”
79Please respect copyright.PENANAWNQVY8Z9ve
I spit blood onto the ferrocrete. It sizzles — probably from the plasma burn cooking my ribs. The bastard talks too much. Always the loud ones who think they’ve already won.
79Please respect copyright.PENANAJUIEH0NOxT
"What'cha lookin' at, street punk? Eyes up here!"
79Please respect copyright.PENANA8hotXlYxM6
He’s got a voice like rusty nails dragged across synth-steel. His jaw’s half-metal, teeth grinding like old gears. The Electro Krystal dangles from his belt like some twisted trophy, pulsing blue, begging me to rip it free.
79Please respect copyright.PENANAOF4v3MriL3
"You want the last Krystal in this district? Then fight me for it, scum!"
79Please respect copyright.PENANAENyLxMjhzn
He thinks I came here for the krystal. He thinks I give a damn about the krystal.
79Please respect copyright.PENANAvUlB1BuE5e
What I came for was revenge.
79Please respect copyright.PENANA4np0PkievY
"You talk too much," I growl, spitting again. "Maybe I’ll break your jaw and use it as an ashtray."
79Please respect copyright.PENANAvDHPGtKTFv
He grins, cybernetic eye twitching, arm whirring with serrated upgrades. "You fight dirty, I walk. That’s the rule."
79Please respect copyright.PENANAUtl9XWFDrc
"I don’t fight dirty," I say, cracking my knuckles. "I fight to kill."
79Please respect copyright.PENANAQEnBX8LrwD
He charges. I let him come. Always let the big dogs bark before you put ‘em down. His blade-arm screeches out, nearly takes my head, but I duck low, drive my knee into his groin so hard I hear the crunch of a shattered implant. He screams. Sounds like music.
79Please respect copyright.PENANAyizcAaGww1
I don’t stop. I never stop. I grab his arm, twist it until the servo-sinews snap. Then I slam his face into the alley wall — once, twice, until the chrome plating peels off like a goddamn banana.
79Please respect copyright.PENANATrKIObvQ1J
"Still watching me, street punk?" I whisper in his ear, dragging the jagged edge of my boot down his back. He coughs blood, gargling something about rules.*
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I fish the Krystal from his belt. It hums in my palm like a heartbeat. Warm. Alive. I look down at him, broken, twitching.
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"Here’s a new rule, asshole — don’t fuck with ghosts."
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Then I drive the Krystal into his chest. Not gently. It sizzles through his armor and flesh like butter, and the bastard glows from the inside out.
79Please respect copyright.PENANA2JR1LhlYL6
By the time I walk away, there’s nothing left but a puddle of slag, the stink of burnt
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meat, and a memory of screaming.
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