Page 17

“Nope,” Niko murmured, careful to navigate around a car that had been left parked haphazardly across the alleyway.

Nearer now to the single streetlight, he could make out that its tires had been long since stolen and it had several bullet holes in the driver’s side door.

“It’s more of the principle of it. It wasn’t a particular favor.

It’s just a favor. Trade for trade. I do this and our years of unsettled debt will be even. ”

“I assume she’s going to want something in return for helping us with all this,” Elliott said.

Niko frowned. “Probably, yeah. She spoke like Larry is the exchange, but that doesn’t make any sense. It’s not anything you’ll need to worry about, though. I’ll take care of whatever she wants done.”

“And I’ll help you,” Elliott said. “Like you’ve helped me.”

Niko smiled, the expression lost under the stealth cloaking and veil of dark.

Maybe Zann would call it all sunk cost fallacy— that Elliott was investing in keeping Niko happy and alive so that Niko kept helping him.

But just as he’d done with Zann, Niko chose to believe in Elliott, pushing all the doubts and fear away.

The man before him was sincere and empathetic underneath the controlled exterior.

And Niko felt more deeply for him every day they spent together on this great and crazy adventure.

“Alright,” he said, slowing a little. The alleyway branched into several more now, all becoming more labyrinthine, with towering structures surrounding them.

He pulled up his phone hologram to check, squinting hard and bringing it to the tip of his nose to try and read it under stealth.

“We’re coming up on it soon. He should be about two streets ahead to the left.

” He turned down the leftmost fork, into an extremely narrow alleyway full of low hanging wires and uneven, broken-up ground.

At least this one was somewhat illuminated by flat lights adorning an old fence.

“You know. She’ll probably betray us in the end too, like everyone else does. But for the record, I very much like your friend,” Elliott said.

“I’ve always looked up to her,” Niko admitted. He ducked under a sagging, live powerline. It hummed ominously above him. “She took me under her wing when I was just a kid, new to hunting and stupid. Now I’m older, experienced, and still stupid.”

Elliott laughed softly. It was a relief to hear that sound again. “You’re not stupid, Niko. You’re far from it.” After a moment, he added, “You never told me why she picked you as her protégé.”

“Honestly? I don’t even know. I showed up in a bar here all banged up to hell and looking more dead than alive.

She was there and saw me. For some reason she took pity on me.

Came over and just… started asking how I ended up that way.

And then gave me pointers. Eventually, it turned into her directly training me.

Soon, I was living in her compound, running jobs for her. ”

“Incredible.”

“The Legend gave me pointers too, but not to the extent she did. Some of my style is his, though, and some hers.” They reached the end of the narrow alleyway and Niko paused. “Okay. We need to be careful up here. It should be on this street.”

The narrow path gave way completely to a street that was barely maintained, the ground full of potholes and cracks, the sidewalks all but unwalkable.

Trash and litter lay where they had been dropped in months and years past, no wind to blow it somewhere else and no one who gave a shit enough to pick it up.

The whole place smelled like sour garbage and the ghost of expired, greasy food.

A suspiciously still, chartreuse-tinted Gheroun lay on the far sidewalk.

It was impossible to tell if they were dead or just sleeping off a bender.

Niko guessed the former.

“Delightful place,” Elliott murmured. There was the quip Niko had so missed. “It speaks well of Larry’s stand-up character.”

“The sooner we’re out of here, the better,” Niko mumbled.

“Oh, you don’t like it?” Elliott cooed in faux disappointment. “Here I was thinking we should look into buying a vacation house here, too. With a little picket fence. Or we could take up Skeevy Larry’s abode, once we send him off.”

“Hey. Speaking of which, there it is.”

“Where?”

“Over there.”

“I can’t see where you’re pointing, Niko.”

“Oh, uh. To the left. The big-assed building.” At the far end of the street was a four-story compound, not too different from Death’s own.

Niko could see two bulky guards leaning boredly against the wall, flanking the entry door.

One was smoking something that definitely wasn’t a cigarette.

“This is going to be tricky. He’s going to have people in there loyal to him.

Probably a lot of them. We need to do it quick and quiet this time, I’m thinking.

I know that’s not your particular style. ”

“No, that’s not your style,” Elliott argued. “I’m adept at it.”

“You’re the one who usually kills people in big public spectacles—”

“But my method is quiet. You’re the one who stomps around with your big metal armor and guns and explosives—” He paused. “Hey. Do you see that?”

Niko blinked. “Uh, where?”

“Top floor. There’s a window to the right.

If I were a crime lord with my own compound, I’d keep my quarters at the topmost floor.

It’s the hardest to get to and in the case of a raid, all three lower floors of your minions get sacrificed before hostiles ever make it to you.

Plenty of strategic time to flee. Especially if you have any hidden escape routes installed. ”

“I—” Niko frowned. “Okay.”

“I think we can get up there from the side of the building. You still have your grappling hook, right?”

“Yeah. But what about the sheet metal?” Much like Death’s place, Larry’s had thick steel bolted over parts of the windows.

“Simple. I can sear right through that via laser.”

“Okay. Sounds like we have a plan, then. Let’s go.”

They made their way with particular caution toward the compound, careful to avoid tipping off the guards to their presence. As they circled around the compound grounds, Niko could hear their conversation.

“Weirdest part is that this guy was a bounty hunter before this, too.”

Were they—?

“I know. Imagine turning down that money. Blondie must give the best head in the fuckin’ galaxy.”

“ He’s not wrong ,” Elliott whispered. Niko felt himself smirking.

“He’s got to,” the other guard agreed. “Estrella went and bought himself a six billion credit whore.”

Six billion credits now. So, their bounty was continuing to climb.

The number was surreal, almost unimaginable.

Greedy people would be getting more and more desperate by the hour.

They had to get the broadcast out. They had to make sure the bounty got canceled.

Or even more innocent lives would be lost.

With that kind of money on the line, it was a wonder Lady Death or anyone else in her compound hadn’t tried what most of Niko’s old friends had by this point. Maybe, sometimes, honor really couldn’t be bought. At any cost.

He found himself pausing to scowl at the guards, reconsidering just how ‘quick and quiet’ he really wanted to make this after all.

He didn’t love what they’d called Elliott, and found himself increasingly pissed off the more he thought about it.

It would be therapeutic to crack their skulls together.

They’d never see him coming with the ORA tech—

“ Niko ,” Elliott hissed. “What are you doing? Come on. The window.”

“...Yeah, sorry.” He followed Elliott until they were straight below the fourth story window. “We’ll need to ascend fast. I think the grappling hook and cable are going to be visible past a certain point.”

“That makes sense. I’ll be ready.”

“Hey, come here,” Niko said.

“Where?”

“Follow my voice—”

An invisible hundred and sixty pounds knocked clean into Niko, sending him stumbling back.

He heard Elliott emit a strangled unh sound.

Niko couldn’t recover his balance in time, but the compound wall stopped him from going down entirely.

He righted himself slowly, trying to catch his breath as adrenaline spiked through him.

“...I think I cracked my nose,” Elliott said.

Niko couldn’t help it. He started laughing softly.

After a moment, Elliott followed suit, the gorgeous sound of his laughter breathy and quiet.

“Look at us,” Niko muttered.

“I can’t ,” Elliott said. “That’s the whole problem.”

Niko laughed harder. He willed himself to quiet down. “Galaxy’s number one most wanted right here.”

“This is sad, Niko.”

“Come on, babe,” Niko said. He held out his hand. “Give me your hand. Just hold it out.”

It took a moment of fumbling, but they found one another’s hands.

Niko pulled him tightly against himself and used the grappling hook.

Once it caught on the roof overhang and he gave it a quick tug for stability, he hit the trigger and rappelled them both up the wall.

They climbed onto the overhang and he retrieved the hook, tucking it back into his belt.

Loud but muffled music came from inside the room, the bass intense enough to rattle the window glass.

“Nothing to it,” Niko mumbled.

“Yes. We’ll just say that,” Elliott muttered. Niko heard him paw through a pouch on his utility belt and procure the laser. “Can you hold onto the welded metal here?”

Niko moved to the window and held the metal in place. “Uh, you’re not going to end up running that through my arm, right? I mean, you can’t exactly see me well right now.”

“I’m starting at the top, so hold the bottom.”