The City in the Clouds, a nickname given to the floating city above Neo Vegas. A mass of land engineered to float approximately 5 miles above ground level. The city, officially named Exo Terra, was made to be fully sustainable, independent of any external aid. The city itself was actually comprised of much more than just a city and acts more closely to that of an independent state. Vast in size, it contains a a large metropolitan city, suburbs, as well as an amalgamation of different ecosystems, all housed under a transparent dome. Those who can afford to live in the city live in either the metropolis in the middle or the suburban areas that encircle that metropolis. The workers of the city live in housing underneath the city itself. The city also has a light tram system built throughout the center of the city, as well as circling the entirety of Exo Terra.
Samael and Amrita were scheduled to arrive at the hoverport gate, located near the western edge of Exo Terra. Moments before landing, Samael opened his eyes, having just completed his neural speech update. "Good morning, did your nap fix anything?" Amrita asked Samael. Samael stretched out his tired body before responding, "I would like to think it did. It might take some time to get used to, but at the very least, no one will be question the way I speak." Amrita looked at him in disbelief. She knew that many things were possible with neural implants, but she never knew that complete speech and personality changes were able to happen in just a matter of minutes. The changes that Amrita noticed went beyond just how Samael spoke, she saw that his entire demeanor changed. She could feel a sense of superiority emanating from Samael. Honestly, she felt like she was speaking to a completely different person. In fact, the feeling Samael was giving off was closer to a sophisticated older man.
"At the very least, no one will be able to tell that you were born on the surface. That's definitely a step in the right direction."
A disembodied voice was heard over the intercom system, "We have just arrived at Exo Terra Domestic Terminal 3. Please make sure to take all of your belongings with you as you leave the hovercraft." With the exit to the hovercraft now opened, Samael and Amrita headed for the exit gate.
The path leading to the exit gate was as opulent as the hovercraft cabin they had just exited. Marble pillars lined the walls of the golden hallway. Chandeliers placed every 30 or so feet from either end. A spacious hovertram sat on a light track in the middle. While Samael would have preferred to just walk, Amrita encouraged him to use the tram with her. She explained to Samael that those in high society only walk when absolutely necessary. Samael agreed, thinking back to how much he hated walking up the dizzying staircase that led to Alastair's office. The ride on the tram was fast and smooth. It didn't take long for them to reach the gate leading out of the hoverport.
After exiting the hoverport, the two were met by 3 more Brimstone employees and a sleek auto driving hover vehicle. "We were ordered to deliver your personal items to you and retrieve an appropriate mode of transportation for the two of you to use during your stay here. We hope everything is to your liking," one of the employees said to Samael and Amrita. "We have already placed your belongings inside the vehicle, is there anything else that we can do for you?"
"That will be all," Amrita told the employee as she took a seat inside. Samael sat down in the seat next to her without saying a word. The doors closed and the vehicle headed for the city.
"Set coordinates for Neon Street." Amrita commanded the vehicle. A monitor on the center dash came to life, producing a bright green confirmation message. The hovercraft sped into the city's shopping district. The city was a congested jungle of metal and glass. Buildings so large that it was difficult to see the ground below. Vibrant holograms attempted to entice potential guests into stores. People walked on floating bridges that connected the large buildings together. Samael was fascinated by how it felt like the city was a living, breathing organism, ready to devour anyone at random.
The hovercraft arrived in front of a unique looking building. A colorful building comprised of Eastern style architecture and lighting. "I'm going to go inside and find you something to wear. Wait for me here," Amrita said to Samael as she hopped out of the hovercraft. Samael watched her disappear into the building and enter into one of the many stores inside. Samael contemplated whether to actually listen to Amrita's words before seeing something from the corner of his eye. A few stories down from where he was positioned, he saw a young woman being chased by a group of unhappy looking men. "This could be some fun," Samael thought to himself, as he pulled his goggles and hood on.
Samael got out of the vehicle and immediately jumped down all the way to the bridge he initially saw the chase. He ignored the surprised faces of the people around him and sprinted after the group of pursuers. Samael followed them through tight alley ways, over fences, and down a ramp before finding them in a particularly greasy alley. The mob had cornered the young woman and approached her slowly.
"You don't have to do this!" the young woman screamed. "Look! I have money. I have lots of money. I can buy you whatever you want. I can even ask my daddy to do something for you!" the woman was frantic in her speech. "So please, whatever you do, just don't hurt me..." the young woman began to sob.
Her pursuers were unfazed. "Sorry little lady, but this is our job. We'll do everything we can to make it painless at least. Well, mostly," laughed the man at the forefront of the group. He clearly led the group and had no intentions of bargaining. Samael had actually recognized the man as a fellow cleaner. He couldn't be bothered to remember the man's name, but remembered his distinctly shaped bald head. Samael did remember one other aspect of the man, the man was extremely cruel and violent. Samael's blood started to race at the thought of all the fun he was about to have.
"I didn't expect to find a group of pigs in the sky like this. I guess pigs really can fly!" Samael yelled at the group. Before they could react to his provocations, Samael ran head first into the group of men. The group totaled to around eleven people, so Samael planned to thin out the crowd before things got too dicey. He was able to reach the group fast enough to catch at least one man off guard. Samael placed his finger tips on the back of the mans neck. A bullet of compressed air shot itself through the mans neck, leaving a marble sized tunnel where his throat once existed.
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Ten people left. They were now very aware of Samael's presence. Their leader yelled from the rear, " I don't know who the fuck you are, but I hope you don't get embarrassed easily. We're gonna be stringing your dead body up, naked, on a light fixture in the middle of the city. Kill this fucker!" The rest of the men ran at Samael. A large, sinister smile spread across Samael's face. Samael engaged the first two men that ran at him. Fingers at the ready, Samael aimed his fingers at the two men's ankles. Two more air bullets were fired. The sound of flesh being ripped from a human body reverberated in the dark alley. The two men buckled under their own weight and fell to the ground. Without missing a beat, Samael leaped into the air and landed on the chest of the next sacrifice. He flattened his hands on the man's chest. Samael's hands emitted waves of sound at hypersonic levels. The sound waves traveled into the man's body and collided with each other, over and over again. His organs ruptured one by one before a violent eruption of blood spewed from every orifice on his body.
The rest of the bald cleaner's underlings froze in place. None of them wanted to be Samael's next victim. Samael took that as a sign to continue his onslaught. Samael aimed his fingers at the metal rafters above the group. Precisely aimed bullets were shot over and over until hundreds of pounds of sharp metal were dislodged. Bits of sharp rusted metal continually punctured the remaining six underlings. A large cloud of dust formed as everything came crashing down.
As the dust cleared, Samael looked for the body of the bald cleaner. His corpse was nowhere to be found. Before Samael realized what happened, the bald man grabbed Samael by the ankle from his prone position on the ground. "Gotcha, you little bastard," the bald man yelled out as his powerful hands pulled at Samael's leg. The man twisted his body as he pulled to increase the amount of centrifugal force applied. The force was too much for Samael's small body and his leg was ripped out, straight from the socket. Samael fell down as bits of his leg dangled from his waist.
The bald man stood up with his new prize still in his hand. He placed a foot on Samael's chest and began beating him with the amputated bat. Every hit produced a spray of blood, coloring the alleyway in a deep crimson. Eventually, the man tired out. He looked over Samael's bloodied corpse. For some reason, the body beneath him was smiling. "What a freak," the bald man whispered to himself before tossing Samael's dismembered leg. He turned around to face his original mark. "Sorry about that, it looks like we were interru-" before he could finish speaking, the large man felt his body go cold. A stinging pain spread throughout his body. Blood poured from two marble sized holes on his head, one at the base of his skull and another placed right above his eyebrows.
The large man's body crumbled to the ground with a heavy thud.
Having witnessed everything, the young woman, who was initially too stunned to move, ran with all of her might out of the alley. Her long ginger hair bounced around as she ran.
The alley went silent. Minutes passed with no movement. Suddenly, something began to stir among the corpses. Samael's dismembered leg inched its way back to his body. Having reached his bloodied body, the leg started to fuse back into place. All of Samael's blood also started the process of returning to his body. His body quickly reverted back to a state before the fighting occurred. Unfortunately for Samael, only his body repaired itself. His tattered pant leg laid in shambles on the floor. Samael walked over to the torn cloth and picked it up.
Pant leg in hand, Samael hurried out of the alleyway and made his way back to his and Amrita's hovercraft.
He slipped back inside and pulled the pant leg back onto himself. As he finished up, Amrita returned from her shopping trip, carrying many bags of clothes.
"Try these on," Amrita threw a bag of clothing onto Samael's lap. The bag contained a simple black hoodie, an oversized white tee shirt, and a pair of baggy black shorts. Samael was happy to see something similar to what he was already wearing inside of the bag. He pulled off his old tattered clothing and started putting on his new clothes.
Amrita watched and was shocked to see Samael's body while he changed. Evidence of cybernetic surgery was portrayed all over his body. Multiple parts of his body were combinations of human flesh and cybernetic prosthetics. She wanted to say something, but decided against it. She knew that it would probably be better for Samael to bring it up himself.
"How do I look?" Samael asked Amrita as he showed off his new outfit. "Better. You look like you actually bathe," Amrita joked. "Very funny, " Samael interjected. "Now that we're done here, I need to know how much you know about our mission."
"Okay," Amrita started. "Our target's name is Bridgette Anderson. She's the only daughter of the Stonewall Electronics empire. Due to mommy and daddy's money, she spends all day going around shopping and partying. Typical of the rich kids that live up here. The big difference with her, is that she has a really fucked up hobby. She likes to torture the people she deems more attractive than her. It probably wouldn't have mattered if she was just torturing the city workers, but she mistakenly kidnapped the daughter of a rivaled electronics corporation. Although she didn't kill the girl, she did enough damage to permanently disfigure the poor thing. Now, there's a hit out for her among some of the freelance cleaners. We might have our work cut out for us."
"Sounds exciting," Samael tossed back. Amrita continued, "Although we don't have an actual deadline to meet, we should try to find her quickly. I've heard some news that a large amount of cleaners have been getting into the city. They're more than likely trying to cash in on her bounty. I wouldn't be surprised if the security surrounding her increased." Samael laughed, "I don't think we have to worry about that." Amrita was confused. She asked Samael to elaborate. "I think I already found her. I took care of some guys attacking a girl who matches her description before you finished your shopping. She got away, but I took care of the people who were after her."
Amrita couldn't believe the words that came out of his mouth. "Take me to where this happened, now." She demanded. The two left the hovercraft and Samael showed her the alleyway where he was fighting. To his surprise, the alley was clean. No bodies or blood could be seen. Even the debris from the broken rafters was gone. "Something's wrong. I'm positive that this is where I found them. This place should be a fucking mess."
"We need to leave. Now," Amrita said, hints of anxiety in her voice. As the two ran, a single pair of eyes watched them from a window above.