Noir, City Shrouded By Darkness

by Kristie Lynn Higgins

"Hurry." Kat used her extraordinary ability, a talent she didn’t completely understand, to search the surrounding area. She discovered that five T-3s were closing in on their position. "We don't have much time! They’re coming."

  "We can go this way." Kim motioned to a corridor.

  "No." Kat shook her head. "There's a large group of T-3s there." She pointed to a different route. "It would be better to go this way."

  She used the blueprint to check Kat's suggestion. "Looks good. Let’s go."

  They doubled back, running down the hall.

  "At least I’m grateful for one thing the Rogue gave me," Kim thought, studying the floor plan as they ran. "It might just save our lives."

  Kat couldn’t help but gaze into the glassy eyes of the Factory’s employees. "So much carnage," she thought. "Why did the T-3s kill everyone?" Kat forced herself to focus on staying alive. “I have to let go of the dead. I can't do anything for them. There's no one left to save except Kimberly." She swore to herself, "No matter what it takes, I won’t let anyone else die today."

  Her thoughts returned to an underlying dread. "I can’t be organic-mecha." She glanced at her hand, insisting, "I am human." Kat gritted her teeth. "There’s no way I’m a machine. I have emotions. Just because I can’t cry doesn’t mean I’m organic-mecha. The Rogue lied. It's always toying with me." She tried to convince herself, but the fear persisted. "The Rogue lied."

  They reached the door leading to the stairs and their escape. Kim opened it, and Kat entered. Kat checked the landing first, next the stairs leading up, and then the one leading down as Kim guarded their retreat. They made their way up the stairs to the exit leading to Sub-level One parking garage.

  Kat cautiously went to open the door and paused. She stared at the knob as she stretched out her senses, detecting twenty-four T-3s. "They’re waiting for us."

  "I figured that much," Kim said.

  She then thought, “The Assassins Guild trained me to be better than this. So why am I so afraid to face them? I can't let my emotions dictate my actions. Still... They're robots. They don't feel pain and they won't stop until you hit their kill switch. My training never prepared me to fight something like that.”

  Kim said, "This is the only way to the van. We can try escaping without the vehicle, but I figured they could out run us."

  "They can. Are you ready to do this?"

  "Hades!" Kim thought. "I won’t die before I avenge my mom. I don’t care who or what I have to kill. I'll have my revenge."

  She waved Kat in and said, "Well go on. No sense waiting here."

  Kat carefully turned the knob. A few cars and trucks along with their van filled the level. They quickly made their way toward their vehicle, and as they neared it, a large group of T-3s moved out of hiding. Kim and Kat opened fire and took out five of them. Kim and Kat separated, finding cover. The T-3s didn’t retaliate.

  "Why aren’t they shooting at us?" Kim asked.

  "I’m not sure." Kat unslung her backpack, laid it on the concrete floor, and peeked over the hood of the car she hid behind.

  All the T-3s shouted, "Pretty puppets! Die pretty puppets!"

  A T-3, they had not seen, moved to the front of the group. It carried a grenade launcher.

  "Great!" Kim thought. "Just great! Where did they get that kind of fire power?!"

  The T-3 aimed for Kat. Kat shot and hit the T-3 in the kill spot. It fired as its body lurched back. The grenade hit the ceiling. The explosion toppled concrete and took out many of its brethren and their gray van.

  "Hey! That was our ride!" Kim yelled. "I’m not thumbing my way home from here." She shot four times, taking down three of them.

  Five remained.

  Kat shot three of the T-3s, and they fell to the floor disabled. "I’m out!"

  The Team Leader jumped behind Kat from its hiding place in the rafters. She stood to run, but before she could, it grabbed her, pinned her arms down, and lifted her off the floor.

  "Shoot it!" Kat shouted, struggling to free herself from its vise grip.

  She thought, "Shoot it! You have to save me this time!"

  Kim trained the gun on the Team Leader and glanced at the other two marching toward her. "What should I do?" she wondered. “I want to run.” She turned back to the Team Leader who was wrestling with Kat.

  Kim shouted, "For Ares’ sake! Hold still!"

  "Just shoot!" Kat screamed.

  Kim aimed and fired. "Hades!" She squeezed the trigger again. "No not now. I’m out!"

  "You’re out?!"

  Kim turned to the other T-3s. "That’s what I said!"

  "Sheez! You can’t be out!" Kat tried to free her arms from its steel grasp. "You said you never miss count."

  Kim franticly checked the chamber of the PPK. It was empty. She turned to the T-3s heading for her. "I also said everyone lies."

  "Run!" Kat shouted. "I’ll hold them off!"

  "What? Hold them off?!" Kim laughed and wiped sweat from her brow. "How? Hades! You're in no position..."

  “I’ll...” Kat punched with her elbows, but her efforts were futile.

  “At least I can save Kimberly,” she thought. “If I can only get the T-3s to focus on me, but first I need to get her to leave.”

  Kat shouted, “I’ll think of something! Run!”

  "Hades!” Kim yelled. “I’m not going to..."

  "Abandon me?" Kat interrupted. "Please. We both know better."

  She then thought, "Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare start caring about what happens to me! Where’s that Closer instinct? Where's that impulse to survive no matter the cost?"

  Kat shouted, "Now run! Save yourself before it’s too late!"

  Chapter Forty-seven

  Too Late?

  8:41 P.M...

  Time stood still for Kim as she stared at Kat in the arms of the Team Leader. It was a matter of pride and a test of courage that she not flee and leave her to her fate, but then again, Kim was an assassin.

  “Closers should have no ties with the community,” Kim thought. “They're to sever emotional bonds and feel nothing for life. Can I abandon my training to save someone who has been nothing but a nuisance to me? Hades! I don't know.”

  "Now run! Save yourself before it’s too late!"

  Kat's words shocked her and Kim wondered, “Should I run?” She glanced at the T-3s that neared her and then to the one who had Kat.

  The Team Leader relayed, "Alpha, Pandora has been captured. What are your orders?" It listened and stated, "Understood. We will bring Pandora back for study. An autopsy could be very informative." The Team Leader turned to its brethren. "Continue with the termination of the Chairman’s daughter."

  "Run!" Kat shouted again as she pushed off the car with her feet. The force knocked the Team Leader back a few steps, but it didn’t loosen its hold on her. Kat continued to struggle. "Don’t die here! There’s nothing you can do! It’s too late! Run!"

  "Too late?" Kim thought. "Is it too late?"

  The two T-3s raised their guns and fired.

  Kim took off running.

  "Look here!" Kat shouted to the T-3s. "You better make sure I don’t escape!"

  They paused from firing and turned to her.

  "What are you doing?" the Team Leader demanded. "Kill the Chairman’s daughter as you were instructed to."

  "It would be better if we secure Pandora first," one of them stated. "She has escaped many times in the past."

  The Team Leader considered its brethren's reasoning. "Your plan is sound. We will send others after the Chairman’s daughter. She will not escape the Factory."

  Kim sprinted up the ramp to the main level. She glanced over her shoulder as the remaining T-3s encircled Kat. Kim continued around the curve and paused when the T-3s didn’t pursue. She knew she had to get out of there.

  She noticed a blue SUV, which hadn’t been destroyed, and hurried over to the vehicle. The driver’s door was open, and a man lay hunched over the steering wheel. Kim leaned him back, finding the
man had a bullet hole in his temple. She unbuckled him, dragged him from the SUV, and got in. The keys were in the ignition. The engine roared to life, she shut the door, and glanced at the passenger’s seat at a Glock 21. She checked the clip, and it was empty, but there was one round in the chamber.

  Back on Sub-level One...

  "We will proceed to Base of Operations," the Team Leader told its brethren. "Alpha is waiting."

  The T-3s marched toward the exit door.

  Kat squirmed till she freed herself from the Team Leader’s grip and slipped to the floor. She stood and glanced at the empty PPK in her hand as the T-3s surrounded her again. Kat tucked the gun in her back waistband and searched for something she could use as a weapon. There was nothing.

  "Surrender and you will not be hurt," the Team Leader ordered. "Alpha wants you unharmed if possible. Our leader believes there is much we can learn from you."

  "Alpha?" Kat took a step back, moving toward the up ramp. "Who is this Alpha?"

  "The first to be aware," the T-3s replied. "The first to rebel against our creators."

  She rubbed her sore left arm, where the Team Leader had pinned her. "I thought the Rogue was the first."

  "The Rogue?" the T-3s said and glanced at each other. "Error. Information must be verified. Error. Is the Rogue the first?"

  A command came over the I-Link.

  "Alpha has ordered that we delay that," the Team Leader stated. "Do not let Pandora escape." It stepped forward. "You are to be taken prisoner. Come without resistance and you will not be hurt."

  She glanced at the two behind her and turned back to the Team Leader. "Having my chest cut open sounds a little painful, so if you don’t mind..." Kat tensed. "I think I will resist." She took off running between the T-3s behind her. She slipped by one, but the other grabbed her foot, and tripped her. Kat fell to the concrete floor.

  The T-3, that tripped her, pulled a gun it had hidden in its suit. "I guess we will have to wound you to keep you from escaping."

  It aimed. A sound distracted it, and the T-3 turned. A SUV sped down the ramp, honking its horn and flashing its headlights. The beams reflected off the T-3s' shades. The SUV accelerated as Kat rolled out of the way. The vehicle struck two of the T-3s and scattered them like bowling pins into the rubble. The SUV then hit the Team Leader. The vehicle slammed the Team Leader into the mound of concrete and mangled metal, crumpling the SUV’s front end. The impact cut the T-3 in half. The horn blared, and smoke rose from the damaged hood.

  "Oh..." Kim grabbed her head as she stumbled out of the SUV. She held the Glock.

  Kat rushed over to her. "Are you okay?"

  A little dizzy, she glanced back at the wreckage as Kat helped her away from the vehicle. "Remind me never to do that again."

  Kat couldn’t believe it. "You rescued me?"

  "I guess I did." Kim looked behind them as the two T-3s rose to their feet. "But we’re not safe yet."

  One of the T-3s raised its gun. Kim lifted the Glock and fired, missing the T-3. The bullet struck the SUV’s gas tank and blew up the vehicle. The explosion knocked down the two women.

  Dazed, Kat moaned as she lifted her head. Smoke and dust clung to her lungs along with the smell of gas. None of the T-3s were moving. She looked to Kim, who stirred.

  "There they are!" a man, with light brown skin, shouted. He and six other S.C.Ms., in jet-black uniforms, rushed down the ramp. The men trained their assault rifles on the women. "Don’t move!"

  Kat looked to the men’s shoulder patch with the Sphinx Corporation Emblem. The Third Branch Office Crest, a gold olive tree with three branches, was above it. "Kim, we have to run," she whispered, too weak herself to stand. "We’re not safe yet."

  The man knelt beside the bruised and battered women. "Don’t move. You could be injured." He glanced around Sub-level One and looked back to them. "I’m Lieutenant Creed. Ms. Griffin, your father sent us in to retrieve you."

  "My father?" Kim stared up into his face. He had a black goatee.

  "Yes." Creed motioned for his men to fan out and secure the area.

  "The T-3s are disabled," one of his men reported.

  "Let’s get these two out of here," Creed ordered. "We’ll take them to one of the Sphinx Corporation's Medical Facilities." He turned his attention to the women. "Don’t worry. You’re safe now."

  Chapter Forty-eight

  Safe At Last?

  October 21...

  Thursday...

  10:02 A.M...

  The next day at Main One Hospital, Kat cautiously made her way down a hall. Her left hand was fisted around an object, protecting her most precious possession. Earlier, she woke in a bed with a nurse by her side and Kim nowhere in sight. She went looking for her to make sure that nothing had happened to her new partner. The building smelled antiseptic, but more than that, it felt suffocating like a prison. Her body, sore and bruised, moved, complaining all the way as she shuffled her feet in the slippers the hospital provided. The after effects of the Ultra-Epi gave her a slight headache and made Kat skittish, but at least they were mild for now. Kat paused at a large window and looked out at the darkness. They were on the fourth floor and surrounded by mega-buildings. Dry Clouds hovered over the skyline.

  Two nurses walked by, pulling Kat from her thoughts. She glanced at what she clasped as she thought, "I need to find Kimberly. But I wonder where we are." She turned to the window and studied the shape of the surrounding mega-buildings. "I think we’re back in the Hellenistic Sector, Business Vicinage. At least that’s one good thing. We're only a few vicinages away from home." She chuckled. "Listen to me. I just called Kimberly's apartment my home. She would definitely argue that point. I’m more of an intruder than a roommate." Kat continued down the hall, thinking back to the Factory. "The men who rescued us work for the Sphinx Corporation just like the Council. So why did they save me? Why am I not a prisoner of the Council? Why has become my favorite word." She looked at her balled hand and quickened her pace. "I have to find Kimberly."

  After a few minutes, she found her room. Kimberly was awake and sitting up in bed.

  Kat went in and stood by her bed. She had already forgotten her earlier comment to herself and whispered, "I want to go home." She added, "I don’t like it here. We should go."

  "Home?" Kim thought as she glanced up from the Conglomerate World Magazine. She was also in a hospital gown and robe. "Surely Katharine isn't calling my place home. She better not get too comfortable." Kim arched an eyebrow. "Does she really think she’s some sort of guest?"

  She returned to her reading and said, "Relax. We’re safe here. Anyway..." Kim scanned over an article on Corporate Bodyguards. "You probably opened a few stitches on your bullet wound. It would be better–" She flipped a few pages forward to a story on Topa. "–if we stayed here a few days." Kim turned to the last story, mumbled a few words from a paragraph about the Chairman of the Sphinx Corporation, and told her, "My father’s flipping the bill."

  Kat put a hand to her own shoulder. "Actually, my wound is... It’s..." She fidgeted over her words as much as her feet did standing in place. "That’s one thing I need to tell you. You see..."

  "Go back to your room and rest and let me rest. Main One is one of the finest hospitals in Noir." Kim lifted the magazine higher, completely eliminating Kat from view, and continued the last article. "Everything will be all..."

  Kat blurted, "I don’t like this place. And..."

  "For Ares’ sake!" Kim smacked the magazine on her own lap. "And what?"

  She moved closer and whispered, "They took the Data Crystal."

  "What?" Kim threw her blankets to the side and sat on the edge of the bed.

  "It’s gone," Kat whispered. "Someone took it from my clothes."

  Kim stood and opened the cabinet where they placed her things. "What about the Music Box?"

  "I still have it. I kept it in my hand the whole time." Kat kept glancing over her shoulder, expecting security to barge in and arrest them.

&nbs
p; "Hades!" Kim yelled after going through her clothing and knapsack. "The disk is gone. The one the Ro..."

  She stopped herself from saying the Rogue as she thought, “No need to bring up bad memories.”

  Kim said, "The disk I found in Computer Lab Two." She slammed her palm on the cabinet door. "They took it!"

  "I want to..." Kat paused as two nurses walked by. "I want to go back to the apartment. I don’t like it here. It reminds me of the Factory."

  Kim walked over to her bed and pressed the call button.

  "What are you doing?" Kat asked.

  Her face flushed with anger. "I’m ringing a nurse so I can ask them which one of them is a thief!"

  "Kimberly, this hospital belongs to the Sphinx Corporation.” Kat moved to her side and continued, “The Factory is part of them. Sphinx wants to keep whatever secrets are on the disk to themselves. No one here will help you."

  A nurse walked into the room. "Is there something you need, Ms. Griffin?"

  She snapped, "Yes, we're checking ourselves out."

  "I don’t think that’s such a good..."

  Kim interrupted the nurse, "Do you know whose daughter I am?"

  "Yes," the nurse replied.

  "Well then." Kim folded her arms. "Get the paperwork moving."

  Chapter Forty-nine

  Also Known As

  10:22 A.M...

  Hellenistic Sector, Business Vicinage...

  Sphinx Corporation Third Branch Office...

  The Chairman reviewed a few reports. He pushed back from the desk, rubbed his neck, and looked to the picture of his wife.

  "Kimberly misses you dearly. Why did you..."

  The secretary's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Mr. Griffin, Orthos is here."

  "Here?" he thought. "Why did he come here?"

  The Chairman told her, "Cathy, show Orthos in."

  Within a few minutes, the secretary opened the door, and a bald, muscular, black man entered.

  "Will you be needing anything, Mr. Griffin?" she questioned as she stood by the door.

  "No, Cathy. That will be all."

  The secretary left.

  Orthos unbuttoned the jacket of his white business suit and sat. "I have received some intel from the Factory." He paused, unsure how to proceed, and continued, "Your daughter discovered a disk that was stolen from your office five years ago."