Gun belt jingling, a heavyset man swaggered out of the room ahead. He took one look at the diminutive girl before him and laughed. “What are you playing at, little girl?”

Kano’s hand twitched, but she had nothing left to throw. “I want my bracelet back.”

Rubbing his chin, he nodded. “I see.” His other hand went for the bulky handgun on his hip, trying to catch Kano by surprise. As fast as his draw was, to Kano it was like he was moving in slow motion. Ducking low as she moved in, she was in front of him before his gun had cleared its holster. She caught his arm with both hands and wrenched, and it broke with a satisfying crunch.

Catching his gun as it fell from his hand, she put two rounds into his chest and kept walking. She wasn’t much for guns, particularly ones as inelegant as this. But unlike what her latest victim thought, she wasn’t here to play. Hearing the gunshot, two men appeared from doors along the corridor ahead. Guns drawn, they dropped before they could fire them.

Despite its looks, Kano couldn’t fault the efficiency of her new weapon. Though she supposed a weapon was only as good as its wielder. The thought made her smile as she tried to figure out where to go. Looking back at the fallen company soldiers, she saw one of them was still alive. He was folded over, clutching the wound in his stomach. His black-and-red combat fatigues were much redder than they’d started off.

“Hey,” she said, shooting him in the leg to get his attention. He screamed anew, and she continued, “I’m looking for a guy in a red jacket.” Seeing the incomprehension in the man’s face, she realized they probably all dressed like that. What a bunch of douche bags. “He was out in the slums yesterday, at Aru-Aru’s.”

Face pale and tight with pain, the soldier got out a name: “Urick.”

The name didn’t ring any bells, but at least it gave her something to focus her rage on. “Where is he?”

Seeing him hesitate, she kicked his wounded leg.

“With the boss… at the back of the building…”

She snapped off a salute and winked at him. “Thanks.”

She left him to die. Maybe his friends reach him before he bled out. Not that she planned to leave any of them alive, but hey, there was a chance. It was plenty fair by her reckoning—anyone who’d steal from her didn’t deserve any mercy.

She headed for the center of the building; it seemed as good a choice as any. If she’d had any power to spare, she’d have just cut her way through. Instead, she was reduced to trying to find her way through like any old ghoul. She couldn’t understand why people made such complicated buildings. Was it so hard to put up signs? Or better yet, just have one big room. That would’ve made things a lot simpler.

She was of a mind to complain to whoever was in charge of this dump. Even if it was a remarkably clean dump. The floors even looked like they’d been swept. Was the Red Company actually a cleaning service? Maybe they could fix up her place. After a while without running into anyone else, she heard booted feet moving ahead.

Being cautious occurred to her, but her foes seemed like pushovers. Why bother worrying when she could butcher them with ease? Having them all together made it that much easier, and it saved her having to wander through the building. Licking her lips, Kano ducked around the corner, firing with wild abandon. A wave of automatic gunfire greeted her, and she hurled herself back.

She glanced at the cut on her shoulder where a bullet had nicked her. Neither the wound nor the damage to her coat bothered her. It was an old rag anyway. But it did make her reconsider the situation. Her enemies didn’t seem so trivial anymore. Controlled bursts of gunfire probed the walls in the direction she’d fled. Keeping low, she crawled away, assessing her options.

She was looking for another way around when she heard a sharp thunk from the central room. The grenade landed near where she was crawling, spraying fragments across the hallway. Several small pieces became lodged in her body. They made a bit of a mess but not enough to disable her. Still, she couldn’t sit around for much longer. She ran back down the corridor, seeking another route.

As it turned out, there was another way, but half a dozen men armed with assault rifles had already taken up position there, taking shelter behind a series of prepared metal barricades. Not in the mood to accumulate anymore gunshot wounds, Kano fell back without returning fire.

Neither way seemed too appealing, but at least this one had fewer guards. She could have gone back the way she came and left the building altogether, but the thought never entered her mind. There was no way she was giving up, not while they had what was rightfully hers (even though she had looted it from a body just the other day). Without the time or the slightest inclination to come up with a proper plan, Kano went with what she knew.

She popped around the corner to squeeze off a few shots at the first target that caught her eye and pulled back before they could respond. They replied with a fresh storm of gunfire, raking the walls she was hiding behind once more. Dropping to the ground so that the bullets passed over her, Kano rolled out of cover, firing as she went. In addition to the man her first stunt had dropped, she disposed of another three before her gun clicked.

Jumping to her feet, she bounded across the room, taking advantage of her fallen foes’ cover. Once she got in close, it was all over. Not bothering to pick up one of the spare weapons, she disposed of her remaining enemies with a mixture of kicks and blows from her empty handgun. Its performance as a blunt instrument wasn’t nearly so impressive, so she left it behind.

However, thinking ahead, she grabbed an assault rifle along with another pistol. The rifle was too large for her to handle easily, but it would have to do. Setting the stock against her shoulder, she advanced. She could hear the people in the other room scrambling to intercept her.

Sprinting, she passed the opening to the central room and held down the trigger until she was past. She wasn’t sure if she hit anyone, but it was enough of a distraction for her to get by unscathed. Dropping the rifle, she hurtled through the building at breakneck speed. The metal doors and corridors passed by in a blur until she was standing in front of a solid metal door. Turning on her force field, she cut right through it. The metal fell to pieces, exposing a pair of men.

They both had their rifles trained on the door, though they looked too stunned to make any use of them. One was bald and much older, with a neatly trimmed beard. The other was younger, with long, swept-back red hair and a rakish manner. All in all, she thought he was rather handsome. He was also wearing a red jacket, which meant he must be Urick and that he would have to die. It seemed like a bit of a waste, but there was no helping it. But first things first: She pointed her pistol at the bearded man. “Call off your men.”

Seeing him tense as if he was going to open fire, she shot him in the hand. He grunted in pain and dropped his gun. “Okay, I’m calling them off.”

His throat moved as if he was saying something, but she couldn’t hear a thing. Must be subvocalizing, she decided. What necromancer let these losers out into the world? Must be the rejects of someone’s army. They were obviously military, even if they were completely incompetent.

“Good.” She jabbed her finger toward Urick, who’d dropped his gun at the silent command. “Now you, give me back my bracelet.”

Urick reached into his pocket and tossed it to her. Sitting down at the desk in the back of the room, the older man covered his face with his hands. “Why couldn’t you just do as you were told?”

Urick glanced at Kano and licked his lips nervously. “I didn’t think she was a threat. I figured once we took care of the big one, we’d be fine.”

Scratching her head, Kano tried to follow their conversation. The big one? Were they talking about Nove? It would explain a lot. Kano hadn’t considered it, but part of this being Nove’s fault made all too much sense. “You’re talking about Nove, right? What did you do with her?”

“Fed her enough poison to kill a golem and dropped her at the dump,” Urick said, a note of pride in his voice and a sneer on his lips.

Was he trying to make Kano feel bad? He was an idiot if he thought she cared about Nove’s well-being. Kano yawned and stretched her back. “Welp, I got what I came for, so I guess it’s time for you to die.”

Urick blanched, though to his credit he still managed to look scornful. But she was unsure if it was a credit to his courage or to his stupidity. “You really think you can just kill me and walk out of here?”

Kano shrugged. “Yep, that was pretty much the plan.” Almost the entire plan, in fact.

“You’ll never get out alive,” he said, spitting in her general direction.

The older man stood up and held up his hands. Kano noticed his wound had already stopped bleeding. “Wait,” he said, “there’s no need for further bloodshed. How about we make a deal?”

“All right,” Kano said. “I’m listening.”

“You got what you came for,” the Red Company leader said, “so how about this: I’ll overlook what happened here and let you leave unharmed. In exchange, you won’t kill any more of my men.”

Kano laughed in his face. “No way. I’m not leaving without him.” She pointed at Urick.

The bearded man shrugged. “All right, he’s all yours.”

Urick opened his mouth to protest, but another subvocalized command cut him off. “He’ll follow you now. Do whatever you want with him.”

“Will do,” Kano said, waving goodbye. “Ciao.”