Ronin Born

by Percival Constantine

  Erika’s muscles tensed. She could feel the urge to draw her sword and cut through each of those masked monsters. The nanites started to form the hilt in her hand and all it took was a simple thought to activate the energy blade.

  “Kuroki, why are your weapons systems coming online?” asked Himiko.

  “I can’t just let this happen…”

  “Stop it, you’re no good to anyone if you’re dead!”

  “They wouldn’t even be able to touch me.”

  “Erika, listen to her,” said Masao. “Maybe they can’t hurt you, but remember what you and Hiro faced in Yoshiwara? We don’t know what they’ve got locked away.”

  She froze in place, muscles still tensed and ready to explode. But she stayed calm and relaxed her hand, the nanites that formed the hilt retreating to her armor. Silently, Erika apologized to the old man, trying to look away as the sounds of their blunt weapons striking him and his cries of pain echoed in the docking area.

  They were distracted now and as much as she hated to think like this, it gave her a chance to quickly close the gap between her and the only possible escape route. Erika dropped down and grabbed the rafter, then resumed swinging from beam to beam.

  She crossed the distance quickly and now she saw the vent. It was covered by a grating and that would provide difficulty. Erika perched on the beam and this time, she did activate her sword. She swung it for the vent, but it fell just short of hitting the grate.

  “Dammit…” she muttered. “Gotta try something else.”

  She moved across the beam until she reached the wall. When she placed her hands on the wall’s surface, the nanites adhered. She brougth her other hand to the wall and moved over its surface. Going slow was even more important. Now she no longer had the benefit of the shadows above. If any of those guards looked in her direction, they would easily spot her.

  Erika’s heart started to pound in her chest as she crawled across. She paused every few seconds and looked back to the ground to see if any guards were at risk of spotting her. Once she was confident she was safe, she continued to the corner and the vent that represented her freedom.

  The hilt formed in her hand, but she changed the setting on the blade to shorten it. Now it was the equivalent of a wakizashi or short sword. Erika raised the blade above her head and began cutting into the grate. Sparks flew and she moved slowly so as not to make too much noise. Erika looked below frequently to ensure that no one was looking up. And though she hated to think about it, the guards’ belligerent nature towards the prisoners actually helped cover up the sounds of her cutting.

  The grate gave way and she pulled it free from its mount. Erika wrapped her arm around the grate and crawled up. The attachments on her armor wouldn’t enable her to enter, so as Erika pulled herself into the vent, the nanites retreated, collapsing her suit. She was less protected that way, but it meant she could move with more freedom.

  At least she had made it through the first part. Now she just had to find the control center.

  23

  The ventilation shaft proved to be a tight fit for Erika, even without her armor. It was slow-going, using her forearms to move inch by inch through the shaft. Whenever she came to a vent opening, she stopped to look through the grating to see where she was.

  Without the armor, she wasn’t able to use her scanners to try and get a better idea of where the control room was. Time was a factor, so she couldn’t spend too long trying to find the center.

  The lack of the armor also meant she had no connection to Himiko or Masao. Her regular cellular implants weren’t equipped with the kind of encryption needed for secure communication, at least not as advanced as her armor.

  The shaft was bathed in darkness and she didn’t have her armor’s nightvision. Whenever there was an opening, some light filtered through, but not enough to truly navigate. She mostly had to move by touch.

  She felt the shaft inclining upwards, which just made it more difficult to move. Erika focused her thoughts on that old man she saw getting beat up by the guards. She thought about the poor test subject she had to kill back in Yoshiwara. And then she remembered how all of this was being done by Yoshida to provide the Ministry of Defense with the kind of weaponry they demanded. Those thoughts provided fuel for her to push forward and at a greater pace, despite the narrow fit and fighting against gravity.

  Erika reached her hand forward and felt cold metal. She looked left, then right, and saw some light filtering through a grate towards the right. She had reached a junction and she had to bend and twist her body in order to turn to the right. It was a struggle, but those thoughts continued to urge her forward.

  After some doing, she had completed the turn and continued her trek. The grate was just ahead and as with the others, she slowed as she peered through the bars.

  She was over a large room and there were several people inside. All were dressed in the same nondescript uniforms with balaclava masks. Erika counted a total of four. There were holographic monitors and the men sat at terminals. She couldn’t quite make out what was on the monitors from this angle, but this seemed likely to be the control center she was looking for.

  Erika grabbed the grating and pushed. It was fixed in tightly, but it came loose and fell to the ground below. As soon as it clattered there, the guards turned to look at the source.

  Before they could truly react, Erika dropped from the opening and landed in a crouch. She activated the container and the nanites spread across her body, reforming her armor.

  The guard furthest from her drew his sidearm and opened fire. The bullets were unable to penetrate the armor and just ricocheted off. One of the ricochets hit the guard closest to her as he was about to fire his own weapon.

  Erika lunged for the guard firing. She grabbed the barrel of his gun and pulled it from his grip, then delivered a powerful kick to his sternum. He jolted back, slamming into the wall and causing the holographic monitors to flicker.

  A third guard tried to strike from behind with a baton. It broke against Erika’s mento. She turned and he tried to attack with what remained of the baton. Erika grabbed his arm and twisted, breaking his wrist. Her free hand curled into a fist, and she slammed it into the side of his face, knocking him unconscious. She released his wrist and he slumped to the ground.

  Only one guard remained. Erika faced him and he held his gun. Saying he had it aimed at her would be generous—his body shook so drastically with fear that he was more likely to shoot the ground than her. Erika closed the distance just a little with a single step. The guard immediately jumped back, hitting the rolling chair behind him. He stumbled over it, nearly falling, and tried to push the chair at Erika.

  She grabbed it with one hand and easily swung it to the wall. Erika grabbed the gun just as he squeezed the trigger, firing a round into her palm. Erika tore the gun away and quickly disassembled it.

  “I-I just work here…” he muttered in a pathetic plea.

  In response, Erika grabbed his head and brought it down, striking it with her raised knee.

  “Himiko, I’m in the control center.”

  “Took you long enough.”

  “Give me a break, I had to crawl through a tight tunnel and then fight off some guards.” On Erika’s AR-HUD, the armor informed her that it couldn’t find a wireless signal. “I think everything here is hardwired. I’m not finding any signals.”

  “Check the equipment. You should be able to plug in somewhere.”

  Doing as Himiko suggested, Erika looked around the room and examined the equipment. There was a cabinet with several different devices. She checked each one until she found a port. Erika raised her finger and the nanites rose above the tip, forming into a connector that she slid into the port. Her AR-HUD opened up a new window, showing what it was getting from the server.

  “I’m downloading surveillance footage from the past six months, should give you exactly what you need,” said Erika.

  “Does that mean we’re done?” asked Masao. “Yo
u don’t need my help after all?”

  As she tapped into the surveillance records, Erika was also able to view the live footage. She found cameras located in a detention area where a number of old and infirm refugees were locked up, with far more people than should be held in a single cell.

  “We’re not done,” said Erika. “We have to help these people.”

  “That’s not why you’re there,” said Himiko.

  “I’m not leaving them like this. It’s inhumane,” said Erika.

  “How are you gonna get them outta there?”

  “The sub. Get them onboard and take them back to the mainland.”

  “And then what? They’re non-entities without legal status. They’ll be rounded up and sent right back here or somewhere else. That’s assuming they aren’t killed outright.”

  It would be easy to simply accuse Himiko of being cold, but she was also right. Without anywhere to take these people, would getting them out of here just be giving them false hope? Erika knew she wouldn’t be able to look at herself in the mirror tomorrow morning if she just walked away.

  “I can’t do it,” said Erika. “I know we’re in a tough spot, but I can’t continue turning a blind eye to these people.”

  Himiko didn’t have a response. Erika waited, staring at her uncertain face in the AR-HUD. Then Masao’s face took priority.

  “Tell me how to get inside, I’m gonna help you.”

  “Wait, you’re going in?” asked Himiko with surprise. “Guys, listen. I know this sucks. But if you’re caught, you’ll be tortured and they will eventually break you.”

  “Maybe, but she’s right. We can’t just leave these people behind. It’s worth the risk,” said Masao.

  “Okay, I’m looking for layouts of the installation,” said Erika. She downloaded the maps and transmitted them to Masao and Himiko. “There’s a maintenance hatch on the south side of the island. I’ve marked it on the map. Once you’re inside, get to the sub and get it ready to depart.”

  “That it?”

  “For now, yeah. Stay in touch,” said Erika.

  Masao entered the facility through the maintenance hatch Erika told him about. He jumped down into a small alcove without bothering to use the provided ladder. His sensors told him there were no lifeforms detected, but he still pressed up against the narrow wall as he peered around the alcove’s corner to confirm.

  The map provided by Erika was superimposed in a corner of his AR-HUD, with a blinking light displaying his current location and another showing the submarine bay that was his destination.

  “You read me, Masao?”

  It was Himiko, her face appearing on his AR-HUD. “Yeah, what’s up?”

  “We’re on a private channel because I wanted to talk about Kuroki.”

  “She’s coming through pretty well, huh? Was I right about her or what?”

  Silence lingered in his ear as he moved silently down the corridor. Erika may have been capable of squeezing through the air ducts, but he knew he couldn’t do the same. He had to focus on the armor’s scanners and stealth.

  “Himiko? You still there?”

  “We’ve got a difference of opinion, big guy. She’s risking this whole operation just to save a few lives.”

  “Thought that’s what we were trying to do.”

  “Think big picture. If you guys are captured, they can find out about Miyata and me. And if we go down, everything we’ve been working towards is over. We’ve got to have some priorities here.”

  “So what do you propose? We get out of here right now? Leave those people to whatever grim fate’s waiting for them?”

  In the midst of another pause, Masao entered a stairwell heading down. He could have sworn he heard Himiko sigh. He’d known her long enough to know that she wasn’t as hard or as cold as she pretended. Even contemplating what she’d been saying would end up haunting her. All the more reason why he had to stand firm against her.

  “It’s not ideal…”

  “There’s an understatement.” He began his descent down the staircase. “Besides, you heard her, she’s got her mind set on this. She’s not going to just walk away.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that…”

  Masao felt his blood turn cold. “Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like what you’re about to say?”

  Another pause, another sigh. And then, “We’ve got the data we need. What if…what if you get out on your own?”

  He froze. Not only because he came to the bottom of the stairs, but also because of what Himiko had just suggested.

  “You want to leave her behind?”

  “Like you said, she’s stubborn. She’s going to see this through to the end. But there’s no reason you have to sacrifice yourself, too. Even with everything we’ve told her, there’s still a lot about our operation that she doesn’t know. Who we’re working with, where our resources come from, she’s in the dark on all of that.”

  “I can’t believe I’m hearing this…”

  “C’mon, man. What do you want from me? I like her, I really do. But I’ve got to play this smart.”

  “If we become the kind of people who are willing to just sacrifice others because it’s convenient, then what makes us any better than the likes of the Tokkei?” asked Masao. “What makes us any better than the people who killed your husband?”

  Masao opened the door to the stairwell, careful as he peered from side to side. He stepped into the corridor and followed it to the left. Just ahead was the submarine bay.

  “You still there?” he asked. “Your face hasn’t moved in some time.”

  “Watch your back in there, okay? There’s no telling what kind of secrets Yoshida has locked up in this place.”

  Masao smiled beneath his faceplate. That was more like the Himiko he knew. She was in a tough place and the things they saw had hardened them. But he knew there was a part of her that would never get so hard that she’d willingly sacrifice her own humanity in order to accomplish her goals.

  The doors opened and he entered the submarine bay. The sub floated in the water, the gangway still connected. He crossed over it and entered the sub, moving to the controls to begin starting it up.

  “Okay…” he whispered to himself. “Guess now all we’ve gotta do is wait for Erika to get here with the prisoners.”

  “For the record, I still think we’re taking a big risk here.”

  “Noted, now how about we change the subject?” Silence lingered again and Masao rolled his eyes. “Oh come on, Himiko. Don’t tell me you’re going to pull the silent treatment crap on me.”

  “I’m not,” she said and there was a noticeable shift in her tone. One that made Masao perk up and take notice.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “I tried to bring Erika back into the channel, but…something’s wrong. I’ve lost contact with her!”

  24

  While Masao went to prepare the sub for departure, Erika had tasked herself with finding the sub’s eventual passengers. She’d located the detention area and marked it on the map displayed on her AR-HUD.

  Himiko’s words still lingered in her head, though. Could she really hope to pull this off? To rescue these people without getting caught? She had already looped the camera footage, disabled the security alarms, and rerouted the guards away from the detention level. That would buy her some time, but she had no way of knowing if it would be enough.

  But the effort had to be made nonetheless.

  The detention level was one floor up from the sub’s location. She made it there without a problem. There was a biometric scanner on the doors blocking access to the cells, but she’d already deactivated it from the control center and the door opened automatically once she stepped in front of it.

  The room only contained one large cell that could safely house about a dozen prisoners. Except there were at least twice that presently housed inside. It was one thing to see it on a monitor, but seeing it right in front of her caused an even great
er stir in the depths of Erika’s soul.

  The prisoners all looked at her with a mixture of fear and confusion on their faces. They didn’t know who she was or what she was doing here, but they had no reason to expect anything other than the worst. Erika went to the cell door and drew her sword. The laser blade shimmered to life and there were gasps and even a few screams. Erika ignored them and sliced through the locking mechanism and the door swung open.

  She retracted the sword and looked over their faces. Part of her wanted to show her face, to give them some sense that she was a person who was trying to help them. That would have been a mistake and she knew it. So she remained masked and spoke in English, the armor’s built-in modulator distorting her voice.

  “Don’t be afraid. I’m going to get you all out of here.”

  “Wh-who are you?” one of them asked.

  “The person who’s going to save your life,” she said. “But I can only do that if you follow me.”

  “And why should we trust you? They told us they were going to bring us here and give us work. Then they put us in here and every day, they take one person out. We never see them again.”

  Images flashed in Erika’s mind of the man she’d fought back in Yoshiwara. Ignoring them was hard, but she had to stay focused.

  “The way I see it, you have two choices. Either you can stay here and eventually get disappeared like the others,” she said. “Or you can take your chances with me.”

  There were some murmurs among the group and hushed, whispered conversations. Some in English, some in other langauges Erika didn’t recognize. Finally, a general sense of agreement rose from them.

  “Good, now follow me,” she said and led them through the door and down the hall. With a thought, her modulator was deactivated and she spoke so only those connected to her comm-link could hear. “I’ve got the refugees. How’s the sub coming along?”

  She tried to bring up the video feeds of both Himiko and Masao, but there was no link. Erika’s armor attempted to establish a reconnection, but with no luck.