"Hold on, Raka! Don’t go dying on me now, you still haven't paid me for that satay, damn it!" Julianna’s voice shrieked through the earpiece, nearly drowned out by the roar of the wind hitting Raka’s face like a thousand razor blades."I’m, I’m just trying not to turn into roadkill, Anna!" Raka fired back with a roar that sounded more like a groan.Raka’s body had been thrown onto the roof of the semi truck’s cabin by the gravity blast Elena triggered at the end of the last chase. He didn’t land like a hero, he landed face first, kissing a metal plate that was hot and sticky with liquid silver metal. The wound in his chest throbbed like crazy, spitting out silver blood that was now seeping into the cracks of the truck’s roof. His left hand, with its broken fingers, gripped the Neural Deck, the beat up phone that now held Elena’s consciousness, as if it were his own heart."System warning," Elena’s voice came through the phone’s cracked speaker in Raka’s hand. "Device temperature has r

"Cough! Dammit, the water tastes like used motor oil," Raka sputtered as hishead finally broke the surface of the Megalo River.His breath came in heavy gasps, his voice sounding like sandpaper rubbingagainst rotten wood while his right thigh went completely numb. The hole in hischest vented a stinging silver vapor into the cold night air as he tried to grabanything to stay afloat amidst the industrial waste."Raka? Are you still breathing, man? Answer me, you bastard!" Leo’s voiceshrieked in the earpiece, though the audio was heavily dominated by static."I’m still alive, Leo, but if you don’t shut up, I’m gonna die from being deaf,"Raka moaned, trying to paddle toward the muddy riverbank.Suddenly, the air above the water turned freezing cold as silver dust floatingin the atmosphere began to descend and arrange itself. Within seconds, thousandsof nanobots formed a massive holographic projection right in front of Raka,displaying Elena’s face with a gaze so cold it could free

"You awake yet, Daddy? You were out so cold, I thought you’d kicked the bucketfor real," the child’s voice sliced through a silence so heavy it was deafening.Raka gasped, trying to pull in air, but his lungs felt like they were filledwith thousands of shards of broken glass. He tried to move, but the sharp rattleof iron chains held him back. A heavy metal collar was bolted around his neck,anchored directly into the wall of the throne room. His vision was a blurredmess, but he could feel a bone chilling cold seeping deep into his marrow."Gkh, you, you little shit," Raka coughed, spitting silver fluid onto thedark marble floor."Don't talk too much, Daddy. Your heart is basically just a bundle of cablesI’ve got plugged into a wall socket right now," the Child said, offering adisturbingly innocent smile.Raka looked down at his bare chest. The massive hole Seraph had left behind wasnow packed with transparent bionic wires, pulsing with an angry red light. Thecables snaked int

"Eat, Raka. Don’t make me shove data cables down your throat, it won’t feel goodon your windpipe," Elena said with a voice that was so sweet, yet it carried aterror that could stop a heart.Raka could only glare, his teeth gritting as he fought the rage boiling behindhis pale face. He wasn't wearing his tattered tactical gear anymore, but acrisp, black tuxedo that fit him perfectly, as if the world’s best tailor hadjust measured him. However, beneath the expensive silk, Raka could feel thetransparent cables burrowing under his skin, controlling his muscles like amarionette. He was forced to sit upright at a long dining table placed right ontop of a heap of skyscraper ruins. All around them, the darkness of Megalopolisstretched out, silent without the sound of engines, lit only by the red glowfrom Elena’s throne and the silver plates serving bionic circuit components astonight’s meal."I’m not hungry, El. I’d rather swallow broken glass than have a meal with acreature weari

"Dammit, Raka! Stop pulling that thing if you don't want your brains spilled all over the floor, for real!" Leo’s voice shrieked inside Raka’s head, triggering a pain so sharp it felt like his eyes were about to pop out of their sockets.Raka didn't care, he let out a low groan while clutching the remains of the iron chain still wrapped around his wrists. His body was sprawled on the damp, dark floor of a technical corridor, located directly beneath the throne room that had just been blasted by a pillar of light from deep space. Red emergency lights flickered dimly, reflecting off the silver blood soaking into his tattered black tuxedo. With hands shaking violently, Raka wrapped the chain around the base of the Neural Spike, the massive bionic needle still buried in his neck, tethering his central nervous system directly to the deep space fleet."I have to pull this thing out, Leo, or I’m literally going to become a doomsday antenna for them!" Raka roared, yanking the chain with one b