Page 28 of Ruin

“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.

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