“After the creation of Central City, the unified efforts of each country showing off their testament to technology, the Unified Theory Pact was signed. Under this pact, every continent and landmass would be governed by a single counsel elected from every major city(kingdom). In the process, the citizens also craving unity decided to drop cities, states, districts, and provinces for a more traditional kingdom-like setup….”
*bzzt*
“…..Starting with the most honorable mention old Japan, countries like these with their own major contribution to Central City became kingdoms of their own with new designations! Say Goodbye to old Japan and hello to Neon City, the lights like the nights never stop in this endless lunar cycled bio-dome, endless night lit by the city’s endless activities, spend your nights getting a good night’s rest or experience endless experiences in Takamoe Yashidas’ desire zone…..”
*bzzt*
“Because of the level of contributions certain comp… Countries made to the success that is Central City, their borders expanded further than their original status. Take what was once known as Germany, which has now absorbed the surrounding countries from Belarus to Portugal. The leading city in Quantum physics and known for their work with time dilation Sequence City!….”
*bzzt*
“Last, but not least north and South America although keeping separate designations unity knows no rival, once as Canada now known as Arbor City for its love of woodworking into all their technological advancements. South America since picking its name before the invention and distribution of the Babble Fish roughly translates to the City of Wilds! And the crown jewel of Western society DreamLand! Using the same idea as Takamoes’ desire zone, except with a somewhat indulgent nature, DreamLand is an end-to-end endless experience with reality-bending cutting-edge technology…”
*bzzt*
*flick*
*click*
The sound of the hologram pausing and the two-times scope shifting to four broke the silence. The scope paints a clear image of a cross-hair falling upon a smiling face washing and drying dishes at her window. Then it slowly pans three stories up to a middle-aged man in a hovering recliner with a full dive helmet strapped to his face. Lingering for a bit the cross-hair slow drifts to an alley between buildings.
“what about Russia?”
*flick*
*tick*
*tick*
*click*
The sniper bumps the scope to the max and was now staring at the wall of another apartment building through the alley and across the street.
*bzzt*
“Russia seems to have zero attractions or tourist spot postings,” Replied the virtual brochure.
“Guessed it would be the same as Old China.” A holographic figure appears leaning against the window frame next to the reaper’s perch, the sniper rifle sat neatly in the lap of a red-robed hooded figure.
“You’re staring at a wall?” The hologram points out snidely while checking over his nails.
“I’m waiting for my target” A dry and quick response made him cringe and look over his shoulder out the window.
“Your target’s a wall?” He says with an almost genuine, but undoubtedly mocking tone. This may have touched a nerve because he could’ve sworn he’d seen a twitch.
A deep sigh escapes the figure as a dark red eye darts over to the AI " I hear my targets, every heartbeat is unique and I up until a point can hear every individual heart…” The words were almost growled out through clenched teeth. The artificial man takes another long stare over his shoulder out the window into the crisp night.
“So you are going to hit the heart of that build- augh! Every time Delta!” The hooded figure is furiously kicking at the holo figure catching nothing but air. “How many of these missions have we done together?!” Zero screams flailing a leg one more time before succumbing to exhaustion.
“All of them Red.” The AI replies as he fixes his tie as if being recently attacked. “Then why do you insist on trying to drive me crazy.” Zero neatly sits the rifle back into position. “Forgive me, I’m bored and merely find teasing you passes the time very well.” Delta leans back against the window seal and stares up at the ceiling “It’s been what? 89 days and we’ve been staring at the same wall, when will the fun start ya know?” Delta sighs and pulls a pack of pre-rolls out of their chest pocket, taps the bottom with the back of their hand, and one slides out into their mouth, they snap their fingers, and the end lights with a tiny bead of light.
“I know this is boring, but targets like these are slippery and meticulous you just have to sit in their path and they’ll show up. And this is the only time this target is back home with his backup.” Zero shifts attention back to the scope as another heartbeat enters its range. “Delta target details.” Zero barks, returning to the stoic focus from earlier. Reluctantly Delta pulls out a dossier and starts reading from the top.
" target identification: Karl Lang
Born: March, 7th 2020
Age:81
Choice of immortality:Doppelganger
Our Benefactor: Salene Lang(wife).”
“Habits?” Zero shuts an eye to focus deeper in on the scope.
“Visits mistress once a year at random at madam bliss hotel, approximately 4k meters away.” Delta snap shut the dossier.
" Delta, initiate x-ray mode, set rifle specs to high velocity, impact, and remote detonate.” Zero’s eye began glowing with a green tent as the barrel of the rifle spun and the muzzle caught life with a blue spark. Seeing clearly past the alley at an evaporating wall, it was an adjoining wall for a counter that held a coffee cup being filled by the prosthetic arm of a purple-haired woman.
Their eye focused more, past the apartment building and its row of rooms and people to glimpse a hot pink building with windows facing the street. The crosshairs landed on the center window of the top floor, it was the deluxe suit with a pink bed and a woman handcuffed to the center. She was face down with her ass to the window wearing a latex bunny suit.
A figure of a man steps into view with a cattle prod in hand, the woman flinches at his shadow’s reach. The man was balding and a little on the heavier side, looking to be in his mid to early forties wearing boxers and high socks, while the woman cuffed to the bed seemed no older than eighteen.
*Zzzt*
*Zzzt*
She shook in anticipation as he flicked the prod off and on close to her back, she clenched her eyes and hands shut as the sound of an electrical arc formed closer to her. Then there was a sudden sound, a sound that only could be described as an egg popping in a microwave. She was drenched head to toe in a thick white liquid-esque slime, the cattle prod fell from the limp wristed headless cadaver’s hand. As it slowly slumped to the floor stopping on its knees as she found the voice to scream.
Earlier
“Eighty percent chance of success.” Zero frowned at the analysis Delta gave, frowned harder than normal, maybe because it sounded more like judgment than analyzing.
“Why I factored in everything. High velocity so the bullet doesn’t drop as much, the high impact for piercing through many layers of building, what could I have missed?” Zero retorted patience thinning in every word. Delta leaned against the desk in the room in frustration.
“Not my job to tell you where you messed up.” Zero growled at his words pulling the trigger.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Personal evaluation ninety-eight percent chance of success.” Zero looks daggers over at Delta.
The bullet slid through the first wall leaving a clean circular hole in its wake. Glided through the cup of coffee fast enough to leave a clean stream for the purple-haired woman to clean. Meeting her neighbor’s wall and then through his holotop projection of a woman unexpectedly receiving a visit from a pizza delivery man. Over the heads of Full Dive junkies slumped on the floor of barren apartments. Finally silently gliding through the first window it’s seen since entering the building, then another of the love hotel, racing to meet its intended target in the back of his head.
Zero sits up from the stool and thrust the rifle out the window it folds in on itself and a flame from the barrel propels it off into the city. Zero unholstered two pistols from the waste and turned them on a pod in the room they were in. The pod had a younger male, with thick black hair and perfect features, the outside of the tank read K. Lang with a blinking indicator with the word pending in red.
“It’s not gonna send.”
“It’ll send.”
“Your shot was too low.”
“It wasn’t it’ll send.”
A few more moments pass as the blinking pending sign starts to take its toll…
“It’s not gonna send this is what eighty percent looks-” The pending light flicks green and lights up with the word received.
“Sent. Ninety-eight percent!” Zero cocks the two guns against each other and aims at the pod, a hiss of pressure released by the pod fills the room followed by plumes of smoke. Soon the room is thick with a constricting smog, Zeros hood changed as it tightened into a shape more resembling a helmeted gas mask.
“Delta thermal!” Zeros eyes lit up, the smoke became more translucent over time, the pod now read security alert, and nothing in the room seemed to be moving or carrying a heat signature. The room seemingly vacant was filled with the hissing noise of the gas seeping in until the sound of feet pounding stairs assaulted Zero’s ears.
“Where are you?” Zero scanned the room perplexed, no heat readings to pick up, cant smell the target because of the cloak’s immediate reaction to the smoke. Two heartbeats which leave them the only two Delta and Zero.
Zero tensed at the realization, Delta is an AI only a hologram with no heart to make sounds with.
“Sonar now!” Zeros eyes light up blue as an outline of a naked man crouched by the door. Zero lifts the pistols and fired two shots, one grazed his ear as he contorted, dodging the second shot he leaped from the floor through the threshold to the wall and bounded down the corridor on all fours.
The rooms reinforced sliding doors shut as the five-man security team piled in on the other side, two on each side of the door and one in the center, guns cocked and trained waiting for their partner to punch in the release code for the door.
Zero closed their eyes and stepped back against the wall, shaking their arms and legs and stretching before bending down to assume the runner’s position against the wall.
“Initiate Ox and Rabbit protocol for Bull Hare mode an - Initiation of Bull Hare after 100 or so days of sitting would be Ill-advised without warm up, it’ll only lead to mishaps and mess ups.” Delta intercedes huffing as if scolding a child.
“You’re not here to tell me my mess ups… And add Wolf for the new protocol Horned Fanged Hare.” The cloak began weaving around Zero’s body, the legs and feet consumed by red fabric changing the feet to have more of a hand shape and the thighs to grow in size. Two tail-like features had formed with rabbit-like puffs at the ends, Delta looked on in shock. This form was new to him, he knew Red could mix two protocols, but three without stalling out was impressive…
“The rebound” Delta mumbled to himself.
“Max echolocation, access the power grid for this sector and cause a thirty… Maybe thirty-five-minute blackout on my mark.” Delta snapped out of his thoughts at the orders he just received.
*beep*
*beep*
*beep*
They had set up opening the door the code was partly put in to shut off the smoke and for the exhaust fans to clear what was left. The smoke had nearly been cleared from the room as Zero looked over at Delta.
*beep*
“Well, I guess this is the fun part…”
*beep*
“Pop Rocks!”
*beep*
“As you wish.” Delta bows as the entire block dies right as the henges of the door release, Zero presses the apish feet against the wall and floor. With great speed and force, Zero was across the room in the blink of an eye, onto the chest of the first of five men crushing him against the wall. The first two on the inner side of the door frame had the quickest reaction enhancements and programs had trained their gun on their fallen comrade and his assailant fairly quickly.
Zero tensed and the tails sprung to life one quickly took on a mourning star shape and crushed in the helmet of one of the officers, leaving a sullen hole oozing a thick blue liquid. The other became as thin as a strand of hair with a scythe shape that slid cleanly across the visor of the second officer, aqua beads spilled from the visor as the man slumped to the floor clutching his helmet while screaming in agony.
Zero pulled the two guns up aiming at the two remaining officers pulling the trigger, the left-hand pistol hits its mark leaving a clean hole through the officer’s chest he stumbles back against the wall and slides to the floor to reveal a thick blue slime behind him. The remaining officer is clutching his shoulder at a bleeding nub, the shot blew off a partial part of his arm and side where blood gushed down to the floor.
Zero flips from the chest and lands nimbly before taking off down the corridor and leaving the carnage to stew. Kicking open the door at the end of the hall to enter a flight of stairs revealing a chorus of flashlights fluttering up like fireflies.
“Ten maybe twenty.” Zero said out loud as Delta peeked out of the room and made his way over to Zero.
“Would you prefer the elevator?” Delta stops at the sliding doors with a grin.
“If you’re not quick he’ll get away.” Chuckling to himself mockingly.
“Too easy” Zero says leaping over the railing of the stairs.
“Red!” Delta blinked out of position and reappeared at the railing reaching out.
*Bzzt*
A radio buzzes to life amongst the darkest and heaviest silence of the descent. “Package made it to floor 25, heading down the west staircase to extraction.”
The sound came from two floors below. Being on the thirtieth gave the target a five-floor lead. Focusing on the echolocation, Zero primed the tails so they were tiny and shaped like arrowheads. Shooting them out just in time to pierce two officers on opposite sides of the staircase through the railing in the knees.
The arrow-like tails opened flat to secure themselves to the legs, snapping one in on itself while pulling tight against the weight and speed of Zero.
“Flashbang and EMP ammunition.” The tails pulled tautly and slowed Zero’s descent, flashlights flicked to the center of the dark chasm revealing a demonic-looking bunny dangling upside down from ruby strands while aiming at one officer. Pulling the trigger caused an electromagnetic wave to pulse from the center of the officer’s chest, flashlights blew out like candles, and certain poorly protected prosthetics and augmentations went haywire.
The second shot fried any wearable or built-in night vision with a bright flash of light filling the entire staircase. The tails yank Zero back upward as the guns change back to normal ammunition, at the peak of the rise Zero releases the legs and rotates shooting both officers in the head as the descent begins again.
“Two, four, six, eight…” Swirling and falling Zero hit every mark counting each kill or incapacitation as they came.
Approaching the twenty-fifth-floor Zero kills the remaining officers with swift shots leaving one alive on the twenty-fourth flight of stairs, piercing him with the tails and pulling them tight to fling against the railing into the hallway door of the twenty-fifth floor, breaking it off its henge and surfing it into the hall before flinging the officer over the railing to fall several feet.
“Only fifteen… If you don’t count you five.” The hall Zero swung into contained five officers.
One officer with a long plasma sword stepped forward activating it with a menacing blue glow and hum. The one behind him carried two short plasma blades with a red hue and hum, the last three were bulky with pulsating gauntlets.
“Well?” Zero said mocking the officers.
Like a bull the long sword lunges forward with a thrust and is quickly sidestepped, a quick knee to the wrist loosens the grip on the sword enough for Zero to grab, turn and plant it firmly in the officer’s back. Leaving the blade where it lies Zero steps to the duel wielder who swipes quickly in a cross-like attack, hitting the air.
Zero was crouched on all fours dodging the attack with blinding speed and launching a tail through the center of the officer’s visor. The officer’s arms go limp and he crumples to the grown in a heap. The third officer spring at full speed over Zero throwing a crushing blow with the gravity gauntlet.
The floor gives and dents under the smash as Zero catches the gauntlet in the palm of the apish foot, given by the cloak, flipping the officer onto his back with one foot and crushing his head into the floor with the other embedding his head in the metal. Zero braces as the fourth officer rams into them trying to push them back, the fingers of the feet grind into the floor in resistance slowing the efforts to a stop.
A swing of a fist and the sound of ribs shattering under a crushing blow rings out bringing the officer to his knees. The officer reaches out to grab at Zero, easily swatting his hand away, Zero smacks the side of the officer’s helmet with force sending his head barreling through the opposite wall as his body slumps at their feet.
The last officer blocked the door to the west staircase, Zero started for the officer full sprint hitting all fours at peak speed, letting out a roar the officer braced for impact as Zero rams him into the door breaking it off its henge and toppling them over the railing. Straddling the officer Zero throws devastating smashes to his helmet as they free fall from the twenty-fifth floor.
Lang finally hit the last two flights before hearing gunfire and screams from above, he rounded the last flight when he heard the bang of metal against metal. He burst through the door of the bottom floor into a parking garage, tears streaming down his face as he throws his naked body past cars.
Up ahead a convoy waited with an armored vehicle for his escape. An explosive crash echoed from behind him in the stairway through the parking garage, Lang stopped and turn to see the door slowly open to show a hellish bunny standing in the door frame.
Lang turned to run, but the bunny he just saw moments ago was now next to him, a quick swing and he was now flying through a wall and landing on the ground in a procession of rain and rubble. Bullets flew past Zero alerting them to the officers waiting by the car.
“Peacekeeper.” Zero put the butts of the pistol together as two orbs of light formed at the tips and arches of electricity leaped between them.
Firing the two orbs launched at the convoy they hit, causing an explosion, destroying the armored vehicle and killing the remaining officers. Zero walked over to the gaping hole in the wall and stepped through it, approaching the slithering Lang’s new broken body. Lang rolls over to his back and rests on his elbows.
“Whatever your rate is… I’ll multiply it by ten.” Lang croaked through a mouth full of blood, Zero crouches inches from Lang in the rain.
“They said you’d say that so they’d take my rate times twenty.” Lang flenched at the words.
“Fine! Forty I’ll double the twenty and hire you to kill whoever wished this upon me.” Zero actually considered the offer for a moment.
“Now they said you’d double it to forty, but the vengeance? now that almost won me over. They’ll bump it to sixty if you were wondering by the way.” You could hear the grin on Zero’s voice.
Lang rolled in the rain with a whine, he had hit his financial limit when it came to bribing someone for his life. The one who called for the hit knew his financial status and limits.
“Any last words?” Zero cocked their head to the side like a puppy trying to learn a new command…
“How would they know?” Lang asked through tears, Zero shifted their head in confusion. A moment passed and a hologram of a woman dressed head to toe in sparkly attire, a dress made of diamonds, and rings of all sorts that gleamed. Lang’s eyes grew wide at the sight of his wife standing before him, her spectral-like figure ignoring the rainfall.
“Salene? But why?” Salene cringed at his words.
“Just keeping to our vows dear, til death do us part and all.” Her hologram turns away from him and flickers from existence.
“I’m so- a quick snap of the tails slices Lang through the forehead and neck severing his head into three pieces, leaving the last Doppleganger of Karl Lang to expire in the rain. Delta appeared next to Zero who stood stoically staring at the corpse, the rain rolled over the fabric of the hellish red rabbit.
“Pulled thread active state, snipped.” Delta looked over the corpse and their eyes began to glow as they scanned.
“Target status confirmed….”
“Still was only an eighty percent chance for success though, so, you know why?”
“Why?” Zero asked shortly and quickly.
Delta bit at his virtual lower lip at the speed of the response. " because you failed to calculate two possible outcomes do you know what they were?” The red rabbit shook its head in refutation.
“First, you failed to account for the possibility from where you took your sniper shot someone could have moved into the target’s line of fire humans are notoriously unpredictable, second the rebound from initiating a newly made protocol without the - I did.” Zero interrupted with a sharp tone.
“Every heart was in a resting rate, no one planned to move at the very moment I chose to shoot.” Delta’s eyes widen at Zero’s rebuttal.
“There were at least ten people over 5k meters, and you could distinguish between all of their heartbeats?” The head of the rabbit shook in affirmation this time as Deltas tilted in disbelief.
" Fine. And the rebound?” Delta folded both arms and shifted his weight to one leg
“How did you prepare for that?” Zero looks over in the direction of Delta.
“Release!” The cloak begins to sag and turn back to its original form as Red falls face-first into a puddle.
“Carry me?” Delta staggers at the request of the weakened reaper.
“Your plan ended with me carrying you back to the safe house?” He presses a finger and a thumb against the bridge of his nose.
“Clever Red, I’ll give you that.” Delta scoops up the tiny reaper into his arms and starts down the sidewalk away from the sirens and automated fire prevention drones. The rain fell and clutched Zero’s cloak rolling down and off the fabric to the ground or through Delta as he walked.
“Delta?” He looked down at the sound of his name to show that his attention was given.
“Why can AI touch me?” Delta’s grip tightened slightly at the question.
“I’m not sure Red, maybe…” He paused briefly to look up at the heavily clouded sky.
“Maybe it isn’t so much AI can touch you Red, more…” Looking down the indicator for his partner’s vital signs read unconscious, he smiled and kept pace in the rain changing his appearance to seem wet as he carried Zero back to the safe house.
~End of prologue