After tormenting the Eastern Minister, known in history only as “Antony”, the demon showed unto Antony a delusional vision of peace restored after quelling the demon invasion. The spirit insisted that the Isolationists had mostly broken up into small clans after the invasion and offered him his own version of a Covenant. Antony was promised a position of power in the future Kingdom to come, but only if he used his connections and his granted gifts to compel others into devastating the enemy with a missile program devised to prime and guide KI warheads. The Globalists’ nuclear arsenal included KI: explosives which, with their combined potential, were capable of decimating entire continents.
Minister Antony was able to control his transformation into a horrendous spawn before he mercilessly killed most of his known associates. After attempting to shift between his human and monstrous form too many times, Antony became completely confined within the mind of the abomination as it performed the rest of his work for him. It was his punishment for losing focus of the agreement he'd made.
Antony is known as the first one who pushed the button.
The Eastern Minister was made to believe he would purge the world of both their rivals as well as the incoming threat; he, along with Hideyoshi, inevitably drove all of human civilization beyond the brink of collapse. The world had finally gone to war with itself; after the bombs hit, there were no political factions remaining…
-
After the bombing and residual fallout, our world’s invaders did what they could to survive and thus so did the human race in retaliation. The “First Rift” is often called such by religious sects due to the popular belief that another Rift will one day be upon us.
Except this time, they believe it will contain a God's Final Judgment.
Without GAIA and Dr. Hideyoshi Keung, perhaps this reality may have gone on to avoid the disasters which followed the First Rift…
5
Goodbye Isaac
YEAR 3200.
Sky-bound vehicles cruise by on a web of several interconnected highways; the sun ascends, peaking its head on the horizon, and the winds settle into a stiff, calm breeze. On a nearby street, a group of young men lounge on a wooden bench while staring sullenly at the ground and focusing on the amount… how much the next re-up would leave them short.
At one time, this place might have hosted a completely different scene: families taking a stroll through the area to see a movie, pets, performers, street vendors. The truth is that time had not been overly kind to the city; the remaining animals in the Citadel already faced a rather rapid extinction. Furthermore, the streets of the Mid-City and below were considered uninhabitable and dangerous.
A stranger sauntered up to the group and asked an unheard question; one of the men extended his palm before offering him nothing but an expectant glance. The stranger handed him a wad of cash, and the man on the bench pointed to a distant spot around the corner of the street where the newcomer could pick up the product, where he could satisfy his need for a fix…
-
Poverty was a common reality for those in parts of the Mid-City and especially in the Lower-City—as they were, by nature, designed to house a large percentage of the population without utilizing every resource the country had. Despite falling behind economically several years later, the Citadel had become famous after focusing heavily on the development of better motor vehicles that could take to the skies. The goal was to achieve peak performance in the safest manner possible.
Transportation had changed greatly in the New World. In what's known as the Age of Reconstruction, a conglomerate of vehicle manufacturers within various territories had tampered with the idea that new modes of travel could be implemented within a short time period to adapt to the needs of working populations. Collective government branches decided that all power for future vehicles would be derived from fusion of the properties of solar and nuclear energy, as attempting to continue the worldwide search for increasingly scarce resources had become unsafe due to the dangers presented by the World Below; a place forsaken by most modernized countries.
The Citadel—as well as other major cities—had been built with the intentions of making it a City in the Sky, a civilization that had been constructed in a fashion that allowed it to be suspended in the atmosphere. Its structure was an immense, spherical shape divided into its respective Lower-City Quadrants, Mid-City Zones, and two Upper-City Sectors (Blue and White) in order to accommodate for extremely thorough city planning. With the dawn of a new era, vehicle manufacturers felt obligated to synthesize the idea of an aerodynamic “car” with a modern vehicle that could be used for traveling the prefectures. Additionally, many of the locations in the city were often built hovering over expanses containing sections from other districts.
The Dawn Federation, governing this City-Country, therefore sanctioned the use of airborne cars—or, vehicles commonly referred to as “cruisers,” with the stipulation that there would be no more “independent drivers” as long as one was within border limits. One of the major Cruiser manufacturers, Prime Michizen, merged artificial intelligence and the mechanics of the vehicle in order to automate Cruisers with their own sense of control and direction. When the Dawn Federation realized that this was possible, it seemed implausible to continue allowing drivers to operate their own cruisers and, in addition, insurance companies across the board began discriminating against those who rejected the system altogether. After all, insurers were capable of profiting greatly if there were less accidents caused by human error.
In order to force the Citadel's population to conform, the Dawn Federation eventually implemented regulations that would dictate the proper and legal use of all cruisers within city limits. Highways constructed from a powerful but flexible metal—known as “hyper rails”—were built in order to facilitate swift travel within the Citadel. To even exit the city, it was necessary to take a specific and heavily-monitored hyper rail known as E.P. (Exit Point) Deltan. It led into a police checkpoint responsible for inspecting a person's mental status before allowing them to fly freely in the outside world. The most inconvenient part about the Dawn Federation's new regulations was that anyone with their own vehicle was expected to receive testing and certification granting them permission to operate a cruiser… a vessel they would most likely never even drive themselves considering there were few reasons to leave the Citadel.
With the change in the way citizens viewed traveling, the modern taxi reached a whole new level of unprecedented popularity. It was now less expensive to pay a licensed “driver”—someone who sat in the passenger seat—who conversed with the actual passenger the entire journey to their destination while listening to their problems, free of charge.
Traffic violations as well as wrecks experienced a significant drop, and Citadel Law Enforcement as a whole was able to refocus their efforts more directly on crimes other than vehicle incidents that often ranged from petty to major. At one time in the far past, cruiser drivers were given permission to freely roam—which eventually led to the highest mortality rates ever experienced by the world of vehicle owners. The people had been exposed to a higher level of risk, which resulted in the citizens of various districts driving recklessly and frequently wrecking into buildings, highways, and all but exploding when colliding with another cruiser. Although this reality was good for population control, human drivers finally being replaced by humorless robots with a focus on traffic etiquette was a necessary evil. Legislation was also rushed by the Dawn Federation not long after the government realized that they’d become increasingly vulnerable to domestic terrorist attacks, which were incessant before drivers were told to stick to being “Certified Passengers.”
Citizens complied, and gas stations progressively became obsolete. In their place, governments across the world instead designed power stations which enabled cruisers to recharge—a process which took a shorter amount of time than the refueling of traditional automobiles. Thousands of stations were built across the Citadel and doubled as m
odern “rest stops” for civilians everywhere; hubs where hunters could blend in while plotting their next moves…
-
On his way to his next target, Tavon chose to ride in what was known as a B-Cruiser: an elongated taxi meant to carry upwards of fifty passengers. Resembling any other upstanding citizen, he wore a “Kom Cell,” a communication device in the form of an expandable headset. A steel band locked in around the user's ears and produced a holographic screen and keyboard that could call, message, and access the Federation’s online network as well as any personal files in the Kom Cell’s digital library. Most utilized this library for music.
Tavon was someone who admired much of the tracks that had been recovered from the ruins of the Old World. On his way to his next target, he listened to a single titled “Goodbye Isaac” and gazed from his window out into Zone D of the Mid-City.
Aaliyah texted him this morning on her way to work, but he never responded. Tavon checked a message from Brock which read: “Cleaned up the kitchen for your bum ass. We still hitting the gym later?”
Tavon replied: “No. Was thinking of making time for drinks, but that's a big maybe.”
The B-Cruiser stopped at an energy hub where Tavon stepped off amidst a group of other passengers and disappeared into a synthetic field, one riddled with stone paths that were rooted around a Zone D park. This section of the Mid-City was populated by a significant portion of the middle class of the country along with those stricken with seemingly unending poverty. At the center of the park resided the power station itself: a slender, triangular pillar reaching beyond the heights of the Upper-City and far into the skies. Attached to the power station was a rather large food court flooded with a diversity of distinct types of restaurants, ranging from Gaspulan delicacies of fish and rice to more localized dishes of unleavened, cherry bread and fried ezemul.
Pharma-Next was located a short ways from the station; a quick stop for those who needed specific supplements or vitamins and frequented often by members of Angelos for multiple purposes. Against the advice of Brock, who despised “food drugs,” Tavon stopped by Pharma-Next to begin gathering anything he thought he'd need. The contract failed to dictate any duration period, and Tavon's methods had become more careless due to him obsessing over his numbers.
But he couldn't truly rest until he'd proven himself.
“Yo.” Tavon addressed a cashier standing before a series of locked containers sealed off by a glass barrier. “I just need to grab some RD, if you don't mind.”
The unassuming vendor responded with an irritated grumble before handing him a package marked “RD.” The pills were composed of B-12 and a mixture of other components intended to keep the consumer full and feeling well-rested for one four-hour period per pill taken. Tavon linked the Kom Cell to his account in order to pay for the supplement and picked up a bottle of water at a vending machine before quickly downing a pill and logging online via his Kom Cell to view local reports for Zone D. While viewing the contents, he passed a series of sculptures depicting various well-known television personalities and took a seat on a bench next to others also checking their Kom Cells but for reasons other than his own.
Someone's pet ambled up to him as he was reading and eagerly sniffed his shoes. Despite most traditional forms of wildlife having become virtually nonexistent, humans simply couldn’t give up the idea of domesticating something. Subsequent to the First Rift, breeds of canines—albeit mostly deformed—survived to lead a legacy of the first mammals subjected to extensive genetic alteration. Societies collectively engineered their own pets, for better or worse. This particular dog that had approached Tavon was missing a part of its skull, but its owner had clearly shelled out quite a bit of money to replace the absent portion with an artificial substitute. Its voice box had been completely removed in favor of a quiet sound system; on the contrary, its vision and sense of smell were significantly enhanced.
A woman tugged at the canine's leash and apologized to the lone assassin. He glanced away from his Kom Cell for a brief moment to offer her a quick nod.
She's hot.
“It’s fine,” he said.
While investigating activities in Zone D, he read an opinion piece by a reporter lamenting the state of the area. Zone D's cost of living was relatively cheap but only due to the scarcity of jobs that could meet the real price of survival. The Zone's political representative and administrator, defined as an Executive, had pioneered controversial legislation for his section of the city as part of a misguided attempt to realize his own vision of government.
All occupations integrated within a hiring system used by only Zone D. Any career, including freelance writing or odd jobs with a short duration, were to be legally processed and approved through a specific agency, The Future Corps, and it had its own type of screening which automatically linked to the government records of any particular citizen.
First of all, if one was not a registered citizen to begin with, then Zone D rejected his or her application immediately. After passing the initial phase, a doctor examined the individual for any known or potential indicators of future disease. Any detection of the most minor issue would also lead to rejection. If a potential employee had fractured a bone or severely torn a muscle or ligament at any time in the past, they were asked to wait a certain period of time and were given a pithy monthly compensation check for whatever injury they claimed. Furthermore, the process went beyond a physical examination to include a mental screening and financial background check as well. This type of hiring was orchestrated so that the population of Zone D evolved to fit a specific mold the Executive had in mind; he believed that he could engineer the dawn of a new generation out of his assigned Zone.
Unfortunately, unemployment had risen beyond the expectations of everyone involved. The Executive of Zone D justified this outcome by stating that those who could not “make the cut” should simply move to another Zone of the Mid-City altogether—and thus only a small portion of Zone D remained actively employed.
Instead of leaving the area as anticipated, many stayed and resorted to either criminal activity or sank into hopelessness and accepted losing everything they had. Because of this, the article described new coalitions forming around Zone D's abandoned housing that demanded the government give them some form of regular stipend. The “D Projects” were formed due to the collective and rather extreme poverty of a part of the Zone. And out of the D Projects sprang citizens who orchestrated a “job sector” separate from their government, and they ran it very well. As such, there was no longer sufficient police presence to combat the resistance offered by those they claimed to protect, and so crime had become a common mode of life for several.
The opinion piece went on to decry a recent string of robberies that had escalated over into richer neighborhoods and marketplaces. The reporter described the living conditions of those existing in the D Projects; the only available food usually consisted of moldy bread-based products, contaminated water, and powdered rations that were made into solid food instantly by adding this contaminated water. She adamantly argued that those who could not make it as “real citizens” move to another Zone of the Mid-City, and that was when Tavon gave up trying to understand her point of view and sighed.
“What a moron…”
“Excuse me?” exclaimed a man sitting next to him.
“I wasn't talking to you.” Tavon nonchalantly pointed off into the distance. “Go somewhere else; I'm reading.”
The assassin continued reading and inspected the obituary section to study recent deaths, noticing that several of the recently deceased had overdosed on kiine. It was a popular drug typically manufactured from components removed from stolen pharmaceuticals. Kiine offered the consumer a long period of extreme ecstasy and pronounced concentration followed by a peaceful crash that caused the user to almost instantaneously fall asleep. Moreover, kiine produced the same “full” sensation one would experience from having just finished a three-course meal and so became popular
for obvious reasons. There wasn’t a surefire way to tell how much of the drug was too much, and numerous users accidentally overdosed while others did it intentionally because it was preferable to starving to death. A large concentration of overdoses happened to be clustered near specific streets close to dwellings of the sprawling D Projects.
Tavon looked up recent Pharma-Next robberies and correlated them to the overdoses. Using this method, he could seek out the biggest area of operations for producing and distributing the product. He compared the deaths between Dee Street and Yunce Avenue and noticed that Dee Street’s fatalities appeared to be mostly gun violence-related whereas Yunce had endured a recent surge of overdoses in the past week. Dee Street had also come under the scrutiny of the Dawn Bureau itself and was currently under an investigation composed of more than just the average detectives snooping around.
Based on the information available to him, Tavon decided that he would begin his search in the Projects around Yunce Street and browsed through the notes on his Kom Cell to clarify the details given in his rather vague contract:
“Target is normally observed wearing a leather cap with the letter ‘D’ emblazoned on its front. Nicknamed “High Rise” by known associates. Spends majority of time in D Projects wearing blue windbreaker. Wears clean pair of basketball shoes. Dark goatee. Walks with unusual gait. Target related to a series of murders within the area. Potentially very dangerous.”
Tavon promptly got up from his seat and headed through the human traffic of Zone D's wealthier neighborhood—past an immense sports dome and alongside buildings which ever so slightly modeled skyscrapers. Walkways were relatively clean and polished around Joeson & Kafk Law Firm as well as a local outdoors aquarium dedicated completely to robotic fish. The aquarium was on the way to another hyper rail leading to Yunce and served as a manner of art exhibit displaying the talents of local marine biologists, parents whose kids were granted entry to the prestigious schools of Zone D. These institutions, separated from Virtual Schooling, were known for breeding the next generation of “automatic successes,” no matter the obstacle.
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