by Justin Sloan
“This is your plan?” Marick shouted. “Get us out of here!”
“Patience,” the Japanese man said and then moved his hands along the holographic displays. A moment later the pod was speeding off, disappearing into the lights and more streets of virtual ads, filled with crowds of people and other cars.
20
Alicia: Italian Streets
The Japanese couple’s pod perched at the side of a building as if magnetically attached, but that wasn’t the first clue that something about these two was special. Waiting long enough for the police cars to pass and then a bit longer to ensure they were in the clear, the man unhinged the vehicle and then pulled back a few turns before moving into a dark alley where a pod bay door opened on the thirteenth floor of a building.
“Lucky number,” the woman explained, glancing back with a wink. “Thirteen.”
“What? Really?” Shrina asked.
“Number four is their unlucky number,” Alicia explained, earning a nod from the woman.
“That’s right! Associated with death.”
“Interesting.”
“Yes,” Marick agreed, “but how does it help us here?”
The man set their pod down in a side area of the bay alongside a couple of other pods. He moved his hand on the display and the doors opened.
“You see…” he said, stepping out and then waiting for them. When they were all out, they looked from him to the strange paintings of blotches in various colors, looking similar to sprays of blood. “We believe in luck. For example, it was lucky that we should spot you and reach you before others, and that you should be open to this meeting.”
“I wasn’t aware we were having a meeting,” Alicia replied. “What is it, exactly, that you want to discuss?”
The man briefly smiled and then motioned to the door as it slid open. “We’d like to see how the Yakuza can help you.”
“As in the Japanese mafia?” Shrina asked, jaw dropping.
“Not exactly,” the woman said.
“That was a long time ago,” Alicia chimed in. “They’re more like an underground movement for peace now, in a sense. It was an odd progression.”
“As the country militarized,” the woman explained, “we went the opposite route, stepping in where we saw their failure.”
“Precisely, and this is a Yakuza safe house,” the man replied. “We would not be surprised if that man indicated to Nightshade where he was, for delivery.”
“Delivery?” Shrina asked.
“Of you,” he said and gestured to Marick and Alicia. “Well, them. Who are you?”
Shrina opened her mouth to reply, but Alicia stepped forward. “You first.”
“Call me Kumakura,” the man said.
“And your wife?” Marick asked.
The woman scoffed. “He wishes. I’m his superior, and you can call me Kazuo.”
Alicia made introductions, though she gave a fake name for her sister. Angela, she called her, figuring that would be an easy one to remember, like an angel from the sky, although it was actually she and Marick who had come from the sky, in a sense. They already knew who their hosts were, based on what Kumakura had just said about Nightshade and the bounty hunters.
The couple led them through the house—only the basics, stocked with food that lasted and a secret closet filled with weapons—definitely a safe house.
“What do you need weapons for if you’re all about peace?” Shrina asked.
The man grinned. “We’re still the Yakuza. We have enemies, and sometimes peace comes at a price. For example, you have someone after you. We would like to help protect you and that means killing, or at least hospitalizing, our enemies.”
Alicia took hold of one of the rifles in the case, recognizing it as PD issued. She held it up for Marick to see and he frowned.
“More reminders.”
“Exactly,” Alicia said but turned to Kumakura. “Which brings us to another question. Why? Why are you against the PD soldiers and New Origins?”
“That part,” Kumakura admitted, “is an issue that is of a sensitive nature, actually. However, since we’re all friends here, I will tell you what I can. New Origins is civilian yet operates to the advantage of several countries. Japan, I’m ashamed to say, is not on that list. The same can be said about others with space-station holdings.”
“But you built the space elevator. You have a direct line,” Marick said and shook his head in confusion. “Shouldn’t that grant you a special place in all this?”
“One would think,” Kumakura agreed.
“They see it differently,” Kazuo interjected. “They say it brings us wealthy tourism. You know what else it brings? The occasional PD officer who thinks he can act like a god in our land, hurting people without repercussion.”
“One of your PD captains killed a friend in a bar fight after hitting on our friend’s wife,” Kumakura said. “Since said friend was not only a friend but also a high-ranking member of the Yakuza, we have issues with that captain. Only, PD has claimed he will not be held accountable for his actions.”
“That’s jacked up,” Shrina said, frowning.
“It’s the way of it, but we will see them brought down. We’ll see them answer for their crimes, this being only one of many.”
“I’m not sure I see that as sensitive,” Marick said.
Kazuo nodded. “Because we only told you what we could. There is more, much more that PD higher-ups have been involved in with our government—actions for which our government will answer. But we get ahead of ourselves.”
“Kazuo-san is actually included in this mission to connect with you for a very special reason,” Kumakura said. “Shall I?”
Kazuo nodded.
“Outside of her duties as a member of the Yakuza, Kazuo-san is a primary scientist with the Hokkaido Institute of Research, specifically focused on such programs as the PD super soldier program.”
“We’re willing to do whatever you need to help you with that,” Kazuo added, “with the assumption that you’ll be an ally in this endeavor.”
“Which is to take down New Origins?” Marick asked. “Just to be clear.”
“Hai.” Kumakura took one of the knives from the wall, testing it and assessing the blade. “It isn’t every day one of their own turns against them.”
“You might be happy to learn that you’ll likely have more allies in this fight than you know,” Alicia said and turned to Marick, who nodded, so she continued. “We have evidence that New Origins means to make a move against several Earth governments. They aren’t satisfied with simply running space operations. They want to be a large governing power on Earth as well, with no one to dictate to them or stand in their way.”
“Ask me, it’s a power play by that bitch, Kyla,” Shrina said.
Everyone looked at her, surprised.
“What?” Shrina laughed. “Admiral Nor? I met her once. Total cunt.”
“We don’t tend to use that word,” Kazuo said with a tilt of her head. “But in this case, I have to agree.”
“She was nice to me,” Marick countered, but then pursed his lips and added, “of course, I was one of her soldiers at the time—one they’d requested for the Taipans.”
“You were Taipan?” Kazuo said, forgetting her composure as her excitement shone through. “Is it true you can heal from cuts almost instantly?”
“Sure. But there’s a downside.” He hesitated but then went on. “We met with someone in Japan, a man who said a feeling I’ve been having might be related to proximity to where the enhancements took place.”
“Ichida-san?” Kazuo asked. “As much of a slime as he may be, he actually put us on your trail. No, not to hurt you or turn you in, but… he wanted to make amends and told us what had happened, along with his hypothesis regarding your situation.”
“And you have something to add?”
She shook her head. “Questions, maybe more guesses. That’s the best I can do, I’m afraid.”
Mari
ck grunted, then went to the fridge and grabbed a water. “Go on, then.”
She took on that giddy look again and asked, “Do you have any idea where the materials come from? What they use to enhance you?”
He frowned and sipped his water, then offered it to Alicia, which she happily accepted.
“Wish I did,” he admitted. “Always assumed it was a lab back on Earth. Maybe even Japan.”
“Not us,” she replied. “If it’s here, Dubai would be my guess.”
“However,” Kumakura said, “we have wondered if it might be of alien origin. Do you have any reason to see this as possible?”
Marick frowned. “No, come on. Like what, alien blood or DNA or something? Inside me? Impossible.”
“Is it?” Alicia asked, mind spinning.
He turned to her as if betrayed, but then glanced down at the exoskeleton, the same one that worked as a teleportation device. The material that was used to power it had been found on Titan and could be an alien element or some sort of energy source. It was entirely possible that this material—or some other unexplained alien energy or perhaps an alien itself—was related. But Alicia held up a hand to stop him from saying anything, turning to consider this.
She’d done a damn good job of going through New Origins’ files in her days leading the Looking Glass, hacking into their systems and scouring them for anything she could find, but nothing of this magnitude had come up. Then again, she wasn’t even sure what the New Origins folks knew about the teleportation energy since apparently some miners affiliated with Veles and the black market had been the ones to discover and mine it. And then there was the amount of information hidden from her until she had managed to physically infiltrate the server room. Perhaps her team would have come up with more by now, but she wasn’t certain.
With a sigh, she turned back to Marick and said, “Let them see it.”
“What?”
“If we’re going to trust them to work with us, they have to know that they can trust us.” She motioned to the bag. “We have some left, I assume?”
He frowned but reached into the bag and pulled out one of the canisters. The blue material within gave off a light glow. Kazuo stared in awe while Kumakura bowed, hesitantly stepped forward, and immediately stepped back again.
“Is it…?”
“We don’t know all the details,” Marick admitted. “We know it’s alien and that it powers my suit, which I imagine you saw.”
“Quite impressive, yes.”
“As for its connection to the genetic enhancements PD gives to its soldiers,” Marick said and shook his head, “we don’t know. It could be connected but might not be.”
“It is enough to know there is something like this out there,” Kazuo said. “It tells us beyond a reasonable doubt that the modifications are related to alien DNA.”
Alicia glanced over at her husband, wondering if he was feeling the same sense of unease due to the creepy sensation that something foreign was in their bodies.
“I don’t suppose… for testing?” Kazuo said as he stared at the canister, hopefully.
“No offense,” Alicia said at the look of uncertainty on her husband’s face, “but we just met you. So far, you’re earning our trust, but it’s not to the level where we simply hand over something of this importance.”
“And if we left you with no choice?” Kumakura said, slamming the knife into the wooden cutting board in front of him.
Marick laughed, all nervousness leaving his face. “No offense, but I don’t know that you’d have that ability.”
Kumakura raised an eyebrow and then lifted a hand, waving it across a screen that came from his wrist computer. Walls rotated to reveal guns that, with a point of his finger, moved to aim in on Marick.
Alicia felt her heart pumping. Noticing the look of worry on Shrina’s face, she prepared to act. Her hand hovered over the button of her shield, eyes on Marick to see what he’d do.
“Override,” Kazuo said with a wave of her hand, and all of the guns receded. “The point is that we could certainly try, though we won’t. As we said, we’re here as an ally to advance a cause that benefits us both. When we’ve proven ourselves, we would greatly appreciate the opportunity to test the material in that canister. Until then….”
“What is the plan, actually?” Alicia asked, resting a hand on the counter as she recovered from the excitement.
“Whatever you need,” Kumakura said, turning from them to a nearby window. A red light was flashing overhead—not so strong that the others would have noticed, but strong enough to make Alicia wonder how she hadn’t.
“Someone’s here,” Kazuo said, joining him.
He placed a hand on the screen and watched it turn to images of the surrounding buildings, along with other parts of the city. One image showed only the sky, with a light that was likely Space Station Horus.
“They’re finding you, somehow,” Kumakura said, selecting one of the screens and blowing it up so it took up much of the wall while the other images were pushed aside, made smaller. “One of you must have a tracker.”
“Kuso,” Kazuo said, expression darkening as she lost her cool, turning on them. “Marick-san, it’s likely you. Our plan was to let you regroup, rest as needed, and then see that you get where you need to go, but with this—”
“It’s possible that the last hunter put a tracker on him,” Alicia said. “I saw him shoot as we teleported. I would’ve thought the shield would take care of it, but we’re not completely sure how all of this works yet.”
“If it was a slower projectile and not lethal,” Marick said, brow furrowed, “it’s possible.”
“Do we let this hunter go? Or kill him with all of these fancy guns?”
“Something tells me he’s not just going to wander off,” Shrina pointed out.
“And we might benefit from questioning him,” Alicia offered. “Can we catch him? Bring him here?”
Kazuo and Kumakura took a moment to look at each other, then both nodded. “It’d be dangerous. These are trained fighters, killers.”
“Not so dangerous for me if I go alone,” Marick offered.
“Dear—”
“He’s right,” Kazuo interrupted. “Get him back here and we can figure out how they’re tracking you, maybe use that to our advantage.”
“How exactly would we do that?” Alicia demanded, not liking the idea of using her husband as a hunter or as bait for the hunters.
“A safe house can easily turn into a trap when invaded,” Kazuo said and glanced up at the ceiling, then around with a pensive expression. “Otherwise, it would be called a hideout or something boring like that.”
“‘Kill house’ would be more appropriate for this particular one,” Kumakura said, a gleam of excitement in his eyes. “Come, Marick-san, I’ll show you to the back way. The rest of you can monitor from here.”
Alicia frowned, still not liking this idea. “Wait,” she called out, hating the cliché of this moment but refusing to let it slip by regardless. She strode over to Marick, standing tall, and pulled him by the exoskeleton. Planting an impassioned kiss on his lips, she shoved him back and said, “Come back in one piece, alive, or I’m coming to hell to kick your ass.”
He smiled and promised before turning and joining Kumakura at the rear door.
Alicia turned back to the display in time to see her husband exiting into an alley. He made his way down the various ledges, then jumped out of view. For a moment there was no sign of him and Alicia felt panic taking hold.
Suddenly, a blurry object slammed into view on one of the screens—the hunter, with Marick pulling him away and then moving in with a blade.
This hunter was faster than the last, ducking under and coming up with a pistol that nearly took off Marick’s head, missing by barely an inch.
“Dammit, dear!” Alicia said, putting a hand to her mouth. “Come on!”
Shrina put an arm around her sister and whispered that it was going to be okay, and Alicia kne
w it was true—hoped anyway.
But as the fight continued, the two figures on the screen landing blows and dodging lethal strikes, she found herself worrying that it might not actually work out, that Marick might die that night.
“How’s the hunter moving like that?” she demanded. “He’s almost as fast as Marick!”
Kazuo switched to another screen as the fight moved to the rear of what appeared to be a shorter building’s roof.
“We’ve found various means of temporary enhancement, Alicia-san.”
“Could’ve mentioned that little fact.”
She turned back to the screen, more anxious than before, and watched with anticipation, ready to run out and save her husband if necessary.
21
Marick: Italian Rooftop
Marick was taking a beating, but he didn’t care. Each time the blade caught him, he gritted his teeth at the pain, knowing the wound would soon heal. Each time a kick or punch took him, he looked for ways to counter the attack, using the moment as a way to sneak in and retaliate.
A knife clattered across the roof, a shot rang in his ears, and a punch hit him in the gut. Then it was his turn, and he was retaliating with a knee to the hunter’s face. A fast spin around the guy and he was taking him down, spinning to grab the knife and turn back to plant it in the guy’s thigh before moving up to throw an elbow in his face and reach for the gun.
The guy blocked the elbow but tried to shoot, and Marick brushed the hunter’s arm aside. He slammed the hand onto the roof and the gun fell, but when he rolled and had it ready to shoot, the hunter kicked it out of his hand.
They circled each other and the hunter pulled the knife from his leg with a grunt, then charged, growling. Marick pulled back and swept his attacker’s arms so that the knife nearly came back on its holder, but the hunter was too quick. He was ready for it.
After another round of blows, they clasped hold of each other, slamming through a section of wall that wasn’t well kept. Marick had the hunter’s head and was slamming it into a piece of metal piping.
