The sun was high, gring off the polished hood of Kaynd's car. The V12 engine echoing as it devoured the nes of the Veyn Expressway. As he shifted gears as he goes along.

  From the passenger seat, Nier stared out at the sprawling cityscape. The Veyn was the main artery of the metropolis, branching into fifty-six sectors, each its own small world.

  To their right, the high towers of the Central Sector gleamed like crystal bdes. Ahead, they had already passed through the buzzing streaked of streets of Sector Twelve and the crowded bazaar strips of Sector Nineteen.

  Sector Forty-Two had smelled of oil and hot steel from the factory belts, while Forty-Seven was nothing but sprawling garden parks and glistening kes.

  But now, the scenery was shifting yet again.

  The clean order of the sectors was slipping away. They had crossed through Forty-Nine, and the change was immediate, cracked roads, graffiti-caked walls, sun-bleached billboards hanging in tatters.

  The streets where empty and the environment seem scary.

  Nier leaned back, exhaling through his nose.

  Vividly confused as to why Kaynd even wanted to go to the Bordernds to begin with.

  "So we're really doing this?!"

  Kaynd kept his eyes on the road, grinning faintly.

  "You knew we were doing this the second I told you to get in the car."

  "Doesn't mean I am happy about it."

  Nier muttered.

  "The Badnds in broad daylight, might as well walk into a nest of vipers with a torch."

  "They're worse at night."

  Kaynd said simply, taking an exit ramp that wound into a crumbling overpass.

  "And we're not here for sightseeing, so you don't have to worry."

  The sectors were long behind them now, the road narrowing into something more of a ghost town, there were no streetlights, no traffic, no sound but the Sian's engine. Half-colpsed buildings loomed ahead, and rusted fences twisting under the heat."

  Nier's gaze stayed locked on the horizon, where the surrounding stretched endlessly.

  "You ever think about how the Badnds aren't even on the city maps?"

  "That's because the city pretends it doesn't exist."

  Kaynd replied, his voice calm, almost amused.

  "Which makes it the perfect pce for shady bussnuiess."

  "How reassuring...sigh!"

  Nier muttered to himself, as Kaynd just chuckled.

  "Beside you are a Hesta now, quite literally a bunch of mere humans shouldn't scare you right?!"

  "Still doesn't mean it's not a dangerous pce to traverse into, even if it's day time."

  "That's true."

  Kaynd said as the car roared on, carrying them deeper into the pce that was worse than the Slums.

  There was a reason they call this pce the city's discarded heart, where the worst of the worst resides, alongside the dangerous, and the desperate that made their own ws.

  Still that didn't stop Kaynd from driving Nier where he wanted to drive him.

  But as they eventually reached where Kaynd wanted to take him.

  The Sian slowed, its growl dropping into a low rumble as they turned off the cracked main road, rolling up to the rusted gates of an abandoned factory.

  The pce looked like it had been dead for decades, walls tagged in faded graffiti, steel siding rusted through in patches, and shattered windows like empty sockets staring down at them. They pce was off road, as dense greenery surrounded them.

  Kaynd eased to a stop just outside the chained entrance.

  But not before saying.

  "Don't get out bro, not yet atleast."

  He said ftly.

  And before Nier could respond, Kaynd reached down between the seats, pressing a recessed panel. With a quiet hiss, a secret compartment slid open to reveal a matte-bck, futuristic handgun, its frame etched with faint blue circuitry. He picked it up and pced it in Nier's hands.

  "Hold this. And yes, anyone that tries to rob the car... Go ahead and blow their head off."

  Nier stared at the weapon, not in fear, but with growing concern.

  "You're making me nervous, Kaynd."

  Kaynd smirked, shaking his head.

  "I am not here to hurt you. And I didn't drive you all the way out here just to set you up...Rex."

  He said for umpteen time for the hour.

  "Could've fooled me."

  Nier muttered, resting the gun across his p. He wasn't a strange to murder, hell he has killed atleast 13 people in his life-time.

  And Kaynd know this, so he was sure his bro wouldn't pussy out when it came to murdering another person if things go south.

  "Look."

  Kaynd continued, voice softening.

  "Like I said before, I came here to give you something. But this is the only pce I could hide it safely. I would call the guys inside, but I don't want my calls traced, so I am doing this manually."

  He opened his door, stepping out into the harsh daylight.

  "If you don't feel safe, get in the driver's seat, keep the doors locked, and don't hesitate to shoot if anyone approaches... Hell you can even drive off."

  Nier sighed, shaking his head in protest as he says.

  "I trust you. I'll just lock the door when your gone."

  That earned him a small, genuine smile from Kaynd.

  "That's why your arey best friend, most people would have puss out, and run...still you might not looked at me the same again though."

  "Yeah, yeah, just do you gang."

  "Alright I will be right back."

  With that, Nier closed the butterfly doors, as Kaynd went on ahead.

  Approaching the front entrance while pulling a heavy key from his pocket, he then walked up to the chain-link gate, unlocked it, and slipped inside.

  Left alone, Nier's eyes wandered over the hollow factory yard. A part of him couldn't help but wonder why his brother-in-arms was doing business in a pce that screamed trouble. Still, he waited for him to return.

  Twenty minutes dragged by.

  And Nier's patience was fraying, and he was seriously debating whether to check on his friend, but the same time he said that, was when movement caught his eye. Kaynd was coming back… but he wasn't alone.

  Two men followed him.

  The first was tall, dark-skinned, with a shaved head and a jagged scar running down his cheek. His arms were sleeved in ink, and a spiked gauntlet covered one forearm. The second was shorter but stocky, Latino, with slicked-back hair and an arm-mounted bde that gleamed in the sun.

  Both had a bck spider tattoo curling over one side of their face.

  Nier's stomach tightened at the sight of them, or rather the tattoos on their face, as he was all too familiar with these people.

  And the criminal organization they where apart of.

  "Why is Kaynd with guys from Octogram Mafia?"

  He asked himself, his suspicion growing by the second.

  Kaynd must've caught the tension in his eyes, because he subtly motioned for the two men to stop short of the car.

  Without a word, they did.

  Kaynd slid back into the driver's seat, and just said to Nier.

  "Everything is ready. Follow me."

  "Hold on bro."

  Nier said, not moving.

  "Who the hell are they?"

  Kaynd's smirk returned at the question, but the answer he got was not what Nier was expecting.

  "My grunts. And before you asked, to make a long story short my fiancée is the boss's little sister. So yeah, I've got ties with the Octogram."

  Nier frowned at this but decided not question any further than that.

  "So why are we even here?"

  Kaynd exhaled, almost reluctantly.

  "To be honest bro… I've been hiding something from you for some years, now and before you freak out, I was basically force into it at the time."

  His hands tightened on the wheel.

  "Why do I feel like what you are about to tell me is not something I might not want to hear."

  "Because it is, but I am sure after hearing me out, it might not come as much of a suprise."

  This alone made Nier even more worried, but decided to hear it out.

  "Sigh, very well, speak man."

  With that go ahead, Kaynd release one st sigh, as he finally revealed a massive secrete he has kept from Nier for more than decade now.

  "Before your mom died, she asked me for a favor, or rather that demon mother of yours found out about me and my girl side hustle at the time, and Bckmail me. But besides that, she made me swear that I would only bring you here under certain conditions."

  "The promise I made to her, was one I was only supposed to act on if you ever decided to step away from your normal life. I agreed. And… seeing as you're a Hesta now, I am guessing you're short on resources. Especially since your parents are gone...you've got no real money, right?"

  Nier didn't answer, but his silence was enough.

  "That’s why I brought you here."

  Kaynd said.