Katrina dragged me down the darkened hallway, leaving crimson footprints of Mason's blood trailing behind her.

I gazed back at the computer room, where Mason was bleeding out alone.

"Where are we going? Shouldn't I be searching for the Annihilation Code in the database?"

Katrina laughed. "You must not know much about the way Bionic Corp is run."

I crossed my arms defensively. "I was a hacker for them, remember?"

"Yeah, but you don't know them like I do. They'd never store something as important as the Annihilation Code in such an obvious spot. It has to be hidden somewhere we wouldn't expect."

I need to put my foot down with her. Katrina is a loose cannon, I have to take what I want while I still have the chance. I took several deep breaths, but it didn't stop the rush of my pounding heart. I didn't know how Katrina would react to being stood up to. "We can go on your little treasure hunt after you take me to Patch."

Katrina froze. "Um, no. We're getting the Annihilation Code first, then I'll free your uncle."

I shook my head. "Patch will be dead soon if we don't save him. The code will still be here when we get back."

"How do I know you'll still help me after I give up my leverage? How do I know you won't turn on me after that?"

"Because I'm not a backstabbing traitor like you."

She flinched, it was very subtle, but I noticed. For some reason, my words had an effect on her. She shook herself out of whatever daze she was in and waved the pistol around haphazardly. "The person with the gun decides what we do next. Everyone knows that, Marisa. So, follow me." She guided me to the room full of newspapers. She flipped over one of the boxes and dumped the contents on the ground. "Don't just stand there, help me search!"

I crossed my arms and shot her an incredulous look."You think the Annihilation Code is hidden in a box of old newspapers?”

"It's the last place anyone would expect."

I rolled my eyes. "Maybe afterward we can check the dumpsters outside."

"Great idea!" She said, not detecting my sarcasm. She unfolded the newspapers on the ground and began tearing through them for anything useful.

"Why do you even need me to sift through old newspapers? I thought you needed a hacker."

She shrugged. "You never know what you'll need on a quest like this one."

"I'm not even that good of a hacker. You could easily find someone better than me at Bionic Corp."

"I know, but you're the best I could do on short notice. Plus, I already have leverage over you."

"Isn't your boss going to wonder where you are?"

"Nope. That's what holograms are for. As long as no one touches me, it will look like I'm on patrol. Truly a marvel of modern technology. I don't know how I'd live without them."

"Can't they track your cybernetics?"

She shrugged. "They can, but they won't unless they have a reason to believe I'm not where I'm supposed to be."

I knelt beside her and sifted through the headlines.

13 Workers Killed in Accident at Bionic Corp Factory. Employees Protest Unsafe Working Conditions.

Bionic Corp's Cyborg Army Recruitment Program Targets Foster Kids and Low-Income Citizens.

Bionic Corp Workers Condemn Grueling Workload and Low Pay.

Bionic Corp Conspiracy to Turn Troubled Youths Into Cybernetic Child Soldiers. Here's what you need to know.

Bionic Corp Ignores Stalking Reports Against Chief Financial Officer. Woman Who Reported Him Found Dead Weeks Later.

Bionic Corp Found Responsible for Toxic Waste Found in Florida Everglades.

"Have you noticed how these headlines have something in common?"

"Yeah, Bionic Corp doesn't take kindly to slander. They sued until these articles were taken off the web permanently. They confiscated what few physical papers existed."

"It's not slander if it's true," I argued.

"Sure, but there's not enough evidence to prove it, and our lawyers are vicious. They hardly ever lose." She set down the pistol in an empty gap on the floor between us. She carefully read the names of each journalist. "I annihilated several of these journalists, you know?"

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I'm not allowed to talk about it with anyone. It's one of our rules that we never mention the murder after it happens. We're not even allowed to speak the names of the people we've killed after the deed is done. I'm sure they'd find a way to punish me for even thinking about them if it were possible. Soon they won't be able to afford to hurt me anymore. Once I'm the only person who has the code, I'll finally be safe," she whispered almost to herself.

Just as we finally finished sorting through the first box, she poured out a second box on top of our previous stack.

"Katrina! You're making a mess." I scolded.

"Who cares. Now hurry up, we have a whole room full of boxes to go through.

I let out several deep exhalations and relaxed my muscles. It took every ounce of my willpower to stop myself from losing my temper. She was acting like an impatient child, and I couldn’t take it much longer. I want to go home. I studied Katrina as she flipped through the pages. Does she actually think the Annihilation Code is here, or is she trying to waste my time? "What are we doing here, Katrina? Why are you making me go through all these papers? What are you really looking for?"

"My mother," She spoke, so softly I had to lean in to hear. "She was a revolutionary. She exposed Bionic Corp's shady business practices. She disappeared when I was a toddler. I've searched all over the world for any kind of trace of her, but there's nothing. It's like she never existed at all. I was hoping maybe in here I could find some remnant of her in here somewhere."

"She'd be disappointed in you."

"I know," she said, tears glistened in her turquoise eyes. "but look where all her rebellion got her. She's gone, and the world is no better than when she left it. What's the point in fighting back, Marisa? We might as well make the best of our situation. We can't stop Bionic Corp, no one can."

I'd never seen her so serious. This version of her was so different from her bubbly persona. Which version was the real her? Is she Katrina Madden, the vivacious rock star? Oblivion, the ruthless assassin? Is she the lonely person I'm speaking to right now? Maybe she's a culmination of all of them. I don't have time to solve the puzzle that is Katrina Madden. Patch needs me. In a split second, I grabbed the gun between us and aimed it squarely at her forehead.

"Katrina raised her hands in surrender. "Woah, woah, woah, calm down. Let's be reasonable here. There's no need to make any rash decisions. We can talk this through!"

"I don't want to talk. I want you to take me to Patch, now." My hands shook as I fingered the trigger. I took deep breaths in an attempt to subdue my incoming panic. What was I doing? This is so unlike me. I don't hold people at gunpoint, I'm not even brave enough to go outside. I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures.

Katrina nodded vigorously. "Okay! Okay. I can do that for you, easy-peasy. Just don't shoot me. I haven't gotten my bulletproof steel skull enhancements yet. I can't take it!"

My suspicions were correct. She's afraid to die. That's good. She has a weakness I can use to my advantage. As long as I'm holding this gun to her head, she'll do what I ask of her. "It's like you said, Katrina. The person with the gun decides what we do next. I say, take me to Patch!"

Katrina reluctantly nodded and turned towards the door. "It was very rude of you to turn a gun on me after I was vulnerable with you."

"It was very rude of you to shoot my brother."

"Touché."

I nudged the back of her skull with the barrel of my gun. "Less talking, more walking."

"Okay, okay." She obliged my request and guided me up the stairs and outside the building.

I gazed out at the sea for any sign of Atlas or Chase, but I couldn't spot any trace of them.

She meandered down the road, glancing back at me every couple of seconds to check if I'd let my guard down. Not today. Not ever.

We stopped outside the garbage holding facility.

"Here we are!" She gestured towards the dump like she was the host of a game show and the building was a car I'd just won.

"You hold your hostages in the garbage facility, of all places?"

"Yep, it's the perfect location. No one wants to spend more time here than necessary, much less poke around." Katrina unlocked the door by using a microchip in her wrist.

"This whole operation feels illegal and unethical."

"Oh, it is. It violates several local laws and The Geneva Convention." Katrina led me inside the facility and locked the door behind us.

I pinched my nose and stared at piles of garbage. "This is where Bionic Corp belongs." I didn't realize I'd said that out loud until I heard Katrina snort with laughter. "What? You're not mad at me for disrespecting your overlords?”

She chuckled. "Hell no! I hate Bionic Corp. I probably loathe Bionic Corp more than most people do because I have the inside scoop. I know things the public would riot about if they ever discovered. I only work for Bionic Corp because I was drafted, just like Atlas and Mason and a bunch of others, but no one gives a damn about poor little me. Because I'm the bad guy and everything is my fault. That's what you think about me, right?"

I didn't respond, but she took that as an answer.

"That's right, you think I'm the wicked villainess who's out to steal your firstborn child and make a coat out of puppies. That's how everyone sees me. No one seems to care that I've killed fewer people than Curseword or Vindicator. No one pays any mind to the fact that I was an orphan just like you because I'm Oblivion, and I'm the villain in your narrative!"

"Maybe everyone thinks you're the villain because

you are one."

"I knew you couldn't understand. You've always had it  easy."

I clenched my fists. It took everything in me to restrain myself from punching her. "You think I had it easy? My life hasn't been all sunshine and roses, but I didn't become a remorseless killer like you."

"You don't know what it's like to be me! Your whole life, you've always had someone to take care of you. Your parents, your brother, your uncle, but me, I've been on my own since I was old enough to walk. I had to be violent to survive. I had to learn to relish it. The streets aren't a safe place for a little girl. It's kill or be killed out there. I did what I had to do to protect myself. So, no, I don't feel bad."

"What about all the people you killed for Bionic Corp? That wasn't self-defense."

"I'm just following orders, Marisa. If I don't do as they say, they'll kill me and have someone else take my place. If I don't do it, someone else will."

I frowned. "It's still not okay."

"I know, I'm not asking you to excuse my actions."

"Then what are you asking for?" It felt like our conversations were going in circles. She insists she's not the villain, and I put her back in her place again and again. What is she hoping to gain from all this?

Her voice quavered ever so slightly. "I don't know."

I wanted to deliver some kind of retort. I wanted to ridicule her for her lack of conviction. She hasn't seemed to care about anything at all or have any sort of self-awareness. Something held me back from speaking my mind. Maybe it was how sad and pitiful she looked at the moment.

After her brief moment of indecision, she began groping the back wall, rubbing her hands up and down, and applying pressure.

I shot her a puzzled look. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I know there's a secret passageway around here somewhere. That's where they're keeping Patch."

"You don't know where the secret passage is?" I said, incredulous. "Don't you work here?"

"I don't usually slum it with the prisoners, okay?"

I rolled my eyes and began feeling the wall beside Katrina.

"It won't open for you, silly. You need a microchip to get in."

Great. How convenient.

A small security bot whirred past us.

"Hey! You! Where'd the secret passage go? Did you guys move it while I was out?"

He scanned her body from head to toe, then spoke. "Hello, Cyborg 11120189141 Call sign: Oblivion." He extended his little robot arm towards the opposite wall. "You're on the wrong side, miss. The passage to the holding cells is that way."

Katrina rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "Whoops."

The robot scanned me next. "Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert! This person is not authorized to enter this establishment. Intruder Alert!"

I fired two shots directly into the robot's circuit board.

Katrina shot me an approving smirk. "Thank you. I can't stand those little things. They're so annoying, and they're always in my way. I'm constantly tripping over them."

"Bionic Corp's top assassin gets foiled by a bunch of tiny security bots?"

"Hey, I'm a busy woman. I don't have time to look where I'm going."

I waltzed over to the back wall and motioned for Katrina to follow me. She did as she was told and joined me on the other side of the room. She moved her hand up and down, left and right, until she finally located the hidden scanner and the passage opened up.

We trudged down the long, darkened corridor until we reached a fork in the path.

"Which way do we go?" I asked.

"Hold on, I'm thinking."

"I can't believe you don't know."

"It's like I already said, I don't come here often."

"Halt!" A cyborg dressed in a Bionic Corp security uniform charged toward us with a rifle in hand. "Drop your weapons and identify yourselves."

Before I had time to comply, he noticed Katrina and froze. "Oblivion, is that you?"

Katrina gave a dainty little wave. "Hi, Jordan."

He poked her with the barrel of his rifle.  A look of genuine surprise flashed across his face when his hand didn't phase through her. "How nice of you to actually show up to work for once."

"Today is a special day, so I've decided to grace you all with my presence."

Jordan played along with her antics. "What did we do to deserve such an honor?"

"I'm here on super important assassin business. I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." She winked at him.

He didn't look amused. He haphazardly pointed his rifle towards me. "Who the hell is that?"

Katrina waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, her?" Katrina glanced at me like she'd never seen me before. "She's from the tech department. She's helping me out with some stuff."

"Well, I'm going to need to scan your IDs. The whole place is on high alert. There was word of an intruder."

"That was me. Whoopsie. One of the security bots malfunctioned while it was scanning me. You know how stupid those little things can be. I don't know why we keep them around." Katrina nudged me in the side, signaling for me to play along.

"Um, yes. That is definitely what happened. Those dumb little robots were at it again."

"That is the most obvious lie I've ever heard. Care to tell me what's really going on, Katrina?"

"Listen, I'm going to cut to the chase, I need to release one of the prisoners."

He folded his arms across his chest. "No."

Katrina pursed her lips into a pout, clearly unhappy with hearing the word no. "Come on, Jordan. Help me out. Are we not friends?"

"First, I don't have friends anymore, I have colleagues. Second, I can't just defy orders. I'm not you. I can't just do whatever I want with little to no consequences."

"Why does everyone keep talking about the consequences of my actions, all of a sudden? I've never had any before."

"That's my point, Katrina. Ever since you got promoted to top assassin, you've been able to get away with whatever you want. I don't have that privilege. Bionic Corp is willing to give you extra leniency because of your position, but if you keep slacking off, they're going to take you out and replace you. You hear me?"

Katrina glanced down and twiddled her thumbs. "That's why I'm here. She gestured towards me. "This little pain in my ass right here won't help me unless I bust her uncle out of captivity. She's even pulled a gun on me, if you haven't noticed. So, I could really use a favor."

He shook his head vehemently. "No. No way. I can't be involved in this. They'll torture me and strip me for parts!"

"Only if you get caught."

"What's going to happen after you die?"

"Pfffft. I'm not gonna die. Nothing can kill me, I'm too awesome.

Jordan shook his head disapprovingly. "This is serious. Everyone dies at some point. What's going to happen when you die, and you're the only one who knows the code? Assassinations will be drastically harder to pull off."

"Is that such a bad thing?" I muttered.

He pursed his lips in thought for several moments, then said, "I'm sorry, I can't help you."

"Okay, then." In the blink of an eye, she unsheathed a dagger and sliced open his hand. She extracted his bloody microchip. "If Bionic Corp asks, tell them I forced you to help. Thanks, Jordan!" Katrina grabbed my wrist and dragged me down the shadowed hallway.

"You're not welcome!" He shouted after us but decided not to chase us down.

I was grateful, I didn't think I could outrun him.

We stopped outside a large steel door. "Is this where you're keeping Patch?"

"I think so. This cell either belongs to him or Chainsaw Pete. He's this crazed cyborg serial killer with chainsaws for arms. Why don't you go inside and check?"

I shot her an incredulous look. "Are you just trying to scare me?"

She grinned like the Cheshire Cat. "Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not."

Katrina handed me Jordan's microchip, and I scanned the keypad with it. I took several deep breaths and hesitantly slid open the door.