Claire.
“Okay, so run this by me again,” Beckie muttered, the taller girl standing at Claire's side as they both stared out across the mist-slicked street.
It wasn't an impressive sight, but the AI supposed that was just par for the course when it came to Port Pride.
A thin film of grime coated the opposite building's facade, the grit of industrial soot absorbing the neon glow of the city that had bloomed as the light of day faded to evening.
Neither woman had yet moved from their shadowed alcove since they'd arrived, the modest chill seeping into their somewhat damp clothes as the environmental system mimicked a rainy night.
On the other side of the road, barely visible through a dingy, dura-plastic window, five figures were laughing and inhaling from burners as if their lungs were masochistic gimps.
Loud, discordant music, a blend of aggressive techno and garbled, unintelligible vocals, blasted through the derelict building's walls, spilling out into the street only to be drowned by the clamor of the late-night city noise.
Claire glanced at the larger woman, meeting her momentary look as she shrugged, laying out her plan for perhaps the fourth time...
“You're going to point out which ‘dudes’ and or 'dudettes' are the ones from the other syndicate—assuming they aren't all our target, and
I’m
going to shut their neural augments down.”
“Just like that?”
“Pretty much.”
“So, we're killing them?”
“Yeah-huh.”
“And you're just—chill with that?”
Claire blinked at Rebecca, noticing how the girl was giving her a hard stare… “Are you—not okay with it?” she asked, unsure where the issue exactly was.
After all, they both needed money, and right over there was a veritable small fortune in tech that they could ‘salvage’ for the greater good—which was, of course, to say, 'salvage' for Claire's direct monetary benefit.
For her part, Rebecca was quiet for a short span, her tongue wetting her lips before she shook her head, letting out a small huff of indignation. “Yeah… I’m just not really buying it. I know you hacked me and threatened my life and all, but I really didn't think you had the balls to go through with it.”
“Wanna see 'em?”
“See what?”
“My balls.” Claire chuckled, giving her hips a good thrust just for the fun of it.
“Ha! You don't have balls.”
“Totally do! I’ve got both sets of equipment in here. What? You haven't rented a Doll before?”
“I… have not! And, Seriously? You've got both?”
“Yeah, it's weird when
everything
is out, but also super fun.”
Beckie just nodded at that, chewing her lip for a moment before snapping from the odd divergence and coming full circle to her prior question. “Still, it feels—I don't know—strange that you’d be so willing to just kill people. I mean, listen, I’m not saying it's a bad idea; it's just, you know, I didn't think 'you people' really had any experience getting your hands dirty…”
“I’ve got a few murders under my belt,” Claire admitted, her tone dropping its previously jovial air. “I don't like killing just for the sake of it, but if it's them or us, I’m choosing us. And—before you say anything, that 'includes' our comparatively horrible financial situations.”
“Amen, sister.
Preach it…”
Beckie muttered, though her voice lacked its normal enthusiasm.
“Okay, seriously though, who's getting the hammer?”
“Alright ugh… See the dickhead in the spiky jacket with the chrome jaw?”
“Yup.”
“And those two chicks wearing pink and blue tights? Fucking awful bitches, both of them. Always stole my freaking shoes at the gym when we were younger.”
“Okay…”
“And, that guy in the beanie, he's a fucking dickhead as well! Dude gave me the clap; I had to spend an entire week working off the debt for medication! Oh, and get Paul too! That guy's just bad news. Broke into my apartment a few weeks back; I caught the guy and fucking laid him out, but it's not the first time he’s done it. I’ve had shit going missing for months before I figured out what was going on.”
Claire paused, glancing back up at the now somewhat eager beaver beside her with a semblance of mild uncertainty, ignoring that Beckie had just fingered each of them…
“Hey, Beckie?”
“Yeah?”
“Is this 'actually' a rival gang, or…”
“No, they're for sure a bad crew!”
“Not
really
what I asked?”
Beckie was silent for a few moments, Claire seeing how her lips opened and closed before the large woman just shrugged. “Okay,
maybe
they’re part of the same syndicate, but what does it matter? We’ve got dozens of little cliques within the organization, and these assholes are always trying to throw their weight around like they own this place!”
Claire looked around, noting all the various buildings that were very much not ‘Beckie's’ either. Moreover, they were actually several blocks away from her apartment at this point, or even from the first location where they’d met.
The more Claire thought about it, the more this felt to be somewhat personal… Again, she looked at Beckie who was staring at her right back.
Well, whatever!
Who really cared?
Claire closed her eyes, a faint chill of familiar calm running through her as she extended her consciousness into the webwork of interconnected electronics. Neural implants, body modifications, 'chrome' augmentations, all of which continued to bridge the gap between man and machine.
All of it held a connection to the Sub-verse for one reason or another, if they were worth a damn. Sure, some of the older tech could be a little too barbaric for such an intrusion, but nobody wanted to plug their cybernetics in every time there was an update.
Which, of course, allowed for a convenient back door that she was perfectly willing to abuse.
It wasn't a clean, surgical strike; not like the sort one might expect from a knife where a quick 'snap' would suddenly see them all fall over. It was more like a tendril of corrupted data, a virus creeping its way into the delicate architecture of their augmented minds.
She visualized the kill switch, her delightful little worm of code, a dormant subroutine she buried deep within the firmware that spread like a silent contagion as it burrowed quietly through their brains.
Then, with a mental flick, she activated it.
The effect wasn't instantaneous, not for Claire at least. Though in comparative 'human' heartbeats, it might seem as such. Her command rippled through their systems like a shockwave, a cascade of sudden failures and purging of information, causing a savage scrambling of their minds.
One moment they were laughing, the next their faces contorted in the briefest flickers of confusion, then nothingness.
Their bodies simply slumped to the dusty floor in a disconcerting, almost comical, domino effect.
One man, his chrome jaw gleaming under the flickering neon sign, dropped his burner mid-inhale, the acrid smoke curling upwards like the final whisper of his departing soul...
A woman with mirrored shades and a shaved head didn't even twitch, her augmented eyes merely rolling back into her skull before she slammed to the ground, limp as a wilted flower.
The rhythmic thump of the music continued to pound out its heavy decibels, utterly ignorant to the reaper's scythe as it moved through the room, claiming lives without anyone even noticing a thing.
After a moment, Claire took in a simulated breath, her intrusion leaving her with but a faint echo of their final thoughts: data, information, memories—all things she’d briefly graced while inside their heads, now little more than faint memories, small shards of departed spirits to join her own mind.
“Five targets, fiiiiive kills,” Claire announced cheerfully, a small, almost predatory smile playing on her lips—not for the deaths, but for the brutal efficiency of it, which she could definitely appreciate.
Brain augments truly were terrifying things to possess!
She understood the reason behind their popularity, but good lord!
This was just basic hacking.
With the right understanding, and a will to do bad things, the integrated nature of such barbaric cybernetics was—hmph—well, dangerous for their squishy and fragile brains.
“Holy fuck…
are you serious?”
“What?”
“Are they—are they dead?”
“Not—entirely?” Claire mused, her head bobbing from side to side. “I mean, they’re breathing, but pretty much just vegetables at this point..."
“Fucking Christ!"
"Calm down; it's not that big a deal!"
“Fuck you,
it is!
And by the way, you are one really scary fucking bitch…”
“What did you think was going to happen?”
“Not that!” Beckie whispered, her eyes bugging out and hands waving frantically. “They just fell over! Like, together! There weren't any—electricity or-or-or—signs…”
“Signs?”
“You know, like in video games?
Fuck!
Usually when you hack someone, they go all glitchy and shiver and fucking look like they're getting electrocuted! Where was all that?”
“I mean… I
could
have done it that way,” Claire sighed, shaking her head as she sauntered across the street, hearing Rebecca 'stomp-running' after her like the giant Tyrannosaurus Rex she was.
“Fuck!”
“Okay, Beckie, stop swearing.”
“Make me!
Wait!”
she blurted a moment later, holding up her hands as though Claire was about to bite her. “Don't make me; just—ignore me, okay? Sorry, I’m sort of freaking the fuck out…”
“Over 'killing people' that you wanted me to kill?”
“I didn't think it was going to be that fucking easy!” Beckie screamed-whispered, nearly wanting to screech. “That was the most freaking terrifying thing I’ve ever seen, and I’m really only now coming to terms with the fact that you were actually going to do the same thing to me!”
“Did you think I was joking?”
“I didn't think you were a goddamn 'space wizard' that could kill people with her mind! What the fuck? It took you like four seconds!”
“Paradise sex bots are repurposed mil-droids,” Claire replied, easily stepping over the first body to go after the one she wanted.
Reaching down, she pulled off a shiny pair of neon-trimmed boots from one of the girls, smiling to herself as she confirmed it was indeed a model that could resize. The things would look a little bulky on her, but Claire just supposed she’d be entering a ‘goth phase’ for a bit.
“What?” she demanded, pulling on the left boot as it molded to fit around her slender leg, the damned thing nearly reaching her knee given the height differences.
“You’re just—really feeling less and less like somebody from Platinum Mile… I’m thinking more military or—fuck, I don't know, but I also really don't want you to kill me so—”
“Relax! I’m not going to murder you… I
need
a human to play gopher for me!”
Beckie just swallowed, unable to really parse if Claire was being serious, or if she was joking.
Admittedly, Claire was messing with her a little bit, purposefully throwing a bit of sadistic ‘crazy’ into her wide grin as she watched the other girl without ever blinking.
“Hah… R-really hope you're trying to be funny right now…”
“You don't think it was funny?”
“Oh thank god!”
“Freaking relax, kid! Seriously! You're good! Now, start dragging bodies to the big-ass bin over there after I finish stripping the corpses. Don't worry, cameras are out; nobody will know this was us.”
Rebecca just chuckled nervously, nodding her head but doing what was asked of her all the same.
It was gruesome work…
Without the proper tools, Claire was doing a lot of carving. The knife she’d taken from one of their victims was well ruined by the time she was finished, the errant bits of stripped meat and tendon scattered about the floor, making the room look like some kind of slaughterhouse.
And, though she'd been trying in earnest to keep as much blood as she could off of herself, Claire was still coated in it up to her arms…
All the same, when Beckie tossed the last desecrated body in the trash, both girls had a rather sizable collection of very suspicious-looking parts.
“Sooo, not to sound like a buzzkill,” Beckie whispered, almost like she thought the peacekeepers were right around the corner. “These aren't going to sell for a whole lot as they are…”
“Can you carry it all?”
“Most of it, I guess... Why, you want to try and clean it at the apartment?”
“No point,” Claire waved, picking up the various smaller and delicate components that her ‘Igor’ would doubtless fumble. “C'mon, we're heading over to Gunther's. If he’s got an even remotely decent setup, I’ll turn this shit into some kickass gear. Just wait and see!”
Rebecca.
Beckie followed along in silence, her arms full of dripping and gore-coated cyberware.
Thankfully, the majority of people actually paying attention to them knew better than to stare—or confront them for that matter—so they pretty much just walked right down the road without anyone giving a shit.
Nobody, not even Beckie, if she was honest with herself, wanted to be involved in 'whatever' it was the crazy robot chick was up to.
Yet her emotions and thoughts were constantly at odds with her pragmatism and desperation.
On one hand, she was absolutely certain this girl was a fucking psychopath!
Sure, Beckie had known they were going to try and kill her old—well, ‘gang’ sort of fit… And yeah, she’d known what ‘killing them’ entailed. Heck, she’d led the other girl to their usual hangout, and yet, Beckie still couldn't quite parse just how 'ruthless' and quick it had been.
She hadn't really known what she was supposed to expect when the other girl had made the suggestion that she help Beckie reap a few mods. But, to be honest, she’d really assumed the other girl would cause a panic as she had before—maybe make them hit each other like she’d, again, done before—while she (the muscle) would get stuck in and smash some heads!
What she hadn't expected was the sheer chilling reality of the other woman’s ‘talents.’
“Straight out of a fucking movie…” she whispered to herself, inside the confines of her own mind, of course. Though, at this point, Beckie wasn't even sure if her private thoughts were actually safe!
For all she knew, the fucking android could somehow read her damned mind and know what she was thinking...
“I definitely
can't
read your mind.”
“Whew—fucking—
don't you
dare
fucking start with that!”
Beckie seethed, her eyes shooting wide as saucers as the tiny woman actually cackled, laughing at her with sheer delight!
“I’m not actually doing it, by the way, that was pretty much just a guess.”
“A freaking terrifying guess!”
“I’m a scary lady,” Claire twittered, utterly pleased with herself and grinning from ear to ear.
“Okay, but for realsies, you can't actually—”
“Haha! I totally can.”
“Fucking—
dick!”
Beckie growled, hip-checking the crazy bitch before she even realized what she’d done.
Horribly, the other girl abruptly paused, halting midstep to whirl on her, though instead of death and misery and eternal virtual suffering, the girl merely stared at her, almost, dare she hope, surprised?
“Please don't kill me!”
was all that ran through Beckie's head, even as she tried to put on a brave face and pretend that everything was normal...
Happy place Beckie, happy place…