“Are you sure that’s where the coordinates are located”

“Yes. Stelig double-checked.”

“Damn it,” I growled.

”He’s smart.” Naedon said.

“Yes…smarter than I expected. Putting us in the middle of Freedom Park where everyone is, is genius. No one has control over how everything goes.” I admitted, begrudgingly.

“Yes….he’s aiming for that,” Rynord added.

“Don’t worry, this’ll also give us an advantage, once he can’t exploit either, so let’s make this work to our advantage,” Naedon said.

“Has he told you which entrance to enter from?” Tryzer asked.

“He hasn’t.”

“Ok, Stelig and I will take the south entrance. Tryzer, east. Rynord north. You take the eastern with Tryzer that way, he’ll cover you.

“Got it.”

The cabbie circled Freedom Park as instructed. I had eight minutes left before the timer went to zero, meaning that if I don’t get there in time, my family is gone.

I’d given up Mr Black the moment Akatani called me, there was no way he could get my family out of this situation in such a short time, so I mentally prepared myself to fight till the end.

The surrounding area below was the greenest one of the greener parts of Bridge City. In the far-off distance, the forty-foot statue of Bussa stood tall, chains dangling in the air.

If I didn’t know better, one would’ve assumed that these trees were real and not purely synthetic and by not purely synthetic I meant, that most of the trees here weren’t real, whilst some were.

The Federation would’ve never foot a bill, for leisure. That was mostly left for the wealthy, whose houses had organic plants.

The cab finally descended.

The lights flickered to my left and right, giving me inertia as my stomach felt hollow whilst we descended. The lights of the advertising boards, floating buoys and rushing cars that passed us by, only added to the weight of my destination.

I felt as though my life was coming to end this time, and I welcomed it. The last time I felt this way, was when I was in Latrina and I’d just poisoned Hortort Calisum.

The Latrina Empire had an allergic reaction to milk, funny enough. That was state secret, a secret I found out by chance after I intercepted a message from one of his couriers.

Once I found that out, I spent the next few years, supplying the palace with celery, dipped and dried in milk. The effect took years before the poison fully kicked in him because once he died, a full investigation would’ve taken place.

My mission was meant to be a suicide one, whereas I’d be disavowed. I accepted it of course because my life had no meaning. I know how these things worked. I had no family back home, nor parents to take care of, I was an orphan and expendable.

I was OK with this, but this changed the moment Shin-Lee told me she was pregnant. Pregnant with Hannah. I finished my mission and brought her out Latrina. As great as I felt at times, these past few days had put a socket into my motor, making me believe it might’ve been best if I just left Shin-Lee alone.

Stop crying, don’t let Hannah hear you, A voice said in my head. It was Shin-Lee’s, giving me a push. You’re soon there Cypher. You just need to get over the line.

The cabbie stopped at the main gate for the Eastern entrance. It wasn’t a gate, but more of a pathway, that led inside.

The orange and purple hue clouds painted across the sky left a subtle embrace as they covered the sun. Outside was slowly becoming dark, and I could feel the coldness of the night resonate between my soured fingertips.

I walked through the gates, passing a yellow and white flower bed alongside the gate, and descending a wide curve. The walls had stencilled paintings of men, women and children running around. The work wasn’t perfect, but it had its blissfulness to it, thanks to the colours used, blue, white and orange.

The curve finally ended my eyes, stared up at Bussa, as he stood unmoving with the chains at his wrist and arms, slowly moving from the howling winds.

The crowd at Freedom Park tonight was a lot smaller than I anticipated. Street Performers gathered around the base of the 40 Foot statute, whilst segregated groups tipped and watched the differing shows of each performer.

A subtle vibration pulsed within my pocket, and I pulled the Crystalline phone free. “Cypher,” I answered.

“I see you scum bucket, turn around and follow the pathway to the west. You should see a tree with a red marking, follow the arrow.” Akatani barked.

“Right,” I answered to dial tone.

I did as instructed, turned around, followed the pathway west, and zoomed in on every tree in sight, finally seeing the marked tree.

I jumped up the ledge, smashing two flowers in the process and approached the tree. The red mark pointed to the east of the park, which I follow.

The trek was a series of ascents and descents. The plastic scent of the synthetic tree was strongest here, making me note that majority of the organic trees were closer to the set recreational areas.

“Where the hell are you going Cypher?” Stelig barked through the comm.

“Don’t know, just following instructions, follow me.”

“Can’t we’re walking into the sun, we’re visible.”

“Double back then, we might be able to see what’s in that direction,” Naedon said.

“Aye boss.”

As I continued in a straight direction, the crunching of the grass below, waft towards me noise, filling it with its strong scent of foliage.

The synthetic trees swayed left to right, from what little breeze passed through. I allowed my hand to graze against a tree, and the coarseness of its bark felt like an organic one, which left me confused.

Technology has truly pushed us to artificial, synthetic and organic life. I’ve always wondered about myself and my cybernetics, am I the future? Despite this…or am I the doom?

I’ve never openly asked this due to the hollowness I usually felt about my cybernetics, but when facing my mortality and my wife and daughter, the question simply could not be left unasked. Or am I just scared to find out my wife and daughter have been taken from me?

In reality, Akatani had no reason to keep them alive after I retrieved the serphandias. He could kill them then and there.

My fear was that once he got what he needed, after showing me them, he’d kill them right on the spot, and then execute me. This is what I truly felt he had in mind. …because that’s what I’d do if I were him.

The only reason I asked Naedon and the crew here, was so that I could at least have some form of backup, but with Akatani keeping everything timed, it made it difficult for me to not stumble through these things.

I stalked up a long incline and switched my vision to X-Ray Sight. Twenty bodies appeared, in the distance, which I barely saw as etches of sunlight beamed from the tree lines.

The men were spread across the open area, like dogs in a pen, circling and conversing with each other.

The Hannya Boys were out in full force, or what was left of their organisation. Steam waft in the air, that fluttered from their maws, each time they spoke.

They were as ugly as I remembered, but hopefully, they were as bandy as I hoped.

They lacked the training needed to handle their weapons, which I was thankful for. I had already assumed they didn’t train with their new cybernetics, but In a situation like this, guessing was a waste of time and time, was all I had left. You can do this Cypher…I said to myself. You can do this.

“I count twenty, Cypher,” Naedon confirmed. “All of them Cybernetically enhanced.”

“Anything on Akatani’s Locale?”

“Black Chin right?” Tryzer asked.

“Yeah, him.”

“Unseen,” Stelig said.

“Not located,” Naedon confirmed.

“Nothing here either,” Rynord said.

“I’m still moving into position,” Tryzer confirmed.

“Cool, keep looking.”

“I’m heading out.”

“Wait!” Tryzer called out. “That’s not a good idea.”

“Just saw a drone floating around.”

“Really?”

“Fuck…they’re tracking you from the sky Cypher.”

“Damn it,” I hissed.”I should’ve contacted Rex, he could’ve hacked this shit.” I grumbled.

“What do we do boss?” Stelig asked.

“We stay still, Cypher doesn’t have a choice but to move forward, but once he makes that call, everything’s on him.”

“Cypher, it’s your call.”

“I have verified if my wife and daughter are here. If they are not, scorched earth, if they are we’ll have to find a way to pick off these men one by one if we can.

“But there’s no cover for you.”

“I know.”

I stood up, hearing the grass crunch beneath my feet and made one step into the open. The crab voices and hicks sounds of the cybernetics stopped once I came forth.

All twenty Hannya Boyz, turned towards me, weapons shouldered and ready as they were ready to light me up. A black van pulsed into existence behind them, and the front door snapped open.

A figure in a black leather outfit with a hole in the midsection stomps out. His hair was shaved at the sides and had white glittering cybernetic eyes. Black Chin beamed like oil, as it opened his mug. “Cypher!” Akatani shouted. “Just the man I want to see.”

“Right.”

I stopped myself, feeling as if the Hannya Boys were about to leave me looking like a sieve. I mean, I did have the serphandias with me after all. “Don’t shoot you, imbeciles!” Akatani snarled, “He wants to save his family!”

A crackled shriek stitched into my her, buzzing from the comm which made me wince from the static noise. “Cypher, don’t speak, just listen. My name is Solvardo and I’m one of Mr Black’s men, you’re family aren’t in the van. I repeat your family is not in the van.”

I took a deep breath, switch to X-Ray vision and zoomed in on the van, seeing two moving skeletal bodies in the van. A bigger skeleton holding a smaller one. It was a wild guess, but I knew my wife and daughter even if they were skeletons. “You’re lying,” I whispered, trying to alleviate the anxiety from my heart.

“Drop the box and take two steps back.” Akatani roared.

“Don’t do it, I’ve been listening in to their communications?” Solvardo said, “they plan to kill you!”

Like I don’t know that already!

I looked around, trying to find the best option for me, but with a wide-open space such as this. I had nowhere to hide and run. My only option was to soak up whatever bullets Akatani planned to put in me.

“Don’t do it!” Solvardo shouted.

I stepped forward, placed the case on the ground, and watched as Akatani’s lips curled into a smile. “You’re wife and kid ain’t dead,” Akatani said coldly. “but don’t worry. I plan to watch allow them to service of watching you die…just like you’re about to do with them! BOYS….END THIS!”

A loud explosion groaned behind Akatani, hundreds of flakes of metal and fibreglass tsunami across the air, blotching out the sun, only for the giant mushroom of fire to sear the sky like a newborn sun!