“Just wait; she should be close to your current.”
The distant gunfire had suddenly died down; what sounded like a full-blown firefight was now replaced, rather starkly, with the sound of nature.
Duke fidgeted with his weapon’s stock, adjusting his chin; somehow, it still didn’t feel comfortable, “This is making me nervous. Are you sure she is coming my way?”
“Yes, affirmative on that part.”
Duke nodded and slowly scanned the edge of the woods opposite the road he was looking over. Suddenly catching movement toward his right, he lowered his head, snuggling his weapon’s stock as he peered through the apertures of the sight on the weapon and his HUD’s reticule, searching for a live target. A silver-haired woman stumbled out of the heavy undergrowth, which brought a sigh of relief from him.
“I see her. How’s everything else looking?”
“I lost control of their drones, but Bugs is still keeping their diggers busy with several other intrusion attempts. Outside perimeter should be safe to pass through if you can hurry.”
Duke nodded, sliding behind the small rise he was hidden behind to get closer to where Noa had emerged. Reaching his intended destination, he peeked up and saw Noa walking as if in a daze. She seemed to keep looking over her shoulder.
“Noa! Hey!” This was weird, he thought. He could have just comm’ed her as he raised a hand at Noa and beckoned toward him.
It took longer than it should have until Noa blinked, seeing him in an open position and beckoning to him. As if broken out from a trance, she suddenly sprinted toward him and slid around the edge of the rise he was sitting behind.
Duke looked at her. Her eyes were red and bloodshot, and some lines ended in smears at the bottom of her dusted face. While she sniffled her nose, her body seemed to tremble. He frowned. This woman felt empty and didn’t feel like the Noa he knew.
“You OK, Noa?” He studied her, his face puzzled.
Noa looked at him, her face expressionless as she nodded.
“Yes, for sure. You my ride out?”
Duke smiled and nodded. “Yep, Bugs helped liberate a rather sweet ride for me. Maybe not for you, but for me, it is.”
Noa scoffed, her lips as if trying to form a smile yet failing. She wiped the back of her hand against her sniffling nose and nodded.
“Right, let’s go then, what’s the plan?”
Duke had turned and started leading the way, relieved that there was no sound of a drone or anything that could potentially be hostile to them.
“Bugs forwarded coords to me. We’re meeting there. She and Mira have devised a plan: We need to change our locator implants.”
Noa frowned. “Huh? Why? Can’t we just tweak or update the soft?”
Duke shook his head. “Hey, I just work here… besides, Mira said something about if we wanted to not allow for any potential tracking, soft updates and tweaking would only help against lower caliber diggers, which the great houses do not… employ. And with that level of skill, the best soft only things we can do can only delay higher caliber diggers, and we don’t want that.”
He shot a look over his shoulder. Part of him wanted to make sure Noa was still following him, another was that feeling deep inside him that something was up with this woman, who seemed to be acting rather strange to him.
Noa nodded. “Okay,” was her only reply, which made Duke even more anxious. They passed through a field with tall grass flanked by trees, with the sound of a stream running parallel to the direction they were headed.
“Close now,” Duke stated as they reached the edge of the tall grassed field. He knelt, his head turning, as he slowly checked the area around and above them.
“Seems clear, let’s go.” He turned around at Noa, who nodded in response before he burst out from the tall grass, sprinted across a road, and continued down a shallow slope on the other side of it. A deep blue pickup truck was parked at the bottom of it.
“Sweet, right?” he smiled as Noa joined him at the vehicle's passenger side. She smiled back in response and climbed into her side of the vehicle.
“Okay, let’s get out of here.” He started the engine while he looked at Noa, who was looking out the window in the direction she had come from; she nodded in silence at his remark.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ride was fast and uneventful. They were now in some underground room, having had to negotiate through what seemed like an endless maze of tunnels and sewers from where they had left the vehicle.
Duke walked up to Bug, Noa in tow, as he leaned closer to her and whispered.
“I think you better check on Noa; something’s wrong with her.”
Bugs leaned back as if taken aback by what he said and shook her head. Their voices were hushed as she leaned in toward him.
“What do you mean?” Her eyes looked at Noa, who had reached for a water flask and had started to quench her thirst.
Duke turned to look in the same direction and then back to Bug Bunny; he shrugged and shook his head.
“I dunno, just… it's like, it's not Noa?” he shrugged again, his face showing how perplexed he was.
Bug Bunny looked at Noa, her eyes lingering as her mind raced. Her lips pursed inward as she exhaled gently and nodded slowly.
“Okay, I’ll talk to her. Stay here. Mira is on her way to join us”,
She got up and walked over to Noa, who was standing out of earshot and seemed to stare at the blank, greyish walls of the room.
Duke watched as Bug Bunny started talking to Noa, who shook her head and started moving her hands animatedly. She seemed more animated when talking to Bug Bunny. The only thing he could make out from her lip movements toward the end of what seemed to be a long and confused explanation was the several repetitions of a single, short word, ‘Why?’ before she suddenly embraced Bug Bunny tightly and started to burst out into tears audibly.
Duke’s eyes widened, startled at what he saw. Bug Bunny’s arms returned to Noa’s embrace, and she turned her head toward Duke while she slowly guided their embrace so that Noa’s back faced him.
Duke raised his hands up and outward as if asking her something. Bug Bunny slowly shook her head at him, indicating for him not to say or do anything, and turned her focus to Noa. She seemed to be whispering to her while she held her close while Noa continued to weep, her face buried against Bug Bunny’s shoulder while her body shook.
He sat down on a nearby stool and leaned against the wall it was placed close to. He felt awkward, not knowing what to do or whether he was even supposed to do anything. He tried to look around the bare, bland walls of the room, yet his eyes would return to the two women again and again.
Bug Bunny didn’t say much now as Noa kept weeping. Her body seemed to tremble gentler now. He could see that Bug Bunny’s eyes were red, and streaks of tears were sliding down her cheeks.
Urgent footsteps grabbed his attention, and he turned toward them. Mira walked in, her face a look of anger before she rested her eyes on Bug Bunny and Noa. She turned to Duke, who shook his head toward her and gestured for her to come closer, which she did.
She reached him and leaned in. “What’s wrong with Noa?” She looked at her, what seemed like genuine concern etched on her face.
Duke shook his head, replying to her in an equally hushed tone.
“I dunno. She seemed out of it when I picked her up from High Rise. She’s been different since then, and… and now this,” he shrugged.
Mira looked at Bugs and Noa as if in deep thought before she slowly nodded, as if in understanding, and turned to Duke.
“Let’s leave them be for now, but you and I need to start prepping for the loc chip change.”
Duke nodded without hesitation; this would be a good distraction from something he knew he didn’t understand at all.
“I can do that. What do we need?”
“Okay, that steel table? Bring that here, the lighting’s better here, and hmm… those lockers?” She pointed to a set of three tall lockers in an equally bland dark grey color. “In the middle locker, there’s a bag. Bring it here; it should be enough for me to work on your locator chips.”
Duke nodded. “Okay, on it.” He gave Mira a half smile and proceeded to get it done. Mira turned and knelt. Her hand felt at the lower end of the wall she was facing, seeming to search for something. She smiled as she found what she was looking for and tapped the wall with a knuckle in a series of sequences as if tapping out a Morse code.
The clean surface of the wall broke, and a line etching out a rectangle appeared; before it slid out as a drawer, cold air emanating from it turned to steam as it mixed with the more humid and warm air lingering in the room they were in.
She pulled a small table to her left closer and then dug out three black, steel boxes from the drawer and examined each one. Satisfied, she placed them on the small table and closed the drawer back into the wall. There was a faint hissing sound before the line that outlined the face of the drawer disappeared again.
Standing up, she turned and made her way to where Noa and Bug were standing. She stood, hands lowered and entwined in front of her, before she softly cleared her throat, eliciting a response from Bug, who raised her head.
Mira leaned forward slightly and kept her voice and tone warm and friendly.
“We have to begin the process. This room can only do so much to prevent the tracking of your locator chips.”
She slowly slid a hand onto Noa’s shoulder and squeezed. “Noa… are you ok to proceed?”
Noa turned her head on Bug’s shoulder. Her face was smeared with tears, her eyes bloodshot, her nose sniffled as she studied Mira somewhat blankly. A few moments passed before she responded with a nod and gently pulled her head up from Bug’s shoulder.
Mira smiled assuringly as she slid a hand around Noa’s.
“Let’s begin with you. You are certainly on their tracking list. Then we can continue with Duke and Bugs, okay?”
Noa sniffled, wiping her nose as she nodded and bit her lower lip.
Mira guided Noa onto the steel table and laid her down, gently turning her onto her side.
“Usual location?” she leaned closer to Noa and tapped her hip. Noa smiled weakly and nodded.
“Okay, I’m gonna knock you out, then start..” She turned as Duke brought a long dark bag and placed it at her feet. She knelt and picked out tools for the job, then stood up.
“Wait,” Noa suddenly croaked, her voice hoarse, as she grabbed at Mira’s wrist.
“Tell me we’re gonna make them pay.”
Mira nodded slowly and offered Noa a warm smile. “We will make them pay.”
Noa nodded and afforded a weak smile before she closed her eyes.
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The man was huffing; beads of sweat ran down his forehead as he stood at attention.
“Parameter secure, and the intrusion attacks have seemed to cease. Our diggers are still checking for any worms or trojans they may have left behind before we can call the all-clear.”
Richard glared at him and nodded with a grunt.
“See to it then.” He waved the man off and started to turn before he paused
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“Medical team?”
The man gulped at the question, and his mouth opened slightly as if to answer when Richard cut him off.
“If I get news I don’t like, you and your family will pay for it, you understand?”
The man gulped and nodded. “Y... Yes, Master Richard”
Richard turned and leaned over the console, his eyes trained on several screens on the wall as he waved the man away.
“Status?”
A younger man sat next to him, his face focused on the task at hand as his hands moved and waved in the air, fingers tapping.
“We tracked her to a location in Lowbie town, but then it got weaker, and now it's disappeared entirely.”
Richard scoffed as he crossed his arms. Essential experiment or not, no one touches his family.
“Continue the search; I will inform the authorities of this,” Richard paused and placed a hand on the seated man's shoulder, feeling it tremble underneath his fingers.
He felt a scoff rise to his lips, but he forced it down. With a glare set firmly on his face, he turned around and strode out of the room.
As he walked down the hallway towards an open door, he could hear the heaving sobs before he even glimpsed her; they were loud and, in his opinion, somewhat disturbing.
His wife was curled up on a white divan, her once pristine pantsuit now wrinkled and stained in some places with what he thought were tears. Her long blond hair spilled over her shoulder and fell down her face, tangled and greasy. Her shoulders shook, and she shot up with a gasp, teary blue eyes finding his own in an accusing stare.
Gazing down at his wife, Richard felt something inside him soften, something that was usually so jagged and cold. She was the only one who could make a fool of him like this. Sighing, he murmured, "We're doing our best, and we will bring her to justice.”
Her face tightened, and she snapped, "I can't believe Noa would hurt her own sister!" Her tone was sharp and poisonous, and if Richard had been any other man and not the powerful one he knew he was, he would have recoiled. Instead, he just pulled her into his arms and embraced her tightly.
"I know," he muttered. "I thought I knew her, too."
She trembled against him, but she didn't cry again. "I thought I raised her better than that," she sighed into his neck.
"We knew the risk we were taking when we took her in," Richard replied, placing his chin on the top of her head and gently swaying from side to side.
"I just... I guess I didn't anticipate this level of violence from her.”
His wife shook against him, and he realized she was shaking her head. "I-It's my fault," she murmured. "I shouldn't have helped you to bring the experiment to light. Exposing what her parents were doing was a risk, especially when we didn't know why."
Richard huffed out a breath, shushing her softly. "Neither of us anticipated this. I guess we thought if we raised her well... I guess Mallifar stock is stronger and more resilient than I expected, hmm?"
His wife lifted her head away from his chest and giggled through her tears, sighing as a smile curled her lips.
“Thank you, Richard.”
He gently pulled himself back, untying her arms around him.
“I have to make arrangements. You will be the first I update as soon as I get word, okay?”
She nodded and smiled back at him. “Okay.”
He turned and walked away, his hands moving; a communicator icon on his HUD flashed.
“You called?”
“Yes, Richard, I’ve heard some incidents happening at your side of High-Rise, anything I should be concerned about?”
He nodded, “Yes, there was something, a… new situation has arisen, and other… developments… we need to meet. Prism HQ building.” Richard paused, his mind while his mind raced, “The 17th, 1700 hours.”
There was a short pause on the other end, “Prism, 17th, 1700 hours, got it, will be there.”
Richard nodded and cut the line, his hand moving again as he made another call.
“Anton.”
“Yes, Richard?”
“I’m meeting with the Xales on the 17th at 1700 hours at Prism HQ. I need you there.”
There was a momentary pause before a reply came back.
“Is this about what happened in High-Rise?”
Richard nodded as a smirk ran on his lips.
“Yes, it is.”
“Okay, I’ll see you then.”
The line cut, leaving Richard to his thoughts.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It’s been a few days since the incident at High-Rise, and the group has not sat still. They had been moving from one location to the next, a series of safe houses pre-vetted by Mira just as soon as events had started so many weeks ago.
This was the last stop, in the most unlikely location, right under the noses of where the great Houses perched their reminder to the rest of the world of their standing among the population.
The plan was to stay under the radar and bide their time. Mira had explained to them how cold she liked to proffer her revenge, as she had waited more than twenty years for the chance to do something significant that would deliver the most impact. Her mood and demeanor had changed before they reached this location, which she shared was an opportune moment to cut the head of the snake.
Noa looked out the large wall window toward the view afforded by the place. One hand nestled a glass she sipped on, while another felt at the relatively fresh wound where Mira had replaced their tracker chips.
“Nice view, right? It's a two-way mirror, and I added a coat of my own, homemade Mira-original concoction to nullify electronic surveillance through it.” Mira entered the room, holding long rolls of paper.
Noa looked at her as the dark-haired woman headed toward a table and unrolled them on it.
“Going ancient tech Mira? Surprising coming from you.” Noa turned and finished her drink before she joined Mira by the table.
“Well, when your skills as a digger get to my level, you appreciate manual tech.” She patted the worn paper on the table.
“Like this, for example. No digger can hack and download this, and parties that provide these services are usually so much under the radar that people won’t even think of looking for them”, she smiled, almost proudly, at Noa.
Noa scoffed softly as she studied it, it looked like any other plan she saw. The only difference was that this was laid out on a table… She pressed a finger down onto the paper and pulled on it, making it move, eliciting an amused chuckle from her. “At least it can scroll…in a fashion.”
Mira smiled at the younger woman standing next to her, somewhat happy and relieved that she had regained some of her former self after what she had seen before.
Duke and Bug joined them, exiting their respective rooms when they heard the voices.
Bug looked at Mira. “What do you have there?”
Mira smiled and nodded as she lowered her gaze to the papers.
“This, my comrades, are the plans for Prism Tower,” her hand glided on it, pointing out each section of the drawings while simultaneously lifting the top paper to reveal two more layers underneath “top-down view, floor plans by differentiated groupings, side view, and the rest.”
Noa nodded. “I smell a gig.”
Mira flashed her a look, “Not exactly a gig, but yes, a job, an op.”
Noa shrugged. She didn’t see the difference.
Mira looked at each of them, then at Noa. Her mind raced as she tried to find the right words and avoid bringing up any episodes that might risk Noa retreating into herself again.
“Essedar has the resources, yes. Yet, their hold on the other houses is… not as solid as their accounts, so to speak. And… “ She paused momentarily, electing to forgo some of her explanation. “All we need to do to disrupt the head of the snake heavily is remove one person from the table. It won’t end things but will shake their foundations to the very core.”
Duke looked at the plans, shook his head slowly, and tried to understand what he saw. It looked so alien to him.
He looked at Mira and shrugged. “Okay, so… why this place.”
Mira smiled, her hands moving up to control a file she had on her HUD, and then they waved in the direction of each person at the table.
“My birds have found something juicy.”
Each person played the file they had just received; Noa responded with a quick gasp, her expression hardening.
One word slid out from her lips, seething with vitriol, “Richard.”
Mira nodded slowly.”Yep, I’ve arranged for support among the scattered cells of what’s left of us…”
“You mean the Hyenas.” Bug interjected, her tone carrying the skepticism of her thoughts about the group.
Mira nodded, “Yes, but these aren’t the Hyenas you guys have had to tangle with.”
She bit her lower lip, her thoughts remembering some of those who had been with her for so long yet had met their untimely fates. Her eyes turned to Noa momentarily before she addressed everyone again.
“Anyway, the cells are mostly from the original Hyenas, a majority of whom were the security forces for House Mallifar, who paid and have kept their allegiance to the House intact… plus, some newer blood, but I wouldn’t worry about them.”
Duke scoffed and shook his head. “You want us to carry out a raid…on Prism HQ? Are you crazy? I might as well lie before a heavy-wheeled transpo and end myself more easily.”
Mira looked at Noa, who stayed silent and looked at the plans, but her eyes indicated she was elsewhere.
She seemed to snap out of it before she looked at Mira and said, “What do you have in mind?”
Mira smiled, ”Okay, we’ll have a few groups running interference for us using gargoyles fitted with babies.”
This perked Duke’s interest, his eyebrow rising. “Gargoyle babies? What sort?”
Mira shrugged. “Different kinds, clusters, grapeshot, gas, and more, if I know Flo well enough. You’re the rigger, right?”
Duke inclined his head, “and Overwatcher.”
Mira smiled and nodded curtly, “Okay, I’ll forward you Flo’s contact. He’s our go-to drone guy. You guys can have a chat and plan the details. Remember, the main role is interference. I and Noa are going in, but we won’t be able to keep reinforcements away. That’s what the gargoyles and their babies are for.”
She looked at Bug Bunny. “Bugs, I’ll pass you some of my personal ICE-pick templates for you to use…”
Bug Bunny’s face lit up as she looked at Mira. It was like she was about to be given something she had dreamt of since childhood.
Mira smiled when she noticed this: “...and I expect you to do what a digger of your skill levels can do and has always done for Noa? Additionally, I’d need you to nullify the drone jammers they have around the area, especially around Prism Tower itself.”
Bug Bunny smiled brightly and nodded. “Oh, you can bet your ass I’ll do that,” then her expression changed.
“Wait, but… drone jammers in Prism Tower? That level of security usually means those are air-gapped?”
Mira nodded. “I got that covered. We have cell members who are genuine maintenance personnel for the building. I’ve planned and tweaked this ever since that building came up after they wiped the Mallifars away, so I know.”
She looked at Noa, who still stood silent and was still looking intently at the plans on the table.
She placed a hand on Noa’s crossed arms, her other hand patting at the drawings.
“Noa, this is what you and I will do,” as she started to lay out what she had in mind for herself and Noa.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It had been hours since Mira had laid out the plans for them. Noa sat lazily on the couch, her feet on the table, while she nursed a water bottle on her stomach. She looked at Mira in the same pose as her, yet her hand was moving, manipulating, or scrolling something on her HUD.
“There’s been something that has been bugging me.”
Mira paused, waved a hand away, then turned to look at Noa with a shrug.
“What issit?”
“Remember the first time we met?”
Mira nodded, a tinge of sadness on her expression as she recalled it.
“Yes, all too clearly, why?”
Noa shrugged a shoulder. “Well… you see. Bunbuns had mentioned the ICE on the comsui… the Lipmen suit was nigh unbreakable, so… how did you break it in a matter of seconds? Or less? I mean, yes, you’re good, but no one is that good… right?”
Mira leaned away from Noa, her arms crossed, feigning offense, before she chuckled and smiled.
“Easy. I was the one who wrote the ICE for the suit. Well…I wrote its fundamental structure codes, then tweaked them to allow for com-suit usage. So when I noticed you wearing it, I just recalled the base code, then slapped together an ICE-pick for it.”
Noa shook her head as if in disbelief, her brows showing skepticism, “You… SAW me wear it?”
Mira shrugged as she smiled. “From the upstairs window. I saw how fast you were moving and the fact that I could only barely see you when you stopped to stab…”
She nodded and continued... “I knew only one thing in this world allowed anyone to do that, and I was correct. Plus, the rain helped outline your silhouette, transparent or otherwise I could make it out, so I put two and two together. Not hard when you were part of the team that dreamt up and designed it.”
Noa’s impression showed she was connecting dots inside her head, her eyes resting on Mira again.
“So… you know Anlidar”, she concluded matter of factly.
Mira’s brows frowned. “Anlidar? Hmm… middle age-ish, polished look, expensive threads, trying to act like he was the one in a room giving orders out…That Anlidar?”
Noa’s face now mimicked Mira in her frown. “Yes?” something clicked in Noa’s mind. Was this why he had never included his name in his scrips?
Mira sneered as she shook her head. Then looked at Noa and nodded slowly.
“Yes, I do, unfortunately. I never liked him. He was sus as fuck. Although he was an essential part of the Mallifar intel and counter-intel arm.”
Noa sat up suddenly. “Are you kidding me?”
Mira shook her head in deliberate pauses. “I don’t joke about people I’m sus about.”
“So, would you say he was privy to the level of information that you had as head of security?”
Mira nodded slowly and passingly replied, “Most definitely a yes. Maybe even more.”
She looked at Noa, whose scowl had only deepened in her brows. “Why are you asking this? Was he the one that got you the Lipmen suits?”
Noa bobbed her head. “Mhmm… said I was the only person for the job, too.”
Mira sat up this time and chuckled sardonically. Her expression bordering on both surprise and disgust, “That fuckin kerb crawling snake.”
Noa didn’t reply. Her mind raced, absent-mindedly biting on her thumb.
Mira patted Noa’s knee. “Listen, from what I do know, he’s not around. He skipped out of the quad-cities when the war erupted. Let’s focus on this task we have laid out for ourselves, then we can come back to this after that’s done.”
Noa’s eyes turned to Mira, her head unmoving before she responded with a slow dip of her head. She then returned to her original pose, returning her feet to the table opposite the couch they were on. Almost immediately growing silent, and distant in her thoughts again.
Mira watched her. Ever since the recent trip to High-Rise, she had been less animated and more distant, readily retreating into herself more often than the vids she had found and studied of her. Gently, she patted Noa’s knee again.
“Soon, Noa, keep your wits about you.”