The Dumpsters Tip Their Hats to Us

Never in my life would I imagine myself joining forces with my target, but here I was, my back pressed against Axel’s, blasting away a rain of neon bullets in a familiar environment.

“Ugh, why the hell are you back at this museum?” I asked, kicking away an android. “Were you hooking up with Noah’s mom or something?”

“Damn, kid. How’d you know that?”

I shot a bewildered look. “Wait, what? Are you kidding me?!”

Axel guffawed and pointed at me. “Yes, I am kidding. Hah! You should've seen the look on your face—ack!”

I grabbed his neck and shook him. “Do you want to die that badly?!”

My collar warned me with a mild shock, forcing me to scowl and let go. “Be serious. What were you doing back here?”

“Investigating Celia’s amnesia, of course.” Axel dodged a bullet and fired back, driving the android away. “But I’ve been disguising the case to be about the trouble you made last night instead. You being here’s going to raise some questions.”

I dispatched a handful of electrical wires, hooked a few androids, and slammed them against each other, blowing them up on impact. “I’m only here because I’m not letting your weak ass die to something else!” I hissed.

“I thought you wanted me dead? Why are you helping out?”

“No, no, you don’t get it. It has to be with my own hands!”

Axel tilted his head and raised a brow. “Is it an assassin’s pride thing or something?”

No, it wasn’t about pride. It was proving to The Director that I was still useful. That I could still take my role seriously. That he shouldn’t replace me with someone else…

Fueled by frustration, I yanked the nearest rival with a wire, dragged it across the floor, and decapitated it with my foot. “My reason is none of your business,” I growled. “Just know I’m not helping you for your sake!”

The detective smirked and turned around. “You know,” he said, raising his voice as he fired his gun. “You really remind me of an old friend I once had. Straightforward and honest. As a detective, it’s pretty damn rare to meet transparent folks like you. I like ya, kid.”

I shot him another confused look again, words clogged up my throat. First that brat, and now this old geezer too? What’s with these two? “I seriously don’t understand you humans,” I muttered, looking in the opposite direction.

We didn’t exchange another word while we disposed of the remaining androids. Axel rounded them up by shoving them with his forcefield, crowding them toward a corner of the room. He whipped out a baton and stunned them at max power, and as they twitched and convulsed, he hastily leaped away at the same time I swooped in.

Wires surging with fire, I slashed through their armor, melting their cores and blowing them up within seconds. The detective and I backed away and caught our breaths, surveying the museum's ruins.

“Is that all of them?” asked Axel, coughing on his sleeve.

I glimpsed at my radar. “Consider yourself lucky,” I confirmed.

“Pheeew!” Axel released a long sigh of relief, messaging his shoulders. “That was close! Haha, thanks, partner! I couldn’t have survived without ‘cha.”

I grunted and folded my arms. “Explain.”

“Right, right.” He claimed a seat on top of a pile of rubble and crossed his arms. “After dropping you and Noah off at my place, I went back here to check up on Celia, but when I tried to ask the CEO for her, he said she was granted a day off after last night's incident caused by a certain someone.”

Axel forced a cough and threw a dirty side-eye at me. I clicked my tongue and squinted back.

He shrugged. “Anyway, he said that it’s her day off today, so I originally planned to visit her place, but since I’m still here, I was hoping I could find something I’d lost.”

“You mean that flash drive? I stole it,” I bluntly said.

“Yeah, tha—wait, what?”

“And no, I don’t have it with me. I gave it back to Noah already.”

He sighed and loosened his shoulders. “You’re full of surprises, kid.” He looked over his shoulders and surveyed the mess. “Don’t know how, but these weird robots suddenly showed up and attacked me while I was looking around. I assumed these things got a hivemind or something and knew I still had Noah with me, so they’ve tracked me down to find him. I tried blocking the camera connection in case Noah wanted to call me… until you’ve forced access.”

“Hmph. Not my fault I didn’t know what was happening. More importantly, who’s after the kid?”

“I know as much as you do,” he said, staring at his palms. “Some shady organization called Biowidth Station apparently considers him as a test subject of some sort. I first heard that name from another year-long case I had for a different family, but ever since then, I hardly found any leads until Celia’s case came along. Realizing Biowidth is also involved with Noah’s family, I’ve been trying to pursue them ever since.”

“Biowidth Station…” I rubbed my chin. “I’ve never heard of it. Are they linked to whatever happened to Celia? It’s too much of a coincidence that she suddenly came back from her disappearance with amnesia at the same time her son’s being targeted.”

“Exactly my thought, but I still haven’t found a good lead on them.” He exhaled and shook his head. “Anyway, where’s Noah?”

I raised my chin and stared at the ceiling, and the detective curiously looked in the same direction.

There he was, his head peeking through an opened tile and meeting our gazes. Noah grinned and waved a hand. “I’m here!” he said cheerfully.

“Radio, why is he inside the ceiling?!” Axel asked, gaping at me.

I snorted. “Did you expect me to let him wander around? These androids are after him, aren’t they? The ceiling’s the closest and best hiding spot I could think of.”

“Well, that’s… a good point, but still! Get him down from there! That’s still dangerous for a kid!”

I rolled my eyes and floated toward the kid, extending my arms.

Noah beamed and jumped into my arms, eyes glittering with excitement. “You and Mister Holton were sooo awesome! I wanna fight bad guys with you one day!”

“Fighting isn’t fun and games,” I said. “Your life’s always at stake.”

He pouted. “But you guys seem fine.”

“That’s because I’m an android and he has sheer dumb luck.”

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?” asked Axel.

I stuck my tongue at him while Noah giggled.

After I brought the kid back down, Axel dusted him and ruffled his hair, heaving another weary sigh. “I thought you said you don’t trust anyone, but here you are, having complete faith in a psychotic assassin,” he murmured.

“That’s because he saved us this morning,” said Noah. “And he was super nice to me too, so I trust him.”

Axel raised a brow at me, stretching a smug grin. “Really now? He’s actually super nice, you say?”

“Don’t twist your words, brat,” I said. “I did nothing of the sort.”

“Yeah, you did! You’ve cooked—mmrph!”

I immediately cupped the kid’s mouth and cleared my throat. “Anyway, we shouldn’t waste time lingering around here. I’m pretty sure more of these lackeys are on their way.”

“Oh, erm, right…” Axel rested his hands on his hips and kicked away a rubble. “But I gotta report the damages to the CEO first…”

“That won’t be necessary,” a familiar, monotonous voice interrupted.

I hitched my breath and froze in place.

Once I heard that voice, time abruptly slowed down. A heavy weight settled in my chest, a knot tightened in my stomach, and the room blurred around me, forcing me to focus on the individual standing across the room, surrounded by another group of shadowy, cube-headed androids.

It was… The Director. It was The Director himself, staring emotionlessly as always.