Chapter 347: Protect Every Hair
The meeting place between Nash’s group and Harlan was an old textile factory of which only cracked walls and a few sewing machines eaten by rust remained, abandoned like carcasses in the middle of the dust.
It was Nash who had chosen this place, isolated enough to avoid prying ears, close enough to the Spires to remain practical.
Harlan showed up through the service door in a visible state of panic, closely followed by Saya, still pale, arms tightly crossed against herself as if to keep herself standing.
"Nash," Harlan said, out of breath, before he’d even finished crossing the room. "We need to talk, right now, I—"
"I already know," Nash cut in, without even turning around. He was standing near a window boarded up with planks, back straight, arms crossed. A small discreet earpiece lodged in his right ear, almost invisible under his hair. "I listened to the recording."
Silence fell immediately. Harlan stood frozen, mouth still half-open, unable to find anything to say.
In the living room of the villa, Victoria stared at a screen retransmitting live the image captured by the small camera hidden on Aiko, a headset clamped over her ears, Dahlia at her side in front of the controls. Around them the subs, Zayela, Hina and Miko, waited standing, tense, while Kai had preferred to leave with the main group to be physically present with Aiko.
Aiko felt her stomach turn. She looked at Nash, searching his face for the slightest trace of the panic she was feeling herself.
"So you know," she said, her voice tight. "You know what they want to do to me."
"I know," Nash said simply.
"And what do you plan on doing?" she asked, her voice rising a notch. "Because I heard Ma... Mademoiselle Ho say something like ’she’ll still go with you’ and I... I really need to hear it from your mouth, Nash. Not from Mademoiselle, not from Rei, not from anyone else. From you."
Nash finally turned away from the window, looking her straight in the eyes.
"Yeah," he said. "You’re coming with us. That’s the plan."
"Nash," Rei intervened, stepping forward, her voice slightly tense. "We heard what they want to put her through. It’s not just risky, it’s—"
"It’s pure insanity," Kai spat, turning toward Harlan with barely contained rage. "And you, you filthy pig, you’re just standing there like you had nothing to do with this. You’re the one who put them in contact with that asshole Jinzo in the first place."
"I tried to—" Harlan began.
"Shut it," Kai cut in without even looking at him. "Shut your fucking mouth!"
In the living room of the villa, Victoria clenched her jaw hearing the exchange, her nails digging slightly into the armrest of the couch. She would have loved to say a few words to Harlan herself, but she knew she had to stay invisible, Nash had made her promise. In Harlan’s eyes they were supposed to have been on bad terms for weeks.
Rei had placed herself in front of Aiko, almost instinctively, one arm slightly extended as if to protect her from an invisible threat.
"Nash," she said. "I’m fine with taking risks, but not those. Not with her." She paused, then, lower, almost reluctantly. "It’s just today, so it doesn’t change anything if the three of us go, you, me, and Blondie. They’re not going to scrap the whole thing over some whim of Jinzo’s... And so I was thinking... we should think about how we’ll proceed once we’re there, I mean... if we really have to do it... You and me."
"Rei," Aiko said, exasperated despite the tension. "Is this really the time?"
"I’m just saying what’s logical," Rei shot back, cheeks slightly red. "Your case is already settled, you’re not leaving the house."
In Rei’s earpiece, Dahlia’s voice came through, an amused breath perceptible despite the gravity of the moment.
"She’s at it again."
"I know," Victoria murmured, a tired smile appearing on her face in spite of herself before she immediately recovered her seriousness.
Saya, who had stayed back near the door, still hadn’t said anything. She watched the scene unfold in front of her with something that looked like painful disbelief. All these people fighting, worrying, protecting someone they loved... it was so far from everything she had known with Roam, with the Dust Dogs, with that entire life built on indifference and use.
She felt a familiar burn rise in her throat, that bitter regret that never really left her.
Nash raised a hand, not brutally, just enough for silence to fall again.
"Listen to me," he said. "All of you."
He walked slowly toward the center of the room, between the old rusted machines, his gaze passing over every face present, but his words reaching those who weren’t.
"I don’t have some bullshit excuse to feed you," he said. "I don’t have a magic plan that guarantees everything will go well. What’s going to happen tonight is probably the most dangerous thing we’ve attempted since the beginning of all this."
"Then why?!" Kai started.
"Because that’s exactly why we have to go," Nash answered without raising his voice. "Hector has never had to worry about a single thing. Not once. He’s always had the luxury of hurting people from his air-conditioned office, protected by his name, his money, his lawyers. And tonight, for the first time, he thinks he’s holding a perfect trap. He thinks he’s going to break me in one room while a bastard like Jinzo has his fun in another." He stopped, sweeping his eyes over everyone. "He doesn’t know we already hold all the cards."
Aiko was staring at him, jaw clenched, visibly fighting the tears that threatened to rise.
"What does that mean for me, concretely," she asked, her voice trembling in spite of herself. "Because ’we hold all the cards’ doesn’t reassure me much when I’m the one who has to walk into that room with that pig."
Nash approached her, stopping a few centimeters away, his gaze never leaving hers.
"Tonight," he said, "I’m picking weapons. Literally. I’m walking into that place with the intention of taking the things that will end Hector once and for all. Not in six months. Not next year. Tonight, if the opportunity presents itself." He lowered his voice slightly. "And I swear to you, on my own life, that no one, no one, will touch a single one of your hairs. Not Rei either. Not Saya either."
Saya’s name had come out a little from nowhere; it was the Nash focused on the quest conditions who was speaking, but his words had their effect.
Saya, who had remained silent all this time, felt something tighten in her chest, a warmth that was both unexpected and painful.
He was thinking of her too. After everything she had done to him, he hadn’t abandoned her. He didn’t only have eyes for Aiko or the mission. He was thinking of her as well.
She quickly looked away, trying to hide the emotion that threatened to show on her face.
Aiko stayed silent for a long moment, staring at Nash, clearly searching his eyes for the slightest crack, the slightest doubt. She found none.
"Can you really guarantee that?" she asked finally, her voice smaller.
"I can guarantee that I will do everything, absolutely everything, to make it happen," Nash answered without looking away. "That’s the only real promise I can honestly make you. And I won’t say that I would kill Jinzo if he tried anything, because he won’t do anything to you. He won’t even touch you."
A different silence settled over the room, less tense, heavier with contained emotion. Kai had stopped glaring at Harlan, staring at the floor instead, jaw clenched.
Harlan, for his part, was staring at Nash with a strange expression... a mix of distrust and something that almost looked like admiration in spite of himself. He would never have been able to explain it clearly, but ever since he had known Nash, there was something in his presence, in his voice, that almost pushed him against his will to want to earn his approval, to feel small and insufficient every time he disappointed him.
He shook his head slightly, chasing the sensation, without understanding that he was the victim, without knowing it, of one of Nash’s passives that had been operating on him for weeks.
Dahlia still had her arms crossed, but her face had lost a little of its hardness.
Victoria observed the scene in silence, a mix of admiration and worry hardening her features. She knew, better than anyone in that room, everything Nash had already accomplished these past months, the buyout of Sector 4, the reconstruction of his reputation, the discovery of a crack in Apex, the liberation of Baby-Boom. All of that while carrying Blacklist.
He had never had a single real break since the beginning. And now, tonight, he was heading out again, into total unknown, without even knowing exactly what awaited him on the other side of that door.
It was hard, it was painful to be this powerless, to let him carry all of it... But... that was also why he was her man. Her man. Victoria Graves, the femme fatale, the Boss, couldn’t be with anyone other than this man who made the impossible a hobby.
"He’ll keep his word," she said finally, her voice breaking the silence in the living room and in the earpieces of Aiko, Rei and Nash himself. "I know him. If he says he’ll protect Aiko and Saya, he will, even if it costs him everything he has."
Aiko listened to Victoria, then looked at Nash again, something slowly loosening in her shoulders. She sighed, letting the emotion weighing inside her finally release.
"Alright," she murmured at last. "I’m going."
Rei let out a breath she had clearly been holding for a while, nodding reluctantly.
"Then I’m going too," she said. "And—" she hesitated, throwing a quick glance at Nash, "we stick to the plan to the letter. For credibility."
"Rei, seriously, you’re even worse than Hina," Aiko sighed, a small tired smile appearing on her face despite everything.
In the living room of the villa, Hina, who was following the scene over Dahlia’s shoulder, let out a small offended laugh.
"Like, seriously, what the hell! She’s overdoing it in a moment this emotional. So turned on I can feel her nipples hardening from kilometers away!"
Maybe she was serious, maybe she just wanted to lighten the atmosphere, but everyone else couldn’t hold back small laughs, and Rei, who had heard everything, felt tiny, or rather wished she could be.
It was at that moment that Harlan, who had stayed silent for a while, suddenly straightened, something new crossing his face.
"Wait, so this is serious? We’re doing everything tonight? We’re taking the thing that’s going to kill Hector?" he said, stepping forward. "If— if all of this is really going down tonight, if we’re really going to do your thing..." He swallowed, hesitating one more second before launching. "I can help you. Really help you this time. I know the exact layout of the building, the guard rotation schedules, the access codes for the restricted zones. I can also find out where Jinzo is supposed to meet Aiko. I can save you precious time."
A skeptical silence greeted his proposal. Kai crossed her arms, one eyebrow raised.
"You’re serious right now," she said.
"Completely serious," Harlan insisted. "Listen, I know I fucked up, I know I let this whole Jinzo thing slip out of my hands. But if Hector falls tonight, that means we’ll finally be free of that monster. We can achieve our dream, Nash, my dear Nash... You can finally reach the Upperworld... Maybe even tomorrow!"
Nash observed him for a long moment, an ironic smile slightly stretching the corner of his lips. What an idiot... what a complete idiot... And the worst part? His risk factors showed he was fully into it.
"Alright," he said. "I’m happy to team up with you. We’re going to put it deep in the Perezes."
"Oh—" Harlan blushed slightly. "Yeah. Deep... I love how you phrase that... I mean I haven’t jizzed in forever, and my underwear is ruined with my special program. Imagine, I’m boosted on the blue pills and I’ve stepped up the kegel exercises. That whore is going to take it so hard."
In the living room of the villa, a horrified silence fell over the small group gathered in front of the screen. Victoria’s face was slowly draining of all color.
Zayela, standing behind the couch, one hand resting on Victoria’s shoulder, gave her as much support as she could.
"Ignore that... It means you’re pretty..."
"Lewis," Victoria sighed. "Shut the fuck up."
Nash stared at Harlan a moment longer, then slowly nodded, forcing a smile behind his disgust.
"Okay, okay," he said. "Keep that excitement and don’t wash at all. I’m sure the tall blonde is going to throw up. Alright, come on, give us everything you know."
The group tightened around an old metal table where Harlan began quickly sketching the building plan with a piece of chalk found in the rubble.
Nash listened attentively while Kai and Rei discussed in low voices.
Aiko, who had stayed a little apart, observed the scene with something new in her eyes, no longer fear, but something like determination. She finally approached Nash, placing herself right next to him, her shoulder brushing his.
"Thank you," she murmured, low enough for only him to hear. "For the promise."
Nash didn’t react right away; he smiled, then nodded.
"I’ll keep it," he answered. "No one will touch Mama, ok?"
Saya stayed back, watching this little world organize itself with an almost family-like efficiency, everyone except Harlan, of course, this raw and sincere solidarity that seemed natural to all of them.
She thought, despite herself, of all those wasted months with Roam, of all those nights when she had been used, soiled, while Nash protected his women.
I could have had this, she thought, a dull sadness tightening her chest. I’m such an idiot... So stupid...
She chased the thought, forcing herself to focus on the plan taking shape in front of her.
There would always be time later to grieve what she had lost. For now there was a mission to accomplish, and she fully intended to take part in it the best she could, if only to prove to herself that she still deserved a little of the trust that had just been given to her.
Nash watched the group busy themselves around the table, feeling the familiar weight of responsibility settle on his shoulders, that weight that never really left him, no matter how many battles he had already won.
He thought back, for a brief moment, to the system’s quests. The path was already laid out, somewhere. All that remained was to walk it once more, without knowing exactly what awaited him on the other side, but hadn’t he become a pro at that?
"Alright," he said finally, his voice cutting through the last of the preparatory noise. "Let’s go."