Danny gritted his teeth and peeked over the wall he was hiding behind, across the street, a team of Corp Guards were firing in his direction from the cover afforded by some packing crates. He counted five.

A bullet spanged off the wall near his face, throwing up shards of mortar. Danny dropped flat, rolled onto his back and hurridly started to reload his gun.

He glanced to his right, where Lileth, prone behind a similar chunk of rubble, looked back at him and gave a thumbs up.

"Your bleeding!" she called "You okay?"

"You okay?"

Danny tried to turn away from the voice, all he wanted to do was curl up and go back to sleep.

Insistant hand shook him,

"Wake up, damn you!"

Danny mumbled incoherently, and tried to focus on the face above him, but his vision was all blurry, all he could see was vague shapes.

"You're real ill kid. Gotta get you outta this rain."

Before he passed out again he felt himself being slung over someones shoulder, and voice saying: "Damn! you weigh nothing, when did you last eat?"

Danny touched the side of his face, felt the blood trickling down. Shrapnel from the bullet he decided.

Shouting to be heard above the racket of gunfire "I'll be ok!"

"you'll be ok, my friend " Danny tried to turn the voice out and sleep

"Time to wake up now, son.."

Danny opened his eyes, and stared at the ceiling above him. Nothing unusual, stained plaster. He was indoors in a bed, that much he knew, beyond that, he could have been anywhere.

Something in what had just been said grabbed at his attention...'Son???'

His father couldn't be here! He had been so careful!

Danny sat bolt upright in bed, gripped by panic and fear. Strong hands grabbed at his shoulders and an amused voice spoke "Whoa there! Calm down a bit! No-ones gonna hurt you...Your lucky to be alive my friend."

Danny stopped strugling and looked at the person who had grabbed him. Large, tall, bearded and with one good eye. The stranger was smiling down at him, reavealing a mouth with more gaps than teeth.

"Hi, I'm Max, welcome to FreeHold."

Danny stared round, taking in the stained walls, Max, and odds and ends of medical equipment scattered on the table next to the bed.

"Where am I? How did I get here?"

Max chuckled, sat back on his chair, which gave a dangerous creak.

"Like I said, this is FreeHold, and you are welcome here. You were brought to us near dead. Cold, lack o' food and some virus or other had damn near finished you off. Hungry?"

Without waiting for an answer Max passed him a bowl of soup and a hunk of bread.

Danny suddenly realised how hungry he was.

Around mouthfuls of bread, Danny asked more questions, Max answered seemingly quite content.

"Yeah, someone took pity on you an pulled ya outta the gutter and brought you to us. I spent nearly a week nursing you back to health."

"FreeHold is a hostel, we help those folk who wanna get off the streets, We give you food, water, medical care and a room. All we ask is that you earn your keep."

Danny felt his heart sink, what had he gotten himself into?

"What do you want me to do?"

Max grinned,"I seen that look before kid, your expectin' some impossible task as your repayment, maybe we want you to become a thief for us? Or a call boy? That what you think?"

Danny nodded.

Max shook his head. "We aint like that. I hate bastards who are. All we ask is that you do what you can, help cook dinner, answer phones, sweep the floor, anything. You do that, and we can help others like you better."

Max went on to outline the rules.

"Your past is your own buisness, no one elses. FreeHold don't care why your in the fix your in, no one will ask about your past, you don't ask about anyone elses.

No fighting with other residents, you are all here for the same reason, to get a fresh start. Leave your emnities outside.

No weapons, for the same reason.

No offensive magic. Or magical spying on other people. Healing magic is always welcome.

Dont steal anyone elses stuff. If any one takes yours,tell me, and i'll have words with 'em.

You work your shift, same as all the others who can. We don't expect you to work if your to ill or otherwise incapable.

IF you can stick by these rules, then your welcome here. If not then I'll give you a few names to try, places to go, and ask you to leave."

Danny thought this over.

"What proof do want that I'll do as you ask?"

Max looked intently at Danny. "Your word will do. You say you'll abide by the rules. I'll believe ya. But if it turns out you lied to me, you'll be outta here so fast your feet wont touch the floor. Will you give me your word?"

Danny nodded.

"You sure?"

Nod.

"You sure?"

Danny felt the side of his face again and nodded,

"Its just a flesh wound! We gotta get outta here before they bring up anything heavier than what they got! You go for that door, I'll cover you!"

Lileth nodded, and crouched in a sprinters crouch, pistol in hand.

Danny got his legs under him, chambered the first round in his Scorpion, and leapt to his feet, the stock of the gun pressed against his shoulder by the recoil as he opened up on full auto.

Not daring to look toward Lileth, he screamed "Go!"

"Go get yourself some dinner Danny, you've been working all day! After that, I'll tell you what you want to know"

Danny nodded at Max and wandered down the corridor, up until today, he hadn't given any thought as to who exactly had brought him in to FreeHold. Now that he was fit and well, he had decided to go and thank them.

After dinner, he found Max and asked him again. Max looked at him, smiling at some private amusment.

"The duty roster has got you and me on night shift together, that gives me till dawn to tell you all about the person who brought you in. Come on, lets go guard."

Guards ducked for cover as Danny swung the gun toward them, bullets tearing up the ground around them and reducing a wooden crate to splinters.

Off to his right Lileth's Ruger pistol barked twice, and the guards started to retreat, firing as they went. Danny spun and sprinted for the door, Lileth was ahead of him crouching in the doorway, firing to cover him as he ran.

"Come on!" She screamed.

"Come on up." The intercom crackeled.

Danny opened the door and started up the stairs inside the tower block.

"Five floors up, second door on the left" Was the directions Max had given him. Apart from that all he had was a name, Lileth. He guessed Max was deliberatly holding out on him for some reason, and had told Lileth (Whoever that was...) exactly who Danny was and what he wanted.

Five floors up, Danny walked along a dirty corridor until he found the door we wanted and knocked.

The door swung open, onto a darkened room.

The room beyond the door was in darkness, so Lileth, the first through the door, never saw the corp guard waiting in the darkness, the first bullet caught her in the shoulder, spinning her around. The second hit her in the throat.

Yelling incoherently, Danny dived over her falling body, knife in hand and aimed straight at the man's neck.

As he tore into the hapless man, blind fury overtook him, and he tried to ignore the gurgling noise behind him.

Gurgling, water draining down a plug, Danny decided.

A voice came from a lit doorway ahead, a female voice. Max hadnt told him what sex Lileth was.

"In here,in the kitchen, come on through."

Danny wandered foreward, and stepped into the light.and got his first ever look at the person who had took pity on him.

Long hair, falling almost to her waist, tied back to keep it out of the way. Slim, and about his height.

Quite attractive to, he decided , as she turned to face him.

Lileth looked at him and smiled, "Your looking better than you did when i hauled you outta that gutter."

Danny nodded, not sure what to say. "Why did you do it?"

Lileth tilted her head to one side, a datajack set in her temple glinted in the light.

"You were dying right on my doorstep. I couldn't leave you there."

"I guess i ought to thank you..."

Lileth smiled at him, "Don't worry about it, besides seeing you on your feet is all the thanks I need."

Danny blushed, thought he wasn't sure why, and pushed his fingers through his hair.

Fingers grabbed at his hair, smearing his face with blood.

Danny knelt over Lileth, almost frantic, and tried to close the wound in her neck. But it was too big. Too big.

Lileth was gasping for breath, arterial blood pumping out on to the floor. She grabbed at Danny's head and forced him to look at her face. With a supreme effort of will she forced herself to talk almost normally.

"You cant help me, I'm dead. Run. Get outta here."

Danny shook his head.

Lileth coughed, bring up more blood, and stared into Danny's eyes.

"You must. Or you'll die here to."

Danny didnt move, her head cradled in his lap, his hands pressed over the hole in her throat.

Lileth reaced up and caressed Danny's face.

She could feel herself weakening fast.

"Danny, theres something I never told you, I was never sure how you'd react, 'cause you're so withdrawn at times"

She coughed again, and the coughing went on for almost a minute.

"I'd never forgive myself if I died without you knowing."

Her sight was gettting blurry, the room was nothing but a vague shape.

"I love y-"

Lileth died.

Danny sat there for quite some time, her head in his lap, His eyes closed.

"I know" He said quietly. And for the first time in a long time, Danny cried.