Eli finally recovered. He was unsure of how long he had been consumed by agony and panic. It had felt like he had been gasping for air for an eternity.

There was no sign of the mysterious woman. He looked for any distortions, spotted none. He supposed that if she wanted him dead, she would have killed him while he was struggling for air. He checked the time. The target was nearly due to stumble into the trap that Yorai had set for him.

He got up, checked to make sure that all of his gear was still there. Then he took off running, bounding up the steps, bolting down hallways. At last, he found them in one of the enclosed walkways that led to the elevator that provided access to the roof.

Sugamb was going through his bag, dumping out the clothes, toiletries, and other supplies. Eli took note of a collection of ID cards that were strewn on the floor. Two goons stood by, looking on emotionlessly.

Aydem was on his knees. A line of blood ran down the corner of his weird mouth. Yorai stood over him, gripping the side of his face tightly, her thumb uncomfortably close to his eye.

“Where did you stash the money?” she asked scornfully.

His tone was resigned, “I spent it all. I’ve only got what was in the bag.”

“You are lying! Where’s it at? Tell me, or I’ll make what the Hauk cartel will do to you feel like a vacation.”

Now a little smirk, “It’s in your casino.”

“Fuck off! Where is it?”

“I told you. It’s in your casino.”

The impact of what he had said finally sunk in, “Well, shit. We’ll have to settle for just the bounty.”

“Hand him over and I’ll give you twenty percent,” Eli declared, his spear pointed at her.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“Just another gunslinger.”

Her expression changed to fear when she noticed the brand on his neck, but she recovered quickly, yelling, “We’ll sell what’s left of you to the Sad’Daki!”

Perhaps she didn’t know that the spear doubled as an energy weapon. She certainly didn’t know that he had it set to kill. Her personal energy shield absorbed the blast. She dove out of the line of fire, taking cover behind a large planter that sat against the wall.

His next shot hit Sugamb, who had dropped Aydem’s bag and was going for his gun. His upper torso exploded into a slurry of boiling blood and melted organs. One of the thugs managed to get his pistol halfway out of the holster before what was left of him ruined a large section of the carpet.

The final thug drew his sidearm and grabbed hold of Aydem, using him as a living shield. Eli switched to stun, fired. The bolt of energy struck Aydem. He went limp. The henchmen tried to take aim, struggling with the dead weight. Eli took his time, putting the next bolt right into the man’s head.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the distortion. He lashed out, wrapping his artificial hand around the invisible throat. He choke slammed her into the glass wall, cracking it. After holding her there for a few moments, he let the writhing form fall to the floor.

Eli moved forward, taking care not to step in the mess. Blood and gore ran down the glass. Yorai was still behind the planter. Her beautiful face was tainted by outrage. She was speaking into a communicator, “Get up here!” a brief pause while the person on the other end of the line asked a question, “Everyone!”

In a flash she turned and pulled a derringer. He ripped it out of her hand before she could fire. He made a show out of examining the little gun. Then he picked her up and threw her through the glass and over the railing. She screamed the whole way down.

The gamblers looked up from their games while she fell. She landed on top of a bank of slots, fell silent. The players returned to their games without a second thought. Eli pocketed the little gun and started heading toward the still unconscious Aydem.

“Not so fast!” a new voice called out. It sounded like a VHS tape being rewound. How the translator managed to pick words out of it was beyond him.

The thing was a massive brute. Its body wasn’t too dissimilar from a large primate. The thick coat of bubblegum pink fur that completely covered it contrasted with its hideous face.

A pair of big, bulbus, jet-black eyes sat above a mouth full of many sharp teeth. A set of serrated pincers were located at the corners of this dreadful maw. It had a small, triangular, open nose like that of a bat, and no visible ears.

Bandoleers full of ammo and grenades were slung across the thing’s gorilla frame. In one of his clawed hands, he hefted a large, blocky gun. The spirals of the rifling could be seen inside of the fat bore. In the other hand he held another big gun. This one was fed by a stripper clip of heavily polished spikes.

Eli put himself between the newcomer and the unconscious man, “I’m taking Aydem to Ujita. Stay out of my way.”

“That’s impossible because I’m going to turn him over to the Hauk cartel. I’ll give you a hundred WHC for clearing the way. No, make that fifty, you robbed me of a few solid kills.”

The sound of rapid, heavy footfalls, lots of them, coming at them from all sides.

“Don’t worry, there’s plenty more fun to be had,” Eli observed.

Gunmen burst out of the door that led to the roof. More poured in from down the hall.

The pink brute opened fire. The silver flechettes pierced their targets, pinning them to the walls. Holes were blasted clean through torsos. When Eli saw his open mandibles the tadvash told him that this was a maniacal smile.

The human took aim. He cut down a swath of them with blasts. Any that got close were mercilessly run through.

The other bounty hunter’s guns went dry. The bright pink monstrosity lifted a gangster into the air, holding him aloft horizontally. He ripped his victim in half. Blood and internal organs rained down. The man kept screaming, even has the two halves were casually tossed away.

A severed head tumbled across the floor in front of Eli. He looked over to see the woman in the armor slice the gun hand off of another thug. He was impressed with how quickly she had recovered from the blow he had dealt her. She grabbed ahold of the weapon and using the man as a living shield, she blasted another enemy to pieces.

The big pink thing pulled something off his belt and threw it. It landed at the feet of a fresh wave of attackers. Eli dove behind cover, hoping that it was only a fragmentation grenade.

It went off. The windows shattered. The force of the blast annihilated anyone that was anywhere near it. Limbs flew, sailing over the railing. A deep hole and been blasted out of the floor. Those that were fortunate enough to not get caught in the blast were toppled over, all except the bubblegum pink monstrosity. Even he began to lose his footing when the floor started to shake violently.

The world became a dizzying blur as the floor collapsed completely. The living and the dead tumbled down. Chunks of shattered metal and other debris rained down on the Casino floor, smashing into guests. People abandoned the games, screaming as they fled in every direction.