‘Shut up. You’re in no position to tell me what to do,’ Hellion said.
‘Feeling a sense of satisfaction, are you?’ Frankie asked.
Hellion scowled down at her. ‘I’m growing fed up of that mouth of yours,’ she said and drew her sword from her back. Its blade gleamed in the light.
Frankie glanced around, she had no idea where she was, but there was no one about. She could also spot some bags of garbage and a few dumpster bins a short distance away. It looked like an alleyway of some kind.
‘Time to take my trophy,’ Hellion said and pulled the sword back.
Gunfire exploded through the alleyway, slamming into Hellion, causing her to stagger backwards and drop her sword as high calibre armour piercing rounds peppered her body.
Hellion fell sideways and rolled out of the gunfire with a yelp. Frankie attempted to look up, but without much luck. She could hear the clear and distinctive thudding noise of a flyer’s rotors, and after a few more seconds of sustained gunfire, someone ran up next to her and crouched down beside her. She looked up to see Gibson next to her, looking down at her.
‘Hey, champ, you still in there?’ he said, barely making himself heard over the gunfire from the flyers anti-mech guns
‘Just…’ Frankie said, struggling to get her words out.
‘Hold on, Xenox will be over in a moment,’ he said as he turned away from her and fired down the alleyway as well.
‘I’m sorry, I messed up,’ Frankie said.
‘Yeah, you fuckin’ run,’ Gibson yelled to Hellion, wherever she was. ‘Sorry?’ he said to Frankie. ‘Don’t be silly, you were just trying to do what’s right. Oh, here he is now,’ Gibson said before he backed away, only to be replaced with Xenox.
‘My word, she really did a number on you, didn’t she?’ Xenox said.
‘I’ve felt better…’ Frankie muttered.
‘Of course, you have. Okay, I think the best thing is if you can just shut yourself down. It will be easier that way. I’ll get you fixed up as quick as I can,’ he said.
‘Sure, Doc; shutting down,’ Frankie said and issued an emergency shutdown command to her cyberbrain.
The world faded away and everything went to black.
4.14
Hellion watched as the mechanical arms moved about in front of her as she sat in the metal chair, marvelling at them as they repaired her damaged ballistic polymer flesh under the watchful eye of the cyberneticist Wynter.
There were other scientists and researchers in the room, most were busy working on other things, but a few of them were helping to fix her up.
Hellion leant her head back against the chair and remembered the look on Frankie’s face as she killed that man in the neighbouring apartment. She’d been horrified, and it was exactly what she had wanted. Seeing that pain in her eyes, she knew he’d been someone she had cared about, someone close to her.
The sense of satisfaction that had given her was incredible; finally, a bit of revenge for the death of her sister.
She heard the distinctive soft hiss of the main door as it slid open. Hellion opened one eye to have a peek at who had entered. She’d expected it to be another scientist, but she wasn’t terribly surprised to see Marissa walk in.
She’d figured it would only be a matter of time before Miss Webb turned up. She hadn’t exactly followed protocol or the terms of her agreement after the mission, after all.
Hellion closed her eye and waited, listening to Marissa’s footsteps as she walked across the lab and came to rest a short distance from Hellion’s chair.
‘Is she online?’ Marissa asked Wynter.
Hellion opened her eyes and looked up at Marissa, who was focused on Wynter. ‘I’m awake, yes,’ she said, having noticed Marissa’s use of the word online instead of awake. She knew that she was little more than a tool to them, a product or weapon to be wielded, which is why she had done what she had. It was also probably the reason why Marissa was here to talk with her now, having descended from her ivory tower to come and interact with the low lifes.
‘Hellion. It’s great to see you’re all fixed up,’ Marissa said.
Hellion smiled. Charming as always, she thought, preferring to indulge in small talk before getting to the point of her visit here. ‘Thank you. Yes, Wynter is doing a great job,’ she said, choosing to play her game. ‘It’s been a great experience to work with her. She’s a real asset to your company.’
‘Indeed,’ Marissa said. ‘Unlike you.’
Hellion stifled the laugh that rose up within her. That was a rather short bit of chit chat and showed just how annoyed Marissa was with her latest actions. ‘I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,’ Hellion said, sounding affronted and keen to annoy Marissa further.
‘Cut the shit, Hellion. You know what I’m talking about. Where is she?’
‘She?’ Hellion smirked.
‘Fiona. Where is Fiona? What have you done with her?’
‘Aaah, Fiona,’ she said. ‘Why didn’t you say so? Don’t worry, she’s safe. No harm will come to her until I’m ready.’
‘That is not what we agreed, Hellion. You were to bring any captives here to us,’ Marissa said.
‘Was I? Oh, well. You will have her soon enough,’ she smiled. Had that been in the agreement she had signed? She couldn’t really be sure, and she didn’t care anyway. She didn’t fully trust Marissa and Psytech, and Hellion was keen to make sure she had a hold over them, and to make sure that she was able to do what she wanted to with her captives.
She wanted to ensure Frankie suffered. Killing the guy in the apartment was part of that, but killing one of her parents right before her eyes, now, that would be truly delicious and a fitting punishment for Frankie’s actions.
‘We’d better or there will be hell to pay,’ Marissa said.
Hellion smirked again, enjoying the apparently purposeful word choice given her name.
‘Was that it? Was that why you came all the way down here to see me?’ Hellion taunted her.
‘Actually, no. I can’t deny that I am somewhat annoyed by the fact that Frankie got away from you… again. Are you even up to the task? You seem to be failing at it a little too much for my liking…’
‘Just prolonging the pain,’ Hellion said. ‘Don’t worry, Frankie will get hers; have no doubt about that. One day soon, she will pay for what she has done.’
‘I hope you’re right, for your sake,’ Marissa said darkly.
Hellion only smiled at the threat. Marissa didn’t scare her at all.
‘I do have some better news, however,’ Marissa continued. ‘Something’s… …arrived that might be of use to us, and I thought you should know.’
‘Oh, really? Do tell,’ Hellion answered.
‘Better if I just show you,’ Marissa said, and suddenly a message appeared in Hellion’s vision, telling her that Marissa was sending her a video feed. Hellion accepted it and the video opened up in her vision, showing the inside of a room. There were a number of people in here, but this camera was tracking only one of them around the chamber.
Hellion smiled. ‘The prodigal son returns,’ she said.
‘Something like that,’ Marissa said. ‘I take it this will be useful to you?’
‘It opens up some options, that’s for sure. Is there anything else?’
‘Well,’ Marissa said. ‘There is one other thing…’
4.15
Frankie’s vision flickered to life with a wash of digital static before settling and self-adjusting to the light while icons in her vision’s HUD activated, announcing each system as it came online. Reams of code streamed by in her vision as feeling returned to her body. Slowly, she rose from her dream filled sleep and became aware of her surroundings. She was laid on one of Xenox’s cyber beds, something which was now a fairly regular occurrence, her naked body covered only with a sheet. Xenox stood nearby peering at the data pad in his hands. Noticing her movement, he looked up at her.
‘Welcome back,’ he said.
‘Thanks,’ she said and lifted her hands up to look at them, turning them over to check on them. ‘You fixed me up,’ she stated.
‘I did more than that. You’re in an entirely new body. You’re in the new experimental rig I created from Spectre’s former body.’
‘The one I saw…’ she paused as she suddenly became aware she wasn’t sure how long she had been asleep for. ‘How long have I been out for?’
‘Three days,’ he said, as she checked her internal calendar and confirmed what he’d just said.
‘Aaah, not too bad, then,’ she said.
‘You weren’t gone for long, no,’ he said. ‘Okay, everything is online and systems are running within normal parameters, so you’re good to go. I’ll let you get yourself up,’ he said and walked away with a smile.
Frankie sat up and looked down at her hands. They were subtly different, but similar enough, she supposed. Swinging her legs over the side of the table she dropped down to the floor, leaving the sheet on the bed and looked down at herself. Nothing seemed too different from how she had looked before. She still had the seams that ran across her body marking joins; all of it was very familiar. Pulling on her clothes, she suddenly remembered the fight she had been a part of and Oliver’s death.
Her mood darkened as she remembered the image of Oliver taking a knife to the head and dropping down dead and Hellion’s glee at what she had done. Half dressed, she sat on the chair her clothes had been on and buried her head in her hands.
She didn’t often cry, but today was one of those days, and she decided to let the emotion just bubble up and take over for a few minutes.
Getting upset in this cyborg body wasn’t anywhere near as messy as it was in an organic body. She could shed tears, but that was about it.
Before too long, she brought herself under control again and took a few deep breaths. At least, his death was quick, she thought. It wasn’t too painful, and it wasn’t drawn out. She would miss him, and she felt incredibly guilty for not being able to save him, but it could have been worse. She wasn’t about to let Hellion off the hook, though. Hellion would need to pay for what she had done to her; that was for sure. Frankie resolved right there to make sure she took her revenge on Hellion as soon as she could.
Getting up, Frankie pulled on the rest of her clothes and stepped out of this section of the lab and found Xenox talking with William and Gibson.
‘Hi, guys,’ she said brightly, pleased to see them and trying to not seem too down or upset.
‘Frankie, glad to see you’re back with us again. You really are tough to kill,’ William said.
‘Thanks to Xenox here, yeah,’ she said.
‘She’ll be even tougher now with her newly upgraded body. She’s faster, stronger, and more agile,’ Xenox added.
‘The new and improved Frankie Gene,’ Gibson quipped.
‘Frankie Gene, the revenge,’ Frankie said while thinking of smashing in Hellion’s smug little face.
‘Are you ready for a briefing meeting?’ William asked.
‘Absolutely,’ Frankie answered him. ‘I’m keen to find out what’s happened.’ William led her, along with Gibson and Xenox into a nearby briefing room, just as Kalypso arrived to join them.
‘Okay, I’ll just go over recent events for the benefit of Frankie, who has just joined us after her repair,’ William said. ‘As you all know, Frankie’s mother, Fiona, got a message from Mark, her husband, who wanted to meet up. Frankie was in the vicinity of her former apartment and suggested they meet there. During that meet up, Hellion, the mercenary leader from the ambush in the Undercity support building, arrived and attacked Frankie and her parents. We can only assume that Psytech had that apartment under surveillance and sent Hellion in when they spotted Frankie in there. Frankie’s former neighbour Oliver was killed during the fight before Frankie was able to draw Hellion out and away from the building.’
Frankie frowned at the mention of Oliver as she felt the need to get out there and do something about this blonde witch.
‘Hellion followed Frankie and nearly killed her before we found them and drove Hellion off,’ William continued. ‘Luckily, we were able to save Frankie from death, thanks to Xenox here.’
‘So, what happened to my parents?’ Frankie asked.
William turned to face her, his expression dark. ‘On our return to the apartment, we found it empty. Both your parents were gone,’ he said.
‘Gone? Any idea what happened to them?’ she asked.
‘We’re following up with the building's security, but so far no luck. It seems the security systems went haywire shortly before Hellion arrived,’ Kalypso said.
‘Hellion again,’ Frankie muttered.
‘Seems that way. Looks like she hacked the system and shut them down. During the blackout, which lasted for a while, your parents either made their escape or were kidnapped, taken by Hellion, maybe? Or Psytech?’ Kalypso said.
‘We have no leads for their whereabouts?’ Frankie asked.
‘Not as of yet,’ Kalypso answered.
‘So, we’re screwed,’ Frankie said darkly.
‘Maybe not. For the past few days, we have been working with Tyler, the team leader of the former Nano Technic Operator squad. It seems like we got to him and he now says he thinks that his anger was misplaced and should, in fact, be directed towards the Corporations who forced this life upon him and dropped him when it suited them. So, we put it out there that Tyler and his squad were looking to reconnect with Zealotte. Word seems to have reached Zealotte through the usual channels about this and she has been in touch with Tyler. She wants to bring him and his squad in and has suggested a meeting place. It appears to be a neutral meeting ground. I propose that we go with him, pose as his team members, and see how this plays out,’ she said.
‘How sure of Tyler are you on this?’ Frankie asked.
‘Pretty sure. We did a cyberbrain hack and detected no deception. Looks like we finally got to him.’
‘Excellent, when do we go?’
4.16
Frankie stood at the foot of the flyer’s rear loading ramp and watched as the elevator pinged before its doors opened to reveal Kalypso standing before Tyler and his team of operators.
Kalypso stepped out and urged Tyler to follow, leading them towards the flyer and Frankie.
Tyler and his squad were dressed in the typical black gear of an operator, just as Frankie and Kalypso were, as where the rest of Frankie’s team who were inside the flyer behind her.
Tyler walked up to Frankie and stopped a short distance away from her in an at-ease stance. His squad followed suit while Kalypso stood back.
‘Ma’am,’ he said.
‘For today, I’m just Frankie,’ she said.
‘Understood… Frankie,’ he answered her.
‘Kalypso here believes you have seen the true enemy and that you are now keen to work with us, is that right?’ Frankie asked.
‘Yes, s… Frankie. We’ve been played, twice. Firstly by the Corporations who used us for their own financial gain, and then by Zealotte, who is focusing her anger on the wrong enemy. We wish to rectify this,’ he said.
‘Good to hear. And your squad all sees things as you do?’
‘As far as I know. I believe Kalypso here has verified this,’ he said.
Frankie glanced at Kalypso. ‘Is that right?’ she said through their neural link.
‘To the best capabilities of current technology, yes,’ she answered silently through their link.
Frankie nodded and turned back to Tyler. ‘We’ll be posing as your squad members, so treat us no different until we are revealed. We’re going to meet with Zealotte. Ideally, we’d like to bring her and her people in and avoid any more loss of life, but we’ll be going in armed, just as you will.’
Frankie reached to her right and picked up an assault rifle and an automatic pistol, and held them out to Tyler. ‘These guns have been locked and won’t fire until I issue the unlock code for them,’ she sa
id.
‘You don’t trust us?’ Tyler asked.
‘Would you?’
Tyler raised his eyebrows and smiled. ‘Fair point.’
‘Good, please, each of you take a rifle and sidearm before boarding the flyer,’ she said and watched as they picked up their weapons as she moved to stand next to Kalypso. ‘We’re taking a big risk on this one,’ she said to Kalypso over their link.
‘These guys will not turn on you, I guarantee it,’ Kalypso answered her.
‘I hope you’re right,’ Frankie said.
Moments later, Frankie stepped aboard the flyer, the last of the group to embark before the flyer lifted off and rose up through the retracted roof of the hanger and set off across the city. The huge towering skyscrapers and arcologies of Neo-London surrounded them as the flyer rose up and cut a path through the concrete valleys between the buildings in the early evening light. As the sun lowered towards the western horizon, it turned the sky into a rainbow of reds, oranges and yellows that faded into darkening blues in the east.
Frankie stayed standing close to the rear ramp, holding onto a hand strap that hung from the roof of the flyer. Tyler stood nearby and turned to her.
‘So, where are we going for this meeting?’ he asked.
‘It’s a factory towards the outskirts of the city,’ she answered him.
‘And you trust Zealotte not to just kill us?’
‘Not really, no, but we need to stop her, so we go in and see how what happens. I expect this will turn violent at some point, so, you need to be ready for that,’ she said.
‘Understood,’ he said.
‘I’m sending out a link request to you and your team in case we need to speak covertly,’ she said.
‘Got it,’ Tyler answered her and accepted the link. Moments later, so did the rest of his squad.
‘How we doing?’ Frankie sent through another link to Jude in the pilot’s seat.
‘We’re on approach now,’ he said. ‘Approximately two minutes out.’
The time flew by as the towers of the city fell away to smaller, lower buildings, until suddenly, enormous industrial towers of pipes and cylinders zipped past as the flyer banked around and descended towards the ground.
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