by Ryan Burnett
"Interesting." He remarked. The genuine intrigue and sincerity behind the words inappropriate to the moment. Alex then extended his left hand in front of him in expectation, as the long curved blade of a scimitar coalesced out of thin air, its edge possessing the same bronze sheen as Alex's armor. The handle rested lightly in Alex's palm. He brought his other hand around to the opposite side of the weapons hilt locking the scimitar firmly in his grasp. He looked at Marcus expectantly who extended his left arm in the same motion, almost as if he was trying to learn simply by mimicking Alex's actions and it wasn't long before his efforts yielded him a long jagged edged kindjal dagger the strange toothy angles of the blade shining with a fatal sharpness. They locked gazes again and I could see something in both their faces I knew only too well. It was the intent to kill. One could almost feel the single minded determination to end the life of the other that radiated from these two combatants. It dawned on me in an instant; in a world constructed by the mind could the raw focused desire to end life be the greatest weapon of all? Where before he did not even leave a scratch Marcus had now drawn blood against a monstrously overwhelming force, and while it was inconceivable that Marcus could succeed where the Jack had failed my attention was inexorably drawn to their battle. It seemed the longer I watched the more I learned and each weakness I discovered was yet another tool that I would use to build my path. Who would have thought this intruder would prove himself to be useful before dying?
The combatants clashed together. Alex's eviscerating strikes only being narrowly avoided by his adversary. Alex's opponent was forced to stay on the defensive and I could tell each deflected blow took a numbing toll on the man. To his credit no matter how hard it was hit the dagger’s metal did not break against the onslaught of the larger weapon nor was Alex able to knock the weapon out of his hands. The man, presumably known as Marcus judging by the girls screams, kept a side long crouched position with his left shoulder forward so that as little of his body was open to the blade as possible and his injured right side was the hardest spot to effectively attack. Tactfully retreating every chance he could under the onslaught of Alex's wicked blows Alex’ constantly gave up ground to the advancing and seemingly tireless menace. It was not long before Marcus found himself cornered with Alex standing before him and the barely caged nightmarish chimeras snarling at his back. There was nowhere left for him to go as Alex advanced upon him one more time taking slow deliberate steps, they were steps that carried a grim weight with them, they were the steps of an executioner. Alex reigned down three flashing over hand blows forcing Marcus's whole body down, his knees positioned squarely under him to help give him a chance of diverting the blade. Alex then followed his third attack with a spinning slash contained in a tight circuit the sharp arc of the blades trajectory forcing Marcus’s dagger out wide, away from the center of his body. With uncanny speed Alex dropped his sword and shot his taloned gauntlet to Marcus's battered arm that still desperately held onto his dagger. I could see the bladed ends of Alex's fingertips dig deep into Marcus's flesh simultaneously trying to crush and mangle. Marcus stared into his attacker’s eyes with an inextinguishable intensity, his limp arm feebly trying to mount an attack but achieving little more than a spasm. I cringed slightly as I heard the sound of bones breaking in Marcus's left hand as Alex continued to tighten his grasp.
Alex cocked his free hand back, the razor tips of his gauntlets stretched out and locked straight like a knife. He pulled Marcus in close and said "This is the end" and Marcus opened his mouth to let out for one last defiant scream before Alex's free hand descended....but no sound came out. Instead I heard a strange gurgle as Marcus twisted his head violently. Alex released his grip on the man and brought his hands up to his throat where the scales transitioned into skin, futilely trying to stem the flow of blood that was now beginning to gush forth. Marcus had opened his mouth not to scream but to make room for the now bloody dagger that had materialized out of thin air which he now clutched between gritted teeth. My breath caught in my lungs as Marcus rose and circled around behind the now kneeling Alex who choked out the sentence, "You.....must.....really......hate.............m...me." The dagger clattered to the ground as Marcus released the blade.
"No. I simply do what I must" was Marcus's reply before kicking him through the flame weakened bars of the chimera cages, whose abhorrent inhabitants immediately seized upon the mortally wounded man, descending upon him like jackals in the night.
In an instant I was back in the midst of Ostan's subterranean corridors. The man I know knew as Marcus stood before me. Clutching a woman who looked exactly like the one who had taken the burst of fire for Marcus's sake. I barely had time to register this fact before I saw Marcus roll the High Powered Microwave grenade in our direction. Reacting quickly and without hesitation I joined Ostan and Frait in an all-out sprint towards the other side of the office. Even during this panicked reaction I could hear Ostan yelling to Frait in panicked tones but I could barely make anything out before the high powered screech followed by a boom marked the detonation of the device. The world shook and I fell despite myself choking in a brief billow of dust that followed the shockwave.
It took a moment before I realized that the actual force of the blast had been minimal. By the time I actually raised myself up off the ground I knew Ostan and Frait had continued to run on ahead of me, which I decided I was perfectly fine with. There was still a chance I could get my men here before Ostan could regroup and salvage as much data as possible from this wreckage. I just had to hope for a little luck navigating the subterranean access tunnels to get back to the surface. As I trudged forward I couldn't help but be happy. So many new possibilities danced in my mind. So many doors I once thought closed stood open in all their glory. I just needed a little know how to cross the threshhold...and to think it all started with me and my plans for pushing the limits of VRN technology. Fortuna Bonum....fortune favors the bold.
I tried to access my VRN to scramble my team and perhaps access some public records to see if there was any information about the layout of this underground network but something here was blocking my signal as if some sort of feedback was screening me off from the world. Lost and clueless I must have wandered through the dark passageways for what must have been hour before finding a service door that seemed different from the rest. Once I had opened it and gone through I could hear it lock firmly behind me, I was worried at first until I saw some public maintenance signs that pointed me towards a series of what looked like spiral stairs that went up, hopefully to the street level.
As I started to come across even more recognizable markings and ascended ever closer to the surface my mind poured over the possibilities. I never even saw Alex's physical body, perhaps even he could recovered. That thought alone fueled me and gave me the extra boost of energy I needed to make these aging legs take the long climb. Every so often I would stop to check the signal on my VRN but I still couldn't get through. Puzzling but I couldn't let my mind linger on the distraction. Freedom was almost in sight. Until I rounded one of the last set of stairs and came to a plateau where in front of the door that led out to the alley stood a man I had once known very well. His plain and stoic clothes were filthy from what seemed like an eon of travel and dirt, his usually clean shaven jaw had a shadow that was beginning to make the transition to a beard, and his eyes were wrapped with a grey rag but it was undeniable him. My fallen enforcer, the Jack.
Immediately I tried to use my VRN to scramble for backup but there was nothing except for the piercing feedback of static. A sensation so intense it immediately made me cease my attempts to establish a VRN connection. I didn't know if I could make a sound. The effects of the Damocles program were supposed to be temporary but the cloth around his head said otherwise. If he had suffered permanent hearing loss too I may be able to get around this specter of the man I once employed. Silently I prepared to move but was frozen in my tracks as the Jack spoke,
"Cid. I know you're here. I could hear you com
ing. I can smell the scent of your sweat mingled with overpriced cologne even now. But what is more important I can feel you now Cid. Like an angry red point in a sea of darkness."
His words froze me in place. I tried to use my VRN one more time and this time the burst of feedback was so painful that I nearly dropped to my knees. I tried to hold it in but a grunt of pain escaped me despite myself.
""Come now Cid. This isn't anyone else's concern. This is simply between you and me" he said
"How?" I replied. Tongue tied...this was rare for me, but I suppose I had rarely had caused to be truly scared as I ruled my corporate empire. Intense and anxious yes but nothing that came close to the fear I felt now. Alone and cut off from my followers, I knew what this man was capable of and it frightened me to the depths of my soul.
"How did I survive? I hunted for what I needed to live. The strong man can become a predator in almost any environment as long as he possesses the will. Still it has not been easy adjusting to the permanency of my condition. When my hearing came back but my sight did not I was very confused but I have managed to figure out. When you betrayed me Cid our shock troops protocol was to lead with a flashbang before entering a room to finish a hostile. However my eyes were already unseeing because of what you had done. My brain had no way of telling my eyes to react to that flash and no way to adjust for the damage that light could do. I have no way of knowing if this damage can be undone but in the darkness I have found a light. You Cid. The traces of our connection I can still feel. Perhaps the code has been executed...but the brain....the mind...it refuses to forget. I can sense you Cid, like a soft melody being carried by a zephyr from far far away. Your presence has become a light in the darkness for me Cid and in exchange for my vision it has become my new mission to extinguish that light."
At those words I tried to make a break for it, to dash past him. However he jerked his arm out at the last moment. Clotheslining me and bringing me down to the unyielding concrete floor. In my dazed state I could hear his voice coming from above me.
"Know this Cid. A warrior has no mercy for the thief. It is a law older than time itself. Ordering my death in exchange for my failure to bring back Alex was one thing, a sin that maybe I could have forgiven you for one day... If you were the flawless man you claim to be… but what about all the ways you have failed Cid? As a leader, as a human being, and now at the very same task that you so readily condemned me for. The sword of judgment must cut both ways Cid. I do this now not because I want to. I do this because I must." I saw the face of the Jack loom over me, the face silhouetted in darkness as he eclipsed the overhead light bulb. Then I felt his fist descend down towards my throat and then I knew no more.
Chapter 30
14:42:25
Angela
It felt like falling or sinking in a bottomless ocean. I was diving down to depths so deep that I could feel the pressure closing in around me, taking me further and further away from that chaotic light of consciousness. A hectic jumbled layer of noises and sounds and faces and emotions haphazardly piled on top of one another that shined carelessly. The immaculate glow of virtual and actual stimulus sang out above my head, hopelessly out of reach as I drifted down and the feeling of compression grew. My perception narrowed and contracted as the seconds floated up and away. I was exhausted and the specter of sleep was drawing me closer, a familiar comfort that had somehow stayed with me down here like an old and loyal friend.
I tried to think of where I was. What had happened? The last thing I could remember was talking to Shange. Then he and Rhodera had left the jungle canopy of my VRN and I was trapped and alone. Then the distance, the falling, this dark and mysterious place.
A shiver went down my spine; shaking me out of my stupor. The static vibrations of my vertebrae like eels swimming through my marrow. The feeling. I knew it was the zap but it was different, changed to exclude the wild ecstasy that I had known before. It was a jolt that brimmed with a wild curiosity and independence that I still struggled with and as hard it was to admit to myself I was infinitely glad because now I somehow knew Rhodera was here with me as well....wherever "here" was.
Where are we? The question slipped across the numbed surface of my mind, sliding away to a muted nothing. I waited for a response as I floated but I couldn't hear her, the mounting pressure that surrounded me had become audible and seemed like it was more than capable of drowning out any voice that could find me here. There. The feeling once more. Flooding along the webways of my nervous system before settling at the base of my skull. A crystalline impulse. A feeling.
Up.
I looked up to that bright sphere and willed myself towards it; and the penetrating vibrations grew stronger. Jolting between my joints and rattling the teeth in my skull. My descent was slowed but I could still feel myself falling away from the light. The steadily mounting pressure from above was beginning to grow painful, making my thoughts murky and slow.
So this is death...unacceptable.
Rhodera's voice echoed out in the same dispassionate tone that so annoyed me. Unacceptable!?! I didn't want this. I imagine very few people did. What right did she have to say ANYTHING about what was happening to my life and my body? As if she had some kind of right. Fuck her. And fuck this place too. If I couldn't go up I would go forward. I would do SOMETHING and if I drowned down here well...so be it.
I plunged forward in the dark waters. Swimming against a relentless undertow but making headway towards something. Heedlessly searching for some haven hidden amongst these dark waters. Random pains lit up along my body as if I were being vigorously beaten by the very current I was swimming against. Pain lit up across my face and yet I kept swimming. It cracked against my leg all but breaking the bones in my foot and still I kept swimming. Once more it dug into my side stealing my precious breath but still i swam on. The process of moving forward had become a matter of sheer will. A decision between life and death and as each new flash of pain followed I poured that hurt, that anger, that resentment of this whole situation into fuel to go further. To take one more stroke towards that random pull, the instinct to search for an exit to this abysmal labyrinth. As another flaring pain lit up across my right shoulder I felt something new. Something solid and warm yet yielding. A sanctuary. I clung to it...seemingly to a mass of nothingness but I knew it was important vaguely. My descent had stopped as I held on to that mass. Patiently I tried to calm my surging mind and trusted in that warmth blindly putting my faith in something I could not even articulate to myself. I floated in the darkness and waited. I could still hear Rhodera's voice but it was unintelligible and faint. She was speaking but I couldn't understand, yet somehow the words were comforting, instilled a sense of harmony I had never known before. A purpose that I had always known had existed somewhere deep in my subconscious. I embraced it and I listened to Rhodera's babble for what felt like the longest time until in a flashing instance I opened my eyes to the real world and all of the erratic fury it contained.
I was clinging to a body that was breathing heavily my face pressed startlingly closed to a wound that had left a dark stain that had soaked through one shoulder; I looked up and saw Marcus's face, and simultaneously realized that it was his blood on my cheek. I could feel his injured arm circle around me and grip me closer as his free hand rolled some kind of device to the center of room. I was dragged with him as he dived and rolled towards the other direction the doors. The deafening blasts and subsequent sounds of failing machinery resounded around us as I struggled to support Marcus and move his bulk down the hallway and towards the elevators. Our progress was slow and my body ached with each shuffling step we took towards the exit. As I came to my senses I began to notice that I had several newly formed bruises across my abdomen and my nose was bleeding. My large toe was throbbing with an ungodly pain as well. The hostile forces I had experienced trying to stop my venture through the darkness were real?
