“Interesting weapon you got there, kid. You buy that at the Bazaar?” Neo asked casually.
“Shut the fuck up!” Caiden said as he used his immense strength to push Neo back.
Caiden heard concrete rip from the building. He shifted his focus and saw that Franki had torn a massive chunk of a cement pillar off the structure and immediately hurled it in Caiden and Neo’s direction. The two disengaged and evaded the massive slab flying their way, as Franki charged at Caiden, swinging his fists wildly. The wide nature of the punches made it much easier for Caiden to anticipate the swings using his NOVO Lenses, allowing him to successfully evade them. Franki clenched both fists together, preparing for a powerful downward strike. Caiden turned his blade upward and held it over his head as he braced for the impact of the attack. The blade, however sharp it might have been, had almost no effect on Franki!
“Ha! Paper cut!” Franki grunted as he thrust his foot forward into Caiden’s stomach, sending him flying backward into a support beam.
Caiden immediately heard the cutting sound of metal swinging through the air directly toward his head from Neo. He ducked, avoiding the decapitating swing. The slash cut through the thick metal beam so cleanly that it slightly melted the beam from the impact. Caiden darted forward into a protective somersault then stood to face his opponents, putting some distance between him and them.
“Exquisite! Simply incredible! Spectacular! Phenomenal!” Dr. Stein laughed.
“You move well, kid. Damn shame we gotta kill ya,” Neo stated.
“You definitely have some skill, but not enough,” Franki said arrogantly.
Caiden felt oddly at peace. Despite suffering some serious blows, everything was still intact. The hairs on his neck stood upright and his muscles were primed and ready for combat. Tendencies...Search for tendencies, Caiden calmly thought to himself as the two dangerous men slowly closed in.
Franki; big, powerful, strong, and surprisingly fast considering his size. But his swings are wide and leaves his open for quick direct counters. And I’m physically stronger than he is. But strength isn’t everything. He only fights one way; destructively. He also tends to yell or grunt loudly before he attacks. Good to know, Caiden thought. Neo; lightning fast reflexes. Very good at deflecting my shots. Never seen that before. He tends to jerk his wrist forward before he extends his arm for long range attacks. Must be related to some switch in his cybernetic arm that allows him to wield the weapon in that way. Can easily cut through thick metals when using both hands on the sword. He’s got predatory instincts when attacking, but doesn’t like being rushed, He thought. His mind and body were in perfect sync, able to compile critical data based off the few quick exchanges with his foes.
He sprung forward into action going directly at Neo this time. Caiden’s weapon was back in gun form. He shot three rounds toward the swordsman, anticipating them being deflected. Just as predicted, Neo effortlessly blocked the bullets. The distraction enabled Caiden to get closer to him. He was only a foot away now. Caiden changed the gunblade back into a sword, and thrust it toward Neo’s stomach. Neo, finding Caiden too close for comfort, stepped back instead of parrying with his sword.
Caiden took full advantage, changing the sword back into a firearm and fired a shot into the side of Neo’s abdomen. Neo, being an experienced combatant, had dodged at the last second, avoiding a fatal shot. However, Caiden then changed to sword mode and sliced Neo’s dominant cybernetic arm off, kicking him away into a pile of debris!
“You motherfucker!” Franki yelled as he bolted toward Caiden. Franki's speed continued to surprise Caiden, but he was still able to manage.
When Franki struck downward with his right hand, Caiden stepped in the opposite direction. Franki slammed down with his left fist, Caiden dodged it. Franki thrust forward with a right power kick and Caiden avoided it. Before Franki’s right leg hit the ground, he found a small cylindrical metal device resting atop his thigh. It was an electromagnetic pulse charge Caiden slipped on him. It went off sending powerful waves of electricity throughout Franki’s body. Franki let out a guttural, rasping sound as he reeled from the painful sting of the EMP. Despite the damage he received, due to his massive strength and size, he had a high pain threshold. He attempted to grab at Caiden with his left hand. Caiden countered with his own display of remarkable strength mercilessly snapping Franki’s bulky arm and slamming him head first into the concrete, knocking him out cold!
Without warning, Caiden felt the cold hard steel of Neo’s katana slicing into his left shoulder. He yelled out in pain. Through the corner of his eye he saw Neo, donning a devilish grin holding his blade with his still-functional left hand. Green liquid was dripping from where his right arm was cut off. His sugegasa was mangled, and his yellow bomber jacket was stained with blood from the bullet wound.
“How’s that, bitch!?” Neo yelled.
It felt like the sword had crushed part of the bone in his shoulder before Neo pulled out the blade. Caiden dropped to the floor. Blood began flow, drenching his shirt and jacket.
“Drop dead, bitch! Now I gotta get a new fucking arm!” he yelled, wielding his katana.
Caiden mustered just enough strength to swing his body away from the sword strike. He landed on his back and fired another two shots. One shot went through Neo’s thigh, the other connected with Neo’s left cybernetic arm, causing it to malfunction. Neo hit the floor from an overload of pain and passed out. Caiden willed himself upright.
“Yvora!” he called out.
His vision was blurred, and he tried squinting keep them focused. He was seeing double even through the menu prompt on his lenses. Once he could stand, he made his way toward Yvora when the floor beneath him began to tremble and loosen. The damage dealt by the fast-paced fight proved too much for the support of the building site. The instability of the floor caused Caiden to tumble. He couldn’t get to Yvora fast enough.
Through his blurred vision Caiden saw Dr. Stein run to where Yvora was. He had his left hand clenched and held it forward while he pointed his gun at Yvora with his other hand. What the hell is he doing? The building began to destabilize even more. Caiden could hear everything; metal twisting and snapping, and concrete crunching and crumbing. It’s getting dangerous here, Caiden thought to himself. Caiden picked himself up.
“You do anything to her, I will shoot you! Move away from her!” Caiden demanded.
“You! Your eyes. They’ve been glowing such a fierce color! I must know! Is it the nanocells?” Dr. Stein asked as the ceiling began to crumble and the flooring beneath them slowly began to crack.
“Caiden! It’s okay. I’m fine!” Yvora yelled. Caiden stepped forward.
“Give me what I want child!” Stein demanded.
“What the fuck? This building is gonna crash! What do you want from me? Let her go!” Caiden replied.
“You! Your body! Your organs, your cells! You offer your life in exchange for hers! Then she will be set free!”
“Let her go first!” Caiden said.
“Wise choice! Very well then!” Stein said.
Debris began raining down in small chunks. Caiden made a dash for Yvora. Stein began to back away and fired a shot at Caiden. The bullet grazed his leg but he stayed on his feet. Caiden shot back, but for some strange reason, none of his shots came close to Stein. He got a quick glimpse of Stein while his NOVO Lenses were activated and he saw a strange reading. He hadn’t any time to analyze it as Stein continued firing shots.
Why do this? After I offered up my life for hers? Caiden thought to himself.
He returned fire but again, much to his surprise, his bullets had no effect on the scientist. The debris and metal were crashing down. Despite all this, Stein remained unfazed and slowly closed distance on Caiden and Yvora, who was now free and standing behind Caiden.
“I realized that as long as I have your blood, it will be all I need for my experiments!” Stein yelled. His eyes were wide open and wild looking.
“Stein, come in
! Do you read me? This was not the plan. Bring the boy to us! That was the deal!” someone shouted via a communication device on Stein’s shoulder. He turned it off and aimed his weapon at the couple.
“You will be of great service to me, Fayte boy!” Stein screeched.
Just as he was about to pull the trigger, the ground beneath Caiden and Yvora completely gave way, leaving them free falling to the floor below. In midair, Caiden reached out to Yvora hoping to grab onto her so he could position himself beneath her to break her fall. He heard a shot ring out. The bullet grazed Caiden’s side and went straight into Yvora’s abdomen.
“No!” Caiden yelled as they plummeted to the first floor. Whatever Stein was clenching in his left fist fell with Caiden and Yvora.
“Stein, you shit-mouthed bastard! Now what are we gonna tell the General?” Leiutenant Daav said via the communication device. Stein ignored him.
“Michael? Do you read me?” Stein asked into the communication device.
“Yes, sir,” he replied.
“Collect the body,” Stein said.
“Yes, sir” Michael replied.
***
“Boss, do you read me? Looks like Dr. Whackjob’s gone rogue. Status of the Fayte kid is unconfirmed. We’re ready to move in at any time,” Daav said, waiting at his post.
“No! Damn Stein! Psi-Corp can’t be seen at this incident. I’m sending in the test group!” Cain said.
“So soon, sir?” Daav asked.
“This works to our advantage. A citizen's arrest. We can spin the story in the media claiming it was a battle between them and the Fayte boy that caused all this,” Cain said.
“Yes, sir. Over and out,” Daav replied.
***
The collapse of the second floor came to a temporary halt. Piles of rubble and debris littered the lower level. Dust and insulation marred power lines and water from the recently installed sewage draining system began to leak. Caiden’s hand shot through the surface of a large pile of crushed rock and dirt. He desperately dug his way out until he reached a large slab obstructing his path. He muscled the slab away, barely able to stand as he swayed off balance, looking around frantically for Yvora.
“Yvora!”
“Over here, Caide,” she responded weakly.
Caiden rushed to her side. She had landed on a small mound of sand that broke her fall. Just above her was a large metal beam that ended up protecting her from the rest of the falling debris. She was badly injured from the bullet wound. Caiden ripped off a piece of his shirt as his NOVO Lenses scanned the extent of the wound. The tears began welling up and he felt a large lump in his throat. He pressed down, to slow the bleeding from Yvora’s wound. Blood from his shoulder leaked down his arm and mixed with hers.
“It’s okay. It’s okay! Everything will be fine. We’re gonna get out of here,” Caiden said with conviction as he held back tears. Yvora was sitting in a semi-upright position. Caiden felt her gentle hand cup his cheek as she made eye contact with him. Her eyes were sad, but she smiled nonetheless while softly nodding no. Caiden cried out in frustration and agony while pounding his fist on the ground repeatedly. He knew there was nothing he could do.
“I can… I can get you outta here! I’ll get you to the hospital!”
“Shh. It’s okay. Look at me,” she said with a shaky voice.
“This building won’t hold for much longer and neither will I. Look, over there. You can still leave. Go,” she said.
“No! Not without you!” Caiden replied.
“This isn’t your fault. You came back for me. That’s what counts,” she said, struggling to stay conscious.
“Please, please just let me…” Caiden pleaded.
“No, Caide. The time that I spent with you was the best time I have ever had. Please, don’t forget me. I love you” she said as she lost strength and slowly faded. Her eyes closed.
“I love you too! Yvora! Yvora?”
Before he could take a minute to process what had happened, the building structure began to rip and tumble once more, causing giant pieces of debris to fall from the upper floor. Caiden was in shock. He lost the will to fight. He held her close and gave her one last kiss on her forehead. His soul was shattered. He wanted to die with her. He looked over at where she directed him to. It was a stairway, leading into a sewer or some sort of underground passage. He turned his attention back to her, as her body lay listless in his arms. The structure around them began crumbling. Caiden snapped back into reality.
Remembering Yvora’s wishes, he chose to fight to live so that her words would not be in vain. As he looked around he spotted the strange device that Stein had dropped. As Caiden inspected it, the NOVO Lenses showed the same strange readings he saw when he attacked Stein. He picked it up and put it in his pocket. Caiden, knowing that if he attempted to take Yvora’s body with him it would only slow him down, made the heartbreaking decision to leave her body behind just as she had requested.
Out of love, he laid her down and tucked her further under the massive protective metal beam she was under. He gathered some more beams using his nanocell-enhanced strength and set them up as a protective shelter for her from the rest of the falling debris. He backed away from the makeshift tomb, both hands gripping his hair in disbelief. He turned around and ran off just in time before the entire building imploded.
He sprinted down the stairway and toward the path without looking back. He was determined to make it out alive. The walls around him began to crack. Pipes burst from the pressure and dangerous steam started spewing from them. Caiden saw a light streaming through a gate at the end of the pathway. He used his NOVO Lenses to see if there was a lock on the gate. There wasn’t. He bolted toward it as fast as he could while the ceiling in the pathway crumbled above him. Caiden barreled through the gate. The ceiling of the tunnel caved in.
He had made it, but he was still underground. The new passage was strange. It was vast and looked like an old underground factory. It was dim, with only a few operating light fixtures above him. Caiden found himself on a long metal platform that stretched about one hundred yards long. At the far end of the platform was a door. Hopefully, it’s a way out. Beneath the platform was water. It looked like it flooded the area long before he got here. The ceilings were at least forty feet high and the chamber smelled of mold and sludge. Caiden summoned his gunblade, reloaded the clip, and walked to the door. It was way too quiet.
Caiden heard the screech of a series of old rusted doors opening behind him. He turned around to find people dressed in civilian clothing emerge from them. Confused, he called out to them, asking what was going on.
“Hello? You guys, you shouldn’t be here. It isn’t safe,” he yelled to them. His voice echoed.
He scanned the growing number of people emerging from these secret doors. There were almost sixty of them. The NOVO Lenses showed readings of them holding something. Shock batons? How did they get those? How did they even find their way in here? he wondered as he slowly backed up and pointed his gunblade at them.
“Must apprehend suspect at all costs,” he heard a voice mumble.
Suspect? Apprehend? Caiden was so confused. The strange group of people suddenly hurtled themselves at him. They all wore datashades. The holographic lighting emitting from the shades was crimson red. What the fuck is going on!? Caiden asked himself as he back up and ran for the exit, not wanting to shoot innocent civilians.
The group was closing on him fast. The metal walkway was old, rusty and narrow, forcing them to chase after him in single file. The injuries and fatigue slowed Caiden down and the possessed group of people began to close in on him. Not wanting to kill any of them Caiden grabbed hold of the railings, swung his legs back, and thrusted them forward in one powerful motion, connecting with the chest of one of the possessed people. The impact of Caiden’s kick sent a good number of them tumbling back like human dominos. It bought him just enough time to sprint ahead.
The combined weight of the mob was weakening the metal
structure; the group began to stumble about. Caiden finally made it to the other side as the mob recovered and started running toward him again. He braced himself for combat when he heard the loud sound of metal creaking. The platform gave out from the weight and the mob fell into the sludgy water below. Caiden changed his weapon to blade mode and cut through the rusty lock. He had escaped.
***
Caiden made his escape up a ladder that led to the surface. Upon emerging from the chamber he encountered torrential downpour in a back alley somewhere in Nova Central. Exhausted, heartbroken, traumatized, and covered in slime and sewer sludge, he stumbled around. He didn’t have a chance to mourn or rest, because someone at the end of the alley was brandishing a weapon at him.
Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be some sort of knight. The armored figure stood only a little bit taller than Caiden at six feet and two inches. He was covered in white cybernetic armor. This strange individual had broad shoulders and mechanized pectoral and abdominal plates that mimicked the chest and abs of a human. It was built like a slender athletic male for maximum maneuverability and efficiency. The legs were dynamically designed and protruded outward at the hips to complement two thigh-length panels that seamlessly merged with the knight’s mechanized upper legs and calves which supported hi-speed maneuvers and leaps. There were glowing red lights on its knees. On its feet were jika-tabi boots. The knight’s footsteps were inaudible, due to the soft bio-gel support soles on his feet. His arms were covered in black industry grade straps and lightly armored on the outside from the shoulders to the biceps.
The white cybernetic armor was embedded into his forearms, while its hands were made from a black metal. The knights helmet was smooth, sleek and curved. It was white with a single vertical line in the center of the face panel that lit red. The back of the helmet extended behind him at an angle. It’s neck was supported by sturdy wiring and a series of small hydraulic mechanisms on each side, to support a wide range of head movements. These were all protected by casing made of carbon nanotubes. The mandible was also mechanized. There was no way to know if this thing was even human. A small written logo on the left chest plate read 'Adriel Project' on it. The White Knight was made to be a humanoid on purpose. He held a red katana-shaped energy blade. The katana looked like it could cut through anything.
Neon District: ALPHA (The Neon District Trilogy, Book 1) Page 33
