Clever, glad to see my intellect hasn’t gone to total waste.
Prime checked around the shop one last time, not wanting to leave anything of use behind, then headed out the door onto the street outside.
The snow had begun to fall once more, but melting as fast as it fell, the mist swirled around Prime’s legs as he ran towards the point on the map where the tracker was indicating. The route took him down the Boulevard, then veered off into an alleyway behind a pizzeria. The lights of the Boulevard faded behind him, and the snow started to pile up as he went deeper into the alley. Along the sides, there were several service doors and back entrances to the shops and restaurants in the area.
Let me help Prime. This is my forte! I could get them and stop them much easier than you, and you know it!
Trying to ignore the voice in his head, Prime tried to focus on the path ahead as the clattering pans and muffled voices echoed from behind closed doors around him. Before long, the alleyway opened out into the storage sector of outer MegaTown. The city's shops and restaurants gave way to warehouses and shipping plants alongside storage and living containers. He glanced back at the tracker, seeing the blip seemed to have stopped a little further ahead. A second light had also appeared, the location Ally had sent him. It was only a couple of buildings across in the residential area adjacent to the warehouses.
If you won’t let me help, at least listen to what I have to say. This is clearly a trap Prime. She’ll know that you’ll be following, don’t rush headlong into this and get us killed!
The tracker was blinking a light inside a warehouse up ahead. Prime stopped, scanning the front of the building. It was nothing special, just brick and mortar with a blank digital pad on the door. He tapped the panel, and it lit up with a holographic alphanumeric display, the letters and numbers hovering in mid-air just in front of the panel.
A puzzle? I think perhaps she’s testing us?
“A test. If you’re right, and it’s a trap, then she wants me and not someone else to walk into it,” Prime paused, thinking for a moment. Something that only he and Persephone would know. The prime numbers would be too obvious and a typical number combination. Instead, he thought for a second longer, then tapped out a code.
7-3-3
Oh, clever.
The door hissed open slowly, revealing darkness inside. Prime stepped over the threshold and into the black, his footsteps echoing around the large room.
“Stop right there,” a voice called out from the shadows ahead of Prime. Immediately, a light illuminated the spot Prime was standing on. The spotlight covered only a metre in each direction. Prime paused, squinting into the black, trying to adjust his eyes.
“Where’s Bella?” he shouted, “Let her go. She’s not part of this.”
“I have a counter-proposal for you,” a woman stepped forward from the shadows and into the light. Prime knew instantly it was Persephone, despite being the first time he had seen her since the Fall. She wore a business suit, black with deep blood-red lines along its seams. Her pale skin was framed by long black hair that just touched shoulders, so when she moved, it caught for a moment before sweeping over them. Behind her, Hammerfist appeared, still holding Bella captive.
“I wanted to make sure you didn’t bring any of your annoying friends with you, though I think I have them all accounted for now,” she smiled.
Careful Prime
“What have you done?”
“Oh, nothing. Yet,” she moved closer, walking around and examining him like cattle to be slaughtered. “You really are the best of us, the first clone. The Prime.” She completed a circle around him, then stood facing him, eye to eye. Prime was unnerved with the feeling of looking into a mirror as their eyes met.
“Follow me. There’s something I need to show you, and you’ll be interested in it, I promise.”
“And what if I say no?”
“You have to ask?” Persephone laughed, raising her hand.
Hammerfist shifted his hold on Bella, his regular hand around her neck as his metal fist raised into the air, ready to strike.
Prime looked. Catching Bella’s eye, she winked at him.
The next second, Bella had raised her foot, striking Hammerfist in the groin. He double over in pain. Bella spun on the spot, delivering a vicious elbow strike to the side of the reeling Slider’s temple. The man crumbled to the ground in the fetal position, his normal hand clutching the side of his head.
“Don’t worry, I got this, Reilly,” she gave another sharp kick to the downed Slider, slamming the point of her shoe into his skull.
She’s definitely my favourite.’
Persephone glanced back at the scene, rolling her eyes.
“To be honest, I’m not really sure who you are, Miss…?”
“Annabella Rizinski, I’m assuming you’re this Persephone I’ve been hearing about? I can’t say I’m overly impressed,” Bella raised an eyebrow.
“Indeed I am, and I don’t really care what you think. You’ve outlived the little usefulness you had, I’m afraid,” Persephone gave a slight smirk of amusement, put a hand into her jacket, pulled out a compact pistol, and fired a shot at Bella.
The bullet hit Bella in the chest, her body thrown backwards from the momentum before slamming to the floor on the edge of the spotlight’s coverage. A bloom of red slowly increased on her chest.
“No!” Prime leaped forwards, trying to check on Bella. Before he reached her, Persephone grabbed his arm, pulling him back.
“Ah, ah, ah, we have places to be Prime. No time to waste.”
Prime! Let me take over. I can stop her!
Prime spun back around. A fire in his eyes lit up as he grabbed her collar. A smile crept along her face as she held his eye contact again.
“I can see you in there, Peter,” she whispered.
Prime threw her back like she was hot coal. He was clutching his head, trying to fight the cloud that was forming over his thoughts.
“I have your friends, Prime. They’ll be dead within the hour if we don’t speed things up here.”
Come on, Prime, let me in.
“No!” Prime stumbled back, hunched over as he fought Peter in his mind.
It’s okay, Prime. I just want to help. To beat her, you need to think like her, like me. Let me in, and I can help you. Remember, I was on you and your friend's side against Yuri. I’ll save them, I promise. I can get inside her head. She is a copy of me. I can outsmart her, play along with her games, bide my time until we strike back. You’ve taken this burden on for so long. Let me carry it the rest of the way!’
Prime closed his eyes, the voice of Peter making him realise how tired he was. Tired of tracking Persephone, tired of fighting the thoughts in his mind. He could just let go, let him in. He was right. He couldn’t beat her. Opening his eyes, he saw Bella laying on the ground motionless, the blood pooling under her, his own anger flashing up again.
“No! I can fight this!” Prime said, standing upright. His body stopped shaking, and he stood tall. Dusting off his jacket and stretching his shoulders back.
“Fine, I’ll go with you. But I will stop whatever you’re planning, Persephone,” he matched her gaze.
She looked at him curiously for a moment. “Great, let’s go then,” Persephone sang as she smiled and took his arm.
The two of them walked further into the warehouse, leaving Bella and Hammerfist on the floor behind them.
Chapter Eleven
Ally
Ally and Quartzig had arrived at the apartment complex as fast as they could, getting an AutoCab on Priority, using extra Credits allowing the cab to bypass all usual traffic laws. While not entirely legal, the priority bookings were hard to stop when the AI-controlled cars managed to complete them without accidents.
“This is the location Mollie sent us,” Quarztzig said, double-checking the signal location.
“What’s that smell?” Ally paused, almost tasting the air. She could sense something about it.
; “Gunsmoke,” Quartzig said, analysing. “Recently fired.”
Ally quickly broke into a run towards the building, drawing her bo-staff as she moved, as Quartzig followed close behind. They arrived at the courtyard. Looking around, they could see bullet casing peppering the floor and chipped debris in the brickwork surrounding the fountain, but no bodies, dead or alive.
“We’re too late,” Ally was looking around for clues as to where they should head next.
“It would seem so, based on the bullet holes, I would estimate at least fifteen shooters,” Quartzig was trying to determine the directions the shots had been fired, recreating the history of the scene from the damage.
Ally walked around the area towards the fountain, kicking casings as she went. The fountain's hologram was stuttering in its playback of the waterfall as she leaned in to look, the water pixelating and glitching. Turning back, she pulled up her PDA and tried to contact everyone again, but there were no answers.
“Q, I can’t get Julian on the comms either?” she said, knitting her eyebrows.
“Odd, that’s twice now our systems haven’t worked correctly.”
Ally bit her lip, worry building up. She turned, her foot kicked a small metallic pod. It lit up as it was activated and floated upwards until it hovered at waist level. Before a flash emitted from it, a man was stood before them wearing denim jeans and a biker jacket.
“Hey, what’s the big idea turning me off?” he shouted, then hesitated as he saw the others.
“Who are you?” Ally shouted, raising her staff.
“Woah, lady, I’m Jimmy, the host hologram for this here establishment,” the hologram held up his hands in surrender.
“He’s telling the truth,” Quartzig walked over to them, scanning the hologram. “He’s a protocol hologram, made for concierge duties. Though I must say, they are usually more…well-dressed.”
“No need t’be rude. It happens to be that I was redesigned specifically to look like this, thank you very much,” Jimmy protested. “I just wanted to do my duties, but the Sliders came here and corrupted my data files. They wanted someone grimier to suit their needs. Wasn’t my idea.” Jimmy walked over and sat on the edge of the fountain. He lowered his head and stared at the ground.
“So, you know what happened here?” Ally said, crouching in front of the depressed hologram.
“Sure, well, up until Ryder, the Slider’s leader, decided to turn me off. They were planning on killing the humans and taking the Synthetic for something or other.”
“Ava?” Ally turned to look at Quartzig, who nodded.
“Sure, that was her name. Ryder shut me off before they did anything, though.”
“Where would they take her?” Ally said, not letting the thought that Xander and Mollie could already be dead enter her mind.
“Probably to the warehouse. That’s where they take most people these days,” Jimmy said.
“Which warehouse?”
“Just a few blocks down from here, on the edge of the MegaTown docks. Here.” Ally’s PDA beeped as Jimmy half-heartedly waved a hand and sent some coordinates to it.
“We need to move,” Ally jumped to her feet.
“Oh sure, you guys leave me too. Now you’ve got what ya needed.”
“Can you leave the complex?” Quartzig asked, looking at Jimmy as he tried to access the source code.
“Not like this. My battery is locked to the location.”
“We can fix that,” Ally said, “right?” she turned to Quartzig.
“Possibly, with some time,” Quartzig replied.
“Great, we’ll figure it out,” Ally grabbed the pod at the centre of Jimmy’s hologram.
“Hey! What’s the big idea-” was all Jimmy said as his hologram faded out once again.
“It’s quite rude just to grab someone's pod,” Quartzig reprimanded Ally, who couldn’t help but smirk.
“C’mon, we don’t have time for discussions,” she said, already on her way out of the complex.
It didn’t take them long to reach the warehouse, it was only two blocks behind the apartment building. As they approached, they slowed to scout the area. A large group of Sliders were patrolling outside.
“What’s going on? Can you see anything?” Ally asked.
“I can see Xander,” Quartzig said, his eyes focusing on the distance. “They have him restrained. It looks like he’s-” He didn’t have to finish, a shot rang out from the crowd. The shot had come from one of the Slider’s guns, but it was Xander that had taken the shot.
“C’mon!” Ally ran towards the crowd, pulling her staff out and extending it to full length.
Chapter Twelve
Xander
While they had tied up his hands in front of him, the Sliders had underestimated Xander.
He had been biding his time, waiting for the right moment. There was no point in risking his life with so many Sliders around unless he was sure he had a chance. While they had bustled him towards the warehouse, he kept track of where the Sliders were positioned and where he could find cover. When the time was right, he stumbled forwards and grabbed the gun from the side holster of the Slider that was walking ahead of him. He fired a shot into the same Slider and lurched forwards to grab the falling body, twisting around so that the body was leaning on him, doubling as a shield. He looked around the area for Ava, seeing her laying on a stretcher just to the side of the open space in front of the warehouse. The other Sliders were all moving to attack. He noticed that each of them had varying levels of body augmentations.
“Shit,” Xander breathed, maybe he had underestimated them. Also, the weight of the dead body leaning on him was stopping him from moving. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, and adjusted the pistol in his hand as best he could.
In one move, he flung the body forward with force from his shoulders and fired several shots at the crowd. His aim was off due to his hands being tied, but it was more for cover than to kill, giving him a couple of seconds to run towards the warehouse entrance. Crashing into the door, he hoped it would open, but the strong metal responded with a rush of pain to his shoulder.
“Bad idea,” a Slider whose neck was a mesh of metal muscle called out as several others circled Xander.
Another Slider next to Metalneck dropped to its knees, its head suddenly missing, replaced with a splurt of red blood. Another body dropped, then another, topping over like dominoes. Metalneck turned to look at his falling comrades. A puzzled expression on his face vanished as it was replaced by an explosion of brain matter, leaving just the metal neck behind.
“It looked like you could use a hand,” Ally ran up to Xander, taking out another Slider with her staff as it cracked against a skull. From a little further back, he could just make out Quarztig, who was using a rifle to keep the other Sliders busy. Ally untied his hands as they moved towards the stretcher where Ava was lying motionless, guarded by two Sliders.
“Not to sound ungrateful, but how did you guys even get here?” Xander asked.
“Mollie, she called us and said you needed help. We got here as soon as we could.”
Xander fired off a couple of shots as one of the Sliders moved towards them as Ally dealt with the other with a more hands-on approach. Shots echoed around them as Quartzig continued to cover them.
“Mollie? Thank god she's okay. Is she with you?”
“No, I thought she’d be with you guys?”
“We’ll have to find her,” Xander said as they got to the stretcher.
Ava was offline, her body completely still, not even her usual simulated breathing. If you didn’t know she was a synth, you’d have thought she was dead, Xander thought.
“What have they done to her?” Ally was checking the body for signs of damage.
“I…I don’t know,” Xander tried to find the access panel that was hidden in her scalp.
Quartzig jogged over to them, having cleared the area.
“All clear for now, though the place seemed pretty guarded
for a warehouse,” he said before seeing Ava.
“She’s shutdown, any chance you can get her back on?” Xander said to him.
“I’ll check,” Quartzig located the access panel and clicked open the small hatch above her right temple. “I can reactivate her, but she’s been completely shut down. It’ll take some time for the systems to be fully active. Somehow, they must have caused a complete deactivation, but I can’t think how they’d know to do that. Ava is a unique model, not your run-of-the-mill synth.” Quartzig said.
“Do it. I’ll stay with her until she’s back on in case any more Sliders come. You guys need to find Mollie,” Xander said, looking for somewhere to move the stretcher that was more secure. There were several lorries parked alongside the warehouse.
“Okay,” Ally said. “Quartz, have you managed to get in touch with Julian yet?”
“No, nothing so far,” he tried again.
“Take this,” Xander handed a small tracking beacon to Ally, “It’s a short-range tracker we use to keep tabs on each other. It should work as long as Mollie is close by.”
Ally took it and flicked it on. A small radar indicated the general location of Mollie’s tracker.
“It looks like she’s inside the warehouse?” she said, looking up at the building.
“Inside?” Xander looked down at the tracker.
“Hey,” a voice came from Ava, her body still motionless other than her eyes.
“Hey! You okay?” Xander turned to look at her.
“I…I think so. I can’t move. My systems are on full reboot. E.T.A. fifteen minutes before I am fully active again.”
“It’s okay. I’ll get you somewhere safe. You guys go find Mollie,” Xander nodded to the others.
“Stay safe,” Ally nodded back.
“You too,” Xander began to move the stretcher to a secluded spot away from the main doors of the warehouse, while Quartzig began hacking the access panel.
Chapter Thirteen
Neon Blood (Neon Helix Universe Book 3) Page 7
