Cold air floods the cargo bay through the open hatch. Neon bleeds across bent metal, smoke, and bloodless bodies. Kay steadies himself beside the torn frame while the Vulture hums with damage behind him.
Taled steps out of the shadow near the bulkhead, hands open, jaw tight. He looks past the wreckage toward Kay, then toward the drifting city lights, like he is measuring how much truth the night can still carry.
Taled
I never meant for you to get buried in this. The job was supposed to pay your debt, not feed it.
Yma
Your trail is gone, for now. But if there is more you are hiding, say it before the city finds us again.
Ocram
We are airborne, barely. If this becomes another fight, make it a short one.
Taled reaches into his vest and draws out a scorched data wafer, holding it where Kay can see it. The cargo bay seems to narrow around the tiny piece of light.
Taled
This is the proof. Names, routes, payments, the real reason the Yakuza kept coming. I was trying to get it to you alive.
The wafer waits between them, and the open hatch throws the whole crew into one hard, final choice.
“Kay takes the scorched data wafer from Taled's hand, pulls a cigar from his jacket, and uses the wafer to light it. Then, he exhales a cloud of smoke. Kay: "The Yakuza won't need this anymore—and neither will we, for that matter... They wanted to take us out? We're going to steal all their credits at the casino!" Ocram, Taled, Yma, and Kay all have a good laugh.”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled -1)
Kay takes the wafer from Taled and thumbs a cigar from his jacket. He tilts the scorched edge to the tip, catches it, and draws in slow until the ember blooms.
Kay
The Yakuza won't need this anymore, and neither will we. They came to take us out, so we take their credits at the casino.
Smoke spills from Kay’s mouth in a lazy white sheet, briefly softening the bloodied bay into something almost like a bar after closing.
Ocram
Heh. That is the first good plan I have heard since we hit the prison.
Yma
You are ridiculous. Also, annoyingly, that might work.
Taled
I was ready for a fight. I did not expect a victory lap with a cigar.
The laugh that follows is rough, tired, and real. It rolls through the cargo bay, bouncing off torn metal and the open hatch, and for a moment the city outside feels far away.
Taled keeps his eyes on Kay for a beat longer, then lowers the wafer and gives a small, stubborn nod, like the truth has finally found somewhere to land.
The cargo bay shuddered, but the fear in it was finally easing.
Taled
That wafer was my leash. Now it's yours.
Yma
Trail is gone. Clean as it gets.
Ocram
Vulture is barely flying, but she's flying.
Kay
Then we spend their credits on their own floor. Let them pay for the fall.
A rough laugh rolled through the bay, small but real.
By the time the cigar ember died, the worst of it had passed. The Vulture kept moving through the dark, wounded but intact, with a plan in hand and the truth no longer rotting in secret. For now, Kay and his crew had earned something rarer than victory: a clean breath and a shared grin.