“What is this?” Caiden asked
“This is one of the many wondrous things the nanocell can do,” Knight-1 replied.
“Do you have any more data?” Caiden readily asked.
“I do not,” Knight-1 replied.
“But I do I have a trusted and well-connected contact. Goes by the name of Wizard. She has a special data codec called, ‘The NanoCode’. This codec contains the very foundations of the nanocell by the revolutionary scientist Dr. Hisashi Sendo. That codec should be able to provide you with more insight in conjunction with whatever results you found on your own,” Knight-1 cryptically replied.
“Listen here Knight-1, I don’t like to play games. Tell me what you know! And why is it that you know so much about me?” Caiden was getting frustrated.
“It’d be best if I leave those questions unanswered for now. Just know that what I’m saying is the truth. The sequence to decrypt the access to the codec is verbal only. You will need to say ‘Alpha, Exodus, Influx, Theta’, in that order. I will contact Wizard and organize the drop. Await my call,” Knight-1 stoically stated as the transmission was cut.
“Damnit!” he said, slamming his fist on the desk.
“Hey, it's okay. At least now we have some sort of lead, right?” Nami said.
“None of this makes any sense!” Caiden said.
Nami and Hitomi were equally as confused as Caiden. “Well, let’s just wait to hear back from Knight-1. We at least know that the codec is with that Wizard person. So, all we have to do is retrieve it and we’ll get more answers,” Nami stated.
“We’ll be sure to help you in any way we can. We owe you that much,” Hitomi added assuredly while rubbing Caiden’s shoulders. Caiden’s tense shoulders relaxed as he let out a sigh of relief, soothed by the empathetic words of his new companions.
“I guess you’re right. Thank you,” Caiden replied.
“In the meantime, I still wanna test myself out a little bit, see what other answers we can find on our own,” he finished. Caiden headed toward the treadmill in the fitness section of the multi-functional space.
“So, what are you gonna do here?” Hitomi asked.
“I’m gonna run at the highest speed the treadmill can go, for as long as I can.”
“Oh, sounds fun! I bet you can only go for ten seconds!” Nami joked.
“Who knows? Maybe. But this may help us determine how these nano-thingies helped me with all the craziness that happened last night, no, even more than that, it may go a long way to explain all of the strange things I have experienced my whole life.” he replied with anticipation.
“Don't hurt yourself too much, pretty boy,” Hitomi said.
Caiden rolled his eyes and smiled at her as he got the treadmill started. “Bring the bio-scanner and turn it on, I want to see what kind of readings it comes up with as I do this test,” he said.
Hitomi grabbed the bio-scanner and activated it. The thin pink horizontal light began scanning Caiden from head to toe and back again. The speed on the treadmill slowly sped up, going faster and faster. When it reached full speed, the twins looked at each other and then toward Caiden with doubtful expressions.
“You really sure you can handle this? That thing is moving pretty freakin’ fast,” Nami inquired.
“I won’t know till I try, right?” Caiden said as he hopped on the treadmill, running full speed without breaking stride. The twins watched him intently, ready to jump into action in case an accident happened. Seconds passed, and Caiden was still running at full speed.
“You proved me wrong!” Nami grinned.
Caiden showed them a brisk smile while he continued to run on the treadmill at the high speed. Three minutes had passed and Caiden was still going strong with no visible signs of exhaustion, other than a little bit of sweat on his forehead. By the time twenty minutes had passed, the twins were in shock, mouths open in near comedic fashion.
“Oh my god! I don’t know what to say!” Hitomi said. Caiden, equally surprised, kept running, undeterred by the fact that the treadmill was at its highest speed. He was still nowhere near tired.
“You okay?” Nami asked.
“Just fine, actually” he replied nonchalantly.
It was as if he wasn’t even in motion to begin with. He didn’t lose his breath for a second. At around the fifty-five-minute mark, he began to grow visibly tired. A few seconds later, he lowered the speed of the treadmill and eventually turned it off. As he stepped off, his breathing was heavy, and he was sweating through his t-shirt, but he was standing upright, stabilizing his air intake.
“That was almost an hour!” Hitomi exclaimed.
They watched as he caught his breath. It wasn’t long until he was back to normal; the total recovery time was a little under three minutes.
“How fast is the highest speed on this treadmill?” Hitomi asked.
“Hmm, the specs say the maximum is about forty-three. Whoa! Fourty-three miles per hour?” he said surprised.
“Fourty-three!” the twins said in unison.
“This is incredible. Pull up the readings from the scan. What does it show the nanocells doing during that time?” Caiden asked.
Hitomi put in a command for a holographic screen to generate from the device. It showed a recording of the nanocells’ activity during the treadmill run. There was a silhouette diagram that represented the outline of Caiden’s body. It magnified to sub-cellular levels to monitor the nanocells.
“What is that?” Nami asked.
“If I’m not mistaken, that shade of red may be the indicator of nerve and muscular fatigue. At around the three-minute mark, I remember feeling a touch of fatigue. But it was only for a split second, then I felt fine after that,” he replied.
“Ok, then I assume the turquoise glow that is now overtaking the red stuff here and steadily minimizing it, are the good ole nanocells right?” Nami said while pointing at the display.
“You’re exactly right. This is amazing!” he replied.
The results from the treadmill experiment were incredibly enlightening. The nanocells were able to actively and efficiently quell the buildup of fatigue toxins for almost an hour of extreme exercise. This allowed him to run at a constant speed of forty-three miles per hour. Because every inch of his body was fortified with the nanocells, his natural limits were far greater in comparison to a normal person. This small experiment indicated that his potential to achieve even greater feats were possible with rigorous training and constant improvement.
“These nanocell things are awesome! Could this be why hacking comes so naturally to you? Your brain is literally techno-organic matter. So, does that mean you could easily merge your consciousness with any AI, database, or computer system, too?” Hitomi asked.
“I’ve never seen anything like this. And we’ve seen our Hybrid friends do some incredible things, but nothing like the things we’ve seen you do,” Nami added.
“I don’t know. There are so many things I want to find out too,” as he said that, he received a request on CWR from Knight-1. The three of them raced over to the computer hub as Caiden answered the call.
“Wizard is fully prepared to meet up with you. I let her know of the situation. She requested that you meet her at two a.m. at the Red Rabbit Strip Club in Andromeda District. The club is located in the Southandro neighborhood of the borough.” Knight-1 said. A moment of silence passed. “What is it?”
“Why are you helping me? I mean, none of this makes any sense. I don’t understand why you claim to know more about me than I do. Or why you call me ‘Rez’, or why you’re giving me such vital information about these nanocells so easily. What’s the catch? What could you possibly be hoping to gain from this?” he asked.
After a brief pause, Knight-1 began. “We share a common goal, you see. This magnificent civilization you call home here in Neon District? It’s plagued! Terrorized by a rotten underbelly of unscrupulousness. Prominent leaders, organizations, corporations, and public figures all imbued with
defunct, immoral compasses. They’re only concerned with the establishment of their own personal power, greed, and fortune at the expense of the poor, weak, and the less fortunate! Every fiber of the political and economic fabric has been tainted with an irreversible poison, corroding the very essence of what it means to be human, free, self-empowered, and self-sufficient.
“Why is there such a massive gap between the poor and the rich? This system enslaves the bottom feeders so the big wigs can sit fat and pretty, hogging all of the equity, resources, and luxuries for themselves in an overly hedonistic fashion. They manipulate and bend the rules of the law in their favor to unparalleled levels. They propagate lies, hatred, and force feed negative images of those they deem the perfect scapegoats; targets for ultimate systemic oppression. They force an endless cycle of nonsensical violence to further their political agenda and sway citizens into believing that their way is the only way to ensure peace and freedom. It’s complete and utter brainwashing. A ruthless reminder of the downsides of the human condition.
“Zonos, Inc. is at the precipice of nearly everything negative and downright putrid about this city. Your brilliant posts on CWR highlight these brutal truths, educating your millions of followers and awakening them to the nightmarish reality that they live in so that they could become the change that they long to see. You and I, Caiden, no, Rez Fayte, are kindred spirits! Swords of justice! Blades of vengeance meant to strike down the wicked and eradicate it! That is why I elected to reach out to you!” Knight-1 emphatically replied.
Caiden stood motionless, deciding on whether he should be moved by the electrifying soliloquy of Knight-1 or not. His expression said it all.
“Cai, what’re you gonna do?” Nami asked.
He remained still, with laser sharp focus on the screen facing Knight-1. “I will go and meet with Wizard, but make no mistake; I still don’t trust you. I will not take orders from you. And if I get even the slightest inkling that your contact is plotting something, I won’t hesitate to put a bullet in that person's brain. And the same goes for you. If it comes to it, I will hunt you down myself,” Caiden said in a menacingly calm tone. His eyes harbored a sinister golden glow to them.
“Oh? You needn’t worry about such trivial things when it comes to me or Wizard, but I like your fighting spirit. Think of me as an advisor of sorts,” Knight-1 responded.
“I’d rather not,” he coldly countered.
“Ha, snappy response. But you’ll soon come to understand me in due time. I will be in touch,” Knight-1 replied, unaffected as the transmission cut.
“Phew! Man, you can be downright scary sometimes,” Hitomi remarked.
“You think so?” Caiden asked with a sudden, and totally relaxed temperament.
“It was pretty funny though how you threatened to shoot that Wizard person. It sounded pretty badass,” Nami joked.
“I really meant that,” Caiden casually responded.
“You serious? You’d really shoot someone just like that? Do you have a gun stashed somewhere? I wanna see it!” Nami requested.
“I only shoot to protect. That’s it. And yes, I do have a gun. It’s a modification based on a standard Psi-Corp 222 large semi-automatic pistol. It’s nowhere near done yet; it’s only about twenty-five percent finished. But it’s functioning,” Caiden remarked.
He went to his utility closet to pull out the pistol. It was a shade lighter than a full-fledged jet-black color. It had a large fifteen-inch barrel, with the total height of the gun approximately eight and a half inches. It had a trigger guard that extended to the bottom of the grip. In the middle of the barrel was a thin slot, that upon activation would glow neon blue. Behind the thin blue light, were three, short blue vertical lights.
“Wow! This gun is huge! Why did you start making something like this in the first place?” Nami asked.
“I dunno. I figured with the kind of work that I do, that someday I would need something to protect myself with, though I never actually planned on having this craziness happen to me. It’s a good thing I thought well ahead, ’cause now this’ll prove to be a worthy investment of my time,” Caiden replied.
“It’s really heavy! How do you expect anyone to lift that thing properly, let alone shoot it?” Hitomi asked.
“Really? You think so? It’s only like six and a half or seven pounds. I have a lot more I want to add to it,” he said as he picked the gun up single handedly, waving it around as if it were a piece of paper. He pulled out a data codec of the gun’s blueprints and initiated a holo-display for everyone to see. “As it is now, this is nothing more than an ordinary oversized gun. It holds twenty bullets in the clip. If you look here, I plan on adding multi-functionality to the gun.” Caiden said as he pointed to the hologram.
“Like what?” Hitomi asked.
“Watch and learn,” he said excitedly.
He manipulated the display and used both hands to enlarge it. He then pointed his finger to a button on the display and the hologram enabled a GIF function showing the gun’s planned transformation.
“What’s that?” they asked.
“I’m working on plans to give this gun a variety of different firing modes, but I’ve always wanted to make it into a transformable blade too,” Caiden replied.
“Jeez, it’s like you’re preparing for war or something,” Nami said.
“Maybe I am. Now, at least,” Caiden said with an ominous undertone.
It was as if Nami’s small comment encapsulated his life in one meager sentence. Is this all that I’m really meant for? Why am I so hellbent on taking down a massive corporation like Zonos? Will it even solve anything at all? Am I truly a blade for vengeance?
“Earth to Caiden! Are you listening?” Hitomi yelled as she nudged his shoulder.
“Sorry, what were you saying?” Caiden asked, staring off into space.
“Can you make something like this for us too?” she asked.
“Wait, what?” He was confused.
“Dude, for all your brains and intelligence, you sure do space out a lot,” Hitomi said. “As I was saying, me and sis talked about it last night, and we decided that want to learn how to defend ourselves.”
“Yeah, we're sick of feeling helpless, like we’re powerless to protect ourselves, ya know? We don’t ever wanna relive the nightmare of the brothel, or lose anyone else we care about. If we can become strong like you, we may be able to change those things if the time comes to do it.” Nami said “We know it’ll be hard, but we want to learn. So, can you teach us how?”
Caiden let out a long sigh and shook his head. “You guys are asking for a lot. I’m no master.”
“But we’ve seen what you can do! You saved our lives. We got out of that mess the other night with nothing more than a scratch! And that was because of you! If we could just practice with you, I’m sure we will learn and get stronger,” Hitomi implored.
“You even said so yourself. We’re gonna be here for a while, so we might as well make good use of the time before we leave, right?” Nami said.
Caiden gave the two of them a stern look, but relented shortly thereafter. “I really can’t say no to you guys and I don’t know why.” The girls rushed him and embraced him tightly. One of them even tried cop a quick feel. “Whoa, okay guys. Easy now,” Caiden laughed.
“So, when do we start?” Nami asked.
“Easy there, speedy. Preparation will take time. I’ve got to put together a training regimen for you to follow on your own. You need to be resolute and practice every single day. It’s the only way you’ll truly learn and get the gist of the techniques. As for your weapons, the next Darkside Bazaar isn’t until sometime next weekend. They never give out the exact date for security reasons, so we’ll have to keep a close eye on that. I got most of my materials for my gun from there, and I’m sure we can get some good stuff for your weapons from there too,” Caiden said confidently.
“Yay! I’m so excited!” Hitomi happily expressed.
“Yeah, I can tell. But
for now, we gotta formulate a plan for the meeting with Wizard.”
CHAPTER 6
---usr/systems/server-x/ENTER THE RED RABBIT---
They went back upstairs to go over the plan in the living room. As they sat down, Caiden turned on the media apparatus and switched it to computer mode. He searched for the Red Rabbit’s address then plugged it into a navigation function. The holo-display showed a detailed layout of the location on the map.
“There. That’s where I want you guys to park and wait for me,” he said as he pointed to a street about two blocks away from the club.
“It’s best to stay there since it leads to the main road, allowing for a quick and simple way to escape in case something happens. I have a spare cell phone that I can give you guys so I can stay in contact with you, if need be. If anything changes I’ll let you know, so that you guys get away from there. Then I will find a different route,” he said.
“What would be the safest street from here?” Hitomi asked pointing at the map.
“Orion Street. That’s our safety rendezvous. If shit really does hit the fan, we’ll meet up there and we’ll head back here together. Can you handle that?”
“Yes,” they both replied confidently.
“Good. I feel bad asking you to help me with this, but I have no other choice. The success rate of this increases exponentially with more help,” Caiden said.
“We know how important this is to you. Like we said, we wanna help you however we can. You did the same for us,” Nami replied.
“Thanks, again.” Caiden said. “Anyway, I’m gonna get out on this street and walk to the club. It looks like there’s two official entrances to the strip club, and I’m gonna take the lesser-known one, just to be safe. If all goes well, I’ll simply leave the club and meet you guys at the car. If something happens, well, we’ll just see how things pan out.” Caiden pointed at various marks on the holo-map display.
“It’s close to eleven p.m., so we still have some time to prepare,” Hitomi said.
“You’re right,” Caiden replied.
Neon District: ALPHA (The Neon District Trilogy, Book 1) Page 9
