When they were teenagers, the dark rust-toned trash-heap that was Sector Nine hid many mysteries and legends. Word on the schools' hallways was to avoid that phantom sector to the best of their abilities or they would never be found. Of course, it was a parent's threat when their child acted up, but they lived that dreaded fantasy in their heads.
The older folk already conquered that fear… mostly because Sector Nine was one of the escape routes ten years ago. Many scavengers rummaged through it trying their best to live an upcycling lifestyle or resell used items. Maybe a tinkerer or two searched for hard-to-find parts to create the revolutionary new device that would get them out of poverty.
Burn never expected for the tinkerer to also be a little monster, but here they were searching for the elusive Frances Roche: alias Fizz, the Builder. Once an insecure yet brilliant young girl, she conquered Sector Nine's mysteries and worked alongside them.
Deep within the eerie sector, far away from Dr. Hong's mansion, laid a closed-off abandoned cement building. The pair stood in front of the heavy-metal door that suggested the building wasn't all that it seemed.
Burn touched the door with his robotic glove. "My equipment can't hack her door." He turned to the programmer. "She made a security program that constantly changes itself, so advance anti-locking techniques don't work."
She pulled a remote-looking device from her coat. "I'll freeze the program for a few seconds to be able to input the current passcode." She started to work with it. "But seriously, you can't talk to her?"
"You think I'm joking?" He scoffed.
"Something happened between you two or…?" She turned towards the man to witness the utter shock in his face.
"No! Absolutely not!"
"Then what's going on?"
He calmed down a bit. "Just… just wait and see."
The device beeped a successful tone while the heavy door slowly opened to a heavily-lit indoors. The pair entered the building.
The inside didn't match its outside at all. It was sleek and modern in ivory paneling. A small kitchen rested on the left with a black table with two seats. The rest of the open space consisted of a few inventions and robot parts on hanging on the walls. There was an elevator shaft at the end of the room. They walked towards the elevator.
"She's such a hermit. Going as far as having a secret lab…" Deets said as she and Burn entered the elevator.
He put his helmet back on. "You better not be—"
"No." He lifted his hands to exert his innocence to the woman's idea. "Just checking if she booby-trapped the basement."
They went down rather quickly after the officer scanned the lower level. A forceful blow echoed in the extremely organized basement. The walls were decorated with ranged weapons and small handheld devices. A lot of shelving held other devices they didn't dare touch as most of the inventor's creativity went to weaponry. The end of the room held a door that flickered on and off constantly.
The forceful blowing sound—they recognized it was a blow torch—stopped and the room fell into complete silence. A woman coughed and something with plastic hit the floor. They could also hear her delicately putting a few things down.
A blue light softly glowed in the small room. The glow got stronger and the young woman came out of the room. A redhead with forest green eyes, black oil and dirt smeared in her bangs, her sweaty forehead and her baggy dark green blouse and oversized jeans that were held by a woven belt tied in a knot. She had a light blue holographic ponytail hovered over her natural hair, tied in a messy bun.
The young builder's eyes darted between the woman and the officer. She couldn't hide the slight glimmer of surprise. "Huh?" she said a bit annoyed as she finally recognized the pair. "You two are a year too late."
"You never said Thursdays were your days off!" Deets walked up to the redhead.
"Yeah, just didn't want to hang out with you."
Burn walked behind his dark-haired friend. "I see what you mean," she whispered to him. She turned to Fizz. "Who hurt you?"
"Well, the list is ongoing, but a few I can think of on the top of my head are—"
"Look." Even though he was still intimidated by the inventor, he stood next to Deets. "I'm sure I found Ed's hiding spot!"
Fizz cocked an eyebrow and crossed her arms. She was extremely peeved by the situation the pair was trying to bring her into. "He left for a reason!" The redhead yelled angrily. "Leave him alone!" She stomped back into her workshop.
Whenever she got mad, they would leave her alone; but this was more important. Burn showed Deets to the workshop. Inside were many metallic shelves with organized boxes of materials. The inventor stood with a blow torch and a welding mask. Her holographic ponytail held a weapon in place. Sparks flew between the two women.
"Why are you being so difficult?" the tall woman inquired with a bit of agitation.
The redhead removed her mask. "You're still here? Move on!" She playfully smirked—one that rubbed Sarah the wrong way. "Didn't you get into enough trouble the first time around? Getting kidnapped by Bedlam wasn't enough?"
That certainly boiled her face. "Can you stop acting like a child for one second?"
As both women went back and forth, Burn slowly realized he would never ask Deets for a favor… not a Fizz-related favor, just a favor in general.
"Aren't your parents sick and tired of getting in trouble with bureaucrats? I swear they made most of the technology we're trying to destroy today!"
"I've had it with you!" Deets was about to slap Fizz, but her hologram grabbed the woman's arm before it could harm its owner. The redhead didn't react to the gesture. Her eyes told the programmer she actually expected it. It just pissed her off even more.
"It's a multipurpose holo-solid that I can control through brainwaves," the redhead explained. "It's still in the prototype phase back at work. It'll collapse a lot of industries in the near future… at least the ones that are still alive after Bedlam. Through the collapse of many, we steer correctly to the north. Slowly, but surely."
She turned to the confused pair. She looked sad… almost remorseful. "We fought about it… last year. It hurt him; it hit close to home." She sat cross-legged on the floor as the hologram slipped off the woman's arm. "He left everything we built for him…"
The dark-haired woman stood frozen out of complete confusion and anger. Her arm was floating in place ready to assault thin air. She didn't know what to feel anymore. One second, she got offended; the next, Fizz turned the conversation around.
Deets kneeled in front of her. Violence didn't solve violence. It was compassion. This was her friend of many years. She knew the young woman was a very caring person deep down inside. She couldn't stay mad at the young woman.
"I honestly don't know what you're feeling right now. Betrayal? Animosity? Withdraw? But isn't it time to patch things up with Ed? Even today, you care about him!"
"You two had your differences; everyone does! I'm sure he left because he cares for your safety as much as you care for his," Burn explained.
Fizz stood up slowly.
She walked to her workbench. She stood there stoically—her back to her old friends. The ponytail hologram waved back and forth in thoughtful motion. It stood still once its owner spoke.
"Well!" Fizz said loudly yet in a sarcastic tone. "There's no way of getting you both out of my back and I'm already behind schedule. Oh dear me, I guess I have to work overnight to finish my electroregulator shotgun."
The hologram circled the young woman. She started typing on the monitor her hologram created for her. Deets and Burn were relieved.
