"Mind Link?" Rollo blinked a few times. "Is it something like the Neuralink from a decade ago?"


    Sam''s left eyebrow twitched.


    "Please don''tpare it to that primitive flop." He said. "The Mind Link is a brain imnt made using nanomachines of my own design. It''s far more advanced and is capable of a lot more than moving a cursor on a screen."


    "Really?" The boy gave him a doubtful look.


    "How do you think I got to see your memories?" The scientist replied. "Also, you have been connected to this virtual space using it. All of that with zero rejection and next to no side effect."


    "Is that so…"


    Rollo remained silent for a few seconds before heaving a long sigh.


    "You say this is a deal, but… I don''t really have much of a say in it." He shrugged his shoulders. "Since you can read my memories you should already know where I hid the evidence. And the price you''re paying me might as well be a bomb inside my brain."


    "Well, that''s one way to put it," Sam replied. "Keep in mind that my first choice was to just erase you from existence."


    "Why? I thought we''re after the same people…"


    "True, but…" heaving a long sigh, Sam shook his head. "Well, as you said, the deal has already been sealed. You can either ept it or-"


    "I refuse."


    "... What?"


    "I refuse your deal." The boy replied. "You can go ahead and kill me. I refuse to ept your deal."


    Sam stared at him for a few seconds then took his sses off.


    "Were you even listening?" He said while rubbing the bridge of his nose. "You can''t refuse or ept. It is already a done deal."


    "No shit." Rollo looked at him with half-lidded eyes. "You know there is no way my disappearance would go unnoticed, don''t you?"


    "No offense but…" Sam''s expression darkened. "No one would care if a bunch of orphans disappeared."


    "A bunch of orphans who were visited by two Valkyries. I bet the news has already spread."


    "So?"


    "A very famous reporter just so happened to be there at the time. Are you going to kill her as well?" The boy smirked. "I bet she has been a thorn in your side for quite some time now. She has been quite vocal about the Resistance. I doubt you can buy her silence easily."


    "You''re referring to Sara Pinkman, right? She''s a tough nut to crack, but I got the tools."


    "Let''s say you silenced her, then what? Will you go after Simon as well? His subordinates? Their families? Their friends? How far are you willing to go?


    I bet your fiance wouldn''t like it too much."


    "... I don''t even know why I''m listening to you." Sighing, Sam put his sses back on and walked away. "As I said, the deal is done. You have no choice but to live with it."


    "What makes you think I won''t find a way to get it out?" Rollo shouted. "Even if you silence me, I would still get the truth out at some point!"


    "You''re wee to try." Sam waved his hand without turning around. "Let''s see you get out of here first."


    The whiteb coat disappeared the next moment and with it went the scene of the rundown attic. The darkness returned, and just when the boy thought it was there to stay, everything suddenly became so bright it almost blinded him.


    Once his sight adjusted, Rollo slowly opened his eyes and checked his surroundings. He found himself standing in the middle of an empty street he didn''t recognize.


    ~[ ]~


    [LOG OFF COMPLETE.]


    Seeing the green words blinking in front of him, Sam tapped the pad on his right side and waited for his capsule to open. Getting up, he scratched the back of his head and heaved a long sigh. He was about to turn to his guards when he noticed a petite figure standing a short distance away. Seeing the frown on her face, he almost sighed again.


    "As promised, I only looked myself." He said. "No recordings."


    "I hope it was worth it." Nino crossed her arms and asked.


    "Oh, it was."


    Sam walked over and stood in front of her. The difference in height meant that she had to look up when talking to him, but as she continued to re he ced a hand on her head and ruffled her hair a little.


    "The kid is innocent." He spoke on his way to the door. "Well, as long as we ignore all the theft and hacking."


    "Are you sure?"


    Nino quickly caught up with him and walked by his side. His guards, Triska and Venti, silently took their ce behind them.


    "He did see a lot of messed up things at a very young age. But that''s nothing new."


    It wasn''t just those who witnessed a Cmity attack. The war had been hard on all of humanity and no one alive had gone without seeing something that would haunt them for the rest of their lives.


    "I see…" The Japanese doll lowered her head in thought. "So it is the orphans after all..."


    "Has there been progress on Juni''s part?"


    "They found an underground tunnel that leads outside the First Settlement. Nana said it''s not in any of the schematics we have."


    "This might be a pain…" Recalling what he saw in the boy''s memories, Sam clicked his tongue. "Send word and tell them to be careful. The bastards might have weapons on the same level as high-ss cmities."


    The facility in the boy''s memories was a closely guarded secret even in the Resistance. Sam suspected that the tech used by the intruders they caught and the assassin who attacked the Nephilim came from that ce.


    Reverse engineering the Cmities was a field of research in and of itself so there was nothing strange about it, but attempts at creating weapons that would allow humans to fight them should have stopped the moment the Valkyries entered the scene.


    ''I doubt anything they create could beat the Valkyries as they are now, but…''


    Sam held his hand out and Nino took it, having already summoned her halo to teleport them outside. The night sky had a crimson hue to it, but hopefully, that wouldn''tst too long.


    "Are we going back to the first settlement?" Nino asked.


    "Not yet, no…" Find out what happens next on m_vl.em,pyr


    Sam stared at the sky some more then turned his gaze to the western side of the forty sixth base. A newly built tower rose to the sky, its walls carved from obsidian stone. At its peak, a white sphere shone with a brilliant light, several rings of Runes surrounding it like a cage.


    "I will stay here and wee our guest."