The sound of thunder broke the otherwise quiet night. Rain unceremoniously started to pour from the darkened sky, lazily at first, then changed into a heavy downpour within moments of it starting. Bright lines forked out from four vehicles as their drivers started their respective engines, lighting up figures that ran about as they prepared to leave.
A group of them paused, waving at the vehicles to wait. A discussion started between a few of them before the lead nodded and signaled to the driver of the lead vehicle to proceed.
Noa can’t help but feel herself smirk as she ascended the vertical wall of the house with the red chevron on her HUD moving on the roof. The low illumination in red at the palm of her gloves and the fingertips now seemed brighter than usual at the loss of light due to the heavy rain.
She slowly peeked over the roof's edge to check on the Overwatcher, owner of the closest red chevron that floated in her HUD. He was on his stomach, his attention directed in the direction away from the cluster of houses, with an arc of vision that included the roadway she had just come from.
His hands were on his long rifle, and his head was bopping lightly to something, probably music. Noa mused as she slowly lifted herself and remained prone on the rooftop.
The engines' sounds turned louder as the vehicles formed into a tight column and slowly started to move, heading to the exit of the cul-de-sac.
“Fire in the hole,” Duke’s communicator icon lit up on Noa’s HUD. His announcement was immediately followed by a loud, rapid staccato of flat, bassy booms that echoed out over the area like a huge zipper was being pulled.
Two lines of light flew out of the darkness from the low slope that overlooked the road the vehicles were on, decimating the lead and last vehicle in the column in a matter of seconds.
The two inner vehicles stopped before their drivers tried to negotiate their way out of the column. The two lighted lines converged toward each other as they ripped through the remaining vehicles. The front vehicle gently crashed into the now-wrecked lead vehicle while the one behind it nudged its back. Duke’s rifle joined in. Its report was drowned out by the heavy bass of his rig’s rapid firing.
Noa simultaneously lunged at the Overwatcher in front of her. He raised his head and turned his attention to the sounds on the main road. She landed on his back with her knee and foot, knocking the air out of his lungs as she pulled up her automatic weapon.
The appendages from the back of her body suit jumped out, their heads embedded themselves into the man underneath Noa as she aimed her weapon at the owner of the other red chevron on her HUD.
Acquiring. The message popped up and flashed on Noa’s HUD as she let out two shots at her target, two quick snaps sending him slamming down to the roof's surface.
Noa could feel the stimulants and their effects coursing into her blood as she turned to aim at the Overwatcher on the other side of the street from the house she was on top of.
“Marbles inc.” Bug Bunny announced just as Noa leveled her weapon toward her target, her voice followed by loud booms. The spheres Noa had launched earlier that were lingering in the sky above the area had proceeded to drop down to locations Bug Bunny had designated and detonated.
The target Noa had in her sight slammed onto the roof he was on, shredded limbs flying as a single spherical drone detonated a meter over the roof above him, sending nail-sized jagged razors out, cutting up everything in the immediate area around it.
“Rig rounds complete. Moving,” Duke said.
Noa looked quickly in the direction of where he was perched. A few of the surviving Hyenas had started opening fire toward the slope opposite the road, some rounds aimed at where he was situated. While others were trying to gather themselves and whoever they found that survived.
“Noted. Get to your other position and cover me.” Noa slid down from the roof and landed in front of the house she was on top of. She checked on the Hyenas. Figures painted over with red appeared on her HUD as she looked over those she could see, small red chevrons appearing over the heads of those she hadn’t identified before.
A few were firing at where Duke was located earlier while others were attending to their hurt comrades. She spotted a particularly large Hyena, his right arm a stump, while his left hand was holding what appeared to be a bent pipe with a hand at the end of it. The vehicles they used did not explode, but they had too many holes in them to be in working condition.
“Two new ones, your five, Noa,” Bug Bunny suddenly interjected.
She turned, and her HUD painted them red. Small red chevrons appeared immediately over their heads as they raised their weapons. Noa darted to her left between the two houses on her side of the small street, but there was no incoming fire.
Noa smirked. The reflective setting worked even better in low light and rain; her mind mused as she circled the back of the house and peeked out from the corner. The two that had appeared from the house were joined by another from one of the other houses on the other side of the street from the cul-de-sac.
She saw another Hyena flip back and slam head-first onto the road; Duke’s rifle report followed it. His firing continued as she leaned out and sprinted toward the two she had seen exit the house by the end of the cul-de-sac, her dark blade in hand. The red lines glowed, just barely visible.
She reached the closest, slammed the blade into the back of his neck, and pulled sideways, cutting his neck in half as she lunged at the other man to her left, who was firing at the slope, unaware of Noa’s presence.
She plunged the blade down over his head, the red glowing lines on the dark blade's edge disappearing as it cut past his helmet and into his skull. Noa roughly jerked the knife down the back of his head, twisted it, and pulled her blade back out. Checking around her as his corpse hit the ground.
Turning, she scanned toward her back when a large warning sign popped up on her HUD. Instinctively, she flipped away, yet, still unaccustomed to the capabilities of the new com-suit, she landed farther than she intended to, a spray of pellets hitting where she was.
She looked up in the direction of the shot and saw a well-built female aiming her weapon toward her, pumping the shotgun she had just fired. Something inside her suddenly burned as she sprinted toward the female, zig-zagging.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sam’s eyes widened as the silver-haired woman charged toward her, zig-zagging her way. Her figure was obscured; the heavy downpour seemed to draw a wet outline around where her body should be, but it was transparent. She leveled her shotgun and fired, pump, fire. Her target was moving at impossible speeds as each shot she fired reached nothing.
“What in the fu…” was all she could say as the silver-haired woman reached too close to her, her instinct taking over as she raised her shotgun in the direction of the woman, only to see it cut in half. She rolled forward and toward the assailant, coming out of the roll with her long blade drawn, slashing diagonally upward as she settled on her knee and foot in the direction of the assailant.
Nothing.
Noa stabbed at her side; the blade pierced in before Sam realized what had happened. She turned to face her. In the dark and her hazy vision, all she could make up was the soft red glow encircling the woman’s eyes as she stabbed into her again and again, each stab rocking her body as if it was done with tremendous strength.
After what seemed an eternity in her mind, her eyes rolled back as her body slumped down toward her attacker.
Noa turned to check on any other Hyenas in the vicinity as she withdrew her blade, and the lifeless body slid down to the ground.
Her HUD scanned the bodies in her line of sight for life signs. Squares bounced over each potential target and turned blank until it highlighted the same large chunk of a man she had seen earlier slumped against one of the vehicles.
Blade in hand, Noa strutted over to him. He saw her approaching yet didn't do anything. She could see him smiling at her as she got close. Her HUD scanned him and brought up his ID as she squatted beside him, perplexed by the smile.
His breathing was shallow, and his body showed multiple perforations and two larger wounds. He was still holding his right arm in his hand.
He looked over her. The smile on his damaged face was more of relief and satisfaction than anything else.
“You… so it was you,” He croaked, struggling to form words.
Noa’s haze of anger and the rush that was still inside her failed to comprehend the words he chose, yet she smugly smiled.
“It's always me, curb-crawler.” She scanned him, her HUD highlighting the injuries on him as it scanned him, finally coming up with a report of his fatal wounds and estimated time to death.
He chuckled weakly, coughing up blood as he shook his head. “No… Mira…” His head slumped to the left, then to the right, his eyes scanning as if he were looking for something or someone.
Noa’s brows frowned. “Mira?”
He nodded weakly. “Mira…” he croaked one final time before letting out his last breath.
She couldn’t help but feel some pity when she saw this, picked up the man’s severed arm, and placed it on his lap. Before she stood up and looked around, her scan returned the same results of nothing.
She put in a search for the name Mira, affiliated Hyenas.
“Road is clear on my end.”
“Clear here,” Duke retorted.
“Clear from the air, no one made it to the beach exit,” Bug Bunny joined in.
“Okay, Bunbuns, can you verify on the Hyena’s? Need a final count and identification of each. I’m gonna check on the houses.”
“Done and done, Noa”
“Duke? Keep on overwatch.”
He chuckled back, “Already on it.”
Mira: Hyenas. No Records Found. The search results come back to her HUD.
Noa switched to private comms between herself and Bug Bunny.
“Bunbuns, Mira, that name familiar to you?”
“Mira? Why? Who mentioned that name to you?”
“That big hyena.” She darted a look toward his corpse. His expression when he saw her still bugged her.
“Mira of the Hyenas? Whoa really? Is she there?”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Noa shrugged. “No idea… why? You know her then?”
Bunny sounded like she was suddenly excited, which was rare. “Do I know her? fuck, Noa! Does a digger prefer cyber-space to real space?”
Noa frowned at this reply as she approached one of the houses.
“What? Yoh, I don't follow. Do you know her or not?”
“Heck, yes, I know her! She’s a fuckin’ legend! Best damn digger in the quad-cities, the combat-digger all combat diggers aspire to be,” There was almost a reverence in Bugs’ words.
“Okay, I have NO idea what this is about. Tell me in the fastest way you can please.”
“Okay, Noa, listen. You know me, right? I’m a damn good digger, even if I say so myself, but I can’t do combat-digs to save my skin. That’s a whole other level of custom chrome and skill… Mira the Hyena, honestly, I thought she died years ago when the last big war happened…”
“Wait, you mean she’s been around since then? That’s like twenty years ago.”
“Yep, she was around since then. Hey, if you dabble in the gen-tech and all that, twenty years isn’t that long now, issit?”
Noa shook her head, her eyes rolled at such a simple fact as she scoffed.
“Well ya, ok, duh.”
Bunny chuckled. “All good, okay? So, Mira, she’s actually spoken about as the phantom lady, the queen of c-space. She writes ICE-picks that people can just dream of, and she can combat-dig so fast that you won’t know what happens until it happens.”
Noa carefully entered the first house. Her HUD scanned the darkness.
“You sound like you wanna have her babies or something, Bunbuns.”
“Fuck ya, I would,” she laughed back in reply.
Noa scoffed as she smiled. Going up to the upper level of the house, her HUD readings detected no noise, motion, or sighting of anything as she checked each room, blade in hand, while her suppressed pistol was in another.
“Is that all then?”
“Well, honestly, everyone thought she died. Something about the incident with Houses Xela and Essedar, who were their biggest rivals during that war.”
Noa nodded as she exited the house and moved to the next house.
“Any movement outside?”
“Neg. ok, anyway, you know that bit of history, right?”
Noa nodded. “I’m familiar with that bit, yes. Essedar and Xela teamed up with the other houses to bring down the great big evil of House Mallifar.”
“Pretty much the gist of it, yes.”
“Okay, now. Don’t quote me on this, but this tit-bit isn’t an… hmm…, ‘official’ part of history…”
Noa paused just as she entered the second house.
“Oh? Like what?”
“Hyenas were actually working with, or under, the Mallifars. It was their brutality that helped keep the Mallifars in control of everything, even the streets of Lowbie-town, not just Adina City but the whole quad-city area.”
Noa scoffed at this.
“What, you don't believe me?”
“Um.. yea? No one can have total control of the quad-city areas. Too many people, too many interests.” Noa shrugged as she continued to repeat the scans she did at the other house.
“Well, like I said, don’t quote me on this. Do you wanna hear the story or not?”
“Okay, okay, tell me, please.”
“Okay, so, when Mallifar was crashing down, the Hyenas actually came up to High-Rise. I don’t know the reason for why, but they did come to High-Rise, and there was some really crazy fighting there.”
“Okay, and what has this got to with Mira?”
“Well, apparently, she was there as well, part of the group that made the last stand when they obliterated the area. There’s also another rumor that said she was actually House Mallifar’s security head. Crazy right? Both versions are accepted.”
“Huh, you don't say…Have you finished scanning the Hyenas?”
“Yep, and no Mira among them.”
“Okay, so we have at least one lagger then.”
“If Mira is around, then ya, we have ourselves at least one lagger.”
Noa nodded to herself. “Patching Duke back in.”
Duke’s communicator icon appeared on her HUD again.
“Wow, ladies, way to make a guy feel welcomed,” He immediately chimed in
“Duke, I need you to clear the other two houses while I stay on watch here. Then, once they’re cleared, I’ll go check the main house at the end of the cul-de-sac,” Noa replied, ignoring his complaints.
“Ok, coming off of overwatch and coming down then.”
“I’ll take over. The gargoyle hasn’t fired a round, so it's still on the up up.”
“Thanks, Bunbuns.”
—------------------------------------------
Leaning against the railing of the house’s front verandah, where she was waiting, Noa recorded a video message and sent it to Anya. The rain had stopped, and the night was now quiet again. The gentle crashing of waves could be heard as Duke appeared from the house opposite hers and waved at her.
“All clear here, Noa.”
She stood up, nodded, and gave Duke a thumbs-up before unholstering her pistol, tilting her left hand to and fro to test its weight. Then, she took out her baton from her belt, grasping it in her right.
“If Mira is in that last one, then I think I wanna take her alive.”
“Either way, be very careful. If she’s anything like the stories about her, I think she would even give you a run for your YeeBees.”
Noa’s lips bent up on one side as she gently pushed the door open. The barrel of her pistol followed where she was looking as she checked the left of the door and then swept the room. Her HUD perked up the light levels. Satisfied with what she found, she entered the adjoining room.
The scent of gun oil lingered in this large room, and a large dirty cloth covered the dining table. Noa lifted one corner, letting it go as it gently fluffed back down to the table surface.
Her HUD scanned everything again, picking and identifying any objects in her vision. Everything seemed clear, but a nagging feeling rose inside her that she was missing something. On a whim, she accessed the options on her scanner and decided to include wet surfaces in the scan.
Her HUD confirmed the additional parameter, and she finally saw it: faint traces of boot marks on the floor leading from the door to the stairs.
She smiled smugly and nodded. “I see you,” she whispered as she approached the marks—two sets.
“Heads up. Found at least two laggers here. Will update. Also, this is me being extra careful. I’ve cleared every nook and cranny in those houses, but can you do it again, please, Duke? Wet surface scanning on.”
“You didn’t turn on that option when you cleared the houses?” Duke’s reply came back, rather surprised.
“Shoot me, I forgot. Can you do it?”
“On it.”
“Okay, Noa, I still got the outside locked, gargoyle still in play.”
“Thank you.”
Noa flexed her shoulders as she kept her weapons in hand. Carefully, she followed the trail that led up the stairs. At the top, the trail branched into two, one left, the other straight ahead.
She nodded to herself and decided to check the closer one on the left first. She peeked into the room, and the damp boot marks on the floor disappeared into a closet. She knelt and let off three shots in a slight diagonal spread low at the closet door.
Her mind hoped that she didn’t kill whoever was in it. A muffled thump followed, and Noa slowly got up and inched closer to the closet door, her right hand opening it as her left kept her pistol aimed at it.
A man was inside, slumped back in the small space the closet afforded him. His wet honey-yellow hair was matted down, and he was sweating profusely. He looked up, and in the darkness, he could only see the soft red glow around Noa’s eyes. His left hand clutched at a wound at the side while the other lay in front of him. A pistol lay close to it.
Noa pushed the pistol away and pressed the suppressor of her pistol against his neck, pointing upward. She tilted her head as she recognized him from earlier.
“Hmph, it's you.” She started scanning him.
He smiled weakly at her, wincing at the pain of the wound in his side and the heated suppressor pressing against his neck.
“H..heey…”
ID Blocked.
Noa sighed. There was no time to run the soft that would break through ID Blockers.
“I didn’t get your name before. I’m Noa,” She purred softly as she scanned his wound.
Non-Fatal injuries detected. The message was followed by another describing the wound that he had suffered.
He squinted his eyes, unable to make her out in the dark. His fear was painted on his face as he stuttered.
“Bu..Buggy”
She gave him a single, slow nod. “Buggy…so you’re not Mira, I take it? One never knows with names.”
His face frowned as she asked that, hissing as the pain stabbed at him and made a slow, labored shake of his head.
“No, Mira, I’m Buggy,”
Her right hand that held the baton moved forward, one end of it resting under his jaw as she withdrew the pistol from his neck.
“Ok, Buggy,” She replied just as the blade from the baton sprung out, piercing past his brain before she withdrew it and the blade slid back in.
She got up and turned before she followed the other trail down the hallway to another room.
“Tally one more Hyena. Checking the other lagger inside here, Southwest corner of the house, upper floor, gonna clear. Duke, anything?”
“Cleared one, now checking the other.”
“Nothing on my end Noa”
“Ok, noted.” She exited the room, her senses still as alive as when the first stimulants entered her bloodstream. She took a deep breath before she peeked into the last room on her list, the boot marks ended in the middle of the empty room.
She scoffed as she smiled. Looking up, a small frame in the middle of the ceiling indicated where her quarry may have disappeared.
“Hey Bunbuns”
“Yea?”
“You wouldn’t start hating me if I took out your idol, right?”
“Why do you ask?”
“She’s not making it easy for me to take her alive.”
A long silence preceded her reply, “Between my idol and you, I’d pick you any hour, Noa, do what you gotta do.”
Noa nodded as she knelt by the door to the room. “OK, I need you to sweep the roof area with the gargoyle. Duke, are you done?”
“Nope, finishing up here. What do you need?”
“Once you’re done, cover any space you can from your angle. I'm gonna wait at the stairs while Bunbuns sweeps the roof.”
“Will do.”
Noa hurried over to the staircase she had come up from and knelt, her pistol aiming at the top of the stairs.
“Good to go.”
“Coming in,” Bunny replied.
The gargoyle's whirring sound reached her before it started to fire. The crack of the rounds was followed by the sound of the alloyed roof tiles getting hit. The staccato continued until Noa heard a thump from the targeted room.
“Hold fire,” she immediately barked out and rushed up the stairs to the door at the far end of the hallway, peeking in with her pistol aimed.
A woman on her knees wearing a hip-length black coat and an equally dark bodysuit knelt in the middle of the room, the door to the ceiling hung down and open. Her long dark hair was cut into a mohawk that leaned to one side of her head and swept down her back, with what seemed like metal plates enveloping the back of her head and ending on either side of her temples, circuitry snaking out from them.
A mix of metal and wires snaked up her neck from under her bodysuit as she turned and saw Noa. Noa’s HUD scan came up with another blank read on her target’s ID.
“Mira?” She blurted out inquisitively.
The woman nodded and smiled before Noa’s HUD went blank.
Noa froze, her aim somewhat skewed away at the shocking sudden change in her view. Just as she adjusted her aim and squeezed the trigger, the woman had already closed in on her, her shots missing wildly as the woman slapped the pistol away.
A hard kick to her groin, followed by an equally hard slam on the left side of her face by a truncheon, sent her to the floor in a daze. Her gun and baton clattered onto the floor. Noa rolled away from the woman, the stimulants in her keeping most of the pain and shock away.
“Oh, you’re gonna fuckin pay,” She growled at the other woman as she pulled out her blade from her belt.
“Sorry, Noa, but not today,” The woman replied almost too calmly. Just as Noa’s HUD lit up again in her eyes, messages scrolled and popped up as if everything was happening simultaneously.
Large red triangles with exclamation marks and other warnings flooded and blocked her vision. Her body suit whirred as it started to light up. Then, just as suddenly, it burst out in a bang of electricity, shocking her where she stood. The force of the sudden surge knocked her out, and she fell onto the floor as the surge disappeared.