#1 Shades of Gray- Noir, City Shrouded By Darkness

by Kristie Lynn Higgins

  The Rogue laughed as she wrestled against its arm, and it questioned, "How do you plan on saving Kimberly from the T-3s when you cannot even defeat me? You do realize they are like me now."

  She gritted her teeth, pushing against its elbow.

  "They have evolved," it continued. "You will not be able to defeat them, unless..."

  Kat changed tactics and clasped its right arm and pulled on it to prevent the Rogue from reaching its weapon.

  "Unless you achieve the Delta Phase," the Rogue said as it stretched even with her grasping at its arm, and it touched the hilt with its finger tips. "I came across your file of phases." It fumbled with the handle, trying to pull the knife closer. "You will have amazing abilities if you can attain them." It couldn't grip the handle. "Unfortunately, you cannot reach the Delta Phase unless you reach the Gamma first." The Rogue gave up and turned to her. "Do you know what that evolution is?"

  She didn't answer, struggling against it.

  A smile slithered across the Rogue's pallid face as the word snaked from its mouth, "Murder... You will have to kill a human." The Rogue paused for a moment and studied her terror and determination. "It is what the Council has been waiting for. They sent those human assassins after you, so you would kill them, but you never did." It added as if proud of her, "You showed them. You always found a way to stop the Closers and bounty hunters without killing them, and now the Council has given up on you. They have activated another project to take your place, and it is only a matter of time before they call for your termination as the Factory has called for mine."

  Katharine's view...

  Realizing the Rogue faced its own troubles, I stop resisting and search its face. Can something created out of metal and circuitry know fear? Can it understand what I've been through?

  I tell it, "You've managed to stay alive."

  "Yes, I have, but only because I have killed to do so."

  It doesn't understand how I feel; it's only a machine. It doesn't have emotions, and it only knows how to destroy. It's a machine who will kill me if I don't do something, so I try to squirm free of it.

  End Katharine's view...

  The Rogue changed its tactic and placed its hands around her throat.

  She clutched its wrists and struggled to breathe.

  In the distance, gunfire erupted.

  "Do you hear that?" It turned its head toward the door. "The T-3s have started their attack, and it will not be long and then–" It faced her. "–bye-bye Ms. Griffin." The Rogue applied more pressure, choking her, but it made sure not to kill her. Pandora's death should not be so quick; she had to have a grand finale.

  "No," her voice faded as she slipped into unconsciousness. "There's..." After a few seconds, she fell limp.

  The Rogue released her. "Now that is better. Stay right there for a second." It walked over to the knife and picked it up. "I want to finish this properly."

  Katharine's view

  I slip deep into my mind. Kimberly can't die, there's something... I remember the note R.G. left me and the words I lived by, and the words resound in my heart. There's something I must remember. Ultra-Epi saturates my blood, I can feel it; it must have been triggered by my peril.

  Part of a memory floods my mind. My eyes fly open, and I feel they're engulfed in the Ult L-E as I recite a poem as if someone else is controlling me,

  "Though the clouds darken the sun,

  and the rain becomes tainted,

  always know there will be

  a love that will not die.

  Though hope seems a distant memory,

  and human machines walk the land,

  know no one can destroy

  a love that will not die."

  "What are you babbling about?" the Rogue asks.

  I surface from my unconscious state, and I sit up, stand, walk to the PPK, pick up the gun, and aim it for the Rogue. A new ability actuates inside me, and my senses become even keener as I focus on the Rogue. I see a yellow-green electrical apparition surrounding it; this energy must be what gives the Rogue its artificial life. My heart races.

  lub-DUB–lub-DUB–lub-DUB

  The new warning the muscle sounds is faster, and the heart doesn't caution me of danger, but proclaims like a war drum the end for my enemies. Somehow I know that the e-field my body generates naturally changes and stores its output in the center of my heart; it's like I can see it. The ball of storming energy the size of a pea doubles with each heartbeat, and it keeps growing till it engulfs my muscle.

  End Katharine's view...

  The blue Ult L-E dissipated as Kat's pupils dilated, making her irises appear jet-black, and they were cold like a shark's and never wavered from her target. She felt the buildup of energy, and Kat feared it and relished in it.

  "This is different," the Rogue commented and questioned, "Are you wanting to continue our Waltz? Yes, I see it in your new eyes. You are ready, so let us begin then. Wait, I detect a power buildup in this room, and this is odd–" It tilted its head, trying to wrap its logic around the data. "–the buildup is coming from you. What are you..?"

  The e-field massed till it could no longer contain the energy and pulsed, sending a small shock wave in all directions. The E-Field Pulse washed over the Rogue, fried exposed circuitry, and dissipated as it hit the room's walls. The accent lights went out, plunging the room into darkness, and the Rogue lost power and froze in place like a mannequin. Light from Research Lab Five came through the open door. The small EFP had only affected the Gallery. Kat wanted to shoot the Rogue while it was disabled, but she felt she must wait; there was something she was supposed to experience first.

  Within seconds, the Rogue's backup battery kicked in, and it blinked twice. Bio-mechas were designed to revive if ever an electromagnetic pulse weapon was used, and the Rogue restated its last few sentences, "I detect a power buildup in this room, and this is odd, the buildup is coming from you. What are you..?" The Rogue tilted its head again. "I believe I already said that." It searched its back logs. "Yes, I lost power, and the lights are also off. What happened to them?" The Rogue switched to night vision, and it scanned her. "There is no longer a power buildup inside you, so I was right." It pointed at her. "This E.M.P. explosion proves you are organic-mecha, and this fact must be the reason I hunt you, after all, you are like me." The Rogue stepped toward her. "In the end I guess it does not matter if I am right or not, I will kill you either way."

  She didn't respond only stared at it as the yellow-green electrical apparition faded, and a bright ghost-image of the Rogue appeared beside it. The Rogue moved, joining the image, and at first, Kat didn't understand what she was seeing. The ghost-image moved again a split second before the Rogue did, and she realized she was seeing its movements before they happened, so Kat aimed, waiting for the Knowing to tell her where to fire. The ghost-image appeared, and she squeezed the trigger.

  The Rogue moved to evade as always, grabbed its left shoulder as if in pain, and stumbled back. "Puck! You shot me!" The Rogue looked to its shoulder and back to her. "How are you able to hit me?"

  Chapter Forty-four

  The Knowing

  8:29 P.M...

  The new Sanctum...

  Alarms blared within the Chamber as Fourth Evolvement Achieved blinked across the top of the screens. Chatter between the thrilled analysts increased.

  "Focus people and stop your idle talking." A male supervisor turned off the alarm. "I need those reports." The supervisor gathered the info and went and handed them to Ms. Nona.

  She scanned her hand down the report. "Incredible!" Ms. Nona placed the H.H.C. on the table and turned to her laptop. "Most incredible! Something is happening with the project."

  "With the new project?" Mr. Decuma asked as he straightened his bright orange tie.

  "No," Ms. Nona answered. "With Pandora."

  At hearing his favorite project's name, Mr. Morta leaned forward and commanded, "L
ower the center screen." The monitor lowered.

  "This cannot be," Mr. Decuma stated. "Pandora cannot achieve the Delta Phase without achieving the Gamma, so this has to be an error." He turned to the supervisor. "Have this information double checked."

  "Yes, at once." The supervisor hurried off.

  Mr. Morta's view...

  I consider what is happening. Pandora jumped the sequence of phases, but they are set and have to be achieved in a certain order. The Council knows this because we have invested years in the Pandora Project research. Our information cannot be incorrect so it must be something else. There must be some minute detail we missed.

  End Mr. Morta's view...

  "Mr. Decuma is correct," Ms. Nona stated. "It should not be happening. How has Pandora achieved the Knowing when it has not..? Wait..." She thought of something. "What if..?"

  "What if Pandora achieved the Gamma Phase–" Mr. Morta interrupted, "–before we acquired it? We must consider this. The other department we procured Pandora from did have some data missing. The Third Branch Office mentioned something about a fire and that some of the research had been lost in it."

  "I do not think so," Mr. Decuma started. "It is most likely the information we are receiving is incorrect. The project has achieved nothing, and we should go over all the files and check for data corruption."

  Mr. Morta turned to the other male member of the Council. "Have you lost your faith in Pandora?"

  "I am not sure I ever had faith in it," Mr. Decuma answered. "I am putting mine in the new project."

  "I do agree we must be thorough," Mr. Morta said. "Review the data and see if it is corrupt." Mr. Morta believed in Pandora and believed she could become the killer they conditioned her to be. She only needed time.

  * * *

  Hellenistic Sector, Trade Vicinage...

  The Factory...

  Past Research Lab Five and in the darken Gallery...

  The Rogue stared at its wounded shoulder with its night vision as it repeated, "You shot me. How could you? You never achieved the Gamma Phase."

  "Does it matter?" Kat answered and glanced at the exit as light trickled in from Research Lab Five, casting shadows across the Gallery.

  The Rogue's view...

  "Yes it matters." I turn my back on her. "There are certain steps you have to reach, and you cannot skip over things. There has to be a logical reason why you..." I blink twice. "Wait, I know. Oh... You are a sly one." I remove my hand from my wound and glance at the oil covering my palm. "You have killed a human." I place my hand back to the gunshot. "Perhaps you were the one who killed Topa. Is that not right?" I turn to face her, and my deportment changes from excited wonder to dampened anticipation. "Puck! This was unexpected. She is gone." I shake my head. "How long have I been talking to myself?"

  I look back to my wounded shoulder as another thought crosses my automaton brain. If she reached the Knowing, why didn't she kill me? Why spare my life? I have done nothing but try to kill her. I bow my head, ashamed. What made me worthy of her mercy?

  End the Rogue's view...

  * * *

  Kat snuck out the door once the Rogue turned its back on her, and she rushed through Research Lab Five, grabbed her backpack, and raced through the Green Division. She passed the security desk, entered the Yellow Division, and sprinted for Computer Lab Two. She ejected the PPK magazine which still had one bullet left, put the magazine in her pocket, inserted a new one, and then Kat hurried on as her heart sounded the bio-mecha warning.

  lub-DUB... lub-DUB...

  She didn't need to know the T-3s were near; the Factory was full of them. She hurried around a corner into an area of darkness. Kat knew there were T-3s there but couldn't see them, and then the Knowing kicked in.

  lub-DUB–lub-DUB–lub-DUB

  She couldn't see the T-3s, at least in the normal sense. Using the Knowing, Kat saw the five T-3s' ghost-images, and the T-3s blocked the hallway. She raised her weapon, aimed for them, and shot. Muzzle fire lit up the hall five times, blackness followed, and then she saw all their ghost-images fall to the floor and fade. Again she faced the darkness, then felt her way along the wall till she reached a lit area, and she started running again.

  Katharine's view...

  I don't know what's fueling my race to reach Kimberly more. Is it the idea I have to save her or the need to confront her about betraying me? We're partners. Doesn't Kimberly understand the concept of loyalty or am I expecting too much from a Life Closer?

  I pause at a corner, peek around it, and see thirteen T-3s standing down the hall outside Computer Lab Two as a few of them beat at the entrance. The door slowly gives in to their onslaught and bursts at the frame, so I fire twice around the corner with the gun, hitting two of the T-3s. I eject the spent magazine, put in my last full one, and fire seven times at the ghost-images, bringing down seven more of them.

  End Katharine's view...

  "Alpha wants us to fall back," one of the T-3s ordered.

  The four that remained retreated down the hall.

  Kat reached into her thigh pocket for the magazine that had one bullet left, inserted it in the gun, and made her way around the disabled T-3s to the side of the doorway.

  "Kimberly it's me, Kat," she shouted. "I'm coming in. Don't shoot."

  Chapter Forty-five

  Computer Lab Two

  Earlier...

  Kimberly's view...

  I stare at the remaining monitors on the triangle's base. Hades! I'm such an idiot. I should have never trusted the Rogue. Now I'm stuck in this room. Workstation Number Thirteen sparks, a small fire catches inside the shot up computer, and smoke rolls out of it, and on the other screens, I watch the drama play out between that woman and the Rogue. I wonder if she's really going to fight that thing. She has no chance against it so she should just give up.

  I overhear what the Rogue calls that woman. She can't be organic-mecha, but then I think about it. For Ares' sake! Have I been a part of the Pandora Project all along, and I'm the one who's being tested?

  The Rogue tells that woman about its bargain with me, and I throw up my hands. Now she knows. That double-crossing Rogue. She's going to come and kill me if the Rogue doesn't take her out first.

  I stand and shout, "Come on you giant piece of scrap metal! Finish her!"

  I watch as the Rogue pins her to the ground, and I hear its final revelation; it told the T-3s I'm here! I move to the corner of Workstation Twenty-eight and peer around the partition wall at the Computer Lab's door. It's the room's only exit and is about seventy feet away. Outside, the T-3s open fire on the knob as I hear the Rogue over the computers. I face a monitor.

  It says, "Ms. Griffin should be entertaining guests right about now."

  The gunfire ceases, and the door violently rattles as the T-3s beat on it, and I raise my gun as perspiration beads my face. I hate robots; they give me the creeps. Is that why that strange woman also gives me the creeps? Is she also a robot?

  I try to calm myself then I remember that woman said to hit them in the... Hades! They're coming! The door bows as the T-3s continue their assault, and they're almost in. I can't believe I'm acting like a frighten child. I'm a Closer. I should face this problem like any other I've encountered; I need to focus. That woman said the only way to disable them is to hit them in the forehead, and they'll keep coming if I hit them anywhere else. Sweat runs down my face as part of the door frame breaks, and light from the hallway trickles in. As more of the door frame breaks, I kind of wish that woman was here even if she's one of those organic-mechas, but I guess in retrospect, betraying her was a stupid move. I'm determined I'm not going to feel guilty. That woman should have anticipated I would betray her. It's her fault for not seeing through my ruse, and it's her fault for being so trusting. What did she expect? I'm a Closer. Closers are loyal to no one but the Guild. The T-3s knock down the door as wood splinters and drywall crum
bles. I see the T-3s blood-red dot-light through the dust as they start to make their way in, and I ready myself to make my stand when I hear two blasts in the hallway and see the T-3s fall. Seven more shots go off, and more of them fall, and then the T-3s retreat. Silence follows, and I hear someone moving outside.

  "Kimberly it's me, Kat. I'm coming in. Don't shoot."

  She quickly peeks her head around the busted door frame as I think about eliminating her. I don't get the chance. That woman pulls her head back and rushes in, taking cover at Workstation One; it's the desk at the very top of the triangle.

  "Kimberly, we need to talk. The Rogue told me something I don't want to believe."

  I think I dread facing that strange woman more than I dread facing the T-3s, and so I shout back, "Sure, talk. Do you want me to believe that's what you've come to do?" I peer around Workstation Twenty-eight; it's the desk on the right corner of the triangle's base as I face the door. "You should know, I saw you and the Rogue on a security camera. I heard it tell you what I had done, so you can cut the Cretan Bull, and let's get down to the retribution."

  I fire two shots at her.

  Katharine's view...

  "Stop it!" I shout and cover my head as fragments of the desk and partition splinter off. "Sheez! I said I just wanted to talk!"

  "Do you expect me to trust you?"

  I hear Kimberly duck back around the corner and catch her breath before she fires two more times.

  "Yes!" I yell as I scoot away from the one end of the workstation and rake pieces of wood and dust out of my hair. "I've never lied to you, so please believe me!"

  Kimberly's view...

  I glance at my reflection in the monitor and then tell her, "Everyone lies!"

  "Not me," she says and then shouts, "Not me!"

  I don't know how I'm going to get out of this mess. I look around the room. That woman's blocking the only exit, though... if I'm quiet enough, I can sneak up on her and blow her head off. No that won't work. Hades! She has clear line of sight. Maybe I can shoot her through the paneling. All I need to do is keep her talking, so I clear my throat and say, "Fine. What do you want to talk about?"