Machined Hearts: Blood Cult (Original Epic Sci-Fan Cyberpunk Thriller)

[machinedhearts]

When the entire world is falling apart, how far is too far to uncover the truth?

Adrian, a former detective just recently kicked off the force, has begun to make a name for herself as a private investigator and quickly became one of the best. After completing a rough job and hoping for a bit of a reprieve, a mysterious client comes forth and asks of her to find a missing person. She's tempted to turn it down, but the reward is far too lucrative to refuse, and Adrian finds herself back on the streets once more, looking for an unfortunate soul swallowed up by Nocturine City and set to be ground to dust.

All is not what it seems, and her wealthy benefactor has lied through omission. In a world now forcibly interconnected by the Cresica Consortium, a megacorp that holds absolute dominion, Adrian now has to contend with horrific cybernetic gang members, modded corpos more machine than man, and those ghosted by techno-mages who had their consciousnesses hollowed by nefarious hackers. To top it all off, an uninvited guest drops in to make her life even more complicated and turning the case on its head.

Now in too deep, Adrian must rely on her street smarts and skill as a detective if she ever hopes to get out alive from a tangled web of lies and deceit.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian furiously slammed the clutch of her car forward and downshifted, hatred in her heart churned her guts. She yanked her foot from the pedal and the twin turbos screamed as the engine revved up. The tires squealed as she hurled the vehicle around the tight Nocturin City corner, the sidewalks barren as curfew approached. There was little time to get what she wanted, and even less to get to safety before night fell.

"Attention all units, suspect last seen on south side of 1450 block, abandoned residential rise, third floor. Shots fired." Adrian's illegal police scanner blared over the cacophony the car expelled.

That's where she needed to be and where that son of a bitch would meet his end. Adrian stomped on the accelerator and the supercharger whined as the engine danced upon the redline. She swerved into the center of the street as it suddenly lined with abandoned vehicles. Some burnt out, others rusting away. The Parastisus virus ravaged this part of town. And was still churning out more dead by the hour.

A mild anxiety welled within as the husks of cars rushed past her window. If there were any stragglers wandering around at dusk, it would be the end for both the jaywalker and Adrian. But she steeled herself and leaned forward slightly, scanning the gaps between vehicles. There wasn't time for careful driving.

"Officer down, south side 1450 block." The radio scanner called out.

As Adrian cleared the narrow path through the city avenue, the lights on the wedge hood of her car flipped up and blasted the way ahead with light. At the next intersection was the 1450 block of Broadway, where the radio was reporting the incident unfolding. If Adrian was lucky, the child was still alive.

With her whole body, Adrian threw herself into turning the steering wheel and the car's tires screamed as she took the turn at almost full speed. Smoke rose in her brake lights as she slid onto the double-wide thoroughfare. Straightening out both her body and the wheel, she reached down into her jacket and touched the grip of her magnum pistol to confirm it was still holstered at her side.

Adrian stomped on the brakes and the car screeched to a stop. Snapping up her keys and leaping from the car, she found several local officers hugging the walls to the entrance of an alleyway. Enraged they were just standing there, she stepped away from the gap.

"Has anyone gone in yet?" Adrian struggled to maintain decorum.

"Just one, detective." The male officer closest to her replied. "He went down, so we're just waiting the perps out until nightfall. No sense risking more people when the dark will take them."

"She's not a detective anymore, Murphy. You tell her to get lost, like any other civvie." A female officer replied.

A shot rang out in the distance.

Murphy let off an agitated sigh. "Our guy went down in the courtyard. The perp's got a rifle and has been taking pot-shots at anything that moves from the third floor."

Adrian leaned out and stared down the long alley. At the end was the courtyard, and she could see a pair of feet sticking out. It was the downed officer.

"Thanks Murph." She stepped out of cover and marched down the alley.

"This is an active crime scene; you're not supposed to be here!" The female officer shouted.

"Then come get me." Adrian shouted over her shoulder, hoping the officer would come after her. A solid punch, that's all Adrian wanted to get in on that coward.

As she closed in on the end of the path, she hugged the wall opposite the downed officer. Across from her, several holes in the brick alluded to the shooter having a high-powered rifle. Then Adrian creeped forward and noticed the body showed the same markings. She shivered at the gruesome sight, hoping that it was quick.

With a resolved heart, Adrian dipped her head out around the corner. As she pulled it back, a huge bullet whirred past her head and took a chunk out of both the corner where her head was and the wall opposite where she stood. She shook her head in pain as flecks of brick smacked her in the face. After drawing her gun, she retreated a bit from the corner and peeked again.

The shot was delayed, and it burst through both the wall where she once stood and the one across from her. A bolt action, she would be able to make it. Without a second thought, Adrian swung around the corner and rushed for the door at the near corner of the dilapidated tenement hall. As she sprinted, she searched for signs of the shooter.

A glint flickered from a scope, the streetlights behind her revealed a hint of the shooter concealed behind rotting wooden planks that covered one of the many broken-window frames across the multi-storied structure. Adrian raised her gun and fired two shots from her revolver, both landing hits on the wood. Then the glint returned from the darkness and another high-velocity round sailed in her direction.

As the shot rang out, Adrian ducked into the abandoned building. Though the ringing in her ears from gunfire was still vibrant, she felt cold stillness filling the space and coupled with her brush with death just moments ago, shivered with a sudden terror. With pistol raised, she flicked on the light mounted under the barrel and began to check every corner.

Reaching the stairway up, Adrian ascended with careful steps and fought to control her breathing, chest shuddering with every step as her adrenaline kicked in. She prayed that the child was safe. At the landing, she hugged the corner and closed her eyes, with a fearful exhale, she steadied herself and swung around crouched.

Finding nothing but empty hallway and broken doors, what remained of daylight pierced through the destroyed windows to her left. Time was running out. Adrian threw herself into a low sprint, her steps crunching broken glass and fracturing rotted wood as she caught a glance of the shooter's position through the windows, on the other side of an L-bend at the end of the hall.

Closing in, Adrian didn't wait, she threw herself around the corner with gun trained, ready to shoot at the sniper. But found nothing. Her nostrils flared in frustration, expecting a firefight, and finding nothing. Desperate and pressed for daylight, she kept her gun trained down the hallway and pulled out her phone, swiping to a tracking app.

The indicator was not far, on the other side of the building. She peeked to see if there were any other places, she could be sniped from within the structure ahead. Deciding there was no time for caution, she stood up and with her pistol at the low ready, followed along the hallway until she closed in on the little red blip on the map overlay.

Then, she spotted the glow of a lamp emanating from the last apartment, quite far from the end of the hall to her right and slid to a stop. Jamming the phone back in her pocket, she raised her gun and creeped forward. Immediately, she could see inane scrawling written inside, in crimson on the mold-tinged wall. As she crossed the threshold, Adrian spotted a grotesque bathroom, a broken toilet filled with animal heads, and a bathtub with a viscous goo so sickly sweet it tempted her to vomit.

Resolved, she pressed forward. The left corner gave way to a wide-open room. A shadeless table lamp sat on the floor. Broken furniture was strewn throughout. Yellow-stained mattresses lined the floor. As she swung her weapon around, she spotted empty shackles and chains bolted to the wall. So close she could taste it, she pressed forward toward the next doorless frame. It was darker within, and the stench of foul blood traded for excrement. Anxiety churned her guts.

The silenced phone in her pocket buzzed against her thigh. Contact was imminent. Given the scene in the bathroom, her heart began to ache. She hoped that the child was alright, that he wouldn't be harmed. Crossing into the darkened room, Adrian found more empty shackles and stained mattresses. She fumed, frustrated at her solitude.

With nowhere else to go, she lowered her weapon and looked around, worried the kidnappers found the tracker and extracted it. Adrian searched for the tiny blinking red light that it would give off in open air, a small egg-shaped thing. She pulled out her phone, to use it as a way to pinpoint an answer. Her hope was fading.

That's when she noticed that there was still some distance from the indicator, at least 20 or 30 feet. Adrian looked up to find only a moldy wall in her way. It wasn't possible. She started prodding, suspicious there was a hidden door. Then a click rang out, followed by a hiss. Then as the wall gave way, she saw a glowing green-mohawked man standing in a spiked leather jacket. His magenta eyes dazzled in the dim glow of the hidden space. He gripped the boy in front of him and trained a bullpup rifle.

"Drop it!" The tweaked-out gang member shouted.

Adrian trained her pistol. "Lower your weapon."

"Drop it now!" The tweaker started foaming at the mouth, his eyes grew wild, and he prepared to fire.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian's arm trembled, seeing the boy held hostage by the tweaker, it worried her that it could mean the end for either her or the child. The gang member backed away from the short hallway and into the well-lit room. She followed him with careful steps and inched forth into the hidden area. A quick glance around the corner revealed the tweaker was alone.

He stopped at the rear of the large room, cornered. Around him, desks of equipment marked "Property of Cresica Heavy Industry" – holo-computers, medical testing equipment, and a blood-drawing android torso and armature. Everything in this room was corpo-owned. On the bare metal walls were more scribbles, words she couldn't understand. In the light, the scrawlings glowed with iridescence and hummed with energy, like they were powered by electricity. The room itself felt charged, like at any moment Adrian would be shocked simply by coming in contact with any of the equipment around her.

"Let the boy go." Adrian gritted her teeth and dipped her brow in anger.

The tweaker gasped and wagged his head, a deranged, drugged out denial of her demand.

"You have nowhere to run. Release the child and we go our separate ways."

The gang member's eyes grew wild, frantically darting from side to side and he suddenly couldn't catch his breath. "He's coming."

Adrian lined his forehead up in the flattened sights of her revolver.

"Don't believe your eyes, they will lie to you." The gang member's head began to vibrate.

"Sweetie, don't look." Adrian muttered to the boy being restrained by the gang member and cocked her gun's hammer.

In the distance, an airhorn blared out. The sun was falling behind the horizon.

"The final seal will be broken. And we will go through the gate to paradise under the twin moons!" The tweaker shouted, his weapon drooped as he fell into a drugged-out stupor.

Then the lights cut out. His irises, lips, and hair glowed neon pink in the dark. Adrian panicked for a moment. Then after recomposing herself, realigned his head between the glow-in-the-dark sights of her pistol. As she lined up for a shot, the beam of her gun's flashlight illuminated him. With a light squeeze of the trigger, the gang member's skull exploded and painted the wall behind him. The sound almost shattered her eardrums and the boy burst into tears, making a mad dash for Adrian.

After lowering the gun, she noticed the blood spatter from the gang member on the wall glowed with a sinister crimson luminance. It was bright enough to see in the room without her weapon light. She hugged the child, about five or six, and comforted his desperate wails, rubbing him on the back and hushing him with soft coos.

"We have to go." She whispered delicately to him.

Then she took off her leather jacket and swung it around the boy, who was only wearing an adult-sized t-shirt, and zipped it up tight. As she turned to leave, she noticed a digi-dex, a small holographic tablet, which had several corporate contacts displayed on the front. It revealed the bust of a businessman in a suit, someone who looked quite important. With a quick swipe, she jabbed the dex into her pants pocket. Then she began to rush for her car, towing the child behind her with one hand and pistol at the ready in the other. With any luck relying on the officers' cowardice to not impound it minutes from nightfall was a surefire bet.

Then the airhorn blared again. Night had fallen.

Panicked, she scooped up the child and threw him over her shoulder, wrapped up in her coat.

"Just close your eyes honey, block your ears."

The air fell silent, still as the light of the twin moons poured over the slums. Adrian decided going back the way she came was the fastest option. Sprinting as fast as her legs could move, she only cared about getting to the car and fear took hold in her heart.

Taking leaping steps down the stairs to the first floor, she dug her feet in, almost stumbling forward as a figure loomed in the doorway. It lumbered and lurched. Squelches from a handheld radio whined. The neon white glow of a corporate security officer's uniform lit the doorway of the silhouette. In a panic, Adrian trained her weapon on the figure.

"Get back!" Adrian's voice trembled.

As her revolver's flashlight trained on the figure, it revealed a tattered, and gnawed face. White eyes without irises or pupils. A mahogany goo that flowed from both the dehisced wounds that carved up the corpse's face and the gunshot wound in his chest. It was the dead officer that was laid out in the courtyard. He was infected with Parastisus before death. The zombie began to lurch forward.

"—ive—Hear—e—to—ld—chur—" The voice over the radio chopped in and out.

Adrian turned to run and found the front of the building blocked by rubble. There was no way to crawl through, just a few small gaps which let rays of light from the moons shine through. Then as she spun and opened ground between the officer zombie, shuffling rang out upstairs. From around the corner at the top of the steps, the dead tweaker shuffled. His chattering teeth ached for Adrian's flesh.

With flared nostrils as she readied herself of the gruesome task that was shooting a compatriot's corpse, Adrian took aim at the officer's head. It wouldn't down him for good, but hoped the shot was true enough to stun. She squared up to fire and clenched her face. Even though he was dead, it pained her to do this. As she steeled herself, the tweaker zombie tumbled down the steps. His head slamming into the metal and stone echoed throughout the building.

The tweaker zombie landed at Adrian's feet and she staggered back before it grabbed her ankles and fired off a shot into the ceiling that dazzled her. Chunks of concrete rained down. The boy began to writhe in panic and cry. As she smacked into the wall opposite the stairs, she steadied her aim at the advancing undead officer and squeezed the trigger. His head bobbed back, and the corpse folded backwards.

Without hesitation, she ran wide around the downed zombie and leaped like a gazelle through the windowless frame of the wall. Sprinting for the car, Adrian slid to a stop in the courtyard when she spotted several shamblers lingering around her vehicle and cursed in frustration. She swung open the cylinder of her revolver. She was out.

With a strong shoulder to balance the boy, Adrian raised her hand and smacked the extractor. The long casings tumbled to the ground. Then, from under her arm, she produced a speed loader and jabbed the fresh rounds into the cylinder with shaking hands and readied her firearm.

There was only one speed loader left on her holster.

Rushing down the alley with the spirit of resolve, Adrian emerged to find two shamblers in grimy streetwear lingering around the car. The officers posted up here when she came in were nowhere to be found.

"Hey!" Adrian shouted at the zombies.

The two undead's heads snapped towards her and began to lumber in her direction. The temptation to flee into the alley entered her mind, but a glance over Adrian's shoulder squashed that desire—the officer and tweaker zombies blocked the way to the courtyard and were closing on her, still far.

Adrian got her bearings, checking for any signs of more undead closing in, but found the street pretty-well abandoned. No signs of life, or undeath, were to be found. She shifted out into the street as the two zombies rounded her car and followed along her path. With a calm, determined voice, she bobbed the child in her arm.

"No need to worry. Everything will be fine. Let's be calm, no need to be scared."

His stifled cries eased as she continued to back away. Creating at least a few yards of distance between her and the car, Adrian then stopped in the middle of the nearby intersection. She let the four zombies, two from the car, and two from the alley, close in on her. Continuing to bob and reassure the child was maybe more an exercise to ease her own terrified heart, than him.

The front two of the undead group were only a few steps away when she bolted wide and ran around them, making a break for the car. Stuffing the revolver under her armpit, she threw open the door and plopped the again-screaming child in the front passenger seat. Then hopped in and thrust her hips forward to pull the keys from her pocket. She fumbled as the tweaker, and police zombies closed in. As they clawed at the window, she started the vehicle.

With a high rev, she jammed the car into first and dropped the clutch, pinning both her and the child to their seats as the vehicle screamed past the redline. With a fast foot and shaken hand, she eased the car into second and breathed a sigh of relief as they sped down the avenue. Adrian looked over to the child.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" She shouted over her ringing ears.

With desperate, wide eyes and a deep frown, the boy shook his head. His brown matted curly locks bounced with each wag. To be sure, she plucked at the jacket, checking for any bites or scratches after unzipping it halfway. Convinced he was alright; she brought her eyes up to the road again only to see them hurdling towards a massive horde that obstructed the road.

Adrian slammed on the brakes. The tires squealed.

 

[machinedhearts]

Distracted from attending to the boy, Adrian looked up to find a horde of undead swarming the road ahead of them as they made their escape. She slammed on the brakes of her car and began to skid. In a panic, she hurled the wheel over and dropped gears, as well as the clutch. The four-wheel drive kicked in. Hammering the gas, the tachometer began to bounce, and the vehicle screamed.

In a cloud of smoke, Adrian pulled away from the horde, inches from slamming into the mass of undead. The sight of zombies flooding out from the abandoned Cresica Residential apartment buildings panicked her. They were lured in by the car's noise. She swerved to the median of the four-lane road. After shifting up in a bid to gain more speed, she jammed the accelerator. They were forced to return the way they came. As the headlights passed over each undead, their neon outfits shimmered in the beam, battery packs long since depleted. This section of the city was probably one of the first to get hit by the virus.

The road grew narrow as crowds of zombies lumbered from the sidewalks onto the pavement. The jaws of death were clamping down from all sides. Adrian clenched her teeth in a bid to stop them from chattering. With hope in her heart in seeing the narrowing gap ahead of them, she eased off the accelerator to bring them down to a low speed. Clobbering a corpse was a surefire way to wind up tonight's main course. Now moving barely faster than a jog, the undead began to pound on the vehicle, trying to grab on to anything they could. The boy began to panic as the zombies shouted fetid cries at them.

After calming the terrified child, she found herself back at the first intersection. The horde thinned. And the moment the road ahead looked clear, Adrian was emboldened by the sight of freedom and hammered the throttle. They sped away from the mass of death now in the rear-view mirror. A tentative calm began to rise within Adrian's belly, having escaped the clutches of an ill fate. A tone from within the car startled her.

The scanner picked up something. A green holographic button appeared above the tiny radio mounted on the center vent. A close-range channel was broadcasting a long message. Adrian, curious who would be sane enough to transmit something out in the depths of this place, ran her finger through the holograph to accept, and the scanner tuned itself in.

"If anyone is alive out there, we offer you shelter from the storm. Come to the church in Bunker Hill Old Town, on the green. Peace for peace, no questions asked," the feminine voice recited. Then repeated after a long pause.

Adrian looked at the clock. Almost midnight, there was no way she would be able to talk her way back into New Downtown this late without the risk of getting mowed down by the sentries. She looked at her fuel gauge. Enough to get back, but not enough to drive around all night. And definitely not enough ammunition to clear a building out and keep them safe.

Mulling over the sound of the voice, it was natural but certainly a recording. Tweakers were known to use synth voices to lure people in, especially where it was harder to find fuel and other supplies. Adrian pulled the car to a stop at a wide four-way intersection and dialed in the directions to the church mentioned. It wasn't far, and they would have enough fuel to get back to New Downtown in the morning.

Adrian flicked a switch behind the turn-indicator and the area surrounding the vehicle ignited in bright white luminescence. Her gaze swept around, and everywhere she turned, there was an undead shambling from the depths of the darkness, attracted to the light. Intuition said there was a 50/50 chance that this was a trap waiting at that old church. But given the current circumstances, it beat the certain death waiting right outside her window.

With a gentle takeoff to avoid the oncoming zombies, Adrian departed for the old church. She'd never been this far outside New Downtown after dark before, and each block farther from the wall made her heart sink more and more. Parastisus was a combination of horrible fates, all rolled into one: part living virus, part digital machination. It didn't matter if you were modded or not, if you got infected, you would end up a part of the walking dead.

The path up to the Bunker Hill quarter of the city departed from the otherwise grid-like layout. It had rolling hills and winding roads. As they climbed up a curving parkway with steep embankments, Adrian advanced slowly, careful not to hit the tumbling undead as they fell from the hill and rolled off the cliff-like retaining walls. Anxiety welled, shivering at the thought of a corpse falling from on-high and leveling the car. She kept a wide berth, driving as far away from the embankments as possible.

Finally at the top of the hill was the green. A small wooden-structured church in a grassy yard with a white-picket fence sat amid a stretch of brick buildings and high rises. The church was relatively well-kept, despite obvious bullet holes in its siding, from roaming gangs' turf wars. The structures around were dilapidated, like everywhere else this far from New Downtown, missing windows and doors. But not the church. It still had stained glass which even now let off a glow from within.

Adrian plotted a course from here back to New Downtown. If this didn't work out, she'd take her chances with the sentries. But the small wooden structure let off the air of invitation. With the flick of the switch, she toggled the area lighting again, searching for threats. The illumination was bright enough to reach the second story of most of the surrounding structures. Nothing. No movement. No noise. Just stillness.

Deciding to take the child with her, Adrian scooped him up, using him as a means to conceal her otherwise exposed, holstered revolver. As they approached the wooden double doors of the church, she focused on her surroundings. Despite the ambient illumination of the church, her eyes were adjusted to the dark enough to spot any threats that might jump from the surrounding structures. With her hand on the ring handle, she paused.

Bringing an ear close to the door, Adrian listened. Part of her said this was foolish. The other part said this was necessary. She took a slow, deep breath and steeled herself. With a firm tug, she yanked on the door. It didn't budge and let out a harsh slam. Panicked, she switched to the other door and yanked, which jostled with the same clatter. Looking around, and wondering if she'd just wandered into a trap, her attention dropped down. She spotted a small plaque just above the handle labeled 'Push'. Taking a moment to calm herself, she did as the sign instructed. The door gave way.

She stepped inside, a vibrant red carpet between rows of wooden pews led up to a small, raised altar at the other side of the room. Simple wooden pillars held a steepled ceiling, braced by ordinary beams. The only ornaments were the raised-frame-stained glass, and a small golden chalice placed upon laced white cloth on the altar afar. With a hand on her pistol, she advanced farther into the church.

"Now, here is someone I would never have expected." The same calm, feminine voice from the radio called out, her voice carried throughout the room.

Adrian's grip on her pistol tightened. She sensed this woman a part of a widower's trap, meant to draw unsuspecting, unscrupulous men to a terrible fate. A common tactic among low-level thugs out here in the ruins.

"Peace for peace. I seek shelter from the night." Adrian evoked the transmitted message, in hopes it was genuine.

"Of course. Please, come." The woman emerged from the shadows of the back room.

Much like Adrian, she had long, flowing raven hair. The stranger wore a black veil and a long but simple and loose crimson dress that reached to her ankles. She had her palms held together in prayer. And also, like Adrian, she had emerald eyes, but the stranger's were much more eerie, piercing. Despite her aged attire, her skin was flawless and pale like an antique porcelain doll.

"What brings you out here to this place, especially at this hour?" The woman sat on a stool set at the base of the steps of the altar. "It isn't much of a place for children. Especially not one traveling with a lone woman."

Adrian didn't want to give anything away and needed to think of something fast. "I was scavenging for food with my son, and we got caught in the night."

The stranger gave a slow, methodical nod. "What a terrible thing this disease is. I remember a time not long ago when this part of town was lively. A peace, greatly longed for." Her eyes scanned Adrian, sized her up. Her face remained restrained, calm.

"I also remember when people had a bit more respect." The stranger hummed. "Put the boy down."

As she spoke, a flood of heavily armored soldiers piled into the church from every door, their dark bullet proof vests embossed with golden strips of light pierced the darkness all around. They had full ballistic masks and helmets, bearing automatic rifles. Several of them bore shields and pistols.

Numerous rifle targeting lasers danced all over Adrian's white tank top as she gripped her revolver.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian grimaced in anger and gripped her still-holstered revolver hidden under her arm, concealed by the boy. She was surrounded by armored gunmen from every angle. The trap was one that she should have seen coming a mile away. That she could come to this church in order to survive the night was nothing but naïve hope which overpowered her otherwise honed instincts. Desperation was a cruel mistress.

"I won't ask again. Put the boy down." The crimson-dressed woman boomed from in front of the church's altar.

"And if I don't? Are you going to shoot us both?" Adrian shouted with bitter resolve.

"There are few things off the table when it comes to dealing with child abductors. Release him now and you have my assurance that I will grant you mercy."

Adrian's brows raised in surprise, realizing this wasn't some well-kitted ganger's trap, she sized up the armored gunman to her right. The golden strips should have given them away, but the screaming eagle insignia confirmed it: these were mercenaries. She'd heard rumors about them in the past, the Order of the Fallen Star. They were ghosts. Adrian worked on several cases where they were suspected of being involved. Both corporate security and gangers alike knew if The Order wanted you gone, you were gone.

"You are mistaken. This boy was abducted, but I am bringing him home." Adrian insisted, guarding the patient, peaceful child.

"A likely story. It won't save you." The seated woman crossed her leg and cradled her chin in her hand.

Adrian released the grip on her pistol and slid her hand down to her ID. It was a long shot, but reaching for something was a fast-track to catching lead. But considering Adrian was still breathing, the woman's interest in the boy was enough to not end up zombie bait. As her fingers slipped into her pocket, the group of shooters took closer aim.

"My badge. Adrianna Solus, Private Investigator." Adrian displayed the holographic identification card between two fingers.

Then with the flick of her wrist, tossed it to the woman. She scooped it from the air with the flick of her wrist and stared at the card. Adrian's heart beat rapidly. With a hard gulp, she struggled to remain calm. The stranger nodded with pursed lips, skeptical, and continued to pour over the tiny card. Each second felt like an hour as Adrian awaited her fate. Adrian propped up the boy in her arms and patted him on the back to calm his tranquil disposition.

"Interesting." The woman muttered, holding her ear with two fingers. She had an in-ear radio on the opposite side of her head. "Seems you're telling the truth."

The woman flicked the ID card back. "Either you have remarkable instincts or are overwhelmingly stupid." The woman wagged her hand and the church emptied of mercenaries as fast as they arrived.

Adrian snatched the ID from the air and pocketed it, noticing the throw was center-of-mass, a kill shot, were it a knife.

"Come." The woman held out a hand and pointed toward the frontmost pews to her left. "I was hoping for a different kind of clientele tonight, but I wouldn't deign to turn away wayward souls in need."

Adrian sensed she meant luring tweakers to their deaths. With hesitation, Adrian advanced into the church and sat down, then placed the boy beside her, away from the woman. Getting settled, she noticed how tall the woman was. Her legs were at least double Adrian's in length. The size difference further intimidated Adrian.

"So, you're a private investigator." The woman's tone lightened, more like polite dinner conversation than the interrogation Adrian knew it to be. "What gets someone like you into such line of work?"

Adrian glanced at the earpiece in the woman's ear and instantly understood the stakes. There was someone on the other end that would verify everything that was being spoken. One falsehood and they'd paint the walls with Adrian's brains. She had to be careful not to say too much, just enough to confirm her own identity without giving away anything about the boy or putting anyone close to her in danger.

"I used to be a detective for Nocturine City—" Adrian sputtered, realizing it was already technically a lie. "—for Cresica Security Holdings. Their Nocturine City HQ."

The woman gave a slow, mild nod, humoring her. "Ah, I see."

As she spoke, one of the mercenaries came out with a wooden table. It looked ancient, an antique made well before the war. Handcrafted, ornate. There were symmetrical carvings in the central stand, ornate figures of demons and angels that swirled around within four outer pillars. On top, an eight-by-eight grid, used for a board game, was created from different kinds of wood, and sealed over with a clearcoat. This table alone had to be worth millions of credits. It belonged in a museum, not a place like this.

Then the armored mercenary produced two sets of bagged rations, something a soldier would eat while out in the field. They were unlabeled.

"I'm sorry ma'am, this is all we have." The mercenary whispered into her ear.

The woman gave him a closed-eyed nod to reassure him and dismiss him in turn. The gunfighter vanished into the back room. With out losing decorum, the woman flicked her wrist and produced a knife from under her sleeve. In the blink of an eye, she sliced open the two plastic bags and slipped the blade away. An untrained eye wouldn't have even noticed. Peering into the bags, her eyes lit up and with both hands, snatched up something from each and clutched them, one in each hand.

"Now, I bet you want something good." The woman leaned forward to the boy and displayed her fists. "Pick correctly and you shall receive."

The child hid behind the collar of Adrian's coat and looked between the woman's hands, then up to her in confusion. She smiled and nodded at him in reassurance. With a nervous hand, he tapped her right fist like a snake striking out and retreated into Adrian's coat. The woman rolled her hand open to show what was held and offered it, a candy bar, to the boy. He looked up at Adrian, suspicious.

Adrian was surprised by his keenness but gave him a nod. He scooped it up and tore it open, devouring it before Adrian had a chance to change her mind.

The woman produced a handkerchief and wiped down the table. Then she opened a bag of loose candy held in her other hand and carefully poured it into a pile. "A bit of sweet can save one from the pangs of bitterness."

Adrian looked down in suspicion, a sudden regret in letting the boy eat washed over her, worried it was laced with something. The woman must have read Adrian's expression, because she reached in and snatched up a single candy and daintily placed it in her mouth. Now the loner, Adrian relented. She reached for a single sugar candy and ate it.

"How about your family? How are they doing?" The woman plucked another candy from the table and held it between her fingers.

Adrian pursed her lips, fighting back frustration. "My only brother does well enough."

"And your parents?"

Shuffling in her seat uncomfortably, Adrian didn't want to answer the question but felt forced. "Passed away some time ago." She looked away. "Car accident when I was a kid."

The woman nodded with a grim look on her face and hummed, then plopped the candy in her mouth. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"My father was on the force, before the corpos took over." Adrian couldn't hold back a pout but fought away tears. "I'm zero for two in that department. Let him down and he's gone." She couldn't help but blurt out.

The woman leaned forward and placed a delicate hand on Adrian's elbow. "There are mistakes we wish we could undo. Things we wish could be changed in the past. The best way to honor those we've lost is to keep pushing forward and to make tomorrow better than today."

The sincerity of the woman's words caught Adrian off guard. She searched the woman's eyes for a hint of trickery or deceit but found none. It was something she hadn't experienced from a stranger in longer than she could remember. Nocturin's over-glamorized, over-manufactured veneer forced everyone to put on a cheap image. In this dilapidated place, it was like she finally found a real human in a sea of unfeeling androids.

With a pat on her own lap, the woman sat up and let out a long, resolved sigh. "I think that's enough for now. Perhaps it would be best to turn in."

Adrian cocked her head in confusion. She expected a night-long grilling about every facet of her public-facing life, anything that could be yanked from a database would have been fair game. But just like that, the woman was satisfied and stood to leave.

"Wait. I don't even know your name." Adrian leaned into her own interrogatory tone.

As the woman reached the backroom door, she turned and placed her hand on the doorframe. "Acara, leader of the Order of the Fallen Star."

Before Adrian could react, gunfire filled the town. The two looked around the room, each seeking signs of what was going on.

Acara placed two fingers on her earpiece. "Copy." Her authoritative tone rang out. Then her eyes went wide with shock and surprise. "How many?"

 

[machinedhearts]

The sun creeped over the skyline as Adrian upshifted, racing toward New Downtown. Around her, undead stragglers lumbered toward the hollowed out buildings flanking the street, retreating like the sea at low tide. The daylight forced the zombies into hiding. Despite the overwhelming allure of artificial light, natural illumination caused the undead to flee. But the Nocturin City outskirts were as vicious and unwelcoming in the day as they were in the night. The sunlight hours were owned by the gangs of the outskirts. And she was in Skab territory, the most brutal and relentless of them all.

Through dreary eyes, Adrian scanned the road ahead. The night before was mostly sleepless, from the steady stream of gunfights that burst out around the church, to the looming danger of zombie hordes wandering, the desire to keep watch overpowered Adrian's exhaustion. But driving home, ease filled her spirit, and she was more relaxed, cradling her temple in her hand which was propped up against the car door as she drove.

Street after street, everything blended together. The extinguished advertisements, faded and worn, that were plastered across the face of every building began to blend together. It was a straight shot to the gates of New Downtown. Adrian's eyes began to droop. As they closed, she jolted and opened them wide in a bid to keep herself focused. Just a few more miles, less than a few minutes.

Adrian could see the bright neon lights of the digital banner suspended over the gates. They bobbed up and down in her vision as the car hurdled over the gentle rolling hills of the streets. It felt like she was being rocked to sleep. Each ascension brought more desire to let her lids fall. Then descending, she felt lighter, which eased her sore muscles. She just wanted to get back to safety.

Then a blaring alarm launched her upright, the early collision alert. Tires squealed as she hammered the brakes and yanked the wheel. She skidded to a stop inches away from slamming into a shambling figure in the middle of the road, the car ended up pointed 45 degrees toward the sidewalk. Her eyes focused on the figure as she caught her breath. At first, she thought it was a zombie, but seeing the sunlight beating down on them from between the buildings, shining through the intersection behind them, it was clear they weren't undead.

It was a homeless man. But he was gargantuan and stood with a noble poise. He had to be almost seven feet tall. The bum's sun-bleached rags danced in the morning breeze. Adrian couldn't make out any of his facial features besides his light blue eyes. Everything else was hidden behind a cloth mask and hood. Though from his gaze, Adrian sensed confusion. Maybe he was drugged out. For some reason, he didn't understand where he was and what was happening around him. Between him and the abandoned vehicles, the way was entirely blocked.

"Hey," She shouted at him after lowering her window just enough to yell. "Get off the road, you're going to get taken out by gangers or something."

The bum pivoted after hearing her words and stomped toward her side of the car. Then he smacked his hands against the doorframe and began shouting in a language Adrian couldn't quite understand. It sounded like he was speaking in tongues. Having none of it and seeing the way now clear, Adrian pulled to first and hammered the gas while dropping the clutch. Shaken, she was already back up to speed by the time she cleared the block. Through the window louvers, she watched him fade into the distance in the rear-view mirror. Then she cursed at her own stupidity. That was the kind of stuff that got you killed out here.

As Adrian calmed, she looked over to the boy, still sleeping. The chaos didn't cause him to do more than stir. With a swift exhale to steady herself, she looked out the passenger-side window to spot a beat-up pickup truck with fat mudding tires racing along the avenue in parallel. The next block of buildings passed between them, reflecting her car in the shattered pieces of windows that weren't boarded up. She accelerated, seeing the way to the gate was clear. Resolve to make it back filled her gut.

Crossing the next intersection, she saw the pickup kept up with her. And then Adrian spotted neon green and magenta spiked hair on the two who stood in the bed of the truck. Skabs. With hope in her heart, as she crossed into the block, she let off the gas. It was possible they were just out for a joyride and hadn't spotted her yet.

Ahead, before Adrian reached the next intersection, the pickup slid out from the cross street and veered onto the avenue. The two on the back of the pickup hooted and hollered, waving chains that smacked into their spiked-leather coats. Their wild, modded eyes flickered neon pinks and oranges in the shadows of the block as they slowed to meet Adrian. They called themselves Skabs because infections from the back alley cybernetics they got were marks of honor. The more modded, the higher the rank.

The Skab on the passenger side of the pickup had a mechanical right arm, with wires that jutted out from his chest and shoulder. He banged on the roof of the truck, and it swerved toward a street light. Then produced a vicious rusty machete and wound up with his modded arm. As they turned and closed in on the sidewalk, the Skab took aim at a streetlight. He swung and sparks burst from his shoulder. The blade cut through the metal pole and sent the lamp tumbling toward the ground. Adrian dropped gear and slammed the accelerator. The car rocketed beneath the falling streetlight. Slamming into the ground, the pole blocked the road behind.

Adrian raced past the pickup. Then it emitted plumes of sooty smoke from its two double-stacked exhausts and with a bassy cry of its engine, accelerated, catching up to Adrian. They were racing side-by-side. Trying to pull away, Adrian leaned into the throttle. That's when she noticed, the four lanes of the avenue were going to converge to two at the gate. And they were only two blocks away from the merger. There was no way for her to get away from them in time. And Skabs were more than willing to charge down a concrete barrier out of desire for a kill.

She dropped gears and tried to pull away, but it was no use. Each time she edged forward, the pickup squeezed out more power and caught up to her. The two on the bed of the pickup goaded Adrian, dangling their tongues and wagging their faces at her, shouting, and laughing. The pickup swerved suddenly toward Adrian's car. She slammed on the brakes and slowed to avoid being crushed by the monster truck. She considered breaking away, taking the long way back, but who knows what kind of traps they had waiting in the blocks of the outskirts, near the gate. The shortest distance between two points was a straight line, and Adrian committed to that principle.

As she slowed, they followed suit. Staring at the chunky tires crossing in front of her, they looked like plump, juicy targets. Adrian lowered her window. Yanking the wheel and slowing to get a running start, she then accelerated to blow past them. With just enough time, she drew her revolver and reached out the window. With two carefully placed shots, Adrian nailed the driver-side front tire of the pickup. The wheel burst into shreds and the truck tilted into a hard turn, veered off the street and smashed into the last block of buildings at full speed. The boy jolted awake in a panic.

Adrian stood on the brakes as the lanes merged. She holstered her revolver as the car passed into the solid beam of an overhead green laser scanner. Then a flashing light from a camera captured the vehicle and Adrian's image. Engine braking to a slow, Adrian flicked her raven hair and took a deep breath to recompose herself. Looking down, she found her tank top soaked in sweat. With reassuring pats, she tried to ease the boy's discontentment. Adrian needed a vacation.

Pulling into the only open lane of several within the gate-crossing plaza, she was prepared for the grilling about her business outside the wall. The border guards were the worst. They got paid by the hour and it was sit around waiting for trouble or go find it. And they were always ready to look. Adrian pulled the holstered revolver off and jammed it under her seat. She wasn't licensed to have a firearm and it took a bit of sweet-talking to get them to look the other way. A quick glance at her right hand showed significant gunpowder residue on her fingertips. And she was certain the car smelled like gunfire.

Adrian stopped suddenly in line with the booth's window and rolled the window down.

"Hi!" Adrian batted her eyes then puffed her lips, squeezed her shoulders together and leaned forward.

The female guard looked nonplussed, pursing her lips with an absence of amusement. "ID."

She held her hand out. Adrian gyrated as she leaned up to pull identification from her pants pocket. Then, after handing it to the guard, Adrian continued to bob her eyebrows and blink in a bid to look seductive. The guard shook her head.

"Get out of the car!" Three armored security officers with white glowing stripes surrounded the front of the vehicle and trained automatic submachine guns at Adrian.

 

[machinedhearts]

A bright halogen spotlight blared in Adrian's face as she sat at a cold stainless-steel table. She sat upright, staring ahead at the way out, exhausted. The border guards interned her in this interrogation room. They had her pegged the moment the camera snapped a picture of her entering the gate plaza. Sitting and facing toward the door with a reinforced window, she kept her hands placed flat on the tabletop. They left her here to sweat for a while, a standard interrogation technique. Though the overwhelming light was a new concept.

The door opened, then slammed. A middle-aged investigator stepped in. He wore a dirty button-down shirt. His holo-badge flipped and swayed, lazily pinned to his breast pocket. Overweight, he flicked off the spotlight then sat down, out of breath and was sweating more than her.

The investigator leaned in. "Listen, I got you on possession of a firearm, trafficking a minor, and several communications and broadcasting violations."

His breath reeked of coffee and cigarettes, overpowering the stench of sour body odor.

"I'm only going to give you this one chance to confess. If you do, we'll reduce the sentence."

Sloppy interrogation technique. Adrian gave him one point for coming in with the realpolitik, laying down the stakes and offering a way out. Minus ten points for the lack of finesse though. Continuing to stare ahead and through him, she exercised her right to remain silent. Though given how swift the consortium was at changing the laws arbitrarily, her basic knowledge might have already gone out of date.

"You're in over your head." The investigator leaned into her even more and lowered his voice to a whisper. "And your boss put you up to this." He slid his chair around the table and got closer to her.

As he closed in, Adrian's repulsion only grew. He smelled like a walking corpse. She was tempted to confess just to get him to go away. Then he slid a greasy hand onto her forearm and her skin crawled. Adrian almost broke her stoic expression as the desire to gag welled.

He took a big whiff of her hair. "I get it." He whispered in her ear. "You don't got to go down for that bastard. Work with me and he'll take the fall instead of you." The inspector backed away gave a yellow-toothed grin as his hand slithered up her bicep.

Adrian clenched her teeth and fought the desire to throw up.

Before he could keep going, his handheld radio blared from his belt. "Contact southside, headed toward gate on foot. Backup req—"

The inspector grumbled. He thumbed the small speaker which emitted a holographic interface. With the throw of a dirty index finger, he turned the radio off. "Damn thing always going off at the wrong time."

She flared her nose and her brow dipped in frustration as she flicked a glance at him. Should have figured, corpos have no sense of duty, and this guy was the epitome of corpo scum.

He slammed the box back on a belt holster above his rump and cleared his throat. "Now, where were we?" The foul smile emerged, and he returned to stroking the inside of her elbow.

Automatic gunfire rang out through the hall, from outside.

"Like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted…"

Adrian tuned out what he was saying when a gargantuan figure loomed in the interrogation room door's window. He leaned down like he was looking for a puppy in a store window. It was the bum she'd almost run over. Her iron will faded when she found his icy eyes lock onto Adrian and widen with desire. He backed up, looking ready to kick down the door. With a standing lunge, he threw his foot forward. The entire building shook as he hammered the door. And it bent. Adrian swallowed hard.

The inspector seemed to care the least about the chaos happening behind him.

"Um." She couldn't take her eyes off the homeless man.

"What? Let me guess." The inspector took on a mocking tone and bobbed his head. "I'm getting too close."

The bum slammed his foot into the door again and dust tumbled from the concrete ceiling. Cracks spidered out in the stone walls.

"There's—"

"Well let me tell you something, darling." The inspector's voice was filled with rage. "You got a lot more to worry about than personal space. And not only that, but they also changed the department rules. The only thing I got to worry about now is if someone dies in—"

With a wild kick, the homeless man ripped the door from the frame. It curved and slammed into the inspector, pancaking him into the wall. The bum stood in the doorway. His blue eyes glowed in the darkness of the interrogation room.

"Solara." He called.

Adrian's heart leaped into her throat. Maybe it was his accent making it sound odd, but how did he know her last name?

"Fillia ad me." He spoke in a language unknown and held his hand out, beckoning her.

Gunfire filled the hallway. From his back, a pair of white feathered wings tore the tatters from his torso. An angel. Curving his wings like a shield, he braced against the shots as they ricochet off and sent feathers flying everywhere. Panicked, he covered his face, took one last glance at Adrian then disappeared into the hallway. Adrian froze, unsure what had just unfolded in front of her. Armored border guards, in bullet-proof body armor and helmets rushed in the direction the angel fled.

As the guards passed, their neon white stripes illuminated the dark interrogation room. Then it fell quiet as the shots grew more and more distant. The haunting eyes faded from her mind. Adrian blinked and looked around, seeing the unconscious investigator's supervisor badge glowing on the floor and realizing that salvation was at hand.

After snatching up the badge and his radio, Adrian rushed out and spun around. There was a folder pinned to a clipboard in a holder on the wall just outside the interrogation room. She breathed a sigh of relief. The incarceration procedure hadn't changed that much in the time she had left. Now she just needed to find a terminal to figure out the damage done. She pinned the badge to her pants pocket and snatched up the clipboard. Then she turned up the volume on the radio and listened to the calls as the border guards fought the angel.

Running in the opposite direction of the chaos that just unfolded, she stumbled upon a hardwired terminal upon a plexiglass desk. It was against a wall at the end of the hall at an interrogation monitoring station, abandoned. Its holographic display showed the last record of a woman that Adrian wasn't familiar with, as it was left unlocked.

She sat down and began pulling up her record based on the serial number printed on the folder clipped to the clipboard. In shock, Adrian poured over the incident. It was mostly empty. The lazy bastard didn't even bother to do any paperwork before interrogating her. She swiped over to the utility menu and found the 'abandon' button. After she tapped it, the station pulled up a menu asking for authorization. Adrian looked around the desk frantically. Usually, authorization meant scanning a badge somewhere. Under a pile of papers, more rap sheets of various women, was a small black square with neon green strips. A badge scanner.

With a cautious swipe of her commandeered badge, the prompt disappeared. Now she would need to figure out how to get around the biometrics. Maybe dragging over his unconscious body might help. A new prompt displayed.

Authorization accepted. No biometrics registered. Please create a new biometric profile in 71 days.

Adrian's eyebrows bounced in surprise. That was poor departmental policy. A nefarious actor might exploit that in some way.

After a swipe to dismiss, Adrian found the incident of her arrival at the gate. It marked her as 'in processing'. Which sounded like one step away from 'cleared for entry'. She pressed the acceptance button and the yellow 'in processing' text changed to green 'cleared for entry' for both her and the boy. With a few swipes, she removed her car from impounded status and had her personal effects ready for release. Then she tapped on the boy's image and found where he was being held.

Adrian searched the monitors, cameras tied to each interrogation room, and found him still in her jacket, with a female investigator. She marched down the hall and reached the room. Bracing herself and recalling her time as a detective, she threw open the door. The female investigator startled and turned.

"Agent White, CIPS." Adrian spoke with authority and flashed the badge. "This child is a victim of trafficking and is being transferred into our care."

"What is that outfit—Never mind we're still in-processing him. Come back when we're done."

"They said come down here and pick up a kid. I see a kid; I'm picking him up."

"When we're done." The investigator demanded.

Adrian produced the clipboard and pantomimed writing. "Okay, Ms.—" Adrian looked down at her nametag. "Wellington. Do you have a child?"

"Yes."

"I figured. I'm not losing my job because Border are dragging their feet. They said get a kid; I'm doing it. Tell me more about them, Ms. Wellington. I'm sure we can swing by today."

The investigator swallowed hard, nervous. "L—look, I don't need protective services breathing down my neck again. Just take the damn kid and get out of here already."

With a lightened expression, Adrian extended her arms toward the boy, who leaped to his feet and latched onto Adrian's leg. She scooped him up and left the room. Now she just needed to get the car.

She followed the signs toward the impound lot. Arriving at the impound desk, a young guard was watching scantily clad women dance around on a holographic display. His earbuds blasted lively, albeit sultry tunes. Adrian cleared her throat and smacked her hand on the countertop. The officer scoffed and reluctantly looked up from his entertainment.

"What." The young guard blurted with absolute disinterest.

"I got personal effects and a vehicle for transfer." Adrian spoke with authority while bobbing the boy to keep him calm.

The guard scoffed and looked over to the terminal. "I only got one today. One-one-seven-eight?"

Adrian looked down at the clipboard she pressed against the boy to hold him up. It was the last four of the incident number.

"Yep, one-one-seven-eight."

The guard turned around to a small locker, scooped her stuff out, and dropped it on the counter with resentment. Adrian grabbed everything and jammed it in her pocket, not finding the revolver.

"There was a firearm noted here." She struggled to keep her authoritative decorum, fearful of what he was to say.

"Not my department, go down to the cage on B2 and see if they'll pony it up." The guard returned to staring at the holographic dancers.

Adrian turned her head and let out an unspoken curse. She couldn't risk trying to figure out where to locate the gun cage. And even if it was found quickly, she didn't know how long the angel would keep the guards occupied.

"Where's the impound lot?" Adrian looked around.

The guard extended an arm and pointed out the double doors a few steps from his chair. "You want me to show you where the impound desk is too?" He was sitting at the impound desk.

"Yeah, draw me a map." Adrian spoke with venom and threw open the doors.

Outside, it was a dusty concrete lot. Rows and rows of impounded cars were lined side-by-side inside a chain link fence enclosure. There was a small booth with a guard inside, next to a rolling gate. The last hurdle to jump in order to get out of here. Adrian looked around for her car but didn't need to work very hard, seeing two impound lot mechanics standing in front of it and chuckling at each other.

"This thing's an antique, man." One mechanic chuckled.

"You think Mitch would let me scoop the keys? This baby will purr." The other squatted down, staring at the hood.

They both turned to Adrian and stared. She flashed her badge. "Transfer, clear out."

They both groaned and left. After securing the boy in the car, she plopped in the seat, depressed the clutch and gas, and started it up, letting it roar past the redline. Easing it out of its parking spot, she smirked, watching from the rear view as the mechanics threw up their hands in desperation and watched her leave.

With a flash of her badge, the booth guard opened the gate and she pulled onto the four-lane avenue leading from the wall. At its intersection was the six-lane highway that wrapped around and through the city. She pulled out into the empty intersection and waited at the red light. The sweet taste of freedom overpowered the smoggy, bitter, acidic taste that was the polluted New Downtown air.

As soon as it turned green, and the intersecting traffic stopped, she pulled out onto the highway. Then, a blast of sirens rang out and a swarm of police cars hurdled into the intersection.

 

[machinedhearts]

It was days after she'd returned the boy to her family. Adrian walked down the dingy, dirty streets of New Downtown, feeling bittersweet about the ordeal. On one hand, she got the kid back to his family with only a few bumps and bruises. But as she stepped beneath the brown-stained scaffolding, the neon of a noodle shop sign bathing her in ostentatious advert, Adrian found herself bothered by the whole ordeal. Dirty electric cars whirred behind her on the avenue, stirring her disgruntled spirit as their ineffectual whirring cried out just over rubber meeting road. The ringleader somehow got away. When she parted the wall at the tenement ruins, the tweaker she iced was just some lackey.

The thought of missing her mark caused her gut to tense. Then a resounding gurgle. Adrian hadn't eaten in a few days, in part sickened by her ineptitude. But mostly waiting for the payment transfer to clear from the boy's parents. As the light crowd of pedestrians brushed past her, she stared up at the noodle shop with ennui. Then she swept her gaze around the rest of the pedestrian plaza, hoping something would catch her eye and inspire motion. With nothing calling to her, she relented and entered the noodle shop, frustrated at its convenience and inevitable draw. It was the first restaurant nearest her apartment building. And Adrian's frequent haunt.

"Era shy ma say." The lone cook shouted from behind the microscopic counter of the crammed noodle shop, steam from the broth pots rising behind him.

"Hey Shinji." Adrian let off with a depressed tone.

"Detective—"

"Not anymore, remember?" Her depressive tone worsened.

"Oh, sorry! Uh—"

"Just Adrian is fine."

"Ms. Adrian. The usual?" The cook gave a bright smile.

"The usual, please."

"One 'existential dread', coming up." The cook shifted and began preparing behind the counter.

"Extra spicy. I need something to take the edge off."

Before she could find the credit chip in her plastic-framed wallet, the cook produced a tall, clear cup of soup with lots of noodles. On top, the image of a smiling face was created from two halves of a hard-boiled egg and thin strips of nori, dried seaweed. In the middle of the cup, a deep red pepper paste began to disperse into the broth. She hovered her chip over the little black box of a reader with some anxiety, worried the payment wouldn't clear for some reason. When the register emitted a chirp as it accepted the payment, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Thanking the cook and scooping up a pair of chopsticks with her meal, she rushed out the door. Not that there was room in there to eat anyways, but she was on a mission to scrounge up some more work. Before her bank account was sapped dry by bills, this time. The spice of her meal eased her spiritual funk and put a bit of spring in her step and some sweat on her face.

As she came to the next street corner and waited for the pedestrian light to change, an old panhandler laid out a portable tv on his blanket and was playing the news. He wore dirty once-neon-dyed clothes. Sitting on the blanket, his long white beard reached the ground.

Today's top story: a brutal raid on the southern border gate leaves four dead and dozens hospitalized. In an early morning attack, an organized crime group, yet to be identified, laid siege to the district 27 entry plaza.

The pedestrian signal blared to indicate crossing was safe. Adrian couldn't take her eyes off the television. It showed the entire facility engulfed in flames and bellowing smoke. Nothing like that happened when she was there. It must have happened much later.

Sources tell us that the facility was assaulted sometime on the 27th…

That was the date she crossed the border.

…at around 6am…

That was about the time too.

…a massive, orchestrated strike on the facility resulted in fatalities and chaos. During the defense, four border security officers lost their lives.

The news broadcast changed to show the service portraits of the four officers. One of them was the inspector that interrogated Adrian that day. Her eyes widened with shock and mouth agape. There was no way that door hit him hard enough to kill him. At least when she swiped his badge, he was still breathing, just out cold.

These brave men, while fighting in the brutal and relentless gun battle, lost their lives.

Adrien scratched her head with the back of one of her chopsticks. So this assault somehow happened before she arrived? Something didn't add up.

"Hey, no window browsing. This ain't a free public service." The beggar shouted. "Pay up."

Frustrated by her train of thought being derailed, Adrian took a scoop of her spicy meal and grumbled. "Fine, you want a tip?" She spoke with her mouth full.

The beggar nodded.

"It's illegal to show any news or entertainment broadcast in public. That comes with a punishment of a fine of 10,000 credits and 7 to 10 years in prison." Adrian swallowed her bite. "So here's my tip: you're only allowed to play commercials in public. Do that instead."

The beggar frowned and then looked down at his TV. Then with hesitation, changed the station to blare a commercial for a caffeinated, sweet nicotine drink Faista. A bunch of hula girls against a tropical setting danced and sipped the light orange beverage, letting out refreshed sighs and giving bright smiles.

On cue, Adrian spoke the tagline in unison with the announcer. "Faista. It's nice, yeah?" Then she bent down and swiped a few credits to the beggar. "Don't get caught, old timer."

Then she spun and jogged across the street just as the green crossing light was blinking to turn red to stop pedestrian traffic. She panicked, feeling dumb in caving to the impulse to cross, jaywalking was an automatic deduction of credits. As the red flashed, her feet planted on the opposite curb and she continued her half-hearted hunt for work.

Finishing her meal, she looked around for a trash can. They were supposed to be on every corner, but the prior two didn't have them. At the far end of the block, she spotted a row of garbage collection points. As she approached, a cyclone of litter was swept up in the dirty New Downtown air. It smacked and slid across the dark tinted windows of the skyscrapers, swirling up higher and then over the road. Then the wind died, and it began to rain garbage, a normal sight. Resisting the temptation to litter, she reached the bins and deposited the remnants of her meal in the circular bin and slapped her hands together to free them of residue.

A rough voice called out behind her. "Hey baby, you lookin' to make some money?"

The short answer was yes. The long answer was yes, but not how he was implying. She pivoted on her heels and found a faux-fur-lined coated man looming over her. He looked much taller because of his oversized platform shoes. Though Adrian wasn't sure why he was wearing white faux fur when there was enough real, dark hair bursting from the deep v-taper of his purple shirt. He strutted around Adrian, taking in her features.

"You need some work, but you might be just fun enough to keep around." He continued.

"I'm plenty of fun." Adrian stuck out her foot.

The lengthy gait of his raised shoe caught. With panicked clops, he swayed and stomped in a bid to stay upright, arms extended. He looked like a newborn deer just learning to walk. After staggering and stumbling, the man finally righted himself and grimaced at the chuckling Adrian. He produced a red polymer cane from under his armpit and brandished it.

"You bitch." He snarled and produced a long knife from its handle.

Adrian reached for her gun under her leather jacket. Then came to remember it had been confiscated at the border. Her light expression faded, and she leaped backwards.

As the man readied to strike, a stranger closed on him and latched onto his wrist.

"That will be quite enough." A gentleman appeared.

He wore a navy suit, well-combed and parted blonde hair, blue eyes. Definitely wasn't a corpo, just a well-dressed man. With the clench of his fist, the gentleman squeezed the weapon from the assailant's hand and the knife fell to the ground. The assailant whimpered.

"I don't ever want to see you around here again." The gentleman's firm, authoritative tone pierced.

Without another word, the assailant fled. The gentleman produced a handkerchief and picked up the knife with two fingers, then deposited it into the waste disposal bin not far from the corner.

"A dreadful situation." He flicked the cloth and placed it back into his pocket. "Almsworth Penniford. My good friends calm me Alm, for short." The gentleman extended his hand.

Adrian couldn't take her eyes off his face. He was overwhelmingly handsome. In a way, it almost made her envious as to how radiant he was compared to her. With a gasp and batting eyes, she reached out and accepted his hand. She was enraptured.

Then her phone rang and snapped her back to reality. Excited it might be a client, she immediately picked up. The voice started to speak before she could jump into her private investigator spiel.

"A mutual friend gave me your number." A gruff old man was the caller. "I hear you believe in angels. Morioka Park, one hour. Don't be late."

The caller hung up and Adrian stared at the receiver in shock.

"Bad news?" Alm inquired meekly.

Adrian pocketed her phone and her mood soured at the fact she would miss the opportunity to converse with the beautiful man in front of her.

"I don't know, but I must go. Thank you again for your help." Adrian bolted across the street and raced for the park, halfway across town.

"Don't mention it, Adrianna." Alm muttered.

 

[machinedhearts]

As Adrian crossed through the gate to District 26, she really wished that she had her pistol. District 27, home, was a modest section of New Downtown. It had its share of troublemakers and unscrupulous behavior, but District 26 was one step away from a maximum-security prison. Everything was coated in a layer of brown. Be it from ancient cars, piles of garbage heaved into empty lots, or how the multi-story brick structures were boarded up. It was a little slice of outside the wall but with the added iron grip of the consortium prying into everything. Adrian preferred the outskirts over this place. But Morioka Park was in District 26.

The armored corporate police, with long tinted visors and bearing batons, stood around the metal turnstile gate and stared a hole in her head. Adrian began to wonder if this was some elaborate ploy to put her down. She paused and considered going back.

"Keep moving." An amplified cop's voice boomed at Adrian.

She pressed forward through the long chain-link fence corridor that led into the district proper. Looking through to the exit gate to District 27, she found a group of armored cops beating someone down with their batons and jabbing them with the electric prodders beneath the grip. Seeing those in line standing there with impatience while a pair of criminals weaved through the crowd and rummaged through pockets, she decided that maybe going to the park would take enough time to let that sort itself out.

As she stepped out onto the asphalt of the street bisected by the separator that isolated District 26 from District 27, she traced the safest path. The raised concrete staircases jutting out from the worn-down brick residentials were lined with loiterers sitting and standing around, eyeing with aggression and want. They were dressed like Skabs, with sleeveless denim jackets adorned with metal spikes. Neon mohawks of various colors—green, pink, red. Though most of them weren't modded. Wannabes, or initiates. Adrian couldn't tell which and didn't care to find out.

Leaning against one of the brick buildings with an alley, she found it surprisingly empty. An opportune crossroad. She could take her chances and try to blend in with the downtrodden crowds. Her attire was too clean, where the rest of the pedestrian traffic's worn and second-hand outerwear meshed with the environment, she stuck out. The only thing old on her was her father's leather jacket, and it mostly kept its charcoal sheen. Adrian's red denim pants and knee-high brown leather boots she bought recently screamed for someone to go after her. The alley was the safest bet, so she entered.

Halfway through, she heard a commotion from the way she came, and saw silhouettes lingering around the alleyway entrance. She picked up her pace and pushed for the outlet of the close-quarters space, her shoulders almost brushing against the brick walls on each side. In a mild jog, she heard footsteps and found a group now pressing on in pursuit.

The only advantage she had now was size. Adrian's pursuers were tall and bounced off the walls, running shoulder-first in order to fit and struggled to keep pace. She was running at a full sprint without a problem. But that advantage quickly came to an end as she exited the alley.

Ahead of her was a chain-link fence into an open, sandy field piled high with garbage. Atop the refuse mountain peeked a giant advertisement for Faista, its neon segments animated a bottle of soda dancing back and forth on top of a huge hovering quadcopter over the district's city center. Well above the multitude of dilapidated skyscrapers bunched together in a pitiful skyline.

The only way out was down the pathway that passed the raised stoops leading into the back doors of the brick residences. Adrian sprinted and found another alley, both tight and empty. She tilted her head back in frustration and above her, embedded into the building, were ancient, rusty air conditioning units. She bolted into the alleyway and then began scaling the tight walls, spread eagle. Then Adrian plopped herself on the unit, which creaked as she placed her weight down, and pinned her feet against the wall on the opposite side of the alley.

Four men stopped at the mouth of the alleyway and looked around, frustrated.

"Go that way, find her." One of the Skab-wannabes shouted and pointed down the alley.

Two in the group rushed down the passage, one after the other, each too wide. They ran shoulder-first back toward the main street, their metal spikes scraped the brick walls as they rushed along. The leader then pointed along the empty lot, in parallel with the residentials, to signal which way to go. His partner took off. The last wannabe ganger was alone, and paced, clearly distraught.

Then the display embedded in his wrist started to ring, signaling a phone call. He jumped, nervous and spooked. It might have been drugs, but he didn't look to be tweaking. He reached down to the display etched into his flesh and accepted the call.

"Yeah." The wannabe answered. He stood in silence for a moment. "We found her; we're going after her now." Then the wannabe sputtered. "L—look man, we're going to get her. Y—y—you don't have to do that; she'll be in your hands soon."

There was a long pause. "I understand." He hushed out fearfully.

On his wrist, the call indicated that it ended. The caller hung up. As the wannabe spun and let out a stream of expletives, the AC unit that Adrian propped herself up on let out a whine and a groan, then part of the rusty metal snapped and jolted. The wannabe spun and looked up.

Thinking fast, Adrian threw herself feet-first down upon the wannabe, a little over a story off the ground. She smashed into his chest, and he slammed into the ground. Without a tumble, she landed hard, and her ankles ached. She scrambled and put a boot on his throat after recovering quickly.

"Who sent you?" Adrian hushed out with venomous authority.

As the wannabe reached toward his belt, Adrian dug the toe of her boot into his neck and inhaled sharply, to let him know she was ready to snuff him. He capitulated and raised his hands, sputtering labored breaths.

"I won't ask again."

He gurgled something. She eased her foot.

"I can't tell you. They'll kill me." The wannabe's arms shook with terror as he spoke.

"And if you don't tell me, I'll kill you." She leaned weight on her foot, and he gurgled in agony.

Then she let off pressure.

"La Monahan." He gasped for air. "Brenaough La Monahan."

She heard that name somewhere. Or saw it. It was on that data chip she'd swiped from the tweaker's hideout when she was rescuing the boy on her last job. He was an antique dealer for the richest of the rich. Maybe he figured out somehow that she had dirt on him and wanted to settle business.

"What does he want with me?" She let out a muffled, grizzled tone and began to put more weight on the leg that pinned the wannabe.

"I don't know." The wannabe writhed and weakly grasped her leg, gasping for air. "He has my sister."

She squinted, skeptical but curious about this otherwise random factoid. "How old is she?" Adrian eased her foot.

"Seven." He grunted, breathing and drooling. "She's seven. They snatched her when she was going to school."

Adrian didn't like what she stumbled upon. What would an antique dealer want with kids? No, that was a stupid question. The fool under her heel, and his family, were set to get ground to chum by the inner workings of this degenerate city.

"What's your name?" Adrian slid her boot down to his chest.

Relief washed over his face as his head rolled to the side, grateful for air. "Donnie."

"And your sister's?"

"Sarah. Sarah MacDonell."

"Do you have a picture?" Adrian readied to stand on his neck if he tried anything stupid.

With splayed arms, he reached up and over his head and tapped on the display embedded into his arm. Then reached up to her and offered a data transfer.

Adrian pulled her phone out and engaged sandbox mode. If this dummy was going to try something, he was dead. She pulled a thin wire from the bezel and jabbed it into the connector port of his arm, beneath his elbow, unenthused about wireless transfer. After the connection, receiving three pictures, two portraits of a young girl with light brown hair flashed on the screen, taken candidly. The third picture was of them, Sarah and Donnie, together. Her birthday party.

The pictures seemed legitimate. It was too elaborate of a hoax to be spontaneously produced like this. Adrian was convinced.

"Who's your outfit? What gang do you roll with?" She looked at him with disapproval.

"La Monahan wanted me to join the Skabs, said he needed good business partnership with them, and I was his guy."

"And you believed him?"

"What choice did I have?" Donnie looked away with regret.

Adrian let her foot off him and pointed at his arm-display. "I have your information. I'm a private investigator. My sense is that this guy has a grudge against me and that's why you're here." She stared at him for a moment, contemplating her next words. "I can help get your sister back."

"How? This guy's everywhere."

"And he lost a kid to me, just this week. I got him back safely."

Donnie paused, blinking in thought. "I—I don't have any money."

Adrian leaned down and stared at him. "You're going to have to turn your brain on if you ever want to see your sister again."

"W—what do you want?"

"You're my inside guy now." Adrian looked at the chain-link fence just beyond the alleyway's entrance, and the trash piles which she could evade the rest of this guy's goons. "We'll be in touch when I find out more."

The thought of doing pro-bono work churned her guts, but considering how big this case was getting, letting a little fish go to get the big fish was a necessary part of the game.

She bolted for the fence and leaped over, disappearing between the mountains of garbage. Rushing for the park was simple, it was near the District 26 city center. As she arrived, the park was nothing more than a holographic image of a pond upon a concrete slab. Holographic ducks swam around the water, and a kiosk near the entrance sold digital bread for throwing to the fake birds.

At a park bench, a man in a suit and fedora gave her a knowing look. It was her contact. She took the long way around, buying a few digital bits of bread and feeding the holo-ducks. Then, sauntering over to his bench, sat far on the other end and turned in the opposite direction that the man was faced.

"You're in deep shit, you know that?" The gravelly man called to Adrian.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian sat on the park bench and stared out at District 27's downtown area. The unmaintained skyscrapers, several of which had missing windows with wires and cloth dangling from the naked frame. She felt eyes glaring at her from the uncountable number of possible sniper's nests among the tall buildings all around. With a resilient heart, she continued to lean forward, off the side edge and stare at the holo-pond.

"Tell me something I don't know." Adrian lamented.

The old man shook his head and scoffed. "You're lucky it was me who found you first. If any of these other hotshots showed up, your portrait would be plastered all over the missing persons lists."

Adrian rubbed her neck, frustrated at how wrong he was. "Yeah, great timing." Her voice was thick with sarcasm.

"I've got a job for you." The old man bellowed. He was also sitting on the edge of the bench, pointed away from Adrian. He looked at her over his shoulder. "I need you to find what you've already located."

Adrian sat in silence. Regret washed over her, wishing she'd just stayed in bed today. His message was mixed, and she didn't like it. This whole situation stunk worse than a District 12 fish market.

"First you tell me I'm in trouble. Now I'm here and suddenly you got work for me." She turned and stared at him. "Help me out here."

The old man pivoted and sat normally on the bench, staring out at the pond. "You got to have patience if you want to make it in this business." He reached into his suit jacket.

Adrian braced, and glanced over the bench, looking for suitable cover and a way to disappear.

The man produced a leather folder and let it fall open in his hand. Within, a single thin holo display flickered, showing images of Adrian at the border gate. The first was when she was sitting in the interrogation room.

Next photo, when the angel burst in, showed his face was concealed by shadow but the light of his eyes shined on camera. Enraptured by the gaze, she couldn't look away. His words echoed in Adrian's mind, like they were etched straight into memory. Startled by the transition, the image scrolled, and the next photo displayed. She stifled a gasp, shocked by the sudden return to reality. The final photo showed her leaving to get her car.

"Where did you get these?" Adrian searched the old man's eyes.

"The same place some very powerful people found them." He swiped and returned the image of the angel onto the holo-display. "And they didn't like what they saw."

Adrian's eyebrow twitched, unable to force herself to look away from the image. The old man sized her up and with an amused look on his face, tapped the photo. It was a video, and it began to play, of the moment the angel called to her.

Fillia ad me.

Adrian mouthed the words he spoke, as if she'd practiced dozens of times. The video stopped playing.

"Do you know what that means?" The old man let off a curious tone.

Adrian shook her head, enchanted by the sight of the angel holding his hand out toward her, a warm, inviting gesture.

"Come to me, my daughter." The old man blurted. "That's what it means."

As he spoke the translation, the old man's words snapped Adrian back to reality, epiphany striking her. Whomever was after Adrian also had to know the translated meaning of the words spoken by the angel.

"Witnesses are one thing; the people after you disposed of them in the first few hours." The old man spoke coldly. "But you—the only reason you're not dead is the curious case of the meaning behind his words."

Adrian also wanted to know what this angel meant by his words. She certainly wasn't his daughter.

"A lot of big-name players are working furiously behind the scenes to scrounge up any information to confirm or deny. It's causing quite the storm up in Old Uptown."

Old Uptown, where the ultra-wealthy live. It's mounted on a set of huge sweeping support structures mounted in Nocturin City's central districts 2 through 5 and reaches high over the city. District 1 is Old Uptown.

"So that's the reason I haven't been taken out yet." Adrian chuckled and nodded.

"Oh, I think it's worse than that. They got a whole slew of horrible things lined up once they get their greasy corpo paws on you."

"So, what is this guy, some modded out freak? Or a test tube experiment broken out from his cage?" Adrian pointed at the picture, hoping to change the subject and not talk about her potential torture and death.

"No. He's the real deal. Fell from the heavens in a burning ball of flame." The old man's expression hardened. He was serious.

Adrian nodded, her skepticism about this angel's origins flared. But as he spoke, she came to realize that this guy was not your typical dispassionate corpo lackey. The passion in his eyes, the fervor by which he spoke. Either this guy was someone at the top or he had other affiliations. Adrian couldn't tell which.

"Alright, alright. Burning ball of fire, boom." She threw her hands away from each other to pantomime a blast. "Then why does everyone up on the plate have a hair across their ass over this guy?"

The old man cleared his throat. "Perhaps they're afraid he's come to judge them for their sins."

That was a tree Adrian chose willingly not to bark up. She preferred the tangible, the real. Whatever philosophical, spiritual qualms these people had; she wanted no part of.

"Right. So, it sounds like they're pissed at me because they're degenerates. Fantastic." Adrian rolled her eyes and sighed. "What's this job?"

"We want you to go and find him." The old man snapped the leather folder shut.

"We…?" Adrian leaned toward him; skepticism boiled over into suspicion that this was some sort of ploy.

The old man produced a paper business card and offered it to her. It was of firm stock, and the lettering an elegant serif. Expensive. Definitely not the hallmark of any kind of corpo Adrian ever dealt with. She accepted it and stared at the only text on the card, his name. It reminded Adrian of her father, something he used to do.

"Vincent Barone. The stipulation of this agreement is that you don't ask questions about your employer."

"And what are they going to do when their name shows up on the credit transfer statement?" Adrian scoffed.

Vincent reached into his jacket and produced an old pouch. It jingled vibrantly. He reached in, produced two pieces of gold, and held them out in offering.

"A hand-shake agreement. Half pay upfront for commissioning service. Half once the job is complete."

She stared at the oblong stamped gold coins. A piece of gold this thick, had to be worth a year of rent. And all the rest of her expenses. If she could find a buyer that wasn't going to ask questions. And they always did.

"What am I going to do with these in a city that hasn't accepted physical tender in decades?"

Vincent laughed. "I have a recommendation." On the palm of his hand, he inched one toward her. "This would be for accommodations." Then he moved the second in line with the first. "And this will be for necessary supplies."

Accommodation. He had a good point if what he said was true. She wouldn't be able to go home. They were probably already waiting for her there.

"Good advice, but who is going to accept these?" Adrian pondered what kind of establishment was worth a year's pay for a few weeks' worth of stay.

"In District 9, there is a hotel, on the outskirts near the Downtown perimeter wall that has a wide range of rooms at affordable rates." Vincent stared at the coins. "I'm certain they will be quite welcoming, especially concerning the nature of your visit."

"And what about the corpos, they're just going to look the other way once I find this angel?"

Vincent smiled. "Upon acceptance we will begin negotiations concerning the nature of the disagreement, to smooth out any malcontent."

Adrian stared at the business card, then the coins gleaming in the afternoon sun. With apprehension, she picked up one of the gold coins and observed it. The thing was weighty. She knocked on it with her knuckle and scraped it with her nail, to see if it was just painted. No flakes came off. It was real. Then, after returning it to his hand, she crossed her arms and leaned against the seatback of the bench.

Adrian knew that Vincent knew she had no choice. She bit her lip in contemplation, trying to think of someone who might be a better alternative than this complete stranger. Nothing came to mind.

Relenting, she reached over and plucked the coins from his hand. "It's a deal. I accept."

Vincent gave a sly smile and nodded. "Excellent. Thrilled to do business."

As she jingled the gold in her hand, an extra-long, white limousine pulled up to the curb on the other side of the park. Its sweeping fenders blended in with the running board. It had a rear double axel and was adorned with neon-green accents embedded into the rounded roof and quarter panels, glowing.

A behemoth stepped from the rear of the vehicle. The biggest beefcake, modded Skab Adrian had ever seen. He must have been the kingpin. He was shirtless, his throbbing veins pulsed as wires led from armor plating embedded into his skin all around his body. His legs were synthetic replacements and looked like two tank barrels bolted onto helicopter landing skids.

A glint flickered from the frameless window of a skyscraper beyond the park. A sniper.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian froze, panicked at the hulking cybernetic demon that just emerged from the limo across the park. After clearing his throat, Vincent stood and stuffed the folder back under his jacket.

"It's best if we got a move on." The old man stood and stared at the titan stomping their way.

As the modded horror lumbered toward her, marching through the hologram of the pond, he paused, and his arm began to tremble. The giant hunched over, tensed and bracing. Then he began convulsing and his spike-laden fist began punching him in the face, shards of flesh flying everywhere as the metal spikes on his leather gloves dug into his face and flecked chunks of blood and skin across the park. He cried an angry, distorted wail. Adrian snapped from her panic; the sound brought her back to reality.

Seeing the titan's disorientation, she leaped to her feet and began to make a break for the skyscrapers behind her, hoping to lose this thing. As the cybernetic horror grew closer, the wind picked up his stench and wafted the putrid scent of necrotic flesh throughout the area. Adrian stifled the desire to throw up.

"Damn Parastisus." The gargantuan hollered, recovering from the sudden outburst.

Adrian burst into a sprint and rushed across the street without concern for traffic. Rickety, dilapidated electric cars screeched to a halt and blared their horns at her. Sliding across the long hood of the ancient vehicle that nearly ran her over, beige paint and rust sheering off as she crossed, Adrian landed on the opposite sidewalk and continued her sprint. As she fled into the shadow of a skyscraper with windows missing and concrete crumbling, a shot rang out and Adrian cowered but didn't slow.

The titan shuddered as a large caliber bullet bounced off his armor and the bullet whizzed by Adrian's head. Ducking, she diverted her path behind the tattered support beams, the remnants of their huge granite tiles dangling from what little mortar held in place, hoping it was enough to give her cover from the sniper fire while fleeing.

Ahead of her, Adrian found a huge metal barricade blocking the street made from scraps of steel beams and lengths of concrete slabs. It looked more like a pile of rubble but the 'Keep Out' sign spraypainted in glow-in-the-dark orange hinted it was, at least in part, man-made. Spinning to run into an alley between two buildings, Adrian found it blocked off by a flat chunk of concrete. There was no way to climb it, under it, or slide around it. She was getting desperate.

Evacuating the alley, Adrian found the cybernetic horror still in lumbering pursuit. His pain-tinged cries shook her to the core as he pressed towards her like he was wading through hip-deep water, throwing each foot strenuously. The ground shook with each labored stomp he produced. From overhead, chunks of stone and metal rattled from the buildings and smashed into the asphalt around Adrian. She panicked and abandoned any care of what awaited her beyond the makeshift rubble. In a full sprint, she ran up an unsteady slope toward the lip of the wall and vaulted over.

On the other side, she came to realize what it was: a former quarantine zone. Piles of rotting corpses were wrapped in plastic and lined the streets, hastily entombed with huge concrete boulders. These things could be undead. Adrian now really wished she had her gun.

The only thing alive around here was the harsh buzzing of the multitude of flies. Another shot rang out and the barricade bulged from a sudden force. Adrian fled through the winding maze of the quarantine, rushing toward the far end of the zone before leaping the barricade and exiting.

As she slipped out from the dead-end street and onto the main thoroughfare, Adrian looked for any sign of danger while hugging a broken-down pillar and taking stock of her surroundings. A smoggy haze hovered over the residential buildings across from the raised highway that cut through the district. Up a pair of stairs on the sidewalk, not far from where Adrian stood, was the path to the monorail that ran along the raised highway median. It was an express that ran between the districts. Not far from the stairs, was the way down subway, permanently shuttered. Seeing the tram coming into the station, she made a dash up the flights of steps and across the covered concrete pedestrian walkway toward the monorail.

Adrian looked down at the two gold coins she released from a death grip, then to the chip reader. Stuffing the coins in her pocket, she produced her hard plastic wallet and swiped her card. Then a scanner ignited, and she pulled out her phone and opened the public transit app, revealing a bar code. Most people had an embedded personal deck in their arm, that supposedly made buying a ticket far simpler. Adrian refused to get any kind of body mod. She swiped the bar code, and after a few attempts, the app accepted the ticket. But the warning for the train ready to leave the station sounded.

In a furious sprint as the tram began to buzz for the last call to board, she swiped to go through the turnstile and dashed for the closing doors, slipping through and catching herself on a vertical grip. Out of breath, she stuffed her phone back in her pocket and looked around. The tram was mostly empty this time of day. And for the past few months corporate security has been stamping out vagrancy on trains. Despite the overwhelming graffiti on almost every surface which assailed the eyes, it was a serene space.

Sitting down on a bench, Adrian let out a sigh of relief. The dull hum of the maglev filled the cabin and her posture eased. On the overhead trim, through the graffiti, an indistinguishable advertisement flicked, specks of neon burst between dull, faded spray paint. The boisterous, cheery announcer blared over the radio.

The next stop is: District 27.

Adrian stared at her feet and tried to calm down. Her hands still shook from the adrenaline. Behind, from the graffitied windows, a blur whirred past and gave off a near airburst, which startled. It was just the tram passing the barrier between districts. All she had to do now was get off the train, get her car and rush to District 9, the hotel where Vincent mentioned she could lay low. She breathed steadily to calm down.

The doorway between train cars blasted air into the cabin. Cackling and howling men laughing at each other destroyed what peace Adrian found. She continued to stare at her feet and look at them in her periphery. Ganger wannabes, thugs hoping to break into the scene. They were dressed in cut-off denim vests and an excess of neon otherwise. They didn't have anything that outed them as with a specific outfit. Adrian wanted to stay low, invisible. She was almost home free.

We will be crossing a district boundary soon. Please be sure that your ticket has been registered. Unauthorized crossings are subject to prosecution.

Adrian blinked, finding it strange the announcement would be delayed so long after the fact. Oh well, there were bigger things to worry about right now.

The three men strutted into the car and sprawled out along the bench across from Adrian. She stifled a grumble, wishing they'd just go on their way. The three continued to banter about nothing, laughing and smacking each other with hits almost good enough for a street fight. They must have been tweaked to no end. Maybe they were so out of it that Adrian wasn't even noticeable.

"Hey baby, you looking fine today." The one with a trimmed comb-over chimed in with a playful tone, his arms and legs spread, like an ancient king upon his extra-wide throne.

Adrian ignored him, wishing he'd just leave things be.

"I'm talking to you, bitch." His voice harshened and he leaned forward with a scowl.

"I don't care. Leave me alone." Adrian lashed out, not raising her head to acknowledge them.

The other two shouted, mocking both her and the comb-over. The hopeful ganger rose to his feet then yanked her up by the jacket and pinned her by the throat against a nearby stanchion. Before he could speak, she drove her knee into his groin and followed up with the butt of her palm into his nose, sending him stumbling back and blood smeared on his face. His two friends laughed at him and jeered his prompt defeat.

On the other end of the car, the door opened with a high-pitch whine.

Adrian turned and at the precipice of the mangled cross-car door was a hulking figure, dressed in beige tatters. His blue eyes, all that were poking out from his rag-concealed face, glowed against the dull brown sky that pierced through the graffitied rear windows. They were on the end car of the train. All the tension in Adrian's body left the moment she locked eyes with him.

Then the comb-over thug latched onto her shoulder and spun her around.

"You stupid bitch." He shouted, blood and snot pouring down from his nose.

The thug wound up a haymaker, ready to punch Adrian in the face.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian stared at the thug gripping her by the coat collar. His arm snapped back, ready to throw all his might into beating her senseless. She stared at the wannabe ganger, who was poised to strike, still dazed from her gaze into the angel's eyes. Strangely content with her fate, her posture was loose, part of her weight held by the comb-over's grasp on her jacket.

The tram car shook, and a gust of wind filled the cabin. A force drove her back around the stanchion Adrian was once pinned against, and at the same time the thug released his grip on her. She staggered and fell to a sit with a surprised grunt, her noodley legs pressed against each other, feet pointed away. The angel's figure filled her vision. In the blink of an eye, he moved all the way from the rear of the car to near the front.

The angel snatched up the comb-over's arm. With just his grip, the angel broke the comb-over's wrist. Sounds of snapping cartilage and bone filled the tram. The wannabe ganger screamed, tugging with his whole body in a bid to free himself but he couldn't even budge the angel from his narrow stance. With a shove, the angel hurled the comb-over. The thug slammed into the gangway door and left a dent in the graffitied metal.

The ganger with one knee on the seat next to the angel produced a switchblade and threw himself into stabbing the angel. The winged warrior side-stepped the knife attack and laid a pair of punches on the off-balanced foe. Before the ganger could recover, the angel snatched him up by the neon green shirt and black leather pants. Like a sack of potatoes, the winged warrior pivoted at the hips and flung the ganger through the window. With a foreshortened cry, the flying thug slammed into a metal pole and the impact showered the rear of the car in blood.

Panicked, the last remaining wannabe-ganger cowered in the corner, against the twin platform exit doors.

"Hey man, this wasn't my idea!" The wannabe shouted, terror flecked from each word as he extended his hands, braced.

As the angel stomped over toward the recoiling, surrendered ganger, his head dragged along the ceiling, his neck craned in a bid to fit his towering form within the confined space. His wings were retracted, folded against his back but the beige tatters weren't enough to conceal them. Dislodged feathers were wedged between the rough cloth and his body. As the angel closed and loomed over the ganger, he clenched a fist, ready to strike.

"He's had enough." Adrian mustered the courage to speak.

The angel's attention snapped to her. His look sliced her soul like daggers. Gone was his kind, welcoming gaze, replaced by a wrathful, vengeful glare that emanated through his full-face mask made of brown rags. The look pinned her to the floor, filling her with a woeful paralysis. With a slow, panning return to the ganger, the angel jammed both hands in between the door and with an effortless yank, drew it apart like he was opening a pair of curtains.

Adrian watched the traffic of the highway that flanked the monorail blasting past at high speed. Then she looked at the angel. Despite only being able to see him from behind, she sensed a disgust wafting from him. His attention darted around the highway as a flood of cars blew past the tram in opposition to its motion.

Panicked, the wannabe-ganger latched onto the angel's leg. "Please man, please, I don't wanna die." Tears ran down his face and he trembled in horror.

The angel looked down in pity. "Non est duellator." The words came calm, but overpowered the cacophony which flooded the cabin from outside.

After the angel nodded, it calmed the wannabe. As his grip on the angel's leg loosened, the angel slipped his leg from the ganger's grip as if to pry a toy from a sleeping baby. The wannabe looked up with a shred of hope peeking through his mortified expression.

"Mors timidi." The angel spoke with a delicate, inoffensive tone.

With a jab from his leg, the angel launched the ganger from the train and into oncoming traffic. The thug's body slammed into the broadside of a car and sent the wreckage tumbling across six lanes of traffic. As it toppled, it caused further pileups, creating a car-length gouge in the pavement which caused cars in the high-speed lanes to lose traction and collide with each other.

The angel looked out at the growing pileup with a scowl. "Machinas horrendum."

Adrian, laid out on the floor, wanted to reach out. To scream. But she couldn't even muster noise from between her lips. This angel was a monster. She suddenly understood why the corpos wanted to get their hands on him. Hatred welled in her heart, stemming from the resentment of this thing making her feel any empathy towards the depraved lunatics on the upper plate. A tear ran down the side of her face, as terror blended with rage. What a horrible blunder she made in accepting this job, getting wrapped up in all of this.

All the struggle to stay alive in this forsaken city was for nothing. It was the end of the line, no matter what she did. Either she was going to be consumed by this angelic monster, or by the ultra-rich demons now vying for her demise.

The lights in the cabin flicked red and a sharp, shrilly alarm blared out over the wind gusts in the cabin.

Warning: An unauthorized passenger has been identified in this car. Please remain seated while authorities help to identify this rider.

A loud crashing rang out against the gangway door. The unconscious body of the ganger coupled with the deep dent in the door pinned it shut. On the other side, armored officers were fighting to get the gangway open. The angel looked at the door and tensed, ready for another battle. But he turned and looked at Adrian and as he contemplated, drawing his attention between the cops hammering the door and her, he grumbled and relented.

With a gentle scoop into his muscular arms, he hoisted Adrian and unraveled his wings. On approach to the rear of the car, he sized up the exit and turned. He moved with grace; each step was like a motion in an elaborate dance of which only he knew the tune. Adrian panicked, not ready to meet her fate.

Security ripped open the gangway as the angel reached the end of the car. They trained automatic submachine guns at him, shouting for the angel to get on the ground. He extended one wing out the back of the train, letting it wag in the turbulence.

Adrian freaked, seeing the ground hurdling under them as the tram accelerated on a straightaway. She closed her eyes and strained to force every muscle in her body to tense. As the angel let one foot dangle from the train, she readied herself for a swift but painful end in being smeared across the maglev below. A blast of air was followed shortly by bursts of gunfire. The tumble felt like she was on a rollercoaster as her stomach launched into her throat. Opening her eyes, she found the ground beneath them very far away. The train itself, disappearing into a tunnel, was about the size of one of her brother's scale models.

The paralysis of the angel's gaze began to wane, and Adrian began to find her strength again. The first order of business was to latch onto this monster as hard as possible. To fall to her doom was not part of the plan. Next was to get to the ground in one piece. She saw police cars converging on the district tram station below. And that's when she noticed they were flying at overwhelming speed. She had only one option in this scenario.

"Put me down dammit!" Adrian shouted over the wind howling around her.

The angel looked down at her and she could see frustration in his eyes. Before she could follow up with another demand, the angel gripped her tight, pivoted his wings, and he banked toward the ground. They were soaring almost vertically downwards. Adrian's eyes watered as the air rushed toward her, stinging her skin. Before smashing into the roof of a long, stubby rectangular structure, he flapped his wings, and they came to a slow. Then another wing beat almost stopped them in mid-air. As gracefully as he walked, he planted his bare feet on the roof of the building.

In moments, they landed on the District 27 administrative center, the district's town hall.

With a delicate plop, he placed her down on her feet. The moment her heels touched the gravel rooftop, she wanted to fall to her knees and kiss the ground. But there were more pressing matters.

Adrian thrust her finger in his face. "What the hell were you thinking?" Her voice trembled with rage.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian shoved her finger in the angel's face and scowled, furious. The angel loomed over her, wings splayed, and eyes squinted, contemptuous.

"How could you do such a thing?" She shouted at him, enraged at the massive pileup he caused on the expressway. "Do you know how many people you've hurt?"

The angel looked away like a child being scolded by his mother. All around, the sirens of police cars blared from the roads below, either rushing toward the monorail station or the highway. In the distance, a massive plume of smoke rose into the air and began to waft away the haze of the smog that blanketed the district.

Spinning on her heels, Adrian began to breathe rapidly, panicked by her situation once more. She was standing there yelling at someone who didn't understand a word she was saying. The desire for all of this to go away burned in her gut. Falling into a squat, she gripped the side of her aching head, brought on by the sudden stress of it all. She thought that getting fired from the force was the worst day of her life, but by far, the looming threat of what the corpos had in store for her was far, far worse.

It began to rain. As she felt the stinging singe of the acidic precipitation dropping on her hand, she curled up her coat over her hair and fumed at the further bad luck. Getting caught out in the rain without an umbrella was a sure way to end up with chemical burns. Then, a sudden reprieve fell over her. Adrian looked up and found the angel extended a wing to shield her from the burning droplets. White feathers shed from his wing with holes etched away by the rain.

"This doesn't change anything." Adrian took a deep breath and let it out slowly, grateful for the sudden absolution. "How can you live with yourself?"

Standing up, she spun and found him wincing in pain from the acidic droplets, evident through the eye slits in his full-face, wrapped cloth mask. Adrian wrestled with her heart to stave off concern, reaffirming this was a monster who deserved this fate and worse.

"And another thing. I know what you said back there at the border station. I'm not your daughter. I don't know who she is, but I know damn sure she'd be disappointed in you too."

The angel again looked away, a sorrowful look in his eyes.

A pulse of pink light burst from the highest point of the elevated District 1 in the center of Nocturine City, followed by a low thud that filled the air above. Then, the clouds dissipated, and the rain ceased. The Cresica Consortium had a weather control system. Apparently, this wasn't a pre-planned precipitation event.

As the sound rang out, the angel turned and looked up at the massive circular plate of District 1, high above the city, suspended by huge support structures. He muttered something Adrian couldn't understand, then shook his head.

"You see that? The people who control that machine. Control the weather. Yeah, they're after you." Adrian pointed toward District 1. "I was going to help you but—"

She was going to say '…just let them have you' but she caught herself. Despite the horrible atrocity the angel just committed, who knows what kind of heinous acts the corpos would make him do if they got their hands on the angel. Adrian had to keep reminding herself she wasn't on the force anymore when it came to the little things, like routine, or reaching out to former colleagues. But this was the biggest thing yet, her sense of justice and desire for order. If she wanted to hold out any hope of seeing tomorrow, Adrian needed to be far more pragmatic.

"Never mind. I lost my cool, and I apologize." Adrian looked out at District 27, feeling like a slug for swallowing her dignity on the matter.

The angel tilted his chin up and stared down at her, skeptical.

"Look, down there." Adrian pointed at a far city block. "My car is over that way. I've dipped through my fair share of security checkpoints with that thing. It's our only hope of getting out of here."

It was an absolute lie. The speed at which he flew, no drone of any kind could ever hope to catch him, save for unmanned military jets. She just wanted to be sure her car wasn't impounded.

"Let's just—"

A banging on the rooftop exit door echoed out. They both stopped and looked for a moment. Before either of them could react, the metal access door exploded from its hinges and tumbled across the rooftop, then plummeted over the edge.

"Lookie, lookie, I found two perfect little pigeons to play with." The cybernetic horror from the park struggled and squeezed through the doorway.

As he approached, pus oozed from the wounds that latched his mechanical legs to his hips, huffing and puffing in exasperation as he drew closer. The angel squared off and with a firm arm, pushed Adrian behind him.

The horror cackled. "I was worried you'd take flight, pigeon. The chase isn't so fun. But the struggle? That's what makes life worth living."

The angel dashed forth and drove his fist square into the Skab kingpin's face. A dull thud sent the horror sliding back a bit with head cocked. A smile from the kingpin revealed a tungsten grill. The angel gripped his hand and recoiled trying to shake away the pain from slamming his fist into solid metal. Adrian backed away, shaken, as the two hulks began trading blows, the pressure from the angel's strike was like standing near a jet engine.

Seeing weakness, the kingpin raised his leg and kicked the angel square in his chest. As he spread his wings to stabilize, the angel slid back. The gravel on the rooftop drew blood from the soles of his feet and he staggered from pain. Adrian gasped in concern at the sight.

"I have to thank you. Before now, I was growing bored, pigeon." The cybernetic horror spoke with a thrill-tinged voice as he began to advance on the angel. "You can only crush so many heads and cut out so many hearts before the banality of it all sets in."

Driving his fingers into his flabby hip, he yanked out a pair of wires and tossed away a chunk of bloody dislodged flesh. He wrapped the wires around his back and connected them to ports under his opposite arm. "But to finally meet someone who can last more than a few moments. I no longer have to remember what it feels like to live again." A set of metal trenches in his arm, beneath his skin, ignited in a fiery orange.

Small valves embedded beneath his flesh sheared the kingpin's skin and blew off pink steam. Adrian shuddered as the smell of fresh blood wafted atop the roof.

Recovering, the angel raised his fists again and grumbled. He wasted no time and thrust himself forward, hovering off the ground and launching himself toward the cybernetic horror. The kingpin blasted his empowered arm toward the angel. With a last-minute bank, the angel tilted his shoulder away from the strike and began landing blows on the horror's flabby body to no effect. Before the angel realized his attack was ineffective, the kingpin snatched him up by the skin of his chest and leaned in, to dampen the attempt to flutter and escape.

"Now, let us show the world what this pretty little birdie looks like." The kingpin snatched the cloth tatters from the angel's head.

The moment the rags fell from the angel's face, a plume of red-hot flame burst from his mouth and filled the air above the rooftop. Adrian cowered from the overwhelming heat. The smell of burning flesh wafted as the heat dissipated. She recovered, only to spot the angel hastily replacing the head wrap, kneeling on one knee with wings splayed.

Not far from the angel, the cybernetic horror was aflame from the waist up. He screamed in agony but did not move, standing there as if he were frozen, and beating himself with his palms in a bid to stifle his ignited body. More valves burst out from under his skin and drenched him in pink mist, extinguishing the flames. His entire upper body was covered in third degree burns. Charred flesh began to slide off in chunks as he wrestled to regain control of his legs, forcing movement with strained throws of his shoulders. Adrian wanted to gag from the smell and sight.

"You're good, pigeon." His voice was distorted and artifacting with each syllable. He wagged his finger and burned skin fell away to reveal a metal exoskeleton. "I'll give you that."

As his flesh slid from his body, a clear barrier beneath protected his internal organs. Each step further revealed his yet-beating heart among his stomach, intestines, liver, and kidneys. He was a walking museum exhibit displaying the inner workings of the human body. Each writhing twitch from the horror's innards sent woeful shivers down Adrian's spine.

"This changes nothing. We're still playing." The kingpin let off a crispy smirk.

Suddenly a pack of armed quadcopters rushed upwards from the street and trained their gun turrets on the angel.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian stared at the armed quadcopters in shock. "We have to go!"

The kingpin's charred flabs dangled and flecked off as he whipped to stare at the police drones blasting search lights upon the rooftop. He pinned his arms back and shouted with unbridled rage. Then he threw his arm forward. An explosion burst from his left wrist and launched his fist at the drone. A chain link attached gave slack as the disembodied hand tore the quadcopter to shreds, the metal spikes on his knuckles carving through the polymer drone frame.

Seeing the cybernetic horror distracted, the angel pivoted on his heels and dashed toward Adrian. Without stopping, he snatched her up by the waist and they both fell over the ledge of the roof. Adrian let out a wail as her stomach lodged in her throat. The ground rushed towards them. Then the beating of wings followed the angel grasping her with both arms. And the rush of the ground eased as they leveled off and soared close to the street.

The snaps of bullets whirring past them rang out over the stream of air washing around as the angel picked up speed. As he banked and rolled in a bid to evade the officers firing at them from the ground, the kingpin also launched himself from the rooftop. Before the angel banked around a skyscraper, Adrian spotted the horror slamming into the ground and the sonic boom from his crash filled the air around them, shattering windows.

As they flew closer to the garage where Adrian's car was stored, the angel's flight slowed, and they began to lose altitude.

Adrian gasped as she noticed the ground growing closer. "What's wrong?" She moved her hand and felt something slick, warm leaking from his side. Blood. He'd been shot.

As they glided toward the sidewalk, only a few blocks away from the garage, pedestrians panicked seeing the looming presence of the angel descending upon them. Many froze, unsure of what to do. Adrian began to yell at them to make way, but it was no use.

Higher than a jump off the ground, the angel passed out and fell limp. The two smashed into a mass of pedestrians, and they all fell to the sidewalk. Adrian yelped as they tumbled over each other. Panic filled the group of rush hour commuters and they scattered, shouting.

Adrian was stuck under a pile of people. She shifted and began to thrash in a bid to get them to go away. "Get up, it's an emergency!"

The fallen group of pedestrians scrambled to their feet and fled as fast as their legs would carry. Adrian was mixed. It was what she hated about this city; nobody had any concern for another. But this time, it worked out in her favor. Gawkers would only serve to get in her way. As the sidewalk cleared, Adrian spotted the angel sprawled out unconscious on the ground, his blood-soaked tatters clung to the concrete.

She looked around for anything that would help her carry him. Now alone on the sidewalk, there was nothing but empty streets, barren sidewalks, and cold skyscrapers. In a panic, she took a chance, hoping that maybe she was strong enough to hoof him the few blocks to the car. Squatting, she steeled herself for the lift. He was almost twice her size; his shoulders alone were almost as wide as she was tall. Adrian closed her eyes, prayed for the fortitude to carry him, and yanked with all of her might.

Her strength lifted him high into the air and she stumbled backwards as she hip-drove herself upright. She staggered back and slammed into the tinted glass window of the building behind her. Adrian let out a yelp, surprised by the angel's weightlessness. He was no heavier than a down pillow. He had an unnatural buoyancy in the air. Bewildered, she placed two fingers on his jugular, concerned he was dead. That could be the only explanation, as if she knew anything about the physiology of angels.

But she felt his heart beat slow and steady. He was alive.

Not one to buck favor for misfortune, she threw him over her shoulder. He bent at the hips. Running down the street with the angel's wings sprawled and unconscious was like carrying a massive, stiff throw-rug. He caught in the wind, and she struggled to fight against the lift he created, even in his droopy state. It tossed her around, threatening to scoop Adrian from her feet. Stumbling around like a drunk after happy hour, she threw all her might into rushing to get her car.

Outside the old-style brick three-bay building with an ancient neon sign labeled 'Paul's Garage' sprawled above the doors, she laid the angel in the alley just next to the entrance. Adrian looked down and found herself soaked in blood. Panicked, and pressed for time, she decided to roll with it, hoping the mechanic wouldn't ask too many questions. She strutted in, nonchalantly.

"Hey Paul." Adrian called out to the lone mechanic under a partially dismantled car.

Paul rolled out, covered from head to toe in grease and oil. He was one of the last remaining combustion engine mechanics in the entire city. A real chatterbox but a good friend. Once he got going about cars, he could talk a dog off a meat wagon.

"What in the hell happened to you?" He sized her up as he rose to his feet.

Adrian had to think fast. "My uh, lipstick container exploded." She cleared her throat. "Look, I'm in a bit of a rush. Is it out back?"

He bobbed his eyebrows in bemusement. "That's a lot of lipstick. Yeah, it's out back, everything looks good. I rotated the tires and—"

"Yeah, I trust you. Bit of a hurry."

"…okay then. You in some kind of trouble?"

Adrian looked away, getting frustrated at how long this was taking. "Just working a job. Got some things sort out." She produced her credit chip.

Paul raised his hand. "You go settle business, get back to me later."

"I appreciate it." Adrian started to walk out back to the lockup yard but stopped mid-step. "Oh. One more thing. You never saw me."

"Like wanted for murder didn't see you or—"

"For your sake, you don't know a thing about me."

Paul nodded. "I ain't seen shit. I don't know shit."

"Thanks." She spun on her heels and rushed out to the back lot.

In the empty half-paved lot, her car was sitting at the front near the gate. She jumped in, flipped the throw switches on the center console to engage the spark system for all cylinders. The cabin filled with an audible hum. Then Adrian reached up over the sun visor, swiped her keys, threw the clutch forward and cranked the ignition.

The vehicle roared to life and filled the lot with a throaty scream as she revved the engine in a bid to get it warm fast. Ahead, the gate buzzed and rolled away automatically. Seeing no cross traffic on the street, Adrian shifted into first and dropped the clutch after pushing it to the redline. Keeping the tires spinning and throwing smoke into the air, she drifted around the side of the building and screeched to a halt, on the wrong side of the street in front of the alley next to the garage's entrance.

Popping the rear hatch, she tossed aside all the paperwork, and other miscellaneous junk to carve out enough room for the angel to be sprawled out. Then she threw forward the rear seats and hoped he would fit. Snatching up the unconscious angel from the alley, she approached the open hatch and cursed. There was no way he would fit, stretched out.

"Dang girl, you do got some stuff to sort out." Paul leaned against the wall between two bay doors and bounced a wrench off his shoulder.

Unable to hold back a scowl, Adrian glanced over her shoulder, frustrated at how nosey he was.

"You're right. I ain't seen shit, I ain't know shit." Paul spun around the moment they locked eyes and disappeared into the garage.

As best as she could, she wrapped the angel in his own wings and stuffed him in the back of her car. Then squeezed together his legs and turned them to the side so that the hatch would close. The contorted way he was laying didn't lend to keeping his wounds from worsening, but she didn't exactly own a tank, so fitting the gargantuan angel in the back like that would have to do.

Hopping in the driver's seat, Adrian punched in directions to the District 9 hotel. It was a haul and crossed through more than ten different districts, but it had to be done. With a deep breath, she needed to calm herself. This was a marathon, not a sprint. Everything would be alright if she just stayed cool, kept a level head, and cruised to her destination like any other place on any normal day.

With a careful U-turn, she returned to the main street and decided to catch the highway on the other side of District 27, away from the carnage. A slightly longer route but far less of a chance that there would be an incident.

As she pulled onto the main avenue, Adrian looked into the side mirror and saw the twin-axle limo of the kingpin trailing her.

 

[machinedhearts]

The sun peaked high in the sky as Adrian continued her journey, trailed by the kingpin's limo. Of the dozen districts she needed to cross to get to District 9, she already passed through eight. It wasn't much farther, an hour of driving at the speed limit, maybe more. For most of the trip, she tried to forget the fact that the cybernetic demon was on her tail, lagging behind by only a couple of cars. But closing in on her destination, she realized that this had to be dealt with.

District 9 was unfamiliar territory. All Adrian knew was that it was the oldest district in Nocturine City, the site where it was founded in ancient times. It was the most labyrinthine and also one of the most dangerous parts. A rundown slice of history. She considered taking the long way around, lose them in District 12, one of the many port districts. But she was running low on gas. In fact, she didn't know if there was even a gasoline refueling station in District 9. She usually got it from Paul.

Adrian passed through the automated scanning station into District 3 and found herself in the shadow of a massive support structure for the District 1 plate, one of many scattered throughout Nocturine City. It looked like a crescent-shaped arrowhead, with a huge arch that led from the massive toe at the right of the highway, to the heel at the left of the raised thoroughfare. Within the support structure, rows of lights dotted across and stacked upon each other. The internals were inhabited. The consortium really didn't like to waste space.

As she looked up, Adrian could see red and green aircraft safety lights blinking overhead. Squinting, she made out the shapes of two helicopters flying far above, close to impacting against the ceiling of the support structure. They didn't look like police choppers, but regardless, considering their speed, the aircraft were certainly following Adrian. She hoped it wasn't more of the kingpin's goons. The Skabs weren't exactly a civilized group of people, but they certainly were sophisticated when it came to tech, a relentless hive of cybernetic killer hornets.

After passing through another three districts, Adrian exited the shadow of the support structure only a few miles before crossing into District 9. Stone buildings with lichen-plastered metal roofs lined the area. The highest point in the whole district was the raised highway upon which Adrian drove. Cold metal chimneys dotted the buildings around. Adrian wondered if she'd gone back in time.

As she pulled off the highway, not far from the hotel, Adrian realized she'd need to solve the kingpin problem as she watched the limo follow her down the off-ramp. Her attention was diverted the moment the car slammed hard upon a massive pothole in the road. She groaned, cursed, then realized that the road wasn't paved with asphalt. It was ancient brick with cobblestone sidewalks. And the avenues hadn't been maintained in ages, only a solid rainstorm away from the area turning into nothing more than rubble.

Adrian's initial idea of out-maneuvering them went by the wayside. There was no way she could outrun them when she was basically off-roading as it was. She was focused on avoiding the huge holes in the road, many times swerving across the median line to make way. That's when she noticed the limo was having no trouble navigating. It plowed across gaps without much concern. With a string of curses, she flipped the switches for the ignition on the center console and engaged the entire engine, exiting from cruise. With a throaty roar and sharp pops from the exhaust, the car burst to life. She needed to get creative, and fast.

The traffic light ahead turned red, and she slowed to a stop. Adrian fought to keep calm, wondering why the kingpin wasn't making a move. Something was amiss and it twisted her gut to knots. With a steely heart, she peeled her eyes from the rear-view mirror and onto the nav map. Zooming out to get a lay of the land, she panned around and found a section of row buildings off the direct path to the hotel. It was a long shot; anything could go wrong. Particularly that any point between here and the new path to her destination could be completely blocked off, not traversable by car.

A vehicle behind the limo laid on the horn and Adrian jolted her attention to the mirror. Finding nothing wrong, she looked up and found the light turned green. Then a smile formed on her face, seeing the cross-street filled with cars waiting to go. Alright cat, come get the mouse.

Jamming the car into first, Adrian waited for the light to turn red. Then she looked at the cross-traffic ready to go. As soon as the traffic's wheels began to turn, she redlined her car and dropped the clutch, throwing it into motion. The cross-traffic raced into the junction. Behind, the limo sped in chase. With a yank on the wheel, she whipped the car into a slide and curved around the vehicle rushing toward her on the driver-side. After drifting, she weaved to cut into the lane and led the pack of traffic released by the stoplight.

Horns blared behind her, and Adrian laughed, smacking the steering wheel at her genius. Then in the rear-view mirror, the limo smashed into the oncoming traffic and its mass launched the cars across the intersection and into stopped vehicles. The limo swerved and raced toward Adrian's car. She gritted her teeth, angry at herself and the kingpin. But mostly herself. She should have seen that coming.

Weaving in and out of narrowing side streets toward the row buildings, Adrian had no choice but to slow as abandoned vehicles and trash lined the street. Moreso, she could see pedestrians far ahead crossing the road with little regard for their surroundings. As potholes rattled her, she watched the kingpin's limo behind her, much wider than Adrian's car, plowing vehicles out of the way and launching trash as it slammed into the piles. She pushed her car forward as fast as she could manage, trying to keep away from the limo creeping closer.

Adrian reached the waypoint and drifted onto the narrow road at high speed. Around her, vagrants and thugs jeered at her as she pushed ahead into the tight street. Then, in a panic, she slammed on the brakes. This road was also lined with decrepit vehicles, and she was a hair's width away from smacking her car into them. Now in second gear, she was going just faster than a sprint. In her mirror, she spotted the limo sliding to a stop as it almost missed the turn, nearly slamming into the brick row houses flanking the microscopic street.

Then the kingpin's limo backed up and aligned with the road. With tires spinning and bellowing smoke, it launched forward, hurdling into the tiny avenue toward Adrian. At full speed, the limo began plowing its way through the dilapidated cars flanking the street, launching them into the buildings. Some landed on the second and third stories. Flashes of light illuminated Adrian's rear view mirror as the batteries of the flung vehicles exploded and caught fire, igniting the insides of the row houses.

With tense muscles, Adrian locked both hands on the wheel after hammering the throttle and kicking it into third. Now careening down the block, abandoned vehicles blasting past her, a matter of inches away, she clenched her teeth and leaned forward to concentrate on the obstacles blasting toward her.

Adrian honked the horn repeatedly. "Get off the street! Get out of the way!" She shouted at her windshield to the panicked pedestrians.

Despite her double-time pace, the limo was just about to close and ram her. As the end of the street arrived and ended in a T-intersection, she threw the car into a slide and rounded the corner. Then she noticed more abandoned vehicles lining the road. In a panic, she tried to weave and pull the car harder into the drift. But wild with terror, she turned too hard and caused the tires to lose grip entirely. With a hard crash, Adrian's car collided with a hollowed-out car frame.

Her head hit the steering wheel. The passenger-side window exploded, bathing the interior with glass. With car stalled, Adrian gripped the steering wheel in a bid to stop the world from spinning. Panicked, she reached behind for the angel, finding him right where she left him. Wondering if the airbags went off, Adrian looked down and remembered she had them removed, then breathed a sigh of relief.

With head still spinning, she looked behind to find that the kingpin's limo plowed into the row houses, unable to turn. The vehicle's tail was jutting from the hole in the wall. Bricks began to fall as the cybernetic horror slammed into the edges of the gap as he emerged from the car, roaring with rage.

Panicked, Adrian tried to turn over the car. It clicked and whined. The engine cylinders were flooded and needed time to empty of fuel.

The kingpin closed on Adrian's car, only a few steps away.

 

[machinedhearts]

With the world still spinning from the collision, Adrian threw open her door and staggered from the car. The kingpin was marching closer, his charred flesh mostly gone, the transparent shell around his vital organs fully exposed. Adrian stumbled upright, still out of breath, and squared off with the cybernetic horror.

"Oh. I see the little chick found inspiration from the pigeon. Very interesting." The kingpin stopped in his tracks and cackled.

Adrian grumbled; his booming voice pounded in her aching head. "What's your deal with him? Why do you want him so bad?"

The kingpin folded his metal arms and hissed a muffled laugh. "Isn't it obvious? I mean, it's not every day that you meet a dude with wings."

He was clearly lying. There was more to this story than what he was letting on.

"It's not. And I don't think you'd go through all this trouble if it were just merely curiosity." Adrian began to regain her balance and the world's spin slowed to a stop.

"Don't be so naïve, girl. When you rise to where I am, everything around becomes boring, plain."

"And what level is that? Last I heard, you were a corpo lapdog." Adrian pointed behind her, to the District 1 plate looming in the far distant sky.

"That's horseshit!" The cybernetic horror boomed with anger, his voice cracking from the immense volume. "I am Rheodex Khan, lord of everything beyond the walls of this backwater little town." He stomped his foot forward. "I run this place. The corpos dance when I tell them to."

A smirk formed on Adrian's face. She was right over the target. With hands folded behind her back, she paced away from the vehicle. Khan began to track her movement. He was falling into Adrian's trap, to get him far away from the car so she could make a clean getaway.

"That's… not what I heard." Adrian's voice was laced with a flippant tone. Then, she got an idea as the words fell from her lips. Perhaps she could squeeze out some information while distracting him. "I heard from a certain—well no sense hiding it, La Monahan? I know you know him. He told me that you were just another pawn."

Adrian motioned towards Khan's implants. "And this whole setup? Paid for by them. They told me you're no different than a street thug." She sauntered away, gaining distance from both the kingpin and her car, hoping Khan would follow.

"That worm is nothing more than an expensive junk peddler." The kingpin's voice filled with rage. "And another worthless blood dealer. I'd crush his skull in a heartbeat."

A blood dealer. Adrian heard that term before in passing. She always assumed it was slang for modders who needed underground blood transfusions to get their operations done. But why would the richest people in the entire world need underground blood transfusions? She needed to bluff, dig deeper.

"Then so are you. You're his little pet." Adrian flicked her fingers ostentatiously, to goad him.

"I have no need to feed that little pet mascot of theirs. I have no need to hunt children. They already cower at my sight, I want to struggle, to hunt something greater than me." Khan's voice grew possessed.

The car sat long enough. If it was going to start, it was now or never. Adrian just needed to buy enough time to get it started and moving.

"You couldn't even take down my boy there." Adrian pointed at her car and by proxy, the angel. "Had to hide behind the cops to save you. Aim lower, tubby." Adrian beat her chest then splayed her arms and grit her teeth.

Khan clenched his fists and the valves on his body burst out a cloud of pink, bloody mist with a high-pitched squeal. Leaning forward, the cybernetic horror stomped into a lumbering charge toward Adrian. His feet caused the burnt-out husks of the abandoned vehicles which lined the road to vibrate with each pounding step.

Spinning toward the abandoned vehicle to her left, she leaped up onto the trunk. "Come on you pile of obsolete scrap metal, come at me!"

Khan rushed straight toward Adrian, his arms clenched in front of his chest and shoulders pointed straight at her. Just before colliding with the vehicle, Adrian launched herself into the air, up over him. With kicking legs, she landed hard on the pavement and rolled. She groaned; her whole body still ached from the collision.

The abandoned vehicle upon which she stood was torn to pieces when the cybernetic horror impacted. The whine of shearing metal which dragged along the brick road and cobble sidewalk rang out. The mangled husk bore into the street and blasted Adrian's eardrums with a sharp whine. Shuddering at the sight, Adrian was glad the kingpin was not fast enough to get a hold of her.

With a twist of her hips and thrust of her shoulders, Adrian threw herself to her feet and after a few steps, dove into her car. Twisting the key to start the engine, the car starter clicked and fell quiet. The engine didn't turn over.

"Shit! Just start, dammit!" Adrian shouted at the steering wheel and continued to crank the car.

After slamming into the building beyond the abandoned vehicle, Khan recovered from his reckless charge and stumbled back onto the street with a wild, furious cry. As he reoriented himself, the cybernetic horror spotted Adrian trying to start her crashed vehicle. He raised his hand, getting ready to launch it like a missile at her car. From his wrist, spikes burst out and began to spin as it charged.

Adrian punched the steering wheel, honking the horn. The noise jolted a spark of inspiration, and she reached down to ensure the ignition switches were engaged. They all got bumped to the off position during the crash. Fixing the problem, she cranked the engine, and it turned over with a throaty roar. She dropped the clutch and shut her door.

The moment her car burst into motion; the kingpin's fist rocketed from his arm. It whirred past the back window and slammed into an abandoned vehicle husk, launching it into the row houses adjacent.

Convinced there was no way for Khan to catch up, she stuck her head out her window. "Asshole!" Adrian shouted and produced a middle finger toward the kingpin, angry that he caused her to mess up her car.

As she pulled away, Adrian swore she heard a vibrant belly laugh emanating from behind. Looking in the rear-view mirror, the cybernetic horror loitered on the street, slowly retracting his chain-linked projectile fist. She breathed a sigh of relief seeing him concede the chase.

Still not entirely certain that she wasn't going to still be pursued to the hotel, Adrian took a long, winding path to her destination. As she drove, fighting against the pull on the steering wheel, hopefully not a bent axel, the rest of District 9 looked like Khan also plowed through each of the buildings she encountered. Many of the brick row houses were burnt out, or abandoned and windowless. She wondered how people could live like this. Adrian knew that people endured even outside the wall, in the outskirts, but perhaps there was a dissonance with the undead lingering. There was a reason that things were bad out there. But how was it so here, in Nocturine City? Why were things like this?

Finally, after a long, nightmarish tour of District 9, Adrian found herself at a dark and decrepit hotel near the open border of District 13. It was gated with spiked iron fences, a strangely well-manicured lawn, and hedges trimmed so precisely that it had to be done by automation. If it wasn't for the lichen and overgrown ivy that dotted the otherwise quaint three-story structure, Adrian might have mistaken it for someplace far more upscale.

As she pulled up to the gate and reached for the call button on the old-style radio box, before she could fully extend her arm, a buzz radiated, and the gateway gave way. Adrian hesitated for a moment, looking over the otherwise nondescript, ancient speaker system. Then she took stock of her surroundings as the entryway opened. The sense that this was going south filled her gut. Maybe coming here was a mistake.

Adrian reached over and placed her two fingers on the angel's neck. His pulse was weak and growing weaker. She had no choice but to keep pressing forward. Easing the car into motion, her thoughts wandered, trying to come up with a good excuse as to why a bleeding angel was being marched through the lobby. And not only that, but how do you treat an angel for a gunshot wound?

This was going wrong in so many different ways, but Adrian had no choice but to press forward. It's not like a hospital would have any meaningful way to treat him either. And not only that, but the moment they set foot in the place, the cops would be all over them. She was stuck having to play surgeon on top of figuring out how to get him up to a room sight unseen.

As Adrian pulled around the curvy path to the front door and awning, she spotted the two helicopters from earlier. Things were going from bad to worse, and she needed to get inside quickly. After pulling under the entryway canopy, she jumped out and rushed to get inside. But the front door was locked. With a frantic knock, she called out, hoping there was someone coming to open up.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

Then, Adrian felt the cold steel of a gun barrel against her neck and the sound of a hammer being cocked.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian raised her arms, the gun barrel jabbed against her neck. Exhausted and spent from the crash, fear settled in. She was out of options and had little fight left in her.

"Turn around." The throaty and baritone artificial voice of her assailant boomed.

On her heels, Adrian rotated slowly. In front of her was an armored soldier. His wide helmet stretched far down to his shoulders. From his gas mask ran a tube down to a box attached to his chest rig. The assailant was wearing more than just a plate carrier, he had a full suit of black lamellar scale. The gold light strip of his armor illuminated the awning.

"Identify yourself." The armored assailant's voice box blasted.

As Adrian readied to speak, the two helicopters that were trailing her landed on the grounds just beyond the awning. A flood of soldiers poured out; guns drawn. Adrian's heart sank.

"I'm—" Adrian began but hesitated.

The assailant spun to face the helicopters and brought his rifle to a low-ready. A tall, lithe sniper stepped onto the grass and approached. In a skin-tight black leather suit, she had a long golden helmet, a single piece of polymer that reached from the top of her head, just in front of the ponytail that ran all the way down her back. The helmet stopped near her chin, curved like the beak of an eagle. Her high-caliber rifle was almost as long as she was tall. Adrian wondered how she could even haul such a massive cannon around like it was some lightweight carbine.

"That will be all, Tank." She called out to Adrian's assailant with unyielding authority.

The heavily armored soldier raised his arm in salute then disappeared into the sea of gunmen swarming the lawn. Her voice was familiar. Adrian looked around, seeing all of the illuminated golden strips on the soldiers' body armor hustling around the courtyard jostled her memory. Adrian recalled the church on the outskirts so long ago.

"You're a pain in the ass to get a hold of." The sniper spoke with a playful tone as a seam formed in her mask and it split apart to reveal her face.

It was Acara, leader of the Order of the Fallen Star mercenary outfit. They'd met not long ago.

Adrian put her hands down and let off a sigh in relief. "I had a hot date, what can I say?" She looked over to the car and watched as a dozen mercenaries surrounded it. Then she deflated, realizing what was going on. "You're here to scrape my job, aren't you?"

With a deep belly laugh, Acara turned to look at her mercenaries and stared at them bringing up a stretcher, then shook her head. "Not exactly. You and I, we're on the same team."

"I must warn you, he's not exactly a ray of sunshine. He's got a lot to answer for as it is." Adrian pressed the trunk button on her car key to open the hatch.

Acara looked down at her feet with a solemn, disappointed expression suddenly plastered on her face. "So do I. Likely more."

Surprised by the dour attitude, Adrian sized up the mercenary leader with concern, wondering why she suddenly went from jovial to sad in the blink of an eye. With hesitation, Adrian turned her attention back to the scene at the rear of her busted-up car. As many mercenaries as would fit in the open hatch, the group of medics yanked and tugged at the angel's unconscious body without much effect. They pulled with all of their might but couldn't budge him even an inch. They yelled at others lingering around the helicopter for a pry bar. Adrian panicked, worried they would tear up the insides of her vehicle trying to get him out. Bursting into a sprint, she wondered why the mercenaries were having so much trouble.

Acara watched, but turned away, and with a mournful expression, retracted her mask to hide her face.

In a dash, trying to beat the crowbar wielding mercenary to her car, Adrian closed on the group of soldiers huddled around.

"What's going on here?" Adrian shouted.

"He won't budge. This guy weighs a ton. We have to pry him out," the medic insisted.

"Horseshit, I put him in here myself. Back up." Adrian threw her hands out to shoo them away.

The mercenaries looked at each other. Adrian sensed confusion radiating from behind their balaclavas.

"I said back up! You're not messing up my car." Adrian glanced at the missing window of the crushed passenger-side door. "…any more than it already is."

Reluctantly, the mercs shook their heads at each other and made way for Adrian to get into the rear of the vehicle. With one knee on the floor, she reached in and started to slide the angel out with a gentle tug.

"Bring the stretcher." Adrian called out with a disappointed, frustrated tone. What was wrong with these guys?

With one hand on the side grip, Adrian slid the angel onto the stretcher. The medics helped keep the angel level as they extracted him from the car. The moment the angel was away from the hatch, Adrian looked around at the group.

"See? What was so hard about that?" Adrian held her hands out in query.

The moment her grip eased and left the stretcher, it dropped to the ground. The mercenaries lost grip and the angel landed hard. Adrian jumped in shock.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She screamed at the soldiers.

No matter how hard all the mercenaries tried to lift the angel, it was like he was magnetically pinned to the ground. They couldn't even get the pry bar under the stretcher. Adrian looked down in awe, unable to comprehend what just happened. With a careful squat, she reached down for the grip on her side of the stretcher.

The moment her hand touched the polymer, the mercenaries all almost fell backwards as their strength threw it up in the air. Adrian nearly lost grip as it rose over her head. With a panicked grasp, she wrapped both hands around the handle and clenched.

"Where are we going?" Adrian harshly demanded, wanting to get the angel off this stretcher before they killed him.

"Around back, service entrance." A medic pointed past the front door.

As the group marched behind Acara, she shook her head and chuckled. "The more things change, the more they stay the same. All this time and still the need for melodrama…"

As Adrian and the medics rounded the corner, she spotted the mercenary leader parting her mask and staring at them with grave concern.

They rushed down two flights of stairs and into a thick concrete bunker which led down a steep ramp to an underground tunnel. Adrian wanted to complain about the lack of an elevator, not expecting a 'service entrance' to be a descent into the bowels of the land but there were larger concerns.

Finally, the ramp ended, and the group began walking down a dark concrete corridor. Only the mercenaries' golden hue filled the wide concrete space. At the very far end, a vibrant white light shined, the distant exit. As the group got closer, Adrian began to hear a faint choral chant echoing out.

Adrian's aching body tired from the jog as they emerged from the passageway into a massive underground cathedral. It was at least as big as the hotel perimeter itself. It had high arched ceilings and upon them, ancient elaborate paintings, held up by giant gold adorned stone pillars. Stained glass windows were illuminated by hanging candelabras, and on the other side showed nothing but darkness. Wooden pews lined both sides of a crimson carpet which led up to a marble altar afar. Choral music filled the space.

Adrian looked around, shocked at her surroundings. "This place definitely isn't registered, that's for sure."

As the group closed on the altar, the choir fell silent. Adrian searched for signs of who was singing and from where, but spotted no indication there was anyone but the medical group in the cathedral. They came to a stop and the medics aligned the stretcher with the altar, both the same length: long enough to fit the angel upon.

"Place him." The medic commanded Adrian.

Scooping up the angel, she carried him in her arms toward the altar. Sensing that this whole debacle was finally coming to a close, she placed the angel, wings splayed over the edge, upon the marble slab in the middle of the raised platform. A sense of calm washed over her, and she backed away.

Then a bright light ignited from outside the cathedral, the stained glass blasting the room with immense illumination. The choral voices raised to a crescendo, changing from an operatic sustain to a panicked shrill. Adrian cowered at the chaotic noise that beset her.

"What's happening?" Adrian shivered from the cacophony assaulting her ears.

Acara appeared from the tunnel, removing her helmet, and placing it with her rifle against the rearmost pew before approaching the altar. "He's dying."

 

[machinedhearts]

As Acara slid her hand upon the angel's head, the wild cries of the omnipresent chorus quieted once more. From the stained glass, the light faded, darkness returned outside the cathedral walls. The mercenary leader's face fought back signs of mourning as she stroked his long hair. Adrian got the sense they knew each other somehow, but refrained from asking as Acara beckoned the medics to tend to the angel's wounds.

A woeful whisper in the back of Adrian's head said to walk away. Her job was done, mission complete. But she grimaced and dismissed the callous sentiment. Besides, what would she do, go back home and the corpos would just forget what happened? Adrian was no doubt a person of interest in connection with the myriad of things that went wrong over the past day. Thinking back to what the old man said in the park, the corpos were on the hunt for her. She had no choice but to stick around.

"What do you need me to do?" Adrian folded her hands in front of her.

The mercenary leader continued to preen the angel, no longer able to hold back a sorrowful expression. "Go upstairs and get some rest. I have some calls to make."

Adrian turned to look down the hallway when a bell rang out from the cathedral's narthex. A portion of stone wall separated and revealed an elevator carriage, from which well-adorned clergy rushed out and toward the altar. Behind the group now rushing toward Adrian, the old man from the park, Vincent, stood next to the elevator and beckoned her.

Stepping aside and letting the priests run past, Adrian watched as they swarmed Acara and the angel, exerting wild tones in a language Adrian couldn't understand. The mercenary leader towered over them, and despite her sorrow, attempted to calm the clergy and give reassurance. The momentary serenity brought on by the quietness of the chorus was dashed by the panic of the priests. With nothing meaningful she could do here, Adrian retreated to Vincent who was still by the elevator.

"You work fast." Vincent forced a smile and ushered her onto the lift.

Acara's expression haunted Adrian. There was more to this situation than just a simple catch and release. What was all of this? Why is the leader of the most reclusive, most feared mercenary outfit in all of Nocturine City all torn up over what should just be another mark?

Vincent cleared his throat, breaking the long silence. "I take it that hulk back at the park wasn't much issue."

With a stifled gasp, the noise broke Adrian's concentration. "I—" She took a deep breath to calm her manic mind. "I think he was in over his head."

With a belly laugh, the old man nodded. "So he was."

An awkward quiet between them permeated the space. Adrian had at least a dozen questions, and knew if she approached it wrong, he'd give some bullshit answer and she'd be left even more in the dark about this situation. She glanced at him for a moment, trying to get a sense of his disposition. But the sharp-dressed old man was calm and cool.

Adrian decided to try the naïve and dumb route. "So that's the guy. The one that fell out of the sky?"

Vincent stared at her for a moment, then raised his eyebrows and blinked. "The very same, yes."

Adrian opened her mouth ready to speak and the elevator came to a slow, approaching the ground floor.

"And, that lady, who was she? The tall one." Adrian emphasized curiosity in her voice.

The lift came to a stop and the doors began to part. Vincent gave another impartial smile and looked at her as he stepped off the elevator and hesitated to speak.

"…just a hedge. You weren't the only one we hired for a job of such importance."

Horseshit answer. Adrian stifled her fury at how tightlipped this whole thing was. She was up to her neck between the corpos, the gangs, and whatever else had their panties in a twist over the angel. Answers needed to surface, and now. Who knows what awaited her next.

"She seemed quite torn up about the whole thing. I would have expected a mercenary outfit to have a bit more decorum." Adrian let slip a goading undertone in her voice, mixed with a nonchalant delivery.

Stepping from the elevator, the lobby was like going back in time at least a hundred years. Mother of pearl crown moldings above a carefully selected embossed hardwood paneled walls. The air wafted with rich mahogany and undertones of lavender. A grand piano in the far corner awaited a quartet with a harp next to it. To her right was a giant stone fireplace, unlit and no chance it was up to code with how exposed it was to the room. Above it, a grand oil painting of an old military officer standing in regalia and holding a regimented poise.

No sign of anything digital anywhere. No advertisements. Absent of neon anything. This place was a time capsule and seemed oddly familiar to Adrian. Somewhere she might have been in her childhood. Strangely, it set her at ease.

"This way, please." Vincent held out an open palm indicating toward the front desk.

Adrian continued to observe the elaborate embossing on the ceiling, then the ancient golden chandelier in the center of the room. She wondered how this place hadn't been pillaged yet by the neighbors. Then the curiosity of how such a place stayed open. The neighborhood wasn't exactly their kind of clientele and wouldn't attract the types of guests that would want to be around such an environment either.

They approached the desk and an attendant appeared from the back room. A classy albeit antiquated attire. She wore a navy-blue blazer with a ruffle white button-down shirt. Underneath the jacket, a skirt that matched her blazer and reached beyond her knees. A far cry from the in-your-face sex appeal that Adrian expected from your typical skimpy hotel attendant uniform, but it commanded a level of dignity that she appreciated.

Vincent cleared his throat. "She'll be staying in the presidential suite tonight."

The attendant stuttered. "B—but my lady is staying in—"

The old man grunted and shook his head. Adrian gave him a squinted side-eye, angry at the clandestine double-speak he subtly demanded. She didn't appreciate it this deep into things.

The attendant gasped and nodded. "I—I mean that room is uh… occupied." She looked down and flipped through a ringed notebook. "W—we have an executive suite available."

Adrian decided to play along, hoping for some goodwill toward honesty. "I'll take it."

Vincent spoke in unison with her. "She'll take it."

With a confused hesitance, the attendant looked to Adrian, then to Vincent. She turned around to the board lined with rows of keys. Reaching up and stretching on the tips of her toes, she snagged the only key available from near the very top of the board, just below a lone empty hook. Adrian noticed the board had an outline of the entire hotel. And it seemed to be half empty, judging by the missing keys amid the rows.

The attendant turned around and readied to relinquish the key. Adrian held her hand out at the same time as Vincent. Bemused, the attendant looked at the old man. He relented with agitation and Adrian accepted the key. With a smile flashed to the attendant, Adrian looked at Vincent. Tension radiated from the old man.

"This way." Vincent let off with frustration, turned, and made for the elevator.

As they both stepped onto the lift, Adrian couldn't contain her irritation anymore. "You owe me an explanation."

The old man sighed. "Is that so? What is owed, and to what does it pertain?"

"I'm not getting hung out to dry. What's going on here?" Adrian began to ramble with fury as the elevator ascended. "What is their relationship, why is the leader of the Order of the Fallen Star so broken up over a supposed client? How did you manage to bury an entire cathedral hundreds of feet beneath the ground?" She threw out her hands, losing control of her senses, utterly confused by everything. "How has any of this not been discovered by the consortium yet?"

Vincent pinched the bridge of his nose and nodded, holding his hand out in a bid to ease Adrian. "You're right. I owe you an explanation."

"Thank you," Adrian blurted.

With a deep breath to calm himself as the elevator doors opened, Vincent ushered her from the lift.

Ahead of them was a short hall—white embossed walls, golden candelabras, and a marble floor. A lone hardwood door awaited them.

"Look, I just got in, not long before you. Let me explain everything over a meal." Vincent took his hat off, attempting to show a bit of respect. "Get settled, cleaned up. You have my word that I'll explain everything." He sounded exhausted.

Adrian looked him over and sensed authenticity in his words. It seemed she wasn't the only one that had a rough trip here.

Her anger subsided, and she nodded in acceptance. "I could use a bite to eat myself."

Vincent turned back toward the elevator. "I'll be along to come get you."

Adrian slipped the brass key into the door and with a resonant click from the archaic deadbolt, unlocked the door. The heavy hardwood gave way and she stepped into an equally magnificent room. She was amazed, letting the door slip shut. The hardwood walls wide and ceilings high, made Adrian feel microscopic against the backdrop of her surroundings. She had her own fireplace. The chairs, despite being ancient, were adorned with gold and had silk cushions. That's when she realized this was just an atrium. There was more to this place.

Before she could go explore, a firm knock rang out. She let off a chuckle and shook her head.

"Did you forget something Vinc—"

Before her a man loomed in a royal blue cloak and a long hood obscured most of his face. A wild energy radiated from him as a strong gale rushed in from the windows behind her afar.

"Adrianna Solus." He spoke flatly and raised his hand toward her.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian panicked, seeing the blue-hooded stranger reach toward her. Then she looked down and realized he was holding a small piece of paper with handwriting on it and a red wax seal. The stranger displayed it with a gloved hand. With her nerves easing, she looked closer at the piece of paper.

"Lex Dekker. I am here by Lady Acara's orders," the stranger spoke flatly.

With a discerning gaze, Adrian poured over his features. Lex looked like he got launched out of a cannon and tumbled through a second-hand costume store. A royal blue hooded cloak with gold embroidery, beneath that was a rough linen tunic, brown leather gloves, dark linen pants, and auburn jack boots. Despite the genuineness in his light green eyes, Adrian had doubts that he didn't rob the local theater in order to complete this get-up.

"Okay. And?" Adrian squinted at him, suspicious.

"I have been instructed by the lady to escort you until your duties have been completed."

Adrian cocked her eyebrow, confused. "What duties are these?"

Swiftly, Lex retreated his hand and returned the paper under his cloak. "That's well above my paygrade. I am but a simple guardian."

"So you're here to do whatever I say?" Adrian asked with tinges of amusement in her voice.

"Within reason," he let off an anticipatory sigh.

"Good. Get lost." Adrian slammed the door in his face.

With haste, she latched the lock and swiped the security chain over the door. Then pressing her back against it, she let off an exhausted groan. As she stood there and decompressed, letting the quiet around her seep into her mind, a chill rushed across her skin. Adrian stepped out of the atrium, and found the wall of windows ahead of her, all opened. Pure white drapes danced in the breeze. Not wanting to catch a cold from the sudden chill, she began closing and latching the windows shut.

Outside was a view of the port district in the distance. Somehow the typical rancid smell of the bay didn't reach the hotel. The scents of lavender and linen wafted. Perhaps it was just a potent fragrance they used to cover up the putrid stench of the surroundings. Closing everything, Adrian turned to take in the common area, also well-decorated. Then a lack entered Adrian's gut. She had no toiletries nor change of clothes. The thought of taking a shower and then getting back into dirty clothes skeeved her out.

A knock on the door rattled her from thought.

"I said go away!" Adrian puffed her chest and shouted, wanting nothing to do with Lex.

"Delivery, ma'am." A delicate, feminine voice called out.

Adrian deflated and after walking over to the door, opened it with a mild embarrassment. The front desk attendant was before her, holding a cardboard box.

"Delivery, per the request of Dr. Barone." The attendant spoke around the huge container in her arms. Vincent sent something up.

"I can take it." Adrian held out her arms and beckoned with both hands.

"It's no trouble. Allow me."

Adrian stepped aside and held the door open, letting her in. Then, with suspicion, lingered to search for Lex. She assumed he was just going to loiter. But the hallway was empty. Letting the door close on its own, Adrian turned and followed the attendant inside.

The attendant already had the common area closet opened and was hanging clothing on the rail. It was an elegant charcoal dress, with lace adornments and pearls.

Adrian dipped her brow in bewilderment. "Is the old man coming onto me?"

After hanging the dress, the attendant spun on her heels and clasped her hands together. "I don't believe so, ma'am. Dinner is formal, as always."

Feeling like a dunce, Adrian recoiled at the words and shut her mouth. She needed to change the subject.

Adrian cleared her throat. "Did you happen to see a strange guy hanging out in front of my door by any chance?"

Already turned to continue unpacking the box, the attendant shook her head while pulling out a small wooden container. "No ma'am. I was alone." She spoke flat and formally, then approached and held it out in offering.

Adrian received it and opened the elaborate case, which looked to be carved from a single block of wood with brass hinges. Another priceless antique passed around as a simple banal offering. Within were toiletries, some of them contraband, especially the perfume bottles. If she found a buyer for it on the black market, some of these items would pay her rent for the next several years.

Then Adrian realized she needed to tip the attendant. Before she could even reach into her pocket, the attendant already had the door open and was leaving. Blinking in confusion, Adrian found it strange she didn't want any sort of compensation for her effort.

"Are the rumors true?" The attendant lingered in the open door. "Has the Son of Stars returned?"

Adrian's hand hovered over her jacket pocket. "You mean the angel?"

The attendant nodded; a hopeful expression painted across her face. Thinking about what Acara said back in the cathedral, about how he was dying, Adrian squelched the idea of repeating it upon seeing the innocent expectation in the attendant's eyes.

"He is, yes." Adrian feigned an optimistic tone.

With a sigh of relief, the attendant's air of decorum evaporated, and her prim posture fell to a reassured slouch. "Finally, some good news. All hope isn't lost." She regained her composure with a gasp. "Excuse me. Good day." The attendant carefully latched the door shut.

Adrian blinked in confusion at the attendant's response, then turned and stared at the dress hanging in the open closet. It was time to suit up and get some answers. In the massive bathroom, she found a ghoulish reflection staring back. She was covered in blood, grease, dirt, and who knows what else. Divesting herself from her putrid attire, she stepped into the long-needed shower.

After, she found the dress strangely had a perfect fit. As she was contemplating how to put her hair together, the phone rang. An archaic landline which rang with a physical bell. Adrian answered, it was the attendant.

"My apologies for the disturbance ma'am, but Dr. Barone is awaiting you in the lobby."

Adrian thanked her and hung up. She didn't have much time to put together an elaborate hairdo, so after pulling her raven hair into a ponytail, she hoped it could be called good enough. In a panic, she almost forgot about her belongings in the pocket of her jacket.

Looking around for somewhere apt to hide it, Adrian found a small matching purse sitting on the couch. She was impressed, the old man thought of everything. Stuffing her belongings in, she stepped outside, locked the door, and onto the elevator at the end of the hall.

Descending to the lobby, Adrian stepped out to hear a familiar tune playing on the piano. It was an old marching song that her father used to hum her to sleep. At least, that's what she remembered of her father's explanation. On the piano it was just as calming, albeit a bit more emotionally charged.

Vincent stood from sitting on one of the couches. He looked far less run-down than when they first met. And in the same kind of business attire but changed for a dark navy over the light brown that he wore before. He approached and gave Adrian a gentlemanly nod.

"What a relief to see it fits." The old man gave a strained smile.

Adrian looked down and nodded. "A perfect fit, how did you know?"

"A lucky guess, I suppose. My daughter's."

"Oh, well I'll take extra care not to mess it up. I wouldn't want her to get mad at you." Adrian grinned coyly.

Vincent pursed his lips in restraint as a sudden painful expression etched upon his face. With a nod, he looked away. "I appreciate it." He clasped his hands and looked toward the piano. "I have someone I want you to meet. I've invited him to join us for dinner tonight."

The piano trailed off as Vincent spoke.

"He's someone I think you should get to know sooner than later." The old man beckoned to the pianist.

From behind the grand piano, Lex stood up. He was dressed in a tuxedo, something Adrian hadn't seen in a long while. She swallowed hard and clenched her teeth in frustration.

"He's taken the good fight to the dogs up on the plate and is well-decorated in turn."

Lex walked over with a serious and accusatory expression on his face, locked onto Adrian.

"May I present to you Lex Dekker, commander of the Second Arcanii detachment, and Scholar-Adept-In-Waiting." Vincent held a hand indicating towards Lex.

Lex held his hand out with a smug, satisfied look on his face.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian sat at the dinner table, baffled by her surroundings. When she heard formal, she thought of men in penguin suits and women in… well, what she was wearing, a gown. But every corner of the vast underground dining room was filled with formal military uniforms of all colors of regalia, most of which Adrian didn't recognize. It was like a military ball. Somehow Adrian found a way to stand out, even when following the rules. Lex and Vincent sat there and chatted amongst themselves, completely cutting Adrian out of the conversation. Getting a read on her environment, she spotted a trio of royal blue hooded men conversing at the far end of the room.

During a lull in the discussion, Adrian leaned toward Lex. "Are those friends of yours?" She motioned toward the blue hoods.

Lex sized her up for a moment then canted his head to look at what Adrian pointed toward.

"Something like that. Acquaintances." He took a sip of wine and turned back to Vincent and continued the conversation.

Adrian gritted her teeth and fought to keep her composure. She wasn't here to listen to them blab about whatever politics bothered them that day. Answers, she was here for them. And maybe a bit of food, she was starving. But nothing else, just business.

"Adrianna caught a good glimpse of him in the flesh, I hear." Lex leaned back in his chair, a sly smirk on his face. "Closer than any one of us could ever dream."

Somehow this guy figured out how to get under Adrian's skin and writhe his wicked tendrils around. Agitated, she shuffled in her seat.

"Yeah, it was a real blast." Her voice was thick with sarcasm. "Why don't you go see him for yourself? It's not like he's far."

The provocative smile on his face waned and he sat straight up. "It's simple. It's a place I'm forbidden. They'd have me killed on the spot, excommunicated."

"But Vincent here, can?" Adrian cocked an eyebrow, suspicious about the situation.

Clearing his throat, the old man shuffled in his seat. "That—that was extenuating circumstances." Vincent struggled to find his words.

Adrian nodded her head with exaggeration, finding irony in the whole situation. "So instead of corpos running around as the chosen few, we have the secluded clergy picking themselves as the elites. Fantastic work."

Lex scoffed and shook his head. "As if an outsider could understand even a portion of what our mission is, or why we're here." He flicked his parted blond hair and looked away.

"You're right, I don't understand. Why don't you help me out here." Adrian leaned forward and gritted her teeth, unable to hold back rage. "Every step I've taken so far has casted me deeper into a pit of utter confusion."

Lex took a deep breath and spread apart his hands resting on the table as to subtly shrug. "Ask away."

"What the hell is all this?" Adrian waved her hand in front of her. "This secret society that apparently was waiting for this guy to drop out of the sky. What is this lone angel going to do that will suddenly fix everything?"

"Perhaps we should—" Vincent leaned forward to interject and Lex held his hand out to quiet him.

Lex leaned forward and hushed his voice. "Nothing. He's a symbol for what's to come. That it's finally open season on the Queen of Sin." Rage tinged his voice, and his eye twitched.

The Queen of Sin. That was a new one. She'd never heard of anyone that went by that name. Adrian pinched the bridge of her nose; regret filled her for ever having started this conversation.

"Alright, you got me. I didn't study for the test. Who's this 'Queen of Sin'?" Adrian straightened her posture.

Lex sat back and let out a harsh exhale to steady his emotions. "The avatar of evil, she who comes to bring forth pain and suffering untold so to rule with absolute dominion and end all that lives."

Folding her hands on the table, Adrian cleared her throat in an attempt to bring levity in the wake of that bombshell. "I see why I haven't heard of her. A bit too long for a billboard, she should work on tightening up the tagline."

She wanted to quip about how the angel only being a symbolic figure would make him a fine ornament for the hood of her car. But considering how he handled himself with the gangers and the kingpin, Adrian was nowhere near facetious enough to speak out against those displays. If he was just a symbol of a greater calling, then this woman was overwhelmingly dangerous. Something didn't add up.

"So, the angel stands no shot of taking her out?" Adrian folded her arms and leered at Lex. "I highly doubt that."

Lex sat up and his angry expression eased, surprised by her vote of confidence. "I—well…"

"My area of expertise." Vincent leaned toward the table. "Legend says that when the Queen of Sin emerges from her corrupted cocoon to unleash evil upon the world, the harbinger of the Heavenly Legion will descend and beckon forth the Old Ones to once again drive away she of life's bane."

Adrian's stomach gurgled and a sudden realization struck her. "You're waging a holy war against the Cresica Consortium, aren't you?"

Lex threw his hands up in frustration. "She didn't hear a word you spoke." He turned to Vincent.

"No, I did. I get it now." Adrian nodded with confidence. "The goofy outfits, and the whole antique thing, which I love by the way—this aesthetic needs to come back with a vengeance. But this whole… thing." She gestured to the room broadly. "It all makes sense now. You're waging a guerilla war against the consortium in the name of your god. Or gods, I'm not really sure yet."

As Lex let out a defeated sigh and started to open his mouth, the trio of royal blue cloaks emerged from the corner of the room and loomed over Adrian.

"Goofy outfits, you say." The raspy voice of the cloak closest to Adrian was charged with the rage of being insulted.

Lex turned away and chewed on his tongue in frustration. "Adeptus Silas, good evening. Didn't expect the First to be on station as well." Speaking with jovial tone, he turned and looked at the cloak towering over the seated Adrian.

"Of course, a bottom-of-the-barrel arcanus such as yourself wouldn't know the comings and goings of his own people." Silas's voice was laced with venom though he remained locked onto Adrian. "But it is me who is the real fool for expecting you to have a bit more dignity than to entertain interlopers in this sacred place."

Silas bent down and got in Adrian's face. "And you. Allow me to be the first to extend the warmest of welcomes to an esteemed guest. It is quite a rarity these days. I don't know from what machinated hellhole you crawled out from under but let me offer my deepest gratitude for your joining us tonight. Now get out."

Adrian blinked in confusion at the overwhelming hostility emanating from the strange-clothed man. Apparently blue cloaks are sacrosanct. As she opened her mouth to speak, Vincent placed a firm hand on her arm to quiet her and gave a subtle shake of the head.

With an angry groan, Lex stood and straightened his chest, squaring up with Silas. "That's not how it's going down. Back off."

Silas stood up straight and let off a bellowing cackle before mocking Lex's words. "I find it adorable that we let just any rube put on the cloak these days." He then turned his chin up in defiance. "But my dear apprentice, it is… as you say… how it will go down." The adeptus grinned. "As if you had anything to say about it."

"She is under the protection of the Lady herself. And on the Lady's honor, no harm will find her." Lex's serious tone as he pointed at Adrian caught her off guard.

The adeptus rolled his eyes. "Yes, that's all well-and-good but the world is a dangerous place. It was unwise of the Lady to risk impinging her honor for a life so fragile." He sized up Lex. "Besides, if this were true, why would the Lady depend on the likes of you? I wouldn't count on you to find snow in a blizzard."

Lex gritted his teeth in fury and leaned into Silas. "Maybe it's because she knew I wasn't some craven adeptus coasting on his minute fame to save him from doing dirty work."

Vincent snatched Adrian up by the arm. "Time to go." He spoke with imperativeness as he yanked her from being seated and toward the exit.

Around them, the other tables cleared out as well. Lex and Silas were chest-to-chest and all but growling at each other.

"You forgot the first rule of combat, arcanus." Silas hissed. "Strike first or be first struck."

A sudden chill filled the air as he raised his hand over his head. A vortex of frost encircled around him and in the blink of an eye, a crystalline blade formed in his clenched fist.

Adrian gasped in horror at the sight of the weapon materializing from thin air, and the adeptus ready to strike down Lex.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian froze in mid-stride, shocked by what was happening only a few steps away. With a conjured glacier sword cocked over his head, Silas readied to cut down Lex. The omnipresent chorus filled the room, nearly deafening Adrian. Then the adeptus's eyes glowed magenta and his companions evaporated in a puff of smoke. As she stopped, unable to look away, Vincent tugged her arm harder.

"You don't want to be anywhere near this, let's get out of here." He shouted.

Lex rushed forward and jabbed his hand under Silas's arm, preventing the strike. As he latched on, Silas punched Lex in the face and launched him backwards. Adrian gasped in concern as Lex slid over a dining table, hurling all of the dinnerware across the floor, falling on his head. Then the adeptus turned and brandished his sword at Adrian from afar, a frosty mist poured from its jagged handguard.

"Die, for the betterment of this world." Silas hollered, his eyes frenzied.

With a sweep of his free arm, he summoned a cyan circle in front of his chest, about as tall as he was and twice as wide. It had many twisting, gnarled glyphs in each smaller circle oriented symmetrically on the cardinal axes. The symbols glowed brighter than the translucent outer shapes. The room grew darker, and the circle began to scintillate. Vincent's jaw dropped in shock and his grip on Adrian's arm eased.

Winding up, the adeptus flung his sword arm up and launched the blade over his head. The ice sword burst into dozens of razer-sharp shards hovering in a semicircle over Silas. Then each frosty tip aligned, directed at Adrian. With a devious grin, the adeptus dropped his hand. Vincent shoved Adrian aside and launched himself between her and the homing ice shards. The sudden heroism took her by surprise, as much as the arcane evocations.

"The Queen of Sin will fall. And you with her, you weak-willed coward." Vincent shouted at Silas.

The adeptus smiled with insanity. The cyan circle burst and dissipated. Then the old man braced as the icy daggers took flight.

"Bardocucullus!" Lex's voice boomed over the quieting chorus.

Like a wave rising from the horizon and crashing upon the shore, a shadow coalesced from the corners of the room into a chaotic, twisting sheet and dove down upon Lex, who was recovering from the attack. It swept around him like a cyclone and yanked his presence into the vortex. Then like a bolt of lightning, the shadow surged forth into the path of Silas's ice darts. As it struck the ground, the shadow unraveled and Lex emerged in his royal blue cloak and linen outfit, changed from his formal attire in the blink of an eye.

With the flick of his cape, Lex summoned a gale that swept across the room. Tables and chairs soared, silverware and plates smashed against the wall. Adrian panicked, covering her head as debris crashed all around. The darts exploded from the wind pressure and the particles were swept away in the gale.

Silas cackled. "Parlor tricks! I'm insulted you'd dare try and bring me down to your level.

After adjusting his gloves, Lex flicked his wrist and the winds stopped in a heartbeat. "I wouldn't waste the effort to dispose of vermin like you."

"I'm crushed. Though I can't help but feel the same. Excuse me, if you will, that I show you something new I've learned." Silas cast off his cloak. As he did, his black sleeveless vest revealed deep scars etched into his shoulders. "I have to admit, it took some practice."

From his hip, the fallen adeptus produced a dagger and carved a symbol deep into his arm, much like what showed on the cyan circle he summoned earlier. For a moment, blood poured from his wound, but it then quickly seeped back into Silas's body. Lex's face washed over with shock.

"Bardo, get her out of here." Lex tossed his cloak off and it darted into the shadows.

From the darkness near the ceiling, the cloak reappeared, fell, and wrapped around Adrian.

A snappy voice called out to Adrian all around her. "This ain't no time for layin' around. We gotta get going!" It was the cloak speaking to her.

As an orb of purple fire rose from the fallen adeptus's wounds, the world around Adrian faded. It felt like she leaped into a warm pool but didn't feel wet. Instinctually, she closed her eyes and held her breath, afraid she would drown. But the longer she held it, the deeper she fell into this body of water. She clenched tight onto the cloak, desperate not to pass out. Panic set in as her lungs burned from not breathing. With no other choice, her body forced her to exhale. Shortly after, as consciousness began to fade, she inhaled.

The sickly-sweet smell of death filled her nostrils and her eyes darted open. She was floating on the surface of an endless ocean, a faint purple void extended in every direction. The water was flat, calm.

"Boy golly, I thought we were gonners there," Bardo said.

Adrian thrashed to keep her head above water. Her dress was soaked and began to pull her down. The cloak clung to her despite abandoning any attempt to keep it held close. She began to tire.

"You look like you're having some trouble there."

"Yes. Help." Adrian managed to sputter as she struggled to keep her face from underwater.

"I thought after that nap you took; you'd have more energy than that. Well, just stand up."

Adrian wanted to curse at the stupid thing but had neither the energy nor the breath to spare.

"Here, like this," Bardo proclaimed.

An ethereal force swept her up by the hips and plopped her feet first, upon the surface of the water. It felt like she was walking on dry sand, despite feeling the small ripples, that were caused by her motion, smack against her ankles. She bit her tongue, and the pain confirmed she wasn't dreaming, or dead.

"What is this place?" Adrian looked around.

"It's where dreams come from. And nightmares too. Oh, and where life begins and ends."

"Did I die?" Adrian spoke with panic.

"No, no, I don't think you're dead. You'd know it, that's for sure. It's not a fun ride."

Adrian felt a shiver run down her spine and she pulled the cloak tight around her body. "Then how did we end up here?"

"That's a good question. I don't know. Usually, I whip through here in a moment. It's how I get from place to place in the real world."

Behind Adrian, a golden light ignited and lit the sky. Fearful, she turned, expecting some hell spawn to descend upon her. But in the distance, a lone figure sat upon a small bluff. A force then shoved Adrian from behind and she stumbled forward.

"Whoa, whoa, alright we'll go over there then." Bardo spoke with surprise.

"That wasn't me." Adrian insisted.

Like a leaf on the wind, Bardo whisked them upwards, and they soared toward the glowing figure. It felt similar to before, like she was floating through water. In less than a minute, they closed on the small bluff and the figure. As they got closer, Adrian better saw the shape of the figure's silhouette. It was the angel. The cloak careened toward the bluff but as they closed, a force pushed them and they bounced like a ball off a trampoline, landing at the foot of the cliff.

The sphere of light over the angel blinded. Adrian held her hand up over her face to blunt the pain of what was effectively staring at the sun. But she needed to know if it was him, even a momentary glimpse would satisfy her curiosity. Unable to make any details of the angel, and pain besieging her ocular nerves, she relented.

"Is it you?" Adrian called out. She knew it was a foolish attempt. If it really was him, the angel wouldn't be able to understand what she was saying.

"It is I." The angel's baritone voice boomed, echoing out through the nothingness all around. His accent was thick.

"If that is true, then you know who I am, don't you?"

The angel leapt from his perch upon the bluff and slammed into the water. The wave created caused Adrian to stumble back. Unable to keep her footing on the chaotic surface, she tripped and fell backwards. The angel walked forward, and as he did, the golden light upon the bluff dimmed. And she could make out his features clearly in the violet glow of the void above. It was him.

"I know. You who claims not to be my daughter."

Adrian wanted to argue, to set the record straight. But being in this strange place, with such an unpredictable character made her uneasy and she relented.

The angel shifted on his feet. "If you aren't, then how are you here?"

"How are you here, are you dying?" Adrian goaded.

"No. I am dead." The angel spoke matter-of-factly.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian gasped, distraught. "D-dead?" She pulled the royal blue cloak tight around her as she shivered with fear.

"Yes. I don't recommend getting shot." The angel stared off in the distance as he bounced his heels off the side of the bluff he sat upon. "Quite painful."

"Then... what happens now?" Adrian felt lost. This couldn't be the end. "I know, you come back and fall out of the sky again, right?"

The angel turned and looked down at her, his face obscured by the darkness of the void. "That was… long ago. Nothing that happens twice."

"People are counting on you, don't tell me it's over before it even began." Adrian quivered; adrenaline coursed through her.

"And what does that matter? I fought to make this world worth something. Then I was betrayed by those I most trusted. Now I return and it's valueless once more." The angel returned his attention to the infinite indigo sky. "I have nothing to offer a land that loves nothing more than its own corruption."

"That's not true." Adrian pointed an accusatory finger in anger. "Things used to be different, better. Then everything started falling apart once the corpos came to power. It was so fast…"

"If decay is all you see around you, then it's your duty to make things better." The angel splayed his wings.

"I could say the same for you." Adrian bobbed her pointer at him.

A low rumble behind her filled the void in all directions. Splashing and stomping followed.

The angel grumbled. "For someone who claims not to be my daughter, you sure are a lot like her."

"And if I was, you'd leave me to rot in such a world?" Adrian decided to change it up, pull on his heartstrings.

"You already said you weren't. Why would you lie?"

His directness cut through her arguments like the sharpest of blades. "Wh-what if I was? What if some gangers kidnapped me and mindwiped me?"

"I don't know what that means." The angel's wings relaxed.

"What if I am your daughter and I lost my memory?"

"Did you lose your memory?"

Adrian hesitated. Clearly the answer was no, but the primal urge to not lie to him snapped and stilled her tongue like a mouse trap.

"I thought not." The angel spoke flatly.

Behind Adrian, small ripples began to slosh against her ankles.

"So that's it? You're going to forfeit the fight against the Queen of Sin?" Adrian's voice was laced with rage.

"I never said that."

"Then what good does sitting here in purgatory do? The fight is in the real world."

"The battle rages on everywhere. Even here." The angel stood and perched upon the bluff, then pointed behind Adrian.

As she turned, she found a massive tidal wave blocking out the violet sky and rushing toward them. In front, a white light ignited the wall of water. It was a massive creature with many spiny tendrils scrambling toward them at high speed. Adrian froze in fear.

"It's the Queen of Sin!" Bardo screamed and the cloak began to whip as if there were gales surrounding Adrian.

She began to back away in horror.

"Dalmytrias." The Queen of Sin boomed, calling to the angel.

"Meredeth." The angel, Dalmytrias, cast a thunderous voice.

"Not even death can save you from me." Meredeth stopped and let herself get swept up by the tsunami, then rocketed upwards into the sky, using all of her many appendages as a massive slingshot.

"The Sun Tear." Dalmytrias called to Adrian. "Will grant me passage back to the world of the living. Find it."

The tidal wave closed in on them, and Meredeth lingered overhead.

"And tell that good-for-nothing, Acara, there is a price to pay for everything. I will see my debt repaid." Dalmytrias's wings ignited in flame, and he stood, braced. "Now go!"

"Bardo, let's get out of here." Adrian's voice trembled in terror.

He didn't respond. The cloak fell still as the wave grew ever closer.

"Bardo!" Adrian panicked and turned her back to the oncoming tsunami that broke and began to fall upon the bluff, ready to wipe everything away.

She closed her eyes. Before Adrian could scream, the wave smashed down and sent her tumbling head-over-heels. The spin was so fast, it threatened to make Adrian churn her guts out. But summoning great fortitude, she willed herself to not empty her stomach. Then the spin slowed, and she found herself sinking gently downward, a sudden peace emerged from the tumultuous waters.

With eyes still closed, Adrian sank to the bottom of the vast ocean. Then a cold, wet, viscous sensation upon her cheek startled and her eyes jolted open. Now in a mostly dark room, she sensed this place wasn't the spirit realm. A dim pink glow spattered across the contours of the room confirmed her suspicion. As a cold chill rushed over her, the scent of lavender mixed with the stench of blood filled her nostrils. In shock, she threw herself upright in dismay and sat on her knees.

Momentary flashes of light ignited the otherwise dim area. Light fixtures snapped sparks in the distance. Under her bare feet, cold fluid slicked between her toes. As Adrian stood upright, a golden glow illuminated the ground far and wide but was not bright enough to reach the high ceilings. Closing in, she realized the illumination came from numerous bodies, armored Order mercenaries.

Reaching down for the nearest body, she felt no pulse. Anxiety rocketed as, from the darkness, she heard shuffling. Her hand returned with chunks of flesh. A spark lit the room and revealed that the mercenary was gored from nose to navel. His innards were missing, and his face gone. The exposed cavity of the corpse which showed his gnarled ribcage, contorted spine, and hollowed skull caused her to shriek and fall backwards.

As Adrian cried out, figures in the room began to lumber and creep towards her. As she reached to regain her balance, her hand landed on the body's submachine gun. She plucked the sling off the corpse and what remained of his flesh fell apart with a sucking snap. A disgusted shiver ran down her spine.

Fumbling for the mounted gun light, she flicked it on and swept it across her vision in a panic. A horde of undead shuffled towards her at the far end of the room. All of these mercenaries were infected. From the very back of the group, a prolonged shriek burst out. A sprinter.

The sea of zombies was forcibly parted by the hurtling undead rushing for Adrian. Perturbed by the light, the horde began to lurch forward and close on her. Parted like a clothes rack, the armored sprinter emerged from the group and leaped high into the air. Adrian raised the weapon and pulled the trigger.

Empty.

In a panic, she forcibly yanked the magazine from the gun, unable to find the release. Then, she reached down to the pouch on the body's leg, pulled a fresh stick mag, and jabbed it in the gun. As she slapped the bolt handle closed, Adrian lost sight of the sprinter. She wagged the gun in a panic.

To her right, the light passed over the rushing zombie tumbling over a broken table as it lunged for her. With a rabid cry, Adrian trained the weapon on the sprinter and pinned the trigger, letting lose a volley of automatic gunfire. The impact of the bullets on the zombie's protective vest sent him tumbling down to the ground. As the gun ran dry, Adrian found the mag release and dropped the empty magazine.

But as fast as it fell, the sprinter rose again and shrieked.

"That's not good." Bardo proclaimed.

The zombie regained its footing. Adrian fumbled in the dark for another magazine, unable to find any more in the mag pouch. As she felt around, her hand slid through the fleshy cavity of the hollowed-out corpse and her fingers smacked against another stick mag, drenched in viscous goo. Flicking it clean she took a leap back to open ground against the advancing sprinter. Her foot caught the dress. Adrian fell backwards.

Now prone, she was unable align the magazine to the mag well and couldn't insert it. The sprinter leapt straight for her. An unilluminated bolt of lightning struck, and her legs extended under her. In the blink of an eye, Adrian found herself staring at the place where she had just fallen, from a distance. The sprinter zombie clawed at the ground where she once laid. Bardo teleported them away.

"Oh, oh, there it goes!" Bardo spoke with excitement.

Now standing near a wall, the light from the submachine gun lit the area around just enough for her to see the mag well. She jabbed the magazine in, and decided not to fire, seeing the sprinter distracted by the desire to claw at the floor.

With a spin on her heels, she slipped out the door and into the long hallway toward the elevator. Much like the ballroom, the hallway was also shrouded in darkness, save for the bit of light that the elevator indicators gave off. There were no undead in the hallway, but the massive horde was still following her. And the sprinter was no longer thrashing at the floor.

Running on the balls of her feet, as best she could in a dress, Adrian wanted to keep the noise down. A wave of relief hit her as she reached the lift and carefully pressed the call button to ascend. Waiting was agony, as the shuffling in the ballroom grew closer. As the elevator's indicator showed it was growing closer to the floor, the emergency lights triggered and filled the area with light.

The ballroom filled with the wretched cries of an agitated horde, spurred by the chaotic screams of the sprinter. Panicked, Adrian began to hammer on the call button.

The double doors to the ballroom burst open and the sprinter slammed into the wall opposite the doorway. Behind him, a mass of undead flooded out. The sprinter recovered and kept his momentum, rushing for Adrian with a wild scream.

As Adrian readied to fire, the elevator dinged, and the doors opened. Abandoning her attack, she spun and before she could get onto the lift, smacked her face into hard metal.

Before her, a lamellar armored Order mercenary loomed.

 

[machinedhearts]

The armored soldier grabbed Adrian by the shoulders and yanked her into the elevator. With a stomping advance, he squeezed past her and out into the hallway. It was Tank, the soldier she encountered at the hotel's entrance earlier. In the hall, the glow of his armor ignited and filled the space with a golden illumination. He pulled a towering, curved rectangular shield from his back as the sprinter closed. The lift shook as the soldier slammed the edge of the shield into the zombie's neck and drove it into the wall. A pink hue illuminated as its blood smeared up to the ceiling.

The zombie's head tumbled to the ground and its mouth chattered, fruitlessly trying to bite at Tank's ankles. With a fluid draw of the sword on his hip, the soldier chopped the head in half like a melon and it fell still. The zombie's yet-moving body staggered forth and wrapped its arms around the soldier from behind. Adrian gasped in shock at the sight of the beheaded body yet moving.

With a thrust from both legs, the soldier rammed the ensnaring body into the wall. It continued to entangle him. As he fought to free himself, the horde shuffled closer, only a few paces away from Tank. A second crash into the wall didn't free the soldier from the undead's grasp. Dropping his shield, he snatched one of the zombie's arms up. Slipping the sword between his torso and the zombie's appendage, with the snap of his wrist, he severed the arm with the honed blade.

Pivoting with his hips, he latched onto the zombie and hurled it into the horde, causing the left side of the undead mass to stagger and fall over each other. A zombie to his right lurched forward with arms out and mouth agape, shrieking. Adrian let out a war cry and opened fire on the undead. The assailing zombie staggered back from the measured bursts of gunfire.

"Send it up!" Tank's voice box boomed as he staggered back to avoid the bite.

Adrian fired another burst of the submachine gun at a pair of zombies on approach. "Then get on!"

Though she couldn't see his face through the gas mask, Adrian sensed exasperation emanating from him.

Snatching up his shield, he spun and swept it across the frontmost zombies in the horde, staggering them. As he retreated, Adrian lowered her weapon and pressed the button to go to the ground floor. With his tower shield held in front of him, Tank withdrew inside the elevator. A few zombies clawed at him, and the horde began to press its bulk against the wall, shoving the front few zombies farther into the gap between the hall and the lift. The shrill cries that burst from the horde rattled Adrian.

The doors closed, but the zombie arms thrashing to get at Tank got caught and forced them open again with a ring of the lift's bell. As the elevator doors parted, Tank braced his shoulder against his shield and charged forward. The impact against the horde sent the mass staggering back, dislodging the clawing zombies from the elevator door gap and launching them into the crowd. Then with a swift step back into the lift, Tank rested his shield on the ground and grunted in satisfaction as the doors sealed. They began to ascend.

As the elevator moved, Tank's attention darted to Adrian after sheathing his sword. His gas mask let off a blast of air, then snatched the gun from her hand and wrapped the sling around his arm. Then he pulled the strap of his shield over his head and secured it to his back.

"Hey! What the hell." Adrian clenched her teeth with fury.

The elevator arrived and the doors parted. In the lobby, a crowd murmured to each other. It was those in attendance at dinner. A herd greatly thinned. There were many shaken and shocked faces among them.

"This way." Tank's voice box hushed out, followed by a hiss from under his gas mask. "Follow me."

They stepped out and the two moved toward the far side of the lobby.

Two fingers held to his ear; he spoke over the radio. "B2 compromised, shut it down." Tank's harsh, muffled natural voice slipped out through the vents on his chest.

Behind Adrian, an electrical sigh emanated from the shuttered elevator and the indicator lights dimmed, then died out. Tank struggled to navigate himself through the sea of people with any amount of grace. With untimely bumps and unintended shoves, the armored titan inadvertently cleared a path for Adrian. She gave an embarrassed smile and mouthed an apology as each person bumped turned and gave her a harsh expression.

They approached a medical team in a huddle, muttering to each other. In the center of the group, Acara towered over them. Her expression showed agony and she strained to listen as the group spoke to her frantic and out of turn.

"We got another live one." Tank's voice box boomed and he threw a thumb over his shoulder.

He diverted and made way for the medical team. They all immediately quieted and turned their attention to Adrian. An overwhelming solitude descended upon Adrian as the team rushed to surround her and clamored, hurling questions in rapid succession.

As Acara realized who appeared, her pained look melted, replaced with a relaxed relief. "You must have been hiding down there for hours." She struggled to maintain an authoritative tone.

Adrian searched for the words to describe what happened. The dream world, the Queen of Sin, Dalmytrias, all of it. She couldn't even make sense of it herself, never mind condensing it down in order to explain it to someone else. She needed someone who might be able to help her.

"Do you know where Vincent is?" Adrian blurted.

The medical team stopped their swarming and looked at each other.

"Dr. Barone is—" a medic started.

Acara held up her hand to quiet him. "Vincent is in the infirmary. It's not looking good." Her voice was solemn. "I'm sorry."

"What about Lex, where is he?" Adrian's voice was tinged with desperation.

"I don't know—" Acara started.

Adrian closed her eyes with a hint of sorrow in her heart and shook her head, not wanting to hear any more. Now in even deeper than where she started before dinner, and alone, despair began to take hold. Not wanting it to win, she focused on what she knew, what Dalmytrias told her would help restore him to life. Even if he were no match for Meredeth, having him around was a far better alternative than doing this all alone. To make things worse, the medical staff returned to swarming her, trying to find signs of wounds, and barraging her with questions.

"Look, I need you to tell me if you know anyone who might know anything about the Sun Tear." Adrian spoke, hoping that Acara would provide a lead.

The mercenary leader's face washed over with shock, and she gasped. With the flick of her wrist, she shooed the medical team. She turned and began to walk away, but with the medics in the way, Adrian was swamped and unable to move. Acara turned and gave a woeful squint. The medical team dispersed with panic.

"Come." Acara called to Adrian.

With relief, Adrian rushed to catch up to the mercenary leader, who swiped a badge to open a door labeled 'Restricted Access'.

Holding open the door, Acara stared at Tank who was on approach. "Stand fast," she commanded.

The armored mercenary halted, and a frustrated grumble burst from through the vents on his gas mask. He turned and blocked the way toward the door without a word.

Inside, the back hall was a sterile white tile. Uniformed employees made way on Acara's towering approach. They looked at Adrian with confusion as the two walked down the winding path. After what felt like an eternity, and now with the sense that dozens of eyes were on Adrian, the two approached a lone stainless steel elevator door at the end of a long hall.

After a retinal scan, which the terminal was very much so Acara's height, at least three heads over Adrian, the elongated elevator door parted. Inside, the red and gold interior of the elevator was a harsh contrast against the pure white of the hall. Adrian looked around the lift as she stepped on. It had only one button on the control panel and no indicators above the door.

When Acara pressed the button, the elevator doors slammed shut. After a pregnant pause, the lift lurched into motion downwards. It continued to accelerate until Adrian felt like she was on the verge of free-fall. After what felt like minutes of latching onto the rail in fear, the descent slowed, and the lift finally stopped.

The doors violently parted and ahead of them was a massive open structure. The ceiling was carved from slate rock that jutted from all corners high above the elevator door. The walls, partially finished, were covered in giant pearlescent tiles. From the elevator was a grate ramp that spiraled down a sheer cliff to the floor far below. In the distance, steel structures were suspended from the ceiling by girders. There was no way that a space of this scale could have been carved out by this organization alone. A project of this magnitude would make even the consortium blush.

"The arcane down here is wild and powerful. Be careful." Bardo proclaimed.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian traveled with Acara through the massive, cavernous subterranean structure. The trek led them to a secure bunker suspended close to the ceiling. The thick metal structure's exterior was peppered with burn scars and dents from projectile impacts. From under the structure, an open-air lift descended to retrieve them, and they stepped on. As the elevator ascended, Adrian fought vertigo as the ground below grew small. The height at which this bunker was hanging had to be nearly as great as a skyscraper.

What scared her more though, was Acara's silence. The whole trip, the mercenary leader remained quiet. Adrian's gut churned, fearful that she'd somehow made an enemy of her only remaining ally, as tenuous as the relationship might have been. Like it or not, Adrian was at Acara's mercy.

Entering the bunker, within it was an administrative office. Rows of desks with archaic computer terminals, beige monounits, atop filled the center of the room. The outer walls were lined with filing cabinets. The only thing that really weirded out Adrian was the lack of any sort of corpo branding. With this kind of equipment, the consortium's symbol and lettering of its subsidiaries should have been plastered everywhere. Someone somewhere was making tech unaccosted by corpo hands. It intrigued her but also filled her with dread. Another rabbit hole waiting to be dove down.

Acara weaved around the desks and arrived at a reinforced double-door. It was obsidian, and absorbed what light the fluorescent rods overhead gave off. If Adrian wasn't being guided and she wasn't paying attention, she would have mistaken it for a dark room. The mercenary leader produced a pendant tucked under her leather suit and inserted it into a keyhole beneath a small wall-mounted console just to the side of the obsidian gateway. Pressing her finger to the empty console, a sharp tone rang out and a yellow rotating beacon lamp ignited in the corner of the room.

With a booming hiss, the obsidian door began to part. Acara tucked away the pendant and adjusted her suit. A determined but anxious expression was etched across her face as she squared up with the door. Adrian didn't know what was on the other side, but really wished Tank didn't take away her gun.

The fully separated gateway revealed a dark room beyond. As the mercenary leader stepped in, a circular console ignited. It was shaped like a chalice and reached about waist height on Adrian. It looked like it was removed from the cathedral, a symmetrical mixture of stone and metal. Adrian never saw a piece of tech like it before. As she gawked, the door closed behind.

Acara stopped, spun, and towered over Adrian. With two dainty fingertips, the mercenary leader disdainfully plucked at the royal blue cloak and sized Adrian up. "There are only three people who know about the Sun Tear. One of them is dead. Start talking." She advanced, almost brushing up against Adrian.

Shocked by the sudden emotional flip, Adrian tried to retreat from the mercenary leader's closing but only pinned herself against the sealed obsidian door. Adrian stumbled over her words, unable to coherently explain the dreamworld that Bardo drew them into, or how they found Dalmytrias. And there was no way that, in explaining what the Queen of Sin did, Adrian didn't sound like a raving lunatic.

With a scowl, Acara listened without speaking. Then, as Adrian finished, the mercenary leader's expression changed to compassion from that of anger. The sudden shift in disposition shook Adrian. How Adrian's explanation made any sense was a mystery. Why Acara drew any sort of empathy from the story was a bigger enigma.

"We have to get him out of there." Acara spoke with determination and spun to approach to the archaic console.

Adrian steeled herself, the gnaw of what Dalmytrias said to her about Acara ate away any ability to resist asking. "He spoke of a debt. Specifically, that you owed. What was that all about?"

As the mercenary leader approached the console, the words hit her, and she winced in agony. Placing a hand on the flat top of the console to brace herself, her arm trembled. With a deep breath to steel herself, she opened her eyes and stood upright.

Looking at her dusty gloved hand, Acara scoffed. "This thing's a mess." With her whole arm, she swiped, and a mountain of dust tumbled from the glassy surface.

Adrian squinted, suspicious. Her intuition tingled and spurred her to press the mercenary leader. "What did he mean by 'debt'?"

"I…" Acara hesitated, clearly fighting back sorrow. "I made a grave mistake." She turned to Adrian. The mercenary leader was again braced against the console, pained by the topic. "To be counted among the vast sea of my unforgivable errors."

Adrian shook her head, confused. "I don't understand."

Acara shook her head and began frantically punching at physical buttons on a small control panel at her thighs. "We can't leave him trapped in there with her. I already locked him up once, perhaps he'll deign to forgive if we bring him back."

"Locked—you imprisoned him?" Adrian's eyes opened wide, she spoke wild, incredulous.

"I never should have listened to Lei—" Acara choked on her own words and her wild-eyed attention snapped to Adrian. The mercenary leader gritted her teeth in frustrated anger, and she slammed her fist upon the console once more. She swiped her hand across her hair and down her raven ponytail that reached down to her knees. "Everything is falling apart. I've betrayed my husband for a half-baked plan that is crumbling by the second."

"Hu—" Adrian sputtered, bewildered. "Hus…band? Who are you?"

Bardo piped up. "You didn't recognize the Lunar Huntress? Don't tell me you didn't know the daughter of the twin moons. Wow, what kind of rock do you live under? I thought everyone knew her."

Adrian wished she could find his mouth somewhere in the cloak so to stuff her fist down it.

"Just another craven fool. At your service." Acara spoke with irritated sarcasm as she continued to punch at the keys in front of her, hunched over. A soothing beep emitted from the console. "Found it. A few hundred years ago I stowed it at Rocksgaten Burrow. It's still there, thankfully." Acara took a deep breath and calmed herself. "Look, the Burrow is outside the wall, on Nocturine's outer rim, near the Cleft. I don't have enough manpower right now to send a detachment. I need your help."

"What's a Burrow and what should I expect?" Adrian cocked her head, deciding to save digging into how long ago this thing was stored for another time.

"It's a… an Order stockpile." Acara tripped over her own words. "A place where supplies were buried long ago."

Adrian cocked an eyebrow, sensing she wasn't being honest.

"It's a secure location. The most dangerous part of this mission would be getting there," Acara reassured her with an honest tone.

"I'll need supplies." Adrian hoped to scrape a bit more for the effort, on top of the payment she was owed for bringing in Dalmytrias.

"The quartermaster will be informed." Acara turned and walked to a wall-mounted display across the room from Adrian. She poked it after inserting her key and the wall parted. "For now, use this saferoom and get some rest. Depart early morning tomorrow."

Adrian walked over and peeked inside. It was a drafty looking metal room with a lone bunk, ancient rusty lockers, a footlocker, and an archaic bathroom. She questioned if the plumbing even worked in such a place. A looming dread welled that she couldn't sleep in the executive suite. But the thought of the gnashing teeth of the horde that awaited in the hotel's basement gave her shivers and decided to take the damp saferoom over the risk of being attacked in her sleep by the undead.

Adrian stepped in, hoping she wouldn't regret it.

"I'll have someone bring your effects down. Good luck tomorrow." Acara turned and departed as the room sealed.

Sitting on the bed, Adrian was still riled up from the day. She wondered if she'd be able to sleep, with the adrenaline worn off and her nerves unfraying. Looking around, she got up and began to pace around, looking at the lockers. Curiosity set in and she began to investigate, seeking any sign of cameras that might be prying.

Convinced there were none in the room, Adrian began to pluck at each of the doors on the locker, finding them each with uninteresting articles of clothing, save for one which had a couple of leather suits hung within. This was definitely a place Acara frequently stayed. Pacing back toward the bed, she found the footlocker with a padlock on it. But it was unlocked.

With yet one more look around the room to be entirely sure she wasn't being spied on, Adrian feigned accidentally knocking the padlock off the hook with her toe. Then she squatted down and flipped the box open. She hoped to find something juicy, a bit of leverage in case things went wrong. Her intent wasn't to keep blackmail but just something that might take the edge off a prickly situation.

Adrian's jaw dropped. Her face was awash with shock. Inside was a cache of pictures. Older pictures, of Adrian. And of her estranged brother, Thomas. Some of the pictures were from when Adrian was very young, and her aunt Leiel were closer. Leiel was like a mother to her, and they were always together after Adrian's parents died. The footlocker had all of Adrian's service portraits, and a picture of the news articles mentioning her promotions.

The pictures of Thomas were of him and Acara, together in the same way Adrien and Leiel were together, taken as a family. Adrian and Thomas were never close. Adrian looked him up after finding out she had a sibling from the police background check. He was always quite distant with her for some reason, despite her desire to reconnect.

The footlocker had all of his accomplishments. Including the many diplomas that Thomas earned. From what little she gleaned from him; he wasn't big on accolades. She wondered if he'd just surrendered them to Acara. The photos showed Thomas was far closer to Acara. A sense of loss filled Adrian's heart.

At the very bottom of the footlocker were two old newspaper clippings. One, she recognized. The picture of a car consumed by an inferno. The headline painfully familiar: 'Tragic Crash Claims Two, Orphans Fate Unknown'. It was the article reporting of the crash that killed Adrian's parents.

The second clipping had the same image and same date but a different headline, one Adrian never read before: 'Murderer Slays Family of Four, Still At Large.'

 

[machinedhearts]

Trapped in the safehouse for the night, Adrian found sleep fleeting. In the morning, she awoke to find the two doors to freedom open. Upon one of the desks out in the office were her clothes, cleaned and folded. And the purse containing her things placed to the side, stained with blood. After getting changed, abandoning the dress and purse on the bed, Adrian scooped up two pictures: One of her and Leiel, and the other of Thomas and Acara. She had questions that were going to get answered.

Before Adrian put on her leather coat, she stared at Bardo and decided to put on the blue cloak under her jacket. As she rushed to return to the surface, her suspicions flared in finding that the biometric scanners accepted reading her fingerprint. The harsh ascent of the express elevator intensified her infuriation.

Topside, she rushed down the sterile hallway toward the front of the hotel. The backroom staff gave way as Adrian sprinted back out to the lobby. There, she found Tank conversing with other armored mercenaries.

"Tally the dead and prep them for identification." The titan's voice box boomed.

"Most of them are messed up," a mercenary declared. "It's not worth risking it. We're still fighting the horde down there."

Tank groaned and nodded in acknowledgement then turned to find Adrian rushing him down.

"Where is she?" Adrian barked, clenching her fist in anger.

The titan lingered over her, hesitating in response. "The lady left on a mission earlier."

"Where? She has some explaining to do."

"I don't know the details."

Adrian started talking over him the moment he denied knowledge. "You damn-well know where she is." She stuck her finger in his face. "It's not a request, where is she?"

Tank cocked his head and let out a chuckle. "I don't take orders from you. The lady is where she is. You, on the other hand are not yet where you need to be."

Adrian swiped her hand over her hair and stifled a curse. She wanted to lay into this guy and say what she really thought about him and the rest of this crazy organization. But now she was stuck with them and who-knows-what they had planned for her. This whole situation was a mess and she felt like a helpless leaf in a tornado.

"The quartermaster is expecting you. Basement level 1. Take the stairs." Tank pointed behind her to an open door leading to a stairwell. "I wouldn't keep him waiting."

With teeth gritted in defeat, Adrian spun on her heels and descended one level to the first basement sublevel. Down a hardwood paneled hallway with a red carpet and gold etched moldings, Adrian arrived at another well-decorated room filled with display cases of all types of concealable weapons, mostly guns, some knives. On the walls were racks of swords, spears, rifles, machine guns, and even shoulder-mounted anti-tank rocket launchers. The hardware displayed conflicted with the otherwise ornate room.

"Good morning." An eccentric, mildly excited man's voice called out.

Adrian took a deep breath in a bid to calm herself, not feeling up to playing this farcical charade.

From the back, between a rack of spears and rifles, a man in a three-piece suit emerged wearing a charcoal pinstripe coat and a crimson cummerbund. He was clean shaven and commanded poise. "I didn't expect such a prompt arrival, given the ordeal yesterday."

Looking around at the arsenal, Adrian's mood lightened. At least she didn't have to go over the wall without some way to keep herself protected. The revelation a mote of light in an otherwise dark void. Though, this was a strange presentation. She'd expected a gun cage, with more security and much more locked up. This place looked like an easy target for a determined attacker.

"Is there something in particular you're looking for today?" The well-dressed quartermaster folded his hands and placed them upon a glass case between him and Adrian.

She eyed the automatic rifle displayed over his shoulder, with a scope and suppressor. The thing was almost as long as Adrian was tall though, good luck getting it through border security. "I'm looking for something I can get past the border. I'm going over the wall."

"Of course. We have a fine selection that should satisfy your discrete needs." The quartermaster placed a silk cloth atop the display case. "I have a few suggestions."

The quartermaster produced a number of exotic handguns from the case and placed them atop the cloth. These were rare weapons. Some of them weren't even corpo branded, they were probably a custom job. Adrian cocked an eyebrow in bewilderment. He went through each of them, showing off the sights which had target trackers, and heartbeat sensors. Some of them were smart guns that could shoot around corners.

Bardo piped up. "These things course with magic. Be careful," he whispered.

Adrian hesitated, hearing the cloak's comment, and unsure of which one to pick. "How much are these?"

"Four hundred pieces each." The quartermaster nodded assuredly.

With a hand jammed into her coat pocket, she retrieved the two gold coins Vincent gave her and offered them.

"That, would cover two of the four hundred."

Adrian recoiled in sticker shock. Quick math put just one of these guns at the same price as some real estate in District 1. Her eye twitched at the thought of paying that much for a weapon.

The quartermaster nodded, reading her expression. "I see, we're looking for something more budget conscious. Worry not, despite our appearance, we're not above anyone's patronage here." He returned the weaponry to the case and slid the silk across the top of the display cases, to the very corner. He produced a revolver.

"It has thermal sights and a break-action for fast reloads." The quartermaster snapped the barrel down and displayed the five-bullet cylinder. "She's a bit more challenging to conceal, with a longer barrel, but you can't beat an Old War classic." He snapped the action shut. "Has a touch more recoil than most modern calibers but nothing you can't manage, I'm sure." He offered the revolver to her.

Adrian looked down at the barrel and read the cartridge size. 52 Longbolt. This thing was a cannon.

"It will penetrate most ceramics on the first go. Most steel is too soft as well. They don't make them like they used to." The quartermaster looked at the weapon whimsically as he spoke.

"Do they even make ammunition for this anymore?" Adrian doubted the utility of such an ancient piece of technology.

"I assure you; it would take a dozen lifetimes to go through what we have just in this location alone." The quartermaster spoke plainly and seriously.

Adrian worried about the recoil of the weapon, but considering her budget, she very likely had no alternative. She offered the two coins and looked away, not wanting to know how much this thing would cost. The quartermaster daintily retrieved one coin and placed it on the silk cloth. Then he produced a half dozen prepared speed loaders and a dozen boxes of ammunition.

"I suspect that, given clandestine intentions, there wouldn't be the desire to carry around these boxes. I can have them sent to your room if you so desire."

She didn't have anywhere else to put them. And carting around an armory in her car was a surefire way to get snagged at the border. With a relenting nod, Adrian agreed. Then, the quartermaster returned the revolver to its leather under-arm holster and placed it on the silk cloth close to Adrian. After putting it on, she secured the speed loaders and thanked the quartermaster, then readied to leave.

"Ma'am, one more thing." The quartermaster turned and produced a bladeless handle roughly the size of his palm, placing it on the silk.

It was a switchblade.

"Complements of the house."

Adrian thanked him again and took the knife, placing it in her pocket. After rushing upstairs, she emerged outside to find her car gone. In a panic, she looked around. Seeing the gates locked, her next assumption was that it was commandeered by someone. With a curse, she rubbed her hands on her head, wondering how she was going to get anywhere now.

"Hey!" A twangy voice shouted at her from across the driveway.

Shocked, Adrian dropped her arms and spun, her hand instinctively reaching for her pistol.

"That your car, that was over yonder?" He pointed an oily hand toward the front of the hotel, next to the awning on which Adrian stood.

"Yeah, it's mine." She shouted with authority.

"Well, you better come get it, we just buttoned it up and the boys are hot and ready for a joyride if you don't." He beckoned, then disappeared over the ridge, led up to by shallow steps.

Chasing after him, Adrian found a huge workshop cut into the landscape, covered up by netting and fake grass atop the concrete structure embedded below the ground. A winding pathway to the concealed building was etched through the terrain, around the camouflage netting and connected to the hotel's driveway.

Inside, a group of five gearheads were working on various vehicles, one was wiping down Adrian's car.

"Man, I told you it was her's." The guiding mechanic shouted to the others.

"Hey-o, girlie, you ain't gotta cover for him. We all know he's full of it." The mechanic wiping down the car with a clean cloth shouted.

"Yeah, she's a lifted truck kinda girl, I know it." Another mechanic called out, working on a big-wheeled vehicle. "That ain't her ride, get out of here with that."

"It's her's man, I saw her before." The guiding mechanic insisted. "I saw her get out of it, I ain't lying."

Adrian walked around her car and saw it repaired. She was shocked. "I have no clue how you fixed this thing that fast."

"See? I told you it was hers." The mechanic spoke victoriously. "Man, that wasn't nothing. Me and Jeremy took one of those six-tonners." He pointed at the big-wheeled truck. "That was turned up like a pretzel and got it going again in no time."

Adrian reached into her pocket and produced her last gold coin.

"That ain't for around here." The mechanic shook his head. "Now go on and git. You got places to be." He flicked his fingers to shoo Adrian away.

Adrian blinked and cocked her head in confusion, then thanked them. She got in her car, not one to turn away a freebee, and with the turn of the key, the car jumped to life like it was brand new. As she revved it into motion after the mechanic opened the bay door, the group hooted and hollered at her as she blasted the garage with the throaty exhaust.

Up the ramp, she pulled to the gate to leave and punched in the coordinates to the Cleft. A knock on the window startled her.

"Got room for one more?" Lex called out through the window.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian focused on the road as they closed in on the border checkpoint. "I still don't know how you got out of there in one piece." She looked over at Lex, now reunited with Bardo. The psychological wounds from the cape suddenly darting off her and layering back onto Lex were yet fresh, after all she and the cloak went through together.

"Just like you described what you did—I fought my way out." Lex supported his face with his knuckles and arm on the passenger-side door.

"So, what happened to the Adeptus?" Adrian's curiosity and suspicion piqued.

"After the Order's guards showed up, he blasted everything with a blood curse and ran."

Adrian cocked her eyebrow in confusion. "A… blood curse?"

"The public calls it the Parastisus virus." Lex stared out at the skyscrapers that flanked the highway.

"Parastisus is a curse?" Adrian's eyes opened wide.

"Part of it is a curse, yes." Lex looked at her and spoke matter-of-factly. "Competent blood mages can craft all sorts of vile incantations. Some of them turn the dead to live again." He folded his hands in front of him. "And if they're a technomage, they turn the living into helpless ghouls."

"A… technomage?"

"It's as the name suggests—a mage capable of weaving magic to command machines." Lex let off a nervous chuckle. "It sounds like it should be a given, if one can weave the arcane then you should be able to magically manipulate technology in the same fashion. But I assure you it's a skill that few can even hope to breach the surface, never mind master."

"Are you an all-powerful technomage?" Adrian gave off a spooky intonation as she spoke.

Lex's neutral expression melted, and he looked perturbed. "I am your everyday, bog-standard arcanist." He turned his attention back out the passenger-side window. "Rest assured, if a competent mage comes across us, we'll both be annihilated in short order."

Cringing physically as she sensed her comment was insensitive, Adrian wanted nothing more than to change the subject. "Then you have other talents. Surely that's why Acara picked you."

He seemed startled by her comment and Lex turned with a grunt. "Oh, right. Yes, of course."

"Do you know her well?"

"As much as anyone else in the Order could know the Lunar Huntress. That is to say, not at all."

"No one is close to her?" Adrian doubted the claim.

Lex shrugged, irritated by the question. "I'm sure she has an inner circle which she trusts. But you know far more about that than I would."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Adrian let slip a demanding tone.

With a startled look, Lex stumbled over his words. "I mean, you're the one who brought in the Son of Stars. You got access to the cathedral. The number of words you've exchanged with her over these past weeks has exceeded what most in the Order have in their entire lives."

"That doesn't mean that we're close." Adrian smoldered.

"To her, we're all just pieces on a board to move, an object used by with which to win." Lex spoke with a regretful tone. "But not you. There are moves too costly even for the Lunar Huntress to act upon."

"Yeah, that's why she sent me over the wall. The outskirts are a perfectly safe place where nothing bad ever happens." Adrian's voice was laced with sarcasm.

Lex sighed. "And how many times have you done it before?"

Adrian grumbled, relenting on that fact.

The mage shifted in his seat. "And it's not like Rocksgaten Burrow is some den of evil. It's just your everyday Order stockpile."

"Have you been there?"

"N—no but…"

"Then how do you know what's there?" Adrian demanded.

"I don't. But I'm certain she wouldn't ship you off to your death."

Adrian hit her limit hearing about how much this woman supposedly cared. "Don't talk about things you don't know."

She wanted nothing more than to go off on him about how overwhelmingly weird his entire organization was, and how Acara was stalking her from the shadows for Adrian's entire life. Also that Adrian suspected Acara was involved with her parents' deaths and wanted to figure out how to pin her to it. But she couldn't, suspecting she was on thin ice having touched several nerves with Lex. Badmouthing his boss was a surefire way to end up doing this alone. With clenched teeth, Adrian shook off her impulse and focused on the road. She felt better having him around than not.

Lex relented, turning his attention back out to the skyline with a frustrated grumble.

The navigation beeped in alert as they approached the offramp to the wall. After traversing the wide turn of the ramp and coming to a four-way intersection, the road ahead, which led to the border, split out into six lanes. This section of the wall was almost as high as the skyscrapers behind them on the other side of the highway. The gate itself was originally a grand monument, commemorating the founding of Nocturine City some thousands of years ago. Now it was a bulwark against the eternal darkness that lingered outside New Downtown.

Pulling onto the empty egress lanes, the gate itself was like driving down a ghost town, save for the few militarized supply trucks the consortium occasionally would send out in the name of relief for those trapped outside the wall. It was either a mercy or inhumane, depending on how you look at the consortium's treatment of those within New Downtown.

Adrian spotted the border plaza. "Just let me do the talking."

She thought Lex muttered something but didn't want to get into an argument and cause a scene at the border. Again. As she stopped the car at the booth, Adrian produced a bright grin. She rested her chin on her hand, pouting her lips slightly and smiled with her eyes at the guard. He gave her a suspicious gaze.

"Identification and crossing authorization papers," the guard demanded.

Adrian pulled her I.D. from her jacket and offered it to the guard with a bright smile.

"And crossing authorization." The guard grimaced and held his hand out, denying taking the I.D.

"Oh! Well, I must have it here somewhere…" Adrian's words glided from her lips with a lovey tone as she started looking around the console for a set of papers that clearly didn't exist.

She should have just gone to the Southeast crossing, there was always that one guard who ate up everything she said. It was going to take hours to get there and get all the way back around the wall too. Nothing Adrian looked forward to doing.

"You always lose stuff." Lex let out, disgruntled. He reached across and pushed her arms down as he leaned over and offered a blank piece of paper to the guard.

Lex pinned Adrian with just his forearm. Not pinned, but she couldn't get her arms to even fight back against his weight. Her body from the neck down was paralyzed.

The moment the paper touched the guard's fingertips, his head snapped back and smacked into the booth's window behind him. His expression changed from suspicious and alert to one aloof and inattentive. The piece of paper vaporized; the dust dissipated in the breeze. Adrian gasped in shock.

"You don't see anything wrong here." Lex spoke flatly.

"I don't see anything wrong here." The guard repeated like a robot.

"You don't need to see our identification."

"I don't need to see your identification."

"Nothing strange happened just now, you're seeing things."

"Must just be the wind."

Lex looked at Adrian. "Drive."

"Drive." The guard repeated.

"Shut up. Stop looking at me." Lex growled at the guard.

The guard spun on his heels and stared at the array of monitors on the table tucked inside the booth.

As Lex returned to his seat, Adrian's numb arms regained feeling and she placed her hand on the steering wheel, let off the clutch, and drove away while then returning her I.D. to her jacket. As they crossed the second block into the outskirts, Adrian's bewilderment changed to anger.

"Did you just infect that guy?" Adrian shouted.

"No. It was a simple incantation, but quite powerful." Lex spoke plainly. "He's going to have an incredible headache later though."

"And what did you do to me?" Adrian demanded.

"Simplified things. You'll be fine."

"Don't do that! At least give me some sort of signal, or just have a little faith that I'm not going to do something stupid."

"You would have grabbed the paper. Then I would have had to do something more drastic. It was easier that way."

"Tell me you won't do that again." Adrian gritted her teeth.

Lex looked at her with hesitance, a pregnant pause building. "I won't do that again. You have my word."

They drove in silence through the slums. The sun was rising toward midday as they passed deeper into the outskirts. Adrian opened the throttle, the streets mostly clear, save for the occasional scavenger. This was Paingul territory. Just as obsessed as the Skabs with cybernetics, but also with hallucinogens and body modding in general. They were barely human. To be so far gone that Skabs were closer to human than not in comparison was saying something.

They got closer to the Cleft, a huge gash in the terrain that sunk deep into the bowels of the planet and spanned the length of the continent. It formed a natural barrier that prevented anyone from leaving Nocturine City by land. Adrian never found out how it got there or why.

Following the route, a dark tower rose over the horizon, loomed over the skyline. As they got closer, it was clear the dark skyscraper was their destination. Deciding to pull off into a secluded open air parking lot a couple of blocks away, Adrian didn't want to draw too much attention to them without knowing what was there.

They got out and Adrian loaded her revolver with a few loose bullets from her jacket pocket. She wondered if her car would remain unmolested out here as she walked away from it. Then she heard Lex muttering and spun in panic.

Lex tugged at the air in front of him, and a translucent cloth-like sheet burst up from the ground and swept over the car. The surroundings shifted as it laid across and the vehicle disappeared, mostly blending into its surroundings. Adrian could still spot it, but only because she was looking for it. Impressed, she pursed her lips.

"What? Do I have to run everything past you now?" Lex was agitated.

"No, good thinking."

Then they walked the two blocks, the streets empty, toward the tower which her phone indicated was their destination. As they rounded the corner, countless Paingul gangers lingered on the sidewalk in front of the dark tower. They wore dirty white sheets over what parts could be covered of their disfigured bodies. A number of them had spare cybernetic appendages attached under their real arms. Others had extra eyes bolted to their faces, devoid of any practical placement. Some walked like horses, with two extra legs attached to their shoulders. All of them were muttering incoherent nonsense. They were little better than the zombies which lingered at night.

"Yeah. Not a deathtrap you say." Adrian spoke with irritation to Lex.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian stared at the dark skyscraper, standing out amid the worn and dilapidated backdrop of the city blocks surrounding. Deciding not to let the situation get the best of her, she needed to devise a plan to get into the building and figure out where the Sun Tear was being stored. As the name implied, the actual burrow was underground. Considering how old the storage bunker was, this building was far newer.

Perhaps there was an alternative. Adrian turned and backed away around the corner, to avoid being seen by the gangers.

"There's got to be a way through the sewers." Adrian turned to Lex. "This place would be a fortress if they got in, there's no way such a bounty would be left to only shambling foot soldiers."

She spotted a manhole down the avenue, back toward the car. "Can we get that open?"

Lex spun and turned toward the collapsed wall of a nearby building across the street. After sprinting across, he began to swipe small chunks of rubble away.

"What are you doing? Can't you use magic or something to just move it?" Adrian spoke with a hushed yell.

Finding a thin rod within, he tried to flex it with his hands to no avail. With a satisfied nod, he ran over to the metal sewer cover and wedged the rod into the gap. He put all his weight onto the bar and opened the manhole after a bit of strain.

"The simplest solutions are usually the best." Lex displayed the rod, then tossed it back into the rubble.

With the sewer opened, Lex spared no time and produced a small flashlight from his belt and shined it down the hole.

"What, no magic to light the way?" Adrian spoke with feigned disappointment.

Irritated, Lex shined the flashlight in her face. "Do you like having light blaring in your eyes? That's what would happen if I held an orb of light in my hand." He returned the beam back down to the sewer. "It looks clear. I'll lead the way."

Before Adrian could respond, Lex bit down on the flashlight so to hold it in his mouth and slid into the open manhole. Looking around for any sign of someone following and finding no one, Adrian followed Lex down. With only the light from the street and the faint beam below, Adrian latched onto the ladder rungs embedded in the circular stone wall of the sewer.

After a short climb down, Adrian landed a foot on the cylindrical tunnel of the sewer. She produced a pen-sized flashlight from her coat pocket and took stock of her surroundings. There were only two directions they could travel and only one led toward the tower. This must have been a relief drain because there wasn't enough room for them to stand side-by-side. Adrian motioned for Lex to start moving. Expecting a straight shot, she was taken by surprise when the sewer began winding and descending. There were no intersections, just one continuous stretch of tunnel.

They finally arrived at an obsidian doorway at the end of the obnoxiously long sewer. Adrian had no idea how far down the tunnel brought them. To the side of the door was a small panel much like the ones back at the hotel.

"Acara apparently set this up for me to enter. If not, I hope you're ready to start beating this door down." Adrian started to reach over Lex's arm for the bio reader.

"Good luck with that. The burrows are known for their resilience. There are records of them surviving direct nuclear and meteor strikes."

Adrian's hand moved closer to the scanner. "Can't you rip the door off with magic?"

"It's incantation, not divine intervention."

Her finger touched the reader, and nothing happened. With anger and frustration, Adrian pressed harder. Then the lights beneath the reader blinked to life with an electrical sigh and produced a distorted yet harsh buzz.

"Wait, wait." Lex swiped his glove over the scanner and a pile of clumpy dust fell to the ground. "It was dirty, try again."

With an irritated grumble, Adrian pressed against the bio reader. The lights blinked in a strip pattern, indicating it was thinking. Then the lights disappeared and with an artifacted chirp, the door began to slide open. First it began to grind, like something was stuck in the gap between the door and the wall. Then with a violent hiss, the obsidian shot into the wall, the door forcibly opened itself. Adrian recoiled in fear from the noise and suddenness of the movement.

Inside was dimly lit, only a few small bowl lights dangled from the corners of the room. Adrian spotted several large boxes silhouetted against the faint lighting.

"Is this the burrow?" She placed a hesitant hand upon the edge of the doorway and peered deeper in.

"Just an antechamber of some kind. Burrows go much deeper. If this sewer actually took us all the way down, we would have needed to camp out halfway." Lex stepped through the open door and onto a metal grate staircase.

Adrian stepped inside, which the staircase was wide enough for both of them to stand shoulder-to-shoulder. The gateway slid shut as they swept the beams of their flashlights across the room. The silhouetted boxes were iron cages. Adrian was filled with anxiety, unsure of what they contained.

As she stepped down the stairs to get a closer look, a chittering voice rang out in the far distance.

"…and we'll have another shipment coming in shortly next week. Expect these to be delivered within a few days." The high-pitched voice spoke to someone.

The two extinguished their flashlights in a panic. Adrian stopped her descent at the first landing and crouched down, holding onto the rusty railing, and controlling her breathing. Lex froze where he was with a strained look on his face as he began whispering to himself.

Suddenly lights overhead ignited, and the area was blasted with a harsh artificial white illumination. Lex jumped from his step down to the landing with both feet slamming and echoing out. He swept his cape over Adrian. As two figures rounded the corner of the far staircase across the room, Lex and Adrian faded from sight, his cape covering them in a field much like what hid her car. They were almost visible if you knew what to look for.

"What was that noise?" The high-pitched, nasally voice called out nervously.

"Go on, what's so special about this shipment?" The baritone voice of the kingpin replied.

The cybernetic horror was wrapped in bandages from head to toe, and wearing a massive trench coat with cyan stripes that gave off the same color glow.

The kingpin was with a horribly disfigured Paingul ganger. He had five eyes: four were cybernetic and peppered his face like acne. The last was his natural left eye. His right was just a gaping eye socket. He had titanium spike top teeth that chewed his bottom lip away, leaving his bottom teeth permanently exposed. He only had one arm but was wearing multiple dirty linen gowns wrapped around his body.

Adrian gasped in shock at the sight of a Skab leader freely and openly mingling with a Paingul. They were bitter rivals. The mere fact of them together in the same room should have sparked a turf war. But they were here, walking together like fast friends.

"We've experimented on some of them, and they seem like a promising cohort." The ganger chirped.

"You said that about the last one." The kingpin sounded irate.

"Yes but—"

"And the one before that."

"I know and—"

"The one sent before that one too." The kingpin's irritation began to tip toward the edge of fury. "Those psychedelics are turning your brain to mush."

The Paingul let off a bashful chuckle. "I assure you, this time it will be better."

"Assurances from your kind are little better than used toilet paper." The kingpin's deadpan voice rang out as he observed the prisoners, refusing to look at his rival ganger. "I've seen enough. These better be the real thing this time or you'll answer to me."

With a melting coyness, the Paingul's disposition changed from sniveling to disdainful. "You're only here because of our… arrangement with the consortium. And it's a long way back to Skab territory."

Adrian swallowed hard at the thought of the consortium somehow forging an alliance with the gangs.

The comment seemed to give the kingpin pause. He turned and disappeared into the hall atop the stairway across the room. With a scoff, the Paingul turned to follow him. But like a bloodhound catching a scent in the wind, he turned and stared at the two afar. It was like he could see through Lex's invisibility field. Then, as if his nose was magnetically attracted to the ceiling, he stared in shock upwards for a moment, then his expression eased, and his attention turned to the hallway to depart so to follow the kingpin.

Lex latched onto Adrian by her shoulder. to insist they both remain still. After what felt like hours, the lights in the room dimmed to darkness and Lex relaxed his grip. With the flick of his wrist, the invisibility cloak tumbled into the shadows.

"There's more to that guy than cybernetics." Lex shuddered.

"Who, the giant?" Adrian thought he was talking about the kingpin.

"No, the other one. A titan among men."

Adrian cocked her head in confusion, how could such a frail, disfigured guy be considered a threat? She descended the stairs and reignited her flashlight. Looking through the pens, Adrian gasped in horror at what she found.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian stared into the cage and her heart sank. Staring back was a young girl, no older than seven. The young one was in tattered rags, and the inside of the cage was filthy. Adrian looked around for something to break the padlock.

"Help me get them out of there." Adrian spoke with authority.

Grabbing onto the lock, Lex chanted to himself and his hand glowed blue in the darkness. The metal froze solid and with the flick of his wrist, he shattered the padlock into chunks. Slapping the dangling hook away, he opened the gate.

"Come child." Lex beckoned with both hands, urgent. As he continued to break open the cages, he shouted to Adrian. "What are we going to do with them?"

"Can't you whisk them away, like you did with me?" Adrian pleaded.

"I wish. The best I can do is to get one partially up the tunnel." Lex's disappointed tone tugged at Adrian's heart. "There's no way we could possibly evacuate all of them."

"We can do it." Adrian continued to search for something to break the locks.

"Even if we filled your car to the brim—" Lex continued to snap padlocks as he spoke.

"I'll figure it out, just keep going." Adrian didn't hold back her anger.

As her flashlight passed over a cage, the sight of the child sparked a sense of familiarity. Adrian stopped and shined the light in to get a better look, crouching down to get on the child's level.

"Sarah." Adrian called out, a mote of hope in her heart.

The little girl nodded, fearful.

"Sarah MacDonell."

With hesitation, the girl nodded again, frightened. A wave of relief washed over Adrian, grateful for there finally to be some good news. It was the wannabe-ganger's sister. Perhaps the jaws of Nocturine weren't as ironclad as they used to be.

"Donnie sent me. I'm here to bring you home." Adrian wanted to comfort her but was as bound by the iron bars as was the child. "He's been looking for you."

The shell-shocked girl edged closer. Despite her trembling, a mote of hope broke through the terror. "Really?"

As Adrian began to nod and reassure the child, a horrific cry blared out from within the hallway at the top of the stairs. Sarah darted into the back corner of her cage, besieged by horror. The one shouting from afar was an enraged Paingul footpad. His hollering embodied as much agony as it did rage.

He had no mouth and his tongue wagged like a snake in open air. His arms were pinned behind his back and from his gut, several fleshy, tendril-like appendages snapped and flailed as he stumbled toward the staircase with a jittering, unmeasured gait. Behind him, another in similar stature. It was a group of Paingul footpads on approach. The footpad locked onto Adrian and shook his shoulders, shouting with chaotic abandon.

Adrian let out a war cry in like-fashion while drawing her revolver. "Suck lead!" She squeezed the trigger and the muzzle blast almost knocked her to the ground.

With ringing ears, she recovered. The Paingul's head disappeared in a pink mist and his neck sheared to a stump. She shuddered at the raw power of her weapon. As her dazzled ears eased, she could hear the panicked cries of the children within the cages. Adrian desired with every cell in her body to get them out of here as fast as she could.

The footpad's body continued to advance, and his appendages flailed with fury.

"They're infected." Lex shouted as he magically threw himself atop the cages.

"Of course they are." Adrian's venomous words filled the room.

The dismembered Paingul edged closer to the staircase.

Adrian took aim and leaned forward, bracing herself for the overwhelming force of her gun's recoil. With a moment of hesitation, she took aim at the decapitated Paingul's torso. Tensing every muscle in her body, she squeezed on the trigger. Another blast lit the room for a second. After recovering from the shot, she noticed its upper body split in half down to its navel and was thrown to the ground.

But despite the zombie's body nearly being torn to shreds, it rolled to get its lame appendages under it and struggled to its feet once more. Behind, two more Paingul footpads cried out in anguish and rage as they approached. Adrian felt likewise a similar grief, realizing the window for freeing the children was rapidly closing, seeing yet more Paingul footpads on approach.

The dark room glowed an azure blue as Lex finished his incantation. With a flat circle in front of him, he thrust his open palm through and the circular plane exploded into hundreds of ice shards. He flicked his elbow, and they barraged the group, shredding the gangers with frozen serrated daggers. They stumbled and writhed as the shards tore through their flesh but after a moment, they recovered and continued advancing, letting out gleeful howls. Adrian gritted her teeth, disgusted and angry at the sudden realization—this was why they were called the 'Pain-Ghouls'. They were driven by their love of pain.

Adrian took aim in desperation, hoping the third shot would split the zombie in half. She braced and yanked the trigger, ready to get it over with. The blast lit the room. But as her eyes recovered, she found a figure balancing on the railing of the stairway, letting off an obnoxious belly laugh. Before him, a translucent purple shell spanned the entire width of the walkway. It deflected Adrian's bullet, which embedded itself in the concrete wall far off to his side. The zombie she aimed at continued its advance. Familiarity then mixed with dread. It was Silas, the blood mage adeptus.

"I see you're back for more, dear apprentice." The adeptus folded his hands in front of his black and violet robes.

The zombie began to fumble, trying to figure out how to descend the stairwell, and blocking the others from getting closer.

"Something troubles me though." The adeptus paced on the railing. "You're a chaos arcanist, much like me." He started.

"I'm no such thing, craven." Lex held back rage as his hands filled with light, conjuring a spell.

"Of course you are. The focus on water and wind. You're drawn to chaos like a moth to a flame. But why haven't you taken the plunge? Blood is both of those things. To command the very essence of life… it's invigorating." Silas cackled.

"It would be for a weakling like you." Lex gritted his teeth.

With the thrust of his hand, Lex unleashed the spell at the blood mage. With the swipe of his hand, Silas produced a violet shield with hexagonal tiles before him, laughing. The sphere of light burst but nothing else happened. It was a diversion.

"Ineffectual. I see why you never had the balls to take hold of real power." Silas sneered.

As the sphere of light exploded, Lex flicked his wrist, throwing Bardo at Adrian. The cape darted through the air and wrapped around Adrian's shoulders, beneath her jacket. Before she could react, the black bolt of lightning whisked her up the steps, past the group and through the ajar bulkhead on the far wall.

"Go find the Sun Tear!" Lex's voice echoed out from the cage pit. "I'll hold them off."

Wanting to protest, Adrian realized it would only cost her the time he bought for her. Now with Bardo on her shoulders, she could see a glow deep within the structure, like a light that cut through the walls and floor.

"Bardo, is that the Sun Tear?" Adrian spoke about the unnatural light that pierced from below, while running down the long concrete corridor, otherwise illuminated only by dim red emergency lights.

"The Seed of Evil's Bane rests far below here, yes."

"Can you show me the way down?"

"It calls to you, just follow its voice." Bardo spoke softly, bashfully.

Adrian turned the only corner which led into a deep, spiraling stairwell. At the bottom, not far was the Sun Tear. It was a sense much like feeling the sun overhead or hearing the wind blow. Bounding down steps, she found herself winded by the time she got down the thirty, maybe forty sets of staircases. At the bottom was an open bulkhead and a long, dark hallway. The light penetrated the surroundings but didn't illuminate anything around, like a freight train barreling toward her from afar.

With careful steps, unable to see forward, Adrian listened for any sign of danger. The farther she traveled, the thicker the moisture in the air grew. On the walls around her, dense ivy sprawled up the wall from nowhere. By the time she reached an obsidian gateway at the end, there were orange and blue flowers blooming from the vines, giving off a bioluminescent glow. The air was warm and smelled of sweet flora.

Adrian swiped her hand on the reader. After a long while it blinked to life and began to think, the line of indicators ignited and dimmed in succession across the gateway's panel. Then it extinguished with an electrical buzz. The gateway hissed and cutting most of the thorny vines away, revealed a small opening. She psyched herself up and dove through the hole in the prickly ivy.

Inside, was a dark, nondescript room. The only light within was produced by a small flame-shaped stone hovering above a charred wooden pedestal. The Sun Tear. Adrian raced over and snatched it up. In moments, it felt like her gut was on fire. The overwhelming scorching sensation that filled her chest brought Adrian to her knees. She held onto the pedestal in order to keep her legs from buckling.

You must endure. Or all is lost.

Adrian heard Dalmytrias's voice echo in her mind. She steeled herself and began to put all her might into standing up.

Applause from a single person at the doorway startled Adrian as she rose to her feet. The stranger stepped into the light and yet more familiarity caught her off guard.

"I know you." Adrian muttered.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian struggled to stay upright as her grip on the Sun Tear continued to burn her from the inside out. With waning determination, she fought to hold a grasp on the small stone. Each second passing, she felt her guts turning to molten lava. Moreso, the moment she placed her hand on the rock, a familiar stranger appeared through the doorway. She knew his face but the agony within stopped her from recalling his name.

"Almsworth Penniford." The regal man's voice called out from the doorway. "We've met before."

As he stepped into the light, his black and purple robe, adorned with silver thread, shimmered and wagged. It was the gentleman who saved her from being mugged yesterday. The last time she met him he was wearing more formal attire. If the adeptus was anything to go by, this guy was another one of Meredeth's goons.

"It seems you're having a bit of trouble there. Perhaps I can be of assistance." His voice was calm, soothing. Alm held out his hand toward the Sun Tear. "Here, allow me."

As much as she wanted relief from the inferno within her innards, she immediately sensed a threat. "I can't do that." She struggled to speak, sweat pouring down her face.

Alm retracted his hand and folded both in front of his navel. "Oh, I see." His voice was curious, without a hint of agitation. "Well, I have time to wait. That thing will turn you to soup in no time anyways. It's better to let someone trained handle it."

A sudden gust of fury within Adrian's gut from the nonchalant dismissal of her effort stoked the fires within. Strangely, it eased the pain. "Fair enough. Come here often?" She fought the desire to unleash a volley of rage-tinged words at him, sarcasm would have to suffice. As she spoke, Adrian continued to push herself upright to stand again.

Alm gave a reserved belly laugh and shook his head. "I have to say, I am a bit envious. Every attempt to get into this room has been fruitless. It has been years since I started and got nowhere. But in only a few moments stepped in and claimed what I have desired for almost a decade. Bravo."

"What can I say? I've got connections in high places." Adrian struggled to speak, the burning weakening her from within. "You should meet them sometime, I'm sure they'd be thrilled to meet you."

With a hum in humoring acknowledgement, he gave a weak nod. "Yes, I'm certain they would. Who sent you, let me see…" he began to tap his chin. "It was Leiel." He pointed at Adrian.

Adrian's leg gave out and she fell to one knee, the shock sucking the wind out of her gut. How did he know her aunt's name?

"No, I know. It was the Lunar Huntress, that she-devil." Alm gave a reassured smirk. "Always meddling, too fearful to step into the light."

Wincing from the pain, Adrian pushed hard to stand upright. She needed to bluff, see if she could get this guy to spill more beans, figure out if he had a weakness. "Wrong. It was Meredeth."

Alm's jubilant composure melted and his eye twitched. "Don't you dare speak her name you worthless pissant. You will give her the respect she is owed."

Adrian suppressed a smile, finding a juicy spot to sink her hooks. "Where is ol' Mere nowadays? I've been meaning to catch up with the girl. She's so hard to get a hold of." The delight from throwing him off balance made standing upright almost simple.

Thrusting his arm down, Alm spoke a language Adrian couldn't recognize and with a magical force, pushed her back down to one knee.

"You will bow in deference to the Lady." Alm's voice was intense, laced with impotent rage. "She is the rightful ruler of all mankind. When I claim the Sun Tear, she will return, and we will rebuild this world in her image."

"Bardo, it's time to go." Adrian hushed out.

The cloak sprung to life, shuffling around beneath her jacket. "Ow, ow, fire, fire hot!"

A sudden coolness filled Adrian as the cloak whisked off her and fell to rest upon an invisible figure. Then beneath the cloak, a blue-hot flame ignited and gave way to a gargantuan form. The fire was in the shape of Dalmytrias. Adrian stood and stared in awe.

Recoiling at the sight, Alm shuddered, recognizing the shape of the angel as well. "You're supposed to be dead. Gone for centuries. It's too late, the Sun Tear can't bring you back!"

The flame hissed and threw Bardo off. Like a wave upon the shore, the figure melted and surged toward Alm. He threw his hands forward in a panic, producing a magenta hexagonal-tiled barrier that was being whittled away by the surging flame. The ivy that lined the outside hall ignited and began bellowing smoke.

Adrian, now relieved, jumped and snatched Bardo from the air and draped him over her arm. Cradling the cape like a child, she dove through the flaming doorway and into the smoke-laden hall. Crouched while dashing, she couldn't see, and used the glow of the emergency lights as a guide toward the stairwell.

"Don't tell me he cooked you." She choked out, speaking to the limp Bardo on her arm.

Reaching the steps, the massive stairwell was only a minor relief from the choking air that filled the hall. The middle of the stairwell welled with smoke and at the very top of the ceiling, bellowed and continued to surge by the second. She had little time to get out of here before it would be impossible to flee. Hugging the outer wall, Adrian began her ascent. The Sun Tear began to boil her innards again, but with all her might and with adrenaline coursing through her burning veins, she fought to stay upright and climbing.

Through what only could be described as a miracle, she climbed all forty flights of stairs just as her legs began to give out. But the top was only the beginning of getting out of here. She needed to find Lex and get the kids away from this place. Taking a small break and leaning crouched against the wall, she patted Bardo.

"Don't tell me you're dead. I need you." Adrian spoke with panic and sorrow.

The cloak didn't move. Continuing to pat it like a sleeping child, she hoped it wasn't over for the thing.

"C'mon, we've got to go."

Then it stirred. Her eyes widened with optimism. Then Bardo flicked and began bolting around the top of the stairwell, whisking away smoke as he darted, letting off black lightning bolts. Adrian covered her head, worried he was going to smack her in the face. Then with a final jolt, he wrapped around Adrian, under her coat.

"I'm awake. Phew, that was a wild ride." Bardo chirped, his voice laced with nervousness.

Adrian breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought you were a goner."

"Quite the opposite. I've never felt better. Strangely I feel too good. But that's neither here nor there." The cloak spoke with a hyper tone. "Come on, we have to find Lex."

Bardo tugged on Adrian like a dog would pull on an owner's leash. He yanked her upright and began shoving her forward. Her weak knees buckling didn't send her tumbling. It was almost like she was running on air as the cloak whisked her down the long hallway toward the bulkhead to the cage pens.

"Bardo be careful, there's zombies around here." Adrian worried he was going to ram her straight into the middle of an undead horde.

But he wasn't listening. They accelerated and blasted through the ajar bulkhead into the next room. It was well lit now; all the lights were on. And it was empty. Adrian latched onto the railing to stop them. She gripped it with all her strength, desperate to find out what was going on.

As she grasped, the force from Bardo sent her airborne and whipped her head-over-heels, landing on her feet delicately. There was nothing here, it was just an empty open area. No cages. No gangers. No bodies. Nothing. Adrian cursed, in a fit.

"He's coming after us." Bardo called out in a panic, still volatile.

The cloak was talking about Alm. Adrian walked down the steps and onto the metal grate floor that wasn't there before. She looked up and found the ceiling different too. They must have raised the whole area somehow.

"Lex!" Adrian took a chance to call out, suddenly desperate to know if he was alright.

After several attempts and hearing nothing back, a meek voice called out for help in the corner. Adrian spun in a panic. It was a child, an unexpected respondent.

"Come, come. We must go." Adrian turned to the child and beckoned with her arms while staring at the sealed obsidian door. They would have to take the sewers out of here.

The little girl emerged from the shadows, in tattered rags and rushed for Adrian. Adrian tugged at Bardo, trying to pull him out from under her jacket. "Wrap her up."

Bardo darted out and the royal blue cloak enveloped the child as Adrian scooped her up with her free hand. As Adrian spun and rushed for the obsidian door, a wild cry burst out from the bulkhead across the room. Alm was close.

Adrian swiped her finger across the bio reader and the door began to open. Then she turned to find Alm charging up a massive violet fireball in front of his chest, ready to strike them from across the room.

 

[machinedhearts]

Adrian stared with terror at the violet fireball ascending over Alm's head as he continued to conjure it. The sphere of flame expanded, letting off green bolts of lightning as the scintillating orb collided with the smoke billowing from the bulkhead. Like a tornado sucking up a building, the fireball began to consume the smoke which only made its spikey core grow even more chaotic.

From the corner of her eye, Adrian spotted the gateway was open enough for her to fit through. With salvation in her grasp, she spun around and darted through the door and slapped the bio reader on the other side in the hopes it would stop opening and slam shut. Alm hurled the massive fireball at Adrian.

The gateway smashed shut a moment before the violet flame collided with it. Through the obsidian, searing pops and hisses rang out. Within the sewer, it grew frosty, as if the dead of winter suddenly set in. Despite wearing a jacket, Adrian began to violently shiver, on the verge of frostbite, despite the heat that coursed through her from grasping the Sun Tear. Ascending the spiraling sewer, even at the top, near the ladder up to the street, the bitter cold chased her like an unrelenting, ravenous mongrel snapping at Adrian's ankles.

With no other choice but to risk a burn on the child, Adrian swept the girl into her other arm with the hand that grasped the Sun Tear. With desperate grabs, she began yanking herself up the ladder to the surface using only a single, tremoring hand. Beneath her, from deeper within the sewer, a wave of frost blew past the ladder and bathed the passage below in a layer of ice. Then it began creeping up behind Adrian. With each rung the cold snap reached, the metal began to compress and buckle, sheering the ladder beneath her. The stone bricks of the tunnel began to crack and heave as the frost line advanced, causing the structure to shift and deform as the ice ascended.

Rolling out of the manhole in desperation as her legs began to give out from exhaustion, Adrian covered the girl with her body as the wave of frost exploded upwards into the sky like a broken fire hydrant hurling water. Overhead dark clouds formed and began to crackle with violent thunder that shook the ground as warm air collided with the unnatural, unrelenting cold. Lightning smashed into the pavement, tearing it to pieces, repeatedly striking the exposed metal girders of broken buildings around them. Smoke began to rise as the storm ignited fires in the area. The girl was eerily calm throughout this, unstirred by the chaos that struck fear into Adrian's heart.

As the air temperature dropped sharply, the storms ceased. With a bitter resolve, Adrian struggled to her feet just as the frost creeped out along the asphalt and nipped at her heels. Limping from exhaustion because the Sun Tear was sapping her strength, she threw herself into each step with grunts and groans. Out of breath, it was only a block or so to the car. Behind her, the buildings directly above the sewer were already coated in an ever-creeping, ever-spreading ice that didn't relent even in the presence of growing building fires that spread across the area.

Reaching the parking lot, Adrian squinted, remembering roughly where the car was but unable to see the ethereal translucence that Lex's spell gave off. She continued her lumbering advance, feeling with her free hand for the car. Getting too close to the building at the end of the parking lot, she worried that somehow a ganger or scavenger figured out where it was and took off with her vehicle. Heart sinking further with every step, and frost reaching the edge of the parking lot behind her, the situation seemed hopeless. The car was gone.

Then the cold sparked more thunder and bolts of lightning, which reflected off the buildings and filled the area. With the sudden light, Adrian spotted the flicker of Lex's invisibility sheet wagging in the gale produced by the oncoming cold front. Psyching herself up, she threw everything into hobble-sprinting to the car. Not bothering to pull it off, she decided driving around invisible is more of a boon than a curse. Flicking the sheet up to open the door, Adrian flopped into the seat, covering the girl's head as Adrian's legs collapsed under her. After jamming the girl in the seat, Adrian used all her strength to push the clutch in and start the car.

The vehicle sputtered for a moment as the creeping cold dropped the temperatures around the car. The frost line was only a few steps away as Adrian slammed the door shut, shifted with her free hand, jabbed the throttle to redline the car and dropped the clutch. They burst into motion only seconds before the ice reached the tires.

Trying to juggle holding the Sun Tear, steer, and shift was a challenge. As they drifted out from the parking lot onto the road, Adrian narrowly missed slamming into a rusty vehicle frame abandoned on the side of the street. Feathering the throttle and letting the wheels grip, they snapped into motion and launched down the road. Adrian struggled to see as the invisibility sheet clinging to the car began to shift her surroundings. It was like trying to drive underwater—easy to see things close, nearly impossible to make out fine details afar.

Adrian breathed in a bid to calm herself, her legs shaking, gut burning and aching from the Sun Tear, and her arms tremoring from exhaustion. She talked herself down from losing herself to panic and terror from what just happened as her adrenaline began to dump. Turning to the child, attempting to take her mind off staring overwhelming death in the face, Adrian decided to focus on someone else.

"Are you alright, are you hurt?" Adrian couldn't hold back a shaken tone.

"Everything will be alright." The girl spoke with an ironclad resolve.

The way the child spoke made Adrian even more nervous. Something was wrong with her, did she get brainwiped or something? Why was she so calm?

"O—of course it will, sweetie. We're safe now." Adrian's rapid breathing caused her to stutter as she was out of breath.

"No, we aren't. We're not safe. She's coming." The girl stared straight out the windshield, unperturbed by even her own revelation.

Adrian leaned forward, in a bid to see what was afar and keep good pace. "Who's coming?" The sentiment somehow made her even more unsettled.

"The Queen of Sin. She is inevitable." The girl spoke in a flat tone.

Choking on her own breath, Adrian tried to steady herself. "That's just something those bad men said. It's not true, they don't know what they're talking about." Adrian needed to get the girl's mind elsewhere as well, clearly traumatized. "Do you know your parents' names?"

"Those men didn't say that. They don't know what they're doing." The girl turned to Adrian. As they passed under a bridge, the child's azure eyes suddenly illuminated in the shadow. "I know. That's why I'm telling you."

Adrian shuddered in fear. "Why are you telling me? I could be a bad guy. I might be taking you to Meredeth right now. You gave yourself away."

The girl shook her head and closed her eyes, confident. "Not possible. You are the seeker of the lost and unchosen. You can't be evil."

Swallowing hard, the child's words struck Adrian's heart, despite her best effort to dismiss them as nothing more than the words of trauma. "W—what's your name?"

"Cordelia." The girl pulled Bardo tighter around her body.

Adrian nodded, letting relief wash over her as they finally changed the topic to something a bit more grounded. "Cordelia. Nice to meet you I'm—"

"Adrianna. I know." Cordelia spoke matter-of-factly.

They were closing in on the border plaza, about to cross the wall.

"H—how do you know that?" Adrian contemplated blowing through the emergency lane at full speed.

"He keeps talking about you." Cordelia glanced at the Sun Tear. "More like yelling."

"Yelling? About me?" Adrian cocked a nervous eyebrow. She was talking about Dalmytrias.

The girl nodded. "He's pretty mad."

Adrian swallowed. "A—at me?"

Cordelia shrugged. "He's hard to understand. And really mad. Really, really mad."

Shuddering, Adrian's grip on the steering wheel tightened, hoping the child misunderstood what was happening. Then she blinked and wondered how the girl could even know what the angel was talking about, being dead. Adrian wondered if she was becoming delirious, the levels of spiritual indirection were beginning to make her dizzy. Or maybe it was the Sun Tear turning her guts to soup.

With grit teeth, Adrian decided to risk blowing through the emergency lane and hope the cameras didn't pick them up. If they did, this was going to be a short, complicated trip. If she stopped, it was going to be a shorter, more complicated trip. Adrian couldn't withstand the drain from the Sun Tear to go the long way and hope she could schmooze her way back into New Downtown.

Gripping the steering wheel with one hand and two fingers from the other, she let off the gas and pushed the clutch in to idle the engine. Rolling into the emergency lane, they blew past the booth and glided into New Downtown. Adrian looked around for any sign of the checkpoint going into full lockdown mode. No armored guards. No guns. No yelling. As if they were going to jump out in front of her. Though the car was fast, it wasn't fast enough to outrun them dumping mags into it in a bid to stop her.

Adrian breathed a sigh of relief as they exited the checkpoint onto the six-lane road back toward the highway. Then police cars with sirens blaring slid into the intersection en masse.