Outside the System
By: Makishima Shogo
Cold rain fell in sheets from the dark night sky. Thunder rumbled through the black, ominous clouds, though no lightning could be seen. Most people were indoors, avoiding the inconvenient thunderstorm. Any normal person would most assuredly make such a decision. The lone figure trudging through the downpour, however, was far from normal.
No matter what the weather was like, she had business to attend to. The dark thoughts that filled her mind would normally be a problem. Street scanners still operated, and would pick up her hue, that is, her current psychological state. If one's hue registered as dark, or cloudy, they would immediately be arrested and taken in for emergency therapy.
The woman had no fear of the scanners, or even a run in with the police. So long as she wasn't caught in the midst of committing a crime, they had no chance of catching her. She had the ability to control her hue simply by force of will. She could be pulling a man's heart out with her bare hands, and her Psycho Pass would read normal.
She had big plans for this city. She had heard rumors of another like her, who had been killed by a rogue enforcer two years earlier. She had analyzed every news report and crime that had occurred during that time, and she was able to ferret out which ones he had been involved in.
She would learn from his mistakes. It was obvious to her that he had treated what he was doing like a game, or an interesting diversion. She would not be so cavalier about a life or death situation. The thought of death didn't strike fear into her heart, but she would not willingly hasten her own demise. Not yet, not while she had work to do.
The woman continued on through the rain, hair soaked and clothes sticking to her skin. Her target wasn't far off now. Turning a corner, she stopped in front of a large building. It was a low security treatment facility. She used a hologram to quickly change her hair color a disguise her age.
Walking inside, she strode up to the front desk. A small, curvaceous blonde woman sat at the receiving counter.
"Good evening, my name is Saki Sugowara. I'm here to visit my grandson. " the woman said, feigning an elderly voice.
"Of course ma'am. How good of you to come see him in this terrible weather. What is your grandson's name?" the blonde asked in a cheery voice./
"Oh, my grandson is Yusei. Yusei Sugowara." She replied softly.
"The blonde hummed cheerily while she typed information into her terminal. After a few moments she looked up from her screen.
"Alright hun, here is your visitor pass, your grandson's room is just down the hall there, third door on your left." The blonde said with a smile.
The woman smiled and nodded. She turned towards a locked door, and stepped up to it. A scanner above the door checked her hue, and read her crime coefficient, a number that public safety used to determine a person's likelihood to commit a crime. Her crime coefficient was a measly six, a very low number. The door unlocked, and slid open. She shambled down the hallway, making her way to the door that the receptionist had indicated.
When she arrived, another scanner read her visitor pass, and rechecked her Psycho Pass. Again, everything checked out. The door slid down into the floor, and she stepped inside. The walls were covered in a thick layer of white padding to keep it's occupant from injuring themselves. There was a single bed, on which sat the man she was looking for. She pressed a button hidden in the edge of the bracelet she was wearing. The bracelet actually contained a device that would emit a frequency that couldn't be picked up by the human ear, but would cause the listening devices in the room to malfunction. The man on the bed looked up at her.
"Who the hell are you? " he grunted.
She looked him over. He had shoulder length, wavy black hair. He had prominent cheek bones, and an athletic build. His eyes were a piercing emerald, and were obviously cybernetic implants. His skin was pale, as if the man didn't get much sun. Overall a fine specimen.
"For now, you may call me Serpent. I'm here because I find that I am in need of your expertise. I'm here to break you out." She replied, her voice smooth and melodic.
"That's quite the trick, getting past two scanners with criminal intent. Exactly what are you up to that you need an expert hacker?" he inquired with a chuckle.
"This is not the time or the place to discuss it, Mr. Sugowara. I would recommend that we escape now, and discuss business later. I have a safehouse not far from here. But we need to move before they notice that there's a problem with the security in this room. " Serpent replied.
"Fair enough. I'll follow your lead."
With a nod, he stood and walked forward. She tossed him a small circular device. He flipped it open, and pressed a few keys. His white smock and trousers were replaced by denim jeans, and a black leather jacket. A pair of brown tennis shoes appeared on his feet.
They walked out the open door and into the hall. Sugowara stayed close behind Serpent so the scanner would only see her. After the door unlocked and slid open, they stepped out into the reception hall in unison. Serpent produced a nail gun from her purse and fired three precise shots. The first nail sunk into the woman's carotid artery, the second into her left eye, and the third sunk into her temple. Blood spewed from her wounds in a macabre fountain.
The blonde collapsed without a sound. Serpent moved behind the desk, and removed the corpse from the seat.
"Get to work Sugowara. This terminal should have full system access. Get into the security system, and corrupt any video and audio files from the last twenty minutes. After that, pop all the locks. We'll let the other patients keep public safety busy while we make our escape. " Serpent instructed.
Sugowara sat down at the terminal and cracked his knuckles.
"It'll be my pleasure."