"Did you meet up with Mercy after we got separated?" Romeo asked, looking at the visibly shocked Moroccans in the streets as they passed them.

"No. Did you?" Nipp increased the kwad's speed to catch up with Gomez and Robert. He had left Mary with Gideon, the latter saying he needed her help with something important once he realized who she was. Apparently, Mary came from a very wealthy family that was murdered when she was young, before being sent to live with her uncle and aunt who spent all her inheritance money on booze and drugs. But for anyone who dug deeper into her past knew how many Science and Innovations awards she won. She was naturally smart, something that wasn't common anymore. 

"Np, but I saw her from a far. She's working for Aisha as her assistant," Romeo replied. 

"Hmm."

"Did Gideon say what exactly it was that he was after?"

"No, but he said it was something huge. Hopefully it would help us deal with Father James and King Abdul. Plus, Gideon said Aisha left the ceremony shortly after Father James and King Abdul. I know there's bad blood between her and Father James, but what if she's helping him in all of this? I don't want to believe it, but..." He fell silent. He didn't want to accept the two working together, but if it was true and Mercy was with Aisha, then that would mean she hadn't gone ahead with their promise to kill the priest. Has she turned against us?

"I don't know what to believe anymore," Romeo said.

"We're almost there!" Gomez shouted through the heavy winds. 

It was three hours past midnight. Time wasn't on their side. Father James and Abdul may have already left, but Nipp didn't want to lose hope, yet. This was their last chance to get him. If they missed it, then it would never happen again. After what happened at the ceremony, Father James would have a hundred cyborgs guarding him all the time. 

They arrived at the small military base that Gideon had directed them to. It was not operational, but they could hear the sound of a chopper. "Quick, they are getting away!" Romeo shouted.

Nipp increased the kwad's speed, so did Gomez, and caught Father James and Abdul running towards the chopper that was on an elevated platform. Excluding the pilot, there were two other people there. Women. One of them was old and dressed in Victorian age clothes, while the other was young. 

"It can't be," Romeo said.

"It's her." Mercy. Nipp was as too shocked to say her name outloud. "What is she doing here?"

"We'll ask her when we get the chance. Keep on going. Don't stop until I tell you so," Romeo said.

"What are you planning?"

"You'll see." Once the kwad was close to Father James, Romeo stood on it and yelled, "Stop!" It threw him forward and he jumped on the priest, tackling him to the ground. 

"Let go of me," Father James said, struggling to get out of Romeo hold.

Romeo turned him around and started punching his face. He snarled while doing it too. He seemed to enjoy it. Nipp had never seem him show so much malice before. Something changed him. Whatever Romeo had gone through the whole time they were apart, Nipp knew he wasn't the same guy he always spied on for his dad. 

"Romeo, stop!" Mercy screamed, but Romeo didn't listen. He kept on going. 

Father James' face was bleeding blue blood. He really is a Nomad. Nipp had a hard time believing when Romeo informed him of what Josef said, but now that he was witnessing it, it all made sense. 

"Argh!" Nipp groaned, feeling a headache. It was all too much to process for him, as his mother used to call it, feeble mind. 

"Why should I?" Romeo said, looking at Mercy who had gotten out of the chopper and stood in front of him.

"Because of this..." Mercy pointed her left arm at him and it transformed into one of the energy blasters found in cyborgs. "One night when I was going back to the office to collect Ms. Aisha's documents, he kidnapped me and turned me into one of these... things. And he's the only one who can reverse me back to normal. I need him alive." She pulled off her face to reveal she was completely machine. "I can't live like this, Romeo. I don't feel pain, love, hunger. I'm just... there. That's not what I want to do with my life. I went to school to be a doctor so that I could heal people. But he," she pointed at Father James, "turned me into a weapon. I've tried to kill myself, but he inserted a program not allowing me too."

"What about Aisha? Why hasn't she helped you?" Romeo asked.

"You don't get it, do you? Father James turned me to be his personal weapon. Ms. Aisha is my prisoner. I'm with her to make sure she does what he says. She can't do anything about it because I found out she has a secret child, and if she doesn't follow his orders, I'm instructed to terminate the kid."

What? Mercy is... No, no, no. It can't be. Nipp was crying now without even realizing it. Not her. Anyone but her. Why is it always the nice people who suffer? This is not fair.

Romeo got away from the priest. "Mercy, calm down. I've never lied to you and I won't start now. You're full machine now. You're not a cyborg. Hans told me what they do to make people be like you. Only thing that's left of you is your brain, which is powering the rest of your body. He warned me in the next twenty years the production of this new age of machines will start, but seeing you the way you are, it seems he miscalculated." He grabbed her arm and lowered it. "There's no turning back for you. So let us kill him and we'll figure out what to do next. Alright?"

Mercy nodded. "I'm so scared."

"It's going to be alright." Romeo hugged her.

"Mercy, kill!" Father James screamed and Mercy pulled away from Romeo's grasp and her eyes turned red.

"Target?" she asked, the beams from her eyes pointing at everyone in front of her.

"Al-" The sound of sirens stopped Father James from talking. "Change of plans." He got to his feet. "Capture Romeo and bring him with us."

Mercy punched Romeo on the back of his head and knocked him out, then carried him on her shoulder.

"Romeo!" Gomez tried going after them but Mercy pointed her energy blaster at him and he stopped in his tracks.

"Nipp," Robert called.

"What?"

"Aisha has been recording us the entire time. Why is that?"

Nipp looked at Aisha and saw her holding her phone, still recording them. "I don't know." What's her plan? Or rather, what's Father James' plan? Did he let Romeo beat him up on purpose? He looked at the chopper as it was flying away, Father James looking down at them with a smile. He could hear the police cars screeching to a halt. There was only one way out of there, which was also the entrance, and the police had blocked it. 

"They are the ones responsible for the attack! They tried to kill me!" Father James screamed from the chopper.

"Get your hands up!" the policemen shouted.

Nipp started laughing. "I guess this is the end for me." I hope you live through this and kill the bastard, Romeo. He looked up one final time at the chopper as it was disappearing from his view. And save Mercy, please.

He turned around, hands at the back of his head. They were normal officers. No sign of mechanical enhancement on any of them. Nipp felt great seeing human policemen after it seemed like they had instantly become extinct.

Before him, Gomez and Robert could be arrested, the police cars blocking the entrance way got smashed to the side and a hoverbus appeared. It stopped between the three and the officers. Mary appeared from one of the windows. "Get in." She nodded towards the door. 

"Is this what you went after?" Nipp asked once he got inside, staring at the dust-filled bus.

"Amazing, right?" Gideon asked, smiling. "Where's Romeo?"

"Father James has him," Gomez replied.

"Damn. No worries, we will find him. He still has his watch, right?"

Nipp looked on his wrist and saw Romeo's watch. He took it to help him find the military base. "No." In his hands, he held the mask Hans gave to Romeo. It looked beautiful. His father was a genius when it came to making such things. Too bad he was corrupted by Josef and Father James.

The police started shooting and Gideon drove into the sky. "Buckle up, everyone. We're in for a long ride."

"Where are we going?" Nipp asked.

"To my secret hideout."

Nipp didn't ask anymore questions after that. He sat on a seat near the window and looked outside. Did we cause this? He hadn't told anyone about Michael, Tatiana or the bombs they let off, but he couldn't help but wonder as he stared at Morocco. It didn't feel like it in the bomb shelter, but the explosion was so big, it took half of the country's cities with it. There must have been more bombs.