Dead Men Have No Legacies: Stories of a Seasoned Bounty Hunter

Epilogue: A Second Chance

(Four days later...)

I stood before a window displaying the emptiness of space and blinked slowly. I focused on each blink and how...different it felt. For once...For once, I was able to see one-hundred percent of the world around me. No longer would the right side of my face be bathed in darkness.

 Two days ago, the bionic engineer Jackson mentioned had paid me a visit, and he showed me several prosthetics he had brought with him. In the end, I settled on an eye that looked surprisingly real. The engineer told me it was the latest model of life-like prosthetics on the market. This one in particular appeared to have some sort of liquid in it...like a real eye.

As for my arm, I opted to go for a more modern model. However, I still tried to request a hidden compartment in the prosthetic for a knife. The bionic engineer only offered me a knowing smile as he passed me the arm I had picked out. As if on command, a long blade extended from the underside of the wrist.

"Why have a compartment when the blade's already included?"

And so I quickly settled on this model. I went through the surgery to install these new prosthetics yesterday, and I woke up today with a start. The instant I opened my eyes, I rose to my feet and just...stared: I stared at the steel gray walls of the room I was in, at the homemade 'get well soon' card left on the nightstand beside my bed, and at...whatever else I could spot.

When I turned my attention to my new arm, I was astonished. Rather than being greeted with a hunk of scuffed dark metal, a flesh-colored appendage greeted me. I quickly balled my fist, and the hidden blade deployed with a quick hiss. I knew the arm before me was fake–the bionics expert had explained that a sort of cover would be put over the actual prosthetic to disguise it. However, I could hardly tell it was fake–well, ignoring the serrated blade that was currently on full display.

I heard footsteps behind me, followed by a hushed gasp.

"Cylus! What are you doing?"

I smiled and turned to face Alannah as she gawked at me. I retracted the blade back into my arm and met her startled gaze. "Well, would you look at that: you're even more beautiful now that I get to look at you with two eyes."

Wordlessly, she approached and embraced me. "Whoever that engineer was, he deserves a fucking raise."

I laughed and closed the embrace. "Agreed. So...What do you think?"

"I think," she echoed, studying my new eye, "that you look magnitudes better."

"The old eye was off-putting, wasn't it?"

"...A little bit. I still love you to bits, but yeah...your old eye was a little freaky."

I shrugged and kissed her. "Understandable. Trust me, I've startled myself before. Now I don't have to worry about that anymore."

"True. Let's go find Boreas. I'm sure he'll shit himself in surprise."

I looked down to regard the state of my attire: Unfortunately, I was still in a hospital gown. To make matters worse, I could tell right away that it was open-ended from the back.

"Let's...Find my clothes first," I breathed, only to yelp when a fresh change of clothing was thrown at me.

"Surprise, bitch!" Boreas chirped after swaggering into the room, "I came by to say-hooooly shit, mate! Your eye!"

"So much for the element of surprise," Alannah grumbled.

I approached my old friend and hugged him. "So, the bionic engineer did a good job?"

"H-Hell yeah," Boreas stammered. "I-I think his name was Wallace..."

"Well, tell Wallace I want to pay him for his services," I replied, stepping away from the startled hacker, "He's done more than he realizes."