Murchadh and Qinyang leaned against the large boxes. The executioners on either side of the inquisitors wore helmets like Murchadh. Qinyang wore a scowl on her bloody lip and a furrowed brow. The door to the hideout creaked open, and Murchadh gave a sign to his allies to hold the position. They remained silent, with bated breath.

“Boss, you really are a legend!” one of the gangsters remarked, walking into the hideout.

“That is why they call him the King, after all!” another cheered.

The crew chuckled and hugged each other, giving pats on the back.

“I told you guys that we were gonna kill those lousy Inquisitors and shit, didn’t I?” Noah smirked, his wild red hair still damp from the rain.

“Yeah!” the men laughed.

They spread out around the room, and then Murchadh waved his hand in a violent gesture. The four officers maintained their cover but prepared to take aim. One of the gangsters spotted them immediately.

“What the-!”

“Get on the ground!” Murchadh yelled, “You are all found guilty on behalf of the High Inquisitor!”

The gang dove for cover and some pulled out weapons.

Bang. Blood flew out the back of one of the criminal’s heads as he pointed a rifle at the executioners. Before he had the chance to attack, one of the executioners pulled the trigger.

“Kill them all!” The King screamed and the gang started trying to circle around the sides of the room.

The executioners and inquisitors shot a few down. Suddenly, Murchadh’s head was ringing. He turned to his right and watched one of the executioners collapse to the floor. Dead.

Grabbing Qinyang by the belt, he had her follow him as they ran to take cover. She shot at the enemies with her working arm and held the other close to her side. The King slid over one of the huge boxes and unloaded a round of his shotgun into the face of the other executioner. The helmet splintered, unable to protect the man at such a close range. Murchadh tensed up and fired a round from his gun.

The King screamed in agony, collapsing to the floor and dropping his shotgun as he clutched his bleeding side. One of the other gang members ducked around the corner and fired his weapon wildly before swiftly taking a bullet to the head and dropping into a heap. Murchadh had efficiently dispatched the man, but everything seemed to slow down. There was a gasp of pain beside him. He crouched beside Qinyang, watching her collapse. The girl dropped to the floor with a loud thud.

After coughing, she screamed in pain, “Ahhhh!”

Murchadh winced, watching her bleed and feeling his heart sink into his stomach. Qinyang gasped and quickly pointed her gun straight ahead, once again firing a volley of shots into another criminal, one that Murchadh had not seen. The pain was overwhelmed by the adrenaline enough for Qinyang to kill the man before he could attack. Her heart was racing, making more blood begin pouring out of her leg.

“Murchadh!” she cried his name and coughed, biting her already damaged lip.

“It is going to be ok; it is just your leg…” he tried to assure her.

“Just my leg? What is that supposed to mean, asshole!?” she screamed at Murchadh, shoving him away and holding onto her wounded limb.

The King was letting out similar cries of anguish. Murchadh stood up and stabilized his weapon. He stalked around the corner and checked the hideout. There were several corpses. He did not bother counting, just making sure everyone was gone. When the room was safe, Murchadh turned his attention back to his wounded partner, running over to her side and dropping to his knees.

“Forget about me for now,” she breathed through her teeth, “Just arrest him…”

“You think you have won!?” the King’s voice echoed around the room.

“The bomb at Central was just the start! I have a ton of friends and they all hate you!”

Murchadh glared at Noah through the helmet on his head, and brought Qinyang to a standing position, letting her use him for support.

“I’ve seen that bitch’s face! I know her name! Q. Han, it’s on the badge!” the man pointed a shaky finger at the young, injured inquisitor.

Qinyang winced and tucked her arm around Murchadh.

“I hope that leg of yours heals quick, inquisitor!” Noah taunted Qinyang as Murchadh gently helped her limp past the criminal.

Murchadh kicked the shotgun far away from the drug lord.

The King was clutching his bleeding side as he grinned wickedly up at the woman, “The moment I get out of prison, and I will get out... I am gonna test my newest concoctions on you and have a damn good time!”

Qinyang gasped and shivered as Murchadh spoke next, “You aren’t going to prison.”

Click. The hammer struck, bringing down final judgment in the form of flying metal. The bullet slipped into Noah’s skull. The King’s dead body flopped, limp, onto the ground. Qinyang breathed unsteadily, holding onto Murchadh. The inquisitor’s gun had a small plume of smoke billow out the tip before it was lowered to his side.

“I thought we were going to bring him in for questioning…” she whispered, no longer daring to directly question the inquisitor’s actions.

“I changed my mind,” Murchadh remarked, holstering his weapon and slipping his arm about Qinyang’s back.

He took her hand in his and together they limped out of the hideout. Looking around at the corpses, Qinyang no longer felt queasy. She just looked down at her feet and then back over to her partner. They were quiet until they reached the motorcycle. Murchadh did not feel like getting the armored vehicle keys out of the pocket of his dead ally. He sidled onto the bike and helped Qinyang clamber on too. She wrapped her arms around his neck loosely and tucked her chest flat against his back, clinging tightly. She tucked her chin over his shoulder.

“Thank you,” she whispered, tearing up a little from the agony of her bleeding leg.

“For what?” Murchadh whispered back as he drove down the street.

Qinyang was quiet for a minute, and then mumbled, “Nothing.”

She clung to him, burying her face in his neck and biting her busted lip in an attempt to forget the pain. Rushing to the hospital, Murchadh was not surprised that it was packed. Crowds of people roared in confusion and anguish. Murchadh could not even see the front desk over the people filling the room. Pushing his way through the sea of yelling individuals, Murchadh brought Qinyang to the check-in counter. He removed his helmet.

“Come back tomorrow,” the woman behind the desk mumbled with a sigh.

“No, you will get me a room right now,” Murchadh held up his shining silver badge.

The woman bolted up straight, blinking and swallowing nervously.

“Y-Yes, I will do what I can, inquisitor!” The woman’s voice trembled with fear and respect.

Soon after, the pair was led down equally packed corridors to a small room. He helped Qinyang onto the bed. Murchadh was about to walk away, when he found Qinyang clutching his hand tightly, not letting go.

“If I die-” she choked, sobbing a bit as blood dripped down her chin.

“You are not going to die,” he assured her.

“But- But if I am too weak-,” she hiccupped, “Please don’t tell everyone that I was weak…”

Her warm chocolate gaze locked on him. Murchadh shook his head and lightly brushed the girl’s frazzled hair.

“You are going to be fine. I will be back tomorrow to check on you,” he squeezed her hand.

Qinyang swallowed and nodded sadly, “Ok.”

Her voice quivered and she lay back as Murchadh left. He rushed out of the hospital and back to the motorbike. Sliding the key card in again, he revved the engine. Slipping on the executioner helmet once again, Murchadh drove across the city. The rain was still beating down on the city as emergency services tried to remedy the chaos. The city’s borders had been on lockdown, but now all of the guards had moved to the center of the region. The streets were mostly empty anyway. Whether people were dead asleep in the middle of the night or cowering, the path home was clear for Murchadh.

Pressing his hand against the scanner panel, the door to his home opened with a click. He was startled to see Irene standing directly in front of the door. She suddenly pushed past him and started walking down the hallway, wearing only a pair of black socks and his loose white shirt.

“Irene, where are you going?” He asked, grabbing her arm.

The girl tugged away from his grasp, but he was stronger, and she failed to free herself.

“I need to go to the ocean.” She declared.

“Now? Do you not see what is happening out there? You don’t even have pants on!” He ran a hand through his hair.

Irene blinked at him, “I want to go to the ocean. Let go of me.”

She glared at him with her green glowing eyes.

Murchadh could sense the situation grow tense, “Look, put on some pants, and we will go to the ocean. Sound fair?”

“No,” she narrowed her gaze at him, struggling against the man’s hold, “Let me go, Sir.”

She made little yip noises as she attempted to break away.

“Just stop pulling, ok? I’ll take you to the ocean!” he yelled.

Irene stopped struggling and watched him carefully.

“This night is in complete chaos and you want to visit the damn beach. Fine! We will go to the beach together, right now, happy?” he began to walk with her down the hallway.

“If I take you to the ocean, will you stop messing around?” he raised an eyebrow at her.

The android girl nodded, “Yes. All I want is to see the pretty blue sea one time.”

Murchadh rolled his eyes and led her to the motorcycle. The half-naked girl seated herself behind the inquisitor. Grumbling the whole way, Murchadh drove her to the west side of the city. He was exhausted and just wanted the night to be over. He knew that Irene was not going to understand why the sea did not appear how she expected. He did not want to have to explain.

“I am glad that you are taking me to the ocean, Sir,” she remarked.

“Maybe now I will have two happy memories,” her voice got low as she held onto Murchadh.

He sighed and pressed on into the darkness. The motorcycle’s light illuminated the road just ahead. Out of the city, they went down curvy paths and long roads. After a half-hour, the ocean was in sight in the distance.

“Is this close enough?” Murchadh asked.

Irene shook her head. Murchadh stepped off the bike and led Irene by the hand. The pair carefully stepped over the dunes of sand, getting closer. Irene tripped a few times, but steadied herself. Eventually, they made it to the edge of the water. Murchadh took a deep breath and pulled out his box of cigarettes. It was almost completely finished and emptied. He angrily whipped out a cigarette and lit the tip with the flame of his lighter. Inhaling the smoke, he waved his arms dramatically, gesturing at the ocean in front of them.

“See? Ocean,” he shook his head in frustration and paced around Irene as she stared blankly at the dark horizon.

“There is no sunset,” she remarked.

“No, of course there is no sunset, Irene. You would have needed to wait until tomorrow night to see that. Do you want to go home and come back then?”

Irene blinked, her green eyes flickering, “Why?”

“Why what?” he sighed deeply in response.

“Why is the water not blue?” she whispered.

The endless stretch of sea was not the vista the android anticipated. The waters were dark and murky, bleak and filthy. Scum floated on the top of the rhythmic waves.

“Is this a different ocean than the one I saw?”

“Irene, you never saw the ocean!” Murchadh grabbed her shoulders.

“The reason this looks different is because you have never been here before,” he shook Irene gently.

Murchadh took a breath of smoke and let the girl stare at the black sea for several minutes.

“Why is it not blue?” Irene looked down at her feet, “I wanted it to be blue.”

“We can’t always get what we want,” Murchadh shook his head and stomped the rest of his cigarette into the sand.

“Can we go now?” he exhaled.

“Sir, what did this to the ocean?” Irene turned around.

If she could create tears, it would look like the girl was on the verge of bawling her eyes out.

“What? Nothing did that to the ocean. It has been like that since before I was born.”

“Something must have done this. It is different than I remember.”

Murchadh gently caressed her cheek, making Irene have eye contact with him, “Listen, I do not know what you remember, but it certainly was not this. The planet has been this way for a long time. There are tons of reasons why this happened.”

Irene looked up at him.

The man sighed, “People, wars, all kinds of stuff has made the world the way that it is. It is too complicated for me to explain, Irene.”

The girl’s expression was blank as she tried to find the memory again. This all couldn’t be real. Something was wrong. The sea was supposed to be blue. The sea made her feel happy. She wanted to be happy. Irene dove again into her own mind, desperately trying to find the answers.