Neon Blood (Neon Helix Universe Book 3)

by Nik Whittaker

  Then she had woken on the operating table, Koenig fussing around the tent as she tried to focus her eyes on the space around her. She wasn’t tied to the table, but something was stopping her from moving. Also, there was something different. In her mind, she knew something was missing. It had taken her a while to realise it, but the memories of Peter and his personality were no longer in control. They were corrupted, altered somehow.

  “Awake now?” the voice of Koenig had called out as he noticed her eyes were opened.

  “Where am I?” Persephone replied, glad to know her mouth and voice were working.

  “In the Underpass, in the Nexus,” Koenig said, moving to her side.

  “How did I get here?”

  “Ah, well, I heard about the big Fall of CyBio, and I thought to myself, chances are there will be interesting things to salvage from there, yes?”

  “You know about CyBio?”

  “Oh yes, I worked there a long, long time ago,” Koenig grinned, “but they didn’t like my…methods.”

  Persephone tried to look down at her body. Her head felt like a lead weight as she lifted it. Giving up, she looked directly upwards, seeing a large mirror that spanned the ceiling. Reflected in it, she saw her body, or what was left of it. Her right arm from the elbow was missing, along with her left leg from the knee down. Her left arm was intact, though disjointed, and her right foot was missing, a mangled stump at the end of her thigh. Her eyes scanned her body upwards, past the surgical tape covering her body in a criss-cross pattern, until she saw came to her head. Her face was present, but several scars covered it in a patchwork of deep red lines, and the top of her skull was missing, her brain exposed for the world to see.

  “What the hell?” she had tried to calm her breathing.

  “No, no, no, you must stay calm! I have nearly finished the procedure, yes?” Koenig quickly moved over to an array of tubes plugged into Persephone's left arm and tapped a control panel. A hissing noise filled the air as drugs seeped into her veins.

  “It’s okay, just a little sedative. Let me finish here. I’ll explain while I work, yes,” Koenig picked up a small scalpel and began to work on Persephone’s skull. “I went to the site, lots of damage and debris. I hoped to find something, something I could use. I knew of the clones and of the nanos and wanted to get some research of my own. I didn’t get to finish my work with Prime back when I had him here.”

  “Prime? You knew him?”

  “Oh yes, his brain was fascinating to examine, but I didn’t get a chance to finish. So at the site, I found many useless bodies, smashed and damaged beyond repair, nothing I could use. Then, on my way back out of the rubble, I spotted a woman, you, your body was very damaged, crushed limbs and skull caved in. I nearly walked past, then I heard it, the sound of your heartbeat, very faint but...” Koenig turned his head so Persephone could see a mass of metal covering Koenig’s ear, augmented hearing.

  “You heard me?”

  “Yes, and pulled you away from the scene before the MPD arrived, yes. Brought you back here. I’ve been studying and cleaning you up ever since. But there was too much damage to some of your limbs, and your brain was…broken. Skull fragments like splinters inside your brain. I have repaired what I can, some parts lost, some parts replaced. You may not be quite as you once were.”

  Persephone realised this explained the missing feeling inside her mind. The changes that had taken place were due to the damage and alterations Koenig had made. She was no longer Peter, and she was not Prime or a simple clone. She was something else, someone else.

  “Who I am?” she asked out loud.

  “Ah, that’s a good question, yes. You are not the same as before. You are much more since the upgrades I have made. I suppose what you are going to do next, your purpose will define you.”

  “What I’ll do next?” Persephone hadn’t thought about what she was going to do, though inside, she could still feel the thirst for knowledge that Peter had, a desire for control and power.

  “Persephone,” she whispered.

  “Hmm? Persephone? Queen of the underworld, yes?” Koenig puzzled, seeing the smile that spread across her face.

  “I have big plans.”

  It took Koenig a few days to repair and add augmented limbs to Persephone's body, and she was back on her feet and walking around within the week. Her skin was slightly paler than before, caused by a reduced blood circulation due to Koenig’s new augmentations.

  “What are you going to do now? Where will you go?” Koenig asked once he was satisfied he’d gathered as much research about the clones from her as he could. He had also noticed an increase in her restlessness, knowing she was ready to leave.

  “I know exactly where I’m going, and I know what I’m going to do. Prime abandoned me and left Peter for dead. He still needs to answer for that. As a clone, I also saw how the general population disregard anything other than themselves; we were seen as nothing more than a slave to their systems. It’s time for a change.”

  All that had been six months ago, and so much had changed since then.

  “Welcome back, Persephone,” Koenig said, breaking her from her memories.

  “Thank you, Doctor, it’s time for the next stage. I hope you have managed to complete the task I left you successfully?”

  “I have. The equipment is ready as promised, yes.” Koenig gestured behind him.

  “Excellent,” Persephone smiled.

  An alert chimed on Persephone’s arm. Raising it, she read the message that was displayed across her PDA, her eyes flaring as she read.

  “Something wrong?”

  “It appears a problem I thought was cleaned up has returned,” she said, tapping on the device. “No matter, I have someone who should be able to deal with it,” she lowered her arm, and turned back to Koenig. “Let us continue.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Ally

  The banging echoed through the apartment as Ally moved towards the door.

  She had no idea who the man at the door was, and she wasn’t going to take any chances. Quartzig was poised behind her whilst Xander, Ava and Mollie waited in the Hub, monitoring the cameras but ready to assist.

  “Hello?” Ally said, opening the door.

  The man was taken off guard, looking up at Ally, his eyes catching Quartzig just behind.

  “Oh, hello there,” the man smiled, running his hand over his bald head.

  “Can we help you?” Ally said, doing her best impression of an irritated resident.

  “Sure, I hear the owner of this apartment is dead, and I was looking to find who killed him. Did you know him?” The man didn’t stop for an answer and began walking into the apartment.

  “Excuse me! Who the hell are you?” Ally grabbed his arm, spinning him round to face her.

  “Woah there, my name is Salem. I think we might be on the same side,” Salem put out his free hand to shake.

  Quartzig walked up to him, his systems scanning Salem’s face.

  “Salem, no surname. Very patchy notes on file but seems to be under the employment of Silverstone Corp,” he reeled off the information as it arrived to him.

  “That’s me, and you are?” Salem smiled, pulling back his outstretched hand with a shrug.

  “Silverstone Corp?” Xander said, walking out into the room. “That’s where the last victim of the Prime Killer worked.”

  “Jesus, anyone else hiding in here?” Salem said, leaning to look behind Xander and seeing Ava and Mollie.

  “Hold him,” Ally said, pushing Salem towards Quartzig, who grabbed Salem’s hand, twisting it behind him. “You need to start talking now!”

  Salem adjusted his body, making himself as comfortable as he could with his arm twisted.

  “Like I said, my name is Salem. My colleague, Bella, was investigating the death of Sam, one of Silverstones’ employees, as you mentioned. She was working with a Reilly, tracking down someone called Persephone who killed a friend of his,” he spoke calmly as the others
circled him.

  “Reilly?” Ally said, puzzled.

  “That’s the one,” Salem said.

  Ally looked around the room, seeing if anyone recognised the name.

  “Reilly!” Mollie suddenly shouted out. “That was what Prime called himself when I first met him!”

  “Prime, yeah, Bella said Persephone called him that,” Salem nodded. “Just before she killed Julian Travitz in a warehouse in MegaTown.”

  “Wait, you’re saying your friend saw Persephone kill Julian?” Xander asked.

  “Sure, Persephone had left her for dead, but she saw it just before she blacked out.”

  “Then Prime is innocent,” Ally whispered

  “And we’ve just let him be taken to Blackwater!” Quartzig said.

  “Hold up, hold up. I came here looking for this Reilly guy’s friends. I traced Julian Travitz’s apartment from the police reports and ended up here. You guys are his friends, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s us,” Mollie smiled.

  “And the police have taken him to Blackwater for killing Julian?”

  “That’s correct,” Ava added.

  “Why do you ask?” Ally moved closer to Salem.

  “I have a feeling there is a larger game at play here,” Salem said. “Any chance I could have my arm back? I could do with checking something.”

  Ally nodded to Quartzig as she saw Xander rest his hand on his revolver.

  “Blackwater is not the safest place at the moment. The prisoners have been using a remote system to hijack bodies in the city,” Salem began to explain as he pulled up a PAD unit. “Sam was forced to work with the Sliders here in the city to build a relay system which connected prisoners to civilians, using them as puppets and taking their minds for a joyride.”

  “You mean, the prisoners were in control of people’s consciousness, like possessing them?” Ally said, glancing at Quartzig.

  “Exactly like that. We thought it was only a small group. But with Sam being killed, it seems like maybe someone is trying to get rid of the evidence.”

  “Keller?” Ally said to Quartzig, who nodded in agreement.

  “Did you just say, Keller? As in Thomas Keller?” Salems’ eyes widened.

  “Yeah, we crossed paths with him. He massacred a whole Aug-Clinic downtown,” Ally said.

  “Fuck! I need to get in contact with Bella,” Salem began to panic.

  “Why, what’s wrong?” Ava asked.

  “Persephone shot Bella, and if she’s working with Keller, then she’s in trouble as we’ve crossed paths with him before! She’s in a medical pod recovering. But if they are trying to get rid of people who know about the relay system, and they find out she’s alive…”

  “Then she’s a target. Where is her medical pod?” Xander said, pulling out his communication device.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Bella

  Bella was still inside the V.R. when she noticed the changes. First, the sky began to turn a deep red, like a sunset engulfed in flames. Next, the sea began to boil, bubbling over as steam hissed and rose above it. Finally, she felt the heat, a warmth at first, increasing with every second. Soon, she could feel sweat forming on her skin and a dizzy haze in her mind.

  “This shouldn’t be possible,” she said out loud, focusing on the temperature of the V.R. to turn it back to normal, which was the usual way of controlling the simulation, but the heat continued to rise.

  Looking at her arm, she saw her skin was turning a deep dark red. Then, it began to dry from the heat. Pain shot through her body as the skin started to blister and crisp. Reaching up to the back of her head, her hands searched desperately for the VR release button, but she couldn’t find it.

  “Fucking medical pod,” she hissed through gritted teeth, saying it out loud to make focus her attention, though the hot air burnt her lungs. Medical pods had a different release mechanism than regular pods to make sure patients didn’t try to release themselves while they were still in recovery. Bella knew, however, that even the medical pod simulations had exploits that could be used to exit. An emergency override designed by the programmers disguised within the simulation as an interactive object that triggered the release. It would be something that wasn’t affected by the thoughts of the user or anything else.

  Bella scanned around her. The balcony was crackling with fire now as flames licked around the stonework. The table beside her was crackling as the heat ate away at the wood. On it, the wine glasses had cracked and shattered, spilling their contents which evaporated instantly with a hiss as it dripped through the fire. Within the roaring flames of the table, she saw the bottle of wine was completely untouched by the fire. The paper label on the bottle was pristine despite the flames raging around it, and the glass still had beads of condensation on it as though it was slightly chilled. Bella took a breath. She’d have to plunge her hands through the fire to get it. Thrusting her hand forward, the already blistered skin began to burn away, flesh blackening as the flames engulfed her arm. She knew that in V.R. the world was different, things that would normally cause a person to fall unconscious or even die didn’t have the same impact, meaning that despite the almost unbearable pain she felt, she remained conscious and able to function. Her fingers curled around the bottle, skin cracking further as it stretched. The bottle was cold to the touch as around her the flames closed in. She lifted the bottle and smashed it on the table.

  The world went black, a momentary pause between seconds, giving her time to feel her body return to normal.

  Then the heat began again; only this time, it was real.

  Opening her eyes, she immediately sat upright. She was on a medical bed, the V.R. system plugged in above her, and several wires attached to her arm. Pulling the wires and V.R. cables off, she looked around the room, trying to process what she saw. The hospital room was in flames, smoke filling the air. Sparse cabinets and metal trays were scattered around the room, reflecting the glow of the fire. The heat must have been what her subconscious had picked up in the VR, the system picking up the sensations and projecting them into the simulation, and it might have just saved her life.

  Whatever was happening, Bella knew she needed to get out before the flames became more intense. She shook the fog of waking up and looking down at the basic hospital jumpsuit she was dressed in, her PDA still connected. It was still working, but the signal was blocked, a usual precaution in medical units. She spun and placed a barefoot delicately on the ground, testing it for heat. It was warm but bearable. As she stood, pain shot through her side. The gunshot wound had only half-healed, the medical pod having not completed its process. She ignored the sting as she slowly worked her way towards the door. The flames were erratic, devouring anything they could as the smoke thickened. Stepping out of the room, Bella saw that the corridor was also scattered with pockets of fire that glowed and spread as they found new fuel. Avoiding their heat as much as possible, she padded down the hall. Why hadn’t the building’s security system kicked in? she thought, stepping to weave through the flames that crackled from a disposal bin.

  She reached a large open space where two lift doors sat opposite a small desk against a window. Glancing through the glass, her eyes widened as she saw the street far below. She must have been at least twenty floors up. Moving to the lifts, she slammed her palm in the call button, which returned the gesture with a loud negative alert. Offline. It was a standard security measure in the event of a fire, but she had to try them as she couldn’t see any emergency stair access.

  “Fuck!” she cursed. Moving back around to the desk she hoped to find an override for the lifts, or at least information on stairwell access, going through the window was her least favourite escape option.

  Tapping on the desk’s computer, a schematic of the building flashed up, indicating that she was on the hospital's twenty-fourth floor, and flashing red indicators showed that the floor had been evacuated and isolated due to the fire. Bella knew her way around the security systems as they were the s
ame ones at Silverstone Corp. The hospital’s isolation systems could contain any disaster on any floor without it affecting the surrounding floors. Each floor would be lined with preventative measures meaning anything that happened on one wouldn’t affect any other, a smart measure but one that did not help her current situation. Something about the system flashed in the back of her mind. The fire prevention system has originally used a water-based extinguishing system but due to complaints about the water's damage on the increasing reliance on electrical systems meant a newer system had been installed. A cleaner method of extinguishing. Complete oxygen starvation through vacuum seals.

  Bella took a deep breath. The vacuum seals at Silverstone gave a five-minute time limit for people to evacuate before the entire floor was isolated with metallic shutters and rubber seals which not only trapped the fire but also prevented any air from entering the area. Finally, all oxygen was extracted from the section, taking away one of the critical components of any fire. The computer monitor indicated that four minutes and seven seconds had elapsed since the fire system had been triggered.

  Bella had fifty-three seconds to find a way off the floor before it was completely sealed, and she would suffocate.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Prime

  The wound in Primes’ leg continued to bleed as he watched the man come towards him, rifle in hand.

  “What’s your name, inmate?” he spat, leaning his head into the container. He wore what had probably once been a guards uniform, but it was now a patchwork of repair stitching and faded colours.

  “Fuck you!” Prime shouted through clenched teeth, his anger exacerbated by his pain.

  “Now, now! Things work a little differently over here. We don’t take no chances with new arrivals. Way I see it if you’ve got a leg wound, you ain’t going to cause me no trouble on account that you can hardly walk, see?”