"The boy," Kemono snarled. "Open the cage."
Time seemed to slow. This was the "Dezmall Dance." He didn't aim; he felt. He felt the shift in air pressure as the first beast lunged. He dropped to his knees, sliding across the slick floor, firing upward. Two shots took the beast in the throat.
"The job is simple," the voice on the link crackled. "Retrieve the 'Nectar of the Void.' It’s a digital seed. Bring it back, and you’ll have enough credits to leave this rain behind for good."
The dragon-kin stepped out from the shadows, his scales shimmering under the artificial moonlight. "That seed isn't just data. It’s a blueprint for a new reality. If you take it, the city as you know it—the chaos, the grit, the freedom of the Rust-Belt—will be paved over in gold and silence."
Ren stepped out from behind Kemono, coughing and wet, but alive.
