The gunshot reverberated through a tight space and echoed from the metal pipes covering the low ceiling. The angry red lightened the end of the revolver for a second, but sparks didn't spread anywhere else. Vash's body fell on its back with a dull thud, and a red hole bloomed between his eyes like a bloody flower.

"What the heck, Celia?" Theo shouted.

"I gave him time to make the right choice. He didn't," Celia replied calmly, putting her revolver back in the holster.

"But you didn't have to kill him!" Theo's freckled face was flushed red, and his brows knitted, making two deep wrinkles on his forehead. "You could... I don't know, knock him off and close in some basement until he'd see reason."

"Vash was Chief's snitch, Theo. There was no way I would make him keep his silence. The little shit would only try to demand more and more money we don't have." Celia put two fingers into her mouth and whistled once, and then she kneeled at the body and proceeded to check Vash's pockets. "I tried to get him on our side. Believe me, I did. But he was too stubborn. Why do you care? You never liked him."

Theo crossed his arms, still glaring at her. "Fine, maybe he was a pain in the arse, and there was no better way to solve this. But pulling a gun here, of all places? What if you missed? One stray bullet could blow us to bloody pieces!"

Celia scoffed and got back to her feet. "I do not miss."

Before Theo could respond, the horrible shriek and flutter of wings broke the silence.

"Man down! Man down!" A big blue and gold parrot landed on Celia's outstretched arm, eyeing the body curiously. The bird wore a little captain hat on its head and had a leather harness fastened on its body so it could easily carry messages or other little items if needed.

"Man down, indeed, Sir Prancer." Celia stroked the parrot's feathers with a gentle smile and then produced a handful of nuts from her pocket, which the bird enthusiastically pecked, careful not to scratch his mistress. "I need you to fetch Zed for me."

The parrot gulped the last nut and jumped into the air again, shrieking, "Man down! Big Zed! Man down!"

"Way to announce the crime. Just send the screaming bird out to the world." Theo rolled his eyes.

"Not to the whole world. There's no one except our people in the cave now. And I need Zed to get rid of the body. Unless you'd like to do that?" she asked with a sweet smile.

"No thanks. I'm not cleaning your mess. Speaking of. Weren't you supposed to report to Chief together with Vash? What would you say?"

Celia shrugged. "Vash was a gambler. Everyone knows that. And he had tons of debts. I guess some of his debtors finally lost their patience."

"I wish lying wouldn't come so easy to you," Theo said quietly.

Celia turned to him and saw what she hated the most.

Pity.

Her friend pitied her for what she had to become. For the choices she was forced to make to keep the crew safe and prospering. For the miserable life she was leading.

And Celia hated when other people pitied her. They had no right to do that.

"And I wish our world were all kittens and rainbows, yet it is not," she replied, glaring at him. "Stop wasting your time and get those crystals working. When I come back, I need Percy ready to fly."

Heavy footsteps made the deck under their feet vibrate slightly, announcing Zed's arrival.

"The Feathered Friend said you need me, boss?" he asked, looking at the body at his feet. "Oh. I see."

"Get rid of him, Zed," Celia ordered, giving Theo a sideways glance. "Our genius engineer has a weak stomach and would probably faint if he were to touch the body." 

"I would not!" Theo protested.

Celia ignored him and continued. "Make sure to dump the body somewhere in the Entertainment District. Some place which is not too obvious but easy to stumble upon. As if someone wished to leave a message to other debtors." 

"Sure thing, boss." The big man effortlessly heaved the body and threw it at his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, ignoring the blood.

"Also, I need the whole crew here. I'll report to Chief and persuade him to give us the green light to fly Percy. But I'll need to make a convincing presentation." She turned to Theo. "Why are you still standing here staring at me like a dead fish? Get to work!" 

"You are crazy," Theo muttered under his breath but hurried towards the engine room.

"Aren't we all?"

***

Chief's office was based on the other side of the mine complex than Percy's hangar cave, so it took Celia a while to cross the whole mountain. She wasn't bothered, though, her conviction burning bright in her soul, bringing spring to her steps.

This was her moment. The moment she was waiting for her whole life. She would prove once and for all that the flying ships were not a mere dream but humans' only way out of this grave they dug for themselves. Celia approached a vast metal door and nodded to two men standing guard, waiting for them to open heavy wings for her. 

The Chief's office was not breathtaking, as you couldn't do much with an old mine facility, but it was outstanding among the rest of the facility. The most striking feature was a balcony carved out on the side of the mountain. Thanks to the tremendous opening, the whole room was so bright that one could forget it was essentially a cave. It also provided a splendid view of a raging sea below and the Iron Shore far on the horizon.

The rest of the room remained simple, almost spartan. The plain wooden desk and chairs for visitors, some drawers and a shelf with hardly any books. The only extravagance was a collection of small metal gadgets that pushed away all the tomes from the racks. Chief loved to gather quirky little animals or trinkets that didn't work but had a fantastic idea behind them, as if he hoped that one day, he could salvage the design and make it work. 

It was most likely the reason he let Celia recover the airship and keep working on restoring it.

The man himself was far more attention-catching than his office. Half of his face was covered by a bronze mask─the rumour has it was a souvenir from his days as a factory worker. Due to an accident, he was drenched in acid that melted vast chunks of his flesh. But he was too stubborn to die, so he survived but got many parts of his body replaced by metal supporters or prostheses.

Of course, it could all be an elaborate lie spread by the old man himself to make himself appear fiercer than he was.

He looked up from his papers and adjusted his top hat adorned with various mechanical parts. One of his eyes under the metal mask was utterly blind with a white cataract, but the other that kept its natural brown colour was piercing and sharp.

"You're late," he grumbled. "And where is Vash?"

Celia shrugged. "No idea. I was waiting for him, that's why I was late. But he never showed up. He does that sometimes. Not the most reliable Alchemist we have, as I told you many times."

Chief harrumphed, leaned back on his leather chair, and adjusted his golden-rimmed monocle. "Make your report then, child. I've heard the mission was a success."

Celia straightened her back and raised her chin. "Yes, sir! Not only did we acquire the new prototype weapons, but we also found a cache of unprocessed crystals."

"So I've heard. I must admit that you're doing very well, Celia." The metal fingers of his right hand tapped at the desk at a steady pace as his one working eye scrutinised her. "Your crew works like a well-oiled machine, and you always exceed my expectations. I think it's high time for you to take up more responsibilities." 

Celia's heart hammered. For this moment, she had worked so hard her whole life. Achieving such a reputation in a criminal cartel was challenging, yet she'd done it. She had to do some things along the way that she wasn't exactly proud of, but it was all worth getting her to this place, right here, where she could voice her demands.

"Actually, I have a request regarding my role in the Plunderers," she announced, ensuring her voice didn't tremble. 

"A request? That should be good!" a different male voice mocked.

Celia spun to the balcony, where a tall, well-built man stood, leaning leisurely at the stone arc. When she entered, he must have been on the outer part of the outcrop. That's why she hadn't noticed him before. 

"Hector," Celia spat his name like a curse, not bothering to hide her dismay. "What are you doing here?"

They had a long history of rivalry in the cartel and not a friendly one. Even though the Plunderers was a criminal organisation, they worked as any respected enterprise. Chief was the big boss but delegated a lot to his lieutenants. There were many different crews, each managed by people who proved their worth in the past. Celia and her squat specialised in heists─surprising excursions to salvage or steal high-value goods and weapons without making too much of a ruckus and avoiding authorities.

Hector's group, on the other hand, was primarily extortionists. They used force and violence to obtain what the Plunderers needed, blackmailed regular people to pay for protection and dealt with competing cartels' thugs. There was no finesse to their work, no style. 

In other words, Hector was a brute who took everything by force, and Celia despised him with all her heart. They had a few very unpleasant encounters in the past while competing to go up through the ranks of the Plunderers, but it ended when they chose completely separate specialisations. 

"I was invited here, same as you," he replied with a smirk. Some people might call him handsome with his perfectly tanned skin, dark hair, and eyes, but Celia knew him enough to find him repulsive.

He straightened and strolled lazily towards the desk with a clang of metal clamps adorning his muscular arms. Unlike Chief or Theo, he didn't need those to support his weakened body. He wore them because hitting others with metal fists was more effective.

Hector loved showing off his combat prowess.

"You were saying, Celia?" Chief shook her out of her stupor.

"I have a proposal," she said, looking her boss straight in the eye and ignoring Hector's smirk. "Perseverance is ready to fly. I want to make the first-ever flying brigade and test the new possibilities it gives us."

Her words were met with stunned silence. The only sound was the steady ticking of many mechanical clocks on the shelves.

And then Hector laughed. It was a hysterical laugh as if Celia had said something hilarious. She pursed her lips and clenched her fist but didn't even look at him. Her eyes stayed on Chief, judging his reaction and not daring to breathe.

But he only returned her gaze, scrutinising her through his golden monocle as if he was checking if she understood the weight of that proposal. Celia knew it was a dangerous endeavour, but there were no gains without risks in the life they were leading. And if she could pull that off, the return from that investment would be huge. Celia broke her head over this a thousand times over and was confident it would work. She would make it work. 

"That's out of the question," Chief said, and his words felt like a death sentence.

"Oh, that's rich." Hector wiped the stray tear from his cheek. "A flying brigade. Good joke, de Visher. You had me there. I almost believed you were serious!"

Celia ignored him. "She will fly," she insisted. "We have everything ready for the launch. If you could just come with me and see for yourself─"

Chief raised his metal hand, interrupting her. "That's enough, child. I've already made plans both for you and for the ship."

Her heart stopped beating for a second. "What plans? This is my ship."

Chief raised his brow, his eye drilling a hole in her skull. "You only got to work on that ship because I permitted you to do that. But it's distracting you. You put so much time and effort into that project, which could be put into running several more heist crews. And that's what I need you to do now."

Please don't. Don't say it, Celia begged in her mind as her meticulously prepared plans collapsed like a house of cards.

But if Chief saw her distress, he chose to ignore it. "You are being promoted, Celia. I want you to take over the management of all heist crews, not just your own. You'll work directly with me, and I'd like to hear your input on acquiring targets best and which of them we should take on. I believe this way we can far better use your skills and experience..." 

Celia stood there, and even though she heard the words, they had no meaning. She let them wash over her like a river while all her hopes and dreams quietly died inside her. The opportunity Chief was giving her should exhilarate her. She would be the most influential person in the Plunderers. Hell, she would become his right hand and possibly take over the whole cartel in a few years. 

But it was not what she wanted.

Celia spent most of her life working her arse off in the most gruelling jobs to slowly climb up the cartel's ranks to one day embrace her dreams of flying. But when the perfect moment came, her lifelong goal was dismissed as if it were nothing but a whim. As if she was a child too naïve to make her own decision. 

And it made her furious.

Her palms hurt from her nails digging deep into the skin as she tried to keep all the anger inside.

When Chief paused his speech, she asked, "What about Perseverance?"

"That's where I come in," Hector said with a sly smile. "I'm taking her over."

"Over my dead body," Celia growled.

"Celia." The sharp edge in Chief's voice was the only thing stopping her from pointing a gun in Hector's face.

"It's only natural that I'll take it over," Hector continued, ignoring her death stare. "As you so kindly restored her and equipped her with so many canons, and as you said, it's ready to launch, it would be a sin not to use her. We only need to remove those useless floating bits anyway." 

"They are not useless; they are required to keep her afloat. We only need to launch her in the air, and then she'll sail like no other ship." Celia turned to the older man. "Please, Chief. Just give me one shot, and I'll convince you." 

"There is no way to launch a ship so big and heavy and keep it afloat long enough to do anything useful." Chief sighed and took off his monocle. "The Engineers tried to do that for ages, and they failed. What makes you think you know better than them, child?"

"They didn't have Theo."

"Can we please get on with it?" Hector interrupted in a long-suffering tone. "I don't have all day. The monies won't extort themselves."

"He's right." Chief nodded, tipping his hat. "As much as I'd like to believe you, Celia, this is a folly I can't allow right now. The Sea Devils are getting bolder by day and keep sending their brutes into our territory. They will harass people under our protection to disrupt our business if we don't give them a lesson now. And for that, I need big guns."

"But you still have other ships!" Celia protested in a last desperate attempt she knew was bound to fail.

"End of discussion. You have two hours to take your crew and your things from Perseverance. After that, she's under Hector's management."

The bitter words spilt from Celia's lips before she could stop them. "I served you most of my life. I was always loyal and never questioned your orders. Not once! And that's what I get in return? You are taking away the thing you know I love the most?"

Chief grunted and glared at her. "Careful, child. You forget yourself."

"I am not a child and certainly not yours, so stop calling me that!"

The old man snorted as if she had said something funny. "I was more of a father to you than this good-for-nothing father of yours. After all, you end up as my slave because of him. Remember who you are, Celia de Visher. I made you what you are today but can turn you into nobody again within a moment."

The stab through the heart could not hurt more than this. The memories Celia buried deep inside her mind kept flooding back, and she barely stopped the tears stinging her eyes. She took a deep breath and raised her chin.

"Yes, sir."

Chief leaned back in his chair, clearly pleased with himself. "Now you are dismissed. Two hours, Celia."

She turned on her heel and left the office, not once looking back.