“It is said that every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying,” I said over the call. “You’ve already done the former, now it is time to face the latter…”
I stared out the tinted rear passenger window of the Chevillion Emperor 720. The patter of rain was faint against the roof and it obstructed my view of the power plant in the distance. It was a shame in that regard. Despite the desert’s barren continuity, the construction of the facility always felt like a statement of humanity’s stubbornness to continue on.
“Please! I swear I was forced to do it!” A man screamed. “I’ll tell you who did it! I can be your informant! Oh, Great Dragoness! I beg you!”
I hated that nickname. The Great Dragoness. It sounded derisive given my own thoughts on the matter and my own personal history.
“I already know who “made” you do it," I said. “But both of you weren’t as cunning as you thought. Arasaka, Militech, Petrochem… So on and so forth. You might have gotten away with it if you hadn’t paired with him...”
There was a pause, one filled in with the soothing sounds of the rain. It would have been nice if I could have sat here, stuck in time without a worry for eternity…
“...So that’s it… huh…” The defeat in his tone said it all.
“It is,” I answered. “I hope you understand that this end, for you, could have been avoided. If you had come to us in the beginning, all would have been forgiven. However, you became comfortable with it and eventually became a willing participant.”
I waited for a reply. None came. I turned to face out the other window. 40 feet from the SUV were the three pairs of glowing eyes. Two belonged to the Counter Intelligence, and one to the RnD department. Both belonged to my father’s corporation - Xi Long.
The man from research and development had been leaking documents to several of the monolithic corporations for the past half-year. His transgressions were caught within the first two months, and from there, Counter-Intelligence began to switch the files with fakes. It had been a simple case of blackmailing at first, but afterward, he began to extort his extortors and became a conspirator in the scheme.
It was common in the world of corporations. In fact, it would be strange to never see any espionage. The absence of it meant there was poor security.
The man was on his knees between the two agents. His head was mostly pointed down, though I could see the faint glow of his optics. One or both of the agents held a gun to his head.
“Any last words?” I asked, the words spoken physically rather than in my head throughout the call.
“Go to hell…” The man said weakly. “Pull the trigger your–”
The faint pop of a gunshot rang out. I looked away with a sigh. He would have had my respect if he hadn’t died with a whimper. It was distasteful, so I had them end him immediately.
Several more gunshots were heard as the agents made sure he was dead. Afterward, an accompanying robot filled in the man’s grave. All that would be left of the man would just be freshly disturbed sand. And with the rain, there would be no sign anyone was buried there in the morning. No sign - maybe for a few bullet casings - that anyone had been here.
Once the grave had been tended to, the agents got in the front seats of the SUV. The robot was loaded into the cargo space.
“Clean,” The one in the driver's seat said over his shoulder to me. “We’ll send a report to you once it’s written, Young Miss.”
I waved my hand lazily. “Send it to my father. You both already know I don’t like doing this.”
“I apologize. But it was your father’s request that someone in the family handle it…” The agent cleared his throat. “And –”
“And yet again, I was the only one who bothered to heed his request,” I said.
The time in the corner of my HUD showed it was midnight. My eldest sisters were either at some gala or off with some random joytoy. My only brother would most likely be off somewhere high off whatever designer drug caught his fancy. Thus, left me.
“I don’t see why father wanted one of us present for this,” I groaned. “You agents are competent enough with these things. You don’t need a babysitter.”
I had been roused by my father an hour and a half ago. The details of the request weren’t given until I had arrived at a black site in Arroyo. From there, the two agents briefed me on the situation. We then left Arroyo and dealt with the situation on the edges of the Flats. In a way, I had given the man a good final spot. The agents wanted to take him to the dumps east of the city, but I didn’t want to go to such a distasteful area. If I was to be awake at this time, I figured I’d go somewhere nice.
Biotechnica Flats was quite lovely at night. His grave was in the shadow of the rundown stadium. If I was to die like a dog in the desert, I too wished someone would bury me somewhere with a view.
A call came in, displaying my father’s aging face in the top left corner of my vision. I let it ring for a few moments as I debated if I wanted to have a conversation with him. Sighing, I answered.
“Yes?” I said.
My father looked at me and then looked away. “When will you remove that childish icon? It is unprofessional.”
“You know, I could have just ignored your calls like the rest of my siblings do.” I nipped back.
I refused to have my figure displayed in real time like my father. Nor did I like having a blank canvas. The inbetween was a piece of digital art of a chibi kitten batting at a chibi dragon. It had been drawn by a friend years ago… A friend that was no longer on this earth. Instead of arguing the value it held to me - as my father was too prideful and selfish to care - I elected to just segway past the topic each time.
“We are the Western Dragons,” His tired voice showed his age. “It is dishonorable to have such a picture show when you call. It may show we are not one front.”
I chuckled. “So, was there a point to you making me come out here for this?”
That caused him to pause. A minute passed as he glared at me. In the past, that was enough to illicit fear. That was before a certain incident showed me true fear. Now, I just saw a rich old man. He couldn’t hide the worry in his expression. Not like he used to.
“You are the least ambitious child of mine,” He said. I was about to complain, but he continued. “Your sisters lord over their divisions, as if they were queens and spend money like them. Your brother lives out the fantasy of a bastardly warrior while he injects himself with poison. He spends his days with criminals and at night with whores.”
I bit my lip. I wanted him to get to the point.
He continued. “Of filial piety, there are three degrees. First and highest, is to be a credit to our parents. Of the second, to not be a disgrace to them. Of the lowest but final, to be able to support them.”
“Yes, yes. Confucius. I remember.” I murmured as we neared the black site. I had to go back to pick up my own personal vehicle. I was fed up with people for the night.
My father continued on with whatever point he was trying to make. “I used to believe you failed in being filial. As we continue through this life, I have come to see that you were the only filial child. Albeit, if unwillingly.”
I held my tongue. This had just gotten interesting.
“When you reach the black site, there will be a package waiting for you with the Head of the department. Take it to the facility in Nevada.” He changed course. “You will also get an escort.”
Stunned by his small, yet big confession, I had mental whiplash from the sudden change. Then pissed off. My emotional state had more turbulence than an AV breaking through the stratosphere.
“First off, why am I delivering something to Nevada,” I hissed. “And in the dead of night to boot?!”
Then the rest of the information caught up and my brain stalled for a moment. But my father took advantage of this.
“Do not speak of what you are about to do,” He said. “Just know this will be the last request you will have to undertake for me. Afterward, you will be freed from your filial duties. I will continue to financially support you as I do your sisters and your brother. Far more generously might I add.”
I wasn’t the brightest in my family, but I had good intuition. An intuition that told me tonight’s chain of events was far more ominous than I originally believed. It almost sounded like… A goodbye?
I wasn’t sure.
We pulled into the black site - a warehouse that sat adjacent to a small three-car garage. An ex-6th street location that was taken over by Xi Long Corp a few years back. The Emperor pulled through between the two buildings and parked in the left-hand parking lot. This was a building I remember. It was a nightmarish time, but I remembered it being open on the rear and it allowed you to look out into the southern river that separated Arroyo from Vista Del Rey.
“... Are you going to tell me what’s going on? Or are you going to leave me in the dark?” I asked.
For once, my father smiled at me. A warm smile. “It is a long story, but I will leave you with advice. Leave the formal attire and dress comfortably. I suggest a ballistic vest as well…”
The call ended there just as we parked. Timing taken into consideration, this seemed a little too planned.
I exited the Emperor and looked out toward the river. A river that was not there. Shipping containers had been stacked along the outside. Definitely to prevent observation from the other side. Besides the SUV I’d just disembarked from, was another identical blacked-out emperor. It was my personal vehicle. While black wasn’t my color, it protected me.
I was guided by the agents. The warehouse was a hive of activity as agents geared up and packed out. I hadn’t stepped in when I came earlier, but I was quite sure this activity wasn’t normal. Agents that noticed me gave me a quick bow as they went about their business. We went up to the second floor where there was a large room labeled “Inventory”. It was open and there were dozens of agents inside. They too were gearing up when we entered.
“Captain!” One agent yelled to the leading agent.
The rest of the agents repeated this and saluted the man. I was then acknowledged when they saw me afterward with “Young miss!”
“Clear the room, our Young Miss will be getting dressed on the Chairman’s orders,” He barked. None of the agents argued or questioned. They filed out until the Captain grabbed a female agent’s arm. “Help the Young Miss find whatever she wants. She needs to be out in 10. Don’t worry, I personally trained her in the basics, just don’t give her anything too advanced.”
She nodded and remained while the Captain left. She closed the door behind him and turned to me. “What are you looking for specifically?”
“My father deemed me unworthy of the situation’s details,” I said. “Only that I was to dress comfortably and a ballistic vest would be a good choice. I assume that means there’s a possibility I will be on foot at some point.”
The woman bit her lip as she looked me up and down. I was dressed in a formal business one-piece dress. Neo-militerism in style cut below the knee, and clean. The agent looked more like an Edgerunner out of the holo than a corpo-agent. Then again, half the agents did get recruited from that crowd last she glanced at those reports.
“I recommend losing the dress…” She said after a few seconds.
Without question, I pulled out the dress and handed it to her. She looked relieved and guided me to a secondary room I hadn’t noticed towards the back. It was a wardrobe. All sizes and styles were here. I was impressed.
“Preferred styles?” She called out.
“I was never into fashion,” I answered. “I guess basic boots, pants, a shirt, and a ballistic vest will do. Preferably in all the same color. My sizes are…”
I told her my size and she directed me to a large floor-to-ceiling mirror. Despite my fashionable dress, one I had the company stylist pick out, my mid-back length hair was roughed up. White irises reflected back. I was conventionally pretty with no superficial modifications. Aside from my implanted hair, I had no touch-ups or scalping.
A blend between my Scottish mother and Chinese father, I fell inbetween the two genetic lines and was dealt a good hand. My eldest sister… Took more after my father with the sister after her taking more after my mother. My only brother also fell between the lines and had good looks. Though, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear if generic alternations had been carried out with how both of us came out.
The agent came back with all-black clothes. “Black is easier to find here. Wet-ops is our bread and butter here, so we don’t carry that much fashion.”
As she said, the all-sex black shirt was handed over. I put it on along with dark grey denim jeans. I was handed black combat boots. Once I had those on, I was handed a soft-shell ballistic vest. Standard issue with no bells and whistles aside from ammo pouches.
She spoke as I put it on. “I thought you’d be fussy like your sisters.”
I looked up as she grinned. “You’ve met them?”
“Of course,” She said. “This site is the home-base for a lot of Xi Long veteran operators. We had to do something similar a few times when the company was smaller… So, given that we’re doing this…”
“Means something big is happening,” I said. “I figured. My father said something ominous before I walked in.”
“What did he say?”
“That I was his only filial daughter.” I said as I got up. “Weapon.”
“How is that ominous?” She said as we walked into the armory.
“My father rarely compliments me,” I said as she handed me an M221 Saratoga. “And never something that big.”
“Want the detes?” She asked as she pulled six fully loaded 40rnd magazines off the shelf and stuffed them into pouches.
I nodded.
“Militech was backed into a corner,” She said as she pulled a suppressor out as well and stuffed it into my last remaining pouch. “After Saburo and Yorinobu got zeroed in 2077, the last Arasaka kid pulled Arasaka back. Militech focused solely on pushing back, but that hurt their books. When they tried to turn back to the market, people like your father had already filled in that hole. Now that Arasaka is regaining power, Militech needs to come out hard. They’re going to war.”
She stopped talking for a moment as she mumbled something to herself. She then turned around to a shelf opposite where different boxes were stored.
“Yeah, I heard some Mercs and nomads hit them hard Arasaka hard 10 years ago,” I said putting the sling around my neck and letting the weapon hang. “But I haven’t really heard anything about Militech recently.”
“That’s just it.,” She snorted as she pulled out a small box with data shards in it. “You haven’t heard much about them because they got left behind. Technology is evolving again. Their tech is falling behind and the younger corporations passed them by while they were hellbent on going after Arasaka. They over-committed. NUSA gave them a letter of Marque per se. They’re starting with Night city.”
She pulled out two. “I heard you were more of a netrunner. Blue shard has eddies. Red shard has a few daemons for your deck.”
[Message from Devans: Package is here and your escort is prepared.]
“Devan messaged me.” I said as I took them. “Is that your chief?”
“Shit, yes it is…” She looked around. “I honestly wanted to give you more gear, but you gotta go. Let’s just hope whatever Militech planned, stays on the other side of the city. Is your vic empty?”
I nodded. “There’s only a bag of snacks in the passenger seat, why?”
She grinned. “We’re transferring our equipment to our own transports. I’ll load some equipment you may or may not need. Just for good measure.”
“Good luck,” I said.
“Same for you, girly,” She said. “Chief’s office is out the door, left, and at the end. The door’s labeled.”
I exited the room as I slotted the shards in my ports.
[Shard slotted: Suicide (ex. spd.1.sec)
This causes target to execute themselves with their own firearm.
// Daemon Saved
Shard slotted: 50,000 ED balance on shard.
Deposit?
/// Deposit declined. Balance will stay on shard]
I exited the room and the rest of the agents filed back in. I followed the directions and found the office. Inside was a large cybered dark-skinned man behind a desk. He was outfitted in all black, heavily armed aside from his arms and head. Both of which were clearly augmented by the seams that ran across them.
“Mercy Xu,” He said coldly.
“That is me,” I answered.
He took me in from my feet to the top of my head slowly before speaking again. “What the hell is your dad thinking… You’re not geared for this.”
“I have Kiroshi Optics, a Monowire, Claws, Fangs, and augmented arms and legs,” I disagreed.
“Look kid, it’s not just that.” He said as he put a suitcase on the desk. “Do you know what's in this thing?”
“I wasn’t given the details,” I said.
He growled as he slapped the case with his right hand. “A highly important research and development item that we stole from a certain corporation. Which, stole it from another. There is a high chance neither of them know we have it, but there’s also a chance we might encounter a fight just because of who we are.”
“And I’m prepared for —” He cut me off.
“I know all about you, Young Miss,” He challenged me. “You’ve had basic training, same as your siblings, but you’re the odd one out here. You’ve only done whatever your father has assigned to you. Outside of that, you haven’t taken additional training or conditioning like your siblings. You’re the softest of your family. Your loadout is simply enough to escape, not hold out and fight.”
“Maybe that’s why my father picked me for this?” I shrugged. I honestly didn’t care about this, but I would do it nonetheless. The family is family, and my father at the patriarch. Even my brother follows the rare orders my father gives. “He needed someone who’d run from a fight.”
He smiled. “Maybe. And that’s exactly what you’re going to do - because you’re not fitted for a fight. You're a soft target with high-value cargo.”
“My Emperor is outfitted to survive attacks,” I protested and folded my arms. “Why are you arguing with me to begin with?
“It’ll survive an initial attack, but it won’t hold out in an extended engagement. That’s why I’m doing this right now. Whatever happens, out there, don’t stop.”
“Shouldn’t I stay with my escort?”
He growled. “Don’t. Stop. No. Matter. What.”
I bit my lower lip and held back my reply. I had the authority to fight against anyone in the company. But I felt that trying some power-play here for egos wasn’t needed. He felt sincere in his efforts to hammer this information into me.
“Okay…” I sighed.
He nodded. “We’ll try our best to get you to the Nevada facility as best as we can. We hope by going by wheel will lower our chances of contact. But Nomads and outlaws exist, so we might get targeted simply by because.”
“That’s not assuring at all,” I chuckled. I was already feeling nervous.
He moved around the desk while gesturing for me to leave the room while carrying the box. “I wasn’t trying to. You need to be aware that the chances of this going sideways are very much real. That is how bad the situation is.”
I didn’t complain and stepped out of the room. The Chief followed before taking the lead - his eyes glowing as he did. We both went down the hall before we stopped in front of the inventory room. The agent I had ridden with on that execution mission met me there. “This is Second-In-Command Darren Wilcock.
He handed me another shard. “Copy the daemon Agent Cat handed you and re-slot this. It’ll key you into our communication net while reconfiguring your display like hours.”
I took the red shard out and took that one. “How will it reconfigure?”
“It’ll add a squad function that allows you to see squads and their relative positions,” Agent Wilcock said. “It will also allow you to peak into any voice channel on our net. Something only the Chief and I can do since you’re our boss.”
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“Thank you.” I said that the warning displayed that a shard had been slotted and it was reconfiguring my display. Six squads appeared as Squad 1 through 5 with one labeled Butterfly Actual. I smiled at that. “Butterfly Actual?”
“I remembered you liked butterflies.” The Chief smiled back and guided us back down to the SUVs.
“Remembered?” I asked, confused. I don’t remember ever talking to this man.
“Well, I never expected you to remember. I was part of the rescue team that found and saved you from the scavenger incident five years ago.” He said as we reached my SUV. “We had a calm room for clients who’d undergone traumatic incidents, and you clung to a butterfly blanket.”
The female agent from before had just finished stuffing a box in the rear hatch and closed it. She nodded to me and got into the previous Emperor I’d used. The Chief guided me to the driver’s side forcefully. “You’re gonna have to take the wheel tonight. Keep Auto-Pilot on, but if shit starts flying, you’re going to have to take the wheel. Don’t trust the AI.”
“Wait, but I’ve only driven on private roads before!” I informed. “And you’re going to expect me to drive under fire…?”
“Auto-Pilot can navigate obstructions at low speeds, but if you wanna crash head first into a missile you can see but the car can’t…Also, set it to convoy mode. I’ll set the pacing from there.” He grinned
I paused for a moment. “... Driving it is…”
I got into the Emperor and set it to convoy mode. Chief set my AI to follow Agent Cat’s car. Pulling out of the lot and left, Auto-Pilot kept pace with Agent Cat’s own emperor while we all kept a 10-meter distance between each other. My father had originally said “an escort”. The reality was that we were a six-car convoy. All but mine were filled with heavily armed and cybered agents. This felt like overkill if anything.
I found Agent Cat’s name in the squad roster. Squad Leader of Squad 2. “So… Agent Cat… Is Cat your name or a nickname?”
There was no reply for a few seconds. The squad function acted like a conference call, but with more ability to isolate different callers into sections.
“Nickname,” Agent Cat chirped. “Before Mr. Zheng recruited our team, I was exotic.”
“Oh…” I said not so sure what to say there. I’ve known a few exotics on the net but none personally. “You de-chromed?”
“Yeah, turns out exotics don’t fit in offices very well,” She laughed. “Your father asked me to turn down the appearance before I fought every administrator at headquarters.”
“Make’s sense,” I chuckled. “I thought about going exotic, but…”
“Your parents are traditional.” She said.
“Yeah.” I said.
“But your sisters are chromed too?” She asked.
I shrugged as I looked out the left window. We pulled through the last street of the industrial section, Mega-Tower 6 passing on our left. “None of them really cared what my dad thought about.”
“He must have raised hell for that incident we pulled you out of,” She said nearly a minute later.
The Chief interjected in our conversation. “Mr. Zheng sent out kill teams throughout the badlands for a whole month hunting Wraiths. Killed nearly a hundred of them bastards before we couldn’t find anymore.”
I shrugged. “I never looked into the after-action reports of it all. My father just treated me like damaged goods for that year when I had to get chipped in. I figured he’d rather my quality of life go down than get cybered…”
Another man voiced out, his ID read as Agent Red. “That’s pretty heavy, Choom. My dad would just beat me if I pissed him off.”
“Holy shit,” Was the only thing I had to say to that.
The conversation steered momentarily to upbringing. Most of them grew up on the streets and lived quite the life. As we pulled onto the floor-level highway, following the overpass northeast, it turned to music.
“Hey, Young Miss,” Agent Red called out.
“Yes?” I Asked.
“What’s your vibe?” He asked.
“Excuse me?” I was confused.
Agent Cat interjected. “She’s proper you idiot,”
The Chief spoke next. “He wants to know what music you like.”
“Oh,” I said. I wasn’t sure how vibe connected to music. “I usually listen to classical, pop, or jazz.”
Agent Red let out a low whistle. “I’m into all matter of rock and screamo.”
“I’ve never heard of screamo, but I’ve heard some rock before.”
“Really?” He asked. “How about Samurai? They’re preem!”
“I’m not into terrorists.” I knew about them.
“Pft,” A collective laugh spilled from the rest of the squad leaders in the call.
The Chief spoke up. “You should’ve seen that coming from the badlands.”
“Then play me your favorite song then, Young Miss!” Red said.
I sighed. “Are you guys normally this unprofessional?”
The Chief interjected. “We were originally a merc team, and your dad left us to operate the same way. Just under his name. So, yeah.”
“I apologize,” Agent Cat said. “The boys don’t understand sophistication but I can assure you they’re quite skilled.”
I smiled. It was… Kinda nice with the laid-back atmosphere. It killed the tension in the air and helped me catch my breath. “How about you play me one of Samurai’s songs first, Agent Red.”
“With you permission!” He cackled.
“Fuck…” Agent Cat sighed. “Just keep it low so we can hear each other. I don’t want you fumbling to turn it off on contact.”
“I’ll just throw it in the Squad Control like always.” He said.
Just like he said, a new squad appeared in the lineup called “Music ALL CONTROL”. From it, a beeping sounded for three seconds. The music then played. In the squad, the only member listed was “Samurai - Never Fade Away”
“Like it?” Red asked.
“The music just started playing. “ I said.”
“Not that, how I got the music to play,” He said proudly. “Nifty little trick we cooked up ourselves.”
He then loaded up a few more Samurai songs while he shot me over the code to add my own.
To be honest, it wasn’t my speed. It opened up some… Something. Whatever half-scream-half-whatever the singer said “we had to pay the price!”
We turned off onto the onramp to get on the overpass that headed towards the Peaks - and we began to pick up speed. As we reached the ramp’s halfway point, I noticed there was an unusual amount of cars not moving on the southbound off-ramp. Actually, there was a lot of cars on that —
A explosion ahead of me rocked Agent Cat’s emperor. The SUV slammed into the right-side wall, blinding me as it happened. A split second later, bullets slammed into my SUV like a hailstorm. Most of the rounds ricocheted off the titanium-plated panels and the Micro-Titinuam Mesh bullet-proof glass rated at .50 caliber.
“-- a thing of beauty - I know
will never fade away – “
“Contact!” The Chief growled.
A red warning appeared at the top of my vision “Contact mode engaged.”
I suppressed the urge to panic and kept my eyes on the left-side ramp, looking for missiles like I was warned when one in fact did come. A lot of them.
From the furthest end ahead, I saw the flash followed by the illuminated smoke cloud. I never knew how distinctive missiles looked…
I grabbed the wheel and jerked it hard right - then left as I panicked as my mind caught up. I was on a ramp! I was going to scuttle myself right off the bat - - no, I ended up narrowly missing the end of the wall and veered into the intersection of another on-ramp, colliding with a semi. The collision bounced me on course with a retention wall and I jerked hard left. Again, narrowly missing the edge and sending the emperor into the air.
I stiffened and held the wheel as I was unsure if I crashed or –
The SUV hit the road hard and the SUV jolted side-to-side as the vehicle protested the forces. The box I was transporting whacked me across my face and nestled itself between my thigh and the door. I cursed, though whatever just happened landed me back on course as we entered the main highway. Music still playing, which I thought Agent Red was supposed to kill…
A glance at the open roster showed his squad…
[Squad 3: SIGNAL LOST]
I felt a chill. This... This was real.
“Young Miss!” Agent Cat came on the comms. Gunfire was audible.
“She’s still behind me!” The Chief threw out. “What’s your status?!”
“Vic is knocked! Turret deployed! We’re fighting on foot, but they’re moving for you guys now!” She said. “Young Miss! I put Wyverns in your trunk! If you have to stop, put your right side to the gunfire and open your left trunk! They’re already keyed to you!”
“Got it!” I said as I veered away from a civilian car.
A missile screamed past me, hitting the car. Flames engulfed it as its rear opened up and the glass blew out over the street in a wave of glitter.
Just then, a call came in from my brother. I was about to ignore it when I remembered he could also deploy Xi Long's security forces as well. It would be quicker since he was usually out and about with his own detail.
“Chen!” I screamed his name as I picked up the call. “I need you to —”
“Hello, dear sister.” The malicious tone he said that with paused me as an AV pulled up on my left as we came under the canopy of a tall tower. “How do you like my new friends?”
“F-Friends?!” I repeated.
“Young Miss! Take evasive action!” The Chief screamed. “That’s a Militech AV!”
I turned to the AV to see its side hatch open and two people siting in it. One of them being my brother.
“Do you like the going away party I set up for you?” He mused. “I remembered you telling me the other day that I was just some wannabe-punk with money. Well, can you see how much more I am now?”
He laughed as I noticed a distinct lack of firing coming my own way. Several Militech trucks passed me on the west-bound side.
“I came to give you my regards,” he said. I could almost see his sadistic smile. Oh, that curdling smile… “Aim for her lower body. I want her to feel what this ‘wannabe-punk’ can do.”
I cursed and tried to hit the break. A glow appeared from the man standing beside my brother and then a flash. My thighs and stomach jerked and I felt a pain I’ve only felt one time before. The emperor jerked to the side as one of the militech trucks slammed into me. We both slammed into the side wall of the freeway. My vision pixelated as my brain struggled to computer the signals being sent as pain engulfed me.
The driver’s door glowed blue for a moment then it cooled to reveal two holes… I pulled the package that’d been nestled between my thigh and the door. There was a hole straight through it with white light pouring out of it. I wanted to open it, but I then saw all the blood that was oozing out of me. It was pouring over the box slowly.
It was a Tech shot… And it ripped the front of my stomach open…
“-- what you did to me - I know
said what you had to say–”
“Young Miss, I’m turning—” His status on the roster turned to SIGNAL LOST.
The AV landed in front of me as more Militech vehicles screeched to a halt on the side. My brother and the sniper dismounted and approached us. I struggled to stay sitting up. But I did. I willed it out of spite for my brother’s actions.
“... I’m… Your sister…” I managed to whine out.
“Oh, yes,” He cooed as he ripped the tech rifle from the sniper, and mounted the hood of the Militech truck before stepping onto my hood. He bent down and tapped the barrel on my windshield. “In fact, I’d say you were the most tolerable of our siblings.”
“Then… Why… Me..?” I said with less energy. I could feel myself slumping forward… Was this blood loss…?
“Yesterday, I realized our father would never hand Xi Long over to me,” He said. “And neither to our sisters… So, the three of us planned a coup. But... That left you.”
I remembered… He had come over to our father’s home, where I lived, and bugged me for an hour for non-sensical things like always… I had just… I thought it’d been one of his good days… When we could be family like we’d been when we were kids…
“Don’t make that face!” He hissed. “Our father forced my hand! You never wanted to take the company over. When mother died, only you were there for me! If he hadn’t told me that you’d take over no matter what happened, I would have left you alone!”
“I… Told him I wouldn’t…” I said my head against the glass now. The world was dark… “He said… This last… Thing… and... I was free.. I wouldn’t have… to take over… Xi Long…”
“What…?” He said.
I turned enough just to see the confusion on his face… My good-for-nothing brother… My gonk of a brother… Despite all of this... I still cared..
The white light from the package grew brighter and illuminated the cabin. Despite how bright the world was, I slipped into the void…
“-- we'll never fade away
we'll never fade away
we'll never fade away…”
----------------------------------------
(Original Chapter 1)
A quick, subtle hiss of air broke the silent darkness. A line of white light appeared low, six feet across in length and it illuminated the bare grey-painted floor.
The light grew upward, illuminating a woman bundled in a cloth-trench coat down to her feet. Only her chest-length snow-white hair and small mousy face were visible as she sat in a rather black luxury seat. No other decorations existed within the cabin aside from a charging station that held a sleek black Heavy Infantry Combat Andriod. And even that was stripped down to its bare bones aside from armor plating and semi-gloss paint.
The droid whined faintly to life as it mantled out of its station and out of the cabin. Outside was the hangar were several armed men in clean grey fatigues and armor. “Greetings, Ms. Xu!”
The drone scanned them all at once with thousands of tiny lasers, barely visible to the naked eye before it beeped once. Ms. Xu or Mercy Xu’s eyes glowed with a faint white ring and she stood before exiting the cabin of the Aerodyne with the help of two new men who looked like the pilots. The hangar itself was quiet aside from the shuffle of clothes, weapons, and the droid. That was until the roar of another aerodyne came into view of the open hangar that overlooked an ocean.
Unlike Mercy’s aerodyne, sleek and minimalist with only “Star Inc.”, this one was double the size with four small remote security drones around it. It was bright white with gold accents, and when its doors opened, loud music filled the hangar. None of the men in the hangar greeted the group of women and a single man who exited the aerodyne or the guards that followed.
“Sister!” Yelled the man who was surrounded by girls. “As boring as ever! What brings my oh-so-not-fun sister to our father’s tower?”
Each word dripped with ridicule as he smirked, girl in each hand as if each were a trophy from where ever he’d picked them up from.
“Father has summoned me to his office, Brother Long,” Mercy said with a small bow respectful bow.
Long’s smirk twitched, almost defying him by turning into a frown, but managed to keep up his facade; running his tongue along the inner part of his mouth under his bottom lip. Then he nodded his head towards the glass doors deeper in the hangar before saying “Let’s bounce.” His posse followed him, his guards looking more like security from a club rather than trained soldiers like Mercy’s.
Rather, even Long looked like some mobster from the streets rather than the eldest of Zheng Xu, Patriarch of the Xu Clan and owner of Star Industrials.
Mercy glanced over at the men around her, each of them held the same bored expression as her as they stared after the group. White rings flashed in her irises again before the whole group formed a diamond around her, droid to the front.
They followed behind the larger group of her brother, which stood out in a different way as Mercy’s security was far more armed and robotic than the more relaxed suited security of the office. Long’s group was what they were. Mercy took delight in that her brother elicited annoyance and disgust as he rowdily made his way towards the opposite end of the mega-tower.
However, mid-way, the atmosphere within the tower shifted.
More droids were patrolling and more armed men were running. All parted for the two groups as they delved deeper into the heart of the tower. Almost instantly, there were no more office workers and support staff, only security by the time they stepped into their father’s lobby.
“Welcome,” A ‘young’ looking woman standing behind a large desk said. She smiled as she shuffled some papers together before shoving them into a large shredder. A large rifle was slung across her chest.
“Pft,” Long said and dismissed the woman before heading into the open office beyond the desk where their father was talking to several people in lab coats.
Mercy only gave a small bow before following, which elicited a “Mr. Xu is not in a good mood, forewarning.” from the woman.
Within the room, the group was talking erratically before their father stared at his children approaching.
“Why have you brought this filth into my office?” Zheng Xu, their father, growled at Long. Long’s arms were still around the women, who stared in awe at the high-class office decor and his guards. “Get out, Long, you stay.”
Without question, the guards nodded and exited the office and stood opposite of Mercy’s guards - except for the droid that stood behind Mercy.
“But you allowed–” Long turned to gesture to the space around Mercy, but only saw the robot. “--T-That robot in here!”
“Yang was created under my personal supervision and is maintained by the very people who maintain my own personal cyberware,” Zheng scoffed at his song. “While I would love to tell you of your own flawed argument, and lecture you on your life choices – I do not have the time or care to right now.”
He walked over to a table off to the left where many tactical cases were present. Some were open, displaying screens with cables running out to a large open panel in the wall. There, many servers blinked and hummed. Zheng grabbed one of two closed cases and shoved it into Long’s chest, causing the girls to shirk away as Long grabbed it. He stared down at the case, mouth open before he looked at his father.
“Take this case and your people, and our scientists to our Memphis outpost. You will await further orders there from me or your sister.” Zheng said before he walked back to the table.
“But I’m the eldest! Why do I have to –” Long began to protest and was promptly scared off as Zheng threw an empty rifle case at the man. He scurried off, along with the girls and his security.
“Mercy,” Zheng growled and stared at her before his expression softened. “I know you have stated you do not wish to take over my position, in the company or family. Do you still wish not to?”
Mercy lowered her head. “I do not wish to.”
“And if I ask you to do so?” Zheng asked.
“Then I shall listen to Father’s wishes.” Mercy answered.
Zheng’s fingers thumbed across the case in thought. No longer facing his youngest as he cracked his neck side to side.
“Mercy, my beautiful and loving daughter,” He said softly. “... I will be truthful… I do not think I will live past today, and –” Zheng began but was stopped when he saw the panic and fear in his daughter’s eyes. A smile floated onto his face. “I’m glad to see you do still care about me…”
“I care for you greatly, Father… I.. I am sorry I am not better at –” Mercy was cut off by a wave of her father’s hand.
“None of that,” Zheng said and picked up the last case. It was similar in size, about the size of a large desktop computer. “I know since the incident in your teens, you have been greatly troubled with many things. I have treasured what little I do receive from you. It had also shown me the errors of my way with your brother… I cannot turn back time and correct either of those, but now…”
He cleared his throat and handed the case over to Mercy. “It that time I have spoken of. When the sky will darken with ash, we would no longer be able to afford the luxury of choice. I love your brother, but if I were to choose... I would choose you to be the one to carry on our family. I have received intelligence that the Euro-Alliance has partnered with our rivals, Manhattan Projects, and will wage war upon us and Pacifica.”
Mercy’s eyes widened for a moment, but then her face became blank as she looked at the box. She nodded and stared back at her father. Eyebrows slightly furrowed.
“It is an unknown orb of power that we’ve been studying for years,” Zheng said. “Better known as the Holy Grail to the world. The details are in the drives but know that it is the reason for this misfortune... And will rather die than hand it over, for it would forever stain our honor for generations to come… It’s also a power of great power that we’re close to tapping into..”
He smiled, which caused a small smile to dance on the edge of his daughter’s lips.
“Most of our forces are leaving the city and securing the wastes in your preparations,” Zheng said. “Your brother will be a diversion. I did not make it so, but he will do on his own since he does love to travel in large groups. Since you travel light, it will be safest with you.”
The hangar buzzed with life as it was filled to the brim with people and transports. Mercy’s transport had been moved to the closest area to the door, which was her father’s personal landing area. His was beside hers, along with several more security droids.
Zheng walked with Mercy to her areodyne. The inside had been changed, no longer minimal, but more military with a single crash side and a new cargo attachment. It was stacked with more tactical boxes and was blocked off with new cargo nets, taking the area behind the charging station.
Mercy panicked and turned to her Father.
Zheng places his hands on his daughter, looking down upon her. “Calm, I know how much you hate change. This is for your own good. You can be mad about it later, but now is the time for action. Be good, you’ve handled this situation well up until now. Do not get hung up on the small things.”
Mercy pursed her lips before lowering her head and nodding.
“Good,” Zheng nodded and gave her a hug. Mercy stiffened and froze, but Zheng only hushed her and patted her head. “I have not held you for nearly ten years, allow me this one time.”
The moment passed, giving way to Zheng sighing as he pulled away. “Go, before your brother stares a hole through my head.”
Mercy nodded and bordered the areodyne. A man came up, dressed in overalls, and showed her how to operate the buckles before saying. “Miss, your father has swapped out the cockpit with an automation unit. Everything works and since you’ve kept your transport up to date and minimal, all the upgrades your father asked for were completed. Just know you can take control or see out the new camera’s added. Also, thanks for not being a dick like your brother…”
Mercy was taken aback by the man as he stepped out of the now tighter cabin and it closed. White rings appeared in her irises as the ship spoke to her mentally and it began to take off. The doors closed and the world outside gave way to the familiar darkness. However, this time, she she did not sit in it as she opened the link to the transport.
The view of outside appear in her eyes, allowing her to look around her.
Towers all around her, each of them bustling with activity as lights flashed below and above. The city was tearing itself into a frenzy as it began to evacuate. She held the box in her lap, clutching it as the transport headed west out of the city. Her brother’s transport headed north.
The muted atmosphere within the cabin soothed her now fraying nerves. The outside world was turning itself over once again, but this time, it did not get to her. Not like it did before. It was not the dark pits of the scavenger tunnels, but the darkness of her own transport. Yang was with her, for she was Ying, and —
Mercy was flung to the side, pressed violently against the straps while she hold the box tightly. She was disoriented for a moment when the aerodyne was rocked again. This time, the door into the cabin was dented inward. The roar of the engine and the city at large rushed in as she pulled the camera feed from that side. The AI told her they were under attack just as the view of her brother's much larger transport popped into her view. A holo call came up two seconds later, Long’s face appearing in the ID. She answered and his mocking voice entered her head.
“Sister! How nice to see you!” Long said just as the wold-ending bang of a massive gun called out and made her ears ring. “I’ve fucking hated you since you came back from the Scavengers. I worked so fucking hard to get rid of you then, now I have to do it myself! As they say, sweet sister, things come to those who take - and I’m taking this family!”
Mercy was too stunned to react as the door exploded inward. Most of the shrapnel was contained, save a few that narrowly missed her as she huddled back. Her leg bled as it was partly caught. Yang attempted to exit the station and was promptly locked in as the station short-circuited.
Outside in the rushing wind, her brother’s transport kept pace with hers as large cannon was pushed to the side. He stood in the open door with a machine gun. With a barely visible grin, opened fire into her transport. His untrained hands did little to guide the wild recoil of the gun, but with hundreds of bullets, it didn’t matter.
The entire cabin turned into a light show as the bullets entered the unprotected area. Panels, boxes, and Mercy, were hit over and over. The case her father had entrusted to her was shattered, and out came an iridescent pearl-like orb along with several large hard drives. Despite this, Mercy managed to grab the orb as the transport became unstable and began to spin towards the distant ground. In her eyes, her system screamed that she’d been critically injured and to resume the recovery position for Trauma recovery. It did not matter. In that moment, as the world spiraled around her, she clung to the orb as she tried to hold it close. Her coat quickly grew heavy and wet with a tint of crimson. After another few seconds and she began to struggle to hold herself up as she began to go limp in the seat.
Strangely, blood began to string from her lips, spinning widely with the aerodyne.
The orb began to glow a pure white once her blood began to splatter over it in the mess. Even when her arms began to lose their strength, the orb stayed in her lap. Just before she lost consciousness, she’d covered the orb in a good portion of blood. Her cybernetics screamed to hold consciousness, and a bright light filled the cabin.