Halian was patiently waiting for Erina's return, or as patiently as he could when his bladder ached, but then he heard commotion outside.

The blaring of the authorities' sirens as their flying machines zipped past was enough to get Halian to get up off the bed. He frowned into the night, seeing a squad of policemen marching off.

Curious, Halian turned on the radio, wondering if that would shed light on the situation, only for his eyes to go wide with horror.

"The criminal holding the nobles hostage at the Gilded Palace is none other than Tamrien Enreth," said the voice on the radio. "The infamous villain who has been terrorizing our good city for decades. But in recent years he has not been quite so brazen...."

The radio host kept going but Halian was already running off to get dressed. If his father was holding Erina hostage, then he needed to go confront him. He didn't care about any of the nobles, he only wanted her to be safe.

Halian wasn't sure what he could do to help, but he would come up with a plan on the way. Before leaving he stopped at the bathroom and guiltily removed his sound and relieved himself, hoping that Erina wouldn't be too mad about it later. The desperation was just going to make this situation even more difficult. And so would his plug and the corset. It felt wrong to remove them, but he had to. He couldn't fail at saving Erina.

Halian ran around their house, getting dressed and trying to find anything that might come in handy for the rescue he was about to attempt. He rummaged in Erina's workshop, trying to ignore the way his heart hurt seeing all her tools.

He grabbed a wrench, feeling like a savage just thinking about hitting someone with it. And then his eyes settled on a sparker, a component meant to induce electrical sparks in machinery and devices.

Halian picked it up, studying the little cube. Usually a sparker was very weak, but perhaps if he iincreased its power, he could utilize this for stunning opponents.

Halian wasn't much of a fighter, that was more Erina's matter, so this would have to do.

He tinkered with the sparker quickly, adding to it a much stronger battery and adjusting its output with a screwdriver. His heart hurt. Erina was in danger because of him and his cursed battery. If he'd only been—

No. Halian shook his head. He couldn't wallow in self-pity now. He needed to act.

Gritting his teeth, he dove the screwdriver in harder, making sparks fly out of the device. Good enough. It had to be.

Halian affixed the sparker onto an metal rod, the end of which he'd wrapped up in insulating fabric. It was far from perfect, but he didn't have time for perfect.

His heart racing, he ran out onto the street, not even feeling the cold, biting air or properly seeing the people around him. All he could focus on was getting to Erina.

When he finally reached the palace, Halian paused though. The massive structure, its golden surface shining due the light permanently pointed at it, was completely surrounded by policemen.

Halian supposed that wasn't surprising in hindsight, but he hadn't stopped for long enough to think about this.

But he would be damned if he let this stop him.

Halian ran around the building, trying to find a way in that wasn't swarmed by onlookers or the authorities, thumbing at the collar hidden behind his shirt all the while. His heart was hammering wildly in his chest, even more than it had been when running over here, as he pushed on, but there weren't any potential entrances.

Halian grabbed onto his hair, pacing in a circle, trying to think this through logically, despite his panicked mind.

The Gilded Palace was secure, with alarms and heavy metal doors, so as not to let the rabble in.

Which meant that the easiest way inside was through a window. Like his father had done.

Halian couldn't even manage to feel torn about following in his father's footsteps as he ran off in search of a flying vehicle he could steal.

He would need to enter from the other side. Hopefully that would help him avoid detection upon entering. At least detection from his father's men. Halian didn't fancy the idea of being shot at by the police either, but they would likely see him no matter what he'd do.

It didn't take long to find a useable flying machine, a small, metal capsule with a balloon and a propeller. Hardly something meant for transportation beyond the city, but more than enough for this.

Using all of the commotion, Halian used his improvised stunning stick to break the window to reach the lock and open the vehicle's door, quickly getting in while ignoring the blaring alarm that had been triggered.

The machine kept blaring at him for stealing it as Halian made it fly up to one of the windows of the palace. He swung the door open again, reaching out to break the glass.

There were a few feet between him and the window, try as he might to get closer, the and those shards in the window frame would no doubt cut him up. But Halian didn't care. This had to work. He could jump that far.

Halian took a breath, then leaped out to the window, flying through it. He gasped as glass indeed cut his arms, falling hard on the carpeted floor.

Halian looked back at the window, dusting off his suit and taking a sharp breath as he picked himself up. His arms burned, as did his knees from the impact, but he was mostly unscathed. He had to keep going.

Looking around, he couldn't really see anyone in the corridor he'd entered. His father's gang had no doubt moved everyone into one room so they could hold their hostages better while also making sure the servants couldn't run off either.

Halian grimaced. He remembered his father's methods well. The man wasn't above killing a few people he deemed worthless to make a point, and servants would be perfect for that.

Halian kept going, walking as softly as he could, hiding behind corners to look before continuing to make sure he was safe to do so, but the halls were empty.

Until finally, a pair of his father's men appeared at the end of the hall Halian had just entered.

His heart skipping a beat, Halian quickly ducked behind a nearby plant pot, but it was already too late.

"Did you see that?" one of them grumbles, rushing over to Halian's hiding place. The plant pot was large, as was the thick leaves of the plant itself, but it wouldn't do Halian much good when he'd been spotted before hiding behind it.

"Show yourself!" the other one cried as they both reached the pot. It was now or never.

With a shaking hand, Halian thrust the sparker at one of them through the leaves, hitting his target.

The man cried out, falling to the floor with a thud, dead to the world but hopefully not dead in actuality.

"What the—" was all the other one managed to say before Halian jabbed him as well, stunning him, making him fall on top of the first.

Halian then pulled the sparker back, looking at it while sighing in so much relief, his heart hammering in his chest.

That had been far too close. He needed to be smarter. But how could he take his time to be cautious when the love of his life was in danger?

Gritting his teeth, even more determined to save Erina now, Halian got up, searching the two gang members. They indeed seemed to be alive, though Halian hadn't checked too closely. He only wanted to take a gun and some ammo from them.

Once he acquired a pistol, he set off again, keeping it at the ready along with the sparker in his left hand. His aim was better with his left, but with the state of his prosthetic, it wasn't worth the risk.

Continuing on his way to the main ballroom, Halian stunned a couple more of his father's people, managing to get behind them to shock them without alerting them.

He was making good progress until he reached the door to the room where everyone was being kept. Because that door was heavily guarded, four men standing in front of it, armed to the teeth.

How was Halian supposed to get through that? He stalked away, sure there were several doors to the massive ballroom, but they were all guarded like this. And there was no way for him to get the drop on people who would see him coming from every angle available.

Halian was just considering his options, wondering if he could shoot the guards before being killed himself, when he felt the press of something hard against his back.

"Looks like we caught our little troublemaker," said a woman behind him, pressing what Halian now knew was definitely the barrel of a gun between his shoulder blades harder.

"Drop your weapons," a man barked at him.

Halian swallowed, his heart heart going a mile a minute. He could try to shock them, but they would no doubt shoot him before he could stun them both. And he was certainly not skilled enough at fighting to stand a chance in general. He'd demonstrated as much when he'd lost the pearls.

Halian squeezed his eyes shut as he let go of the sparker and gun, letting both drop to the floor.

He'd failed. Now how was he going to save Erina? Assuming that he'd even become another hostage. They could very well just shoot him now.

"Let's take a walk," the woman said, jabbing Halian in the back with her gun. With his head bowed and his heart hurting.

He silently went wherever they were leading him, swallowing when they reached a door and one of his captors knocked on it.

"Come in," came a chillingly familiar, perfectly calm voice. Halian's heart stuttered as he was forced inside the room despite not wanting to go anywhere near it.

The room turned out to be a study, though it was difficult to tell with how ransacked it was, furniture and bookshelves turned over, their contents spilled all over the floor, a table flipped over, and among all the mess, reading a book, was none other than his father, Tamrien Enreth.

"So, who has been...." His father paused, looking Halian up and down, surprise on his scarred face. He shut the book he'd been reading with a snap, throwing it aside as he came to hug Halian.

Halian wanted to recoil, but he forced himself to stay still. He didn't hug back, of course not, but it was not wise to anger his father. Especially not when Erina was in danger.

"Son," his father said, pulling away and grasping his shoulders. "To think you knocked out my men. You are being a nuisance but I am very impressed."

"Father...." Halian closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath.

"So why are you here? Have you decided to play hero?" his father asked, raising an eyebrow. "Last I heard you were an engineer."

Halian took another deep breath. "I am here to save my love. I hereby request that you release her."

"Your love," his father said, tilting his head as he narrowed his eyes. "One of those rich bastards?"

Halian tried to keep his anger to himself. He knew very well how his father felt about the rich, but that didn't mean he'd take any slander of Erina ever. Not to mention that she wasn't even one of them properly anymore.

"Not exactly. She is a daughter of one of them. But she went against her mother's wishes, became a mechanic, and now gets no support from her family," Halian explained, raising his head proudly. Erina was incredible. If he were born into the upper classes, he wasn't certain if he'd be able to cast it all aside.

"Mechanic," his father repeated, tapping his chin in thought. Then he chuckled. "Oh, is she your mechanic, then? The one you've been working with?"

Halian scowled, immediately alarmed. "How do you know about that?"

"I like to keep up with what my child is doing." His father shrugged innocently, making Halian even more concerned.

"And since when do you care about that? I do not remember you shedding tears over disowning me! Technically I am your child no longer," Halian snapped at him. He knew getting angry was not going to help here, but he couldn't help it. All of his anger and resentment and hurt was coming up to the surface.

"You will always be my child," his father said, a self-satisfied smirk on his face. "And it made you strong. You've become a brilliant man, just like I knew you would. How could you not with a father like me?"

Halian clenched his fists at his sides, wanting to punch his father so much. But he had to control himself. Getting snappy with him was already bad enough.

"So you bravely came to save your beloved from my clutches," his father continued, smirking more. The bastard was enjoying this far too much. "Perhaps we can make a deal."

Halian wanted to groan. Another deal. But what choice did he have?

"What deal?"

His father hummed. "I free her. And in exchange you help me with a project. Use your engineering skill. And maybe I get you that battery for your hand to make it easier."

Halian's stomach twisted. He knew this was going to be unsavory. And it was exactly why he'd fought with his father so much before being disowned. But again, he had no choice. He had to save Erina.

"And what kind of machine do you need built?" he asked, dreading the answer.

"Oh, nothing grisly," his father said, smiling. The expression would have looked pleasant, if not for the warmth not reaching his eyes. Instead, there was a sick sort of glee. "I simply need a device to automate processing of frostleaf to make extract from it."

Halian swallowed thickly, trying to control his outrage. Of course his father wanted to use him to sell drugs easier. "Frostleaf extract? You mean the main ingredient to make irium?"

His father gasped dramatically, putting a hand over his heart. "Me? Making drugs? What do you take me for?"

"A money-hungry criminal," Halian replied drily, making the man laugh.

"You do not need to concern yourself with any of that, son. Unless you want your beloved to die."

Halian hung his head in defeat. He didn't trust the authorities to handle this situation well, so far they certainly hadn't, and he didn't trust Erina's mother to pay whatever his father is asking for to save her daughter.

He couldn't take any of these risks. He had to make sure Erina would be okay, no matter her reaction to his actions.

"I will do it. But you must first let Erina go," Halian said firmly, staring his father right in the eye.

"But of course," his father said, jerking his head to one of his people who had been standing guard in the corner. The woman nodded and strode out of the room, hopefully on her way to release Erina.

Halian's father squeezed his shoulder, drawing Halian's attention back to him, a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Welcome back, son."