Neill barely had time to think before the cracked window, one they'd never bothered to replace or sell for ad screens like the richer blocks, exploded inward with a violent crash.
Shards of glass sprayed through the air like bullets. He flinched, shielding his face with his arm as the droid holding him suddenly jerked back, kicked away by something that had just come flying in.
The room erupted.
Kerri shouted in panic.
Gunfire was shot.
Neill blinked through the haze, squinting past the glittering glass dust that rained down. A shadow moved fast, too fast, and then a voice cut through the chaos.
"Neill!"
He recognized that tone anywhere.
"Joa?" he coughed, throat raw. Through the static blur of his new eye, he caught sight of the old man's face, tight with concern, ducking low as he pulled Neill up by his single arm.
Another blur zipped past them, small, lithe, and fast. A girl. Her dark long hair whipped in the air, streaked underneath with neon green that glowed faintly in the dim room. She launched herself at Kerri.
"Marsha!" Neill choked out, watching her twist midair and drive a sharp kick into Kerri's wrist. The gun flew from his hand, clattering against the floor as he shouted in pain.
Marsha landed light on her feet, smirking. "You really know how to pick your parties, Neill!"
"Wasn't, my idea!" Neill wheezed, coughing through the dust.
Then something roared, mechanical, metallic. The one that flew through the window was her chicken, Cluck Norris, the unholy hybrid of a fighting droid and a machine chicken. No synthetic skin, no pretense of humanity, just exposed gears, metal claws, and the cold glow of red optics.
The thing hit the floor with a screech of steel as he finished the lone guard droid who was breaking Neill's rib a while was promptly torn apart, its chestplate crushed under Cluck Norris's relentless assault. Sparks and smoke filled the air.
"Oh, you're so dead!" Kerri screamed, staggering backward, holding his broken hand.
"Not if I kill you first!" Marsha shot back, grabbing his collar and slamming him down onto the floor. She twisted his arm behind his back in a lock that made him yelp. "Neill, you better pay me full this time!"
Neill couldn't help but let out a wet laugh between gasps, half hysterical, half relieved. "You, you're robbing me now?"
"Business is business!" she snapped, not loosening her grip.
Meanwhile, Joa had his arm under Neill's shoulder, hauling him toward his father. "Come on, Neill, move!"
Neill stumbled beside him, dropping to his knees when they reached Stan. The old man was pale, clutching at his ruined eye. "Dad, I got you, just, hold on..."
From behind, Kerri's voice rose again, strangled and furious. "You think you can just walk out,"
"Shut up!" Marsha snarled, twisting his arm until something popped.
Then came another sound, the distinct mechanical whine of enforcement units. Through the busted window rolled in the block's droidcop, lights flashing bright red and blue.
Joa exhaled. "Finally. Pluto's crew sent them."
"Guess Stan's message went through," Marsha muttered, finally shoving Kerri face-first into the ground and stepping back. "You're lucky, Neill. I don't usually do rescue missions for free."
"Then it's a good thing you never do anything for free," Neill muttered, his voice shaky as he tried to lift his father again.
Outside, the slums buzzed to life, the sound of neighbors, the scuffle of boots, and the low hum of the droidcop calling for backup. Here, even in the gutters of Orbit, people still looked out for their own.
And for once, Neill was damn grateful for that.
***
Neill sat outside the butcher shop, back against the rusted wall, ignoring the sting from his cuts. He should care, the air around here was thick with toxins and machine dust, but the pain helped keep his head busy.
He kept rubbing his eyes, though it didn't help. His new left eye still flashed with that glowing overlay, a ghostly interface burned into his retina. He couldn't turn it off.
It was easier to focus on that than to think about what was happening inside.
His real eye, was now being transplanted into his father. Joa said Kerri made sure to stab the old man's cornea with that damn cigar. They don't have the money for a proper surgery, no bio-healers. A transplant was the only way.
Neill clenched his jaw and dragged a hand through his hair, pulling at the roots. His mind kept racing... Kerri was gone, his only steady client, gone. Their business, ruined.
And Anita…
Marsha had taken her.
The moment she saw the android's battered body, she sighed through her nose and muttered, "I just bought new scraps from some Uranus district junkers. Maybe I can patch her up."
Then she gave Neill a pointed look, the kind that meant 'you can't pay for shit, can you?'
Old man Joa had already spent the rest of Neill's eye money on his father's operation. Neill hadn't said thank you. He couldn't get the words out.
He was still lost in thought when something kicked his boot.
"Oi, you look like shit."
He looked up, blinking through the swirl of static in his eye. Another overlay flickered to life, scanning the figure in front of him before he could even process who it was.
[ *********** SYSTEM ACTIVATED *********** ]
[ TARGET NO.4 : MARSH MELLOW ]
Status: Tired. Concerned. Dissatisfied.
(Target is thinking to host : 'you look like shit.')
[ HOST ABILITY: Desire Scan Initiated ]
Displaying Target's Wants and Needs…
[ WANTS ] Sleep. Companionship. Stimulation. Fun. Droid Parts. Action. Anita
[ NEEDS ] Sleep. Rest. Food. Companionship. Stimulation. Androids.
[ SYSTEM SUGGESTION ] : Host should fulfill Target's Wants and Needs to receive hefty rewards.
***
Neill blinked at the overlay, then at the person standing over him. "You just say what you think, huh?"
Marsh or simply Ash, Marsha's younger twin brother, stood there, frowning under his smudged mask. His short black hair was streaked with red highlights that caught the dull neon glow of the street. He was a Styx diver, a trash heap scavenger who spent his days knee-deep in busted droid parts.
Ash pushed his mask up to his forehead, squinting at Neill. "What's gotten into you, man? You look awful."
Neill scowled, rubbing at his temple. "Yeah, thanks for the pep talk."
But Ash's expression shifted. He leaned closer, eyes widening. "Hold up, what the hell happened to your eye?"
Before Neill could react, Marsh grabbed his face with both gloved hands, tilting it toward the light.
"Shit, get off!" Neill sputtered, swatting his hands away. "Your gloves reek of oil!"
Ash ignored him, grinning now like an idiot. "Did you buy your old eye back? Man, I was just about to build you a cooler one!"
Neill stared up at him, half dazed, half exasperated. "…you really never shut up, do you?"
Ash only laughed, dropping to sit beside him on the curb. "Not when my favorite broke droid whisperer looks like he got into a fight with a trash compactor."
Neill didn't answer. He just stared at the glowing overlay still flickering faintly across his left eye. The one that now refused to turn off, the one that wouldn't stop calling people targets.
Neill finally managed to shove Ash's hands off of him again when the guy tried to take a closer look, scowling. "No, it's not my eye. My eye's… with my dad now---"
He stopped mid-sentence as the butcher shop door creaked open. Both boys turned. Joa stepped out, shoulders heavy, his apron dusted with dry stains and fatigue. The man looked older than he had an hour ago.
Neill was already on his feet before Ash could even process what that meant. When the realization hit, Ash froze, eyes wide. He opened his mouth but closed it again, silent for once.
Still, he followed Neill toward the shop door, dragging his oversized bag of metal scraps behind him. The heap clanged and rattled, earning him a glare from Joa, who clearly didn't have the energy to scold him for it.
Neill's eye flickered again, uninvited. A faint blue light bled across his vision, scanning Joa automatically.
[ *********** SYSTEM ACTIVATED *********** ]
[ TARGET NO.2 : JOA KERR]
Status: Tired. Concerned. [REDACTED], [REDACTED]
(Target is thinking : I need to check my supplies for today.)
[ HOST ABILITY: Desire Scan Initiated ]
Displaying Target's Wants and Needs…
[ WANTS ] Rest. Alcohol. Quiet. Crypto. Organs.
[ NEEDS ] Sleep. Rest. Food. Money.
[ SYSTEM SUGGESTION ] : Host should fulfill Target's Wants and Needs to receive hefty rewards.
***
Neill tried to blink it away, but the overlay just hovered near Joa's outline like a holographic shadow. He forced his gaze past it.
"H-he's…" Neill swallowed, voice cracking. "Is he...?"
Joa sighed through his nose, rubbing the back of his neck. "He's fine, kid. Tough old bastard." His voice softened slightly. "He'll need time to recover, though. Unlike you, with that new eye, you can see right away. Your father's gotta adjust to yours first."
Neill's knees nearly gave out in relief. Ash, standing beside him, gripped his shoulder firmly, a quiet gesture that said more than words could. Neill's breath hitched as the weight of it all finally sank in.
"Thank you…" he murmured, bowing his head low enough that his hair fell forward, hiding his face.
For once, Joa didn't say anything. The old man just gave a tired grunt and patted his shoulder on his way back inside.
That was when the shop door was kicked open, hard enough to make the metal frame rattle. They didn't even need to look to know who it was.
"Shit," came Marsha's familiar snarl. "I should've broken that freak's legs too if I knew how much he fucked up Anita..."
Ash froze, his haul slipping from his grip and clattering to the floor. "Anita?! What happened to her?!"
Marsha didn't slow. She just grabbed her twin brother's face and shoved him aside as she strode past. "Don't start, Ash..." she grunted, her eyes locking on Neill.
Neill blinked, and his right eye twitched. The overlay flared to life on his left, glowing faintly beside Marsha's head. It was strange, like watching two layers of reality overlap.
[ *********** SYSTEM ACTIVATED *********** ]
[ TARGET NO.3 : MARSHA MELLOW ]
Status: Excited. Seething. Tired. Sleepless.
(Target is planning to throw "Kerri Oki" to the void.)
[ HOST ABILITY: Desire Scan Initiated ]
Displaying Target's Wants and Needs...
[ WANTS ] Carnage. Violence. Fight. Droid Fights. Chicken wins. Fun.
[ NEEDS ] Sleep. Rest. Food. Money. Droid parts.
[ SYSTEM SUGGESTION ] : Host fulfill Target's Wants and Needs, host will be rewarded heftily.
***
"Neill," Marsha said finally, exhaling through her teeth. "Anita's doing fine. For now. I managed to replace some of her parts and put her in the pod to rest, but…"
She dragged a hand down her face and glared at him. "You're gonna need money. A lot of it. If you want her to have proper parts again, you better start working. As she is now, she'll barely make it through one or two customers before she breaks down completely."
Her tone softened just slightly as she gave his chest a firm slap. "Make it work somehow. You're the droid whisperer here, right?"
And just like that, she turned away, stomping out of the shop.
Ash scrambled after her, still asking a dozen questions about Anita, about the haul, about whether any of it could help. Marsha didn't even look back, she just kicked him lightly toward their droid shop.
Neill stayed where he was, hand pressed against his chest, feeling the echo of her touch fade.
Right. He had nothing left to lose now.
His father was with Joa, recovering.
Anita was safe, for now, thanks to Marsha.
He had no money, no pride, no eye left to chase after.
But he did have this new eye.
He could see people's wants and needs, laid bare to him with a single glance.
And if the system promised rewards for fulfilling them…
Then he'd make it work.
He'd find a way to turn their desires into his survival.