Wild thoughts rampaged across Elsie’s brain, bouncing off the sides of her skull and slowly, but surely, overheating her mind. She had followed Blondie all the way down to the tenth floor, perilously close to Junktown and Scourge incursions.

True to her expectations, one such incursion had happened, just as predicted by her weather report app.

Following Blondie had not been much of a problem. The stairwell Blondie took to get down to the industrial level was just one of several along the perimeter walls. All Elsie had to do was take the next one in the series a hundred paces away. Her only complications were the goons hanging around, but a quick flash of her handgun, Breaker Armament’s Garan .45 revolver, convinced them to leave her alone. She had eyes at the back of her head, somewhat literally since she hacked into the security cams, and kept an eye on them when she descended to the Industrial Zone. Thankfully, the goons had an easier source to trouble rather than someone who could clearly protect herself.

From there, it was easy enough to determine which lift lobby the girl used. Industrial levels normally didn’t have many people inside them, but that only meant that the security cameras were more prolific. Accessing the feeds wasn’t as easy as doing so at the Shopping level, but well within Elsie’s skill. She didn’t even have to spacewalk to do it, just surface-level access through her ‘chronian gear.

The girl had already taken the lift to a lower level, and all Elsie had to do was access the lift panel to tell her where it went. Tenth floor. The lowest the lift would allow. Any lower than that required using the stairs or a guarded lift shaft from this level. Or the central access, which required much higher access levels. That or a competent spacewalker to hack through security. Only the black site in the absolute centre was really forbidden to enter, and doing so through REI-space could have deadly consequences.

So she followed her down to the tenth level, and as soon as she saw the corpse, she knew that an incursion had happened. The question was if those Scourge kill squads led the beasts in here, or if the things found their way to this level on their own. The tenth level was connected to dozens of buildings on each side, and any of those could have been the source. The mega building management did nothing to tighten up the leak. After all, they wanted the Scourge to find their way and get killed here.

She examined the corpse for a long moment. The poor lad died from blood loss, obviously, but it came from his ‘chronian gear being torn off. The connectors to his bones, muscles, nerves, and tendons were ripped off. Probably, a bit of the beast’s saliva or blood got into his bloodstream too, which was why the turret shot him dead.

Elsie reached with her mind to access the level’s security cams but found most to be inoperative. Stupid kill squads don’t like being watched, as if their gear wasn’t bugged in the first place.

She could hear screams and gunfire, but she was hesitant. Scourges were dangerous and frightening. Elsie wasn’t carrying anything other than her Garan and that was a gun best used against those with heavily armoured chronian gear, not Scourge. She’d need a light machine gun with armour-piercing bullets, at least.

Elsie’s breath hitched and her heart raced. She…was afraid.

Gangsters, goons, thugs, kidnappers, and others of their ilk…those didn’t scare her. But the Scourge…those things did. She was alone, her square was back upstairs, no doubt lounging in Steffen’s apartment, guzzling down bottles of beer. What was she thinking? Was that girl suicidal? She just walked into a warzone barely armed.

‘Calm down…calm down!’

Shaking her head, Elsie considered just bailing right then and there, but…

Bang!

“Run!” A flock of men, kill squad members, ran across the hallway, rushing almost directly towards her.

“Wait! Is there Scourge? Did you see a blonde girl?” Elsie yelled.

“Yeah, run!” one of them was kind enough to answer, though she wasn’t certain which question the answer was for. Hopefully the latter but from how they were acting, it was probably both.

‘Let’s go, Elsie, let’s find out.’ She thought to herself, as she tried to run silently towards where they came from.

She rounded the corner and froze. A single bullet from a Peacemaker Defender should not have been able to pierce a Scourge’s skull. Nor should it have been able to shoot through the rest of its body. And it should not have been silent. And what was that golden glow around blondie?

Elsie’s eyes focused downwards and saw that the girl’s feet weren’t even planted on the floor. Then, she dragged a fallen man, who looked to have been mauled badly by the Scourge, away from the blood pool.

Oh.

Oh! That man would have been infected. The girl removed the man’s helmet and looked like she was going to try and help. It was too late, Elsie knew, from the state of the man’s torso and broken chronian gear. Fragments of the alloy would have made it inside the body, and the Scourge fluids would have tainted it already. It was too late, and there was only the final mercy.

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It was something everyone was aware of, and it was almost instinctive to do, especially when one used to scavenge down in Junktown.

Elsie’s Garan left its holster and she aimed at the fallen’s head, then pulled the trigger.

‘Sweet Autochron…’ Elsie’s mouth turned desert dry when the girl caught the bullet between her fingers.

Blondie turned to look at her, and Elsie saw her eyes flash from blue to gold, the same colour as the aura surrounding her.

‘Mystic.’

All of a sudden, her heart rate settled, and fear drained away. She wasn’t quite calm, no, but at least she had a better measure of blondie now. She was a Mystic and from the looks of it, a powerful one.

‘Chance…’

“Why?”

“The man’s already dead. It’s best to keep him that way,” Elsie answered, her voice a monotone. She paused and tried to swallow, but couldn’t. She fought the urge to cough.

“Explain.”

“The Scourge. Once they bite, people, animals, even vegetation, they…turn. Into more Scourge.”

“The bone rat and dog?”

Dog? Elsie looked at the Scourge’s corpse, but she couldn’t distinguish which one it was. The corpse was too mangled.

“If you mean that, yes.”

“Oh. Is it hopeless for this guy? Even if he gets healing?”

“The window to save oneself is narrow. Once the body has been bitten, once the ‘chronian gear is broken, it's too late. Look.”

The man’s breathing had slowed a while back, but now, he was hyperventilating. His face twisted with pain, then anger.

“Argh!” He yelled, then grabbed Blondie’s arm. “Ki…kill me.” He reached for his gun, but the holster was empty.

“We should grant his last wish,” Elsie said. “I will do it if you wish.”

Blondie sighed. “No. I stopped your mercy, I will make up for it.” She stood up and aimed her Defender at the man’s forehead. She pulled the trigger.

Elsie nodded. Not soft at all then.

“It isn’t a coincidence that you’re here,” Blondie stated. “Why?”

“Curiosity and the boss’s orders,” Elsie said frankly, which also surprised her.

“Your boss?”

“Wild Fang of the Fang Eyed,” Elsie said slowly. “He is…well, not a good man, but decent. He’s also a bit of a…connoisseur of beauty.”

“Hmmm.” Elsie secretly sighed in relief when Blondie didn’t react much to that revelation. Then again, considering how she looked, she must be used to it.

“Your name?”

“Eh? Uh, Elsie Silverlock.”

“Yuriko Davar.”

“Oh, well met?”

“Huh, I can’t say for sure.” Yuriko huffed, then stood up and moved to leave.

“Wait!”

“Hmmm?”

“You…you’re just going to leave the Scourge’s body there?” Elsie said, then frowned. Why did she stop Yuriko from leaving? Claiming the carcass and selling its bones would give her at least fifty thousand ACs.

Elsie shook her head as Yuriko asked, “Why?”

“The bones of Scourge. The city buys it. So do many corporations and the price fluctuates, but a Jin of bones from a Scourge is worth a thousand Autochredits.”

Yuriko’s eyebrows rose. “Not bad, I guess.”

Elsie snorted. A thousand was extremely good, but a kill squad usually had five members, and a Scourge of average size enough to be a threat to ‘chronians had at least thirty Jins of harvestable bone. That one looked like it had fifty Jins. Ten thousand ACs for a single kill was exceptional. Especially considering most workers get paid fifteen ACs an hour worked.

But even she got less than two hundred ACs a day as a stipend, though her other, extraneous work gave her much more.

But ACs weren’t the path to pave the way for her ambitions. Elsie wanted off the streets. She grew up in Junktown and clawed her way out of it with her wits, old ‘chronian gear, and sheer cheek. Things that were driving her now, to take a chance.

“I…you are a Mystic, aren’t you?” Elsie whispered under her breath. It would not have been enough for someone a couple of paces away to hear her, but Yuriko did, anyway.

“A what?”

Elsie’s hopes plummeted, but she forged on, “Someone who can control their aura.

“Oh, yeah, I guess I am.” The woman said offhandedly, which boggled Elsie’s mind. So casual?

Strengthening auras until they could escape the body and act on the physical world needed knowledge and specific techniques. There were more than a few Martial Houses in the city that claimed to enable their students to master their auras and cultivate their Anima., but the success rate for even the best ones was, at most, ten percent. And that was after spending hundreds of thousands of ACs in membership fees, licenses, and probably treasures.

Becoming a Mystic was a dream for every ‘chronian, though it involved more than becoming strong. The reward for it was freedom.

Living in Junktown, living in Dragon Fall City, with all its dangers, not just from the Scourge, but the very air itself, one needed an advantage. Chronian eyes just to see properly. Chronina limbs to work. ‘Chronian organs to stay healthy.

The few ‘chronians who became Mystics…were able to transcend the boundaries of man and machine. It allowed their mutilated Anima to grow back. It allowed aura to inhabit ‘chronian gear. It allowed machines to be treated as true flesh. So that when the time came when one came close to the edge when one had to become Blessed or suffer madness and death…

A Mystic will never cross that edge.

Even should one replace all of their flesh with ‘chronian gear, a Mystic would remain as they would have been without it. Metal arms that they could feel through as if it were their original arms, fingers with the same sensitivity even if the ‘chronian gear had not been built with that kind of feedback.

She couldn’t just ask, however. She was but a stranger to Yuriko Davar, and one that had started off at the wrong foot. What could she do to ameliorate that impression?

As Yuriko moved towards the corpse, an unpleasant expression on her face, Elsie said, “Wait, that man probably had a Flenser.”

“A what?”

“A small vial of nanochrone that eats away the flesh off a Scrouge carcass. It only works when they’re drained of blood and takes a few minutes. But its cleaner than flaying it all off.”

“Oh.”

Elsie bowed in prayer to the corpse, recorded his dog tag and pulled the vial off his belt. “All kill squads have one,” She said as she offered it to Yuriko. “Just pour the entire thing over it.”

“There’s another carcass a couple of blocks away.”

“Oh, then just pour half, I guess.” Elsie muttered, “It’ll take longer, but it’s all the same.”

“I see. Thank you.” Yuriko only poured a few drops of the liquid metal on the carcass, far less than half.

“Planning more down?”

“Yup.” Yuriko turned to look at Elsie, who couldn’t help but fidget, then she said, “You want something from me.”

“Yes.” Elsie said, once again surprised by her admission.

“What is it?”

“I…want to become a Mystic.”

Yuriko remained silent until the Scourge’s carcass began to smoke. Then, she nodded slowly, but not in agreement. “And what will you give to have that chance?”

Elsie gulped. “What do you need?”