Black Market Merchant

Chapter 149: Yes, I’m a Cyborg
Lisa tugged at Saul’s arm roughly as everyone headed for the exit. Sadie and Wayne were not sure as to what was going on, but figured it had something to do with the bet the two had made. Hanna tried to explain to Benny what had gone on, but her words wouldn’t work to well due to her anger and nervousness. She only could tell him that Saul was a bad guy and one of those gangsters responsible for what happened to her parents.

Wayne, however, was too excited to go with the others or care what Lisa’s intentions with Saul were. As it was his job to report back to the ERM he took out a pen and pad from his pocket excitedly. Excusing himself, Wayne sat down in an empty seat in the Warehouse Arena lobby and immediately got to writing while the fight was still fresh in his mind.

The rest of the group was now quickly making their way out of the Warehouse Arena, but not without being watched. Xander and Martinez were watching from their booth. Before Saul disappeared down the hallway, he looked up at them and subtly gave a thumbs up. Martinez understood and gave a serious nod in reply.

”Should I keep an eye on them? That foolish man might not be able to pull it off.” Xander’s voice grated softly in Martinez’s ear.

”Do as you please. It makes no difference if he kills her or not.” Martinez replied turning to leave.

”As you say.” Xander replied taking out his tabloid to open the camera’s. Then entering a few commands, he set it so the cameras would track Saul’s movements automatically.

”I’ll be taking my leave as well.” Jackson said getting up from his seat. His mind was thinking about what to do next, because Queen had won her bet and now, so he was going to have to figure out how to deal with her plans for him. However, if her plans were not going to be fruitful for him, there was no way he would go along with her. She needed leverage on him, and he needed to counter it.

”I’ll stay here.” Ernest said propping up his feet on the railing in front of him. ”I read the fight list and another fighter of Sadie’s is going to fight later. I want to see how that country hick does.”

”Guess the outcome by yourself.” Branch replied taking a long draw from his questionable cigar. ”I wanna go outside and look at the clouds. All that dust was wicked to look at.”

”What a weirdo.” Ernest murmured watching the out-of-date dressed hippy leave.

…

Lisa and the rest were almost out of the Arena’s entrance when Zane called out to them. He was just arriving from his little side quest. ”Hey guys! Looks like you won already. Guess what I found out.” Then he noticed Saul. ”What’s he doing here?”

”I’ll explain later.” Lisa replied gruffly. She eyed him suspiciously seeing he was already outside. ”I hope you made some money off those bets.”

”Ah, that’s right! I need to go get the rewards before my fight starts. I’ll be right back.” Zane replied hurriedly turning to go inside. The snappy way Lisa had replied to him was rather scary and was glad to put some distance between them for a moment.

”I’ll go with you Zane!” Sadie called out as she tried to follow along with him. ”We need to go over our strategy.”

Lisa tugged onto Saul’s forearm again and they headed for the security blind spot on the side of the Warehouse. They stopped near the shed and bushes that the children snuck out from before. Benny and Hanna stood back from the two as Lisa prepared to handle Saul. Benny opted to keep a look out for anyone watching, while Hanna looked on angrily.

Lisa tossed Saul aggressively against the building’s walls and he slumped down a bit winded. ”Come on. You don’t really have to do this.” Saul pleaded. ”I still don’t understand why you’re so upset about that incident. You didn’t even know them. Why are you going to such lengths?”

”Why?” Lisa replied cocking her head to one side in mock though. She looked down at the already beaten man with lazy cold grey eyes, there was no shred of care in them, and answered. ”Do I need a reason? It was wrong, what you all did. Shouldn’t there be justice?”

Then she remembered something he said before. ”Since I won, I get the deed to the dam. Where is it?”

”I lied about that. I don’t even know if it exists.” Saul replied rubbing his arm where she had grabbed him.

”Seriously!?” Lisa hissed suppressing a shout while cocking her arm back for a punch.

”I-I could give you money instead. Uh, real cash too!” Saul stammered raiding a hand defensively. However, he could tell that this woman clearly wasn’t going to be swayed. His other hand had already slowly started to drift behind him. Going under his shirt, Saul caressed the rough grip of the pistol.

”Let’s get this over with.” Lisa said giving a slight sneer. She then started to reach down to grab the man when Saul suddenly broke into a grin.

”Yes, let’s get this over with.” Saul said pulling the gun slowly from his pants in anticipation for the right moment.

Hanna had been watching all this unfold and noticed the gun as his shirt lifted slightly up. She immediately tried to warn Lisa. ”Look out, he’s got a gun!”

At Hanna’s warning, Saul flicked out the gun from behind him. Aiming right at Lisa’s head, he fired!

”Pow!”

The deafening thud of gun firing echoed harshly off the Warehouse building and compound’s metal wall. Hanna clenched her eyes shut just as everything happen. Everything was deathly silent.

”Please! Not Aunt Lisa too! I can’t lose another person I care about!” Hanna screamed in her mind.

”What the hell…!” Saul shouted out, but he was immediately cut off. Lisa’s hand was now tightly wrapping around his neck. Lisa was alive!

Hearing him speak, Hanna opened her eyes to see Lisa’s deployed arm shield! The opened up prosthetic arm looked shockingly different than before and resembled nothing like a human’s body part. Hanna was now just as confused as she was overjoyed to see her Aunt Lisa alive.

Saul had shot at such close range, accurately aiming at Lisa’s skull, that there should have been no way he could’ve missed. Yet in the blink of an eye Lisa, seeing the gun and hearing Hanna’s screams, instinctively activated her forearm shield!

The prosthetic arm was designed to deploy faster than bullets, no matter the distance! The pistol bullet was no threat to her. She was now done giving this man another chance, those chances were all used up. Hanna’s request to leave him alive was no longer an option in Lisa’s mind.

Lisa knocked away the gun as she effortlessly lifted Saul up by his neck. Saul struggled to free himself, gurgling for breath. However, it was useless. Lisa’s grip was just too strong.

Benny had been looking away during all this. When the gun shot blasted out behind him, he threw himself flat. Then remembering Hanna, he spun around to protect her. When he did, Benny saw that Lisa was alright and grabbing Saul. Unfortunately, Lisa’s prosthetic shield arm had already closed back up. Hanna was the only one to witness what truly happened.

Lisa looked away from the strangling man in her grip to speak with Hanna. ”See, bad guys will always be bad. Sometimes it is better just to end them right away. Otherwise worms like him will keep squirming around and making our lives harder.”

Saul’s already mangled face grew ever redder as his legs dangled furiously above the ground as Lisa strangled him. No matter what he did, Lisa would not budge. He tried clawing at her arms, kicking at her body or head and shaking violently about to free himself. All this was in vain. After a few moments of struggle, Saul was dead.

Hanna looked away as the last of his life was squeezed out of him. The faces he made were far too unsettling. However, she was oddly glad. Lisa was safe and another murder was dead.

”Should I really feel glad about this?” Hanna thought. ”It’s not right, but it feels right.”

”What just happened?” Benny asked after getting up slow and confused. ”I heard the gun shot and turned to find you killing that man.”

”He pulled a gun on me but missed.” Lisa replied dropping the lifeless body. The body crumpled awkwardly at her feet, but she paid it no mind and casually stepped over it to join up with the other two. “Not exactly proud of the creature I’ve become, but I just did what needed to be done.”

Just then guards came running around buildings corner, looking for the source of the gun shot. Thinking fast, Lisa grabbed the pistol laying on the ground. Turning to the rushing guards, she started waving towards them.

”Hurry! They killed Saul!” Lisa shouted going towards them. Her voice sounded uncharacteristically worried, and her expression looked equally so. She was acting just like any other woman might act after a gun shot.

The first three guards rushed up to her and pointed their guns at her unsure how to handle the situation. After all she had the gun in her hand. Two other guards hurried by and went up to Saul’s body. One other slower guard arrive and took aim at Benny, who promptly raised his hands feigning innocence.

The two gangster guards looked over the body. One of them turned and shouted out. ”He’s dead!”

”What happened? Who shot and why is that guy dead over there?” One of the guards pointing at Lisa snarled.

”We were suddenly attacked by three masked people.” Lisa replied still pretending to be afraid. ”They went right for Saul. He was going to pee before we were going to talk. So, we all had our backs turned. I heard a strange scuffling noise and turned around to see him being strangled by the three men. I took out my gun and shot but missed.”

Lisa held out her swiped pistol to the guards. They quickly took it from her and looked inside to see that one bullet was indeed missing. Then the same guard called out to the two others checking Saul’s body. ”How did he die?”

”Looks like he was strangled. There is no blood or bullet hole.” The two other guards replied leaving the body.

”Hmm, so where are they now?” The lead guard asked still suspicious. “There’s no one else around here.”

”They ran towards those bushes and disappeared. That all I know.” Lisa replied lying without hesitation.

”Go, check it out.” The lead guard said nodding at the other two in the direction of the bush with his gun barrel.

The two guards cautiously headed for the bushes, guns at the ready. They poked around for a moment but found nothing.

”Are you sure you are not lying?” The lead guard asked still training his gun at Lisa.

”I am telling the truth, honest.” Lisa replied.

Hanna caught on to what Lisa was trying to do. She plucked up some courage and spoke, ”M-maybe there is a hidden door or something?”

”I doubt it.” The lead guard said eyeing the masked little girl. ”Check anyway.”

Seconds later one of the guards called out from the bushes. ”I found a hole in the wall! It’s just big enough to have someone crawl through. I think they are telling the truth.”

”Hmm, fine. It seems you’re telling the truth. Go ahead and go. We got this.” The lead guard said lowing his gun.

The three ’bystanders’ quickly left the area. More guards and curious onlookers were now starting to show up. It was best that they left as soon as possible and not draw any more attention to themselves.

”That was close.” Benny sighed sounding relieved. ”How did you two know to do that?”

”Lucky guesses.” Lisa replied giving Hanna a sly wink. Then stopping on the other side of the growing crowd, Lisa leaned close to Hanna. ”I’ll tell you more about my secret later. For now, just know I am part cyborg. Both my arms and legs. This will be our little secret together now.”

Hanna nodded and looked up at the tall woman with a new perspective. A lot of things were starting to make sense. The way she moved, jumped, and fought wouldn’t be possible for such a pretty and slim woman to perform naturally. Hanna just had to know more. Aunt Lisa was getting even cooler now!