As Isleen and I were moving towards the exit, I asked Galatea just how much data she had managed to grab, before they had slagged their systems.

“It’s quite a bit. But most of it is fragmented, some of it corrupted. But there are a few things that jump out, from the fragments. One of them is the name Greene, the other the name King.” Galatea answers. Just hearing that, my heart skips a beat. Why would my family name be mentioned here. And often enough to jump out?

“Do you have context?” I asked and my voice was sharper than I had expected. I thought I had cut all ties with my family, but still, I felt strangely responsible. Not that I would atone, if they did something bad, but that I wanted to stop them, if they did.

“It seems that at least some of the property used belongs to the Greenes. They have to be somehow involved. But nothing for the King-Family.” Galatea explained after a moment.

“Interesting. Please keep digging.”

“Yes, I will.”

We continued our way and I was a little spooked that nobody tried to stop us. When we had covered roughly half of the way out, Galatea opened another window on my visor.

“Something is wrong with Anath.” She said, not commenting further.

The window showed me events from Anath’s perspective, but there was not much to see. The two of them, Felix and Anath, were just leaving the building when she froze for a second and afterwards, the viewpoint shifted downwards first and then towards the ground. As if she had taken off her mask. But why would she do that?

“Do you have audio?” I asked Galatea.

“Yes, but there is nothing on it. I have no idea what is going on.”

Now, I was worried. Thinking of the huge Powered we had taken down before and the ease with which he had shrugged off my Taser, I pulled my railgun with my right hand, leaving the left free for Taser-duty. The railgun would be able to deal with just about anything, even if terminally.

Slowly, and carefully I continued my advance, even as Isleen next to me seemed about as carefree as she had been from the start. We got to the entrance and I peeked out, to see two forms kneel on the entrance-path, Anath and Felix. Sadly, the angle was so bad that I was unable to see anyone else and the building was sturdy enough to block my infrared scanner.

After readying an assortment of grenades for instant auto-release, allowing me to release two flash-grenades and two smoke-grenades with the twitch of a toe, having the first flash-grenade go off within a second after release, the other two seconds later, I stepped out of the building, trying to look in every direction at once.

I managed to take the first step, the second, not so much. Out of a well concealed blind-spot, a small figure emerged, with six of the troopers behind her. She was tiny, barely taller than Anath, but what she lacked in size, she made up with sheer, malignant presence. And that presence froze me in my tracks, stopping me from even twitching.

A buzzing pressure settled against my mind, trying to force me to my knees and I resisted with all my mental strength. I had not bent my knee in front of my father, I would not start now.

“Now, why don’t you kneel, with your little friends. I need to punish you, all of you, you know?” The evil pixie said in a gleefully smug voice. It seemed that she very much looked forward to our punishment, as if the sheer idea of inflicting pain, and there was no doubt that her punishment would be painful, was giving her a joyful thrill. I steeled my will, pulling on everything I had to resist.

“Resisting? We can’t have that. I need to punish you for hurting poor Brutus. He is such a simple soul but you monsters cut off his legs. For that, I will have some fun with you. Maybe, I will cut the tendons in your knees, so that you can never stand again. That way, you will have to kneel forever. Or I could pull out your tongues. But no, you will need those.” She rambled, the pressure on my mind getting stronger. At the same time, there was an anger growing in me, a wild, burning fire of hatred.

How dare this insane pixie try to usurp control of my body from me? How dare she try to invade the innermost sanctum of my being, trying to force my mind to go along with her?

We were locked in silent struggle and with every second the fire grew. I felt my body disassociate, almost as if I was slipping in one of my crafting trances, but there was nothing to focus on. Nothing but my hatred.

All of a sudden, as if a wire had been stretched too tight, there was a snapping sensation and the hatred burst out, bubbling to the top of my being and I felt a red tinge settle over everything. The insane pixie had to be punished and for the crime of trying to usurp my mind, she deserved death.

My twitching toe unleashed the grenades and at the same time, my railgun was fired in anger for the first and second time. The second time was undoubtedly overkill, but I just did not care. I wanted the pixie gone.

The first slug from my railgun was a simple slug, even if it might be better to call it a flechette. Shaped into a small, aerodynamic cylinder, it was just a solid slug of tungsten carbide. Hard, heavy, and fast, it went into her chest and out of her back, barely slowing down, ripping a small hole into her front and a slightly larger hole into her back. At the same time, hydrostatic shock shook up her insides, spreading through the blood and rupturing smaller blood-vessels. The bullet went on to strike one of the henchman behind her, easily passing through him and vanishing into the distance. It was plain and simple overkill for everything less durable than a Powered with enhanced durability or an armoured vehicle. Maybe even a tank, depending on the point of impact.

Not that it mattered. A split second later, the second slug arrived. In the air, the two slugs looked very much the same, but one of them had carved in imperfections, predetermined break points, causing it to shatter into a cloud of razor-sharp fragments when hitting anything harder than air. Each fragment took a slightly different path through her body, ripping it apart before exiting on the other side. There was not much of her back left after the fragments came out and the cloud of gore and metal splattered against the troopers behind her. One of them was already dying, thanks to the first bullet and the fragments did not matter much. Another trooper was unlucky as well, a couple of the bullet-fragments had taken a new course after shattering her spine and were ripping into him. They had far less mass than before but still sufficient velocity to cause gory and lethal wounds.

The grenades went off, bathing the area in blinding light, but just before that, I got a glimpse of Sophia’s face and I saw a terrified expression.

Focusing on the troopers, I tasered the other four, taking them down before they got the bright idea of shooting at the unarmoured members of our party.

Out of habit, I checked the pixie and the two troopers but they were just about as dead as one can be. The railgun was a seriously lethal weapon, especially with the breaking rounds. I had made them originally to reduce overpenetration, as the normal slugs could easily punch through multiple brick walls and still remain lethal. The breaking rounds would cause terrible damage to the target and possibly a soft target right behind it, but not break through four walls in order to kill someone there.

But the enemies were not important right now, I worried for Anath and the others. Well, mostly for Anath. Through the spreading smoke, I quickly arrived next to her, gently pulling her up and handing her the mask she had lost. At first, she was rubbing her eyes, as she had taken the full flash without the usual protections but she recovered quickly and replaced her mask. But all the time, her movements were slightly jerky and hesitant. Scared… of me.

“You… you killed her.” she said, in a hesitant voice.

“Yes, I had to stop her. And I could not be sure that the Taser would be enough.” As I said that, I realised how hollow it sounded. I had used the railgun to make sure she would die. To punish the transgression she had committed, the invasion of my mind. But I could hardly say that out loud, not with Sophia already afraid of me.

The smoke had been lifted by the gentle breeze coming over the mountains and I was looking around, taking in the strange dichotomy created by the remnants of the fighting and the fresh sunlight dawning over the mountains around us. There were no more enemies remained and Isleen was walking over to us, speaking.

“I think I need to call my father now. We will need him to take care of the rest.” She said, taking a short glimpse at the gory remains of the enemy Powered.

“Ca… Metis, my brother will remain here, with Isleen. He asked me to stay with him, he thinks I can join the Powered Association.” Anath said in a hesitant voice and realisation dawned.

“Of course, family is important.” I managed to squeeze out, thankful that my mask was hiding my face and the tears running down my cheeks. I gently gave her a push towards her brother and let Galatea land the flight frame that had been cruising in the vicinity.

“Farewell. I am sure we will meet again.” With those words, I stepped into the frame and gunned the engines, taking me away before she could answer. I did not dare to hear her tell me she did not want to see me ever again, so I asked Galatea to cut connection.

Flying away felt like ripping my heart out. But I could not stay, not with Sophia afraid of me. Not with the data Galatea was analysing, it was a duty I had to fulfil. If my family was responsible, I would stop them. And I certainly could not take her back with me, rip her away from her brother. She had been slipping away from me for weeks, slipping into a depression. Maybe, here she could heal. What was the old saying, If you love someone, set them free? No, this was the best way.

I had a duty to fulfil and I would not shirk it. Even if it felt as if a mountain was resting on my shoulders.