Let’s be honest, they’re filming the bike.
And that’s when I began to wonder whether Felix may have been right about me having some fans in the city who might want to help out.
But wait. What sort of people are we talking about? Bikers?
I wonder if there’s a way to find people with the same problem as me. People pissed at companies like Cygnus. People looking to change the way the city works. People willing to take risks.
I looked up sharply.
I had an idea.
Chapter 7
Public Relations
I was halfway to Lexington Market when I called Felix.
“Hey Carmen, everything okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Listen, I was thinking about what you said about reaching out to my so-called fans.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, so I thought I would put on another show and see if I can get some volunteers to help me out.”
“Sounds good. How can I help?”
“For right now, I just need you to keep an eye on your news feeds and let me know as soon as you see anything about me, okay?”
“Sure, no problem.” He paused. “You be careful, okay?”
“I’ll try. Thanks.”
A few minutes later I rolled up in front of Lexington Market, where I stopped and sat on the bike for a moment, long enough to get a few stares from the people going in and out of the building.
“Lux, off.”
A small gasp ran through the crowd as the bike vanished in twinkle of violet lasers and the people cleared a small path for me as I walked up to the doors. I don’t blame them for being a little scared. I could only imagine what my holograms looked like to other people, seeing them for the first time.
Inside the market it was already crowded and I had to join the slow shuffle of people flowing past the shops, one by one. But I wasn’t looking at the shops. I kept my eyes on the doors and the shadowy spaces between the stalls, looking for young men, looking for hoods. It was early in the morning, but I figured someone had to be up and about. And I was right.
Near the east exit I spotted the mouth-breather who had followed me out of the market the other day and got the pointy end of my sword for his trouble.
Perfect.
He was standing with three other skinny guys, all in ill-fitting clothes, all standing hunched and casting shifty looks at the crowd. They looked nervous. I liked that. I hung back for a minute to watch them watch the crowd. Then they perked up a little and nodded at someone, and two of them swaggered into the crowd. I watched them shuffle out the doors behind a pair of young women.
Even more perfect.
I hurried after them and stepped out into the sunlight just after they did. I called out, “Hey fellas, what’re you selling?”
They stopped and turned. One of them was my mouth-breather, and he looked just as baffled now as he had before. “What the hell do you want?”
“I want you to stop dealing in the market. I also want you to stop bothering the women who come through here.”
“Psh.” He shook his head and started walking away.
“Hey jackass, I’m serious. Drop what you’re holding and get out of here before I kick your ass.”
I don’t think I’d ever actually used the phrase “kick your ass” before in my life, and it felt really weird coming out of my mouth. I almost wanted to take it back, but it was too late.
“Aw, that’s it.” The dealer spun around and came charging back toward me. His buddy looked content to just watch, as did the twenty or so people walking by on the sidewalk at the moment.
Here we go.
“Lux, armor one.”
Armor one was military-style body armor, tight-fitting plates covering all the major organs and muscles and joints, and of course mine was jet black, glowing purple, and completely weightless.
He swung at my head and I raised my arm to block it. When his fist hit my armor, I heard a tiny crack as something in his hand broke, and he shouted as he whipped his hand away to cradle it to his chest.
The crowd around us grew a little thicker and a dozen phones came out.
So far, so good.
“I’ll say it again. Drop what you’re holding. And somebody call the police!”
I knew perfectly well that no one would call the police. Every phone would be recording us. People liked to watch. People didn’t like to get involved. At least not most of them. And that was kind of the point of all this. To find the ones who did want to get involved.
“What are you doing?” the dealer snapped at his buddy. “Get her.”
The buddy didn’t look too sure. He looked like he wanted to bolt into the crowd and disappear, but after a moment’s hesitation he pulled out a knife and came toward me. The crowd pulled back another step.
“Nice knife,” I said.
He stabbed it straight at my stomach, and I flinched. I was absolutely terrified it would go straight through the holograms, straight into my body, and he got right up close when he did it so I had to look into his ugly, angry face.
But I didn’t feel anything. I did hear a metal tinkle. We both looked down and saw that the tip of his knife had broken off against my armor.
“Cool.” I blinked and looked up at him. “My turn now. Lux, sword two.”
Sword two was ridiculous, and that was the whole point. I had downloaded it from Demon Age 3, along with a dozen others, and it had one job. To get attention. Besides being enormous, the blade was shaped like a frozen pillar of fire with dozens of little points where the “flames” were supposed to be. It was almost as tall as I was, and watching it ripple into existence from the lasers blazing out of my hand made the crowd fall dead silent.
“Shit.” The guy with the broken knife turned and ran into the crowd, and they let him through. The dealer with the broken hand turned and ran after him, and no one tried to stop him.
“Lux, bike.” As I mounted my huge motorcycle, wearing my armor, and holding my sword, I began to wonder exactly how many holograms my new suit could manage at one time.
Really should have thought about that before now.
The crowd scattered and I roared down the sidewalk, skidded around the two dealers, and hopped off the bike as it disappeared. I pointed my flaming sword at them. “I said, drop what you’re holding.”
They hesitated. Then they both fished into their pockets and tossed a handful of little bags on the sidewalk.
“Happy?” asked the one with the broken hand.
“Happier.” I nodded. I spotted a pair of cops running up the sidewalk behind them. “Now drop the knife and get on your knees. You’re about to be arrested.”
They glanced at the cops, and back at me, and then sank to their knees with a couple of angry scowls and mutters.
“Lux, sword off.”
The cops jogged up with their guns drawn.
I pointed to the dealers. “All yours.”
They saw the drugs and cuffed the two guys, and then said something into their radios as they turned away from me.
“They’ve got some friends back in the market. Near the east doors,” I said.
The cops frowned at me.
And then I heard the humming overhead and I looked up. Drones. Three of them. Two were just your regular SkyEyes, ball-shaped cameras dangling under a small solar-powered propeller. But the third one was a big quad-rotor with two cameras and a tranq gun.
All three of them had the Cygnus logo on their sides.
I wanted to smash them out of the air, but they were too high up, even for my giant black sword. So I ignored them and started walking back up to the market to find the other two dealers, when I heard a soft ping on my shoulder. I looked and saw the tranq dart on the ground.
They’re shooting at me?
I jogged faster, still wanting to finish the job.
Ping.
Plink.
When I got to the doors of the market, the crowd of gawkers and phone-filmers were still the
re, even more than before.
Twang.
A dart ricocheted off my side and hit a man in a dark blue jumpsuit. He stumbled and fell against two other men. A second dart bounced off me and hit an older woman, and she fell. The crowd began to mutter and shuffle, like a single organism that was starting to get agitated.
“Get behind me!” I called out. “Lux, shield one.”
The round shield appeared on my left arm and I tried to protect the people behind me, but there were just too many of them.
When a third dart whisked off my arm and hit a young woman, the crowd started shouting at the drones.
“Leave her alone!”
“Stop shooting, you idiots!”
“You’re going to hurt someone!”
Bottles and cans flew into the air. Most missed the drones completely, but a handful managed to hit the mark and send the little machines teetering through the air.
“I’ll get them!” I yelled. “Stand back.”
The crowd gave me a little room and I jogged toward the drones. “Lux, stilts, five yards.”
The stilts shot out of my booted feet, hurling me into the air so fast I nearly toppled over. I was suddenly stumbling high above the sidewalk, and if the stilts themselves had weighed anything I probably would have fallen, but since they were so light, it was actually a little like wearing high heels. A little.
I had overshot the mark, and now I was several feet above the drones.
“Lux, sledge hammer.”
A long-handled hammer appeared in my hand and I swung it through the little swarm, easily smashing the two SkyEyes and sending them falling into the street.
But the quad-rotor jerked back from me and started to rise even higher.
“No you don’t.” I ran forward on my stilted boots and jumped as I called out, “Lux, sword two.”
The huge flaming sword flashed out of my right hand to replace the hammer, and I brought it straight down on the last drone, hacking it in half and sending the pieces skittering down the sidewalk.
I staggered forward two more steps before saying, “Lux, stilts off.”
The stilts swiftly retracted into my boots, lowering me a little too quickly to the ground, but I landed in one piece and on my feet. I looked back at the crowd. “Is everyone all right?”
They burst into cheers and applause, and I blushed. They clapped their hands over their heads, and whistled and shook their fists in the air. And everywhere I looked I saw phones pointing at me. I raised my huge sword over my head and smiled for the cameras.
I hope this works.
“Freeze! Drop the sword and lay on the ground with your hands behind your head.”
I turned my head a little to see the two cops behind me. They had the dealers up against a wall, their hands cuffed, but now the cops were pointing their guns at me.
“Hey, leave her alone!” someone shouted from the crowd.
“She didn’t do anything!” someone else yelled. “It was the drones!”
It felt nice to hear all that support, but it didn’t do much to make me feel any better about the two guns pointed at my back. I knew the armor was bulletproof. I knew it. I had seen it. But that didn’t make me feel any better about the possibility of getting shot at, especially with all of those people around me.
“Lux, sword and shield off.”
The objects vanished from my hands, which I half raised as I turned around to face the cops. “I gave you the dealers, and I protected these people from the drones.”
“You are under arrest.”
I winced. “I think you meant to say: Thanks citizen, good work!”
“Carmen Zhao, there is a warrant for your arrest.”
Of course there is.
“Lay on the ground with your hands behind your head. Now!”
The last thing I need now is to piss off the cops.
Still…
I shook my head at them. “Lux, bike.”
I took two running steps and jumped into the street as the huge black motorcycle flashed to life beneath me and I tore up the road in a blaze of purple glows. I didn’t hear any gunshots, and after the first ten seconds I was so far from the market that I could actually relax the knotted muscles in my back and remember to breathe.
I rode for a full fifteen minutes before zipping into a quiet neighborhood and shutting down the bike and armor so I could just sit down on a rock in the corner of a small park and rest for a bit. I called Felix.
“Carmen, this is… this is unreal. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Anything new online?”
“Anything new? Are you serious?”
“Well, you didn’t call.”
“Oh, sorry. Yeah, I just got all caught up in watching this. Fighting those two guys, the sword, the bike, the stilts, the drones. Madness.”
“Good madness?”
“Definitely good,” he said. “There are at least twenty versions of the clip online already. There’s people thanking you for getting rid of the dealers, and for getting rid of the drones. Lots of anti-Cygnus ranting. Lots of guys who want to sleep with you. A few conspiracy theories about it all being fake or a stunt. Lots of people obsessed with your holograms. Some rants about the police. Yeah, pretty much all fan mail down in the comments.”
“Is there any way to tell if any of them are local?”
“Not really.”
“Oh. Does anyone sound like they want to help me take down a big, scary corporation?”
“Uhm… not really. At least not yet. Maybe we need to set up a special profile page for you where people can contact you directly.”
“I already have a profile, and everyone knows my name by now, right?”
“Well, yeah, your name is out there. But you’ve got some other names out there already, too. A lot of folks are giving you nicknames.”
“What nicknames?” I cringed, expecting any number of hideous things about my body and what some loser on the other side of the world wanted to do to me.
“Let’s see. Sword Girl. The Badass Baltimore Biker-chick. The Purple Punisher.”
I uncringed. “That’s not so bad.”
“There’s more. Warrior Woman. Laser Lips. The Cygnus Crusader. That’s dumb, it sounds like you work for Cygnus.”
“Okay, I get the picture.” I could have looked it up myself on my phone, but I wanted to keep my eyes on the road and the park around me. The last thing I needed was to get caught while reading my fan mail.
“Yeah, well, the point is that lots of people like you.”
“And you think we can use that?”
“Absolutely,” Felix said. “Listen, I’ve been out in the cold a lot longer than you, and I know for a fact that this city is full of people who’ve been screwed over by the big companies, and I bet every city out there is exactly the same. But most people are so busy trying to scratch together enough money for supper that they don’t have time to do anything else. But you’re different.”
I laughed. “Really? Because last time I checked, I didn’t have any money for supper either.”
“Yeah, and that’s about to change. I’m setting up that public profile for you, like a fan page.”
“Felix, I don’t want to take donations or anything from people.”
“Not donations. Favors.”
“That would fall under the ‘or anything’ category.”
“No, we’re doing this. You fight the companies, we supply the noodles and the couches.”
I smiled. “Sounds about fair. But what I really need are some leads about Dom, and Mercy, and anyone else who Cygnus might have taken to try to get to me.”
“I know. I’m adding that to the profile, too. Hopefully, someone will know something.”
That all sounded very vague, and didn’t make me feel any better about what was happening to my friends, or whether I would be able to save them. But there wasn’t anything else we could do.
“So, I take it that Cygnus hasn’t tried to contact you yet?
No ransom demand, or anything?”
I checked my messages again. “No, nothing.”
“Okay, well, I’m all done here. I’m letting everyone know that this is your official profile, so we should see some traffic real soon. And I, uh, I picked one of those nicknames for the title. I hope you don’t mind, but somehow ‘The Carmen Zhao Official Fan Page’ just didn’t have the right ring to it, seeing as how we’re trying to overthrow an evil megacorporation and all.”
“Oh, yeah? So what, you called the profile Laser Lips?”
“No. I called it, I called you, Ultraviolet.”
“Ultraviolet?” I nodded to myself. “I can live with that.”
“Good, because we just got our first dozen hits and there’s a girl on the north side who says Ultraviolet can crash on her couch tonight. And… I just verified her, she’s real. What do you say?”
I hesitated. This was all moving really fast. And this girl on the north side was a complete stranger, and might not be real at all. She could be a Cygnus sock puppet. But Felix seemed to think she was real, and he seemed to know what he was doing, so…
Do I play it safe, or do I take a leap of faith?
“Tell her I’ll be there at nine tonight,” I said. “Let me know the address when you get it.”
I spent the rest of the day riding around the city on my big black bike with my clothes hidden under my armor and my lower face partly masked by a holo-helmet. I streaked down crowded streets past busy markets, trying to get as many eyeballs as possible before disappearing again. I wanted people to see me, to know that I was really real. And I was also looking for any other easy targets, obvious drug dealers or Cygnus drones, but I didn’t spot any. I did spot a lot of cops, though.
I didn’t stay in character for too long in any one area. After a few minutes I would zip into an alley, shut down my holograms, and just walk for a few blocks in my regular clothes. I figured if everyone was looking for a biker chick in black with a bright violet glow, they wouldn’t be looking at me.
And they weren’t.
I checked my messages obsessively every few minutes. Still nothing from Cygnus. I considered calling them directly, but maybe that’s what they wanted. Maybe they needed me to call them so they could track my phone. Who knows how their tech worked…
Ultraviolet Page 8
