere around the house), I chose one regarding narcotraffic I hadn't read despite buying it a couple of years before, then I sat on the other corner of the couch, she eyed with interest at the book I had chosen.

"Narcotraffic?" she wondered.

"Yes, it's about an investigation during the last few years, not the most thrilling thing to read, maybe, but it never hurts knowing what's happening with drugs out there," I explained. "What about you? Anything interesting?"

"I'm with a book called Fatherland, from Fernando Aramburu, it's about terrorism in Spain around forty years ago, ever heard of the ETA terrorist group?" I shook my head. "Well, I suppose you wouldn't know, but there was a rather repressive right-wing dictatorship in Spain many years ago, it lasted between 1939 and 1975. As I said, they repressed any opposition, especially any leftist movements, but they were especially hard on a particular area of northern Spain, the Basque Country. This region has its own language and a series of customs and traditions that were rather different from the rest of Spain. Well, in fact, they are not the only region to have their own languages, there's Basque, but there's also Catalan, Galician or Valencian, but I digress. Due to this repression, a small group of students started to organise themselves and to fight back in order to preserve their own culture…but things got out of hand, and they turned to more violent means… started planting bombs and killed a lot of people during the aftermath of the dictatorship after Franco's death, they even killed the dictator's successor and everything…which probably was the only thing they did right, as it managed to bring the end of the dictatorship sooner. Of course, I don't mean to defend them, a lot of innocents died because of them during those years. Anyway, this book is a novel about two families from the Basque Country, the father of one of them was a target of this terrorist group and the older son of the other family had joined it, as many youngsters did in those years. It shows really well how those years were for both sides, really," she concluded.

"That ETA group…what did they demand?" I was curious despite myself. Being in an organisation that currently investigated terrorist groups, any related information could be of use.

"They wanted a real Basque nation for themselves, and some of the most radical factions of that region supported them, some more openly than others…it's a sad story, really. I mean, they were very mistreated during the dictatorship, and I'm conscious that, if you beat up a dog, it will end up biting you…but a lot of innocent people died because of them, people who had nothing to do with politics…no ideals can justify such extremes," she shook her head sadly.

"That's one thing we can agree on," I mused. "Are they still active? Did your police manage to get them?" I asked, frankly curious, she shook her head again, making a grimace.

"They aren't active as of now, decided to declare a ceasefire in 2011, and in 2018 they announced that the band had split forever. Some of them were caught, of course, and they'll stay in jail for the rest of their lives, something they really got coming," she answered, disgust plain in her face.

"Just like that? One good day they decided they were tired of killing people?" I asked, rather sceptical.

"Yes, I reckon they had internal disagreements and apparently saw they were going to get nothing through violence, and they have kept their word, there have been no more terrorist attacks since the ceasefire," she said, shrugging. "However, who knows, maybe in a few years someone will bring it back, with all the chaos of these years, the world is like a pile of dry wood to be set in flames at the slightest spark."

"Yeah, you can never know…" I replied.

"I think lunch is ready, we should get going, better to get this done as soon as possible," she said, standing up, I followed suit; in the end, I hadn't managed to read that much, but the conversation had been interesting enough, on the other hand.

We ate the lentil stew, which was quite good, although it was something I had never eaten, I guessed it must be some Spanish typical recipe. We watched some news, although you could count on Picus to distort the truth, tell lies and misinform at leisure. After that, we cleaned everything up and the hacker announced she was going to the bathroom to get changed. I also decided to prepare myself, resolving to take my pistol with me. Once dressed, I left the bedroom to find the woman slinging a black, practical bandolier behind her back, presumably containing whatever she needed to fix those antennae.

"You came pretty prepared for such a hurried escape," I commented, checking my gun was loaded.

"Had my bag prepared beforehand, I knew this could happen, so I made sure to be prepared," she explained, making sure her beanie covered the fine circuits on her forehead.

"You thought you would need tools while being on the run?" I asked her with a questioning look, she gazed back at me listlessly.

"I knew I would want to keep on working on whatever I had if I could. I wouldn't be of much use to the Collective if I were just to cower in some corner, would I?" she slipped her gloves over her hands and started walking to the hall, where I had already put on my trench coat. I barred her the way out with an arm before she could raise her hand to the handle, though.

"Before we go out, I just want to set some rules," I pointed out, my tone terribly sober. However, she raised her eyebrows so much that they almost disappeared under the hem of her beanie. I needed to impress on her that the situation she was in was no laughing matter, and according to what I knew about her, she wouldn't like what I was going to say, but I wasn't about to take any risks.

"You've got to be kidding me," she grumbled, her voice laden with disbelief.

"No, I'm not," I said in a firm and severe tone. "Maybe you haven't realised it yet, but there's probably a fucking bullseye on your forehead already, so please make my job a bit easier. How long can you maintain your glass shield on?" her nostrils flared visibly in anger, and a slight blush had started creeping up her cheeks, I also noticed a vein in her neck swelling perceptibly. She exhaled hard, obviously trying to control her temper.

"Five minutes, tops? Why?" she snapped.

"Alright. You are to walk behind me with your glass shield on, when you start feeling tired or that you can't maintain it any longer, just pull my sleeve and I'll take a detour to some deserted alley or something so you can rest it off, is that clear?" her lips pursed and she threw me quite a glare, but my eyes just bore into hers unwaveringly. She was wilful, of course, but I could also be quite obstinate myself. I guessed she was probably the kind of person who preferred working on her own in order not to receive orders and she would hate me for trying to impose any limits on her, even for her own sake.

"So, I'm to follow you invisible, as if I was a concubine or something or the sort?" she asked snarkily, trying to conceal her rage with sarcasm. She surely wanted to throw me off balance with that kind of remark, but she would have to try harder, I was used to butting heads with people the likes of Duncan Macready or Francis Pritchard.

"I see you get the picture," I retorted dryly. "Now, where are we to go first?" she scowled at me while she rummaged inside her bandolier, producing a thin tablet, which she turned on, she tapped on it a few times and handed it to me. It was the same map I had seen the day before, and she was pointing with her index at a small red circle, it was near Monument Station, she used her fingers to zoom the image so I could see the street. It was a bit far, we would have to walk a bit, but it was manageable.

"Alright, let's go, turn your glass shield on," I commanded, reaching for the handle.

"Yes, master," she said with derision, mockingly bowing her head before vanishing. I decided to ignore her and opened the door, locked behind us, and began to walk to the stairs. Now that she didn't see me and while I made my sunglasses slide into place, my lips quirked upwards at the thought of her seething behind me, glowering at my back.

We left the building (just in case, I had changed the configuration of my cochlear implant to make it more sensitive so I could hear even better, it was a bit uncomfortable perceiving so many sounds, but at least I heard her footsteps after me) and I guided her past the old fountain, whose waters were full of algae and rubbish. In the square, some policemen had arrested an augmented man and were pinning him against their car, cuffing his hands behind his back. I clenched my teeth at the sight, fighting not to blast those assholes to the ground with my PEPS cannon. I couldn't get into trouble, especially not then when I was accompanied by the hacker. I quickened my pace slightly, hearing how the woman behind me increased her speed in order to match my strides. We kept walking, me watching every corner, scanning any face, my pistol tucked under my coat but near at hand. I guessed Aurora would carry hers as well, but I didn't really expect her to know how to use it. The day was cold but sunny and a chilly but invigorating breeze blew about. A few minutes later, I felt a gentle tug at my sleeve, which I was already half-expecting. I spotted an alleyway and activated my Augmented Vision, it was mercifully empty.

"It's safe, you can turn it off," I said in a low voice, the woman appeared as if out of thin air, looking rather winded.

"I fucking hate this shit, couldn't they make it consume a little less energy?" she wheezed.

"I have a couple of biocells in my pocket in case you need some more juice," I offered, her face looked quite pale; however, she just shook her head, still gulping for air.

"Don't worry, I'll be alright," seeing the alley empty, she set off again, me walking beside her, using my CASIE to check her vitals.

We kept walking, I allowed her to set the rhythm, her face had regained a bit of colour, and she breathed normally. I checked with my Vision again, and as there was nobody out there (people were most probably resting after lunch), decided to let her rest for a while. We managed to get across several streets in this way, but upon getting near a wider area where there were some people, I mumbled:

"People ahead, shield," out of the corner of my eye, I saw her vanish, and felt how she started walking behind me instead of by my side. A couple went by near me, both eyeing me apprehensively, I just stared in front of me, ignoring them, as I had been doing for around three years already.

It didn't take us to long to reach the bridge over the Vltava river that connected that part of the city with the other. I took in the smell of the river and looked at the shape of the Palisade Blade, a sight which I didn't know if it marred or embellished the classical architecture of Prague. It was a beautiful city where you could see baroque or medieval buildings next to others more edgy and modern, a combination of the past and the future, a representation of the clash between the old and the new, but much more harmonic.

We finally crossed the bridge and found a much more populated area. Calculating that my companion would be feeling rather tired by now, I looked for another alleyway, and set off towards it just in time. She tugged at my sleeve again and I told her it was quite safe. She reappeared, looking quite relieved, once more gasping for breath.

"We can stop for a minute if you need," I said, studying her features. The glass shield consumed quite a lot of energy; I was able to withstand it without so many side effects just because I had high-energy cells inside me, but it did force me to wait for a while until I could use it again, which was a real pain while infiltrating somewhere unnoticed.

"Don't worry, we're not that far," and with that, she set off again, I heaved an annoyed sigh and followed her, using my Augmented Vision again to check there was no one nearby. She guided me to the back of an old, abandoned building, until we reached a fence. She took off her gloves and grabbed the iron rods to start climbing; looking at how casually she moved, I guessed it was not the first time she did it. I observed her reaching the top, straddling the fence and then sitting on the edge, letting herself fall to the other side, knees flexed to avoid hurting herself.

She turned to me from the other side of the fence and smiled quite smugly. I just rolled my eyes and, deciding to join the pissing contest she had silently started, simply activated my augmented legs, flexed my knees while I felt my legs gaining momentum, and sprang three meters up in the air. I managed to land on a crouched position on the edge of the fence and then simply jumped to the other side. She studied me through half-closed lids, struggling to look unimpressed.

"Augmented legs, I suppose?" she wondered.

"Yup," I said, deadpan.

"Should've guessed as much," she scoffed.

She turned around and started going across an abandoned garden full of decayed and withered plants, walking toward the house. I followed her, fastidiously activating my Augmented Vision again, that place would do for a perfect lair for junkies or other less savoury individuals, but there was nobody in sight. We entered the dark and dank-smelling interior, the old staircase creaking under our weight. I swore rather loudly when one of my feet went through a piece of rotten wood, I had stepped on the same place as her, but I was a lot heavier.

"Careful there, wood is rotten," she said in a low voice.

"You don't say?" I grunted, pulling my foot from the hole and letting go of the handrail, which I had gripped so hard it had splintered under my hand. We kept climbing the stairs, with me gingerly padding behind her, carefully watching the wooden planks for signs of rot.

Finally, we arrived to what looked like an old attic, bathed under the light of a big skylight. She got near to it and pushed upwards, then grabbed the sill, and pulled herself up in what seemed an effortless and practised movement, when I knew hauling one's weight only with the arms was a feat that required quite a lot of upper body strength.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who takes advantage of his augs," I remarked while I pulled myself up with even more ease.

"A girl must use every resource she has," she replied, looking very pleased with herself.

We had emerged upon a red-tiled roof. Walking carefully over them with her practical white sneakers, she climbed the sloping roof until she reached a flatter area. I imitated her and watched her crouch before a small antenna, obviously handmade. I could see it had a small set of solar panels, obviously designed to supply it with energy. It was a clever device, in fact; I hunkered down as well to take a better look, curious about how it had been constructed. She had proceeded to connect a small square device with a tiny screen through a couple of cables, then she took out her tablet and turned it on. I waited in silence to let her focus, looking at the other buildings nearby to make sure nobody saw us.

"Mmmmm, looks like it has just decalibrated, this should take a couple of minutes at most, hope we are as lucky with the rest," she commented, apparently thinking aloud, she took out a small screwdriver and began tinkering with the base of the antenna. As she had said, she finished with it rather quickly. She checked it again with her small gadget and, nodding to herself, put it back into her bag.

"One less to go, I guess," I said, standing up and walking back to the skylight, I jumped inside and saw her climb down rather nimbly. I smiled crookedly to myself imagining Pritchard having to climb old derelict buildings, whining about it not being his task, and him being as out of shape as he was, it was extremely funny thinking of him trying to get up that skylight.

"Ok, next one is ten minutes away by foot, the last one I want to check is the one I think will be the trickiest," she explained, taking her tablet again and motioning me with her hand to come closer so I could see where it was.

"Another building falling to pieces?" I grunted while I followed her out of the attic and started descending that mortal trap posing as stairs.

"Not this one, although I can tell you you'll miss this one, that area is always swarming with drones, we'll have to be very careful," she replied.

"Yeah, a pair of Clanks on a roof tinkering with a technical thingy is precisely the entertainment the Czech cops need," I said in a tart tone.

I tried to pay attention to where she put her feet, as she obviously knew that place like the palm of her hand. We finally left the building, she climbed the fence once again and I jumped over it once more. Then she turned on her shield on the empty street.

"Ok, Mister Grasshopper, lead the way," she said somewhere near me. We followed the same pattern as before, me on the lookout for any suspicious movement and her right behind me, as if she was my shadow. We crossed a bustling street, and I muttered out of the corner of my mouth, hoping she would pick it up:

"Stick to me as much as you can, someone is going to collide with you."

Luckily, as usual, people gave me a wide berth upon seeing me, no one wanted to cross the mean-looking Hanzer, of course, I thought acrimoniously. I felt another tug on my sleeve and looked at an alley at the other side of the street, I walked there faster, feeling a bit puzzled, as she had rested a couple of minutes before, maybe exhaustion was getting the better of her.

"You OK?" I wondered in a low voice, she hadn't deactivated the shield yet.

"There's a little shortcut through this alley, is there anyone nearby?" came a voice near my right shoulder.

"No, we're alone," I confirmed. She reappeared again, breathing out. She looked around, trying to get her bearings.

"OK, follow me," she set off again towards another small, darker alley, me trailing behind this time. "Fuck," she groaned all of a sudden.

"What's wrong?" I turned to her, frowning slightly.

"There used to be one of these big trash containers here, I used it to get up there," she made a gesture with her chin towards a high wall more than three meters high. That would pose a problem to her, indeed, not having any leg augments and given her small stature (at least compared to me).

"Need a leg up?" I offered, she cocked an eyebrow.

"Why not? Not much option there, have we?" I nodded and placed my back against the wall, intertwined my fingers so she could put her foot and lowered myself slightly so she could reach.

"Ok, now you put your foot there, put a hand on my shoulder and try to reach the top, I'll hoist you up," I explained, at this she just scoffed.

"Good Lord, I'm not a fucking rookie," with this, she put her left feet over my hands and leaned on me with all her weight, although it wasn't really a problem, used as I was to hefting much heavier loads. When I saw she had grabbed the top of the wall, I lifted her effortlessly, and I couldn't help but hear her say: "Oh, come on, super-strength? This is getting downright ridiculous!" she hissed.

Her foot left my hands and I saw her safely straddling the wall, after which she disappeared over it, I heard a dull thud on the other side, but it sounded as if she had landed safe and sound. Now it was my turn, simply using my augmented legs again. I let myself fall to the other side, where she was already waiting for me. Wordlessly, she turned around and walked to what looked like the emergency door of the building, there was a keypad outside, she began tapping into it.

"They changed the password since last time I came…well, shouldn't take me too long…" I couldn't really see what she was doing from my point of view, but I guessed she was hacking it; around five seconds later, a slight beep sounded.

"Wish I could hack doors so easily," I thought to myself enviously, it would be a great load off my back if whenever I was fighting with those things if I didn't have to worry about getting caught red-handed and shot at.

She stepped inside, lighting a pitch-dark staircase with her phone's torch. I closed behind me, and then a thought struck me.

"Hey, is this building occupied? Wouldn't fancy being found by some neighbour…could lead to an awful lot of awkward questions," I said in barely more than a whisper.

"Unlikely, these are emergency stairs, having a perfectly working elevator, people are not going to use them…besides, we both have experience as double agents, I'm sure we would come up with some fitting lie…" she said, aiming with the beam of light at the floor before us so we wouldn't trip. I had noticed that she had said we both had experience as double agents…I was, but her? I studied her back, feeling slightly puzzled. I grimaced slightly at the term "double agent", I didn't like thinking about myself as one, even though, in essence, that was precisely what I was. However, even though I knew it was for a good cause, I still felt somewhat uncomfortable at the duplicity of the whole affair. We kept climbing up and up with that only beam of light for illumination, our footsteps echoing dully on the walls, even though we were both trying to be as silent as possible. Eventually we reached a door, which opened again after Aurora hacked it once more. We emerged onto the flat roof of that rather tall building, which was several stories high. She walked purposefully to a little cluster of antennae and crouched before it, examining one I recognized as one of hers, but only because I had seen it before. I walked up to her, my hands carelessly tucked into my pockets (another old habit from back in Detroit, I usually forgot my gloves at home, although now that I had mechanical hands I didn't need them). She was already deftly fiddling with the smaller antenna, her grey eyes studying every inch of it intently.

"Isn't it a bit risky having your antenna with others? Wouldn't it be a problem if the technical support for those were to come up and they saw it?" I wondered, unable to quell my curiosity, she chuckled in response.

"You're just thinking like a cop. Imagine being a techie who has to leave the warmth of his office because some old lady can't watch her favourite programme on TV; he's only going to check his antenna, won't think there is something fishy about one of these in a cluster like this one. Another thing would be if mine interfered with his, that's when he'd probably look into it. However, in the odd case that happens, I'm covered. I have installed a sensor on the main rod and, if someone touches it, it goes offline, preventing anyone from discovering the net. It has a catch, of course, because if the wind is too strong or if some stupid pigeon hits it, it turns off, which is a pain in the ass…but at least it's safe. Even if they were found by the police and they decided to examine them, they'd have a hard time back-tracing the pieces, as they come from de-commissioned antennae found in the dark market or second-hand stores," she explained, still examining the device.

"You've really thought it all out," I commented, positively impressed despite myself.

"Took me a while to get the whole thing going, but yeah, it works," she said, raising her head and beaming widely, obviously proud of her baby.

She worked a few more minutes on this one, checking it in every way possible. From time to time I made sure to check the streets below, trying to see if any of those godforsaken drones were nearby, but there was no sign of them; apparently, we were rather lucky. I heard her stand up with a grunt, and looked at her flexing her legs, apparently numb after crouching for so long.

"Worst part of the technical support part," she said with a grimace, then she fished her tablet out of her bag. "Alright, just another one and we're done, I promise," I stepped closer to look at the map, recognizing the street near the river.

So, we left that place and went downstairs in the dark; once on the ground floor, she reconfigured the keypad so no one would realise our trespassing. On the way out, I gave her a hand with the wall and then jumped over it myself. We went through another labyrinth of streets and alleyways; some time later, she pulled at my sleeve and I interpreted as a cue to take her to the side street nearest to us.

"This way," she said after reappearing once I had confirmed she could. This time, she guided me to a little deserted patio surrounded by several old buildings, several of them looked empty. It wasn't strange seeing those around Prague, after the Incident a lot of people had died and, now that Augs weren't allowed to buy or rent almost any apartments or houses, they stayed empty, which felt extremely depressing in a way. One of the buildings had an iron ladder anchored to the full length of its back façade, and I had no trouble guessing which was the way up.

She started climbing first; clearly intent on not looking down, as the ladder -had no railings or protections whatsoever and we had to make do with holding to its rungs. I couldn't see her face, so it was impossible to know whether she felt no fear or she was just biting the bullet and climbing doggedly upwards. This time it was a flat roof as well, something I rather appreciated, as the first sloping tiled roof looked just perfect to break one's neck, augmented spine or not.

There was another familiar-looking antenna on the ground, lying on its side. She swore loudly and walked fast towards it, crouching and straightening it.

"Putas palomas!" she snarled.

"Excuse me?" I asked, guessing she had said some swearword in Spanish.

"Sorry. Fucking pigeons," she translated-complained at the same time, with almost as much hatred as the first time she had said it. "You better get comfortable, this one is going to take a while," she herself plopped down on the ground and sat cross-legged, tugging away her gloves. As the building on top of which we were was tucked between two other taller ones, I leaned my back against one of the walls and started rummaging in my pockets for my tobacco and my lighter. She turned to look at me and, sounding slightly riled, snorted:

"Come on, quit being so paranoid! We're not getting attacked here, are we?"

"You'd be surprised," I mumbled, holding a cigarette between my teeth and lighting it with my Zippo.

"Hey, if you're going to smoke, please do keep the butt in your pocket, if the police decided to take a look here, you shouldn't go around leaving samples of your DNA…" a rueful smirk curled my upper lip, imagining that after Tai Yong Medical acquired Sarif Industries, the samples of Patient X from Megan's research would already be in the hands of the Illuminati. I quenched those thoughts rapidly, knowing fully well how little good they did me.

"And I'm the paranoid," I ironized, exhaling a puff of smoke, she looked at me, her eyebrows scrunched up, probably looking for some witty retort; apparently unable to find any, she conceded:

"Fair enough," with that, she turned her attention back to the antenna while I smoked away, savouring that familiar sensation. The movement of her white hands was rather hypnotic, either loosening some screw, tightening another, pausing to check her little calibrator, adjusting the position of some rod. When I had already smoked that cigarette (making a point of stuffing the butt down one of my many pockets), I took another and proceeded to light it. Probably alerted by the sound of my lighter, she turned her head to me, eyebrows high on her forehead:

"Another?" she wondered, quickly adding: "Not that's any of my business. I suppose an X-ray plaque of your lungs must be a sight to behold," she said, seemingly unable to restrain herself, I just gave a short laugh that sounded quite like a dry huff.

"It would…if I had any lungs to begin with…" I stared at her, gauging her reaction; as I had imagined, she looked utterly shocked.

"You mean…they are augmented? For heaven's sake…I mean…how much…?" she trailed away, but I knew what she wanted to know and, for some strange reason, I decided to humour her:

"Around 50 % of my body is augmented, give or take. So you could say I'm but half a man…" I drawled, a tinge of resentment in my voice.

"Shit…I had never met anyone…if I may ask, how…?" she faltered, still aghast at my revelation. I chewed on the end of my cigarette in a pensive way, deciding whether to tell her or not. Probably thinking that I didn't want to talk about it, she resumed working on the antenna. However, at length, I explained:

"Happened three years ago…I worked for Sarif Industries back then," a flicker of recognition appeared in her eyes, and her eyelids half-closed as if she had just confirmed something; I decided to keep that thing in mind for a bit later.

"Our lab was attacked by some mercenaries wanting to…steal away some important info. I was there, tried to face those motherfuckers, but I had no chance, really, my augmentations would look like nothing next to theirs…I went through several centimetres of glass after being hit by one of them, collided against a machine, then he shot me in the head and left me for dead…and I should have. But, by some miracle, I didn't die right there, and I was rescued by Sarif and his team…my whole ribcage was destroyed, and my heart and lungs had suffered severe damage as well, so they put some new replacements instead. Also, my left arm and right leg were broken. The bullet had not killed me, but still, my optical nerve was damaged, which meant having to replace my eyes as well…as well as a big bunch of other things, sometimes I feel like fucking Sarif's walking augmentations portfolio…" I concluded, smiling mirthlessly. Her face was pale, and she positively gawked at me.

"But…I mean…they could have killed you! For fuck's sake, what were they thinking of?" she burst, livid with rage.

"For reasons that I'll not enter into now, they knew my body would take it. So, I guess Sarif got a bit carried away with the whole thing…" I countered, perfectly aware that that was an enormous understatement.

"Wait a second…you said only one of your arms and legs were broken…and yet both your arms and feet are augmented…Are you telling me they chopped off healthy limbs?" she seemed to be totally incensed at the thought.

"That, they did," I said. "And it's not just my feet, my whole legs are augmented…" I clarified, she sat there, looking at me with…pity? Compassion? Then I realised it was something else, it was empathy…of course, those arms of hers, I felt rather curious at how she had got them, and whether her vehement reaction had anything to do with her own story.

"But…they had no right…doing all that without any authorisation…" I laughed grimly, taking another drag from my cigarette.

"They did have an authorisation from me…you see, in my employment contract there was this little clause that said that, if Sarif Industries deemed it necessary, they'd be basically authorised to augment my body however they pleased…at the time I didn't really give it any thought, which means you should always read everything you're going to sign," I concluded.

"Fuck…even so…it was not right, it being allowed doesn't mean it was OK to do it…" she said, still obviously taken aback.

"Guess it wasn't…not much I could do about it, could I…" I concluded. Despite three years having elapsed after that, I still found it quite hard to talk about it; in fact, I didn't remember being so sincere about it with anyone. Changing the subject, and wishing to have my own curiosity satisfied, I asked:

"However, I do have the impression that you knew something about this…not everything, of course, but some details at the very least," I threw her a piercing look, retracting my lenses to make direct eye contact. She looked surprised, and a guilty flicker that was gone as soon as it came appeared in her eyes.

"Come on, if I had been in your situation, I would have tried to find out as much as I could about me…" I probed.

"I…I didn't mean to pry…" she stammered, she sounded quite flustered all of a sudden; even her Spanish accent, which usually was nothing but a lilt when she spoke, was more pronounced.

"What did you find out? I'm not angry, just curious…" I attempted to coax her, trying to relax my features and my tone to assuage her anxiety.

"Well…yeah, alright," she conceded grudgingly, looking angry at herself for giving in so easily. "Alex told me you used to be a cop and everything, but the morning you left I contacted…some acquaintances I have in the Collective…they told me you used to have a SWAT team back in Detroit, but you quit at some point and started working for Sarif Industries…that you got really close to some Illuminati stuff back then and also took part in that Belltower scandal in Rifleman Bank…and that they found you after the disaster in Panchaea, but there are no records after that until the Collective decided to contact…" she concluded. She looked chagrined again and added: "I had to make sure you were on our side…after Markus' disappearance I felt rather paranoid, really" she excused herself, a faint pinkish tone grazing her cheeks.

"Don't worry, I get it, some random guy offers to take you in, it must have been a pretty hard decision…that took a lot of courage," I conceded.

"Or a lot of stupidity," she countered with a wry smile, I couldn't help but chuckle silently.

"Those two usually come hand in hand," I replied. "Anyway…now, how did you get those?" I wondered, hinting with my chin at her hands. She lifted them and studied them thoughtfully.

"I had an accident four years ago," she started, there was a faraway look in her eyes. "I had been spending some holidays back at Spain with my parents, and I was in a bus after partying with some friends in the night…some fucking hothead speeding in a big car didn't look where he was going and he hit my bus…near the place where I was sitting. I was on the seat nearest to the corridor, another older woman was beside me, the bus was quite packed, to tell the truth, it was a national holiday and people had been celebrating all night long. It turns out that right next to my seat there was one of these metal rods that people hold onto, and I was kind of leaning against it, as I was rather tired and had drunk a bit during the night. I don't really remember the impact, though sometimes I have flashbacks of screeching wheels, shattered glass and screams all around me…I hit my head very hard against that pole and I passed out, which was for the best, in fact," at this, she shuddered, I noticed how she rubbed her arm up and down, as though trying to calm herself down.

"The crash killed the woman next to me, as the buses' frame caved in; however, I was luckier, though it was a close call, I can tell you. The woman's body was thrown against mine with a lot of momentum, and it made me collide against the rod…and the more the chassis caved in, the harder was the woman's corpse pushed against my body…squeezing me between that piece of metal and her…the impact and the pressure broke both my arms in several parts, the left was the one in the worst condition, as it had splintered into multiple fragments due to that piece of metal. However, my arms being tucked away flush against my sides turned out to be what saved my life…many of my ribs broke at both sides, and both my liver and my spleen had to be replaced for synthetic organs, as well as all those ribs. I also lost my hearing due to that hit to the head, if not for the cochlear implant I have, I'd be totally deaf…however, the worst thing by far were my arms. They were destroyed, shapeless, two pieces of limp flesh and bones…and the pain…it was excruciating," she inhaled deeply, still looking as though trapped in some dark recess of her mind.

I couldn't help but remember the time I woke up after the battery of surgeries I had gone through, feeling the unbearable pain of my severed limbs, of metal, myofoam and bolts rudely thrust through my muscles, alien and unfeeling. A shiver went through the remaining natural parts of my body, as if in sympathy for her ordeal.

"So, they fixed my internal organs, my ribs and my hearing without much problem, but my arms were another story…at first, they said that, after the bones were knit, with a lot of rehabilitation, I would regain nearly normal function and feeling, my nerves had also suffered a lot in the process. But then this surgeon came, claiming how he would be able to mend them sooner by delivering a new drug directly into my arms that would speed up the process. Apparently, that drug had been approved very recently, and had very promising results in mending bone fractures…but…well, I guess it never rains, but it pours," she smiled sadly. "That good-for‑nothing of a doctor delivered a greater dose than what was advised, and my arms ended up mending too fast and the wrong way, it mostly affected my nerves, and I was in a great deal of pain…as you can imagine, the last thing I wanted was starting another medical treatment, but I still felt very reluctant to have my arms replaced by augments. I mean, even if they were useless, those arms had been with me my whole life, I wasn't ready to let them go, not then. However, keeping them meant choosing between constant pain or dulling myself with painkillers…they took the pain away, yes, but I felt so sluggish, so stupid, as if I had trouble thinking. And well, I had recently finished my Degree in IT Engineering here in Prague and landed an internship at the Palisade, so I really needed my wits sharp, and not just for that, but for living in general, it was as if I couldn't enjoy many things I used to beforehand, as if I saw everything behind a blurry glass and had balls of cotton stuffed into my ears…no, painkillers weren't the solution, so it was time to say goodbye to my arms and get these," she looked at them again.

"I mean, they work very well, I can do things that I'd never been able to before, like lifting rather heavy objects or pulling my whole weight up, and I recognise they work alright. Besides, after suing that motherfucker for malpractice, I received a big sum of money that allowed me to buy one of the best models Sarif could offer…but still…it was very hard deciding it on the first place, and when I woke up and saw myself like that," she turned to me, looking troubled. "I had chosen to do it, but it was so unsettling watching myself in a mirror…I mean, I still have those scars on my sides due to the surgeries, but this was my whole arms replaced with these," she raised them again, looking at them as if she saw them for the first time.

"Yeah, it's horrible, that feeling of not even recognising yourself, knowing that there's no way back," I mused, my voice so low that I thought maybe she hadn't heard me. I studied her face for a second; even though she looked pretty much herself again, there was still this haunted air in her eyes, now it was my turn to feel chagrined. "Hey, I'm really sorry if I brought back bad memories…it's a hard subject to talk about…" she shook her head, and replied:

"Don't worry about it, you told me about your story, and it's only fair that I do the same…and it's natural to feel curiosity about these things, I reckon; when I see someone with augs I can't help but wonder which was the reason behind them…but...I can't possibly imagine how it was for you, waking up and finding yourself like that…I mean, it was enough of a shock having done it of my own volition, but you…" her voice died away, she averted her gaze, apparently conscious that she had been staring at me for a while.

"Yours wasn't an easy choice, either...though, I won't deny my case was nightmarish," I said, my voice flat, trying to sound indifferent, though it was far from the truth, as the flashbacks from back then were trying hard to resurface, digging upwards from the depths of my mind.

Silence fell between us and, all of a sudden, I noticed the sounds of the city, the cars, the ambulances, the voices of people, the squawks of birds. I tried to take advantage of that lull in the conversation to take a drag from my cigarette, but I only realised then that it had consumed all the way through, so enthralled I was by her sad tale. She had resumed working on the antenna, obviously trying to focus on something that weren't those obviously troubling memories. I myself scanned the skies in search of any drones that might be patrolling the area, but fortune still seemed to smile at us.

We spoke no more while she ended fixing the antenna. At last, she stood up and stretched her legs again, looking business-like once more, she checked something on her tablet, put back her things into her bag and looked at me, a self-satisfied smile on her face.

"We're done, at last, that one took a bit longer, as I had expected," she eyed the ladder, sighing tiredly. "Now we only have to go down there…I don't suppose you have a gadget for that…" there was a humorous gleam in her gaze; I didn't say anything and, with a smirk beginning to form in my lips, I casually strolled to the edge of the building and plunged into the air, though I caught a terrified squeal behind me. I felt my Icarus Landing System activate, engaging my spine and arms and creating a magnetic field all around me; I landed with one knee on the ground and my hands against it. Feeling rather pleased with myself, I stood up and looked upwards, the woman had started climbing down that rather rickety ladder. I was already lighting another cigarette (the last one I had, I would have to get some more) when she came down and walked up to me. Her face was a perfect mixture of shock, amazement and exasperation.

"Took you long enough…I was beginning to get bored," I said when she was near enough, ignoring her expression.

"What the hell was that?" she inquired.

"Icarus Landing System," I replied, unswayed.

"Yeah, well, for someone who is so fussy about discretion and stealth and whatever, doesn't that little stunt you pulled right now quite defeat the purpose?" she asked scathingly.

"Come on…it was fun, and I can see nobody here, can you?" I replied, trying hard to keep a straight face.

"Oh, yeah, real rib-cracker, watching you plummet to the ground, really," she bit back, rolling her eyes and marching away; feeling very amused indeed by her annoyance, I followed her. We were about to emerge on another busy street full of cars and people when she turned to me.

"Hey, is it totally necessary to walk all the way back? I mean, we're pretty far right now, and I'm not really in the mood for activating and deactivating my glass shield over and over again, I already have a pounding headache as it is," she said morosely. Now that I was looking at her, she did look tired, I guess having to use so much energy without any backup supply did get exhausting.

I sighed, ruffling my hair deep in thought, trying to look for some solution. Even though I'd never admit it, I didn't look forward either to walking almost an hour having to take detours whenever she got tired.

"Alright, I guess we could take the metro…however, it would be best if no one noticed you going in…which is why you'll have to get in invisible, once we're within the wagon, you can turn it off," I said, pulling at my beard, deep in thought.

"Sounds good to me…but what about the assholes at the checkpoint? Won't they suspect?" she didn't look very convinced.

"You'll have to stick behind me as much as possible, as long as we get through the Aug side it shouldn't be too big of an issue…unless we find some bigger-than-average assholes, but they'll probably stop picking on me if I show them my visa…" I reasoned; in fact, the plan didn't sound half that bad, the sooner we arrived to my flat, the lesser the possibilities of her being spotted by her theoretical captors.

"Alright, let's do this," she accepted, a decided thrust in her chin.

"As I said, stick behind me, the nearer, the better," I told her, she disappeared from view and I set off again, feeling an odd sensation behind me because of her presence.

We were just a few meters away from the Monument Station. Luckily, there was only a slight trickle of people going in and out, which would probably be for the better, otherwise someone might collide with my invisible companion. The policemen patrolling the entrance looked at me warily, their gloved hands visibly grasping their combat fusils harder than usual. I paid them no heed and just pretended to mind my business. When stopping at the turnstile to feed my ticket into it, I felt the woman bumping against my back and a stifled curse. I guided her to the area of the platform reserved for Augs and waited for the next train to come.

"Alright, when we get into the wagon, I'll get somewhere near a wall, you hide behind me and when I tell you, you turn off the shield, I think I'm big enough to hide you completely," I mumbled through the corner of my mouth, I heard something like a grunt behind me.

The train came to a grinding halt before me and I stepped into it, looking as nonchalant as possible. Even other Augs tended to avoid me, so I had no problem finding some quiet nook on the corner of the train; I crossed my arms in front of me and locked my gaze (I had reengaged my sunglasses long ago) on some guy who was staring at me. The man, probably not wishing to provoke me into some violent response, looked away hurriedly. I scanned the wagon quickly to make sure there weren't any cameras around, but not finding any, I turned slightly to my companion and muttered:

"All clear, you can deactivate," I heard a sigh and turned around to look at her, she leaned against the wall, looking slightly dizzy. "You sure you're OK?"

"Yeah, don't worry, it's just that this shit gets really tiring," she replied, rubbing her face with her gloved hands.

After a rather short train ride, the train screeched in front of our stop. As always, the station was dingy; obviously, being a neighbourhood mainly inhabited by Augs, the local city council wasn't going to spend a fortune on cleaning or other municipal services, let the trash live in the trash and so on. With Aurora invisibly following me, I left the station and crossed the street that took to the Zelen Apartments. We climbed to the last floor and, after avoiding the pile of abandoned boxes and the mattresses lying about in the gallery, finally arrived home.

We took our outer garments, both looking rather relieved about having accomplished our mission, me because we had apparently managed to go undetected, and her because she would finally be able to rest for a while. With that, she slumped unceremoniously on the couch, rubbing her temples.

"You better?" I asked, while I put away my 10 mm.

"Yeah, just need to rest for a bit, and get something for this headache," she answered, her voice muffled behind her hands.

"There's painkillers in the bathroom if you need them, maybe you should lie down for a while," I advised. "I'll be in my room if you need me, just try to get some rest," and I left the living room. Watching her fiddle with her antennae had made me kind of envious and I wanted to spend some more time fixing my watches, I hadn't really paid them so much attention the last days, though it was no wonder, after Dubai, the attack at Ruzicka and whatnot.

I changed to more comfortable clothes and sat before my desk and picked my latest broken acquisition. It was a Stanek, apparently a brand of a local watchmaker there in Prague. It was fine work, each gear was carefully shaped to fit the others, a masterpiece of precision, really. Soon enough, my work absorbed me completely, so much that I didn't even realise night had fallen completely. I went out to ask the hacker if she wanted to eat anything, we still had some leftovers from lunch. I found her on the couch, her eBook lying on her stomach; obviously, she had tried to read for a while, but exertion had won the battle. Her mouth was slightly open and looked totally relaxed, which was a stark contrast with how expressive her face usually was; the corners of my mouth twitched ever so slightly, partly envying how peaceful, how safe she looked, while I didn't have any solace even in my dreams.

I got near and gently shook her by her shoulder, she stirred and grunted, still sleepy before opening a bleary grey eye and looking at me. My CASIE perceived a subtle increase in her heartbeat, probably due to having been woken up.

"Hey, it's gotten rather late…maybe you should eat something," I said in a low voice, straightening up and walking to the kitchen. I heard her make a sound deep in her throat once more, rubbing her eyes.

"We had some lentils left from lunch, didn't we?" she said, standing up and dragging her feet to the kitchen area.

"Yep, we still have some," I said, opening the fridge and looking at the containers full of that brown stew.

"Mmmmpphhh, it's weird having lentils for dinner, it's usually eaten just for lunch, but I feel too lazy to cook anything else."

"Neither do I, what do you suggest?" I asked, turning to look at her.

"Fancy some take-away? It's on me, after making you trudge all over Prague," she suggested. "I wouldn't mind some Chinese, it's been ages since I have eaten some Kung Pao chicken, though I'm open to other options," she scratched her head distractedly.

"Chinese sounds good," I accepted; suddenly, I remembered hurriedly eating Kung Pao chicken on a stool next to a woman with a pixie cut…hell, what was the name? That city was Hengsha, and the woman was Faridah Malik, the VTOL pilot at Sarif's. My jaw set itself for a moment; I hated when that happened to me, having trouble remembering the events before Panchaea…must have been the side effects from staying around a year in a coma. "And there's no way I'm gonna let you pay, you bought that stuff the other day, so it's on me," I sentenced, snapping out of my thoughts all of a sudden and rearranging my features to conceal the unease I had been feeling a second earlier.

"That was to make up for being such a brat," she complained, leaning on the counter.

"Well, then, lentils it is," I pretended to reach for the fridge once more.

"Gosh, fine, I'm just too tired to argue. I'm going to take a shower, any place that has Kung Pao chicken will be alright," she gave in, rolling her eyes and walking to the bathroom.

In her absence, I looked for a Chinese place nearby that I had crossed a couple of times and checked the menu, they had Kung Pao chicken. I called them through my Infolink and ordered two of Kung Pao and some rice; I couldn't really recall the last time I had had take-away, maybe when I was still with Megan…my face fell when glimpses of our last encounter crossed my mind.

"Did you place the order, then?" interrupted a feminine voice, her voice muffled as if my ears were stuffed with cotton. I turned around sharply and looked at the small darkhaired woman before me, her big grey eyes studying me, while I had been half-expecting another of similar height but slightly thinner build with honey-coloured hair and topaz blue irises. For a terrifying second, I didn't recognize her, but then my mind snapped back together and I thought: the hacker.

"What? Yeah, I did, shouldn't take too long," I blurted out, forcing myself to regain my composure.

"Are you alright? Maybe you should have slept for a while as well," she commented, looking troubled.

"Nothing to worry about, just feeling a bit tired, and I guess eating something wouldn't be too bad," I replied, trying to sound offhand.

"Cool, I'm going to check if all the antennae a working alright," she said with a smile.

I turned the TV on to watch some news and distract myself, even if it was with Eliza Cassan's lies, still wondering what had brought about such a change in her behaviour since when I had "met" her. I shook my head, trying to dispel those memories. "Don't dwell on it," I reprimanded myself.

Finally, the food arrived and we sat on the couch, one on each corner. I picked up my chopsticks, trying to remember how they were held, it had been a really long time. On the other hand, my companion used them skilfully, which suggested a certain fondness for Asiatic food. Finally, I found the right position and got hold of a dice of chicken, putting it into my mouth. It was extremely spicy and I felt a burning sensation assailing first my tongue and then the rest of my body. Given the frequent bouts of overheating I had been suffering lately, it hadn't been such a great idea choosing such a hot dish. I choked and coughed, rapidly taking a swig from one of the remaining beers we had in the fridge.

"Easy there," said the hacker, sniggering, apparently unaffected by the peppery flavour. "Not used to spices, are you?" she inquired.

"Long time since I had some like these," I croaked, drinking some more beer.

"So much for the tough guy looks," she taunted, I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, the tough guy looks seemed to work on you well enough the other day, you don't have to be a genius to know you were scared shitless," I jibed back.

"Touché," she countered.

We finished our food, threw away the empty boxes (it was nice not to wash the dishes for a change) and sat on the couch again. She looked slightly better, it seemed as if the shower had done her some good.

"Regarding that device of yours…" I started, she perked up and her eyebrows knit in concentration. "I think I'll install it tomorrow, there shouldn't be a lot of people on Sunday at the police station…where was it, by the way?"

"Just a couple of streets away from Ruzicka Station, really hard to miss, it's a big concrete building from the Soviet era, I believe," she explained.

"Roger that. You better get some sleep, cloaking so many times can get really tiring," I said, standing up to leave for my room, I wasn't too tired myself yet, but I would read a bit on my bed so she could rest.

"Doesn't sound a bad idea," she said stifling a yawn. I guessed that not trying to contest my decision meant she was absolutely exhausted. I stood up and walked to my room, bidding her goodnight.

I practically flopped on my bed and commanded the lights of my room to turn themselves off but for the lamp on my bedside table. I also saw the other lights of the house turning off with an order from the woman from the wall-less space between the sloping ceiling and the wall of my room. The book on narcotraffic wasn't that bad, but it wasn't a page-turner, either, so it didn't take long for my eyelids to begin to feel droopy. I yawned and stretched lustily, stripped down but for my boxers and lay on my side, throwing the covers carelessly over myself, tomorrow would be another day.