Specter Protocol

by Eddie R. Hicks

  “That’s not true! I’m just a subclass like you.” Estrella was back on her feet and looked behind. She saw the ocean’s waves crash against the lower section of the port. She doubted Defense Matrix would keep her in good shape from the fall. “Most humans aren’t very nice to me…”

  “Then why do you serve them? Why did you give up your status as a human to be a fake witch?!”

  “Warlocks killed my family. Had to get back at them, you know?”

  “Can you blame them?” Yanmei stopped half a meter before Estrella. Did Estrella reach to her? She hoped. As it stood, she was trapped. The edge of the ship behind, and Yanmei in front. “They hated humans because humans hated them, and always had for centuries. Do you know what it’s like to hide your true nature from humans in hopes they’d accept you? Live among them only to be beaten to death once they learned you lied about being human? And for what? Because someone had an unfortunate accident and concluded you cursed them.”

  She didn’t get through to her at all. Yanmei was just stalling for her hands to glow white again. And when they did, she was gone, so was Geoffrey, so was her access to control her nanites. Five blades entered Estrella’s abs, twisted, and turned, cutting everything they touched. Defense Matrix was long gone, and the pain made her tense up, hold still while the sense of shock took hold.

  Yanmei booted Estrella, hard. She fell off the ship. Gravity had her now. Then it didn’t as one synthetic hand reached up just in time to grab its edge.

  Now Estrella was dangling above the fall, blood gushing from her five dagger puncture wounds, and everything below her was raining red. She was breathing erratically, she needed to do something before Yanmei, wherever she was, finished the job. Using her free gauntlet hand, she reached down, touching her new synthetic leg. The leg she forgot TT installed, and its expanded storage, and the spiderbot inside.

  A section of the leg split open, and she pulled out the bot. Magnets on the tips of its eight legs stuck it to the hull of the ship. It remained idle. Geoffrey needed to get back online, he didn’t even have to be online long, he just needed to send a wake-up command to the spiderbot. It’d do the rest, and that was to take out Yanmei the moment she went on cooldown. Which she hoped was soon.

  Geoffrey, come on, forget everything else. Just get this fucking bot working.

  The lights on the spiderbot flashed on. He did it. The bot moved on its own, walking alongside the hull of the ship, away from Estrella, and away from the top where Yanmei should be. It was walking on its own, carrying out a command Estrella didn’t want it to do, because of that hack.

  Great…

  “Those are lovely fingers you have,” Yanmei said, though Estrella couldn’t see her.

  She felt something crash down hard on her fingers holding the edge of the ship. Her synthetic fingers twisted and bent; the fake flesh peeled off with subsequent blows. An invisible foot powered by cyborg strength and speed was stomping her. By the time Yanmei finished, Estrella’s fingers were turned to mangled metal and exposed sparking wires.

  Her grip loosened, and her body inched closer to the ocean below.

  Fifty-Eight

  Miyuki

  The pain wouldn’t stop, nor would the multiple critical alert messages flooding Miyuki’s HUD. Portia’s power continued its pull against her body, yanking her cyberware out. She felt the warmth of her blood seep from her wrists, leaking down her hands, splattering onto the platform’s surface that Portia was forcing her to float above. Memories of the day Miyuki’s life ended returned. She was scared now, unlike the last time her wrists bled.

  “I had a feeling you killed my men,” Portia said, her fists still glowing white. “Oh, just you wait ‘til I apologize to Yanmei for my outburst. And my reason—”

  Portia had more to say, but a majestic roar silenced her.

  Miyuki saw her spin around, laying eyes on a growling lion. Portia looked shocked. Who was the lion here for? Last time Miyuki checked, the biokinetic gang Estrella called appeared as wolves. A lion… she thought more about it. Was this the same one she encountered on the train? The one assisting Ray? Had he come to finish the job? She did dispatch Theo, his warlock partner.

  A loud growl and the lion pounced on Portia, ripping and tearing her flesh. The lion got pushed back four feet, its body tumbled like a rag doll. Portia’s hands still glowed white, only they extended out to the lion, and not Miyuki. The psychokinetic aerial bind broke. She was free to move her aching arms. Examining the extent of her damaged frame, she saw wires and the other mechanical joints within her were exposed through ruptured flesh. But she was strong enough to walk, she was able to grab the fallen katana, and was able to get close enough to the distracted avatar, gazing at the lion getting to its feet. She aimed the blade at Portia’s back.

  And Portia reacted, flicking her hand toward Miyuki. She was flung back with a psychokinesis push, rolling six times across the platform, and adding further damage to her cyberware. When Miyuki arose again, Portia was gone, leaving her blood on the ground for her and the lion to examine. She likely fled having realized she was outnumbered and injured. She’d search for her, but the lion’s presence had Miyuki falling prey to animal instinct fear. The fear that the lion will react negatively to her.

  But the lion didn’t. It gestured with its head to the docks below. Miyuki peered over the rail-less side. There was a woman below, the RW IW hybrid. Estrella had referred to her as Piper. Heavy gunfire pinned Piper down. And she didn’t know that Portia was at large and could intervene. The lion wanted Miyuki’s help.

  She leaped down with the katana in hand, landing beside Piper and sharing her cover behind the cargo crate, bullets still streaking past in the endless battle. Piper reached for a pistol and pushed its barrel to Miyuki’s face. The lion growled in disapproval. Piper lowered it while facing him. Miyuki did as well, watching the lion, just in time to watch its paws glow orange, change form, and turn into large hands as the lion stood on its back legs which also morphed and changed. Now the lion was a massive bipedal being, a humanoid-looking lion, a fusion of an IW shifter and the king of the jungle.

  Half-man, half-lion, it spoke. “She’s the one that helped us escape.” And she recognized the sound of his voice, this was Bashiir.

  “Guess I should thank you,” Piper said to Miyuki amidst the sounds of echoing gunfire.

  The three glanced over the top of the cover. They ducked when six rounds came for them.

  “We must minimize the casualties of the wolves,” Bashiir said. “They are like me, the only people that can sense the Specters.”

  Massive shadows darkened the port for a few seconds. The roaring noise from dropships muted the voices and gunfire around her. Miyuki looked at it, and grimaced. Two, make that, three dropships with the Yoshida Corporation’s logo descended from the skies, their blue and white thrusters scattering bits of trash that lay on the port’s ground as they came to a perfect landing. Portia had called for backup.

  The three dropships added a new dimension to the growing battle as their entry ramp doors lowered. PMCs dressed in their black combat armor, helmets, and holding assault rifles, came rushing out with their weapon’s muzzles flaring with white flashes.

  “Fuck,” Piper said. “Yoshida’s private army.” The Specters and wolves dispersed to avoid getting mowed down by the commandos as they screamed military jargon into their headsets. “Forget the Specters, we need to deal with these guys, there’s more of them than anyone else!”

  Bashiir assessed the escalating problem. His half-man half-lion face had a grin on it. “They are human. Can you not mind control them?”

  Piper shook her head. “About to hit cooldown, and honestly that's a lot of minds to trick. I won’t control them all—” And the three ducked from a barrage of shots. “If they weren't shooting at me, breaking my concentration, and I was at full strength, maybe.”

  “Allow me to fix that situation,” Bashiir said. Facing Piper, he added. “Can you nano print me a rifle?”<
br />
  “Trying to conserve nanites, but yes, should be enough materials in these crates.”

  “Do it.”

  Piper’s NC gauntlet sprayed a swam of nanites across the crate they covered behind. A layer of it melted to gray goo, pooled on the ground, and took the shape of an assault rifle and three spare magazines. Bashiir grabbed them and stood, powering the weapon on. Piper shook her head in disapproval.

  “You’re crazy!” she said.

  “My physical prowess is enhanced in this form,” he said.

  Piper pointed at his hands still glowing orange. “So long as that glow remains. Once you hit cooldown, you’re dead.”

  “Then make sure our enemies are no longer a threat when that happens.”

  Bashiir flicked the safety off, gripped the rifle, and rushed out into the fray, ignoring the bullets flying about.

  “Oh shit!” Piper called to him. “Bashiir, don’t be stupid!”

  “Support me with your nanites!” he yelled back.

  “Bashiir! Come back!”

  But the lion man didn’t come back, he charged into the battlefield, blazing his rifle at Yoshida’s private army. He was physically the strongest being in the play, and the bullets that hit his tough skin only shook him. He wasn’t invincible however, blood ultimately leaked from his arms, and chest, and his growls suggested the pain was getting worse. Still, a man that took multiple gunshots and remained standing put fear into the PMCs.

  When he ran out of ammo, he simply plucked an assault rifle off one of the fallen PMCs. Eventually, he was dual-wielding assault rifles, doubling his killing power as he spun, faced his nearest targets, and blasted them backward in a mist of gore. Bashiir became the primate target as he continued exploding people’s faces off.

  Because he was drawing all attention to himself, nobody was shooting at Piper or Miyuki anymore. Piper charged her NC gauntlet and thrust her right hand forward, releasing a spray of nanites that flew to Bashiir. Seconds later the blood pouring from his body moved in reverse back inside bullet holes that closed and healed shut. Now Bashiir roared again, a roar of incoming victory. His physical strength, intimidating presence, and a constant fresh wave of First Aid nanites turned him into a juggernaut that needed no cover.

  Piper cursed, ducking when two PMCs took aim, likely having realized they couldn’t kill Bashiir with Piper supporting him from behind. She took the time to pull spare nanotubes from her arm, injecting herself with them, then she gripped her rifle, stood, and fired at the PMCs. When it was clear to do so, she sent another swarm of First Aid nanites to Bashiir. She ducked again to reload, facing Miyuki.

  “Fuck, this is draining,” Piper said to her. “Gonna need your help here, love!”

  “What do you want me to do?” Miyuki asked.

  “Take out as many of them as you can,” Piper said and checked her ammo counter screen. “Hard to shoot, use my powers, and heal him at the same time.”

  Miyuki pointed at her damaged body and cyberware. “I’m not sure I’m much use like this.”

  Piper glanced at her damage. “Fuck’s sake.” And sprayed her too, she felt the tiny machines mend her wounds, repairing what cyberware it could. “Try not to get hurt, love. Every nanite I send to you is one less batch I can use for Bashiir.”

  She nodded then reassessed the battlefield. It was just the PMCs. The wolves and the Specters had fled. She checked the status of her MEP gauge; she was good for a ghostwalk run.

  “I’ll be fine now,” Miyuki said, gripping her katana, and vanishing from Piper’s view. “They can’t see me, but might see you, so watch yourself.”

  Miyuki ghostwalked away from the cover. Nobody shot her because nobody saw her stalking them. Keeping clear of stray bullet fire was all she needed to be concerned about, and it was easy too as the PMCs focused on the unstoppable werelion with twin blazing assault rifles, only stopping to drop them when he ran out ammo, then pluck new ones from the dead. Bashiir was running out of rifles to swap to. Miyuki needed to work quickly.

  She stepped over the bodies of the deceased, her blood-soaked boots leaving a trail behind her, not that anyone could see it. She crept behind a PMC covering behind one of the many cargo crates in the port. He stopped to reload, she grabbed his shoulder hard, keeping him in place. The PMCs back got introduced to the tip of her katana, its end poked out through his chest, and the nanites within the blade made short work of his armor. She tossed his body down sans his rifle. Miyuki wielded that now. The stats of the rifle blinded her point of view when it showed up on her HUD. She flicked that away, and checked her MEP gauge, 76 percent left.

  She found the two PMCs who’d been trying to harass Piper as she continued to heal Bashiir’s injuries from afar. Their helmeted heads appeared in the rifle’s scope, and that data became Miyuki’s vision. Nobody saw her paint the tall cargo container behind them red with their brains when she pulled the trigger. She did it again when his panicking partner couldn’t figure who shot at them.

  She ghostwalked to the next target while Piper’s glowing hands rose, forcing nearby PMCs to obey her nonverbal commands. The soldiers blew their own brains out. Five PMCs surrounded Bashiir, emptying their weapons into him. She emptied her rifle into their bodies. Two were left, oblivious to the katana that neared their necks. One head rolled away as its body remained standing for two seconds shooting red from the stump like a fountain. The final PMC clued in. A Specter was killing them.

  He shot in Miyuki’s general direction, but she dove and rolled across the bloody ground. Back on her feet, she ran and leaped, slashing vertically. The blade cut him, head to crotch. The PMC fell and the organs, bones, and muscles from the center of his body, starting from his face down were on display.

  Silence fell. The battle was over and only Bashiir, Miyuki, Piper, and the surviving wolves remained standing and breathing. Piper joined them after Miyuki’s ghostwalk ended, bringing her back to sight. Piper looked to the wolves, wincing.

  “If they are here then…”

  Bashiir spoke up. “Specters are dead?”

  Miyuki scanned the battlefield with her optical scanner. None of the dead wore the black suits Brown, Saito, and Arakawa had on. “No, they fled…” Miyuki said.

  And she was proven right. Gunfire crackled in the distance. The three followed the sounds of it, their faces locked onto the upper platform, and the primed shuttle ready for lift-off. Brown, Saito, and Arakawa had slipped away and boarded the shuttle, firing their guns at someone inside.

  “They’re inside, aren’t they?” Piper asked her. “Any idea who they’re shooting?”

  Miyuki grimaced. “Estrella and Ray…”

  Fifty-Nine

  Ray

  “She’s not my girl,” Ray retorted.

  “Too bad, you’d make a good couple. The witch and the samurai, delivering street justice to a ghetto near you. Crikey! That sounds like an awesome comic book duo!”

  “And more effective than your duo with Yanmei.” Ray was grinning now. That comment was sure to piss Serge the fuck off. “The ghost and her human bitch.” That one too.

  “Ha!” Serge spat.

  “You know it’s true, your balls are in her purse, man. You’re just the human on a leash, there to do what she wants.” Grunting noises, Ray’s words were the weapons. “I bet she has a real husband to go home to. You, my friend, are the boy toy she brings on long journeys—”

  “Fuck you!” Serge’s pistol banged out six reckless shots. “Fuck you! Fuck you!” He fired again.

  Ray laughed. Now Serge was wasting ammunition. “Want a shoulder to cry on, motherfucker?”

  Serge’s rage soon made his weapon make click, click sounds. He was out, and it didn’t sound like he went to reload. Like Ray, his ammo was limited, only Serge’s tablet was a threat, a threat that focused on releasing malware into Estrella. Ray clenched his pistol again, he just needed to put the two bullets he had in the gun, into Serge, swipe his tablet, and disable the hack affecting Estrella.

/>   Ray took one peek from his cover and lifted his pistol forward. There were no vulnerable devices near Serge. He’d have to run over to his cover and pop him—

  An alarm startled Ray.

  He looked to the left. The tiny computer monitors on the cooling pipe he’d covered behind flashed red critical alerts. It was also a vulnerable device, one that just got hacked according to his phone, and it wasn’t him that did it.

  “Oh Fuck…”

  The cooling pipes next to him exploded, releasing blinding mist from ruptured holes. Ray saw nothing but white like he’d been stuck in extremely foggy weather. He backed away from the pipes and their chilly mist. Last time he checked they were filled with nitrogen—

  A blow to the side.

  Serge tackled Ray to the floor during the whiteout confusion, and his pistol and phone both fell and spiraled out of reach, not that Ray could see where they were in the mist. Serge’s grinning face descended from the fog to his. His fists drilled into Ray’s face. Left, then right, then left. Ray couldn’t ignore the pain or the coppery taste of blood in his mouth. Left, right, left, right, right, right, left.

  Serge beat him endlessly.

  “Easy on the head…” Ray muttered in between the blows. “Got valuable intel in there you know—”

  “Fuck you!” Serge lifted his right fist, preparing it for another punch.

  “Oh, but what would Yanmei say if I got brain damage?”

  That fist remained where it was, hesitation was forcing Serge to think about his actions. So, Ray kneed him in the balls. He got free, rolled into the mist, spat out a wad of blood, and went searching for his pistol. He found his phone instead, and with its apps, located a new vulnerable target. A spiderbot, it was outside on the hull, just deployed and awaiting instructions. Ray hacked it, ordering it to his defense. He hoped it arrived soon because as he looked to the side, a charging Serge came for him out of the mist with another tackle.