Moon Colonies News: Attention all residents of Ganymede, if you see a woman with short, curly dark hair, green eyes, and an orange exo-suit, please report her to your nearest police station. Her name is Cherry Ford and she's wanted for leading the syndicate "Pink Fairy" in illegally exporting whale and octopus meat out of the moon.

Wolf used Skully's private elevator to leave the gangsta's office. An upbeat melody played inside as it descended, calming his nerves and making him bob his head up and down and tap his heels on the floor. With his eyes closed, the music enthralled him to the point he didn't realize he had arrived at his destination and the elevator's door was open.

"Ahem!" A voice brought him out of his trance. Sally-May stood before him with her hands on her waist and a frown on her face. She was the wife of Rover—former Kingpin of Paradiso: Skully had dethroned him. She tugged a strand of her long coal-black hair behind her ear and crossed her arms on her chest.

Black hair looked good on Beltans. It complemented their pale skin and long, slim frame—a side effect of living on the Asteroid Belt. Since its inauguration, female Beltans had won the most Miss Solar System awards; their unique look gave them an advantage over their competitors.

"Dampnas rei utor possum?" she asked, looking uncomfortable as Wolf ogled her.

She was beautiful—insanely beautiful: cat-like face and silver eyes, broad nose, and full lips. Woo! A former Miss Asteroid Belt too. Every inch of him craved her, making him forget the pain of getting his ass beat by Two-Face and Hannibal. He wished he was smooth enough to throw a flirtatious line or two and have her in his arms. But previous failed attempts with beltan women reminded him he lacked such a skill.

Sally-May put her hands inside her blue cutout shorts' pockets, its front-and-center zip traversing the whole length vertically. A long-sleeve jacket covered her top, hiding her black and silver cybernetic torso.

"Hello!" She snapped her fingers in his face, taking him out of his daydream.

"Shit, wait." Wolf smacked the back of his neck where the translation chip was. It had been malfunctioning for the last month. He had to get it fixed. It was crucial for surviving space travel—especially for a bounty hunter. "What did you say?"

"Can I use the damn thing?" She pointed at the elevator where he still stood.

"Right, sorry." He stepped out, and she took his place. When his fascination with her died down, one question lingered in his mind: Why was she using Skully's private elevator?

There were several possibilities, the top one being adultery. He decided to mind his own business, seeing as he was already on Skully's bad side. So, he turned away from the closing doors and went on with his day on Paradiso—a space station in the form of a Rubik's cube that sold black market goods, wrapped up in a nightclub atmosphere.

Paradiso had three sectors: Trading, Luxury, and Dock.

The trading sector housed over two hundred traders who rented ateliers to sell their goods. Every month they paid a twenty percent fee of their monthly income to the Kingpin, who then used it to maintain the teleportation device that allowed the black market to evade The Universal Authority—or TUA.

The luxury sector had casinos, clubs, memory labs, and brothels. It was Paradiso's most profitable area out of the three, offering high-quality services limited only by one's imagination. Even with TUA on their back, politicians and high-ranking government officials frequented the black market like bugs.

Wolf passed through the trading sector with a bounce in his step. His change in mood was a far cry from the man who had been pleading to Skully earlier. If the traders in Paradiso hadn't known him better, they would have thought he had paid his debt.

"You're still alive?" a voice asked from Wolf's right. He didn't need to turn to know who it was. The number of times the trader thought he would die, only for it not to happen, made Wolf uncomfortable.

Wolf sighed and turned to face the trader, Marcos. He sold weapons that imitated the elements of nature. Born and raised in Rhea, Saturn's moon, the trader was thirty-two with bright yellow eyes, a portly black cybernetic torso, and a bald head. He had shaved it after the other traders mocked his receding hairline.

"Do I look dead?" Wolf spread his arms and winced, his ribs aching from Two-Face's punch, making the veins in his neck show.

"You owe me credits." Marcos frowned.

"You're the one who keeps betting on me to die in every mission. It's not my fault you suck at betting."

"You're hard to kill." Marcos sucked his teeth. "Are you a cockroach?"

"No, I'm Wolf."

Marcos showed him his middle fingers, making Wolf smile as he left.

🐺

Wolf arrived outside Bright Rainbow—an atelier owned by his best friend, Rainbow. It had black padded walls and floor, and multiple light panels on its ceiling. Unlike the others, she was a tech specialist, capable of creating and fixing anything. And if she couldn't, then she would learn how to in a short period.

Though Wolf wouldn't admit it to her face, the term "genius" undermined how smart she really was. Sentences like "out of this world" described her best. He had never seen another human or machine do what she could. And after watching too many movies, he surmised her intellect as "alien-like".

"Rainbow!" Wolf shouted.

"What do you want, coyote?" Rainbow asked without sparing him a glance. A coyote was a bounty hunter working for the Galactic Space Force. She sat on a rolling seat, focused on the cybernetic arm on the table in front of her. She touched one of its wires, and it electrocuted her hand. "Mother-Father!"

Wolf laughed when she glanced over her shoulder and glared at him. He covered his mouth with his hands, but his shaking shoulders gave him away.

Rainbow removed the face shield and safety goggles and tossed them on the table, leaving a red headscarf covering her large pink afro.

She stood and approached him, her six-foot-two height and muscular frame rivaling hulk-like beings, while her dark skin, enormous ember eyes, broad lips, and wide nose made her look like a mythical god. She wore a light blue coverall with its buttons unbuttoned down to her belly button, revealing a black singlet underneath.

"You're glowing," Wolf said.

"What do you mean?"

A metal counter with a side door stood between them.

"You seem happy."

"I'm always happy. See?" Rainbow pointed at her dull expression.

"Sure."

Rainbow grabbed Wolf's chin and turned his head to the side, observing the recent cut on his bottom lip. "I told you not to come here without Skully's money. But did you listen?" She scoffed. "You never listen to me."

"I've listened to you many times."

She released his chin from her grasp and crossed her arms. "Please remind me of one of those many times."

Wolf opened his mouth but promptly closed it again. Rainbow was right, he had never listened to her. It wasn't like she gave terrible advice. In fact, most of what she said always ended up happening. But... He... Somehow... What the hell! He preferred learning his lessons the hard way. And no, he wasn't a masochist.

"What did Skully say?"

"He gave me one last chance."

"You are not good with last chances." She placed her hand on his shoulder. "You are going to die."

She was the last person he thought he would hear those words from. "Have you been talking to Marcos lately?"

"No, what did he say?"

"Never mind." He swiped Rainbow's hand from his shoulder. "If I fail and Skully kills me, you'll miss me, right? You'll go to my funeral with tears falling down your face, screaming my name, hoping your horrible singing voice will bring me back."

"Miss you?" She scoffed. "As if. I'll rejoice in your death."

"Really? But if I die, who'll tell you of the adventures out there?" He gazed into space. An electromagnetic field protected every organic in Paradiso from choking to death. An icy chill ran down his spine when he realized this was Rainbow's view every day. He couldn't imagine himself not being out there, fighting and exploring different planets and moons, and completing bounties.

"I'll find someone else." Rainbow had been to two places her whole life: Wonderland—their place of birth—and Paradiso. Whatever story she had about exploring the system was either make-believe, or she took what Wolf told her and made it her own. "Anyway, how are you going to find the money to pay Skully?"

"I have to find a bounty that pays as much as I owe him."

"But that would mean—"

"Yes, a Red Zone bounty."

The Galactic Space Force had four types of bounties: Green Zone, Red Zone, White Zone, and Yellow Zone.

As the most dangerous of the four, Red Zone bounties birthed legends, focusing on planetary and system-wide threats. Only coyotes that had been with the organization for over seven years could access it. And because of its dangerous nature, the GSF had stated in their contract that if a coyote died while working in the Red Zone, their family and loved ones wouldn't receive compensation. It was the main reason why most coyotes didn't use it.

"You're insane," Rainbow said with a frown. "I know you don't value your life, but this..." She rubbed her forehead, her bloodshot eyes had crow's feet at the corners showing how tired she was. Being a tech specialist came with a lot of sleepless nights. The nightclub atmosphere didn't help.

"I've been a coyote for eight years; I'm more than qualified." He grabbed her hands and gently squeezed them. "I'm not stupid. I know how dangerous it is; that's why I'm here. I want your best weapons." With Skully breathing down his neck and Wednesday demanding a sleeve, the pressure to deliver weighed a mountain on his shoulders.

Rainbow looked at Wolf's trembling hands and chewed her bottom lip. She seemed caught in two minds.

"Please, Rainbow."

Her shoulders slumped before she sighed. "Fine."

"Really?" He cleared his throat. "I mean, of course, you'd help your handsome best friend."

She rolled her eyes. "Handsome is an overstatement."

He gasped, placing his hands on his chest. "How can you say such a thing to your best friend? That's a violation of the Best Friends Accords." He crossed his arms. "I should know. I wrote them."

Rainbow pointed her forefinger at him. "You better come back with an epic story. I need you to go guns blazing. Balls to the wall and the floor. Balls to the roof too. Heck, balls in space, if you can."

"That's too many balls."

"That's not the point!"

"It kind of is."

"Listen." She placed her hands on his shoulders and stared at him. "I need every news station in the system to be talking about your bounty after you complete it. Alright?"

He smiled. "Alright."

She drew her hands back to her sides. "Also, you better tell me everything when you return. I mean everything."

When he had informed her about his last bounty, he left out some details. He didn't understand why she took it personally when he left out the part of him sleeping with a witch—a bounty hunter working for the Witches Association. It was a one-night stand. It meant nothing.

"I will."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

She clapped thrice. "Excellent."

There were a few seconds of silence before he said, "Nice clothes."

"Don't start, Wolf."

"I said nothing bad. I was complimenting you."

"Is that so?" She raised her brow. "Go ahead then. Compliment me some more."

Wolf opened his mouth, but no words came out. He didn't have anything nice to say about her blue coverall. Grease stained it, and the black singlet underneath wasn't anything to be impressed about. His mind wasn't fast enough to come up with something convincing. "You're glowing."

She rolled her eyes. "Let me get you what you need so you can get out of my sight."

"That's not how you talk to your best friend."

"Best friends know how to compliment each other."

"Said who?"

"The Best Friends Treaty."

"It's the Accords."

"Whatever." Rainbow left for the room at the back of her atelier, where she kept her weapons and gadgets. Wolf had been there once, and he had felt like he was in another world. It was a haven for bounty hunters or anyone with a weapons fetish.

As he waited outside, Wolf turned around and observed the other ateliers. He stared at the one opposite Rainbow's: Laziness Prevails, its words projected above it. Its owner, Lazy Eyes, was talking to a brown-skinned man and woman in red suits, with white ties and shoes. Tattoos and piercings covered his face and slim body, and a red spiky mohawk stood on his head. His love for leather clothes made him good friends with Two-Face. No one knew his real name—he refused to say—so everyone called him Lazy Eyes because he was cross-eyed, and he had refused cybernetic implants. Like Wolf, he loved being organic.

"'iinaha wahidat min banadiq albalazima alraqiqa," Lazy Eyes said. The couple must have been Venerians—people from Venus—for Lazy Eyes to speak Arabic. It was one of the planet's primary languages.

Wolf smacked the back of his neck until the translation chip worked again. Not able to speak more than one language—English—proved challenging as his chip kept malfunctioning.

"Do you have another weapon?" the man asked, seeming unimpressed with the black and white pulse rifle in his hands. The weapon had lost its appeal as society had moved past the need for weapons with large capacitors—they were heavy and took time to recharge. People preferred something small and lethal, like laser and light guns.

"Yes, I do." Lazy Eyes disappeared to his atelier's backroom with the pulse rifle, then returned with two briefcases, placing them on the counter. He opened them and revealed two brand new laser pistols, each the size of a pinky finger, easy to smuggle anywhere.

Under the constitution of the Planetary Alliance, Mars was the only planet allowed to make laser weapons, with Carlstrom Inc, Lem Corp, and Unice Ltd the only companies contracted to manufacture them. Smugglers found it easy to steal from them because they paid their workers in shits and giggles, making it better to bribe the security guards to look the other way than fighting them.

The man and woman smiled while gazing at both briefcases. This was Lazy Eyes' neat trick. He would bring old weapons that customers would frown upon, and after they declined them, he'd go to the back and get the actual product he had intended to sell. It made it easier for him to overcharge with no objection from customers.

"How much for both briefcases?" the woman asked.

"Just three hundred thousand... each," Lazy Eyes said.

Wolf scoffed. How he wished he had that much money. It would have eliminated all his problems. Especially his biggest one: Skully.

The woman paid while the man closed the briefcases and carried them.

"Good doing business with you," Lazy Eyes said while the couple walked away.

"Just three hundred thousand... each?" Wolf asked the trader.

Lazy Eyes smiled, revealing the narrow gaps between his teeth. "Rainbow is back."

Wolf turned to the Bright Rainbow and saw her placing a small briefcase on the counter between them. She opened it, revealing a purple ring covered with glitter. "I've been working on this weapon for two years. It's a prototype. The real one will be ready soon. So, for the time being, this will have to do."

"What does it do?" The ring looked like other ordinary rings, apart from its color and glitter. But Wolf was never a good judge of things. He had seen pens turn into guns, and hoverboards turn into hoverbikes. It wouldn't be a surprise if the ring had that sort of functionality.

"It's a nano-ring, capable of transforming into any weapon in its arsenal."

"How many weapons does it have?"

"All handheld weapons known in the system."

Wolf smiled. Now that was what he wanted to hear. He wouldn't need to waste money buying more weapons. "And what's with the glitter?"

"It makes it easier for you to find the nano-ring when you misplace it. Like you do with everything else."

Wolf nodded. He was a klutz sometimes—most times. "How much?"

"How much do you have?"

Wolf tapped his wristpad, and a holo-screen appeared. He checked his bank balance. "One hundred thousand."

"Give me fifty thousand."

Wolf glanced at her with his brow raised. "That will leave me with only fifty thousand."

"You have survived on less."

She was right. And he didn't want to argue about it. Her weapons usually cost more than this. She was doing him a solid here. Rainbow's wristpad bleeped when she received the credits.

"Good doing business with you, Rainbow." Wolf grabbed the nano-ring and wore it on his right middle finger. "See you soon."

"Be careful."

"I will."

Wolf left the Bright Rainbow, heading to his spacecraft. Though his chances of surviving the Red Zone were close to zero, he believed in the capabilities of Rainbow's tech to save his life. Wednesday was the best example.