Chapter 7-3

"I-I-It's not what it looks like."

It looked like Kid Win was trying to perform surgery on the woman in front of us. Knowing Kid Win, he probably had a good reason. As far as I understood it, Tinkers were heavily restricted in what they could and couldn't do, as seen when Piggot blew a gasket when Kid Win brought his giant beam cannon to the bank robbery. Impromptu surgery was frowned upon. No, he had an excuse. With the Boxhead's knowledge of cybernetics, he was probably removing some sort of control or tracking chip, or maybe even a bomb. While I'm not sure if it's a good idea to perform surgery with the limited tools available, I can imagine that it might be necessary.

"Really now?" Aegis said, skeptically.

"O-Okay, it's totally what it looks like, but I have a reason, really!"

"Do tell."

"Alad, he…he put a bomb in our heads." Kid Win stammered. "Proximity activated. We leave the building, boom."

"Which is fucking bad, in case you haven't noticed." The woman on the table yelled. Wait, she's still awake? "Now fuck off and let junior over here get that thing out of my head!"

Aegis' mouth fell open. "How are you still conscious?" He asked, voicing the first question that came to mind.

"I don't know. I really should have passed out by now 'cause this fucking hurts. Good thing I didn't, though. That stupid kid doesn't know the difference between a tire iron and a mercury switch. Seriously, how hard's that? You don't have to be as brilliant as I am but would it kill you to put some fucking effort into it?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Kid Win apologized, looking increasingly distraught. "I'm not a bomb maker, okay! I'm trying!"

Bomb maker? Wait, the woman was Bakuda? Made sense, I suppose: she was vaguely Asian and Insight did mention that the bomb Tinker was working for Alad. There were also a series of mirrors positioned in such a way that she could see exactly what Kid Win was doing. I guess she was guiding him on her own surgery. That takes some serious balls, I suppose. On the other hand, Bakuda was a bomb maker, not a surgeon, and while Tinkers are absolute bullshit, there were limitations. Armsmaster knew how to handle his halberds only because he trained obsessively with them. Kid Win spent a lot of time practicing on his hoverboard. Why would surgical skills be any different? It seemed to me that the only way Bakuda would know how to perform surgery safely is if she had some sort of practice. I did not like the implications.

"Try harder, and keep the blowtorch handy in case you need to cauterize something again! Fucking Mister Butterfingers." On a side note, the woman was also a complete bitch. I guess that matches what I expected of Brockton Bay's resident mad bomber.

Aegis cleared his throat. "Kid, I don't think you should do this. Please put the knife down. We have professionals for that."

"What part of 'bomb in brain' don't you understand, you stupid fuck?!" Bakuda suddenly screamed.

"It only explodes if you leave, right? The Protectorate's going to clear the building and…" I could only shake my head. Seriously, what was Aegis thinking? If there's a bomb in your head and a madman holds the trigger, you remove it as soon as possible.

"And then that sick fuck will detonate it remotely and my brains will be all over the wall. Kid Win, start cutting before the Boxheads figure out what we're doing!"

"Kid…"

Kid Win shook his head. "I'm sorry, Aegis, I have to do this. Nobody dies today."

"Too late for that…" Gallant muttered, glancing in my direction.

The boss ignored him. "Chris…"

"No, Aegis. I'm doing this. She already removed my implant so I'm removing hers. Now give me some space so I can cut this woman's skull open in peace. I'll only need a minute." Without further ado, Chris started cutting, carefully removing tissue under Bakuda's not-so-friendly guidance. I could admire his determination. It couldn't have been easy for Chris, having to perform surgery here and now, but he did it anyway. He could easily have left Bakuda behind or stayed until the PRT medics get here (which was doable, if needlessly risky, with the three of us here), but he didn't. Poor guy's going to need so much therapy once this is over.

God, we're all going to need therapy when this is over.

A little while later, he was finished, quickly sowing Bakuda back up and applying a bandage made from a dirty rag and two bits of duct tape. "There, finished. Now we can go." Chris said, exasperatedly.

"Kid Win, we are going to have a long talk when this is over." Aegis growled before turning to me. "You too, Banshee. Just because you're not the craziest person on the team anymore doesn't mean I haven't forgotten."

"We should get going." Gallant said. "I'll help Bakuda and Kid…" He corrected himself when Bakuda gave him a death glare. "Just Kid Win then. If you two could clear the way…"

Aegis and I nodded and sped off. I sensed movement all around us and no Protectorate in sight. We must have triggered some sort of silent alarm on our way out. Inconvenient. Me and Aegis could probably fight past them and Gallant had his Tinkertech body armor, but our rescue targets weren't so lucky. Getting into a firefight would be a terrible idea.

We needed to slow them down. I pointed to the foam gun on Aegis' side and asked: "How many canisters do you have left?"

"A couple. Why?"

"There're bad guys coming our way. Too many for us to fight without risking our targets."

Aegis frowned. "Suggestions?"

"We foam the way behind us. I don't think the Boxheads have the tech to counter it yet. At least, not before we're out of here."

"Good thinking."

I took aim at the wall and pulled the foam gun's trigger. Using short bursts to allow the foam to expand, we were able to create a decent wall and cut ourselves off from the majority of the building. That ought to keep them busy for a while. We sealed several other passages that way and moved on before the Boxheads found a way around.

"Seriously, this place is like a maze." Gallant complained. "It's like they randomly stuck a bunch of rooms together and called it a day."

"They did." Kid Win said, occasionally twitching oddly. "The construction is modular. I think they shipped in individual units prepackaged from elsewhere and build the facility out of that. Kind of like giant Lego bricks."

"So when we kick them out, they can easily build another facility somewhere else." Gallant said. That was actually concerning. Taking this base didn't seem like much of a victory if Alad can replace them.

"And knowing that there are dozens of warehouses just like this one scattered through the docks, we're going to be playing whack-a-mole with these guys for a long time if we can't find the guy's headquarters." Well, that certainly didn't improve the mood. "Take a left, here."

"Why? What's in there?" Aegis asked.

"Main computer room. We need more intel on these guys." Kid Win's proving to be a lot more capable than I thought. Impressive. I didn't think he could function this well under pressure. Can't say I don't like what I'm seeing.

"I don't think this is the…"

"Wait." I said before reaching out with my power. "Is it the room at the end of the hall?"

"Yes." Kid Win replied with a look of worry on his face.

"I hear two guys working on a bunch of computers. I can take them out before they do any further damage."

"Now just a minute, Banshee, I…" Boss obviously didn't like being sidetracked, but this really wasn't the time. That data might actually hold the key to fighting these people. It was an opportunity we couldn't afford to waste.

This time, it was Kid Win who interrupted. "If we don't do this now, they'll erase everything. Whatever data's in there might not be of value to them, but it's still useful to us. If nothing else, Insight might be able to do something with it." He swallowed before continuing. "These guys, Aegis, they aren't going to stop. They already got to me once and they can do it again. This is our best shot at taking them down permanently. We need…we need to do this. Please."

Aegis obviously disapproved, but eventually relented. "Banshee. Go."

I nodded and quietly slipped in the room. The two men, both armed with laser rifles, had their backs turned to me as they worked on the computers. Easy targets. I grabbed one by the helmet and snapped his neck before finishing the other off with my glaive. "We're clear."

Immediately, Kid Win hobbled inside and started rattling away at the computer. No idea how he knew what to do. I guess he picked up a few things from the Boxheads already. Who knows. Aegis and Gallant followed behind him. They looked at the massive blood stain on the wall and then to me with a shocked expression.

"Did you just kill those men?" Aegis asked me, pointing at the two rapidly disintegrating bodies.

"Yes." There was no point in lying. I wasn't proud of what I just did, but considering what the other Boxheads were capable off, I could only assume that they'd have killed me or my team if I'd given them the chance.

"Just like that? No remorse, no regret?" He couldn't have sounded more judgmental if he tried. I was only trying to keep us all alive, dammit!

I sighed. This wasn't the time for discussions. "Ask me again tomorrow."

"What, so you can come up with an excuse?"

"So that I can answer your question when I'm not high on adrenalin."

He frowned, but didn't say anything else. That said, I didn't like the way he was looking at me. Did he think I was a psychopath? If he did, how would that affect the mission? Trust is important and if he's more afraid of me than he is of our enemy, who knows what might happen. Part of me wondered if I should have held back. Use the foam gun instead of going for a lethal weapon right away. On the other hand, I would have taken a huge risk just to look good in front of our team captain. Kid Win could have died because I held back. Could I have taken that chance? Should I have even tried?

No. I have my objectives and looking nice isn't one of them. Aegis was a professional. If he had a problem with me, he'll save it for the after-action report. I'll probably be crucified later, but at least my friends would still be alive.

"There, done." Kid Win exclaimed. "I sent everything I could to the PRT."

Aegis nodded, muttered something under his breath, and started leading us to the nearest exit point: the broken window that our fliers used to get in. Apparently the Boxheads like nice, exposed windows. How convenient.

"Command, we've retrieved the package plus one. Are the skies clear?" Aegis spoke into his comm. unit.

"Please clarify, did you say 'plus one'?" Our PRT operator replied.

"I'll explain later. Can we fly back?"

Armsmaster replied first: "Yes, the Wards may disengage. We can take it from here." He sounded like he was winded. Kind of hard to believe anything could tire someone like Armsmaster. That robot must have been a handful.

"Roger that, sir. We're coming home."

Before I knew what was happening, Gallant picked up Kid Win and Bakuda while Aegis scooped me off of the floor and carried me bridal style before we all flew away. As we were heading back to PHQ, Aegis took a slightly longer route.

"Taylor," He said, visibly biting his lip. "I gotta ask: When you killed those people, did you…did you feel anything?"

"Aegis, this isn't the time…"

"I need to know, Taylor." He stressed. "Those men on the roof, they're all dead. Whatever you did…they didn't get back up again. That must have been thirty people, maybe more. I need to know…I need to know what went through your head."

"Why?" I asked, incredulously. Had we been fighting the same people? Wasn't it obvious? "I killed them because I had to. If I didn't, they would have killed us instead."

"You couldn't have known that…"

"They had guns. They opened fire the moment they saw us. Fuck, I even gave them a chance to get out of all this and they tried to kill me for it. I just…I…" Even as I spoke, the words seemed hollow. I…I killed people. Dozens of them.

We flew on in silence.