Page 9 of Ruin (Villains for Hire)

L ira clutched the cage of chittering spacerats close to her chest, their tiny claws scrabbling against the metal bars. A smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she glanced up at Ruin striding beside her through the dingy alleyway.

Vivid yellow eyes flickered down to her and softened. “Ready?”

She nodded and set the cage down, fiddling with the latch for a moment until it sprang open with a metallic creak.

The animals didn't need any encouragement. They burst out in a flurry of gray and lavender striped fur and wriggling whiskers, scattering in all directions through the refuse-strewn alley.

Sighing happily, she peered back up at Ruin with a beaming smile.

He huffed, the exhale ruffling the wisps of white-blonde hair that’d come loose from her braid, an affectionate smirk playing at the corners of his lips. “You're a strange little thing.”

That surprised a soft laugh out of her. Feeling playful, she murmured, “Maybe… but I think you like it.”

A low, churring purr vibrated that broad chest and his expression became suddenly intense. “Yes, I do.”

Before she could reply, a metallic whisper split the air as something whizzed past, narrowly missing her face.

Faster than she could process, Ruin grabbed her and shoved her behind him in one fluid motion. A gun seemed to materialize in his hand, its charged barrel glowing ominously.

“Well, well,” a chilling, synthesized voice echoed from the mouth of the alley. “What a delightful surprise. If it isn't my favorite Lurian assassin.”

Lira peered around Ruin's hulking frame to see a tall, four-armed figure silhouetted against the dingy light, face obscured by a matte black helmet. Her breath caught in her throat as her gaze landed on the sleek lines of a bio-plasma pistol leveled at them.

The figure didn’t move that she could tell, but she knew, could feel , when his attention landed on her.

“Ah, there she is. The Mogovian’s human pet. Worry not, dearling, I'll take very good care of you once I've incapacitated your guard.”

“Shouldn’t have taken this job, cyborg,” Ruin growled.

“Oh?” The figure tilted his head. “Why is that?”

“Because she’s mine .”

Lira darted a glance up at the back of Ruin’s head. Hearing him call her his made her chest feel hot and tight. Did he mean that the way she wanted him to mean it?

He cared for her. She knew that without question. It was evident in everything he did—every touch, every look. But did he care for her in a ‘I want to keep you forever’ kind of way?

Because that’s how she felt about him.

Being on the wrong end of a gun in a dark alley wasn’t the time to be focused on such things, but it was hard to care about the danger when that’d been a constant in her life.

“Ah. Well, now. That is unfortunate.” Oddly, the assassin did sound at least vaguely regretful. “But you know the rules, Lurian. Once we take the job… ”

“Make an exception.”

“I like you, Lurian, but no. I don’t think I will.”

Ruin didn’t reply. He didn’t even tense in preparation to move.

One second, he was standing in front of her, seemingly unaffected. The next, she was somehow against the wall while he opened fire.

Shots crackled through the alleyway, the flashes blinding, but the two assassins were otherwise silent. For some reason, that eerie quiet made the fine hairs on her arms stand on end.

Ruin was a blur, twisting and weaving with preternatural agility to evade the onslaught. His own return fire struck with pinpoint precision, but none seemed to make it through the force field the cyborg had activated.

Desperate to help, terrified Ruin would be hurt or worse, she scanned everything in sight, searching for something, anything. Her heel struck something solid, and she dared a glance back to find a jagged piece of plasiform.

Snatching it up, she clutched it to her chest, acting on panicked instinct more than with any plan.

How, she had no idea, but Ruin managed to bounce a shot off the wall and hit the assassin’s hand, deactivating his shield and sending his pistol—and if she wasn’t hallucinating, a couple of fingers—falling to the ground.

For a shining split second, she thought that’d be it. Ruin would shoot this bastard dead, and they’d be safe.

But when he took aim and pulled the trigger, his pistol gave a hollow thock.

She knew little of guns, but she understood immediately that sound meant it was empty.

In an explosion of sudden violence, they lunged for each other, too fast for her eyes to follow. But she heard the dull thud of fists landing against flesh with perfect, stomach-churning clarity, saw the metallic glint of blades slashing and stabbing.

She watched on in breathless terror, pulse thundering in her ears, gripping the length of plasiform so tightly it cut into her palms, but the pain was distant, barely felt.

Muscles twitching, she waited for an opportunity to jump in and help, trying to track their movements for an opening. She didn’t know the first thing about fighting, but she could at least distract that asshole long enough for Ruin to gain the upper hand.

There! The assassin twisted so his back was to her. Seizing the opportunity, she hurled the shard with all her might.

The makeshift projectile glanced harmlessly off the cyborg’s helmet. But it distracted him for just a fraction of a second, and that was all Ruin needed.

With a sickening, wet crunch, the being crumpled to the ground in a boneless heap, the hilt of a knife protruding from the side of his neck, severing his spine.

A beat of charged silence fell over the alley as she stared at the downed assassin in shock. Then Ruin straightened, chest heaving, utterly calm but for the purple flush of exertion staining the tips of his pointed ears.

He turned to her, gleaming yellow eyes raking her over. “Lira.”

“Huh?”

“Are you hurt?”

“Uh.” She peeked down at herself just to make sure, then back at him. “I’m okay.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. I promise.”

He nodded once, then crouched down next to the assassin.

Brows pinching with confusion, she watched as Ruin scratched at a spot on his pants. Her eyes went wide when he peeled off a thin black band, then another and another. Movements quick and efficient, he set one over all four of the being’s wrists and both ankles.

The bands immediately attached themselves to the ground, pinning the cyborg’s limbs.

“Wow.” More than a little impressed, she scanned his clothes with new eyes. “What else do you have in your pants?”

He made a choked sound, like a half-swallowed laugh, but didn’t take his gaze off the assassin.

Realizing what she’d said, her lips twitched even as her cheeks heated.

Swallowing down what absolutely would’ve been slightly hysterical laughter, she leaned back against the wall and watched the assassin intently as Ruin began questioning him.

“Who sent you?”

To her surprise, the male didn’t hesitate to answer. “G- Gaius ni’Brav with Onyx Corp.”

Her brows shot up. Ruin’s mark hired this male?

“What’s he want?”

“The slave,” he coughed, sliding cybernetic eyes toward her. “He heard w- what happened to her owner. He thinks she has info he wants, that she overheard something.”

Ruin met her eyes briefly.

The veherium planet. They think I know where it is.

“Where’s Gaius now?”

Blood bubbled up from between the male’s lips and ran in a thick, blackish stream down the side of his face. “On his way here.” He sucked in a gurgling breath. “Four days. F- full squad.”

“Anything else?”

The male shook his head weakly, then flicked a quick look her way. Lira frowned a little. She could swear he’d just winked at her, but Ruin didn’t say anything, didn’t seem to have noticed the glance at all.

What was he up to? It’d looked like he was trying to signal something to her, but it could’ve just as easily been a glitch from his cybernetic enhancements dying.

Assuming it was the latter, she shook it off.

“You ready?” At his nod, Ruin cupped his face. “Fair travels, brother.”

With a swift, practiced motion, he snapped the male's neck, the crack of it making her flinch even knowing it was coming.

After pausing to make sure the cyborg really was dead, she whispered, “Why did he tell you those things?”

He yanked his knife out of the corpse and detached the black bands, sticking them back onto his pants as he rose. “‘Cause he knew he was dyin’. No reason to keep ‘em secret. Freelance assassins don’t have any lastin’ loyalties to the people who hire us. C’mon. We need to move.”

In under a minute, they’d gathered all the weapons and stripped the assassin of anything Ruin thought would be of use, including the bracelet that had apparently generated the shield.

Ruin immediately latched it onto her wrist before ushering her down and out of the alleyway.

From within the concealment of her hood, she scanned the faces they passed, but no one appeared to pay them, or the alley they’d just emerged from, any attention. It was like the fight hadn’t happened.

Focused on watching the people around them, Lira was taken completely off guard when Ruin stumbled. It was so unexpected and uncharacteristic that, for a split second, she thought he’d been shot.

On instinct, she reached out to steady him. “What’s wrong?”

He let out a muffled curse, the skin over his brow furrowing. “Fuckin’ cyborg must’ve dosed me with somethin’.”

“What do you mean ‘dosed’? As in poison ?” she gasped.

Raising his left arm, he squinted at the sub-dermal implant. “That rotten fuck.”

Fear twisted her stomach into a hard, painful knot. “Is it- is it bad? What do we do? Is there an antidote?”

“Easy, bird. S’gonna be okay.” He swayed just then, negating any reassurance his words might’ve inspired.

Lira didn’t bite her lip in time to keep an anxious whimper from escaping.

Draping a heavy arm over her shoulders, he murmured, “Ssst. Won’t kill me. Gonna knock me out for a while, then I’ll wake up an’ be… ”

“Be what?”

The tips of his ears turned purple, and he shook his head. “Nothin’. It’ll be fine, bird. Just need to hurry back to the hideout.”

Relief that the poison was non-lethal almost brought tears to her eyes. Would’ve if she wasn’t so focused on making sure he didn’t sway too much and draw attention, or bump into somebody.

Determined not to let him down when he needed her most, she tightened her grip around his waist and grit her teeth against the strain of trying to support someone so much bigger.

With every step, he leaned on her a little more, his eyes glazing over, feet beginning to drag. The muscles in her arms and back felt like they were on fire, but she pushed the pain to the back of her mind.

“Almost there,” she grunted, guiding him through a gap in the foot traffic and off the thoroughfare.

Panting, sweat beading on her forehead and down the length of her spine, she tried to split her concentration between putting one foot in front of the other and ensuring they weren’t followed. She was also pretty sure someone could’ve been ten steps back and she wouldn’t notice.

Gods, he was so heavy. Her arm felt like it was going to break under the strain.

After what felt like a lifetime, she spotted the half-hidden hatch they’d come out of earlier and let out a breath of relief.

Propping him against the wall, Lira tugged on the hatch, expecting it to open easily. Except it didn’t. She tried again, growling under her breath as she struggled to pry the stupid thing open far enough to squeeze his big frame through.

When they’d come through earlier, Ruin had no trouble, opening and closing it effortlessly. She knew he was strong, but hadn’t realized just how strong.

By the time she got him inside and the damn hatch closed again, she was panting, lightheaded, and coated in sweat.

Propping her hands on her knees, she blew the damp strands of hair out of her face and looked at Ruin… just in time to see him list to the side.

She lunged forward and tried to catch him, or at least slow his fall. All she managed to do was grab his arm and damn near toppled with him. He hit the ground with a loud, painful-sounding thud.

Wincing, she rushed to crouch on his other side. “Ruin! Are you okay?”

He blinked sluggishly, his usually bright yellow eyes hazy and unfocused. He tried to reach for her.

“Mine Lira.”

“I’m here. I’m right here.”

He groaned and let his head fall forward, squinting one eye at his sub-dermal implant. “Need’ta call… for… backup.”

With great effort and a lot of head-bobbing, he tapped something into the interface, then sighed with what sounded like relief and went limp.

Her heart kicked hard against her ribs. “Ruin?”

Nothing.

She shook him, lightly at first, then harder. Still nothing. Not even a twitch.