Beyond The Gate
Chapter 2 - Back To The Day Job
"Good job at getting that info, kid, the bosses were pleased that we didn't screw up this time." The middle aged white man muttered to himself while he read the newspaper, sitting on the park bench behind me. Xiao was what I knew him as, though to the general public he probably had another name, we all did. That was why we were meeting this way, Cai sitting to my right feigning interest with something off in the distance, Xiao on the other bench with a newspaper, I repeatedly cleaning a pair of glasses I didn't need. It was easier if we didn't draw attention to the Contractor called 'Dan', the Doll called 'Cai', or the human called 'Xiao'.
"Those sexist bastards still thinking we can't get anything done right, I hate them." I muttered back to Xiao as he turned to the next page.
"I thought Contractors didn't have emotions, dear. Don't get your panties in a twist, it's not like you've been doing much to prove them wrong."
"Contractors aren't Dolls, we still feel things. Did you have a point in calling us here, or do you just like telling me how to wear my panties?" A moment of silence, then a large envelope slid through the back of the seats. Placing the glasses away, I picked up the envelope and pulled out the contents.
"That's the police report from the other night; apparently you got the attention of some important people." I scanned over the copied sheets of the police report, noting things such as names and what could only be my description. "Came straight from the 'Foreign Affairs' office, and those people have a nose for Contractors like you wouldn't believe. Though not perfect, they've got you pinned as a Contractor but they think you're BK-201."
"The masked fool? Ha, his skills could never match up to mine." I chuckled, thinking of how easily he had given up our fight. He had probably been listening to that stupid Contractor logic of his; and what was with the cat? Pushing that thought from my head, I went back to scanning the document.
"The bosses want you to go after him."
"What? Why would they want that, what's so important about that man?"
"He knows too much." There was something wrong here, there was no way that they were just going to send as after another Contractor for a reason as lame as that.
"He is a Contractor, they all know too much." I grumbled, feeling sure that it wouldn't be too long before they used those words against me. That was the undeniable life of a Contractor, the moment they knew too much was the moment they became unusable.
"Look, kid, I'm not here to argue with you. My orders were to pass this on to you." Xiao folded up his newspaper and stood up. "What you do with them is your problem." Xiao left then, blending easily back into the crowds and disappearing from sight. I stayed seated for a moment longer, pondering what his last comment had meant. Could the bosses be planning something, so that it wouldn't matter whether I chose to follow orders or not? That was insane though, how could they manipulate BK-201 and me into another confrontation, unless... unless they were his bosses as well! What would they get out of that though?
Standing, I took Cai's hand, and we headed off in the opposite direction that Xiao had gone. To anybody that looked at us, we were just a pair of sisters taking a walk in the park, though we were far from that. Cai was a doll who had the ability to send out spectres through a medium that was present in almost every piece of current day technology. I was... well a Contractor, which really explained everything.
Taking the long way around, we headed back to Cai's place, I keeping my eyes open for anyone following us. As much as I knew that our cover was pretty much unbreakable by the random people on the streets, there were those out there who could spot who we were and would come after us with violent plans in mind. It wasn't that long ago that someone had come after me like that, and being as unexpecting as I was, got caught it their ambush. With no other means of escape, and my life on the line as they proceeded to bloody me to a pulp, I activated my contract which to this day still feels like a breach of my survival instinct. The attackers were erased from the face of existence that day, and ever since I have been careful to watch my back.
"Dan, you are acting too human," Cai chimed in, her voice a monotone compared to the colours of the world. We had stopped walking; now standing outside the small apartment building Cai called home. Annoyed at her comment, I forcefully pulled my hand from hers.
"You are not my keeper," I grumbled, pushing her towards the building entrance.
"Sometimes I wonder," she muttered back before entering the building. I stared blankly at the door she had disappeared behind, wondering how long she had the ability to back-mouth me like that. The general understanding was that dolls were only programmed with the basic stuff, like how to look after themselves – so why was it that I just got back-mouthed by one?
Muttering some choice curses at the door Cai had closed behind her, I pulled my jacket hood over my head leaving quickly as storm clouds rolled in, ruining what had started off as a nice day. And I had still yet to decide my course of action concerning those 'orders'.