Mirror's Eye

CHAPTER I

Faith ducked and slid under a pipe. The yellow bag rattled as it dragged on the ground. As she broke into a full sprint, a bullet hit a wall a few meters behind her. It didn't faze her. The blues may be armed, but they can't see the flow. The beautiful way in which the city lived and pulsed with pathways and conduits, like veins and arteries of life: this was her weapon. What was in this package would end the regime that chose to cut so many of these veins and bleach away all life that this city once had. At least she told herself that with every delivery she made.

Merc warned her of the blues patrolling this route, and advised her to take a path around them. Faith knew the risk, and had been taken out of commission by a fall for a few months before thanks to a trigger happy cop grazing her arm and causing her to fall from a ledge. A total sense of apathy still prevailed over fear of injury. She needed to do her best, to relay messages, to deliver ingredients for the appetizer that would become a revolutionary main course.

"What if it's futile?" A dark voice questioned in the back of her head as she vaulted over a small fence and made her way down a fire escape and into a building. "What if you aren't fueling a revolution? You don't know what's really in these bags. What if you're delivering drugs? What if these assignments are really for the people responsible for the death of this city?"

" I know what runners are about. I know what I'm doing. I know what I run for." She silenced her fears as she dashed towards an elevator and hit the button. The doors slowly opened and she walked in, hitting the top floor button.

"What if it's a trap?"

Faith caught her breath. She took a swig of water from a flask she kept on her and leaned against the wall. She'd been lured into traps before, by blues, by rogue runners, by thugs, even by some sick rapist. She'd always gotten away without a scratch, but traps have ended too many runners' lives for her not to worry. Faith shadow boxed a little and steeled herself. If it was a trap, she'd be ready. The doors opened.

Faith bolted out and ran across the roof top. The sun was just starting to set. A pleasant red glow came from her peripheral vision. She saw the symbol of runners etched into an old sand bag. She dropped her bag, picked up a sizable wad of cash sitting underneath the sandbag, and started on her way back to H.Q.

"Nice work Faith. Geez, you just can't take the easy way can you?" Merc's voice buzzed in her ear. "You know me, I love a challenge Merc.". She smirked. She got a couple laughs out of shocking somebody who seems like he's seen it all.

"Yeah, well, you ought to be careful getting back. A chopper's been spo…*static* …ouple times in your area…*static* …ke care.". Odd. Interference rarely occurred.

Faith suspected tapping. "Merc, wait. Keep your mouth shut, I think somebody's trying to patch into our channel. Can you detect stuff like that?"

The only response she heard was silence, permeated by several bursts of static.

"Merc?"

"You have been activated Faith. We are watching you," An unknown, cold, female voice spoke to Faith on her earpiece.

"Who the hell are you?" She fired back, immediately threatened and ready for an immediate ambush by SWAT or worse, Pursuit police.

"Do not ask questions. There is a helicopter approaching your location. Go back, retrieve the bag you just dropped, and head back into the building you just exited if you do not want to be arrested or killed. You have approximately eighty seconds before it reaches your destination," The plainness and certainty with which the woman spoke was bone chilling.

Faith smelled a trap, but she knew that Merc had just mentioned a chopper in the area. She refused to take direct orders from some unknown voice, however, and ducked under a small nook between a large air conditioner and a wall. The sounds of chopper blades beating the air quickly grew loud and close. If she hadn't been warned, it could have chased her all night. Faith sat patiently in the crevice. Suddenly, dust and gravel were being kicked up around her, her hair and clothes blew violently in a strong wind. "Shit!" Faith spat out of adrenaline. The chopper was right above her, it's search light glaring at her through the evening air.

"You have disobeyed. Retrieve the bag and-"

Faith tore away her earpiece and tossed it off the roof as she took off running. She didn't calculate, she just ran, taking the obstacles as they came. The helicopter's speaker blared.

"Attention runner, surrender immediately. Do not run, or we will open fire. Repeat, do not run, or we wi- *static*... Retrieve the package now Faith. Follow orders and you as well as your comrades will not be targeted,"

"How?"

The unfeeling authoritative voice that ordered her on her earpiece earlier was blaring from the helicopter's speakers.

Shocked and now operating on instinct, Faith headed towards her drop off point and retrieved her bag. Inside the helicopter, the pilots panicked. Something had gone screwy in their system as the computerized portions of their aircraft seemed to go haywire. The search light moved with a will of it's own, pointing out a small open air duct. Faith quickly slid under a hole in a fence and into the vent. The chopper immediately stabilized. Having lost its target, the helicopter immediately retreated.

Faith moved through the vent, wondering just what the hell was going on as she crawled.

Merc paced away in his headquarters, Faith's half of the pizza he ordered remaining untouched, his computer screen flickering on and off as it filled with more and more error messages.

"God dammit Faith, what have you gotten yourself into now…?" His worried tone betrayed his fatherly side. Without Faith on his mic, he had no reason to act as though he was not worried for her.