1:23 am, June 14, 2483. East Tower, 67th floor
The East Tower is one of the stranger skyscrapers in New Kowloon, which is saying something. Only the very top levels and bottom levels of this tower are actually populated, while the middle levels remained ghost towns, abandoned. A strange sight in the most densely populated city on earth. But maybe that was for the best.
“So, Tori, back when New Kowloon was first founded, East Tower was one of the nicest places that you could live in here. But once the Silk Road Traders set up shop at the top, they let the gangs in too. I guess they thought the violence would keep most people out of their business… and they were probably right.”
The faint sound of gunfire from either two floors above or two floors below rattled through the walls of the once-apartment the young boy and the cyborg were hiding in.
“And they’re not concerned about, y’know, the whole structure toppling down?” Tori said.
The Silk Road Traders… how to describe them? They were the parasitic middlemen of the city, claiming to be negotiators and diplomats, doing deals between the other factions, all while taking a cut of the profits. Tori knew that it was their business, but the Traders never sit right with her…
“Pffft, believe me, Tori. I know the Silk Road Traders. They’ve definitely laced their whole compound in magic so it floats. East Tower falling is the least of their worries.”
“That’s… comforting.”
“Hey, don’t be like that, we’re not going to stick around long anyways. We’re going to get the drugs, and get out. Afterwards, we can even go for boba if you want.”
“Thanks, Issak- I mean, boss.” Tori said (she’d never get used to calling the kid that), getting up with a sigh, “Shall we begin then?”
“We better. I’ve worked with this guy before, and he’s very pedantic about timing.”
“Alright.” Tori ran her hand through her hair, and kicked open the door, “Let’s roll.”
The hallway was empty, proving Tori’s hearing implants didn’t need to get recalibrated.
“Who’re we going after again?” she looked back at Issak, as he adjusted his bowtie casually (of all times…)
“The Nine Dragons, one of the biggest gangs here. They staged a break-in at one of N-Corp’s labs three days ago and took off with some experimental drugs.”
“So we’re working for N-Corp? I thought ‘no working for factions’ was one of your rules.”
“Hah, most of N-Corp doesn’t even know the theft happened. They have quite the unique system going on: in order to power faster innovation, they highly encourage competition within the departments. So infighting, sabotage, espionage, it all happens there. And the pharmacists don’t exactly want it leaking that one of their new products is missing. So, they come to us. Heck, it could even be sabotage from the other departments. They can’t risk bringing it up.”
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“Right… “
“Anyway, the Nine Dragons have their compound on Floor 99. They wanted 9, but it’s highly contested territory. Floor 67 is the closest I can get us to it without risking ending up in someone’s territory.”
By now, the two had reached the door at the end of the hallway, and were now standing in front of the stairwell, where the sounds of fighting were even louder.
Tori nodded, changing her arm to machine gun mode, as a message flashed across her vision.
100 ammo
Was that enough? They had to go up thirty floors or more… and what if they got caught in the crossfire?
She snapped her arm back to normal.
“Issak… Boss, are you sure that there’s no easier way up? Surely.”
The boy paused for a second before he gave a reply.
“I had a feeling you were going to ask that question sooner or later.” he said with a sigh, “Wouldn’t expect anything less from you, Tori. Well, there is a way, but it’s going to need a bit of magic.”
Tori’s eye twitched, as it always did when it turned out that Issak’s ‘Plan A’ involved him doing less work and she more.
“Yeah? Out with it.”
“Part of East Tower’s garbage chute from when it was still an apartment complex remains operational. The segment is from 70 to 98. Some gang used it to ferry supplies, but then they lost one of the floors, so they abandoned it. If we can get in, I should be able to shoot us up to the other opening… yay.”‘
“Should’ve opened with that, boss.” Tori grumbled, as she dragged the kid into the stairwell and up the spiralling stairs, ignoring his yelps of protest. But it wasn’t long before they had to stop, on the landing in front of Floor 69 as actually reaching 70 was an impossibility. A pile of crates, furniture, steel bars and other junk blocked the way. A hastily made barricade from who knows how many years ago.
“Looks like we’re going to have to try our luck with the other stairwell…” she muttered as the constant shout and thunder of gunfire reached a crescendo.
“If we live.” Issak grumbled, looking mighty unpleased about the whole dragging thing.
“Of course we’re going to live.” Tori snorted, “You have me, don’t you? “
She hovered her left hand over the doorknob as her right arm took on gun form again.
“Just stay behind me and look pretty. You can’t get hurt here, ya understand?”
Issak nodded.
“Good.”
She creaked open the door, and was promptly greeted by a round of bullets.
----------------------------------------
Fuck…
Issak had hoped that he would be able to get out of this without having to use any magic, but, as usual, Tori was wise to him.
Man, he was going against all of that doctor’s orders…
But he barely had time to rub the arm Tori had dragged him by when she thrust the door open and set them both charging into an active gang fight.
“Down.” she immediately ordered, as she sent off a spray of return gunfire. Issak dropped behind a crate, where he promptly tried to rake in as much information as he could.
“Who the hell is that?” someone yelled, “is she one of us?”
“No, that’s an Outcast!… what are they doing here?”
The first one who spoke began a reply, but after they barely got a sound out, a few more bangs made them fall silent.
“Hey, next time you visit that doctor lady, ask if she has any rifle add-ons. This one’s really inefficient.” Tori said casually, extending a hand to lift Issak up.
“I think we have bigger fish to fry than making a new appointment with that quack.” Issak grumbled, but the sound of approaching footsteps did tell him that yeah, machine gun fire drew too much attention.
“But I will figure something out in time. Now, we need to go!”
Issak’s eyes laid on a pretty good hiding spot, at least for the moment, and better yet, it wasn’t too far away. He grabbed Tori’s arm and focused on that spot. One… two…
“There they are!”
Well, there goes that plan.