~
Nebria's cityscape harbored traits that far surpassed unique, and bordered on the incredible. Streets were lit with lamps that curved in half-circles above the passing vehicles. Buildings rose to lofty heights, crafted into angular shapes like broken shards of glass. Their points glowed bright neon colors that blended into an eerie rainbow. Helicopter-like machines whizzed silently through the haze. It was hard to believe that somewhere in the towering heights, far above the skyscrapers' highest floors, was a roof of cave rocks and stalactites.
Aren's head throbbed with more worries than he could count. A man he had believed long dead was trying to kill him, and Selphie, and her friends. And Irvine, had he killed Irvine? Was the dead man still in Nebria? Was Irvine still alive somewhere?
He needed to cut at the root of his troubles. Back to the center, to Trabia Stratagem. He knew of another man in Nebria who could give him information: it was Kore. But the thought of Kore made Aren's stomach turn. The torture he endured; the horrible dreams that woke him nightly in ice-cold sweat were all he could envision when Kore came to mind. Who knew what the sick old man would have in store when Aren finally returned home.
And then there was Selphie. She had no doubt had her fill with Aren's introversion, and his secrecy felt to her like a breach of trust. He knew it full well. But Selphie seemed so fragile in his eyes. She was a sweet, perky, and unbearably cute young lady who deserved as much of her innocence as she could hold onto. The destruction of Trabia was enough of a strain on her; it seemed to consume her life. No doubt she handled it with the utmost maturity, but it was horrible how devastated she became when thoughts of Trabia returned to her.
First things first, he thought. I need a name. Something to change; someone to shoot so I can get this hit off our heads. Can't get to the name without going through Kore.
Aren stepped from his Screamer bike. He removed his helmet, and placed it inside the closing cockpit of glass and steel. His pale head and eyebrows were shaved bald, and long black lines were tattooed over top of his scalp. The circular devices over his ears shined under flourescent streetlamps.
His Screamer was parked in a small lot next to a squarish, brightly shining housing unit made entirely of a steel-like sheeting substance. Snap's combat cycle was beside his, and the soldier soon joined him.
"Gonna fix that?" Snap nodded at Aren's armor. The creamy blue camoflauge sheet that had covered his suit was torn up from the battle a few days ago. A tattered cape of luminescent hue trailed at his shoulders, and hung from his arms and legs. It blew about in the mechanical Nebrian breeze, and glowed gently in the dark.
"Nah," said Aren. "I kinda like it."
"You look like a frickin' ghost or somethin'," Snap replied. "Like the frickin' angel of death."
Aren started up the polished stairs leading to the front door. It swished open, and the two soldiers entered a surprisingly run-down apartment complex. Metal walls were cracked and rusted, and a grated floor ran into a drainage sewer below the apartment.
"It's like a prison here," said Aren. "Ai-Mei deserves better."
Snap nodded. "Yeah. She's been through a lot." He stopped Aren, as they reached what looked like a large freight elevator. "Uh, Aren, before we go up."
"Yeah?" Aren raised a thin eye.
"Well," Snap winced. His lower jaw remained taut in an artificial grimace, though his upper lip moved to speak. "She ain't the same as you 'member. Not since Kore got to her."
Aren stepped into the elevator. "I know," he chuckled. "We're all screwed up, though. Maybe she'll finally be comfortable around me. She always said I freaked her out."
Snap hit a floor button, and heavy doors closed before them. Aren leaned hard against the back wall of the elevator. "Hyne," he sighed. "This is gonna be hard."
A brief lurch told the soldiers they were at their floor. They filed into a hall identical to the one previously. A few meters down, one of the room doors was open. The sound of hydraulic hisses and mechanical motors bounced down the metal hall, topped with struggles and screams of a human female.
"Vultures!" growled Snap. "They're back, they'll rip 'er apart!"
Two humanoid machines stomped out of the open room, and into the hall. Tangles of machinery and stray wires wrapped around skinny, corpselike human bodies.Their legs and arms were robotic augments, uneven and out of proportion. They dragged a young lady with them, as she struggled to free herself from their piercing cyborg fingers.
In a flash, Aren was armed with one of his handguns. He fired a shot, shattering the face of one grisly attacker. It stumbled backward, its artificial hands against the bloodless wound, and the young lady screamed harder.
Snap ran for the second Vulture with Aren following close behind. Both soldiers grabbed hold of the Vulture's arms, and tried their hardest to pull the viselike grip apart. The Vulture refused to budge.
Aren heard an explosive gunshot, and felt the bullet pound the wall beside him. He rolled from Snap's struggle and raised his weapon. The wounded Vulture was standing firm again. Snakelike wires protruded from the disfigured face, and blinking sensors at the ends provided eyesight where human eyes no longer existed. The cyborg akwardly gripped a semi-auto handgun.
Snap looked up at the Vulture he struggled with. A set of lifeless eyes stared frantically at him, scanning over his body rapidly.
"Don't touch my girl!" he shouted. "You send that back to Kore!"
Two combat blades extended from the plates on Snap's forearms. He head-butted the Vulture in the face and brought the machetes down through the steel arms. They split off, and the Vulture fell back into the wall.
Aren fired on the armed Vulture. His first shot cracked through his enemy's weapon, sending chunks of the black handgun into the air. More rounds landed in the fleshy bicep of the Vulture's arm. The dead flesh tore and split, and fell to the ground. But the Vulture was reaching for its midsection with the remaining limb, where another pistol was clipped.
Aren leapt into the robot's chest and slid down the hall in a tackle. He raised a closed fist above the Vulture. His arm plating opened at the left and right of his hand, and sent spinning discs through the steel of his opponent's appendage. Its other arm dropped off.
A powerful kick landed on Aren's side. He rolled from the tackle, and the faceless Vulture stood. But it soon toppled, as the second Vulture flew down the hall and they collided hard.
Snap grabbed Aren by the arm and pulled him up. "Let's get rid of these things!" he said.
"Right," replied Aren. "Let's light 'em up. I'll cover us."
They reached over their shoulders and each retrieved a long steel tube. The devices had pistol grips on their undersides, but no stocks to lessen recoil. Aren and Snap knelt to the ground, pulled levers on the tubes, and slid open their chambers.
Aren unclipped two glass canisters from protected pockets in his belt. One by one, he slid them into the chamber, and locked it closed.
"Aren, give us some distance!" called Snap as he struggled with his own canisters.
The Vultures were growing dangerously close. Semi-human moans mixed with hydraulic hums of the armless attackers. Aren slung his unfinished weapon across his back. His pistol lay on the ground by his foot; he kicked it up and grabbed it in midair. Clap, clap-clap! High-powered rounds burst from the gun and thumped into the Vultures' chests, and slowed them just a bit.
Swinging the new weapon back into place, he rested it against his arm. Snap was doing the same. Aren reached behind his back again, and brought forth three heavy wires. He popped them cleanly into respective slots on the tube.
Snap's chamber was refusing to close. "Aw, screw this!" he growled. "It ain't my style!"
Aren glanced behind him; the young lady was no longer in the hall. "Fine," he said dryly, "just don't kill me, okay?"
Aren leapt back as a Vulture stomped its metal foot down inches away. "Visor," he called, backing away from more attacks. The metal implants on his ears sprung to life, and connected a squarish silver visor over his eyes. Readouts sprang to life before him; targeting reticles appeared all over the Vuture's body. Messages scrolled by and updated him on his new weapon.
Chemicals mixed. Demo cannon online. Discharge now. Discharge now. Discharge now.
Aren raised the handle before him, and squeezed. Fwoosh, a burst of intense flame roared through the hall and into the cyborg. Flesh and steel melted, as it shook and convulsed under the stream of liquid fire. The Vulture dripped into a mass of shining steel on the floor.
"I'm out," Aren said over his shoulder. "I don't have the whole suit, remember?" The second Vulture was closing, singed and burned from its partner's fire.
Snap held a roll of thick tape in one hand, and both canisters in the other. He had fixed them together end-to-end. "Get your sidearm," he replied. "This oughtta do it."
Aren dropped the clip out of his handgun. One in the chamber; no spare shells.
Snap threw the canisters. Aren raised his gun as they flew toward the Vulture. His eye traveled perfectly down the square barrel and at the spinning device.
Dink, it bounced off the Vulture's metal skull.
Aren fired. Inches away, from the Vulture, the bullet struck the canisters and blasted them to shreds. Neon chemicals mixed in midair.
A tremendous force and deafening sonic punch knocked Aren and Snap on their backs, and a white-hot flash burned at their eyes. It subsided instantly. Aren's visor retracted into his earpieces; he holstered his sidearm and stood.
Scars of black sut covered the hallway. Steel had melted from the ceiling; re-formed the instant the blast subsided into shining spikes. Not a trace of the Vultures was left.
Snap stood up and returned the unused flamethrower to his back. "Hyne," he growled. "I almost forgot how hardcore you get."
"Yeah, whatever," Aren found one last clip, and loaded it into the gun from its holster. "Go find Ai-Mei. Maybe I should...you know. Stay outside."
"Come on," said Snap, "she'll be fine." He grinned. "I'm proud of my baby! Gotta show 'er off, you know?"
"Right," nodded Aren solemnly.
Snap turned the lock on a scorched steel door, and it swung free. The room inside was a shambles. Metal and concrete floors were covered with broken glass, torn clothing and splinters of furniture. A mattress in the far corner had a refrigerator smashed through it.
Amid the clutter sat a pale, petite young lady. She wore a pair of ripped-up bluejeans, and a heavy black sweater. Her face was scarred deeply at the cheeks; thin wires protruded and ran up to the inside corners of her large, beady green eyes. Her pasty white face was without expression.
Snap leapt over the piles of junk and landed at her spot. "You okay, baby?" he smiled, and helped her to her feet. He gently touched her face. "All your things in place, an' all that?"
Ai-Mei nodded. "Yes," she whispered, barely moving her grey lips. "Yes, I th-think I'm all right." She sighed, and embraced him. "Are they gone?"
"Oh, they're gone!" Snap laughed. "Ain't nothin' left but dust."
Aren stood firm at the doorway, hands on his hips. He swallowed hard and blinked his grey eyes. Snap lifted Ai-Mei's head from his shoulder, and waved Aren closer.
"I brought him with me," said Snap. "He ain't missed a chance to see you yet."
Ai-Mei stared at Aren long and hard, not a word, not a smile on her motionless face. Aren finally took a breath, and widened his thin lips into a pathetic smile. "Hey," he whispered.
"C-come here," she called; her voice was distant and airy; her lips merely quivered as she spoke. Aren stepped through the piles of garbage in the run-down room, and sat with his friends. Ai-Mei continued to stare at Aren's face. He was missing something; he knew it.
She finally sighed, and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Aren. I...I tried... I've been practicing my smile for you all d-day. I dun...dunno why. It's n-not working...I'm sorry."
A flood of hatred poured into Aren; he gazed at the thick scars and the wires that stuck from her face. He imagined her torture; he envisioned his own. But his eyes returned to hers, and he calmed himself, and smiled gently.
He gently touched her cold face. "You're still the prettiest girl I know."
~
