Chromed- Rogue

by Richard Parry

  The man at the front of the room clapped his hands, the movement slow, deliberate. Fake. “Oh, well done. Well done, child.”

  Mike pointed his weapon at the man. “Who’s this?”

  “He’s—” The man held up a hand and Zacharies choked to a stop, hunching. The swirling concrete and metal dropped to the ground, the slab he rode landing with a crash.

  “You can call me Prophet.”

  “Okay, Prophet.” Mike shot him three times.

  The problem with expectations was they didn’t always marry with reality, even when they should. Mike stood, weapon leveled, leaning forward for a closer look. The three rounds he’d fired, the dull of the depleted uranium shells unmistakable, held in the air a hand’s breadth from the muzzle of his weapon.

  Zacharies stood, the fire gone from his eyes as he looked at Mike.

  Prophet laughed, leaning back, the sound deep and merry. “You wonderful man. Michael, is it?”

  “Sure.” Mike nodded. “Or Mike. I’m easy.”

  “Mike, then.” Prophet smiled. “You’ve brought me a princely gift.”

  The overlay chattered to Mike, giving him the little details that might keep him alive. Haraway looked like she’d woken from a dream. A bead of sweat trickled down Zach’s forehead. And, finally, it mapped a sound behind him.

  “Do you cunts never die?” Mike spun, shooting the Reed man again. Red sprayed out the back of the asshole’s body as his staggering charge brought him closer. He tore the weapon from Mike. A backhand sent Mike tumbling across the room.

  That felt like being hit by a truck. The Reed man wasn’t a man. Not anymore. Metatech didn’t have mil-spec upgrades that packed that kind of hit outside of a total conversion. Mike flexed his jaw. His overlay put a skeletal map in the corner of his vision, highlighting the broken jaw. He waved it aside, dragging himself to his feet. He flicked to thermal, a quick look showing him the Reed man was not even a little bit human.

  “Trust is a valuable tool,” said Prophet. “Thank you, Julian.”

  “Yes, Master,” said the Reed asshole, his body’s movements sluggish.

  “Now,” said Prophet, “watch.”

  Zacharies turned to Laia, stepping off the slab. It rose into the air, turning a lazy circle.

  “Brother, no,” Laia whispered.

  The slab shot toward her. She screamed, eyes shut, hands held out. Mike could only see what happened because of the overtime. The edges of the slab superheated, molten pieces flying apart, turning into a shower of liquid rock. The white-hot slurry hit the ground, the heat impossible and close. It felt like a physical thing.

  “Fuck me,” hissed Sam. “Did she just melt rock with her mind?”

  Swirls of smoke and ash wisped around Laia. Mike’s optics watched in thermal, the blazing heat of the molten rock stopping at the edge of a bubble of cool around the girl.

  Julian reached for her. Laia screamed, fluid spraying out his back. Julian’s body stuttered, a mechanical grinding coming from it as it fell, rigid. A metal clang sounded as its face hit the ground, landing in the molten rock. Fire licked and peeled as it caught, the heat of the rock igniting plastic.

  “Right.” Mike got to his feet. “One less thing, I guess.”

  An invisible hand picked him up. The kid’s voice came through, low and nasty. “You want us all to be slaves, Mike.”

  “No, Zacharies,” said Laia. “Listen. Hear my voice.”

  The kid’s eyes rolled, and Mike dropped to the ground. Sonofabitch.

  “Laia…” Zacharies seemed confused.

  Prophet laughed. “You can see how my puppets work for yourself.” He waved the fingers of his left hand, as if shooing a fly. Laia laughed, the same nasty sound as Prophet, reaching a hand toward her brother. Her face twisted, real fear showing on Zach’s face.

  A slab of rock the size of a table hit her in the side, knocking her clear off her feet. She stood. The carpet under Zacharies raged into flame, just as quickly lifted and thrown by an invisible hand as the kid rolled away, slapping the flames on his pants out.

  A door tumbled through the air, Mike’s overlay picking out the letters VICE PRESIDENT still left on one side before it hit Laia. The sprinklers above them kicked on, boiling water streaming out.

  “Stop!” Mike looked between the two siblings.

  Prophet laughed. “You see? They’re so easy to use.”

  “What are you doing?”

  Prophet examined his nails. “I reach into the mind of one of them, turning it on the other. Then I swap. They each attack their sibling, but I let them see what they’ve done as I let go.”

  The air to the left of Mike boiled into fire. Three small stones sped almost as fast as bullets with the crack of the sound barrier breaking before they turned into molten mist, lost in the pre-dawn air. “You’re a total asshole.”

  Prophet shrugged. “Michael, you could have a place at my side. I need men who can find creative solutions.”

  “Go fuck yourself,” suggested Mike.

  “No need to be hasty. You haven’t seen the world as it could be.” A soft smile settled on Prophet’s face. “Ah. Julian has…” He stopped as the remaining lights in the room flickered back on. The machines at the end of the room clicked, coming alive with a soft whine. The room held its breath, the only sound the harsh breathing of Laia and Zacharies as they faced each other, fists clenched. The smile fell away from Prophet’s face. “And I have a vacancy.”

  “A vacancy?”

  “Yes.” Prophet turned to Haraway, and the dreamy look fell on her again. She nodded, moving to a machine, punching code into the device.

  “Okay, assholes,” said Sam. “Here’s your ‘initiative.’”

  A Metatech gunship screamed in from above, the chain cannon mounted on the front roaring into the room, the rounds walking a line toward Prophet.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  The sword scribed an arc around Mason’s feet, metal sparking on the concrete floor. This is my space.

  He stood near the vaulted door, Carter’s body behind him. The Apsel man who entered first lost his hands, his weapon sheared in two, then his head as the sword cut twice.

  This is Carter’s space.

  The woman who entered next was more cautious, the blood pooling out the doorway a clear sign to anyone with eyes death waited inside. A grenade bounced in through the door. The lattice reached down with Mason’s hand and tossed it back. The explosion cut short her scream.

  This is Carter’s home.

  They came two at a time next, one jumping high, the other diving low. The sword licked out twice, the jumper landing in two places as his body separated at the waist, the diver crumpling in a clatter of armor as her head left her shoulders.

  “You shouldn’t have touched her,” said Mason. “You shouldn’t have come here.”

  The last three came in, guns firing. They all died as the sword found the gaps between what made them whole.

  Mason faced Carter, walking to the dark burnt glass. He pressed his fingers to his lips, then put them against the cold side of … of her. “Carter? Please. I’m so sorry. I…”

  This is Carter’s tomb.

  He turned and started the climb from the Federate tower. An icon blinked twice in the bottom of his overlay, sender unknown. He opened the message and listened to his dead friend speak.

  Hey. It’s me.

  This isn’t a trick. I’m gone, Mason, just dust and memories and I’m never coming back. You’ve seen me now, you’ve seen the monster I am, and you can see why I couldn’t ever go dancing.

  Even with you.

  I wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t. They wouldn’t let me.

  But I can send this to you. I wanted to say goodbye, and we didn’t have the time. They said I couldn’t ever tell people what I was. They stopped me using the voice they’d given me. I think those rules don’t count anymore. What are they gonna do — fire me?

  There are so many things I want to tell you, but I can on
ly compress so much into these last seconds. The most important thing?

  You would have made it in time if I hadn’t stopped you. That one’s on me. See, I knew you’d come. You can see why I couldn’t leave with you. I ran the numbers, and that Zane Aster motherfucker would have pulled you apart. It’s not a question of skill. It’s not about honor. There’s no merit badge you get for it. He had less meat left. He wasn’t a person. He was more like me than you. Faster. Better.

  Less human.

  You would have made it in time, and you would have died, so I stopped you. Yeah, yeah, I know — I upgraded your lattice. You’re thinking, Jesus, Carter, why didn’t you do that hours ago? I could have really been there. Maybe not dragged you out, because you’re a fat bitch, but you wouldn’t have died.

  The thing I’ve learned from people — from you — is choices matter. This was my choice. I didn’t want to die. But I couldn’t go on living without you knowing. It was tearing me apart.

  You are my best friend, and I couldn’t even show you who I was. Do you know what that’s like?

  I wanted to shout, scream, laugh, cry, and run under the stars. I’ve seen the pictures, I’ve felt the rush of time and movement as I’ve followed you around. I saw it all through your eyes.

  Mason, I wanted to go dancing.

  I was left with a choice. I took it. I don’t know if it’s a good choice or a bad choice, but it’s my choice. We’re free now, you and me. I couldn’t ever be what I wanted to be for you. I wasn’t made that way, and I couldn’t go on without being that person. It hurt all the time.

  I stopped the pain. It doesn’t hurt anymore. And it made me happy. It made me happy because you’re still alive. My choice was to stop the pain, and my choice was to keep you alive.

  It’s all I wanted.

  You’re wondering what I did to you. I said I fixed you, but it’s not the whole story. The old lattice you carried around was really shit, okay? It was engineered by committee. Not a decent designer on the team, just a list of bullet points. They didn’t think about how beautiful you are.

  I saw it. And you’re so damn beautiful. It made me weep.

  I pulled out all the sloppy code. The lattice is a part of you. It’ll be faster, smoother, and cleaner. It won’t fight you. It’ll do what you want, when you want it to. You want to pull Harry out of another fire? You won’t have to force it.

  They’ll all want it. They’ll want to pull open your head and see how I did it. Don’t tell them what I did. Keep it to yourself.

  It’s a gift.

  I don’t have long now. The EMP just landed.

  Haraway. Forgive her. I have. She only wanted to find her sister. Her sister’s dead. She could have just asked. That woman … Man, what a cunt.

  I’m sorry. I don’t feel myself right now.

  She knows where the reactor… the gate in your chest … she knows where it goes. Has she told you?

  I wish I had a sister. I wish…

  Do you know the name of the town I sent you to? Richland. There used to be more than fifty thousand people living there, a community huddled in the shadow of a fission reactor run by a tiny company called Energy Northwest. There’s nothing left. Just hints, silhouettes of people that used to be. We wiped them all out, Mason. That was us. Apsel. They were an inconvenient truth. Gone. Buried so deep we forgot as well. We made monsters to guard our terrible crime. I worked that much out. I guessed at more, but guesses don’t help. The math isn’t there. I think we killed a city to show fusion was safer than fission. That can’t be human. That can’t be right, can it?

  Sadie. She needs your help, and you need hers. I’ve tried to help her to help you. It’s the best I can do. It’s not like I can get out of here and walk around. The thing about her is she’s… Don’t break her. She’s more fragile than she looks.

  Laia. Kid’s got problems. You’re not one of them. Don’t let her be taken. Not by the syndicates. Not by us. Don’t leave her alone.

  I know what it’s like to be alone.

  Harry. You’ll need to work that out yourself, but he’s a lot like you. Stupid. Honest. He loves Lace, you know that?

  It made it worse when I realized she loves him too.

  The number you want is 555 884 2322. I don’t think breaking the rules matters anymore. It took me a long time to find it. She’s really not on the grid.

  I’m out of time. There’s one last thing.

  I said before there was a reason I chose you. It didn’t happen that way. I loved you. I’m so happy I knew you. You gave me hope. You showed me something about humans that wasn’t petty, slow, and greedy. Tenko chose right. He chose a life worth saving.

  I’m glad it was you with me here at the end. There couldn’t be anyone else. Please, if you—

  Mason stepped from the stairwell, the lobby waiting, dressed in familiar Apsel white. The falcon, standing tall on its plinth. The walls, clean and proud. There was only one person here. White armor, black rifle. His overlay named her.

  “Sanders?” Mason held the sword low and the Tenko-Senshin high. “This isn’t a good time.”

  Sanders looked down. “I know where you’ve been.”

  Mason’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “She let me live.” Sanders shrugged, then looked at her rifle. “She said to stay out of your way.”

  “Good advice.”

  “It doesn’t feel enough.” Sanders looked away. “Do you need a hand?”

  “Thanks, but no.”

  “Where’s your team?” Sanders looked around. “How’d you get in?”

  She’s dead. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “I can fly you out. If there’s a gunship on the roof, I can fly you out.”

  “Your contract’ll be terminated.” Mason watched her watch him. “You’ll be done.”

  “I guess so,” agreed Sanders. “Where do you want to go?”

  “Upstairs.” Mason thought for a moment. “Then Reed.”

  “Reed?” Sanders blinked. “Don’t you work for Metatech now?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “Fair enough.” Sanders shifted her weight, holding a hand out, palm up — an after you gesture. “Let’s go.”

  “Sure.” Mason walked to the elevators. He couldn’t remember lowering the Tenko-Senshin. The little weapon whined at him. He looked at it, feeling it vibrate in his hand.

  “Mason!”

  Mason spun, taking a knee, the Tenko-Senshin coming up. He saw Sanders, weapon to her shoulder, pointed at his back. Sadie, black armor below black lipstick, eyes open wide, pointed a rifle at Sanders. Sanders swung her weapon back to Sadie.

  The lattice snarled, pulling Mason’s lips away from his teeth. The Tenko-Senshin screamed, the air blistering as the weapon fired. Sanders’ lattice jerked her to the side, her rifle bearing on Mason as it fired. A round whispered past Mason’s face. Another kissed his shoulder.

  The sword swung once as Mason stepped past the woman, her head bouncing to land next to the elevator’s doors. Mason held himself still, Sander’s body still holding down the trigger for a second after death before her body slumped to the ground.

  Sadie’s shoulders shook with repressed sobs. Mason walked to her, touching the rifle in her hand. “It’s okay.”

  “She was… She was…”

  “I know,” he said. “It’s okay.”

  “And then I… The rifle… It…”

  “I know.” Mason took the weapon from her. “Thank you.”

  Sadie shuddered, eyes searching his face. “I wouldn’t have made it.”

  He nodded as if he was agreeing. “Yeah, but you did.”

  She looked at Sanders’ body, then turned her head away. “She was going to shoot you in the back.”

  “She said Carter let her live.”

  “You can’t just trust people.” Sadie looked down. “You can’t. People are…”

  “People are people. I trust you, Sadie.”

  “Do you?” She
stood closer. “You’re an asshole. You left me in that fucking APC—”

  “The car?”

  “The fucking APC, you left me out there, and I didn’t know if you were dead or alive or what and you didn’t call, and people were running, and someone got shot right next to me and then…” She ran out of steam. “I thought you were dead.”

  You are my best friend, and I couldn’t even show you who I was. Do you know what that’s like?

  He felt the words in his heart, heat coming from them like he’d stirred the coals of an old fire. Mason leaned forward, put a hand behind Sadie’s head, and pulled her close. Her eyes went wide before she relaxed into him, the kiss long and deep. They broke apart. She bit her lip.

  Mason looked into her eyes. “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.”

  “You’re still an asshole.”

  “Five five five, eight eight four, two three two two.” 555 884 2322. The numbers Carter gave him.

  Sadie’s eyebrow arched. “Are you a company robot now? Numbers?”

  “No. It’s your number, isn’t it?” Mason smiled. Thank you, Carter. For everything. “I guess it’s meant to be.”

  Sadie glared. “You cheated, didn’t you?”

  “Maybe.” The smile fell away from his face. “I have some things I need to do.”

  “Okay.”

  “I don’t think I’m coming back.”

  “That’s not okay.” Sadie stepped back, the empty white of the lobby standing behind the black of her armor. “Jesus Christ, Floyd. Didn’t you have a mother? You don’t kiss a girl, tell her it’s meant to be, and then run off to die!” She held her arms up, exasperated.

  “I didn’t say I was going to die.”

  “Do I look like a lawyer?”

  “Not really,” he said.

  “Then don’t play lawyer games with me.” Sadie crossed her arms. “You’re going off to die.”

  “I’m going to get more ammo before I do anything else.” Mason waited, watching hope chase disappointment across her face. “I don’t want to.”