by Justin Sloan
“You mean enhancements?”
“Definitely.” She looked him up and down, remembering him in that bathtub, how his muscles were larger and more toned than the last time she’d seen him, and he hadn’t been a small guy back then. He was at the point where it was almost too much, but just the right side of sexy. And yes, she had noticed enhancements in other areas.
She sighed, trying to keep focused.
“You say that like it’s a good thing,” he replied, ignoring the way she was looking at him.
“I won’t say the way they did it was good, and hell… I have no idea how they did it, honestly. What they’ve done to us, to others, they’ll pay for. But does that mean the technology shouldn’t be used?” she asked with a shrug. “I could see a lot of good coming from this—the ability to heal, what it means for disease, the strength and the speed.”
“And those who would abuse power?”
She scrunched her nose. “Just because someone out there can’t handle advancement doesn’t mean we should all take a step back to the twentieth century.”
He glared at her for a moment and then said, “Did you push the button?”
She rolled her eyes, hit the elevator button for fifteen, and then folded her arms across her chest.
“I’m sorry, just… I don’t think that’s ever happened to me,” he said with a laugh. “Right, sorry. Serious conversation here.”
She couldn’t help but smile. “You disagree with what I said?”
“I don’t know, honestly.”
“For now, I’ll take it. Good enough.”
“But the ends don’t justify the means, just so we’re clear.”
“Crystal,” she replied as the elevator came to a stop and the doors dinged open. A man was already there, waiting for them, and it was clearly the man from the picture. She’d met him several times but he looked much older and more weathered than she remembered.
“Ah, Collins-san,” the man said with a bow.
“Actually, Carter now,” she said, gently correcting him and bowing in return. “O-hisashiburi desu.”
“My apologies. Then this must be the lucky man?” Ichida turned to Marick and took his hand. “You must be pleased to be part of the family. It is too bad, after…” He lost himself in the thought, glancing at Alicia nervously.
“Don’t sugarcoat anything for me,” she said. “I know what happened to my father. I don’t like it one bit, but I’m also not going to collapse to the floor like a helpless babe at the mention of him.”
“He was a great man,” Ichida said and looked at them, nervously. “How can I be of assistance to you?”
“Can we go somewhere more private?” Alicia asked.
“Of course, of course,” he replied, gesturing for them to follow him into a conference room. “Please.”
He waited until they were seated, then sat across from Marick.
“My husband,” she started, “is one of the Project Destiny super soldiers, a Taipan.”
“Oh my, I must say congratulations, then, on making it to such a prestigious level,” Ichida said and seemed genuinely impressed, judging by the way he was now staring at Marick with such fascination.
“But here’s the thing,” Alicia said, continuing, “some of his memories are gone.”
“And there’s more,” Marick added, surprising her. “Since leaving the space station, I seem to be experiencing… rage? Only once or twice so far, but it wasn’t natural. I’ve been mad before, furious even. This was something else, and I’m damn sure it’s connected.”
Alicia licked her lips, glancing over at her husband. She wanted to ask him why this was the first she was hearing about it, but now wasn’t the time.
“Interesting,” Ichida said, rubbing his hands together, eyes darting back and forth between the two of them. “And the anger thing—”
“Let’s call it rage. It feels more like rage.”
“Rage, then. It felt like you were losing control? Someone else was taking over?”
Marick gulped, cocked his head, and said, “I’m not sure. Also, you seem to be very into that idea.”
Ichida held up his hands in mock surrender. “Theories, just theories,” he said, leaning in and lowering his voice, “One is that you all have the devil in you. Another, and one held closer within these walls, is that your upgrades come from something we don’t understand. A being was discovered, used for testing, and then... this,” he said, gesturing to Marick. “You.”
“You’re saying… alien DNA?”
“I’m not saying that for sure. I’m saying that’s a rumor, or a guess. How is it, otherwise, that we spent thousands of years on evolution and failed science, and suddenly this? And the memory loss. I have theories on that as well.”
“Such as?”
“Ever hear of…” he stood and began to pace, “something called a brain tumor? I know, we don’t get those anymore. How about Lewy Body Dementia?”
“Actually, yes,” Alicia said and sat up straight. “That famous actor had it, they said. The one who killed himself in the twenty-first century, right? You’re not saying…?”
“You’re headed in the right direction,” he replied. “There’ve been studies, at first on how to reverse and fend off such illnesses, and then on how to harness them.”
“You don’t harness an illness like that,” Marick said, lip curled up in disgust. “You eradicate it.”
“Ah, but I believe you’re living proof that harnessing it is exactly what has been done.”
“You’re saying that my husband has Lewy Body Dementia?” Alicia asked. “I’m sorry, but… no.”
“No indeed,” Ichida replied. “I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is that’s where the studies began. Soon they were finding ways to manipulate the mind, to control it, to—”
The elevator dinged and he glanced up at the glass wall behind them, then shook his head. “You will forgive me, someday. I had no choice.”
Before Alicia could turn to see what he was talking about, Ichida grabbed her hand, looking at her intently. “They won’t stop here, with the soldiers. Once true mind-control is doable, they’ll move out to the civilian population. Nobody is safe.”
“How do we stop it?” she asked. “How do we reverse the effects, stop the rage?”
“Get back to the source, would be my guess. It seems to be affecting him more the farther or longer he’s away from it. They might have a machine or perhaps a living organism… I can’t be sure.” He glanced up again with sorrow in his eyes. “Run.”
She didn’t need to be told twice.
Marick had already opened the bag they’d brought and turned to slide out a small metallic disk. He leaped, pulling Alicia over to the other side of the table so their weight caused it to flip, and then BANG! Then he was pulling her up and they ran, leaping through a wall that had been glass a moment ago and darting past three Taipan soldiers who were on their backs. They had their hands to their masks, likely momentarily blinded or deafened, and then she realized her ears were ringing and that Marick’s mouth was moving but she couldn’t hear any words.
A ringing began, low at first and then jumping up in volume as they reached the stairs. Finally, his voice kicked in and she heard him say, “We have to jump.”
“We’ll die!” she shouted as he pulled her out of the next stairwell, running for the nearby windows.
“I don’t mean jump in that way.” He slid to a stop, tossed her a blaster, and said, “Hold them off!”
As she turned to shoot, he pulled out his exoskeleton and headpiece, attached the harness, and then turned, scanning a building on the other side.
“Hurry!” she shouted as she noticed movement past the stairway door and then heard the ding of the elevator.
“Shield,” he said, and she started to power it on, but it glitched. Oh no! She really didn’t want to feel the pain of jumping without the shield again. She slammed herself in the chest, hitting the device and hoping that would do the trick, the
n tried again. This time it spun up, casting them in a force-field bubble.
Shots rang out, causing the shield to flicker and then cut out, so she dodged sideways and pulled Marick with her. He cursed, scrambling with the bag to pull out a rifle and return fire.
“The scan didn’t take!” he said. “Too far, maybe.”
Alicia glanced around and then had a horrible idea. Shooting a couple of rounds, she turned and pointed out the window at a tall crane that was being used for construction. “There.”
“Are you crazy?”
She nodded. “Yes, and that craziness will keep us alive.”
“I want to say I love you right now. Really bad.”
More shots came from both directions, many eating through the desk they were hiding behind and nearly hitting them.
“Shut up and do it.”
“Say I love you? How can I shut up and—”
“Shut up and jump us!”
He blinked, smiled, and turned to scan as she provided more cover fire. A moment later, he said, “Fifty-five percent.”
“That’s it?” she said and ducked back, opening her harness chest piece and trying to figure out how the shield worked. She tried hitting it again, and it flickered back on. Bullets were eaten up by the shield and she was able to find another blaster in their bag. “If we’re going down, I’m going down in style—flying out backwards from one of these windows, shooting like crazy.”
“Not necessary,” Marick replied. “Ninety-two percent. Hang on!”
Still ducking, they both turned, prepared to fire at anything that came at them. After taking a few more shots, the shield started to flicker again, but then the light started at their legs. Marick shouted that the scan was complete and a moment later both of them stood on a platform at the top of the crane, the wind blowing hard enough to nearly knock them off.
“I’m not sure this is better,” he shouted over the wind.
“Did we have a choice?” she shouted back. “And guess what? We’re closer to the building.”
Marick threw the bag back over his shoulder, glared at her one last time, and then turned to scan the building again, focusing on what appeared to be a restaurant balcony closer to the ground. As he was scanning, a whirring sounded over the wind, and for a moment the wind died down.
Another blast of wind hit Alicia and she stumbled back, catching herself on the metal girders. A black fighter pod flew up in front of them, doors opening as Alicia reactivated her shield, and there was Nightshade herself, purple lights along the sides of her armor filling them with dread. There were simply too many rumors about this lady to ignore.
When Nightshade leaped from the pod and landed next to Alicia, her only reaction was to shout out and raise her blasters, but Nightshade was too fast, moving in with one fluid motion to kick the blasters out of her hands. They clattered and then were gone, lost to the city below. Apparently, the shield worked against fast-moving projectiles but not the movement of people.
Nightshade prepared to strike and Alicia took her best defensive stance. At that moment, Marick grabbed her, but so did Nightshade, and all three were swept away by the teleportation machine.
They appeared on the balcony, crashing into tables and chairs, and Nightshade’s strike slammed her into the floor. She cursed, leaped up, and repositioned herself for another attack, but she wasn’t moving as fast as she had been and Alicia guessed the jump had thrown her for a loop. Marick came in swinging, used to jumping at this point. His first strike was an elbow to the head, catching Nightshade by surprise, followed by a lock as he moved to tear her helmet off. She pushed him back, but not before he was able to take her baton.
A growl came from inside her helmet, and then she was flying at him in a barrage attack while he did his best to fend her off with the sparking baton. Nightshade landed three strikes to his one, but his one sent her flying back into the balcony railing, and she almost fell over. She was back up in a split-second, heaving a chair at him and then drawing her hip pistol from her body armor. Only, she wasn’t aiming for him, Alicia realized with a yelp. The pistol went off and it was coming right for her!
The shield was gone and Marick was too far away to do anything, but with a darting movement, she was out of the way. Her instincts and reaction times were faster than she had thought possible, and only when the searing pain took hold and ripped through her did she realize the shot had still managed to hit its mark.
Nightshade had guessed her trajectory—at least somewhat. Another shot came, but Alicia was rolling across the floor, thanking the heavens she had gotten at least some enhancements. Without them, she’d be dead.
Before a third shot could go off, Marick was back in the fight, showing what his enhancements and exo-skeleton combo were capable of. Still, he was nothing compared to Nightshade. She was simply faster and better in pretty much every way.
At least he managed to knock the gun out of her hand before she caught him with an elbow that split his forehead open. Blood gushed into his eyes, though the wound would heel momentarily. Alicia needed to do something to help him since this wasn’t getting them anywhere and the enemy pod was descending, bringing the rest of the Taipans down on them.
Darting for the dropped backpack, she took out two sticky bombs and turned, smiling. Aim was one area she excelled at. Throwing them both, she ran, grabbing her husband around the waist, and the two of them flew over the side of the balcony as the bombs stuck to Nightshade. They heard her curse before the explosion went off, sending pieces of balcony down on them as they descended into the street below.
Marick slammed his hand onto the force-field button at Alicia’s sternum, and it was just barely enough. A second before they hit the ground, it went off, giving them a slight levitation effect. They still hit the ground hard, but between that and their enhancements, they were able to stand a moment later.
Fire licked the side of the building above as a pod descended through the smoke.
“Go,” Marick said, already turning and starting to run.
Alicia started to follow but saw the bag not far off. It had saved their butts so far and she wasn’t about to let it go like that. Bullets riddled the ground around her but she reached the bag, grabbed it, and then turned, screaming out as a piercing heat took her in the side. She kept going though, Marick grabbing her and pulling her along.
Two Taipans hit the ground behind them, pursuing, but Marick paused to turn on them. He leaped forward, knocking one’s rifle away and then grabbing it to slam it into the face of the second. Dropping the rifle, he took the second Taipan’s head and slammed it into the first, so that both helmets cracked. Next, he tore off one’s helmet, using it to uppercut the other. That one’s helmet flew off and then it was just a one-two punch combo with the helmet to leave them both slumped over, either dead or unconscious.
Alicia ducked into the nearest doorway with Marick close behind as businessmen and women began streaming out to see what was happening. Inside was a stairwell that led to an underground shopping center, complete with greeters bowing and saying, “Irashaimasei,” while gesturing toward samples of square watermelons.
Marick snagged up a couple of apples as they walked, quickly scanning his credits to pay, and led Alicia down one of the aisles to where there was a group watching a man play his guitar. It was loud, possibly loud enough to explain why some of these people hadn’t been distracted by the chaos outside.
So far, they saw no sign of the Taipan following, so Marick and Alicia did their best to blend in with the crowd, ducking along passages until they heard the inevitable shouting of people from behind as the Taipans came in with their space-military-looking armor and weapons.
When the shots went off, Marick and Alicia ducked through a passage with a subway sign, running along a channel that led to a long tunnel. There, they broke out in a sprint and hit the other side as shouts went off behind them and more rounds tore into the tiled wall ahead. They darted to the right, threw themselves down the stairs
in a way that likely would’ve broken something on non-enhanced people, and saw a loop train with its doors just beginning to close. After leaping over the ticket stalls, Alicia took a chance and pulled off one of her boots as she ran, tossing it at the doors. It landed and lodged in place to keep the doors from closing. Marick reached the train first, kicking the boot in as he tore the doors open, and then the two were in, doors closing behind them.
Marick pulled her down to sit on the floor and a moment later the train was gone, pulled along with gravity propulsion. A Japanese boy sat nearby, looking at them with a frown while his mother bent and retrieved the boot for Alicia.
Others were staring at them coldly, but Alicia shrugged. As the station disappeared behind them, she sighed with relief. They’d made it, and as far as she could tell, no innocents had been hurt.
“Nightshade,” she whispered, finally pushing herself up to an empty seat. “Is there any way she could’ve survived that blast?”
Marick frowned, then nodded. He joined her, taking her hand. “With her armor and upgrades, I’d be surprised if she didn’t. Might need replacement armor though, which means she’ll be delayed. I hope.”
“I’ll take whatever we can get,” Alicia said with a laugh. She glanced up to the lit-up map on a holographic display above the doors, watching the screens with videos of various stops around Japan, along with a few ads featuring scantily-clad men and women, talking animals, and hyper cartoons. The map showed they were on the right train—the one that made the loop around Tokyo—and the Shibuya stop wasn’t far off.
“Back on track,” Marick noted with a glance at the map.
“Right. Sorry about that.”
“You couldn’t have known.”
She shrugged but pulled up the article from before, the one with Ichida’s picture. “Actually, I probably should’ve. Look. In the second paragraph, it mentions them having been accumulated by Prosperity Holdings…”
“Which owns New Origins. Son of a bitch.”
“Exactly.”
He handed her an apple, but she just held onto it and nodded to a sign that said no food or drink on the train. He rolled his eyes but followed suit.
