Ajax was sprinting for his life, holding a small chip tightly in his hand. Sadly, he hadn’t gotten the time to start uploading it before they had triggered the alarms; or rather, before Mori did, the damned moron. Mori was a little ahead, high-tailing it through the labyrinth of a building, heading for Martin’s location, who could teleport them out. Hopefully they’d make it before these pigs shot them dead.
Sprinting as fast as head could, Ajax reached into his blazer pocket, retrieving a small metal sphere with a middle-finger painted on it. Scrolling the dial to the number five, Ajax pressed down the button and rolled the sphere behind him. After three second past, there was a loud bang resounding down the hall.
“Nice job, AJ” Mori shouted back with a shaky voice.
“Keep running. They’ll have the cyber-units on our ass in a minute” Ajax shouted back, running at top speed.
After a little more running, they caught glimpse of Martin, whom quickly grabbed their arms tightly and closed his eyes. A moment later, they were outside in a dark alley, unlit by the various neon lights out in the city.
“You sure like to cut it close” Martin shook his head, thinking back on how ready he was to leave them behind after they failed to make it on time. They were supposed to be there seven minutes before they were!
“Fuck off, Martin” Ajax stuck up two finger, “Mori here set off the alarms like a dipshit, so we we had to take a different route”
Mori pulled a face at Ajax, clearly annoyed at the blame being dumped on him, even though it was most definitely his fault. All three of them knew that.
“So, how much of the data you manage to get?” Mori asked.
“Ninety-six percent. It’s enough, we can just fill in the blanks ourselves. Surprised we managed to get so much to be honest, considering how big a corporation MetEX are” Ajax replied.
“Good” Mori said, placing his hand into his jacket with a strange expression. “Good work, gentlemen”
Bang.
Ajax’s eyes widened as the bullet flew straight through Mori’s jacket, then planted itself right into Martin’s skull, sending blood all over the place as his head popped like a balloon, bursting into a firework of blood. Ajax’s face was painted in horror as he quickly attempted to activate his ability…nothing.
“H-How?” Ajax asked, his voice shaky. This only made Mori smile wider. Hastily, Ajax threw his hand into his blazer pocket, rummaging for his gun, but he was too late. There was no time, oddly enough for Ajax, a time warper.
Bang.
Everything went black; the lights were out. So many regrets. So many missed opportunities. A young life taken before it could do anything meaningful. If only time could rewind…what would he do then? Kill that bastard Mori, of course. Alas, things were never so perfect. Slowly, his thoughts began to slow and fade, his memories and sense of self merging with the void.
Ajax Oshea died at the age of eighteen.
“Ack” he groaned, flinging his eyes open. “What?” he blurted out in confusion.
Looking to his side, he read the alarm clock. 7:03. So damned early. He remembered it. He’d woken up early as hell that morning; yesterday morning. What the hell was going on? Was it all just a bad dream? Was this just another random case of deja-vu?
Quickly, he tried to get up and get a good look at the familiar room, yet something weighed him down.
“Wha-” he looked at his pale arm in shock. Alice. She was sleeping on his arm, soundly unaware of his wakening. Did this mean he was back? Or was it really a dream? But he hadn’t slept with Alice last night?
He had to check.
Slowly, he removed his arm from beneath his friend’s delicate face, trying not to wake her up. Explaining this dilemma away would not have been easy, and he wasn’t in the mood for that at all. Making his way out of his bedroom, he walked out into the kitchen, looking around for any indication that whole memory wasn’t just a weird nightmare.
“Huh” a voice groaned in shock. “AJ? You’re up early, buddy”
Thorn. Wait, Thorn! That morning, he said the exact same thing! It was like he was reliving the memory in a realistic MetEX headset; those machines were damned realistic too. Looking at the young man in disbelief, he didn’t utter a word, confusing the youth.
“You good, bro?” Thorn asked, just as confused as Ajax.
“Y-Yeah, yeah…can I borrow your phone a sec?” Ajax asked. He had to know the date, and he left his phone back in their room.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“You’ve got a phone, use yours” Thorn complained, causing Ajax to glare at him. “Fine, you can have this one, I just finished modding it out”
“Oh, the one you linked up to all the Estech gear?” Ajax caught the phone, quickly switching it on.
“How’d you know that?” Thorn asked, suspecting his roommate had went through his things. This confirmed things. Looking at the phone, it read:
7:09
Monday 18th April
Not only that, but Ajax had just remembered Thorn telling him about the Estech modding he’d done later on in this day, even doing a demonstration by switching off the lights of a rich-people restaurant a little down the road. So he was back? And it didn’t seem to be some reality jump either, unless it was just a really closely related one. Perhaps his power had done it? He was a time warper after all. But the how didn’t really matter for now. No, it was the what. What would he do now? Oh, wasn’t that obvious?
‘I’m going to kill that fucker, Morti’ a dangerous look appeared in Ajax’s eyes, causing Thorn to drop the whole Estech subject. Throwing the phone back to Thorn, Ajax went into the small kitchen unit of the living room to brew the kettle.
They had a decently sized flat which cost a hellish amount of money to keep, but it was worth the comfort. The largest room was this one, where they had a small kitchen unit in the corner by Ajax’s room, and a sofa out in the middle, facing the TV, and having the large side window to the right which overlooked all of the city. Not a bad place at all in Ajax’s opinion. Perfect, in fact.
As the soft steam drifted out of the kettle, a quiet ringing signaling it was done, Ajax chucked a couple teaspoons of coffee beans into his mug and poured the boiling water onto it. Once he had filled it up to his imaginary line, he stirred it quickly, then quickly rinsed the silver, oddly-patterned spoon to the side, sauntering towards the sofa where Thorn was doing what Thorn did best; messing with random tech.
“What you up to now?” Ajax asked as he plonked down on the sofa, dropping his mug onto the coffee table ahead of them.
“Taking the GPSes out of these new phones I…I not-so-legally bought” he said with a shrug, “We have our enemies, and they have their tech geeks. I don’t want my phone screaming out my location”
Ever the paranoid Thorn. But he was right, that’s what did Kiaran in, so he had his reasons to be so paranoid. Poor bastard didn’t even though he was being tracked until the bullet slapped his skull. In the end, you could say he never found that little detail out, since he died before he could realise it.
Ajax nodded, sipping his coffee and a tonne of thoughts went through his head. How was he going to kill Morti? Well, the deed wouldn’t be too difficult, but that device that stopped his ability was a worry, if it was a device at all. For all Ajax knew, someone else could've been there, jamming his ability. That linked into the other problem, since Ajax had no idea who else knew about his murder; who else was in on it.
‘What a pain’ he sighed deeply, an urge to throw his mug at the wall in frustration arising. He needed to enlist in some help, and he didn’t have much time. ‘It’s gonna have to be him isn’t it? What rotten luck’
“Alright. I’m off” Ajax said, finishing his morning coffee. Probably not the best idea if he didn’t want to crash, but who cared? Not Ajax.
“Off where?” Thorn asked, confused.
“To Seiji’s” Ajax replied with a face that showed just how much he was against his own idea. Alas, Seiji was the only one that could help; the only person he could trust at the moment, besides Thorn and Alice.
Ignoring Thorn’s has-my-friend-gone-mad expression, Ajax left, making his way downtown, to Seiji’s bar. Outside, the sun was scorching the earth. In a few seconds, Ajax had already begun sweating from the intense heat. If it wasn’t a morning in this damned city, he cursed. Looking around, the large buildings were covered in large screens that advertised all the different corporations, along with all the smaller companies they owned. For example, the Irn advert they chose to show in the morning, when kids would be heading to school. What a good marketing scheme, promoting the most diabolical alcoholic drink to children! Ajax hated that purple poison. Not only did it taste like battery acid, but it could turn you from sober to absolutely fucked like the flick of a switch. That’s why so many people seemed to love it.
‘Damned alcoholics’ he spat.
After a decent walk down the streets, which he felt he needed after having all this dumped on him at seven o’clock in the damn morning, he made it to ‘расточитель’ bar. It translated to ‘waster’, and it took that name seriously it seemed, since the whole bar was lined with just Irn. If it wasn’t Irn, then it was another enhanced spirit. There wasn’t a drink here below fifty percent, and that was lethal back in the day. Of course, the world had changed a lot since that time.
“Aj?” the bartender asked with a look of surprise. “And here I thought the rehab worked. Well, here for Irn? I got a fresh batch in this morning”
As the door of the bar closed behind him, Ajax glared at Seiji then simply sighed in disappointment. What a great friend, isn’t he? Ajax was four months sober and he was ready to get the man back on the drink.
“I’m not here for drinking, Seiji” Ajax explained with a bit of scorn. “I’m here to talk business”
Seiji spat. “It’s half seven for christ’s sake. Can’t you wait until the evening to ruin my day?”
“No” Ajax shook his head. “This is too important”
“Oh, yeah?” Seiji doubted Ajax’s words. “What’s so important, hmm?”
Ajax hesitated for a second, making sure no one was around before answering.
“I’m gonna be killed tomorrow”
Seiji seemed to take it as a joke and laughed.
“Ah, you’ve come for a drink before you die? I get it, I’d do the same. Tell you what, it’s on the house”
“I’m serious. It’s Mori” Ajax said with solemn look. It seemed Seiji had quickly caught on. At that, he ushered Ajax into the back of the bar, where Seiji lived; his den. Inside, it was a complete mess. Clothes were strung all over the place; the sofa was littered with popcorn and other random treats; there were empty glasses and bottles all over the place, the remnants of a party Seiji had thrown a few days ago, and finally, there was his bookshelf which was filled with books he’d never read before, and that went for the pile of books beneath it as well.
“Now, then” Seiji sounded serious now, dropping the jokeful tone. “Tell me more”