The pair passed through the curtain. Once inside, there seemed to be a delayed reaction before anyone reacted to their presence. It was almost as if those inside hadn’t considered the possibility, that someone would be brave enough to pass inside that shouldn’t.

The other side of the curtain was even more dimly lit than the room they had left. There was loud music playing.

It was the doorman to their left who was the first to move. He stepped forward, blocking the way in front of Maya.

He waved up his hands in front of her. “Hold up, you shouldn’t be in here. I’m afraid you’ll need to go back.” Then made a gesture towards the curtain.

Maya didn’t even blink, she was busily assessing the rest of the people in the back room.

The three that had passed inside before Maya and Vincent were yet to notice, that they had been followed. The music playing in the back room cover the noise from the doorman’s confrontation.

The boss had joined the table with the four others at the far end of the room. His two guards were stood a little way in front, sharing a joke, and laughing.

None of them had noticed the two visitors yet.

Seeing that Maya wasn’t turning back, the doorman took a step forward.

The moment he moved closer Maya recognised him as a threat. She reached out with blistering speed and grabbed both of his arms by the wrists.

The doorman felt her strength and instinctively jolted back. He tried to break her grip.

Maya followed the man’s movement, stepping forward as he pulled backwards. She pulled down on his wrists with great force. Between her strength and his momentum, both wrists were bent backwards unnaturally.

The doorman screamed out in agony at the top of his lungs.

As Maya pulled down, she jumped up, extended a knee. It connected squarely with the man’s jaw.

The scream stopped as the doorman’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and his heavy body dropped to the floor with thump.

Maya spun to face the others in the room.

The doorman’s screams had drawn the attention of the backroom’s other occupants to the pair. It was more than the music could hide.

Vincent had casually been walking forward, his pistol drawn but hanging to his side, half out of sight. It was only when the man screamed that he raised it.

The guard’s rushed for their weapons.

Two gun shots rang out in quick succession.

The air fizzled as a particle beam cut through the air.

The guard to the right of the far table, wobbled from an impact to the chest as he reached for his weapon. The second shot hit square in the middle of his forehead and sent his body falling to the ground.

The guard to the left was dropped by a particle beam. It him on his left cheek and passed straight through his head.

As both bodies fell to the floor, screaming erupted from the two women sat at the table.

The music stopped and silence fell on the room.

Only the intermittent whimpering from the women as they tried to quiet broke the slice now, that and the footsteps that approached.

The gang boss was sat with his back to Vincent and Maya. His hands were laid flat on the table in front of him. He didn’t move an inch.

The two men in front of him had frozen. It was as if their brains were still processing what had just happened, they hadn’t even thought to reach for their weapons.

Vincent stepped forward his pistol still raised and shouted. “Nobody move!”

The request had the opposite effect.

The boss stayed dead still, but the two men sat at the table in front of him sprang into action. Vincent’s call had seemed to shake them from their daze.  

A particle beam cut through the air and a gun shot rang out.

The women started screaming once again, unable to contain themselves as their companions’ blood sprayed on them and the bodies tilted to the side.

Vincent turned to Maya.

She answered the unasked question, without taking her gaze from the two women and the man sat at the table. “They’re unarmed, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to let them go.”

He nodded and waved his pistol. “You two, move to another table.”

The two scantily dressed women quickly dashed out from the table, almost falling in their panic. They shared a glance and started to run across the room.

Maya twitched. “Sit down, or I will shoot you.”

The pair stopped at the nearest table and took a seat.

Seeing that they had sat down and looked as they wouldn’t dare move, Vincent approached the boss. He stopped just a couple of feet behind him.

The boss’s head twitched a little as he heard the footsteps. “What do you want? Who sent you?”

Vincent took a slow and deep breath. “I want information.”

A drop of sweat slid down the side of the boss’s face. “Information? You did this for information? Just tell me who sent you. Whoever it is, I can double what they’re paying you. I have a few vacancies that’ve just opened.”

Vincent stifled a laugh. “I don’t want your money. I only came here to find out what you know.”

He slammed his hands down on the table. “Everyone has a price, just name yours.”

“Just answer my questions. Merchandise, the living kind. Two people you acquired recently what happened to them?”

“You’re going to need to tell me more than that. I do a lot of trade… I don’t remember them all.”

“You’ll remember these two. Brother and sister, both carrying the control gene. You collected them in person and slaughtered the rest of their family, then the entire settlement. That has to ring some bells.”

He almost hissed. “Them, okay I remember… What could you possibly want with a couple of backwards idiots like those two?”

“Tell me, where are they now?” Vincent was trying not let his rage be heard in his voice.

“With an important client. I can’t tell you where or I’d never be able to do business again!”

“That isn’t what you need to be worrying about right now. You’ll tell me, or you’ll be wishing I’d killed you back then with your guards.”

“You need me alive.”

“I do, but I can make you talk… We hit up one of your hideouts before we came here. They didn’t tell us anything, at first… You handed them off to someone called the Doc, where can I find him?”

The boss clenched his fists. “They were taken to Lake city. The Doc has a facility in the top quarter, I don’t know the exact location. No one does.”

Vincent glanced to Maya.

She nodded slowly. “He doesn’t seem to be lying.”

The boss relaxed and opened his hands. “That’s all you wanted to know. I can go now?”

“What does this Doc want with them?”

“How would I know. In this business I don’t ask too many questions. All I know is he pays well and on time.”

Maya nodded. “He’s not lying.”

“One more thing. The man who took you there, you have his family. Where are they being held?”

He reached to his pocket.

“Hold it!”

He lifted his hands in the air. “Keys! I’m just getting the keys to their cell!”

Vincent looked to Maya, she met his gaze and nodded.

“Okay, slowly.”

The boss reached to his pocket. He fumbled about for a moment, then almost dropped the keys as tried to place them on the table. After getting a hold of himself, he put them on the table. “Here… A section down from here, room 17a. They haven’t been touched. I swear!”

“Thanks.” Vincent lowered his pistol and turned to Maya. “Okay, you can take over.”

She stepped forward, but Vincent put a hand in front of her.

“Make it slow.”

She laughed. “I’ll try.”

Vincent stepped back and out of the way.

Maya slung the rifle over her shoulder, then rushed forward. In the blink of an eye, she had reached the side of the table where the gang boss was sat. In the time it had taken him to turn his head to the noise she had grabbed his right hand.

She pulled it towards her, and once it was fully extended, she twisted it clockwise. The force of the movement slammed the man into the table. Blood spayed across the surface as his nose broke.

He cried out in agony.

Maya didn’t stop twisting the arms. She turned and turned. The skin rolled up onto itself as the tendons ripped and muscles broke. Finally, she let go. The arm was now a broken and bloody mess hanging limply at his side.

The man’s cries had died down to a whimper. He slowly turned to Maya. “Weren’t you going to let me go? I’ve got nothing else to tell you!”

Her lips lifted into a frightening smile. “Who said you would be let to walk free?”

“Fucking bitch!” His left arm was reaching for something.

Maya moved swiftly, a kicked the chair out from under him. A small pistol slid across the floor. Before the man had recovered from the impact, she grabbed his working hand and sat on his chest. With a slow and purposeful movement, she closed her grip, crushing the man’s hand to a pulp within hers.

His tortured cries filled the room again.

Vincent calmly collected the keys from the table and turned to watch.

She sat on his body in a full mount position, then begun raining blows to his face and chest. These were carefully measured. Each blow inflicted damage and pain, but none of them were strong enough to cause him to lose consciousness.

After a while she stopped. It was as if she wanted him to feel the damage already inflicted, without it merging into the next barrage of blows.

Coughing up blood, his head rolled to the side and his eyes fell on Vincent. “Why?” His voice was weak.

Vincent didn’t let the emotions he was holding back show on his face. “I suppose you would wonder that. Those people you wiped out. I knew them all. Men women and children I’d know their entire lives. One of them was an old and very dear friend of mine, his two young boys, are dead. His other children you sold, not even questioning why… Do I need to say more?”

The man didn’t respond.

Vincent waved at Maya to continue.

She stood up. Stepped on one kneecap, crushed it to a pulp. Then the next. Then she did the same to each of his ankles.

The man’s screams were almost unbearable.

It didn’t halt Maya’s progress. After the ankles, she crushed the shins. Next, she stepped to the side and put a well-aimed kick, a little way under his ribs. She knew it had burst his liver.

She slipped the rifle down from her shoulder and into her hands. A single shot fired into the man’s abdomen.

Vincent placed a hand on her shoulder. “That’s enough.”

She looked at him questioningly. “You sure? I can still inflict more before he expires.”

He nodded. “I’m sure. How long does he have?”

She tilted her head as if thinking for a moment. “Thirty minutes at most.”

He glared at the man writhing in pain on the floor. “Even if someone could move him, they couldn’t get him to the closest functioning medical bay in time to save him. We’ll leave him here to enjoy his last moments alone.”

After slinging the rifle back on her shoulder, Maya stepped away from the man. “What now?”

“We meet up with Sam and release his family, then we head for lake city...”

The pair headed towards the door leaving the man groaning and bleeding on the floor. They stopped as they reached the table the two women had fled to.

The girls clung to each other. They were visibly shaking.

Vincent slowly turned to them. “Wait for five minutes after we’ve gone, and you can go wherever you wish… Help him and she deals with you. Understand?”

They both nodded their heads frantically.

Vincent turned back towards the curtain and walked away. He waved for Maya to follow him.