Try and hold your own against Dr. Bortnik with no back-up!

This really was the worst case scenario. If Despedida had been the one locked in with Bortnik, she'd probably have some fancy gadget ready to hack the guy's prosthetics or turn them against him. If it was Tschau, she could fight him on an even level using her own prosthetics, which he himself had lauded as next level. You, on the other hand, were an ordinary human being, and this opponent was one who was on the level of your agents, not you. You hadn't been trained to fight cyborgs with guns build into their hands and full-body cloaking technology they could activate on a whim.

But you were still a CEDIT agent. CEDIT didn't just belong to the Goodbye Girls. It was still possible for a human being to accomplish great things and defend the world from terrorism.

You told yourself that, while sweat rolled down from your forehead to your chin. Ridiculously, you drew your service pistol.

"Mister Ciao... You're in a tough spot. My fingers can each fire approximately four bullets in the time it will take you to squeeze the trigger for one of those. I can also deploy a magnetic shield that will stop the bullet mid-flight. Come now... I know you're not a genius, but you can at least die with dignity," the man laughed through his speaking vent.

That was true. You had to act within the limits of what a human being could really do. Still, you fired. Wouldn't it be a true miracle if the bullets went through somehow?

Like a cop in a science fiction movie, you watched in awe as your bullets began to hover mid-air, then fell to the floor with a useless clatter. The man tilted his head sympathetically. "Are you finished? Oh... I feel your pain. I really do. You know, Milaslava and I began augmenting humans like you to end this sort of thing. Human beings... powerless creatures that can be destroyed with a single shot to the heart or even to some less vital area. When I started to get old, my mission became that much more desperate, ha ha ha! I can only imagine how Milaslava feels. My younger sister is starting to approach old age myself, unless she's figured out a way to halt it, like I did." That was an interesting question he'd posed... but devoting energy to anything other than self preservation felt ridiculous right now.

As such, you rushed the man with your shoulder, knocking his gun arm up and into the air.

Your vision blurred and you howled in pain as the man placed his other hand against your ribs and fired, shattering them and spilling your blood. Of course, he had guns in both hands, not just one. Bortnik had managed to hit nothing vital... a testament of his skill as a scientist familiar with the human anatomy more than his mercy.

"I've decided I won't kill you, Mister Ciao. I have no reason to. If your survival makes my darling Amelia more amicable to coming along with me, then it will only be a boon for me. However, I am going to take your consciousness. Pleasant dreams."

You couldn't give up... Even bleeding, even outgunned... You were fighting for humanity. You were fighting to prove that faithful agents and ordinary humans could still fight against the overwhelming odds of these supernatural creatures known as the Goodbye Girls and the sorts of threats they faced. So they had extraordinary combat senses. So they were literal chameleons who could practically shapeshift. So they were cybernetically enhanced ninjas. So they were genius level hackers who could take whole countries for ransom.

Humanity had made it this far! CEDIT was all of the world's nations, pooling their resources for a common good! It had to be possible to win!

Bortnik's chop against your shoulder created a painful popping noise of an arm disconnecting from its socket. It was the last thing you'd hear before you lost consciousness. Your last thought wasn't for the pain of the attack... it was the pain of knowing that you were wrong. In your lifetime, you would never match up to this mad doctor or those super agents.

You awoke to found yourself in a CEDIT stable, on the way back to your Gambit. You found yourself shirtless with your ribs bandaged. Your arm felt like one big knot, but everything still seemed functional... if very much in pain. You didn't want to actually look at your shoulder, for fear of the swelling you were certain you'd see.

Tschau was the driver. She looked down to you briefly, noticing you'd awoken, then turned her eyes back to the road. "Bortnik put you in a bad spot, Ciao." You had to nod along with that. Still, you were surprised when the ninja narrowed her eyes severely and spoke in a more hurried tone. "But don't do something that reckless again. Despedida and I both thought you were dead when we found you. Don't fight a guy like that. You have to stall. You have to use that... weird cunning of yours. Do the annoying stuff you always do, but don't just throw your life away." You could tell her knuckles were tightening around her wheel's grip.

You were flattered that she'd decided she cared for you that much, but you also felt guilty. In the end, you had run out of options and tried to brute force it. You were only alive because Ivan Bortnik saw no value in killing you and your teammates were pretty quick on their feet with administering first-aid.

"During that fight, you were probably thinking: I'm just a human. I have to prove humans can do it. That's a noble thought, but guys like him and me aren't humans, they're demons. A human can never fight a demon. Don't forget that... rely on your own demons instead. We all want to help you, Ciao."

You asked her if she was saying you should trust all of the Goodbye Girls.

"Yes. We're all demons, but... we're demons with humanity's best interests at heart. Mostly."

The most flattering part about her attention was the fact that she wasn't using her phone for once. You apologized for behaving so recklessly, then remained quiet as the Stable carried you and her to the Gambit. You'd meet up with Despedida there, carrying the restrained Dr. Bortnik, and then head to CEDIT Russia's airport base.